I was at Highbury on a Saturday afternoon in Febrary 1958, when Man United's Busby Babes came to town.
They got off to a flying start, and were soon 3-0 up, and us poor Arsenal fans (we weren't called Gooners then!!) were in looking miserable and not looking forward to a 7 or 8 goal thrashing from Bobby Charlton, Tommy Taylor, David Whelan, Albert Scanlon etc, etc. But, glory be, in the second half the Arsenal boys pulled their socks up, and were soon level at 3-3. Man United decided they weren't having this, and scored twice more to make it 5-3. Arsenal still weren't going to give up easily, and pulled another goal back, and even had one more disallowed for a foul that nobody but the referee saw!! So that thrilling momentous match ended 5-4 to Man Utd.
Five days later, half of that scintillating Man Utd team were killed, along with Frank Swift in the terrible Munich airplane disaster.
I hope that there are others who were present at Highbury that cold bleak February afternoon, who will recall the outstanding skill of those wonderful Man Utd players and Arsenal's brave fightback, but most of all remember those who died at Munich and the brave struggle of Matt Busby, Bobby Charlton and the other survivors.
I wish I had some photographs of that unforgettable match, but I only have my memories.
Michael de Jong
Memory added on November 20, 2012
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