Little Book of Manchester United (20 page)

*Local lad Dennis Viollet, a Munich survivor who served United well.

He made 291 appearances in League and Cup competitions scoring a total of 178 goals. He was forced to make way for Denis Law in 1962 and was transferred to Stoke City for £25,000. In more than 200 games he scored 66 goals before leaving in 1967 to play in the North American Soccer League for Baltimore Bays.

Viollet returned home after 18 months and continued to play football in Northern Ireland and for non-League Witton Albion. He coached at Preston and Crewe before returning to America. He returned to Munich in 1997 along with other survivors as a guest of UEFA to attend the European Cup Final.

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Whelan

Bert Whalley spotted William Whelan (born 1 April 1935) in 1953 playing with Home Farm FC, the famous Dublin nursery. Liam showed tremendous ball control and would leave opposition defenders stunned with sudden shots. His first match for United was in the 1953 FA Youth Cup Final which they won against Wolves, but he did not enjoy his first-team debut until March 1955.

*William ‘Liam’ Whelan, an Irish prodigy who perished at Munich.

Matt Busby was anxious about Whelan’s lack of confidence. He was a modest player and unsure of his talents, but he won Championship medals in 1956 and 1957 and four caps for Ireland. He was United’s leading League scorer in 1956-57 with 26 goals in 39 matches. Despite losing his position as inside-forward to Bobby Charlton, Whelan had travelled to Belgrade with the team in February 1958 and was killed at Munich.

Whiteside

Norman Whiteside is another Belfast lad to have made it to United. Born 7 May 1965, by the age of ten he had scored more than 100 goals in one season for his school. He went on to be the youngest player, aged 17, to score for United in a match against Stoke City. Sammy McIlroy declared he was “…a man well before his time. We used to joke that he was nine before he was born.”

Whiteside was discovered by the same scout as George Best, Bob Bishop, who brought him to Old Trafford as a 13-year-old schoolboy in 1978. He signed professionally for the club in 1981, making his debut, aged just 16, in 1982 as a substitute for United at Brighton. By the age of 20, he had appeared in the World Cup Finals and was on the winning side of FA Cup victories on two occasions. His greatest moment came in the 1985 FA Cup Final when, deep into extra time, he charged down the pitch at Wembley and scored a stunning goal, from what many believed was an impossible angle, to win the Cup for United.

*Norman Whiteside on the ball for United, 1985.

He was an extremely competitive footballer with a fiery temper, culminating in several suspensions and the press nickname of ‘Nasty Norman’. Despite playing again in the 1986 World Cup Finals, Whiteside’s form was suffering and he struggled with his fitness. He was sold to Everton in 1989 for £75,000, but a knee injury after two years forced early retirement at the age of 26. He left football in 1992 to pursue a career as a podiatrist.

World Club Championship

United caused a public outcry by refusing to defend the FA Cup when they withdrew from the 1999-2000 competition (with the approval of the FA) to compete in the World Club Championship in Rio de Janeiro. The argument was put forward that they entered under pressure from the government, who saw it as supporting England’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup. Three games in six days in the searing heat did not improve United’s chances of claiming the trophy.

*Dwight Yorke tussles with Amaral during the Vasco da Gama match in the World Club Championship, 2000.

A Dwight Yorke goal earned a draw against Rayos del Necaxa while Nicky Butt scored the consolation goal as United went down 3-1 to Vasco de Gama. Two Quinton Fortune goals in the final group match against South Melbourne meant that although they didn’t qualify for the next phase, they did end the trip with a victory.

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X-Tra Time

Over the years, Manchester United have been involved in drawn Cup matches that have required replays to decide a winner but extra-time can provide a much more exciting finale. In 1887, however, Newton Heath were scratched from the FA Cup following their refusal to play extra-time after a 2-2 draw with Fleetwood Rangers.

When there is no possibility of a replay (becoming more and more common with the modern congested fixture list) and extra-time has been unable to provide a clear winner, the match has to be decided by a penalty shoot-out. United suffered in this manner for the first time in the FA Cup when they lost a second-round replay to Southampton in 1992-93. The 2004-05 FA Cup Final was also memorably decided in this fashion after United had dominated arch-rivals Arsenal during the game but had been unable to find the decisive strike.

*Ruud van Nistelrooy celebrates scoring in the penalty shoot-out during the FA Cup Final against Arsenal, May 2005.

Although not technically extra-time, injury time can play a major factor in the result as well. This is easily demonstrated in United’s home Premiership clash with Sheffield Wednesday in April 1993. Trailing to a 64th-minute John Sheridan penalty, Steve Bruce popped up in the penalty area to head home the equaliser with four minutes left. It was Bruce who was again on target, heading in the winner six minutes and 12 seconds into injury time.

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Youth Team

It was Matt Busby who pioneered the successful tradition of spotting talent in schoolboys and nurturing them. With the introduction of the FA Youth Cup in 1953 came United’s domination of the early years of the competition as the Busby Babes went on to win it five times in succession.

*George Best, another home-grown superstar.

Following their initial win, the team – including future stars Bobby Charlton and Duncan Edwards – was invited to attend the 1953-54 Blue Stars International Youth Tournament in Zurich. The next crop of youngsters to claim the title included George Best, David Sadler and John Aston Junior in 1963-64 and it would be another 18 years before a United youth team again graced the Final. Following Alex Ferguson’s restructuring of the Old Trafford youth system, the trophy was brought back to Old Trafford in 1992, this time with a side including Nicky Butt, the Neville brothers, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs.