Busby Babes

The squad most associated with the name "babes" was that of the 1957–58 season, many of whom died in the 1958 Munich air disaster, and who, with an average age of 22, had been touted to dominate European football for the next few years.

The term, coined by Manchester Evening News journalist Tom Jackson[1][2] in 1951,[3] usually refers to the players who won the league championship in seasons 1955–56 and 1956–57, with an average age of 21 and 22 respectively.

Eight of the players – Roger Byrne (28), Eddie Colman (21), Mark Jones (24), Duncan Edwards (21), Liam Whelan (22), Tommy Taylor (26), David Pegg (22) and Geoff Bent (25) – died in or as a result of the Munich air disaster in February 1958.

Wood's successor in the first team, Harry Gregg, signed in December 1957 from Doncaster Rovers, as the world's most expensive goalkeeper at the time, for £23,500.

Injury ended the career of John Doherty, who played his last game for Leicester City less than a year after United sold him to the East Midlands club.

[5] The Busby Babes were first portrayed in the television film United (2011), which focuses on the relationship between Jimmy Murphy (David Tennant) and Bobby Charlton (Jack O'Connell), in the aftermath of the Munich air disaster.

[6][7] Of the Busby Babes shown in the film, Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards, Harry Gregg, Mark Jones and David Pegg, are portrayed by Philip Hill-Pearson, Sam Claflin, Ben Peel, Thomas Howes and Brogan West, respectively.

[8][9] The following Busby Babes shown in the film included Geoff Bent (Lee Buckley), Roger Byrne (Daniel Shannon), Bobby Charlton (Daniel Swann), Eddie Coleman (Danny Leech), Duncan Edwards (George Gladstone), Mark Jones (Michael Jukes), David Pegg (Michael Ferguson), Tommy Taylor (Dean Bowman) and Liam Whelan (Matthew Leeming).

A black-and-white photograph of a football team lining up before a match. Eleven men in old-fashioned association football attire stand in a line: ten wear dark shirts, white shorts and black socks, and the other wears a still darker shirt. Behind the players can be seen one of the enormous open stands of an East European-style soccer stadium, filled to the brim with spectators.
Manchester United 's "Busby Babes", pictured in 1958, before their last match .
Manchester United F.C. in 1957 – from the left, standing: Liam Whelan , Jackie Blanchflower , Ian Greaves , Ray Wood , Wilf McGuinness , Mark Jones , Tommy Taylor , Matt Busby ( manager ); front row: Johnny Berry , David Pegg , Albert Scanlon , Roger Byrne , Jeff Whitefoot , Dennis Viollet and Eddie Colman .