‘HE WAS BRAVE, A PIONEER... THE GREATEST’
Film showcases legend
SIR MATT BUSBY was many things, according to those who knew him.
Revolutionary, authoritarian, domineering. Tight, even.
But if one word shines through the new documentary about the Manchester United manager who did more to create the club than any other, it is respect.
‘Busby’, which had its premiere this week in Manchester, charts the story of the Scot from impoverished beginnings in Bellshill, Glasgow, to the palace and beyond.
Utilising some unseen footage, plenty that has already aired and a number of contributors who played or worked alongside or under Busby, it shows the drama of a career few can match.
The film rises and falls around the dramatic peaks of the Munich air disaster in 1958 and the European Cup final triumph a decade later. Yet the best bits come from those close to Busby, including Denis Law, John Aston jnr, Wilf McGuinness and Paddy Crerand.
Sitting in a corporate box at Old Trafford this week, Aston, right, gave his insights into a world that seems as far removed from the current United as it is possible to get.
Now 72, his recollections of Busby paint a picture of a commanding figure – one who was controlling, respected and refused to show any weakness over his control of the club.
After being named man of the match in the European Cup win in 1968, Aston received only a short “thank you” from Busby. Later that year, as he was getting married he went and asked for a modest pay rise.
“He was from a very poor background, but when he held the purse strings he didn’t throw money about at all,” said Aston. “Players like me who married at 21 would go in and ask if you could get an extra fiver. He would just look at you and say, ‘You’re lucky to be at this club, son’.
“The only person I believe got a pay rise was Denis Law, and he got a rise as long as he signed a piece of paper saying he had not got it! Busby didn’t want anyone to know he had backed down.”
Busby was, of course, defined by his near-death experience on the runway in Munich, and Aston said the pain never left the manager. “He blamed himself for taking the club into Europe because it was his decision,” sais Aston. “But he was wrong to and it was all beyond his control, obviously.”
The film obtained previously unaired interviews with Busby and, although it does not mine too deeply into a story so well known, it is worth a watch, if nothing more than for the skill of Law, George Best and Bobby Charlton, which favourably compares with current players.
Aston has no doubts as to where Busby rated.
“I have never met a man with a greater presence, and he never swore or raised his voice,” he said. “If there were a group of players having a bit of banter, if he walked in, the place would go silent, with people waiting for a few pearls of wisdom to come your way from his lips.
“He was brave, he was a pioneer and a driving force.The greatest.”
● Busby is available to own digitally November 15 and on DVD & Blu-ray November 18.