๐น The Flowers of Manchester ๐น
We were the kings of England. Twice we'd won the First Division, and it felt like we were only getting started. Those lads, our lads, they weren't just footballers. They were something else entirely. A revolution in red shirts, playing with this pure joy that made people forget the ration books had barely been put away. The Busby Babes, they called them. And from our little patch of Manchester, they were about to show Europe what real football looked like.
Then Munich happened. All these years later, that word sticks in the throat of so many supporters. It tore the heart right out of our club and our city. Twenty three souls lost on that frozen runway. . Big Duncan Edwards fought like hell in that Munich hospital, just like the way he played. But even Duncan couldn't beat this one. Matt Busby was fighting for his life too, and somehow he pulled through. But the world he came back to wasn't the same.
Manchester changed overnight. This proud working city, normally alive with trams rattling and factory whistles blowing, just went quiet. Shop windows were filled with handwritten poems tied with red ribbon, newspaper clippings and drawings from school kids of the heroes they'd lost. Mancunians have always been an emotional lot, never shy about showing what they feel. But this was different. The whole city wore its grief like a black armband.
Every February, you see younger fans who only know the story through their parents or grandparents, standing side by side with those of us who've carried it with us all this time. When 'The Flowers of Manchester' starts up, even the hardest old timers get that look. You'll catch them wiping their eyes and their faces going soft with the weight of it all.
They say every football club has its defining moment. That one thing everything else pivots around. For Manchester United, it wasn't just Munich itself, it was everything that came after. How the club clawed its way back up. How Matt Busby somehow rebuilt not just a team, but a legacy.
Every trophy we've lifted since, every victory parade down Deansgate, they all carry something of those Busby Babes in them.
When you watch our academy kids now, running out in that same red shirt with that same fire burning inside them, you're seeing it. The Babes are still there. In every goal. In every roar from the Stretford End.
Forever young, forever brilliant, forever United โฅ๏ธ๐ค๐ค
#TheFlowersOfManchester #MUFC #ManchesterUnited
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@MiguelDelaney I 100% agree with your take. I met Roy in UCC in 2002 and I remember telling him I thought he was the best midfielder in the world at that time. You have brought out the football scholars here though Miguel, some of the opinions here are absolutely bonkers!
@gayspyalex@uncle_creature@CheeseWhiz I love when people make assumptions with zero knowledge. Makes them
look awfully dumbโฆโฆHuge cinema attendee and regularly and I mean regularly, people with phones on full brightness, talking openly, teenagers throwing popcorn. That includes in the luxx screens!
@uncle_creature@CheeseWhiz@gayspyalex The sense of entitlement is mind boggling!! Movie theatres are dying because people wonโt shut up, keep their phone in their pocket and just enjoy the movie! If you want to talk and make noise just wait to stream it, itโs literally a matter of weeks now between cinema and home
๐จWIN๐จ
Weโre giving away two pairs of tickets to the All-Ireland Hurling Final this Sunday, thanks to @harveynormanIE , the Official Stats Partner for the GAA.
To be in with a chance to win, like & repost this post, make sure you're following @ballsdotie and @harveynormanIE and tag a friend in the comments below!
All roads lead to Bunclody this Sunday for the Leinster Junior Cup Final. Our boys are looking to make history and claim a first provincial crown. Facing them will be @NewOakFC
Letโs get there early and get there in numbers to cheer our men on! Kick off is 2.30pm โฝ๏ธ๐โฝ๏ธ๐
@adrianweckler We lose the ability to share benefits with our household? So for my wife to have free delivery she needs her own separate prime subscription now? Is this correct? Seems a backdoor price bump or way of increasing subscribers
@Eintrachtrob@scriobh@NormaFoleyTD1 Holidays absolutely are not irrelevant. They factor into any career decision. Even switching roles in my industry better holidays (2 or 3 days extra) could be a deciding factor. It all counts to the overall package. Itโs very much a front and centre point when discussing the wage
@scriobh@Eintrachtrob@NormaFoleyTD1 Starting salary just under the average industrial wage, summers off, guaranteed increments annually. Itโs a very tough job, absolutely, but in terms of pay itโs well rewarded. Iโve spent 20 years in funds and the starting wage is not even close to 40k.