Jimmy Murphy, the man who helped rebuild Manchester United after the Munich air disaster

The name Jimmy Murphy can be found all around Manchester United. The youth building at United’s Carrington training ground is named in his honour, as is the club’s young player of the year award. Now a statue is being unveiled outside Old Trafford, close to the Stratford End, to commemorate his legacy: it is no exaggeration to say that there might not be a Manchester United were it not for Murphy.

The Welshman was Sir Matt Busby’s loyal assistant and the duo developed a formidable partnership, taking the club to back-to-back league titles in 1956 and 1957. The pair met during the Second World War while deployed in Italy, where Busby was impressed by a speech his fellow footballer Murphy gave to some troops, and after the conflict Busby hired Murphy and charged him primarily with coaching the club’s young players, many of whom formed the Busby Babes.

But their success was cut short by the Munich air disaster in February 1958.

Twenty-three of the 40 passengers died when a flight carrying the Manchester United team, staff and journalists crashed on its third attempt to take off from Munich-Riem Airport in snowy conditions. The plan failed to gather enough speed due to slush on the runway and crashed into a house after sliding across a road.

Murphy was not onboard – he had been away in his other role managing Wales, and the coach who took his place on the trip, Bert Whalley, died in the crash. After Wales beat Israel in their World Cup qualifier in Cardiff, Murphy returned to an eerily quiet Old Trafford where his secretary told him the news.

“It never struck me at all and I poured another drink,” Murphy later recalled. “So she said it again, and she started to cry. Then it struck me very vividly. I thought, god no. The last thing I thought was a plane crash. I cried myself for 20 minutes, I couldn’t realise it. It’s hard to lose players you’ve brought up and almost lived with.”

Murphy flew to Munich the next morning with the families of those involved. He visited the seriously injured Duncan Edwards, United’s most talented young player, who in his confusion asked Murphy what time was kick-off. Edwards would become the eighth United player to lose his life in the disaster when he died two weeks later.

open image in gallery

It was left to Murphy to lead what remained of the team while Busby recovered in hospital – the manager told his assistant to “keep the flag flying”. Murphy was defiant in the face of doubts from the club’s board over whether United should continue their season, or even continue at all. He steered reserve players and two survivors – goalkeeper Harry Gregg and new captain Bill Foulkes – to an emotional 3-0 FA Cup win over Sheffield Wednesday 13 days later.

“The Red Devils will rise again,” he said. “It will be a long, tiring job to rebuild the Red Devils. This time, we’ll have to start practically from scratch. But we’ll do it. This I do know – United was and will again be a great club. We have the greatest club spirit in the world.”

Murphy took United to the FA Cup final that year, less than three months after the disaster. Busby, who had been recuperating in Switzerland, returned home for the first time to sit on the bench and watch the 2-0 defeat by Bolton Wanderers at a packed Wembley Stadium. Busby resumed control and the duo did exactly as Murphy vowed they would, restoring United’s greatness, winning league titles in 1965 and 1967, and the club’s first European Cup in 1968.

Murphy never sought the limelight and turned down a string of high-profile head coach jobs including Arsenal and even Brazil – the only one he ever did take on, Wales, saved his life. He continued to scout for the club through the 1970s, and died in 1989, but his legacy lives on at the training ground and now at the stadium, and every time Manchester United play.