It was billed as ‘the most infamous Manchester United post-war home programme in existence’, and one has to read the small printed dates, ‘February 8’ and ‘1957-8’ to know why.
The match against Wolves did not take place on this day, and many of the players listed in the team sheet of the programme never played another game, following the air crash in Munich on February 6 as the team were returning from a hard fought draw in the European quarter final tie against Belgrade.
In that eerie lacuna between the crash taking place and news of it reaching Manchester, this programme (featuring a cover photograph of Manchester’s FA Cup tie against Ipswich) and between 30,000-40,000 others for the game on Saturday were running off the presses at Nicholls factory, although once the news had been relayed all the programmes were ordered to be destroyed.
However, some of the programmes were presumably removed by the printers, as around 18 copies have surfaced in public collections or at auctions over the years. This example sold to a private collector bidding on the telephone at £4200 (plus 15 per cent premium).
Rare football programme stirs memories of Munich air crash
UK: MANCHESTER United may be the most successful football team in the world at present, but it was a reminder of the most tragic event in the history of the club which stirred bidders at Phillips sale of the Leslie Millman collection of team programmes and memorabilia at Old Trafford on April 10-11.
