Manchester United After Munich: How Tragedy Forged One of the World’s Greatest Football Clubs by Wayne Barton

Author:Wayne Barton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781399413831
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2025-10-07T00:00:00+00:00

Alfredo Di Stefano scores an extravagant goal past Harry Gregg in one of the friendlies arranged between Manchester United and Real Madrid

9 ALEX, MARK, ALBERT AND KENNY

‘We are perhaps all trying a little too hard at present and the smell of success would help us.’

‘Manchester United have had it so good for so long that they are all at sixes and sevens when they are up against it.’

On the final day of the 1959/60 season, Alex Dawson was hopeful of scoring at least one goal against Everton at Old Trafford – which would take him to the remarkable landmark of 50 goals over the campaign for senior and reserve side. Thirty-seven goals had been struck for the second string, so, when Dennis Viollet’s injury brought a premature end to his own prolific season, Dawson was a natural replacement. His brace at Luton was followed by a goal at Upton Park and then a last-minute winner against Blackburn. Two at home to West Ham had made it six goals in four games – but as the final match ticked over the hour mark goalless, it looked as if Matt Busby’s side would be labouring to only their second scoreless game of the season. The other had been in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford, in the first match to be played on the anniversary of Munich.

However, that all changed in the 67th minute, when Dawson got the goal he had been hunting, and then United turned on the style with one of the increasingly familiar goal flurries. Warren Bradley scored in the 73rd minute, Dawson netted again in the 75th, Albert Scanlon made it four in the 86th minute – and there was still time right at the end for Dawson to get his hat-trick and make it 5–0. This was a fine flourish to conclude the season and a suggestion that all the longer-term Munich-related issues within Busby’s squad were now, finally, starting to settle.

Certainly, as far as the following season was concerned, most of the rumours of the summer were centred around who would be coming in, as opposed to talk of any outgoings, even though these would surely be inevitable. After all, Maurice Setters’ arrival had meant a low-key departure for Freddie Goodwin, who moved to Leeds for £10,000. As this story begins to focus on some of the players whose careers didn’t hit the heights they perhaps should have as a result of Munich, Goodwin’s is a perfect example of those which get undervalued. He had stepped into the breach in United’s most affected area of the team, half-back, and had performed admirably in his 80 appearances or so since 6 February, 1958. He had been in the team against Sheffield Wednesday. He’d played in the final against Bolton. He’d been in that tie against AC Milan. He’d been in the 4–0 humbling by Wolves, and he’d been a permanent member of the team in the fine run which took the post-Munich side to an improbable finish of second.

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