Manchester United - 'The Busby Babes' #1 Quiz

Answer: Roger Byrne

Having made his debut in November 1951 against Liverpool at Anfield at left-back, Roger Byrne played the final six games of the season on the left wing, scoring seven goals in a run of four wins and two draws in which the side scored 22 goals that clinched the 1951-52 League Championship, United's first since 1911.

He preferred playing at left-back, where his speed and ability to read the game made him one of the first overlapping full-backs in the game. A natural leader, he became captain early in 1954 and went on to lead the most exciting young team ever seen in Britain to two consecutive League titles and into Europe as England's first representatives in the European Cup.
Winning 33 consecutive caps for England up to his untimely death at Munich - incredibly he was 'not considered good enough to play for the station football team' during his National Service in the RAF! But to anyone who ever saw him play, for either club or country, Roger Byrne was one of the most outstanding defenders in the history of the game.

Sadly, Geoff Bent, who would not normally have been with the team, travelled to Belgrade as last-minute cover for Byrne, who had picked up a slight injury against Arsenal, and died with him at Munich on 6th February, 1958.

Answer: Ray Wood

Ray Wood made his senior debut in December 1949, against Newcastle United, and didn't play in the first team again until August 1952.

A virtual ever-present from 1953 until just before Munich when, following a poor run of form, he was replaced by Harry Gregg.

Never the same player after Munich, he made just one more appearance for United, in the 4-0 defeat at champions Wolverhampton Wanderers in October 1958, before moving on to Huddersfield Town.
Having played over 200 games for Huddersfield, he spent some time with both Bradford City and Barnsley before retiring in 1967.

Ray Wood died in July 2002, aged 71.

Answer: Mark Jones

Making his debut at 17 against Sheffield Wednesday in October 1950, he played four times in the 1950-51 season, three times in the championship-winning season during 1951-52, and twice in 1952-53.
He didn't make a single appearance in the first team during the 1953-54 season, yet was ever-present from halfway through the 1954-55 season, throughout the entire title-winning season of 1955-56, and had made 120 appearances for the club when he died at Munich, aged 24.

Answer: Tommy Taylor

When signing centre-forward Tommy Taylor from Barnsley in 1953, Busby, not wishing for such a young player to have the then record transfer fee price-tag hanging around his neck, came up with this novel solution.

Ray Wood was purchased from Darlington at the age of 18, in 1949.

Liam Whelan, a product of the Dublin junior club Home Farm, also signed aged 18, in 1953.

Johnny Berry, purchased from Birmingham City, aged 25, in 1951, played 273 games for United scoring 44 goals, but was forced to retire due to the injuries he sustained at Munich.

Johnny Berry died in September, 1994.

Answer: Jeff Whitefoot

Known as 'the Busby Babe that got away', Jeff Whitefoot was, at that time, the youngest player ever to start a first team game for Manchester United.

He made his United debut at age 16 years and 105 days, against then League Champions Portsmouth in April 1950 and had made 95 appearances between then and November 1955 when, having finally lost his place to the multi-talented Eddie Colman, he signed for Grimsby Town and shortly afterwards joining Nottingham Forest.

He went on to play 285 games for Forest before retiring through injury in 1968, and is still with us, aged 72.

* Goalkeeper David Gaskell, who had gone along to watch the match, made his United 'debut' at 16 years and 19 days in October 1956, when he was permitted to come on as a substitute for the injured Ray Wood in the 1-0 victory over Manchester City, in the FA Charity Shield match at Maine Road.

Answer: 1955-56

Finishing the season with 60 points, 11 clear of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Blackpool, and beating then League Champions Chelsea 3-0 and 4-2 along the way, incredibly they lost 4-0 to Second Division Bristol Rovers in the opening round of the FA Cup on January 7 1956!

The very next game against Sheffield United at Old Trafford on January 14, was when the eleven players who were to become synonymous with the name 'Busby Babes', Wood, Foulkes, Byrne, Colman, Jones, Edwards, Berry, Whelan, Taylor, Viollet and Pegg, played together for the first time.

Two years later, on 14th December, 1957, the game against Chelsea at Old Trafford, would be the last.

Answer: Anderlecht

Having won the first leg of this preliminary round on September 12 1956 in Brussels 2-1, with goals from Taylor and Viollet, United hammered the Belgian champions 10-0 in the second leg at Maine Road on September 26 with four goals from Viollet, three from Taylor, two from Whelan and one from Berry.

When interviewed afterwards, the Belgian captain said that in his opinion the entire United team, all Englishmen but for Liam Whelan, but whose deputy was budding England superstar Bobby Charlton, should line up as the England international team!

Answer: Duncan Edwards

Duncan Edwards, the truly outstanding member of this great team, was born on 1st October, 1936.
He made his United debut on 4th April, 1953, aged 16 years and 185 days, and his England debut at 18 years and 183 days, and was in the opinion of anyone who ever saw him play the complete footballer.

Had he lived, he would probably have featured in four World Cups for England, for whom he was tipped to be the next captain, and would have been in his prime at only 29 years old in 1966 when England won the World Cup.

Bobby Charlton described him as "The best player I've ever seen, the best player I've ever played with for United or England, and the only player who ever made me feel inferior."

When asked which current player might be compared to him, older United fans mention Roy Keane, but point out that Duncan was bigger, faster, more powerful and far more even-tempered!

After a heroic battle against the appalling injuries he sustained in the crash, Duncan Edwards died peacefully in the Rechts Der Isar hospital in Munich on 21st February, 1958, aged 21.

Answer: Athletico Bilbao

On 17th January, 1957 at Bilbao Airport, the passengers, including the stars of Manchester United FC, had to climb onto the wings of their airliner with sweeping brushes to help remove snow and ice, before they were cleared for take-off.
The following season, while returning from the second round game against Dukla Prague, United were delayed and narrowly missed having to postpone a League game against Birmingham City, not to mention the wrath of the football authorities in England. As a result of these incidents, Matt Busby decided that the club would charter aircraft for all future trips.

Answer: Aston Villa

Losing goalkeeper Ray Wood to a reckless charge by Villa winger Peter McParland in the sixth minute, which left Wood unconscious with a shattered cheekbone, a foul which strangely went unpunished, and with no substitutes in those days, United had to play most of the FA Cup final with 10 men.
With centre-half Jackie Blanchflower 'playing a blinder' in goal keeping the score level at 0-0 at half time, Busby risked putting the concussed Wood back on, on the right wing in the second half.

With the centre-half in goal, and leading goalscorer Whelan playing in midfield, United were out of shape as Aston Villa, slowly gaining the upper hand, scored twice with both goals coming from McParland, who should probably not have been on the pitch.
When a Taylor header pulled it back to 2-1, Wood was put back in goal, as United re-organised themselves and laid seige to the Villa goal, trying to snatch at least an equaliser and force a replay.
But with Villa packing their defence, they held on to take the Cup.

When asked how he felt about being robbed of the double in such a way, United captain Roger Byrne quipped, "Never mind, we'll be back next year!"

But by next year Roger Byrne, and five others who had played at Wembley that day, Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards, Liam Whelan, Tommy Taylor and David Pegg, would be dead, and the playing careers of two others, Jackie Blanchflower and Johnny Berry, would be over.

Astonishingly, United were back the next year, as the patched-up band of survivors, reserves and hastily-signed replacements, somehow made it to the final, only to lose 2-0 to the same Bolton Wanderers side 'The 'Babes' had annihilated 7-2 just four months earlier.