BUSBY BABES GET THEIR DUE
Movie star Mcshane to have dad’s medal as 20 honoured
HOLLYWOOD star Ian Mcshane is set to receive a championship medal from Manchester United – 71 years after his late father helped Matt Busby’s team win the league title.
Mcshane – who featured in blockbuster films Pirates of the Caribbean and Shrek, as well as TV’S Lovejoy (right) – will be invited to represent his dad Harry at a special Old Trafford ceremony after United made a successful appeal to the EFL.
Mcshane Snr made 12 appearances when United were crowned champions in 1952, and scored the winning goal in the 2-1 Manchester derby victory at rivals City.
But Football League rules in the days when there were no substitutes, stipulated that players had to feature in at least 14 games to qualify for a medal.
Those regulations have since been changed – and clubs can apply to have former players officially recognised retrospectively if they played a minimum of five games.
Several clubs – including Manchester City, Tottenham, Everton and Wolves – have already sourced medals after research by football historian Ian Ross.
Now Manchester United have done the same following an exhaustive investigation into the club’s playing records revealed that 20 players are due a total of 23 medals between them.
Mcshane Snr passed away at the age of 92 in 2012. But medals can be granted posthumously and his United-mad son, 80, will now be invited to accept a priceless piece of silverware on his dad’s behalf.
United are planning to stage an awards ceremony before a Premier League game at Old Trafford next season, so former players and their families can be given the reception they deserve by 75,000 fans.
Only eight of the 20 players who will be honoured are still alive.
David Gaskell, the goalkeeper who, aged 16 years and 19 days became United’s youngest-ever player when he kept a clean sheet on his debut in the Charity Shield win over City at Maine Road in 1956, will receive two medals.
Gaskell, 82, who was originally scheduled to be on the plane that crashed in Munich killing eight of his team-mates in 1958, until a late change to the United squad, featured in the title-winning teams of 1965 and 1967. He now lives in Wrexham but has been informed that the medals will soon be in his possession. Geoff Bent, the Salford-born full-back who lost his life at Munich at the age of 25, played six games when the Busby Babes were champions in 1957. Albert Scanlon, the Manchesterborn winger who survived the crash at Munich, also missed out on two medals in 1956 and 1957. He passed away in 2009 and the medals will now be presented to his family. An Old Trafford source said: “The medals are in production and are due to be delivered in the coming weeks. “It will be the biggest award of backdated medals by any club and we are proud to be able to honour these great players for the part that they played in United’s success.” Seven of the squad that helped United win the old second division title in 1975 will be honoured – including ex-england winger Steve Coppell.