The grandchild of Irish refugees who had fled during the famines of the 1840s and 1870s, Matt Busby climbed to the top of the footballing world as a manager, overcoming incredibly tragedies to do so.
After a storied career at Manchester City and Liverpool, Busby moved into management, prompted in part by his time as a football coach in the British Army during the Second World War. After turning down a job with Liverpool, he was offered the job at Manchester United, thanks in part to his connection Louis Rocca, whom he knew through the Manchester Catholic Sportsman’s Club.
Busby would go on to manage the team for over two decades, managing the British Olympic team to a silver medal during that period.
His fame was built on taking in young players and developing them, some of them such as Duncan Edwards became renowned as the greatest of their generation. When Busby became the first manager to embark upon European competition, tragedy struck in 1958 as their plane crashed on the runway at Munich airport. The accident led to 7 players and 3 club officials dying, with Busby twice receiving the Last Rites after damage from his injuries.
Miraculously, he not only recovered but rebuilt the team too, with some of football’s greatest ever players such as George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law bringing the club to become the first English team to win the European Cup in 1968.
Busby was a devout Catholic, it was said that he had attended Mass every single day at St. John’s in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The priest there was an Irish man named Fr. Sewell, who had a seat reserved for him by Matt Busby in Old Trafford for each game. Busby would also encourage players to attend Mass as often as they could.
In 1972, Pope Paul VI made him a Knight of Order of Saint Gregory the Great. This honour is given in recognition of those, ‘gentlemen of proven loyalty to the Holy See who, by reason of their nobility of birth and the renown of their deeds or the degree of their munificence, are deemed worthy to be honored by a public expression of esteem on the part of the Holy See’.
Alongside Alex Ferguson, Busby remains one of the the club’s two great managers and his life serves as an example of the potential of sport to demonstrate to bring forth the grace of God amidst trials and difficulties, to demonstrate gentlemanliness and quiet fortitude.
