Nat Lofthouse, United and the 1958 FA Cup FinalMy oldest friend is a life-long Bolton Wanderers supporter. That’s why for more than fifty of the sixty-odd years I have known him we have argued about whether Nat Lofthouse, who sadly died earlier this month at the age of 85, fouled Manchester United’s goalkeeper Harry Gregg in the 1958 FA Cup Final when scoring his ‘controversial’ second goal.It was the first time I’d seen United live on TV, less than three months after the Munich Air Crash and I was inconsolable when Bolton won 2-0. At the age of twelve such things matter, as they have done for a further half-century
Of course it’s a totally futile, childish debate, enough to get others rolling their eyes, but that didn’t stop my latest salvo only days before Nat’s death. My brother had given me a copy of a magazine called ’World Sports’ from September 1958 which had a two-page spread all about the incident, ‘THE CHARGE…and the price’, by Dr Willy Meisl, one of the most respected authorities on football at that time as a former international goalkeeper for Austria. His words demolish the still widespread belief that by the standards of the time, when goalies got less protection from referees, it was somehow acceptable to crash into players from behind and knock them out. Willy Meisl argued that Lofthouse had not just fouled Gregg once when he barged him and the ball over the line, knocking him unconscious,severely bruising his back and giving him a black eye, he’d fouled him no less than three times. Of course I had to pass on this ‘shock new evidence’ to my friend, in the certain knowledge it would make absolutely no difference, as indeed it didn’t. For some reason he thinks United fans are ‘sore losers’, although surely not as sore as Harry Gregg that afternoon in May, 1958.
Sporting arguments of this kind are in many ways the lifeblood of friendship, an absurd but pleasurable ritual marinated by years of pointless repetition. It adds to the fun when a particular sporting incident such as this continues to have a half-life existence for years at the edge of national consciousness,as appears to be the case with the Lofthouse – Gregg clash. This was confirmed in the days after Nat’s death when the gratifyingly high profile television obituaries on ITV and BBC News and on Match of the Day focussed on that goalmouth barge, including footage from an angle I’d not seen before.
We’ll come to that 1958 Cup Final, but first I want to step back for a moment and mark with genuine respect the passing of this indisputably great and honoured opponent who remained a good friend of numerous United players, notably Sir Bobby Charlton who spoke movingly about his old friend when he heard the news of his death. Everyone at United who knew Nat Lofthouse recognised his qualities of down-to-earth honesty and physical courage which made him one of England’s finest Post-War centre forwards. If that hadn’t been the case, if he hadn’t been one of the best, the great ‘foul’ debate with my friend would have lost much of its resonance.
‘The Lion of Vienna’
Nat Lofthouse was that rarity, a one-club man, an ordinary working class man blessed with a lean but muscular frame, hard to knock off the ball, tenacious anywhere near goal with a thumping shot in both feet plus a formidable ability to rise above defenders and head the ball with ferocious power. He has an unrivalled position in Bolton’s history as their best and most popular player who maintained connections to the club long long after his retirement in 1960. He scored 255 league goals in 452 matches, all in the top division, and was elected Footballer of the Year in 1953 when he scored in every round taking the Wanderers to Wembley to face Blackpool in the FA Cup Final. He was then unlucky to see a 3-1 lead with twenty minutes remaining turned into a dramatic 4-3 defeat by the inspirational Stanley Matthews, made no easier by the awareness that neutral spectators were all willing Stan to get his cup-winner’s medal after years of trying.(See my Blackpool, Stanley Matthews and United’s ‘dwarf of football magic’)
Nat’s fame as a footballer put him in the very top rank in the 1950s, almost as much of a household name as players like England Captain Billy Wright and Tom Finney. Nat scored 30 goals in just 33 matches for England, the last one coming months after the ’58 cup final when the young Bobby Charlton, recent survivor of the Munich Disaster, was alongside him as an inside-right. But Nat’s almost folk-hero status comes from his performance in a rugged, often bad-tempered encounter with Austria in 1952. In a faint pre-echo of what happened to Harry Gregg six years later, Nat was knocked out by the Austrian goalkeeper in the act of scoring, having run for 50 yards with the ball, ignoring a series of ruthless hacks and trips as he roared on past desperate defenders before being clattered by the keeper as be scored. His courageous display that day against one of the very best teams in Europe earned him the timeless epithet, ‘The Lion of Vienna’. I was only 6 at the time, but I’d certainly heard of him, without necessarily understanding quite what it all meant. But in those days, if you thought of a classic,’old-fashioned’ school-boy hero centre forward, Nat Lofthouse would be a name on everyone’s lips.
The shadow of tragedy
However, despite his undoubted general popularity, by the time Nat Lofthouse was lining up against United at Wembley in 1958, he will have had that sinking feeling that, just like in 1953 when almost everyone wanted Stanley Matthews to get his winner’s medal, this time everyone who didn’t support Bolton would have been willing United to win. In the wake of the Munich disaster there had been a huge surge of public sympathy and support, which I was certainly part of, swelling with every passing week as the make-shift team of youngsters and traumatised survivors improbably won a series of intense and emotion-charged cup-ties taking United to the Final.
The Bolton players must have been all-too aware of this public mood, especially as many of them were themselves in awe of the Busby Babes who had trounced the Wanderers 7-2 at Old Trafford only a couple of weeks before the Air Crash. Roy Hartle, a defender that day remembered them fondly, as he told Greg Struthers:
‘They were on another waveband. They were so talented. Most sides have three or four talented players, they had many more’.
As the Bolton players approached Wembley for the final they could feel the emotion in the crowd.’There were tears shed on the coach,’ says Hartle, ‘and that included me. It was extremely difficult’ (Sunday Times, February 10, 2008).
To add to the swirl of sentiment one of the Bolton players, Dennis Stevens, was a cousin of the great Duncan Edwards, who had succumed to his injuries a couple of weeks after the Crash, the eighth player to die. This must have placed Stevens in an uncomfortable position, like so many of the other Bolton players that day who of course wanted to win a coveted FA Cup winner’s medal, but could hardly be immune to the swell of public opinion. Nat of course, as an England international also knew Duncan well, together with other former England team-mates, Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor who was beginning to supplant the older man in the national team.
However,beyond Munich Nat perhaps had his own reasons to reflect on sporting tragedy and death.
The Burnden Park Disaster 1946
By chance Lofthouse had been a player on the day of the Burnden Park Disaster of March 9th 1946 ( roughly a week before I was born). Bolton were at home to Stoke City in an FA Cup tie and there were more than 80,000 spectators crowding into the stadium, many drawn by the prospect of seeing the great Stanley Matthews, then still with the Potteries club. The official capacity of 65,000 was vastly exceeded, with catastrophic results. Terrace barriers broke under the strain, triggering a massive surge, plunging everyone into chaos and panic.Spectators were crushed and trampled to death in the scramble to get to safety. Thirty-three people were killed and over 500 injured in what was then the largest football disaster in Britain. On police advice the game continued, without an interval, even as the dead and wounded were being tended along the touchline. No goals were scored.
Although the story made all the front page headlines, by today’s standards there seems to have been a somewhat muted national reaction to this catastrophe, which is perhaps understandable in the wake of the Second World War, which had ended less than a year before. Hardened by the Blitz and the scale of killing on all fronts, it’s perhaps unsurprising if many people appeared to be more stoical and enduring in those days, although who can say at what cost? In some ways it was the same with Munich, when United just picked themselves up and carried on. But the hidden toll emotionally for everyone concerned must have been enormous, as we are only now beginning to understand.
For all his tough, chiselled exterior, there was perhaps always a hint of suppressed emotion with Nat Lofthouse who openly wept when he heard that his old England friend and club rival Stan Mortensen had died. ’Morty’ had of course scored a hat-trick against Bolton for Blackpool in the ’53 Cup Final. Moments like this help reveal that behind the public facade of rivalry on the pitch there were often heart-warming friendships across club boundaries then, as we’ll see later with Bobby Charlton and even Harry Gregg. Bill Foulkes, another Munich survivor who was the skipper against Bolton that day confirms that the players from both teams regularly used to socialise, Bolton being close to Manchester. Perhaps it was the quality of the pies.
1958 FA Cup Final: Bolton 2 Man United 0
Here is not the place to dwell on the details of this largely un-distinguished Cup Final, although I remember as I watched on my grandfather’s TV being alarmed by how much space United were giving Lofthouse on the wide expanse of Wembley’s turf. He looked dangerous from start to finish, all aggression and sharp edges. It was no surprise when he scored the first goal after only three minutes, opportunistically stabbing home a shot from close range before the United youngsters had quite got the feel of the game. No controversy about that, nor about the final outcome. No one could really say Bolton didn’t deserve to win the cup, even if disputation about the goal has endured till this day.
The facts of the second goal after 55 minutes are relatively straight-forward. Dennis Stevens had fired in a stinging shot which Gregg could only parry with his hands, pushing it up towards the crossbar. As he turned to catch it Lofthouse charged into his back, bundling him and the ball into the net.
Critics were quick to point out that it was an illegal barge because Lofthouse jumped at Gregg with his feet off the ground (as shown very clearly by all the film and still photos of the incident) and it was demonstrably not shoulder-to-shoulder, as Gregg took the full force of the charge in his back. Harry was possibly not in possession of the ball as Lofthouse piled into him, so one can understand why Nat went for it.
However, it was not just with hindsight that people were saying it was a foul, many said at the time that the goal should not have stood. As Willy Meisl concluded: ‘Three infringements, in my opinion – and not one of them penalised by referee Jack Sherlock! In fact what baffled me most was the unhesitating promptness with which he awarded a goal’.
Harry’s view
Harry Gregg hadn’t seen who had hit him and as he came round he asked who’d done it. When he was told it was Lofthouse he was ‘felt angry’, as he explained in his autobiography, ‘Wild about Football’ which was published in 1961. In a searingly honest passage, this is what he says about the clash:
‘I knew I had taken quite a battering – and the middle of the back isn’t recognised as a normal place for a shoulder charge. I believe Lofthouse has been a great club-man and one of the best leaders who ever pulled on an England jersey. I’m also prepared to believe that off the field there isn’t a more inoffensive fellow breathing. But that afternoon at Wembley, had I been given the ghost of a chance, I would have given Nat a taste of his own medicine, for I’d been hurt… You cannot ignore human nature and an explosive Irish temper. I had an eye that was already beginning to blacken, and I had a sore back. I was like a bear with a sore back too. Every time Lofthouse got the ball anywhere near my goal, I was dying for the chance to even the score….Nat never gave me the chance to even things up – we carried on a battle of words, instead. Afterwards, of course, I realised it was childish; but at the time anger overrode all other sentiments. I’m glad to say that when the match was over… I was ready to shake hands with Nat and forget…until the next time we met on a football field…’
Bobby’s view
Bobby Charlton witnessed events from the other end of the pitch, where he’d just come within inches of scoring an stunning equaliser against the run of play with a pile-driving 15-yarder which hit the post but flew into Bolton keeper Eddie Hopkinson’s arms. It was from his throw-out that Lofthouse’s second goal came about, as Bobby later graphically described:
‘No sooner had Hopkinson cleared the ball than Harry Gregg was grabbing it at the other end and as he grabbed it so Nat Lofthouse hit him like a runaway bulldozer that’s running on alcohol.’ (My Soccer Life, 1964)
Bobby said there was ‘a lot of pain around Wembley after that match’ , especially for Harry, who’d hurt his back in the charge. But sportingly Bobby never begrudged Nat his winner’s medal, having long admired him as a player since watching him in the very first Newcastle United match he had attended as a child at St James’ Park in the 1940s.
In his next book (he’s written several over the years) Bobby said little about the ’58 Final, merely referring to the second goal as ‘controversial’ . By now he was even more fulsome about Nat:
‘Bolton thoroughly deserved to win and I was really thrilled to see Nat Lofthouse receive the Cup from Prince Philip and then make his richly deserved procession of honour, hoisted on the shoulders of his team-mates – a wonderful sight’. (Forward for England, 1967)
As it happens the Bolton players themselves nearly pulled out of this traditional celebration, despite its time-honoured status as the peak moment in a player’s career. As Roy Hartle recalled at the time of the 50th anniversary of Munich, the Bolton celebrations on the pitch at Wembley were muted:
‘We were doing the lap of honour and Tommy Banks, who played full-back with me, said, “Shall we go?” I replied,”We might as well. This is not a happy thing to be doing”. We were in the course of going off the pitch when Bert Sproston, out trainer, said, “C’mon lads, this is a trip of a lifetime” He convinced us to complete the lap of honour’ (Sunday Times, February 10, 2008)
Banks and Hartle were both hardened, ‘old-school’ , dump ‘em in the cinder-track full-backs, not given to ‘after you, Claud’ niceties,but Bobby Charlton and some of his team-mates speak of them and other Bolton players with real affection and genuine friendship. One can only admire their awareness and consideration towards those affected by Munich ,especially at this high point of their own Bolton careers. Amazingly this sensitivity still endured 50 years later when Bolton cancelled a planned reunion of the ’58 Cup winning team in May 2008, as Hartle explained:
‘We were again in the situation where half would be cheering, and half not.It wasn’t quite the thing to do so we decided not to go ahead’.
By the time of his marvellous, award-winning 2007 book, ‘The Autobiography: My Manchester United Years’, Bobby Charlton hardly mentions the 1958 Final at all, and has no complaints about the goals or the result. It’s thus quite amusing to see him tweaking the old controversy one more time in his subsequent beautifully illustrated book, ‘My Life in Football’ in 2009. He mentions a live BBC-TV interview he did jointly with Nat before the Final on ‘Sportsview’ with Kenneth Wolstenholme, adding that,
‘I always got on well with Nat, who was terrific centre forward.That said, there is no doubt his charge on our ‘keeper Harry Gregg which produced their second goal was a foul, but that’s another story!’
More philosophically he reflected on that Cup Final defeat:
‘Of course we were disappointed , but what was winning or losing a football match compared to what had recently happened to us? The important thing was we had survived and we had proved we could still function at the top level’.
Looking for revenge
Meanwhile, although Bobby managed to keep things in perspective over the cup final defeat, that was far from the case with Harry Gregg, who was still seething with anger a couple of years later. In his second autobiography ‘Harry’s Game’ (2002) Gregg reveals that Nat had admitted to him after the match that it had been a foul but that did little to alleviate his sense of injustice: ‘I swore to get my revenge’.
His chance came in October 1960 at Burnden Park, in a match that turned out to be the last time Nat played against United. I vividly recall seeing the highlights on the BBC’s ‘Sports Special’ show that night, keenly looking out for signs of hostility between the old adversaries. I have to admit I didn’t spot anything untoward, although Harry certainly played a blinder, leaping and diving and jumping fearlessly as he always did to make spectacular saves. I was thus startled to read Harry’s account of what happened that day, written over 40 years later.
1 October 1960: Bolton 1 United 1
Nat was returning from long-term injury and was partnered up front by a Northern Ireland international team-mate of Harry’s, Billy McAdams. Early in the game Harry and Nat went up for a high ball together and as they came down Harry grabbed Nat’s ankle, and ‘tried to twist his bloody leg off. He screamed - I let go’.
Watching on TV at home I was completely oblivious of all this, or Harry’s next effort a little later in the game. Again Harry went up for a high ball, and when he caught a glimpse of white shirt he ‘hit it with everything I had’. The game was stopped as the forward went crashing down, only it wasn’t Nat Lofthouse, it was Billy McAdams ‘lying in a heap with a busted face’. Harry was mortified.
‘Seeing my Northern Ireland team-mate and friend in a crumpled mess on the ground I vowed to draw a line under my personal vendetta with the Lion of Vienna.’
Reading Harry’s account of this match so many years after seeing the BBC highlights it’s hard to square them with what I remember. Nat had been out injured for over 17 months so I was excited but full of trepidation when it was announced that he was making his come-back. But I was even more keen to see the latest Babe coming up through the ranks, a certain 17-year old right half called Norbert Stiles who was making his debut. (I’d never come across this name ‘Norbert’ before, and now United had two, Messrs Stiles and Lawton, both universally known as Nobby, which I thought hilarious). The other thing I was looking out for was the positional switch - for the first time - of Bill Foulkes from right back to centre half, hoping it might finally shore up our frequently disintegrating defence. Of course I wasn’t to know it at the time but these two developments involving Stiles and Foulkes were to lay the defensive foundations for United’s extraordinary success later in the decade.
‘Busby’s master-stroke foils Lofthouse scoring threat’
It’s fascinating to re-read the Daily Express report of the match which was remarkably perceptive about Foulkes who was to remain in this central position for the rest of his long career:
‘The red carpet was out for Nat Lofthouse…but only in the sense that everyone was glad to see him back. ..Nat found it so tough he couldn’t find a chance to score the goal that would have “sent” the Burnden fans with delight. And the big boy who was out to foil Nat’s big day was another old-timer full of guts, fighting heart and Soccer know how…fearless Bill Foulkes. I made Bill the winner of this battle…This time the (manager Matt) Busby move, in itself a tribute to Nat, was the perfect answer.The switch of Foulkes to centre-half from full-back was such a challenge to Foulkes that he found the speed, the vigour and the timing that United have so long sought in this trouble spot. In short…a first rate success’. (Daily Express, 3 October, 1960)
The reporter was equally full of praise for our little Nobby, whose lack of false teeth and victory jig when England won the World Cup six years later endeared him to that part of the nation which could get past hatred of all things United. I too was excited by what I saw, a performance of drive, energy and fearlessness.The report correctly said ‘the youngster… stole a big part of the limelight’:
‘..Here was at once an eye-opener and a resounding reminder that the Old Trafford assembley line can still do the trick. For Stiles, playing his first league game was magnificent…This shock- haired boy with the confident “head in air” gait, began to show his style, his craft, his ability to use the ball and mould attacks.’
Billy McAdams opened the scoring for Bolton early in the first half but otherwise United were the dominant side, equalising after the interval when Nobby laid on a goal to his Irish pal John Giles, himself only 18 ( and who was later his brother-in-law). United had two other 17-year-olds, winger Ian Moir and left-half Jimmy Nicholson, a particular favourite of mine. (Later that evening Moir earned ten shillings from Maurice Setters for babysitting, as perhaps befits an aspiring Babe).
So what of the Harry Gregg acts of vengeance? Did the press notice anything?
The Express certainly noticed when Harry brought down Billy McAdams when ‘he clutched Bill round the legs’ to concede a penalty, but there is no hint of violence, just an attempt to win the ball. And there is nothing about twisting Nat Lofthouse’s leg. Nor does Frank McGhee’s report in the Daily Mirror mention any attempted assaults, only praise for Foulkes, Stiles and the other United lads as they kept Nat at bay.
In fact the incident I most remember from the match was the Bolton penalty kick, taken by our old pal Roy Hartle after McAdams was brought down by Gregg. Roy hit it straight down the middle as Harry dived to his right but the ball struck Harry’s boot and flew upwards to McAdams who steered a firm header towards the left hand corner only to see Gregg hurl himself back across the goal at the last second to turn it round the post with outstretched finger tips . It was a brilliant piece of theatre, exactly why Gregg was always such a favourite of mine. Needless to say his sweater was rolled partially up his forearms, exactly as I always wore mine in homage to the great man.
No sign of violence that day, as far as I can remember, just a satisfying draw away from home with promising performances from the teenagers in the great tradition of the Babes. So I really don’t know what to make of Harry’s tales of revenge, forty years after the event.
I have speculated before that Harry may have been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following Munich, on top of his own admitted ‘survivor guilt’. That might explain in part the anger that genuinely seemed close to the surface throughout his career, as when I witnessed him assault a spectator at Luton Town in April1960 (See my: Hitting the Fan with United (Part One): Homage to Harry Gregg).
Fortunately in relation to Nat Lofthouse he does appear to have calmed down eventually, regardless of what happened in that last game Nat played against United, soon after which Nat retired. Harry later good-humouredly appeared on the TV show ‘This is Your Life’ to celebrate Nat’s glittering career. He made a joke of the ’GBH’ Nat had supposedly committed against him in that Cup Final and they greeted each other as old friends, Nat calling Harry ’Greggy’.
As we mark the passing of the great Nat Lofthouse, perhaps we should end with Harry Gregg’s final words about him in his honest and revealing memoirs:
‘There are no bad feelings between us. I respect him enormously as a footballer and a man”
That is surely how it should be.
Man Utd News 24/7
Brilliant piece, as usual…with your memories, have you considered writing a book about the history of Utd? It would be a corker, I’m sure!
A fitting tribute from Giles to a legend. RIP Nat Lofthouse even though he done old Harry Gregg lol.
Great read Giles, brilliant stuff as usual.
a great read as always. thank you Giles Oakley
Brilliant! Don’t think any of those other “ghosts” who frequent RoM have got the quality or knowledge to write about a player from their own club, not to say an opposition player, with the same eloquence.
Captivating piece.
Rafael only fined, no extra ban. I’m quite surprised actually.
Giles Oakley you legend
great piece giles! Thanks for sharing with us.
great read, puts it all in perspective.
hope me & my mates are still around in 50 years to argue over games played today.
Great read Giles. Now we know what you have been up to these last couple of weeks!
Without a doubt this is one of the best things that I have read since the passing of ‘Sir’ Nat, and written by an opposition fan as well, which gives it a unique perspective. Obviously, I’d agree with your friend that it wasn’t a foul all day long, but the sentiments shown in your piece by the players and yourself prove, if proof is needed, in what high esteem Nat is held in football. Thank you.
Nat Lofthouse had a long and illustrious career. He had to work incredibly hard to achieve what he did. When he first signed as a amateur for Bolton Wanderers, he was also working down the mines, often putting in a 10 hour shift before training. His goals per game ratio for his club was exceptional and his goals per game ratio for England will never be beaten. A great footballer and a great man has passed away and all you do is to reduce his career to one incident against United. I think you should hang your head in shame
I really well written piece but what else would we expect from you.
I have to say that despite Gregg and Charltons equanimity at the end of the game, as a fan I can’t be the same and I wasn’t even born then, its a good example to the naysayers who say the modern game is full of cheats when that game shows that there was as much underhand tactics employed to win a game of football as there ever was or will be and that’s not just to point out Bolton as particular exponents its just most commentators employ a revisionist rosy spectacled view when looking at the good old days when sadly it was never so.
That said Nat Lofthouse was only operating within the rules that allowed that kind of thing to go unpunished so no blame on his shoulders and it also shows that referees where as useless then as they are today.
Giles, great writing as always, cheers!
Nice to see your letter in the Grauniad a few weeks ago re: Harry Gregg
Thank you for your input Warry, it’s likely you are alone in that thought. This article provided me with more insight into Nat Lofthouse and the role he played in a United fans life than any other I have read. If you would like to draw our attention to any other aspects of Nat Lofthouse you could write a blog and post a link here.
Giles Oakley
Thank you once again. I always enjoy the pieces you write.
With regard to life-long fan-feuds between the best of friends; they are the essence of supporting football. Slow motion replays have failed to extinguish any controversies, rather they fan the flame.
Giles – I’d like to hear your thoughts on Ray Wood. An unsung hero, that many United fans probably haven’t heard of before.
Warry, I am sorry if you think I reduced Nat’s career to one incident, which was certainly not my intention. I had hoped the section about his contribution as a Bolton and England player, with his goal-scoring stats for both , plus mention of how he came to be known as The Lion of Vienna, followed by him being elected Player of the Year in ’53 having scored in every round to get to the FA Cup Final was a reasonably fair summary of his marvellous life as a Bolton footballer. I had also hoped that the quotes from Sir Bobby Charlton and Harry Gregg about their admiration for him as a player and a man would also speak volumes. Clearly not loudly enough, so I apologise. I really did intend this piece to honour his memory, while evoking some sense of how United fans like myself felt about that Cup Final. Emotions were running high then, for obvious reasons, and I was also trying to pay tribute to Roy Hartle and Tommy Banks and other Bolton players for the way they handled that uniquely difficult situation. I really was trying to write in a peaceful spirit – more Bobby than Harry!
Meanwhile, thanks for the positive comments, especially Quentin X, and of course the United fans here. Its important to me that real supporters enjoy my pieces. Several people have now suggested turning some of these pieces a book, and it’s certainly something I would be happy to do, obviously with Scott’s blessing as it was him who generously invited me to write at length for RoM in the first place.
Willierednut, I never saw Ray Wood play of course, and I have only seen fleeting footage of him in action, including his ill-fated appearance in the 1957 FA Cup Final. Of course one of the additional reasons United fans were so upset in ’58 was because it was the second year running when poor refereeing had contributed to United’s defeat. In ’57 Aston Villa’s Peter McParland (ironically a pal of Harry Gregg’s) charged Wood as he gathered the ball, hitting him in the face with his shoulder, breaking his jaw, effectively reducing United to ten men after only 6 minutes. Jackie Blanchflower , the centre half went in goal and Duncan Edwards went back into defence, severely weakening United’s attacking options. McParland then scored twice, with Tommy Taylor getting one back near the end, but the Busby Babes had lost the opportunity of winning the first League & FA Cup Double of the 20th century. For many of them they never had another cahnce.
As for Rray Wood, he was apparently a terrific shot-stopper and was very agile, but sometimes uncertain in dealing with crosses. He was injured at Munich, never really regained his form and was transferred to Huddersfield, where he became increasingly embittered about what had happened to him. He was one of those survivors who felt United had not treated them well or compensated them adequately. He became difficult to live with and was divorced by his wife, who also felt a deep sense of grievance towards United. Another of the forgotten victims of Munich, I suppose, he died a couple of years ago.
Giles – Thanks Sir. I remember my old man talking about Ray Wood, sounds like he had a rough time of It, after he left United. We certainly didn’t get the rub of the green on those two occasions. There’s no way Mcparland and Lofthouse goals would stand in todays game.
Giles thank you. Nat rest in peace,
As a post-script to Giles recollections may I add that the 1957/8 season turned out to be the best season in the history of Bolton Wanderers.
Not only did they win the FA Cup, but they finished 4th in the old 1st Division.
In the two games v UTD, the first one at Burnden Park in October 1957, Bolton won 4-0, which I believe is still Bolton’s largest post-war victory over UTD. In the return match at Old Trafford played at the end of January 1958 – I believe this was UTD’s last match at home before Munich – UTD won 7-2, well and truly getting revenge for the humiliating defeat in October. Duncan Edwards scored from the spot and hit the ball so hard he broke the hand of the goal-keeper.
The following week UTD played Arsenal at Highbury in what was the last match the Babes played in England before Munich. The score finished 5-4 to the Reds.
And so onto Belgrade where the team played their last game together. Finding themselves 0-3 down at half-time. UTD’s fighting spirit saw them come back to finish the game 3-3.
So in UTD’s last 3 games before Munich, they scored 15 goals but conceded 9.
A record that cemented their reputation as being one of the most exciting teams to watch of all time.
A lovely piece – thanks for posting.
RCM
Giles
Just read your piece
Absolutely wonderful – incredible insight of a certain time long gone – thank you for sharing such memories recollections.
Read it twice*
Bolton fan in peace, excellent article & as REDSCOT advised so good I read it twice. I was to young to have seen Sir Nat play, but met him on many an occasion, he was such a nice man and a true gentleman. Sadly there are not many of his ilk left, Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Tom Finney two that spring to mind but after them I’m struggling to find people with such an association to one club. I was in the Old Man & Scythe in Bolton shortly before his funeral on Wednesday, having a drink with Tommy Docherty who called Nat a legend, to us Boltonians he had been a legend for a long time but to hear the Doc say it brought a tear to my eye. RIP Nat you were a Legend.
Many thanks for your comment, wovland. I was pleased to see that Nat’s funeral got lots of covereage and that he got such a fantastic turnout. As a United fan I was very pleased that Sir Bobby spoke with genuine warmth and affection for the great man. It’s an over-used term but Nat truly was a Legend and I’m glad that as a Bolton supporter, and someone who had met Nat, you liked my article.