'A tale of tragedy and renewal': Lord Shamash reviews 'Munichs: A Novel'

Manchester United team (l-r): Duncan Edwards, Eddie Colman, Mark Jones, Kenny Morgans, Bobby Charlton, Dennis Viollet, Tommy Taylor, Bill Foulkes, Harry Gregg, Albert Scanlon and Roger Byrne | Image by: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

I was 10 years old, born and bred in Manchester, already a devoted fan of Manchester United and the Busby Babes. It was 10.30pm on a cold, wet, Manchester evening in February 1958. My brother shook me awake. The coffins have arrived in Manchester, he said – and are being driven past the end of our road. We must be there to join in and pay respects to those who have lost their lives in the tragic plane crash in Munich on 6 February 1958.

Among the dead were eight of the Busby Babes, the flowers of the Manchester United first team, along with renowned sports journalists and senior club staff who had travelled with the team for the match against Red Star Belgrade. The plane had stopped over in Munich to refuel and had crashed on the third attempt at take-off to return to Manchester.

The shock and devastation of the sombre, packed crowd lining the route to Old Trafford was palpable. Heads were bowed and there were tears of grief. It was overwhelming and a scene I will never forget.

Munichs is the latest of David Peace’s football novels, including The Damned Utd recounting Brian Clough’s troubled 47 days at Leeds United. 

Munichs is a compelling and riveting tale of the crash and its aftermath but often feels more a factual recreation of the disaster and its aftermath than a novel. 

It is not just the dead who dominate the novel

True to Peace’s style in previous books, he increases the dramatic impact of the book by using repetition in his description of events – the traumatic account of the crash, the dead and the devastating impact on families, football, and society. 

But it is not just the dead who dominate the novel; it is also those seriously injured and treated in a Munich hospital including Sir Matt Busby, who was to survive life-threatening injuries. Recounted in foreboding detail are the heroic attempts of the dedicated German medical team, trying to save the life of the immensely talented Duncan Edwards who, even at the age of 21, was a beacon for the future of the club and for English football. He tragically died two weeks after the crash, his death just compounding the nation’s grief. 

Also inspiring is how Jimmy Murphy, Busby’s devoted assistant manager, steps into the boss’ shoes while Busby is still dangerously ill in hospital. Murphy struggled in the most awful of circumstances to put together a team to complete the season and to retrieve United from the ashes of the crash. He drew on youngsters from the reserve team, who in many cases were not yet ready for the first team, to play and who were in turn traumatised by the loss of their teammates and role models. It is a huge tribute to both Busby and Murphy that just a decade after the Munich plane crash United won the 1968 European Cup at Wembley.

Why the title Munichs in the plural? Because the disaster touched so much more than the team’s home city, the country, the worldwide football community and fans everywhere for whom football was such an irreplaceable part of their lives.

It is also an invaluable record of football embedded in a societal landscape of decency and community; of football being about love for the game and of players sense of the allegiance and responsibility as role models – a far cry from the massive global commercialism of football today, dominated by celebrity and money. 

Lord Shamash is a Labour peer and former chair & current board member of Manchester United Supporters Trust

Munichs: A Novel
By: David Peace
Publisher: Faber & Faber

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