Programme for Busby Babes match that never was could fetch £8,000 at auction


The fixture between Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers on February 8, 1958 was called off following the tragedy which occurred two days earlier.

A 12-page magazine was taken off the production line when news of the Busby Babes plane crash came through.

Most were destroyed but one has been discovered by Hertfordshire auction house Hanson Ross. It is expected to sell for up to £8,000 when it goes under the hammer on Friday.

Owner Peter Jackson, 67, kept it in a bedside drawer with another from the fixture against Nottingham Forest played a couple of weeks later.

Retired engineer Peter, from Wembley, Middlesex, added: “They’re historically important. I hope they go to a Manchester United fan or keen collector who will look after them for years to come to honour the Busby Babes who lost their lives.”

On February 6, 1958, 23 people including eight United players died when the plane carrying the team back from a match in Belgrade crashed in Germany where it had stopped to refuel.

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