It wasn’t until after February 6th, 1958, that the Youth Academy at Manchester United came under scrutiny.

British European Airways Flight 609, crashing on takeoff at 15.03 pm from Munich-Riem airport, Germany, killed 8 of a squad that had been built on belief in youth; left full back and captain, Roger Byrne, 26 starts that 1957-58 season; left full back, Geoff Bent, 0; center half, Mark Jones, 10; right half, Eddie Colman, 24; Eire inside right, Billy Whelan, 20 (12 goals); center forward, Tommy Taylor, 25 (16); and left winger, David Pegg, 21 (4), while left half, Duncan Edwards, 26 (6), died at Rechts der Isar hospital 15 days later, and injury ended the careers of inside forward, Northern Irish Jackie Blanchflower, 18, and right winger, Johnny Berry, 20 (4).

The squad was returning from a 3-3 draw, on February 5th, against Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade, in the quarter-final of the European Cup, qualifying the team to contest a semi-final with Italian Serie A club, AC Milan. The first team decimated, a makeshift side made up of reserves, survivors, and youth team players, won, 2-1, on May 8th at Old Trafford, but collapsed on May 14th at San Siro, 0-4, losing 2-5 on aggregate.

Before the disaster, the club had emphasized youth, as a platform upon which to build the future, which afterwards became a principle in memory of those that lost their lives. Wilf McGuinness, later managing the club after then manager, Matt Busby, had qualified for a league championship winners’ medal, the previous 1956-57 campaign, at left-half, which was some feat, as that was the position held by the team’s ‘young giant’, Edwards, who descried as a talent with ‘everything’, because of his strength, stamina, the timing of his tackling, ‘The Tank’, and the two-footed power of his shooting, earning the nickname, ‘Boom Boom’ from Berliners, after he scored in a Friendly against Germany, on May 26th, 1956, at Olympiastadion, 1-0 (3-1), made his first team debut, 16 years and 185 days, against Cardiff City, a 1-4 loss, on April 4th, 1953; his only appearance that term.

‘Big Dunc’, already on his way to winning the inaugural 1952-53 FA Youth Cup, alongside other emerging soccer Titans in the 1953 Final; Colman, Whelan, and Pegg, as well as some who’d ironically be greater after Munich; left winger Albert Scanlon, then recovered from injuries incurred in the disaster, and captain, center half, Ron Cope. Beating Wolverhampton Wanderers, on May 4th, 7-1, at Old Trafford, and on May 9th drawing 2-2 at Molineux Stadium: taking the trophy 9-3 on aggregate.

McGuinness and left wing, Bobby Charlton, who’d become a legend after Munich, as the deep-lying center forward in the side, rising from the ashes, like the mythical Phoenix, to win the European Cup in 1968, came into the team that won the 1954 FA Youth Cup, again against Wolves, 4-4, on April 23rd, at Old Trafford, and on April 26th, 1-0, at Molineux; 5-4 on aggregate. Eire’s Shay Brennan, right back in that ‘68 Final would be at inside forward in the 1954-55 FA Youth Cup Final win over West Bromwich Albion, 4-1, on April 27th, at Old Trafford, and on April 30th, 3-0, at The Hawthorns; 7-1 on aggregate. Eire’s Joe Carolan, at right half; Kenny Morgans, Wales’ right wing; inside forward, Mark Pearson, and Scot’s center forward, Alex Dawson, who’d feature strongly in the immediate post-Munich hiatus, were in the side that beat Chesterfield in the 1956 FA Youth Cup Final, 3-2 on April 30th, at Old Trafford, and drawing, 1-1, on May 7th, at the Recreation Ground; 4-3 on aggregate.

The effect of youth on the first team squad was startling. The club won the titles of 1955-56 and 1956-57, with Charlton 14 (10) and McGuinness, 13, in ‘56-57, featuring, while inside forward, Nobby Lawton, coming into the side for the 1957 FA Youth Cup Final against West Ham United, would press for a while in the post-Munich aftermath. ‘The Hammers’ were beaten, 3-2, on May 2nd, at Upton Park, and on May 7th, at Old Trafford, 5-0; 8-2 on aggregate.

Brennan, inside forward, 5 league starts that 1957-58 season, as the usual alternative to Pegg, left wing Scanlon, 9 (3), had injuries, Seamus ‘Shay’ debuted at outside left in the initial post-Munich game. An FA Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday, at Old Trafford, on February 19th, 1958, Brennan got two goals, and Dawson, 12 (5), 3-0, in a season that, on a peoples’ wave of non-partisan emotion, the team would reach the May 3rd FA Cup Final, at London’s national Wembley Stadium. Only to lose, at the last hurdle, to a clinical Bolton Wanderers’ center forward, Nat Lofthouse (2), bulling United ‘keeper, Harry Gregg, 19, over his own line, as he tried to keep hold of the ball, 0-2, on 50 minutes, after heading Bolton into the lead in only the 3rd minute.

Though Brennan would go on to be a part of the side that won the 1963 FA Cup Final, at right back, 3-1, against Leicester City, as well as being regularly selected for the league title campaigns of 1964-65 and 1966-67, Bill Foulkes, 42, now as captain, was at right back in the Final, where he’d mostly been since Munich, while inside forward, Wales’ Colin Webster, 20 (6), another ‘Busby Babe’, who hadn’t made the trip to Belgrade, ‘feeling unwell’, but had seen action in the ‘55-56, 15 (4), and ‘56-57, 5 (3), title charges, was out on the left wing.

Freddie Goodwin, wing back, not selected for the trip, though a ‘Babe’, contributing to the ‘56, 8, and ‘57, 6, title wins, had 16 starts in 1957-58, and would be a linchpin of the side in 1958-59, 42 (6), while Carolan, 23, making his debut as a ‘Babe’, on November 22nd, 1958, at Old Trafford against Luton Town, 2-1, began impressively at left back. Though Warren Bradley, 24 (12), wasn’t, strictly speaking, a youth product, but an amateur, with Northern League club, Bishop Auckland, winning the FA Amateur Cup in ‘56 against Corinthian Casuals, 4-1, on 12th April at Middlesboro’s Ayrsome Park, after a draw, 1-1, on 7th April at Wembley, and ‘57 against Wycombe Wanderers on April 13th at Wembley, with Warren netting on 72 minutes, 3-1, the club’s emergency signing of him, post-Munich, had immediate rewards, visibly, and tangibly, on-field, while £45,000 signing, ‘Golden Boy’, second striker, Albert Quixall, 33 (4), from Sheffield Wednesday, had glaringly less impact in terms of goals. Charlton, 38 (29), Dennis Viollet, 37 (21), and Scanlon, 42 (16), got into double figures, with the team finishing 2nd in the title race; 5 points behind Wolves on 55.

The club finished 7th in 1959-60, with Maurice Setters, brought from West Bromwich Albion, in January 1960, for £30,000, replacing McGuinness, victim of a career-ending December 1959 leg-break, during a reserve team game against Stoke City. Nobby Lawton, 3, debuted on April 9th, 1960, at Luton’s Kenilworth Road, 3-2, at inside left, whileEire’s legendary midfield ‘General’, Johnny Giles, 10 (2), for a signing on fee of £10, turning out for Dublin’s Stella Maris in 1956, beganhis career at right wing, 19 years, and Mark Pearson, 10 (3), began to impact as a forward, though Viollett, 36 (32), Charlton, 37 (18), Dawson, 22 (15), and Quixall, 33 (13), got into double figures.

Pearson, 27 (7), repaid his being selected in 1960-61, while Carolan, 2, was replaced by Eire’s Noel Cantwell, 24, at left back, brought from West Ham United for £29,500 in November 1960. Eire’s Tony Dunne, 3, 19 years, who’d be at left back for the ‘red devils’ in the European Cup Final of 1968, on May 29th, at Wembley, against Portugal’s Benfica, 4-1(1-1), a.e.t., signed on April 26th, 1960, from Dublin’s Shelbourne for £5,000, as cover for Brennan and Cantwell, had his debut against Burnley, on October 15th, 1960.

Jimmy Nicholson, 31 (5), 17 years, shared mainly half back duties with Nobby Stiles, 26 (2), 18 years, debuting, on October 1st, 1960, at Bolton, 1-1, and who’d go on to be in the side that won the World Cup with England in 1966, on July 30th, at Wembley, 4-2 (2-2), a.e.t., against Germany. With Giles, 23 (2), and Scot’s midfielder, Ian Moir, 8 (1), 17 years, completing the season’s roster of ‘Babes’, as the team again finished 7th; Charlton, 39 (21), Dawson, 28 (16), Viollett, 24 (15), and Quixall, 38 (13), getting into double figures.

David Herd, center forward, was signed for 1961-62, while Nobby Lawton, 20 (6), and Northern Irish left winger or center forward, Sammy McMillan, 11 (6), debuting on November 4th, 1961, in a 1-3 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, made significant contributions in terms of appearances and goals, although the club finished 15th, as only Herd, 27 (14), and Quixall, 21 (10), reached double figures.

Although the 1962-63 league position didn’t improve, 19th, Scot, Pat Crerand,19, arrived on February 6th, 1963, from Glasgow Celtic for £56,000, as a tough-tackling, ball-intercepting/distributing, and tactically thoughtful, right half. The club, stillrecovering from the Munich disaster, needed him, and former Manchester City center forward, returned from Italy’s Serie A club, Torino, Turin, for £55,000, Scot, Denis Law, 38 (23), who was believed by most to be the best striker of a generation.

Beating Leicester City, 3-1, on May 25th, 1963, at Wembley, the opening goal by Law, called ‘The King’ by the Stretford End supporters, reestablished the clubin the top tier. Leicester ‘keeper, Gordon Banks, saved a Charlton effort, on the half hour. Crerand, 25 yards out, interceptingthe ball, bowled out by Banks, for Scot’s inside left, David Gibson, lifted the ball over the outstretched leg of an out rushing defender, left of the ‘D’. Pat,running into the 20 yard box, found Law, right, with the outside of his right boot. To deceive the defence, Law feinted, as if accepting the pass, but allowed the ball to run on behind him, stopping it with his left foot, turning anti-clockwise, at the penalty spot, striking the ball with his right boot, left corner of the net, 1-0. In the 57th minute, a cross-field ball from Giles, bursting through on the right, from inside his own half, found an unmarked Charlton; far left of the pitch, hurtling on into the left corner of the 20 yard box: on a ‘run and shoot’. Banks parried into the path of Herd, 37 (19), a tap in, 2-0. Coming for a Giles cross, floated from just outside the right corner of the 20 yard box, the defender; trying to head away the ball. Banks, impeded; attempting to catch the ball in the air, and sweep it under his arm, in a single movement; fumbling, making it seem as if he’s punched the ball to the ground. Herd, on the bounce, turns, right-footed, low, 3-1, past the defender on the goal line, on 85 minutes.