The Greatest Football Story Ever Told - Part 3

As part of the build-up to Tour 2015, presented by Aon, we’ll be reflecting on some of the most important and unforgettable times in the Reds’ history - something we believe to be the greatest football story ever told. We'll also be hearing from some of the key personalities who have helped create that story. In chapter three of our series, our special video featuring Denis Law pays tribute to the father of Manchester United, Sir Matt Busby...


Of all the eminent individuals associated with Manchester United’s compelling history, from unstinting benefactor James W Gibson up to Sir Alex Ferguson and his assembly of star players, none can lay claim to be as important as Sir Matt Busby.


Already a highly-rated, experienced player from his time with Manchester City and Liverpool, the Scot spent six years serving in the army during the Second World War. Shortly before Christmas 1944, Busby was contacted by United’s head scout, Louis Rocca, to be offered the job of managing the Reds upon the end of the war.

Even at the comparatively tender age of 35, Matt was unfazed by the task facing him when he arrived in Manchester, even though he recognised that United were emerging from wartime with a patched-up playing squad, a bomb-damaged stadium and almost no money in the coffers. He didn’t even have an office at the stadium when he first arrived; he was forced instead to conduct operations from a makeshift workspace over a mile from Old Trafford.

Yet, on those shaky foundations, Busby built a club which would go on to rule England and Europe. Aided and abetted by visionary assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, he set about revolutionising English football, reasoning that if his cash-strapped club couldn’t afford to buy talent, they would make their own.

Bereft of his father at the age of six, Busby was imbued with a natural paternal instinct, and ensured that every player and staff member working under his management would be looked after properly. Denis Law, who arrived at Old Trafford as a 21-year-old and went on to become one of the club’s all-time greats, cites the manager’s patriarchal influence as a major reason behind his success.

“He knew that there were players coming from Scotland, or wherever, and they were young, they missed their families – he made sure that you felt at home and you weren’t homesick all the time,” said the former United and Scotland striker. “He was like a father figure, really, and that was to everybody.”

Time has crystallised that status. As the man who twice rebuilt a shattered club, after the Second World War and the Munich air disaster, repeatedly led it to glory and established it as a globally-renowned institution, Sir Matt Busby is fittingly regarded as the father of Manchester United.

Credit: manutd.com