Dukla Prague represented a well-drilled unit in the next round. They were, after all, the Czechoslovak army team. United’s thrilling attacking play was sufficient for a 3-0 home victory which would have been significantly larger were it not for the expert goalkeeping of the visitors. And Busby wanted more, because travelling behind the Iron Curtain into Eastern European was a tough test. It was a chill and dank Prague December that created a tricky pitch on which Eddie Colman was “sure-footed as a mountain goat,” according to Frank Taylor, helping United to an aggregate victory.
Progress secured, United endured a miserable journey home as fog forced a significant delay and re-route via Amsterdam. The Reds suffered as a result, drawing 3-3 with Birmingham City at Old Trafford, leading club secretary Walter Crickmer and Busby to charter a plane to take them for our next European trip, to Belgrade, via Munich.
In the days of two points for a win, a draw after a European trip was not so bad — just one point dropped. But then it was another slip-up as a late goal condemned United to a first home defeat to Chelsea for 38 years. The Londoners were another direct team whose success against United presented a fundamental challenge to Busby’s long-term project and entire footballing philosophy. He needed to do something to demonstrate that the football his United team played was not just attractive, but effective, too.
Busby himself was defiant, insisting United “shall be there at the end of the season for the League championship and the Cup.
“The team are playing great football, but it is not coming off. It happens to everyone, but we shall get over it. We shall be there because I know my boys have the quality.”
That they had, but Busby’s public words and private thoughts were, like all good football managers, different things. He wanted more quality and found it in two sources: the transfer market, and the youth set-up.
This was always the way with Busby — a blend of rare, smart, big-money purchases with regular introductions of fresh blood from the Academy.
Albert Scanlon and Kenny Morgans were the young lads, alongside the slightly more experienced Bobby Charlton, while Matt made Harry Gregg the world’s most expensive goalkeeper as he joined from Doncaster Rovers. The Northern Irishman’s style was fresh in its contrast to Ray Wood, who he was replacing.
While Gregg stayed with captain Roger Byrne in his first few days in Manchester, he explained it to his new teammate: “The penalty box is my domain and if the ball comes into it, I’ll go for it.”
Byrne encouraged him in this attitude. “You come and knock us out of the way if you have to! We must have no more messing about in the penalty area.”
Harry made sure of that. In what the Irish press in attendance called a “story-book debut,” Gregg helped United to a first clean sheet in seven league games and “impressed in his coolness, daring and anticipation.”
It was those three attributes that would turn him into one of our club’s all-time heroes with his actions at Munich Airport just 47 days later.
