‘It was massive... but we should have won it again’
TWELVE months earlier, Celtic had become the first northern European side to conquer Europe. Now it was England’s turn. On Day Five of our week of celebrating the anniversary every day of an English winner, Paddy Crerand recalls the night at Wembley, 52 years ago today, when Bobby Charlton and Matt Busby hugged in triumph, 10 years after their involvement in the Munich tragedy.
FOR Paddy Crerand, Manchester United’s historic 1968 European Cup triumph is tinged with regret.
United became the first English club to lift the trophy 52 years ago today, beating Eusebio’s Benfica 4-1 in a dramatic final atWembley.
It was an emotional and poignant victory, coming 10 years after the Munich tragedy, which claimed the lives of eight United players and left boss Matt Busby close to death.
Winning vindicated Busby’s decision to take United into Europe in 1956 against the wishes of the FA, paving the way for future English clubs to participate in the competition.
Crerand was part of that triumphant United team, inspired by Bobby Charlton and George Best, and recalled the momentous night – as well as his regret the team could not repeat the triumph.
“It was massive,” Crerand. “More so for Matt than anyone else. Matt was the leader of English football in Europe, when almost everybody else was against it. But we didn’t feel pressure, as such, it was more the will to win it, after everything that had happened to the club.
“We felt we couldn’t let anyone down, with the past history the club had been through with Munich. It was a tear-jerker for Matt and it meant so much to him and Bobby, Bill Foulkes and Jimmy Murphy [Busby’s assistant].
“But it also meant a lot to everybody, to win the European Cup. Celtic had won it the year before under Jock Stein, and I think Matt thought ‘If a Scottish club can win it, anybody can win it’. I don’t mean that disrespectfully, because Celtic had a magnificent side at that time but, you felt if they could do it, we certainly could. But the big, big regret is not winning it again. I felt we should have won it in 1969, the following year. I was 29, but the team was quite young, with the likes of George, David Sadler, Brian Kidd. They were all around 20, 21, 22. So I think we should have won it more than once. But a big factor in that was Matt deciding to retire.
“I think that will to win went out of the window for a lot of people when Matt retired at the end of the following season, having achieved his ambition of winning the European Cup.”
Crerand, now 81 and a pundit for MUTV, said he and his United team-mates felt supremely confident they would beat Benfica, despite needing extra-time to do so, with the score 1-1 after 90 minutes.
He added: “Benfica were a great team, but I don’t think they had that badness we had in our team – and I’m talking about Nobby [Stiles], more than anyone else.
“We had a few lads you wouldn’t want to play against – and that can frighten players sometimes.”
PART SIX TOMORROW – FRANCIS FIRES FOREST TO EUROPEAN GLORY