45 Facts About Matt Busby

Matt Busby was the first manager of an English team to win the European Cup and is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time.

Eight of these players died in the Munich air disaster, but Matt Busby rebuilt the side and United won the European Cup a decade later.

Matt Busby was born to Alexander and Helen "Nellie" Matt Busby in a two-roomed pitman's cottage in the mining village of Orbiston, Bellshill, Lanarkshire.

When he was born, Matt Busby's mother was told by the doctor, "A footballer has come into this house today".

Matt Busby's father, Alexander, was a miner called up to serve in the First World War and was killed by a sniper's bullet on 23 April 1917 at the Battle of Arras.

Matt Busby had been appointed Knight Bachelor four years earlier.

Matt Busby had played only a few matches for Denny Hibs, but it was not long before he was signed up by a Manchester City side that was a couple of games away from regaining promotion to the First Division.

Matt Busby made 11 more appearances for City that season, all at inside forward, scoring five goals in the process.

Matt Busby soon made the number 4 shirt his own, ousting Ted Savage in the process.

Matt Busby rarely missed a game over the following three seasons.

Bob Paisley joined Liverpool from Bishop Auckland in 1939, and it was Matt Busby who took him under his wing and showed him the ropes at Anfield.

Matt Busby played in 37 matches for the club and scored five goals.

Matt Busby made seven appearances for Scotland against England during the Second World War, winning just one of them, but these are considered unofficial.

Matt Busby represented the Scottish League XI in an inter-league match in 1941, while he was a guest player of Hibernian.

In February 1945, still in uniform, Busby turned up at Cornbrook Cold Storage, one of the United chairman James W Gibson's businesses at Trafford Park to discuss the contents of Rocca's letter with the chairman.

Matt Busby requested that he be directly involved in training, pick the team on matchdays and even choose the players to be bought and sold without interference from the club directors, who, he believed, did not know the game as well as he did.

Matt Busby was originally offered a three-year contract but managed to secure himself a five-year deal after explaining that it would take at least that long for his revolution to have a tangible effect.

Matt Busby, who had achieved a great deal of success in spite of his lack of previous managerial experience, was expected to spend large sums of money on high-profile players.

Matt Busby made relatively few signings from other clubs between 1951 and 1957, rare examples being winger Johnny Berry, forward Tommy Taylor and goalkeeper Harry Gregg.

Matt Busby managed the Great Britain team at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

In 1956, just after United won another league title, Matt Busby was offered the Real Madrid managerial role.

Matt Busby responded by declining the job and adding "Manchester is my heaven".

Matt Busby suffered multiple injuries and twice received the last rites, but he recovered from his injuries and left the hospital after nine weeks.

Matt Busby was not aware of the extent of the Munich tragedy until some three weeks after the crash, as doctors felt he was not strong enough to know the truth until then.

Matt Busby reportedly told his wife that he felt like quitting the manager's job, as he had feelings of guilt over the disaster.

Matt Busby had gone against the wishes of Football League officials by pressing for Manchester United's participation in the European Cup and had not felt able to challenge the aircraft's pilot about taking off in heavy snow.

Matt Busby attended a new-look United side's FA Cup final defeat against Bolton Wanderers at Wembley three months later, and resumed full managerial duties for the following season.

Matt Busby had been appointed the manager of Scotland before the Munich disaster.

Matt Busby gave an 18-year-old Denis Law, then with Huddersfield Town, his first Scotland cap.

Matt Busby had already expressed an interest in signing Law for United by this stage, although he had yet to be successful in doing so.

Matt Busby retired as manager at the end of the following season, having announced his intention to do so on 14 January 1969, but remained at the club as a director, handing over managerial duties to trainer and former player Wilf McGuinness.

When McGuinness was sacked in December 1970, Matt Busby returned to the manager's seat on an interim basis until a new permanent appointment was made after the end of the season.

Matt Busby carried on as a club director for 11 years, before being made president in 1980.

Matt Busby was awarded the CBE in 1958 and was knighted following the European Cup victory in 1968, before being made a Knight Commander of St Gregory by the Pope in 1972.

Matt Busby was the subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions, in January 1958 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Studios in Manchester, and in May 1971, when he became the first This Is Your Life subject to be honoured for the second time.

Matt Busby's testimonial was held at Old Trafford in August 1991.

Matt Busby suffered a mild stroke in July 1980 at the age of 71 but made a full recovery.

Matt Busby died, aged 80, in December 1988 in a Manchester nursing home.

Matt Busby died at the age of 84 on 20 January 1994 at the Alexandra Hospital in Cheadle, Greater Manchester.

Matt Busby had been admitted to the hospital earlier that month to have a blood clot removed from his leg, and had appeared to be making a good recovery until his condition deteriorated after several days.

Matt Busby was buried in Southern Cemetery, Manchester, alongside his wife Jean.

Matt Busby was made an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the sport.

On 6 September 2009, the Sir Matt Busby Shield was contested between Manchester United Reserves and Motherwell.

Matt Busby had a total of seven grandchildren, all female.

Matt Busby pointed out that the character of Busby, despite being the first "tracksuit manager" in English football, was never seen in a tracksuit throughout the film, instead wearing a camel coat and a fedora.