A citizen of Manchester is set to collect £8000 for copies of the programme of a Manchester United football match planned for the 8th of February 1958. The game was postponed as a result of the Munich Air Disaster, in which an airplane carrying the Manchester United football team crashed on the runway in Munich. Twenty of the 44 passengers on board were killed in the incident.
The crash occured as a result of slush on the runway. After two attempts at take-off, the captain of the aircraft rejected an overnight stay in Munich for fear of runing too far behind schedule. On the third attempt, the aircraft ploughed through a fence and hit a nearby house.
Eight members of the football team were killed, along with eight journalists travelling with them.
Now, 55 years later, Keith Hames, a Manchester local, has found two 12-page copies of the programme for the game the team had intended to play in his attic. The programme came into his family's possession via Keith's father, who worked Philip's Park Press where the programmes were printed half a century ago.
As a relic of a major event in the history of football and Munich, Keith believes he can sell the copies for £8,000. The programmes' worth is further increased by the fact that every other programme printed was burned before being put into circulation, as a result of the air disaster.
Two memorials of the tragedy can be found in Munich. One, a small wooden depiction of Jesus on the cross, and the other, a granite plaque, can both be found on Emplstrasse in the suburb of Trudering.