Product Description

On 6 February 1958, a plane took off from a snowy Munich airport carrying probably the finest club side the world has ever known. Moments later, the aircraft crashed, killing some of the most legendary names in British football. This book is dedicated to those players - Roger Byrne, Tommy Taylor, the mighty Duncan Edwards and the others whose lives were cut off in their prime - and their indomitable manager, Sir Matt Busby. Max Arthur has sought out all the players who survived the crash and spoken to the relatives and friends of those who died. From these interviews, sometimes serious but often humorous, he has captured their remarkable spirit and created a unique portrait of all the Busby Babes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96565 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
'A unique and fitting tribute to an unforgettable team' - Sir Matt Busby 'I can think of no better way to pay [the Busby Babes] tribute than with the fine collection of interviews Max Arthur has woven together in this book, which tell the story of this set of iconic players from the point of view of those who knew and played with them and who cherish their memory still' - Sir Alex Ferguson

About the Author
Max Arthur is a lifetime supporter of Manchester United. He is this country's leading oral historian and the author of the classic work, Forgotten Voices of the Great War. His most recent book, Last Post: The Final Words from our First World War Soldiers was the biggest selling history book of 2006.

Customer Reviews

A wonderful tribute to a fantastic team
In his remarkable tribute to Sir Matt Busby's first team of Busby Babes, Max Arthur skilfully interweaves memories of that great team with the personal, poignant and often highly moving testimonies of the players who survived the Munich crash. Taking on the perspectives of the survivors and also profiling players such as Tommy Taylor, Duncan Edwards, Eddie Colman and the others who perished, the book provides an all round, complete view of what many consider the greatest Manchester United team ever. I have read Max Arthur's Forgotten Voices series and he brings to this book the same skills, empathy and deftness of touch employed before, providing an emotionally charged and worthy memorial to that fantastic but tragically short lived Manchester United team. With forewords by both Sir Alex Ferguson and the late Sir Matt Busby, `Busby Babes - Men of Magic' proves a great testament to the spirit of the Babes.

What do you want from this book?
Potential buyer, you face a key decision: what do you want from a book about the Busby Babes? I'll coem back to that point.
This 2008 reprint of Max Arthur's 1983 book provides a chapter for each player, a format I found very attractive because, being born after 1958, only a few of the players are distinct individuals in my mind - Charlton, Edwards, Taylor and to a lesser extent Byrne and Gregg. The others are (with due respect) just a list of names to me and I hoped this would bring out the players as individuals. The system works up to a point - for example, Mark Jones emerges as a colourful character. However, there are several problems. First, unavoidably, many of the players had only just beguin their adult lives and hence (in a way) there isn't a lot to write about. Second, in an age quite different to our own, these young men seem to have had fairly similar experiences - keen lads, spotted playing for their school, signed by United, into digs, a year in the reserves, and a sudden and unexpected debut.
The third problem is perhaps the most fundamental. Max Arthur is a noted popular historian who has most famously authored books based on recorded interviews with soldiers about their wartime experiences. This book is also based on conversations and interviews, seemingly since Munich. This has two effects. First, rather obviously, this gives most weight to the survivors (even more to the survivors who were willing to speak). For example, Dennis Viollet, Bill Foulkes and Harry Gregg get 44 pages between them, whereas Kenny Morgans, Liam (Billy) Whelan, David Pegg and even Duncan Edwards get four pages each and Geoff Bent only gets two! Second, as has been observed before, "Only the good die young" and it should come as no surprise to learn that nobody wishes to speak ill of the dead. I am not for one moment suggesting by that comment that I believe there is anything serious left unsaid, but I felt I was being presented with the images of the men. Do these images reflect reality? It's probably impossible to say at this distance from the event.
So I come back to my question: what do you want from this book (or any book about the Babes)? I was hoping for something that distinguished the players in my mind, and I was partly disappointed: there just isn't enough about some of them and this makes the book a bit unbalanced. I also wanted a balanced view of them but found 180 pages of non-stop praise a bit much.
I've given it 4 stars because it is as good as a book based on conversations after Munich could be. However, I would have much preferred a book with a wider perspective.