As the wreck of British European Airways Flight 609 lay smouldering on the edge of a Munich runway on February 6 1958 the very existence of Manchester United Football Club lay in the balance. But the Red Devils would rise once again from the ashes to conquer Europe thanks mostly to the efforts of one man.
Having earned a 3-3 draw in Belgrade against Red Star to progress to the semi-finals of the European Cup United’s plane had stopped in Munich on a scheduled fuel stop but struggled to takeoff in the most horrendous conditions that had descended on the area.
Snow had melted on the tarmac and the runway was covered in slush, meaning that on the third attempt to takeoff the aircraft was unable to gain enough speed, crashing through a fence and into a nearby house, before bursting into flames.
Seven players died at the scene along with 14 others, including the co-pilot, club officials and a number of journalists, one of which was former Manchester City ‘keeper Frank Swift.
Duncan Edwards passed-away in hospital a fortnight later as a result of his injuries while Johnny Berry and Jackie Blanchflower would never play again. As for manager Matt Busby he would spend two months in hospital fighting for his life along with several others, including Bobby Charlton.
But there was one man who wasn’t on the plane that day whose life was mercifully spared and that was Matt Busby’s assistant Jimmy Murphy who would almost single-handedly rebuild a club which was staring into the abyss and turn them once more into one of the greatest sides in Europe.
Murphy was in charge of the youth team set-up at the club working with the young players from the moment they arrived, developing and harnessing their talent while readying them for life as a footballer. As a result he would oversee the youth side who would go on to win the FA Youth Cup five times in succession; an achievement that has never been bettered.
Many of Murphy’s young charges would eventually graduate to the first team and would be affectionately christened the “Busby Babes” by those who watched them in their thousands as they dominated the domestic scene. Having won the league title the previous season their sights were now firmly set on European glory though many never lived to get the opportunity.
Murphy had not travelled to Belgrade with the team because as well as being Busby’s right-hand-man he was also the Wales national team manager and they had an important World Cup qualifying playoff against Israel at the same time as United’s game with Red Star.
Having guided his Wales team to victory, ensuring they would progress to the finals of the World Cup for the first time ever later that summer, Murphy headed back to Old Trafford the next day to meet up with the squad.
However, as he arrived back to a strangely quiet and eerie stadium it was the job of Matt Busby’s secretary to break the terrible news about what had happened to his players, colleagues and close friends on the way home from Yugoslavia.
“Alma George, Matt’s secretary, came in and told me about the crash,” he later explained. “I didn’t understand at first so she told me a third time saying, ‘I don’t think you understand. The plane has crashed. A lot of people have died.‘ This time she started to cry. A good few minutes had elapsed and suddenly Alma’s words began to take effect on me. I went into my office and cried.”
Typically of the fiery Welshman, after digesting the awful news, he threw himself into doing everything he could to keep what was left of Manchester United afloat, immediately bringing-in emergency signings at short notice and rearranging fixtures while ensuring the football club continued to exist in one form or another.
He then went straight to Munich to visit Busby and the other players who were recovering in hospital where the United manager was only strong enough to whisper a few words to him: “Keep the flag flying Jimmy,” he said and Murphy didn’t let him down.
“As my mind dwelt on the full appalling horror of it all I thought I would go mad, although I was doing my best to think about the future,” Murphy later wrote in his autobiography. And look to the future he did calling on a bunch of relatively untried youngsters and new signings to keep United’s season alive.
He recruited a whole new team while still trying to attend as many funerals as possible and just two weeks after the crash led out a new-look United side at Old Trafford in an FA Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday. Even the programme that night contained eleven blank spaces due to the fact that nobody could be sure just who would be playing in a game they won comfortably on a tidal wave of emotion.
Not surprisingly United only won one more league game that season finishing in 9th place, but Murphy had done the unthinkable and managed to get his hurriedly assembled team to Wembley in the FA Cup final against Bolton and there to watch was Matt Busby just three months after he had been given the last rites in his Munich hospital bed.
Despite losing 2-0 just getting there was an achievement in itself. It was a similar story in the European Cup where United beat AC Milan at Old Trafford, before eventually going out on aggregate in the semi-final.
Busby eventually returned to his duties the following season and continued the rebuilding job, finishing second in the league in his first season back and assembling a side which was every bit as exciting as the team that was lost in 1958 with Murphy, as ever, by his side.
Incredibly, just ten years after the crash, Manchester United did lift European Cup after beating Benfica 4-1 on a hugely emotional night for everyone involved with the club following the tragedy a decade before, including Bill Foulkes and Bobby Charlton who were both on the plane that fateful night.
What Murphy had managed to achieve was quite simply astonishing. Picking up the pieces of what was left of a great football club and somehow reconstructing a team that would go on to be the best in Europe just a decade later.
Murphy worked under Busby as his assistant until he retired in 1971 and continued his association with the club he loved in a scouting capacity for several more years before he died in November 1989 aged 79.
Jimmy Murphy may not be talked about in the same breath as Alex Ferguson, Matt Busby or even some of those who have worn the famous red shirt down the years in terms of his achievements; but there is little doubt that his contribution to Manchester United was just as important as the man who did indeed keep the flag flying during the club’s darkest days.
