$30.000 For United Programmes Of Postponed Game In 1958

After 3-3 draw with Red Star in European Cup a plane with the players of Manchester United had stopped to refuel at Munich airport en route back from Belgrade. ‘Busby Babes‘ never came home, it is a tragedy that shook the whole world. Match with Wolves two days after the Munich disaster were postponed in 1958.

Nowdays Keith Hames, from Hyde near Manchester, uncovered a pair of mint condition ‘United Review’ programmes for the game against Wolves postponed in the wake of the 1958 Munich Air Disaster. He is set to make $30,000 after finding two copies of the ‘Holy Grail’ of Manchester United programmes in his attic. The programmes for the cancelled match two days after the Munich disaster were supposed to be destroyed, but a handful still exist. The Wolves match was scheduled for February 8, 1958, two days after the crash which killed eight of the ‘Busby Babes’ and left Matt Busby fighting for his life.

Mr Hames, told that his dad worked at the printing press where the United programme was produced and he would usually take a couple of copies home to make sure the pages had printed properly and to read them. Nobody knows how many of them were printed but however many there were they were ordered to be destroyed, but some staff at the printers took the odd one home.

Inside the programme there is a short write-up of the result in Belgrade. Mr Hames told: ‘I knew I had these programmes in my attic but had no idea of their worth until me and a few mates got talking about them. ‘I was surprised to see how much they can fetch and I’ve already had some offers from United collectors.’

In 2011, one edition of the programme in decent condition fetched $14,000. The programme for the match with Red Star is another collector’s item – since few United fans would have travelled to the game, a copy can fetch as much as $4,000.