5 people who revolutionised Manchester United

#3 Sir Matt Busby

Matt Busby rebuilt a squad and went on to win Manchester United’s first European Cup

Sir Matthew Busby is possibly the only former Liverpool and Manchester City player that the Red Devils remember so fondly. On 1^st October 1945, Busby took over the reins at Old Trafford and taught the club and its fans how to dream. Along with Jimmy Murphy as his assistant, he made an immediate impact on the club, taking them to runners-up position in his first league season in charge.

Sir Busby led the club to an FA Cup win in 1948, their first trophy since 1911. He also led the club to runners-up position in 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1951. Finally, in 1953, Manchester United won their first league title under Sir Matt Busby. But his biggest achievements were his efforts after 1953. While Manchester United had the funds to replace the ageing squads with experienced players from other clubs, Busby set a precedent to be followed by every manager since.

He brought in players as young as 16 and 17 from the academy, put them through their paces and gave them a chance to prove themselves. This included players like right-back Bill Foulkes, centre-backs Mark Jones and Jackie Blanchflower, wingers Albert Scanlon and David Pegg, forward Liam Whelan, midfielder Sir Bobby Charlton but most famously, Duncan Edwards.

Edwards was known as the finest English player of that era. In 1956, he led this team to another league title and refused a contract from then European Champions, Real Madrid. This team was affectionately known as the ‘Busby Babes’.

Tragedy struck in 1958, as the infamous Munich Airplane crash wiped out an entire generation of their players. Sir Matt Busby survived but remained in the hospital for months. Busby went against the advice of English FA and took the club to the European Cup. Bearing the unfair guilt of being responsible for this crash, Sir Matt Busby decided against retiring and took control of the club again at the end of the season again.

Within years he built another young squad around survivors like Sir Bobby Charlton and Harry Greg. He signed Denis Law and a 15-year-old Belfast winger, who went by the name of George Best.

This squad won them the FA Cup in 1963, league titles in 1965 and 1967, but 10 years after the Munich tragedy, Manchester United did the impossible - they went on to win European Cup in 1968. Although the club steadily went downhill after this, Sir Matt Busby had done his job and rebuilt a club from the ashes.