One of the world’s rarest football programmes for a game abandoned due to tragedy has turned up in a drawer – and it could sell for thousands of pounds.
On February 6, 1958 the Munich air disaster took the lives of eight Manchester United players, manager Sir Matt Busby’s Babes. Consequently the club’s match against Wolverhampton Wanderers, scheduled to take place two days later on February 8, 1958, was cancelled.
The players died when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off from a snow-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport. The loss of so many players from the legendary young team shocked the world.
When it became clear the game could not take place most of the match programmes were destroyed. However, 65 years later, one has been discovered by Hertfordshire auction house Hanson Ross. And such is its scarcity it could achieve £5,000-£8,000 under the hammer on January 12.
Amanda Butler, director of operations at the Royston firm, said: “The vendor’s uncle worked in the Manchester print shop that made the programmes. Most were destroyed but his uncle kept one and gifted it to our seller. He also gave him a programme for a Manchester United v Nottingham Forest match on February 22, 1958, just a couple of weeks after the disaster. The two will be offered at auction together.
“For any football memorabilia collector this is an extremely unusual opportunity. Hardly any of the Manchester United v Wolves programmes exist and examples rarely come to light. We are aware of one which sold previously at auction for £6,200.”
The seller, retired engineer Peter Jackson, 67, from Wembley, London, is parting with the programmes because he wants to ensure they’re not discarded but treasured forever as a part of Manchester United’s history.
He said: “You get to a time of life when you start thinking about what may happen to things that are important to you. I’m a Manchester United fan and I have owned these programmes nearly all my life so it’s a big deal to let them go. But they’re historically important and deserve to be preserved.
“They were given to my dad by his brother as a gift for me when I saw a small child in the late 1950s. They were always meant for me. When I left home at 18 I took them with me. They have moved house a few times but I’ve always looked after them. They’ve been in a cardboard folder in a bedside drawer.
“I came across them again during a clear out and decided maybe now was the right time to sell. I’ve always known I’d have to let them go eventually.
“My uncle worked in the Manchester printworks that made the programmes and decided to hold on to them. I was born in Stockport but my family moved to London when I was five. My dad and uncle are no longer alive. I think they would be surprised to know how valuable those programmes priced 4d, pennies in 1958, might be today.
“I hope they will go to a Manchester United fan or keen collector who will look after them for years to come to honour the Busby’s Babes who lost their lives.”
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Football memorabilia valuations | David Wilson-Turner: [email protected]
