Tears shed for the Busby Babes

Mark Simpson
BBC North of England correspondent

The hurt is still raw for Manchester United fans

Rarely can so many grown men have cried at a football ground.

Tears replaced cheers at Old Trafford as people from across the city - and the country - came to stand, to stare, to remember and to reflect.

Usually at sports stadia it is the kids who do the crying and the adults who do the comforting. On this occasion, it was the other way round.

So why are supporters still so raw 50 years on, when they remember the 1958 plane crash?

They weren't superstars - they were local lads who mixed with the fans Peter Etheral, Manchester United fan Radio 4's Munich and the Making of Manchester United

Between the tears, lifelong Manchester United fan Peter Etheral explained: "You have to bear in mind that in them days people had very little.

"The working people of Manchester had their football. They didn't have what they have today.

"The football was the be-all and end-all.

"And they (the Busby Babes) were local lads. They weren't superstars. They were local lads who mixed with the fans."

One of the first supporters to leave flowers beneath the Munich memorial to mark the 50th anniversary was pensioner Marjorie Simpson from Salford.

"I come every year," she said as she laid a bunch of roses beside the wall.

'Kennedy moment'

For her and many others, 6 February 1958 was their "Kennedy moment" or "9/11 moment" - the day they'll never forget where they were when they heard the news.

Marjorie was told by a colleague at work. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

It was, of course, an era long before Ceefax or the internet, when word of mouth was the fastest form of communication technology.

Amid a flurry of rumours and counter rumours, it took days to find out for sure who was alive and who was dead.

Young and old reflected on the scale of the tragedy

For those too young to remember the plane crash, the 50th anniversary is still a source of sadness.

"It's the most important part of the club's history, and to appreciate what the club is now, you need to understand what happened back then," said one teenage supporter, who didn't want to be named, as he had skipped college to be at the commemorations.

By the time the fans had left Old Trafford following a day of tributes, a sea of flowers had spread across the forecourt of the stadium.

Among the thousands of petals, someone had left a handkerchief.

Perhaps it had been dropped there accidentally but in many ways it was the most powerful image of the day.