Alex Dawson

Scottish Busby Babe who gained regular first team status after Munich air tragedy

Alex Downie Dawson, footballer. Born: 21 February 1940 in Aberdeen. Died: 17 July 2020 in Kettering, aged 80

Itone of the ironies of football that Alex Dawson, who has died after a long battle against dementia, should be the only one of the legendary“Bus by Babes” to have been born in Scotland.

Matt Bus by, himself Scottish, always liked a tartan tinge to his teams – he had Jimmy Delaney in his first great United team, which won the FA Cup in 1958. Harry Mcshane, Scots-born father of actor Ian, was a member of the United team which won the First Division title in 1952, while the 1963 FA Cup-winning side included Pat Crerand, Denis Law and David Herd.

However, the legendary Busby Babes had no Scottish players except Dawson, who was a teenaged reserve when that legendary team was wipedout by the Munich air disaster of February 1958.

He was born in Aberdeen, the son of a trawler man, winning his first medal when he helped Seat on Primary win the Aberdeen Primary Schools Cup.

The Dawson family then moved south, to Hull, where he won England School boy caps in 1954 and was offered a place on the Old Trafford ground staff, before turning professional on his 17th birthday.

Dawson had made just one first-team appearance prior to the Munich crash, but, when United returned to action on 19 February, with an FA Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday, the blank team sheet hid the fact that Dawson was wearing the number nine shirt – scoring the third goal in United’s 3-0 win, in front of an emotional near-60,000 crowd.

He was a regular for the remainder of the season, contributing a few goals, including a hat-trick in these mifinal win over Fulham, as the Reds were carried, on a tsunami of emotion, to the big day at Wembley. That hat-trick remains, to this day, the last one scored in an FA Cup semifinal.

In the final, which United lost 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers, he wore the number seven shirt.

Dennis Viol let and Bobby Charlton recovered from their Munich injuries to become the go-to front men, then, as Busby temporarily forsook his belief in home-grown talent, the likes of Denis Law and David Herd arrived to push Dawson further down the pecking order.

He had scored 20 goals in the first team in season 1960 - 61, but, with Herd’s arrival, Busby allowed him to leave, Preston North End paying £20,000 to take him to Deepdale. It was a good move for both club and player as Dawson, nicknamed “The Black Prince,” quickly became a favourite at Deepdale.

He had, with United, demonstrated he knew the way to goal, and how to play in goal, deputising for the injured Harry Gregg after the Irish legend was injured in a match at White Hart Lane. Dawson played a blinder as United won 2-1.

He scored regularly and was one of the mainstays of North End’s unlikely run to the 1964

FA Cup Final. He scored another semi-final goal, against Swansea, as the Second Division side made their way to Wembley and a meeting with West Ham.

In the final, Dawson’s 40thminute strike put North End ahead at the break, but Geoff Hurst cancelled out that goal early in the second half, before Ronnie Boyce’ s last-minute winner denied North End. Most of the media attention of that final was on 17-year- old Howard Kendall, the Nor th End youngster and youngest player ever to grace the Wembley show piece, but Dawson’s part in the unlikely Preston story should not be forgotten.

The captain of that No r th End team was another former Busby Babe, Nobby Lawton. He and Dawson were such great friends that Lawton was Dawson’s best man, and to his son she was always“Uncle Nobby.”

It was said of Dawson: “He heads a ball harder than most players can kick it,” and he still holds cult hero status at Preston, perhaps not in the Tom Finney, Willie Shankly class but up there as a terracing hero.

In 1967 he moved on, again for £20,000, to Bur y, before a three-year spell with Brighton – where he proved to be money well spent, by manager Freddie Goodwin, another of the young United players who had to carry the load after Munich.

He arrived on the south coast with the Seagulls staring relegation in the face but Dawson’s 17 goals in 23 games played a huge part in carrying the team to safety. He spent three fruitful years at Brighton before a short loan spell with Brentford – where the goals continued, seven in 11 games.

He then dropped into nonleague football with Corby Town, but, knee injuries began to affect him and in 1973 he hung up his boots to become the Steelmen’s trainer-coach. He settled in Corby, passing away in a care home in Kettering.

Over his career, Dawson maintained the 0.5 goals per game average which is the benchmark for a very-good goal-scorer.

He was old-school, a bustling, all-action player who never allowed the defence to settle. Dawson augmented his eye for a goal with an excellent record as a penalty taker.

Dawson remains, however, one of those rare players playing regularly in the top flight in England who never got a sniff of a Scotland cap, either at full or Under-23 level, when featuring regularly for United.

After football he worked for a sub-contracting firm in the Corby steelworks, before his final job, as an injection moulder manufacturing Jiffy bags.

Alex Dawson was also a considerable cricket er, having played for Newton Heath in the Lancashire League in his United and Preston days. He also played in a works league while in Corby.

But, while he also bowled, his main post-football sport was golf.

He had a reputation as a bit of a bandit when it came to his handicap, during golf outings with the Manchester United Former Playrs Club.

Even in retirement he maintained his interest in football and was a considerable fundraiser and recruiter of players, playing a big part in getting his local club, Rothwell Old Boys, into the English pyramid.

He married Claire in 19 63 and she survives him, along with sons Graham and Malcolm and their five granddaughters.

Alex and Claire also had a third son, Nigel, who died in infancy.

FORCE OF NATURE

It was said of Dawson: ‘He heads a ball harder than most players can kick it’ and he still holds cult status at Preston