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The 6th of February 1958 will forever be circled by every die-hard fans of Manchester united as the 60th anniversary was held yesterday for the remembrance of the lost souls.
On that day in 1958 the darkest day in united history whereby 23 people including eight players and three members of the club's staff suffered fatal injuries in the Munich air disaster.
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The team had been travelling back from a European Cup tie against Red Star Belgrade when their aircraft stopped in Germany to refuel. The first two attempts to take off from Munich airport were aborted; following a third attempt, the plane crashed..
Manchester United were trying to become the third club to win three successive English league titles; they were six points behind League leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers with 14 games to go. They also held the Charity Shield and had just advanced into their second successive European Cup semi-final. The team had not been beaten for 11 matches. The crash not only derailed their title ambitions that year but also virtually destroyed the nucleus of what promised to be one of the greatest generations of players in English football history. It took 10 years for the club to recover, with Busby rebuilding the team and winning the European Cup in 1968 with a new generation of "Babes". Twenty of the 44 on the aircraft died at the scene. The injured, some unconscious, were taken to the Rechts der Isar Hospital in Munich where three more died, resulting in 23 fatalities with 21 survivors.
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The eight players who perished were Geoff Bent (25), Roger Byrne (aged 28), Eddie Colman (21), Duncan Edwards (21), Mark Jones (24), David Pegg (22), Tommy Taylor (26) and Liam Whelan (22). Edwards, considered by many to be the finest player of his generation, died 15 days after the accident.
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The three club officials who were killed were secretary Walter Crickmer, trainer Tom Curry and coach Bert Whalley . Eight journalists died - Alf Clarke , Donny Davies , George Follows, Tom Jackson , Archie Ledbrooke ,
Henry Rose , Eric Thompson and former Manchester City goalkeeper Frank Swift .
Aircraft captain Ken Rayment, fellow crew member Tom Cable, travel agent Bela Miklos and supporter Willie Satinoff , a friend of United manager Sir Matt Busby, were also victims of the terrible tragedy.
The Munich Air Disaster is an indelible part of United's history, as is Sir Matt overcoming his crash injuries to work alongside his assistant Jimmy Murphy and build another great team which won the European Cup 10 years later.
We will never forget.
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Manchester united overhauled their social media accounts to mark yesterday anniversary with their Facebook and twitter images changed to a black and white clock face marking the time 15:04.
Supporters were also encouraged to pay tribute via the hatchtags #BussyBabes and #FlowersOfManchester.
Reference(https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/manchester-united-mark-59th-anniversary-9766172)
