MANCHESTER UNITED DARKEST HOUR

 

Broken in he twisted wreckage

The victims of Munich’s winter carnage

Crashing in the snow and ice

There would have to be a fearful price

And when the bill was finally reckoned

Deaths reaper grimly beckoned

Towards the twenty-three poor souls

That appeared on his fearsome rolls

Young men cut down in their prime

Older ones who thought they’d more time

Were all taken from that grisly place

To feel the breath of heaven on their face

Taking the souls who died in the snow

To where the innocents and the heroes go

JIMMY MURPHY 6TH FEBRUARY 1958

 

In those brief moments,

Jimmy was happy,

On top of the world.

He had reached the pinnacle

Wales in the World Cup Finals

United in the European semis

Life was good

Life was very good indeed

 

Then the news came

Of a crash in the snow

And suddenly

Life wasn’t so good.

Information,

Patchy at first

Trickled in,

Not all reliable

Miss information

Spread like the plague,

Then the facts emerged

From amongst the fictions

So many dead

So many lost

And for the living

Life would never be the same

 

Jimmy blamed himself

For being so smug

For being so happy

For being alive

A TALE OF HEROES

 

Young heroes returning

From a far-off foreign field

With hard fought victory won

Where the valiant refused to yield

 

Like heroes from Homers Iliad

Exalted in the legends

But in the Germanic snows

The heroes journey ends

 

As the Gods of winter struck

Fire and ice took its toll

And the names were duly writ

Upon an eternal honour roll

 

Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne (Capt)

Duncan Edwards, Billy Whelan

David Pegg, Tommy Taylor

Mark Jones and Eddie Colman

 

ACED

 

My uncle sadly died at Wimbledon

He was a killed by a tennis ball

I wasn’t too sad at the funeral

It was a lovely service after all

THE BEST IN THE WORLD

 

I won’t hear a word against our tennis players

It’s true that they certainly have their detractors

But I have always thought British players

Make truly world-class tennis commentators

BOTLEY BILLY

 

 

Billy Casey is the Botley United F.C. team captain
He’s just bettered his club scoring record again
In ninety matches he’s now scored twenty-three
He’s second highest scorer now just behind o.g

JOHN JAMES "JOHNNY" BERRY (1 JUNE 1926 – 16 SEPTEMBER 1994)

 

The Forgotten Babe

John James "Johnny" Berry

Survived the wreckage

Amidst the snows of Munich

Though the crash didn’t end his life

He never played again

JOHN "JACKIE" BLANCHFLOWER (7 MARCH 1933 – 2 SEPTEMBER 1998)

 

Nicknamed "Twiggy"

John "Jackie" Blanchflower

Survived the wreckage

Amidst the snows of Munich

Though the crash didn’t end his life

It did bring his footballing career

To an untimely end

IN TRAGEDIES WAKE – MUNICH 1958

 

At Old Trafford

In tragedies wake

In the eerie quiet

The terraces echoed

The mournful silence

And even the empty

Seats shed tears

For The busby babes

A MARK OF RESPECT – ARE YOU LISTENING LEEDS UTD

 

In the aftermath of Munich

All of football felt the loss

In an altogether more

Caring and respectful time

When fans of all teams

Out of respect, wore black

And stadia were universally quiet

CALLOUS UNITED - GREGG AND FOULKES

 

Manchester United’s

Callous attitude

So cold and harsh

Towards the survivors

Beggared belief

And was never more

Keenly felt than when,

Only days after

The Munich Disaster

Gregg and Foulkes,

Though traumatised

And grieving and feeling

The guilt of the survivor

Were forced to play

Afterwards Harry Gregg

And Bill Foulkes

Forced to play too soon

With the guilt of the survivor

Sat in the dressing room

Staring with empty eyes