Manchester United Blog

The Lost Babes
Manchester United And The Forgotten Victims Of Munich

Paperback and Hardcover

Written By: Jeff Connor

Much has been written about the Munich air disaster, and in particular
the lost generation of footballers that perished on that fateful day in
1958.

Players like Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor, Roger Byrne and Liam
Whelan - a native of Cabra in Dublin - were part of the exciting team
that was been moulded by Matt Busby. Their goal was to conquer Europe.
The icy runway at Munich put pay to that dream and it was another 10
years before Busby, who was twice given the last rites after the crash,
realised his own ambition for the club by guiding them to European Cup
success.

That sultry night in Wembley in May 1968 was a night to savour for all
Manchester United fans and a perfect way to remember the eight players
and three club officials who were cruelly taken from this world.

Their place in soccer immortality is ensured, whether it is in Manchester
or in the many other parts of the globe where United are followed.

Jeff Connor is a fan, yet he has only seen one game at Old Trafford
since Munich, preferring to remember the exciting style of football
played by the Babes before the disaster. His fascination with this
period lead him to focus on the players who survived Munich and the
relatives of the victims. While Connor had some reservations about
writing the book and cashing in on Munich, he was encouraged to do
so by the relatives.

They were stories to tell of neglect on the part of the biggest soccer
club in the world to help those who were directly affected by the
tragedy. Former players Johnny Berry and Albert Scanlon spoke of how
their confidence was shattered. Indeed Berry was later evicted from his
club house and never played for United again. The revered Northern
Ireland player Jackie Blanchflower lost his home and lived for many
years enduring both physical and mental trauma. The common view
echoed was that those who died in Munich had gone on to us a better
place, while those who survived were denied a chance for the wounds
to heal, as they should have done, with time.

It wasn't until 1997, on the eve of the Champions League final in
Munich that the surviving players gathered in a hotel and came up with
a plan to ask Manchester United for compensation. The question is why
it took it so long.

In his introduction to the book, Connor noted that the powers that be
at Old Trafford were somewhat sensitive about the subject of the
Munich air disaster. The many e-mails that Connor sent to United's
former Chief Executive Peter Kenyon were unanswered.

It is also interesting to note that Bobby Charlton, now a director of
Manchester United, was not present at the meeting in the Munich hotel.

This sensitivity on the part of Manchester United obviously hindered
Connor in giving a more detailed account on how the club as a whole was
affected by Munich. That's a pity, because in reading the book, you
feel there is much more to tell. The frustration felt by the victims is
palpable.

As a fan, Connor outlines the history of Manchester United and how
the club emerged in the post war years to become a power house of
English football. The formation of the Busby Babes is also explored in
much detail. There are countless books written about United and I didn't
think another history lesson was going to be on offer in 'The Lost Babes'.

Maybe we could have been spared this if Manchester United, in the words
of the author, were more forthcoming about the events and the aftermath
of what happened on that snowy day 51 years ago.

Back To Home Page...

Bobby Charlton: My Manchester United Years

This autobiography was written with James Lawton, the much respected
Independent newspaper journalist, who also cooperated on the biographies of
Nobby Stiles and Joe Jordan among others and for 1p is the bargain of the
century !!

The book inevitably opens with the Munich tragedy and unsurprisingly revisits
that dreadful event of February 1958 on several occasions. Bobby Charlton
somehow survived that catastrophic plane accident when so many of his young
teammates perished. He awoke, still strapped in his seat, fifty yards away from
the crumpled Elizabethan airliner.

An event such as that is certain to affect anyone's life, how could it not, and yet
somehow it encapsulated the spirit of Manchester United Football Club. It took
ten years to re-build the team under their charismatic manager Sir Matt Busby,
to sufficient strength to compete for and eventually win the European Cup on
that memorable May night at Wembley in 1968.

The book is filled with interesting stories that will not just be of interest to supp-
orters of Manchester United but to football fans everywhere. Of his upbringing
and family difficulties, of his famous footballing forebears, and of how he would
beg tickets from Bill Shankly for Liverpool FC's early European glory nights,
and would regularly trek down the East Lancs road to the Anfield Stadium to
take in the spectacle, only to be warmly welcomed on his arrival there by every-
one. How things have changed in areas such as this, and not always for the better.

The book is a moving portrait of England's record goal scorer ever. Of his times
playing with Duncan Edwards and George Best and Denis Law, of his admiration
for Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson and Roy Keane, of how he first came across David
Beckham as a young schoolboy on one of his children's football courses. There is
praise too for the current manager Sir Alex Ferguson, a manager that Bobby has
supported at every turn since his appointment way back in the mid eighties.

At the end of the book you will find his selection of the best Manchester United
eleven from 1955 to the present day, and that makes very interesting reading,
and includes one or two surprises.

If you are interested in football, regardless of whether you follow the reds of
Manchester, you will find something here to warm you on a cold winter night.
Poignant, memorable, thrilling, are just three of the adjectives that spring to
mind that belong to those amazing times. I've read it once in record time, and
I shall read it again and again.

Back To Home Page...

The Munich air disaster on 6 February 1958 claimed
the lives of 23 passengers and crew.

Here, Carly remembers the eight Manchester United
players and three officials who died, through the words
of those who knew them best.

Roger Byrne - aged 28, full-back. 277 appearances, 19 goals,
33 England caps.

"An aristocratic footballer, majestic in his movement.
Roger was so fast but at the same time he controlled
his movement beautifully, like Nureyev." - Sir Matt Busby

Geoff Bent - aged 25, full-back. 12 appearances.

"When Geoff matured and reached his twenties there
were many clubs after him but he stayed loyal.

He could look after himself and was a great
tackler. Roger Byrne was a consistent player and
very brave, that was the reason Geoff got few
games, but was good enough to hold a regular
place in any team." - Jimmy Murphy

Eddie Colman - aged 21, half-back. 107 appearances,
2 goals.

"Eddie was a chirpy lad and a terrific player.
He pushed the ball - never kicked it - and he jinked
past players. He was known for his swivel hips."
- Wilf McGuinness

David Pegg - aged 22, forward, 148 appearances, 28 goals,
1 England cap.

"David would have been a great asset to any team because
he was a natural, left-flank player. David was very,
very clever.

Our best left-winger by a mile." - Sir Matt Busby

Mark Jones - aged 24, half-back, 120 appearances, 1 goal.

"Yorkshireman Mark was a really lovely fellow,
but my word he was a tough nut, and nobody took
any liberties with him on or off the field." - Bill Foulkes

Duncan Edwards - aged 21, half-back, 175 apps., 21 goals,
18 England caps, 5 goals.

"When I used to hear Muhammad Ali proclaim to
the world he was the greatest, I used to smile.
The greatest of them all was a young footballer named
Duncan Edwards." - Jimmy Murphy

"The only player who ever made me feel inferior."
- Sir Bobby Charlton

Tommy Taylor - aged 26, forward, 189 apps., 128 goals,
19 England caps, 16 goals

"I rate him as one of the all-time, best centre-forwards
in the game, and he had yet to realise all his potential.
He was a typically bluff Yorkshireman in many
ways, often acting the clown, and a great team man."
- Bill Foulkes

Liam 'Billy' Whelan - aged 22, forward, 96 apps., 52 goals,
4 Republic of Ireland caps

"Billy was a magician with a ball at his feet. I really don't
think he knew how good he was and how much
better he could have become. A world-class forward.
There is no doubt about that.

His vision and passing was sheer class." - Albert Scanlon

Walter Crickmer,club secretary/Tom Curry,trainer/
Bert Whalley,coach

"Walter Crickmer always reminded me of a little dynamo,
nothing was too much trouble.

Tom Curry, the trainer, was someone we looked up to like
a father.

Bert Whalley was certainly a tremendous help to me when I
was a part-timer." - Bill Foulkes

.....Back To Home Page...

In India and other parts of Asia, there are a number of amateur football fans who tend to call the club they follow by names which are an utter insult to the same. An avid Manchester United fan and the moderator of Manchester United Fans in Mumbai community on Orkut, Dhruv Tikka voices his concerns as to why the Red Devils mustn’t be referred as ‘Man U’ at least by their fans. People come on here and send emails to me or leave comments with the term "Man U" in them and it makes my blood boil !!! If you're going to proclaim yourself a supporter of the greatest club that ever graced this planet THEN HAVE THE COMMON COURTESY TO LEARN SOME OF THE HISTORY ABOUT THEM and don't just cling to the coat tails of success !!! Where were these glory hunters 3 and 4 years ago when we won NOTHING ? Probably declaring their undying love for Didier Drag Bar and Fat Frank Lampard !! Anyone using this term on my blog will be told about this and if they do it again they will be blocked !

This term is only used by United rivals as a complete and utter insult to the club. Many United
competitors would sing a song about the Munich air disaster which claimed the lives of eight
players.

"Man U Man U went on a plane Man U Man U never came back again..."

If you’re a Man United fan and that doesn’t get your blood boiling, I’m sure nothing will.

Manchester United are nicknamed UNITED, MAN UNITED, MAN UTD and RED DEVILS.

There are no official songs with a ‘Man U’ word nor will one lay his hands on ANY official
merchandise using that term. Manchester City isn’t christened Man C or an Aston Villa as Aston
V. Like the song goes ‘There’s Only One United’ so people will know where your loyalty is.

The term Utd is the proper abbreviation for the word United and nothing else.
Why can’t some accept this and get over themselves....

The Scousers (Liverpool fans) often tease United about the Munich incident again by chanting
‘Man U Never Intended Coming Home.’ It wasn’t just chants as it was also popular to write this
as graffiti.

When did this chant originate? Possibly in the 1960’s.

There was huge competition between clubs to sign Duncan Edwards when he was a schoolboy in
the early 50s and there was even a newspaper campaign in the Midlands to pressure him into
signing for a Midlands club, as he came from Dudley. His signing for United caused a lot of people
in the Midlands to regard him as a traitor and was hate figure for them.

It was West Brom fans who first began this mantra.

Duncan Edwards is manure, rotting in his grave,Man you are manure-rotting in your grave,

The origin of Man U is a song to insult the dead Duncan Edwards. The Liverpool and Leeds fans
copied this with their own versions. It is strange to hear from United fans referring them as
‘Man U.’

There was literally a bloodbath up on the old Scoreboard End at Old Trafford in 1964-65 season
when the West Bromwich Albion fans sang. A big battle took place with the home fans
outnumbering the visiting ones and hammering them to the utmost. Get the picture?

Most clubs did try to ban the chant. After United won the European Cup , it sprang up again but
this time there was also ‘Who's that lying in the aircraft.’ The West Brom fans taunted using a
United song ‘Who's that team we call United.’

But by the end of the decade it became universal and the term "Man U" became the word used
by almost all rival fans to affront United. Everyone knew what it meant. It was laughter at the
death of Duncan and the Babes. Fans of Spurs and oddly enough Chelsea never sang Munich
songs either.

A place where the word ‘Man U’ could spell doom was Millwall, even if you were a United fan.
United played them when they were in the second division and the policemen were asked to
work even if they were on leave or whatever !! The League officials had even tried to stop
allocating United fans a ticket to Millwall. The kick off was put forward to 11 am to try and stop
all United fans from going down there. It was billed as the ‘fight of the century.’

Not one single punch was thrown inside the ground. There was even a picture in the Sunday
Mirror of two United fans with "Harry the Dog" What did happen was after the match a
combined force of 20,000 plus United and Millwall fans descended on the Kings Road and
smashed the place up, including the football ground. But a lot of the violence that happened with
United fans around that time was usually sparked by the words ‘Man U.’

When Teddy Sheringham signed for United, incidentally he referred the club as ‘Man U’ and
received a dressing down from Sir Alex Ferguson.

So, I expect the "so-called" United fans stop chanting ‘Man U’ and as far as rival
fans are concerned…....... Back To Home Page

So who did actually sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" first. Would that be Liverpool, Celtic or Manchester United ?

The Bindippers

There is overwhelming evidence that Liverpool Football Club supporters were the first to sing this song en masse. The song was famously covered by Liverpool group 'Gerry and the Pacemakers' in 1963. At this time, supporters standing on the Spion Kop terrace at Anfield began singing popular chart songs of the day. Their "inventive ferocity" was captured on camera by BBC Panorama in 1964. One year later, when Liverpool met Leeds United in the F.A. Cup Final, the travelling Kop sang the same song and match commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme commended the "Liverpool signature tune." The Dippers have been singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' since 1963. Fully 45 years.

Celtic

Celtic sang it on two or three occasions during the 1970s, along with Aberdeen and Hibernian, though it was only popularised and formally adopted by the Parkhead faithful in the mid- to late-1980s. Liverpool were invited to play a charity game at Celtic Park following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Both sets of fans sang it together as a symbol of unity and support. Only in the years to follow - as both clubs repeatedly came together in a series of friendly matches - did Celtic begin to sing it on a regular basis, otherwise they have no legitimate claim to the song, nor is there any earlier evidence seriously linking them to it. Liverpool can produce an abundance of written material and video evidence. Celtic not so much.

Manchester United

Manchester United supporter Jane Hardwick asserted in 2004 that she, together with friends from the New Mills Operatic Society, decided to sing the song at "one of the games" following the Munich Air Disaster as her own personal tribute, before spontaneously being joined "by thousands of fans" around her. This would predate Gerry Marsden's faster-paced cover version by five years. However, as one local supporter scoffed:

"Anyone who has watched [or] listened to Carousel will tell you, the composition and performance of the musical version with the popular Gerry Marsden version sounds completely different."

So, to round off, it appears that Liverpool began to sing it in 1963, Celtic began to sing it in the 1970's but..........Manchester United were the first, in 1958. So Scousers, every time you sing this little melody just remember, you came second AGAIN !! We all know that second place is the first LOSER !!

Here are some other versions of it by Elvis Presley, The Three Tenors (30 quid) and by the Celtic and Dipper fans......Back To Home Page

Last weekend I was browsing the TV channels and saw a program called 'The Pride of Britain'. I thought it sounded interesting and settled back to watch it. All the acts of bravery by so many people was impressive as they one by one came up to collect their awards. They had all been 'heroes' over the past 12 months and to be honest the program is quite superficial and they use the word 'hero' a bit too liberally for my liking. I didn't pay that much attention until the very end when I heard the name Harry Gregg. Harry who ? I hear many people ask. I'll tell you Harry who, right here right now !!

Harry Gregg has always been a reluctant hero.

He always insists he would like to be remembered as the man who was once described as the best goal keeper in the world and not as some sort of 'John Wayne'. After I watched the BBC Documentary "One Life: Harry Gregg Returns To Munich" - his wishes are likely to remain unfulfilled.

This was, without doubt, a portrait of a hero. To be honest John Wayne doesn't come into it, he merely acted the part in mythical fantasies on film.

In this TV program we had Harry Gregg - the cast-iron, copper bottomed, unimpeachable, straight-down-the-line genuine article, who did it in real life - HARRY GREGG, HERO !

There was lots written back in February about the Munich air disaster, it was, after all, 50 years since that tragic day this year. I also watched the brilliant Nation On Film program featuring Sir Bobby watching for the first time rare footage of the Babes in colour. But none of these things matched Harry's program for raw, emotional power. Harry, who is still a big man, was followed by the camera as he returned to places associated with the crash. It began with him walking down the run way that, submerged with slush, had been the last thing many of his friends had seen on 6th February 1958.

Just watching him on the tarmac, head bowed, dabbing his face with a handkerchief, had the tears flowing down my face ... and they didn't stop for the next 40 minutes.

What was so good about the programme was that stuff we have heard a thousand times

sounded so fresh, so moving, so immediate coming from Harry's own
testimony. Liam Whelan's last words "if this is death, I'm ready"; Duncan Edwards asking from his hospital bed what time kick off was on Saturday; Gregg himself refusing to run from the scene as instructed by a member of the flight crew and instead heading back into the wreckage, yelling "there's people alive in here": with a master story-teller's timing, he gave it all an immediacy that was astonishing.

He had - as he admitted - told the story many times to those anxious to write his part in history. So, for him, the journey was not so much about laying ghosts as ensuring the memories he had imparted were correct. There has been so much hysteria and so much romance written about the crash said Harry - he just wanted to know he was right in his version of things.

The camera did not shirk from presenting him with the consequences of such memory. It took him everywhere, from the Belgrade pitch where the Babes' last game was played; "wouldn't it be great to be able to run out there once more ?" he said, surveying the pitch, to the Munich airport terminal where the plane stopped to refuel, now abandoned and empty.

"Because of what happened when we left this building, Manchester United changed from a football club into an institution," he said, as acute a summary of the part the accident's mythology has played in United history as you will ever hear.

He went from the crash site, to the hospital, to the hotel where he and Bill Foulkes stayed that night. "Oh yes, this is the place all right, I remember that lift". At times, it was too much for him, and he had to ask for a spot of privacy to compose himself away from the lens' unstinting gaze.

"Do me a favour," he said, as he entered the terminal building. "Forget the camera for a moment or two, just let me walk for a bit." Tough it may have been, but you sensed he was glad to return, to meet people who had actually been there that night, the rescuers, the doctors, the farmer who came running over his field to help. There can't be many of them left.

The most striking part of the film, though, was saved until the end. In Belgrade, Gregg went to the home of the Lukic family. Vera Lukic, the wife of the Yugoslav attaché in London, he had met before. He had not realised until much later that she was pregnant when he had dragged her and her baby from the shattered fuselage. With the camera in attendance, he was introduced

for the first time to her son, Zoran, the unborn third member of the Lukic family whose life he had saved, now a 50-year-old man.

Gregg just sat on the family sofa, lost in thought, trying to get his head round the idea that a split-second decision not to run but to go back into the plane had been responsible for giving this man 50 years of life. "I don't know what to say," he said.

He didn't need to. Harry Gregg long ago proved that actions speak louder than words!

Every One Of Us

.........should realise how lucky we have been to see the greatest manager ever to
walk the planet, manage the club we all follow - Manchester United..

United did the double last year !! Champions of England and Champions of Europe but no one
seems to have celebrated it or even recognised the fact they did it. Probably because we have
had to put up with the precocious antics of Ronaldo, then listen to the idiot Sepp Blatter declare
all players are becoming slaves, albeit on £100,000 per week !! Then we had Euro 2008
followed by The Beijing Olympics and voila, here we are, another season begins.

I hear a lot of people putting Sir Fergie down, pushing aside his records and all he has achieved
with United. I think it's an English thing. They gave Capello 28 minutes into his first game with
England before booing them !! They love failure for some reason they even court it. They expect
to fail, then they fail, then they get bitter because they failed. In the same vein, they wont
recognise anything Fergie does until he is long gone !!

This is sad, a great shame. The simple truth is, no matter who believes it, Sir Alex Chapman
Ferguson CBE, is the greatest football coach/manager to ever walk this planet it's as simple as
that and there is no argument possible to even contest it !

In statistical terms, Ferguson's career is, quite simply, incredible and would be so even if it were
fiction. The end of last season brought him a tenth English league championship in 21 seasons as
United's manager. No other manager in English history even comes close: Bob Paisley won six
with Liverpool, Matt Busby five with United and Herbert Chapman four with Arsenal and
Huddersfield in the 1930s. If we look outside England, Rinus Michels won five league
championships (4 with Ajax and one with Barcelona) whilst Fabio Capello won seven (4 at AC
Milan, 2 at Real Madrid and another at Roma; another two at Juventus were taken off him
because he CHEATED !!!

Only in Scotland is Ferguson's achievement matched: Jock Stein, his friend and mentor, led
Celtic to 11 Scottish titles. All due respect to Scotland and their FA, but it's not quite as
competitive up there so I personally think Fergies achievements are a lot better.

In all, United have won 702 (58%) of the 1210 league games played under Ferguson to the end
of May 2008. That surpasses even the record of Matt Busby: 576 (50%) wins out of 1141
games. And Ferguson's teams lost only 18% of their competitive games, compared with 26%
under Busby. Since the inception of the Premier League, Ferguson's record has been even more
remarkable, beyond belief in fact.

In the 16 years of the Premiership, United have totalled 155 more league points than Arsenal,
their nearest challengers, 221 more than Chelsea and 244 more than Liverpool. That's nearly 10
points a season better than Arsenal on average,nearly 14 points better than Chelsea and more
than 16 points better than Liverpool - astonishing margins. In the process, United also played
the more attractive football consistently, averaging 1.97 goals per game (compared with 1.69 for
Arsenal, 1.58 for Chelsea, and 1.6 for Liverpool) and defended better (conceding 0.87 goals per
game compared with 0.88, 0.98 and 0.98 respectively for their main rivals).

If all that were not enough, Ferguson has also brought United two European Cups, a European
Cup-Winners Cup, five FA Cups (a record for a manager) and two League Cups, 20 major
trophies in all. Against that, Michels won a total of 14, Paisley 13, Capello 9, Busby 7 and
Chapman 6. But there's more. Before joining United in 1986, Ferguson led Aberdeen to 3 league
championships, 4 FA Cups, one League Cup and a European Cup-Winners Cup in Scotland.

There's also the matter of two European Super Cups (one with each club) and an Intercontinental
Cup (United became, so far, the only English winners of that trophy). That's 32
major trophies overall, ahead even of Stein's 29 in Scotland (and as I said achieved in a much
tougher competitive environment). Along the way, there have been three English League and
FA Cup doubles (the first to do it twice and then three times), and one League and European
Cup double. Above all, in 1999 Ferguson led United to the treble of League championship, FA
Cup and European Cup, the single greatest achievement by any club in English football history
and something unmatched in Europe's main leagues (England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France).

You could not make it up. However much partisanship might colour our perceptions of the
relative merits of the great managers, indisputably Ferguson stands pre-eminent in the history
of English and European football. Yet statistics do not give us the full substance of the man. It is
all too easy to forget, that Ferguson took over something of an empty shell in 1986, a club living
on fading memories of the Busby era, as much about tabloid notoriety as football achievement.

With a ferocity that many found difficult to live with, he removed the drinking culture that he
found, got rid of some outstanding players who had lost their way, confined the media to the
fringes of the club's business, resurrected the club's youth development system, built a
professional training and coaching system still unsurpassed in England, and demanded and got
(as the price of being at the club) a unity of purpose and clarity of focus that turned talented
players into winners.

Perhaps his greatest achievement has been that he has managed to blend the demands of a more
tactical and defensive modern game with the attacking verve and individual swagger established
by Busby as the United way of playing, a way that made a provincial club the best supported
team in the world.

It was a challenge that defeated previous United managers (including even Busby in his late
years) but Ferguson's teams have managed to provide plenty of scope for individual expression
within the framework of team organization.

Thus, players like Cantona, Giggs, Rooney, Ronaldo, Scholes, Sharpe, Yorke, Cole, Beckham,
Anderson and others have developed into artists who could stretch the imagination of those
lucky enough to watch them while they still played winning football.

These skills have been paraded through four successful United teams built by Ferguson.

If the first (1990-2) was something of a transitional side, the other three - 1993-4, 1999-2001
and 2006-8 - have all been great ones.

The treble in 1999 must rank that side as the greatest of them, indeed as the greatest in English
club history, not only for the magnitude of the success but also for the flair and style with which
it was done. It exemplified what all Ferguson's teams are about - skill and flair embedded in a
high level of organization and a ferocious team spirit.

All this makes Fergie something more than a successful coach and places him in the ranks of
those great managers who can 'build a club', as the saying goes, men like Michels, Stein, Shankly,
Clough, Nicholson, Wenger.

In this company, Busby stands supreme: we cannot begin to imagine what it took to turn a
bankrupt, provincial club without a stadium into one renowned throughout the world, to change
the idea of football in favour of youth and flair, to drag English football into Europe, to resurrect
the club after the Munich air crash (by contrast, Torino have never recovered fully after losing
their great team in a 1949 air crash) and to win the European Cup just a decade after Munich.

Yet Ferguson, too, belongs here, adapting the Busby legacy to new realities and taking the club
to new heights.

It is only in his relations with the media that Fergie can be considered less than successful. If it is
true he has had to deal with a more unscrupulous and contemptible press than any that Busby,
Shankly or Stein faced, it is also true that his constant conflicts with them have done neither
himself nor his club any favours. It has encouraged a sustained campaign against the club by the
London media so that United's enormous contribution to the community and to Unicef and other
charities gets a Chinese-government type media blackout !!! It has also led to a media caricature
of Fergie with little basis in reality but with a life of its own.

The ranting bully terrorizing his players does not square with their fierce loyalty to him
or with their unshakeable will to win games from seemingly hopeless
positions or with the flair and joy they so often bring to their play.

Nor does it square with the esteem in which he is held throughout football, or with the
appreciation by other managers of the support and generosity he accords them or, for that
matter, with the help and friendship he has extended to individual
journalists facing crises in their lives.

The wealth and fame he has achieved in football, and the political and business circles to which
he has access as a result, have not altered his friendships, most of which go back to his youth, or
his focus on family ties or his social values.

Perhaps that is a truer reflection of the nature of the beast than the media picture......

AND MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, ONCE HE'S RETIRED AND NO LONGER
THREATENS THEM THEY WILL FINALLY GIVE HIM HIS FULL DUE !!!