"NOBODY ever talked about it at the ground because it was always there in the background," recalled Brian Adcock who was on the staff at Manchester United after the Munich tragedy.

Nick Garnham

By Nick Garnham

"NOBODY ever talked about it at the ground because it was always there in the background," recalled Brian Adcock who was on the staff at Manchester United after the Munich tragedy.

Adcock, who is now 63 and lives in Holbrook, just outside Ipswich, joined the staff at Old Trafford in 1961 after spending two years as an apprentice with Sheffield Wednesday followed by a short spell with Flint Town, who were then in the Welsh League.

He played in the Juniors and then the 'B' team at United with players such as Hugh Curran, Barry Fry, Eamonn Dunphy, Jimmy Nicholson and Warren Bradley, who all went on to make a name for themselves in the game.

Adcock, who was only on the staff for one season before being released, remembers Harry Gregg and Bill Foulkes, who both survived the disaster, during his time at Old Trafford.

"Harry Gregg, who at the time held the distinction of being the record transfer paid for a goalkeeper, was a terrific fella who always took time to speak to you.

"Bill Foulkes was still around, and although I never heard anybody talk about Munich you could not get away from it."

Adcock said of the day of the tragedy: "I was still a schoolboy at the time and the first I knew about it was when a mate came knocking on the door and told me.

"I could not believe it and went round to the local paper shop and it was on the billboards. I watched as grown men came out of the shop with their newspapers and stood outside silently crying."

Adcock recalled that one of his masters at school was a staunch Manchester United fan, seeing every home match and also some away games.

“He was very strict but fair. He had four different plimsoles - each had a different type of tread - before you got a whack you could choose which one you wanted to be hit with.

“Following the accident he did not come into school for several days, and when he did return we didn't see the plimsoles for weeks!”

Adcock was not normally allowed to attend night matches at Old Trafford but he remembers going to the FA Cup quarter-final tie a month after the crash against West Bromwich Albion, which was Bobby Charlton's first match back after recovering from the Munich crash.

"We got to the ground at a quarter-to-five and you could not move - it was packed.

"United won with a last-minute goal and there were tears in the eyes of grown men - I saw it twice in a few weeks, but have not seen it since," said Adcock, who moved to Suffolk in 1970 and worked at the Evening Star as a printer until 2000 but is now retired.