Matt Busby

Sir Alexander Matthew Busby was a Scottish footballer and football manager. He played for Scotland national team. Busby managed Manchester United and led them to great success. Many people believe that Busby is one of the greatest football managers of all time.

Matt Busby

Busby in 1957
Personal information
Full name	Alexander Matthew Busby
Date of birth	(1909-05-26)26 May 1909
Place of birth	Orbiston, Bellshill, Scotland
Date of death	20 January 1994(1994-01-20) (aged 84)
Place of death	Cheadle, Greater Manchester, England
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Position(s)	Right half, inside forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1928	Denny Hibs
1928–1936	Manchester City	204	(11)
1936–1945	Liverpool	115	(3)
1941–1943	→ Hibernian (guest)	0	(0)
Total		319	(14)
International career
1933	Scotland	1	(0)
1941	Scottish League XI	1	(0)
1942–1945	Scotland (wartime)	7	(0)
Managerial career
1945–1969	Manchester United
1948	Great Britain
1958	Scotland
1970–1971	Manchester United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

As a player, Busby played for Manchester City and Liverpool. After his playing career, he went to manage Manchester United and built a great team called the Busby Babes. Eight of those players died in an airplane accident in Munich. This accident was called the Munich air disaster. But Busby again built a winning team after the disaster. He spent 25 years with Manchester United and won 13 trophies.

Career statistics

Playing career

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		Charity Shield		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Manchester City	1928–29	First Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1929–30	First Division	11	3	1	2	0	0	12	5
	1930–31	First Division	20	0	1	0	0	0	21	0
	1931–32	First Division	41	1	5	0	0	0	46	1
	1932–33	First Division	39	1	7	1	0	0	46	2
	1933–34	First Division	39	4	8	0	0	0	47	4
	1934–35	First Division	35	1	1	0	1	0	37	1
	1935–36	First Division	19	1	1	0	0	0	20	1
	Total		204	11	24	3	1	0	229	14
Liverpool	1935–36	First Division	11	1	0	0	0	0	11	1
	1936–37	First Division	29	1	1	0	0	0	30	1
	1937–38	First Division	33	0	3	0	0	0	36	0
	1938–39	First Division	42	1	3	0	0	0	45	1
	Total		115	3	7	0	0	0	122	3
Career total			319	14	31	3	1	0	351	17

Managerial career

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record					Ref.
			P	W	D	L	Win %
Manchester United	1 October 1945	4 June 1969	1,120	565	263	292	050.41	[2]
Great Britain	July 1948	August 1948	4	2	0	2	050.0
Scotland	15 January 1958	December 1958	2	1	1	0	050.0	[3]
Manchester United	29 December 1970	8 June 1971	21	11	3	7	052.4	[2]
Total			1,147	579	267	301	050.5

¹Does not include matches for which Jimmy Murphy served as acting manager following the Munich air disaster.

Honours

Player

Manchester City

• FA Cup: 1933–34

Manager

Manchester United

• First Division: 1951–52, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1964–65, 1966–67
• FA Cup: 1947–48, 1962–63
• FA Charity Shield: 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965 (shared), 1967 (shared)
• European Cup: 1967–68

Individual

• PFA Merit Award: 1980
• English Football Hall of Fame (Manager): 2002
• European Hall of Fame (Manager): 2008
• ESPN 7th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013^[4]
• France Football 11th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019^[5]
• World Soccer 36th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013

Orders and special awards

• Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE): 1958
• Knight Bachelor: 1968
• Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (KCSG): 1972