MATT BUSBY 80th ANNIVERSARY

Born of Lithuanian migrant parents in a mining village, Orbiston, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, Matt Busby's father was killed in World War One, along with three of his uncles. His mother looked after her son and three daughters, though she did remarry.

The family almost migrated to the USA in the 1920s but thankfully while the family was making its mind up, at 18 he signed for Manchester City on 11th February 1928, on a wage of £5 a week. He made his debut on November 2nd 1929 and played over 200 games for the light blues.

There was a chance that he might have gone across the city to United in 1930 for a transfer fee of £150, but he ended up at Liverpool in 1934-5 for £8000 on 12th March 1936. He made his debut against the very successful Huddersfield Town on 14th March 1936 and eventually became captain of the club.

He met Bob Paisley who had signed from Bishop Auckland in 1939 and they became the best of friends for life.

Busby served in the King's Liverpool Regt during WW2 and played for Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Reading, Brentford, Bournemouth and Hibernian as a "guest" in "Wartime football".

He only made one official international appearance against Wales on 4th November 1933 and played in 7 war time matches which were unofficial.

By the end of the war he was appointed manager at Manchester United with "unprecedented control" on a 5 year deal, he linked up with Jimmy Murphy, once of Wales and West Bromwich Albion, forming a formidable partnership. Between 1946 and 1952, when United eventually won the First Division Championship (top division), the Reds also won the FA Cup in 1948 and had several runners-up places in the league. The last time United had any silver ware was in 1911!

Busby also managed the Great Britain Olympic team that reached the semi-finals in London in 1948.

By 1956 he was offered the manager's job at Real Madrid, at a time when the Spaniards were just about to win the first European Cup. Busby refused to be attracted saying that Manchester was his heaven. In 1958 the Munich air disaster left a remarkable scar on his life but he bounced back with the Busby Babes and the rest is history.
During his time at Old Trafford his teams played 1141 matches, won 576, drew 266, scored 2324 goals and conceded 1566.

Busby reached his heaven in January 1994 aged 84. He was a CBE, Knight's Bachelor and KCSG.