Respect:

                         

 

 

 

Friendship:

 

United and Red Star: friends forever

It’s an intimidating place, nothing like the tourist attraction Old Trafford is these days. A small door in the main stand was open so I had a look inside to see Red Star’s souvenir shop. Aside from one assistant, there wasn’t a soul around. Few tourists do Belgrade these days. The girl behind the counter suggested the club museum.

The museum curator was waiting for his first visitor of the day. His eyes lit up, he switched the lights on and welcomed me in. The museum was superb and there was a significant amount of United memorabilia.

The first item you see is the pennant which Roger Byrne presented when Red Star visited Old Trafford in January 1958 when United won 2-1 in front of 60,000. It’s beautifully woven with details of the game and shames the pennants from other English clubs – like Newcastle’s cheap plastic one. Given that match programmes from the game in Belgrade are worth over �2,000, the pennant must be worth five figures. “We’d never sell it,” said the curator. A second pennant was from the European Super Cup game in 1991, again intrinsically woven.

A silver plate, presented by United’s Oxford and Banbury branch to Red Star in 1983 as an appreciation of their continued friendship, is also in the museum, as is a ceramic tankard from United to mark a friendly game played at Old Trafford in 1987 – and not to thank them for our first foreign signing, Nicola Jovanovic, who came from the Red Star in 1980.

This game was organised to sate the appetite of United fans denied European football after Heysel, yet it was a flop with just 10,000 attending. “It used to be that Manchester United fans would turn up at Old Trafford to watch the shirts dry,” wrote David Meek in the Manchester Evening News the following day, “not any more.”

Another piece of memorabilia is a gold football, inscribed with both club badges. It was sent on February 6 2003, the 45th anniversary of Munich and is inscribed ‘Friends Forever’. United excel at gestures like this. And Red Star have surpassed themselves by selflessly giving over large chunks of their own museum to Manchester United. There’s a glass case dedicated to Munich, with ticket stubs and original autographs from the United players on display.

Red Star and United are unlikely to meet as frequently in the future. The Balkans has always produced great footballers, but the best players now leave Serbia by the time they are 23, with Red Star’s wages unable to compete with even second tier European leagues. The Champions League favours the richest leagues, the coefficient method of ranking meaning the rich will get more games and get richer, the poor fewer.

What can’t be altered though, is United’s long standing friendship with Red Star, borne out of tragedy and built on mutual respect and sympathy.

 

They were called �Busby's Babes�. Talented boys selected from school teams. Patient and persistent work resulted in a team that grew into the Champion of England. The oldest among them was Captain Byrne (26), and the youngest – Colman (18) and Morgans (18). The most prominent ones among them were already playing for the national team: left back Roger Byrne, half-back Duncan Edwards, centre-half back Bobby Charlton and centre-forward and goal getter Tommy Taylor. Of the four, only Bobby Charlton survived, debuting for England only a few months later. The �Busby's Babies� were buried for good. Their youth was wiped away, the most beautiful dreams gone for ever.

It all began on 14th January, 1958. It was a cold, January day, and fog had engulfed Manchester and all of England. Only about one third of the pitch was visible. In any other place the match would have been cancelled. But not here – not in England, not in Manchester.

That night, Manchester United beat Red Star, 2:1, in front of 60.000 spectators at Old

Trafford. Tasic scored in the 35th minute, putting our team ahead, but MU was much better in the second period. Charlton equalized in 64th minute and Coleman put the host ahead for good at 80. minutes.

The Red Star people had no reason to be disappointed. Out of many opportunities Manchester United realized only two, mostly because of our phenomenal goalkeeper, Vladimir Beara, the great Vladimir.

Belgrade was filled with anticipation as the second leg approached. A minimal loss away was giving Red Star enough hope that, with the help of its fans, it could progress to the second consecutive semi-final in the European

On 5th February, 1958, 52.000 spectators greeted Red Star’s eleven:
Beara, Tomic, Zekovic, Mitic, Spajic, Vl. Popovic, Borozan, Sekularac, Tasic, Kostic, Cokic

On the other side, Manchester United fielded this lineup:
Gregg, Foulkes, Byrn, Colman, Jones, Edwards, Morgans, Charlton, Taylor, Viollet, Scanlon

Before either team could even warm up, Manchester went ahead. It was Violet who opened the scoring in the 2nd minute. Before half-time, Charlton was able to net two more goals, in 29th and 33rd minutes

Dreams of another semi-final were thus shattered. Nevertheless, Red Star managed to pull even in the second half, after goals by Kostic (46. and 58.) and Tasic (50.). That was as good as it got for Red Star.Manchester

United deserved to go into the next round.

After the game a banquet and a dinner were organised. It was very enjoyable, English were thankful for a welcome and finally the two clubs sealed a lasting friendship.

The next day, the dreadful news reached Belgrade. Then-captain of Red Star, Rajko Mitic, speaks of that day with still felt grief:

"The tragedy that hit Manchester United is a tragedy of an international import. Manchester United was at the peak at the time, they were the Champions of England, they played excellent football, in terms of both style and quality. After the score of 2:1 at Old Trafford, the first half-time in Belgrade ended with 3:0 in favour of Manchester, and any chance of our playing semi-finals was gone. However, the second half-time brought the change in play; Bora Kostić scored two goals, Laza Tasić equaled the score to 3:3. We almost made it, but we had a great club playing against us, and deserving all the congratulations. Next day, at noon, an English reporter rang me up and told me the sad news that the “Busby’s Babes” had met with a disaster at Munich. I was shocked, and so were all others when they heard of it from me, because a really great team disappeared, perhaps the greatest in the world at that moment. The Red Star then proposed for Manchester United to be declared a commemorative winner of the Championship Cup that year".

From the ashes of Munich, the �Babies� soared into legend. From the very same ashes a new Manchester United emerged, even more radiant and more celebrated.

This tragedy brought the two clubs even closer as Red Star’s governing committee suggested for Manchester United to be pronounced a honorary winner of Champions Cup. On the 45th anniversary of the sad event, Red Star published a becoming graphic “Remembrance Day”, that was accepted by the Great Brittain Ambassador for our country, Charles Crawford.

Andy Mitten

www.redstarbelgrade.com

 

Belgrade dinner menu autographed by all Manchester Utd players

 

Memorial Day