An omnipresent backdrop to my early years in Manchester was the shadow of the München air crash which killed 23 people including not only Manchester United footballers but also the club secretary and two coaches, two members of the plane's crew, a travel agent, a supporter and eight journalists. If it had not been for the heroism of United keeper Harry Gregg, more would have died. As a child the folk stories we were told featured not only the crash but how great Duncan Edwards would have been if he had lived (Edwards was the last to die after two weeks on a life support system).
At 15:04 GMT this afternoon, there will be a service to commemorate these tragic deaths exactly 50 years to the minute after the crash happened. At 19:58 GMT (peculiarly apt) tonight, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of England football fans will demonstrate their hatred of the red three-quarters of Manchester by whistling, chanting or booing the minute's silence in memory of the Busby babes and the others who died. At 12:58 GMT on Sunday, supporters from Eastlands will also be able to show a complete lack of evolution by a similar display of their ever-so-witty humour - the year 1258 is the pre-enlightenment temporal reality occupied by such individuals. Expect München 58 replica shirts and the singing of "Always look on the runway for ice" by the comics who also bring up the nazi gas chambers whenever City play Tottenham via the hilarious sound of the hissing of gas. City fans (sic) should remember that one of their own, Frank Swift, died in the crash although rationality is not their strong suit so we must expect the worst as the commemorative poster outside Old Trafford has already been defaced once.
The mainstream media have amply covered the disaster and the heroism of the players, Matt Busby and other employees of the club during the remainder of that football season in micro-detail although it should be added that The Guardian's coverage by a public schoolboy from the Midlands, their idiot football editor and a Manchester City fan is rather nuanced. Indeed, the Manchester City fan, David Conn (generally the second best football writer at the paper) spends half of his article focusing on the lack of support for the players by the club hierarchy in the years following the crash. Like nothing so inhumane went on at Manchester City? Really. He should read Gary Imlach's "Working-Class Football Heroes" to understand that the abuse of worker by management is not a recent development in sport nor anywhere else for that matter.
The power bases behind the leading football clubs are rarely an edifying site and Edwards, Swales, Bates, Moores have merely been out-psychoed by the Glazers, Shinawatra, Abramovich, Hicks/Gillett. As Honoré de Balzac once put it: "Behind every great fortune lies a forgotten crime".
To their credit, the Man Utd fans are the only ones who have protested against this takeover of English football clubs by global business and gambling concerns via the formation of FC United of Manchester, a development strangely lacking at Eastlands where a fascistic mass murderer has been embraced as a saviour - somebody to remove 32 years of anonymity in the area of sporting success. Dream on.
But, the business machine that is Manchester United will undoubtedly cash in on the distant memories of München. The heavily manipulated fixture list for the Premiership season repeatedly throws up scenarios specifically designed for Sky Television and the wider media and the timing of the Manchester derby for next Sunday should be seen as par for the course. Both teams will play in 50's replica kits at the weekend and one should not be surprised if there is an accompanying increase in the number of such kits being made available in the club hypermarket both pre- and post-match. It would also be astonishing if there are not numerous other commemorative items marketed equally distastefully in the aftermath. Business is business... This is the club, after all, formerly run by Martin Edwards, who sold contaminated meat to Manchester schools when his animal abuse business was unable to palm off the rotting flesh on anybody else. Plus ça change...
The München disaster catapulted United into global prominence, a position which they have maintained in the intervening half century. This inappropriate strata of global awareness is founded more on the disaster than on events on the pitch as, the Benfica and Bayern München European Cup victories apart, most of United's success in the top English league has been based on their omnipotence during the Sky years which, of course, had absolutely nothing to do with Sky's ownership of 9.9% of United's shares. Really.
At the Mega-Mall tonight, Fabio Capello's first England side will play Switzerland after the minute's non-silence. We are delighted that so many of our suggestions have been incorporated into Capello's squad and team (check out: http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2008/01/creating-incentives-to-win-world-cup.html). Gerrard as captain is a master stroke and it seems that Capello has put an end to the England squad get-togethers merely being an excuse for card playing, golf and gambling on the match outcome. "On Thursday they can play golf all they like" said the Boss. Additionally, the rumours are that global gambler Michael Owen will merely start the match on the bench. Good. Owen has scored three Premiership goals for Newcastle this season and all have been timed to perfection not to help the Toon's desperate attempts to steer clear of the drop but to enhance the chances of the little criminal featuring in the England team. On September 1st, Owen scored against Wigan in the match immediately prior to the Israel and Russia Euro 2008 Qualifiers and The Slime achieved similarly with his goal against Everton on October 7th just before the Estonia game and the Russian return match. It should hardly come as a surprise that Owen's third goal came in last weekend's match against 'Boro. The man is evidently taking the piss big style.
Whenever one returns to the police state that is modern day England and experiences the xenophobia and outright racism that permeate all areas of what is laughingly referred to as English society (witness Gordon Brown's acquisition of the National Front's former slogan of "British jobs for British people"), it is difficult to comprehend that such a country should embrace, not once but twice, non-English control of the national football team. No other leading football country would consider having a foreigner in charge of the national team - such an occurrence has never been the strategy for Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Spain or Germany. This is a tactic used by the second tier nations who buy in expertise due to the paucity of experience in their own leagues. And England are a second tier nation - they have won as many international tournaments as Denmark, Greece, Czechoslovakia and Russia and they needed both home advantage and a Russian linesman to achieve that one success. Compare Capello with Keegan, McClaren, Taylor etc and any of the other current options and our point gains greater resonance.
We finish on today's commemoration. The Guardian public schoolboy is correct in comparing the München air crash to other events that defined an era - the murder of JFK by the American deep state, the killing of John Lennon by the same, the murder of Lady Diana by the English deep state or the 9/11 statement by both the Saudi and the American deep state. We all remember where we were when these atrocities/ disasters occured and each consequently resulted in a mini-baby boom as spectacular society grief made the general population briefly focus on the love of a partner rather than the love of consumerism - which, of course, is the system's template of choice. Indeed, I was conceived just days after München and I will need to check up with my father to see whether my conception was related to the blanket of grief that hung over god's own city in the aftermath of the crash of Flight 609. RIP.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
