Jimmy Murphy – the man behind reincarnation of Manchester United

Written by Kaustubh Pandey on

Manchester United would not have existed if not for a certain Jimmy Murphy. The article delves into the man’s life, how he embraced Old Trafford and how the job he did to keep the club afloat is almost forgotten in the annals of time. Presented to you at Goalden Times by Kaustubh Pandey.

Heroes, be it in football or in life itself, don’t emerge out of nothing. There are many things that might urge a would-be hero to become one. It would also be fair to say that real heroes are those who don’t ever see themselves as one, but their heroic acts go on to speak for themselves.

Therein lies the beauty of the great (and late) Jimmy Murphy. He might not have been the most renowned of football heroes, but that’s just how he was—unassuming, no-nonsense, and always actively avoiding the spotlight. It is, therefore, truly ironic, that he ended up masterminding something so stupendous back in the late 1950s and 60s. This man’s little-known contribution to football deserves far more credit than due, but he would probably never have approved of such publicity. As we approach the 60th anniversary of the infamous and the utterly tragic Munich Air Disaster, it’s time to shine the spotlight on Mr. Jimmy Murphy—the man without whom the Manchester United Football Club would never have had its modern-day existence.

It is in James Strong’s film about the Munich Air Disaster—United—that Murphy’s value to the club strikes one in a very prominent fashion. In a scene that takes place some days after the plane crash, Murphy is called into a meeting with officials from the Football Association (FA) of England. These officials are intent on closing down Manchester United due to lack of funds and an absence of viable players.

In this particular scene in the film, Murphy, who is played by David Tennant, is shown to be informed about the FA’s decision about shutting United down due to the apprehension that the club would never get “enough players to pull on a Manchester United shirt in such a short space of time.” A game against the Wolverhampton Wanderers was scheduled to be played only two days after the disaster in Germany. A rather shocked Murphy visibly steels his spine, lowers his cigarette, and fires back: “Don’t tell me what can’t be done. When Sir Matt Busby brought me here they told me we’d never make a go of it, that it couldn’t be done. That Manchester United would never make a success.”

His voice seems to tremble when he speaks, but doesn’t die out. He carries on: “Told us we couldn’t win the league playing kids, we couldn’t match the best teams in Europe and every bloody time we proved them wrong. With respect sir, it can be and it will be done. I’ll make sure of it.”

The scene continues, and Murphy says something that has since become a bit of a folklore with football fans.In the scene, Murphy is then told that the decision to close down United was being taken to “honor the memory of those who died”.

“No no no…”, he replies.“It’s not about their memory. It’s about showing who we are to world. That we won’t be bowed by tragedy. Because how we are in the future will be founded on how we behave today.”

This was the statement of intent that Murphy delivered to everyone: that Manchester United would not die out and they would keep fighting, despite all that had gone down. And he went on to become one of those characters in United’s history who continue to act as inspirations and heroes. It is because of personalities like Murphy that United is what it is today.

A wing-back who had made over 200 appearances for West Bromwich Albion, Murphy was the son of Irish emigrants who had come to Wales before his birth in 1910. As a kid, Murphy played the church organ, and his interest for football grew onlyas he grew older. He was a Catholic and remained a regular church-goer throughout his life.

His mother, Florence, wanted Jimmy to make a living out of music and eventually go on to teach it. However, it turned 0ut that football drove him more than music did. A move to West Brom came in 1928, when Jimmy was just 17. He was known to be a ferocious tackler, and never gave the opposition an inch.According to Gordon Burn’s book Best and Edwards, Murphy earned the nickname “Tapper” for “the ferocity of his tackle, was loud and belligerent, and these were qualities he looked for in a player.”

His playing career was cut short due to World War II.The war made sure that Murphy would not make more than four appearances for Swindon Town—the club he had joined in 1939. Before the breakout of the War, though, the then 29-year-old had appeared 15 times for the Welsh national side as well.

Alas, all of this was cutshort rather abruptly. And he was forced into enlisting for the Army.

It would certainly be easy to blame the War for stopping Murphy’s progress as a player, but strangely enough, it was during the times of the War itself that Sir Matt Busby, who hadn’t yet been knighted back in 1945, spotted him. Murphy had served his country in North Africa with the Royal Artillery.Following that, he became the Non-commissioned officer (NCO) in Bari, Italy in 1945. In Italy, he briefly coached the Army National Football team.It was while he was delivering a thoroughly passionate speech to a bunch of football-playing troops who were about to play Italy, that Busby saw in Murphy a man who could rally the troops and inspire people through his admirable words. At the end of this speech, which was supposed to be a weekly one that Murphy gave with the help of the tactics board, Busby made his intentions of bringing Murphy to United very clear to the man himself.

Murphy joined United in October of 1945. Little did he know that he was signing up to be a part of football history for eternity.

In a terrific account that Peter Jackson provides in his book “Triumph and Tragedy: Welsh Sporting Legends”, he told Busby to be describing Murphy as “He spoke as if delivering a sermon and we were all transfixed. It was his attitude, his command, his enthusiasm and word power that caused me to say to myself: ‘He’s the man for me’”

This was the time when Old Trafford was recovering from the bombings of 1941 and the club was playing its games at Manchester City’s Maine Road. The post-war ad hoc league did have United in it, but they were as low as 16th when Busby and Murphy took over the reins. A socialist government had taken over England after the War. Murphy would walk into training with a tracksuit on, knowing that what happens in training would go on to have a massive impact on what happens in games. Quite often, Busby would watch on from the back as Murphy rallied his troops, inculcating into them a work-ethic that ended up defining the club in the future. It is said that fitness was a major focus, and sometimes the club’s players would be told to gallop across the terracing of Old Trafford in order to increase stamina.

The rebuilding of Old Trafford was complete in 1949. It was during this time that owner James Gibson installed the United Youth Academy at the club. Murphy, who was the chief coach till 1955, was inevitably handed the task of identifying raw talent and train youngsters. It was from the wreckage of the War and the ravaged stadium that Murphy helped United build one of the most adored teams in the world, overseeing the development of Bobby Charlton and Duncan Edwards. While Murphy hardly worked for the spotlight and a majority of his work was done in the background, his promotion to the post of the assistant manager saw him develop the Busby Babes all the more.

During his spell as the chief coach, United had won the FA Cup once, beating Blackpool 4-2 in the final. The club won the First Division Title in the 1951-52 season, surpassing Tottenham Hotspur by just four points. After Murphy took over the post of the assistant boss, United won the First Division title twice in a row from 1955-57, establishing themselves as a proper force in the country. The way this United side played made many fall in love with the Busby Babes—a team of players full of verve, purpose, and dexterity. Five words were enough to describe the way Murphy and Busby wanted football to be played. “Just go out and play,” they would always say. The players enjoyed themselves and loved what they did.

While Manchester United was on its way to glory, Murphy was working his magic with the Wales national side as well. Having been appointed the boss in 1956, Murphy oversaw the rise of the golden generation of Welsh footballing stars—Clive Jones of Tottenham, the Charles brothers and the Allchurch brothers of Swansea Town. Qualifying for the World Cup of 1958 was their impossible target. But fortune was on their side.

It did seem that the country would not make it to the World Cup of 1958, but political issues in other nations opened up a way. Wales had finished below Czechoslovakia in the qualifying group and hadn’t made it to the tournament. However, Indonesia, Sudan, and Egypt refused to play Israel—who had topped the Asian qualifying group because of the lack of an opposition. FIFA, though, believed that it would be unfair to hand Israel the top spot without making them play even a single game. To make sure of that, the teams that had finished second in their groups were drawn. While Belgium drew first, they too refused to play the Israelis. The second nation to be drawn was Wales. They, unlike the other sides, decided to play. Murphy’s men won both the legs 2-0 and qualified for the World Cup.

Lady luck is fickle. She can change everything in the blink of an eye.

The second leg of the play-off against Israel was to be played at the Ninian Park in Cardiff, with the Welsh already two up from the first leg. With United soaring close to winning the league for the third consecutive time and harbouring hopes of winning the first European Cup in history, Jimmy Murphy was in buoyant mood. United were to travel to Belgrade to take on Red Star Belgrade in the second leg of the European Cup quarter-final on the 5th of February, the same evening when Wales were to play Israel in Cardiff. Things couldn’t have been jollier.

When Jimmy Murphy stepped into his office on the afternoon of 6th February, there seemed to be an unnatural aura hanging across Old Trafford. Walking into an unusually deserted Old Trafford with a box of oranges that he had kept near the main entrance,he poured himself a scotch in his office.

He didn’t know that his life was about to change.

Murphy once told The Guardian about what exactly went down. He said: “It had been a long, tiring journey and I poured myself a glass of scotch. Alma George, Matt’s secretary, came in and told me about the crash. I didn’t take it in at all. I just poured Alma a glass of sherry and carried on sipping my Scotch.”[1]

“Alma said, “I don’t think you understand. The plane has crashed. A lot of people have died.”‘ She was right. I did not understand. So she told me a third time and this time she started to cry. A good few minutes had elapsed and suddenly Alma’s words began to take effect on me. I went into my office and cried.”[1]

His world had come crashing down in a moment.

The city of Manchester was in a sense of shock. Their beloved heroes had perished and it seems like everything had come to a standstill. The Busby Babes were no more. David Hall, in his book Manchester’s Finest recalls how the city had reacted to the Munich Air Disaster. Days after the crash, he says, groups of workers would gather across the streets of the city and stand there dead silent. The bubbling conversations about the previous weekend’s emphatic win or the goal-scorers were now painfully replaced by the eeriness of their demise. People would call up the offices of Manchester newspapers, pleading them to confirm that the story of the crash wasn’t true. Life, it seemed, had been sucked out of the city. And it was deplorable.

The then-manager of Blackburn Rovers, Johnny Carey, would also go on to play a role in reinstating the faith and fighting spirit of the club—somethingthat it still takes pride in. In a television interview, Carey insisted that United would not die. He said: “When I first heard I was absolutely shocked to the core. All heads are bowed in Manchester tonight. But Manchester United will live on.”[2]

Tasked with the job of rebuilding the club from ashes, Murphy first had to fly to Munich with the families of the affected. He had to bury the players and the team that he had created. He had to put to rest those who had repaid the club and Murphy himself with their skill, their passion, and in the end, their lives. The surgeon who was treating the injured United players at the Recht der Isar hospital in Munich took Murphy to the bed of each survivor and told him about each one’s chances of survival.

Duncan Edwards, who, according to many could have turned out to be one of the best players England had ever had, was proclaimed to have a fifty percent chance of survival. Edwards’ haunting last words to Murphy were the definition of his commitment to the club—“Oh, it’s you, Jimmy. Is the kick-off three o’clock?”

Harry Gregg and Bill Foulkes had got discharged the night before, and took the train home with Murphy. Bobby Charlton looked to be in decent shape.So did Ray Wood, Dennis Viollet, and Kenny Morgan. They greeted Jimmy with a mixture of anguish and joy.

Matt Busby lay silently in an oxygen tent and he, too, had a fifty percent chance of survival. As Murphy bent close to him, Busby whispered: “Keep the flag flying, Jimmy.”

For Jimmy, the last thing the club wanted was the sympathy of people. The league game against Wolves was postponed, but the real problem lay in getting players to play for the club. Coffins of the dead players were kept in the old gymnasium, the place where the current players’ lounge is located.

The FA had waived the fourteen-day registration rule for players and Cup-tied players could now play for a second team. Clubs like Liverpool and Nottingham Forest stepped in to help, and players like Ferenc Puskas, Zoltan Czibor, and even Alfredo di Stefano were willing to offer their services to the club for the rest of the season. However, the terms couldn’t be agreed upon since United wasn’t wealthy enough to pay these star players their wages.

Murphy didn’t even have a transfer budget to spend.

Things were so bad that when Ferenc Puskas wanted to join Real Madrid for a salary of £800 per week, United were only able to offer him£18 pounds weekly. A club from a Durham coalfield offered three players on loan. Murphy had no option but to grab the opportunity with both hands.

In his book Manchester United: The Biography —The complete story of the world’s greatest club, Jim White writes how United couldn’t even afford a new typewriter at that time. Murphy worked twenty hours a day, trying his best to keep the club up.He was always on the phone, looking to convince players to join the club. Additionally, he also had the unenviable task of comforting the relatives of those who had died.

But Murphy did not bend. He had to keep the red flag flying high.

The next game against Sheffield Wednesday was set to be held on the 19th of February. Winning it was going to be a monumental task.

A team that consisted of amateurs, apprentices, and heart-broken survivors took to the pitch at an Old Trafford that was awash with sympathy. One thing was for certain though—Murphy had managed to make anyone even remotely associated with the club believe that they could survive. It might be an uphill battle, but it was a battle that could be won.

The stadium was charged with emotion. Even the Sheffield Wednesday players expressed their sorrow about the tragic events of February.

But United had a spine of steel. They won the game 3-0. They had a broken side and a broken heart, but their resolve could not be broken.

Murphy was the man without whom we would never have seen a Bobby Charlton become the club’s highest goalscorer. Neither would we ever have seen the highest goalscorer in the club’s history —Wayne Rooney. If it were not for Murphy, players like George Best, Eric Cantona, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and Cristiano Ronaldo would never have enthralled millions at Old Trafford.

If not for a certain dynamic and garrulous character, Manchester United would never have existed, let alone become the richest and greatest club in the world.

Murphy was never a man who basked in the spotlight or looked for it. He was more than just a hero.He was the saviour that the club needed.

Reference:

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/jan/27/sport.comment

[2] Manchester United: The Biography: The complete story of the world’s greatest football club by Jim White, Little, Brown Book Group