United’s cobbled-together team of youngsters, reserves and emergency transfers crushed their Yorkshire rivals 3-0. “I don't think anyone who played in the game or who watched it will ever forget that night,” said Wednesday’s Albert Quixall. “United ran their hearts out, and no matter how well we had played they would have beaten us.” Shay Brennan, a 20-year-old right back, made his first team debut on the left wing, and scored twice. Alex Dawson, a 17-year-old, added a third. “Those older players had always encouraged me,” he remembered later. “They used to turn up to reserve games and give tips. Duncan [Edwards] I really liked. He’d say, ‘That’s what the boss likes to see: you moving around, listening, learning.’ When people like that were talking to you, you felt on a pedestal. And you wanted to remain up there. That’s why the club worked so well. We were the future, or we were supposed to be. Except the future came round too quickly.” Two days later, on Dawson’s 18th birthday, Edwards died in hospital.

His kidneys had been badly damaged in the accident. An artificial kidney had been enough to save his life, but reduced his blood’s ability to clot. Edwards began bleeding internally and, after a long struggle, passed away. It was as if the accident had happened all over again. United’s talisman was gone. Edwards had been a force of nature, a perfect footballer. “He was the only player who ever made me feel inferior. Compared to him the rest of us were like pygmies. If I had to play for my life and could take one man with me, it would be him,” said Charlton, the man widely regarded today as England’s greatest-ever player – in, he would surely say, Edwards’ place. Tommy Docherty, a Preston North End player who would go on to manage United in the 1970s, was likewise unequivocal: “There is no doubt in my mind that Duncan would have become the greatest player ever. Not just in British football, with United and England, but the best in the world. George Best was something special, as was Pele and Maradona, but in my mind Duncan was much better in terms of all-round ability and skill.” Stiles’ memories once again turn to the inside of a church: “At his funeral back in Worcestershire, the vicar said that we would see great talent again, even genius, but there would only be one Duncan Edwards.”

Are those memories misled by sentiment? Charlton does not give the idea a moment’s thought: “Sentiment can throw a man’s judgment out of perspective, yet it is not the case with him. Duncan Edwards was the greatest. I see him in my mind’s eye and I wonder that anyone should have so much talent.”

Sustaining a league challenge was too much for United’s makeshift and devastated squad, which slipped to mid-table, and despite beating AC Milan 2-1 at Old Trafford in the first leg of the European Cup semi-final, Murphy’s team were beaten 4-0 in Italy. The European dream was over. But the FA Cup was a different story. In the sixth round, United drew 2-2 with West Bromwich Albion, winning the replay 1-0. In the semi-final, they repeated the same score, drawing 2-2 with Fulham – both goals scored by Charlton, who had made an emotional return to the side. This time the victory in the replay was emphatic; Fulham were beaten 5-3, Charlton and Brennan adding to a Dawson hat-trick.

When Murphy led out his team at Wembley for the FA Cup final in May, it contained four men who had survived the crash in February: Charlton, Foulkes, Gregg and Viollet. Busby himself hobbled to the side of the pitch, albeit on crutches. It was widely reported, mistakenly but appropriately, that the eagle which adorned United’s cup final shirts – finals were the only time in those days that the club wore a club crest – was a phoenix.

The match would prove to be one step too far. Bolton Wanderers beat United 2-0, and a season that had started so brightly was over, with no medals and tragedy the only outcome. But there was something else, something which shaped the future of the club. “It galvanised the fans – the fans would never ever think about supporting anyone else – which in the old days they used to do,” was Charlton’s take. “It made our fans that bit more passionate. They wanted Man United to be the best, and they expected us to be the best, and that has continued.”

Simon Barnes, writing in The Times 50 years later, stated: ‘The eight Manchester United players who died in Munich have created a thing of perfection. Instead of memories of real deeds, they left an imperishable legend of beauty and glory, a team who could never lose, the greatest team ever.’ From that point, nothing but the best was good enough for Manchester United or the club’s fans. Today, 50 years later, men, women and children across the planet have bought into that legacy. People who have never been within a thousand miles of Old Trafford can tell the story of the Munich disaster, with every detail remembered.

Busby returned that summer, and once again set about rebuilding the club. Within five years, he had again signed some of the best players ever to wear the shirt. This time, the tragedy and romance of the disaster helped attract them. ‘I couldn’t wait to get to Manchester United,’ wrote Best, who signed for the club in 1961 at the age of just 15. ‘Wolves might have been the team I supported and dreamed about playing for, but United were a glamorous club, and the Munich air crash had brought them an enormous amount of interest and public sympathy.’ More than anything, Best remembered the moment he met Busby. 'I probably would not even have known he was United’s manager but for the coverage of the Munich disaster. Busby's chest was crushed in the crash and he was not expected to live. He actually received the last rites twice and was in a critical condition for days… His stature in the game was enormous after that so you can imagine how I felt, a 15-year-old triallist from Belfast, when I shook his hand. It was like being introduced to God.’

Seven years later, at the age of just 22 – a year older than Edwards had been when he died – Best was named European Player of the Year and scored the second goal as United beat Benfica 4-1 at London’s Wembley Stadium to be crowned champions of Europe. Another youngster, Brian Kidd, netted the third on his 19th birthday. The first and fourth were scored by a veteran: Bobby Charlton, a decade after eight of his team-mates died in Munich. Busby, in his 22nd year as manager of the club, had finally fulfilled his dream: “They've done us proud,” he said. “They came back with all their hearts to show everyone what Manchester United are made of. This is the most wonderful thing that has happened in my life and I am the proudest man in England tonight.”

Busby’s era, in which he had twice brought a club back from ruin, was drawing to a close. The legend he and his players had established was just beginning.

This article is part of SportsPro's History of Sport series. Click below for the other features in the series:

History of Sport: South Africa emerges from its dark past
History of Sport: Yankee Stadium
History of Sport: Sail of the Century