Wayne Barton joined Tuesday's Off the Ball to discuss the role Jimmy Murphy had in holding Manchester United together in the aftermath of the Munich air disaster.
As the football world marked the 60th anniversary of the tragedy, Barton explained how Murphy kept the club running while Matt Busby recovered from his injuries.
"He was just about everybody behind the scenes at Manchester United," he told Joe Molloy. He was categorised as the assistant manager and the scout. He was the youth team coach for many years before he became the assistant formally.
"He was described by Nobby Styles as the 'nuts and bolts' at Manchester United and that really summarises everything Jimmy Murphy was the blood and guts and spirit of the Busby Babes before and after the crash."
Such was Murphy's influence at the club in the wake of the Munich tragedy - he was eventually offered the Brazil job - only to turn it down.
"That's an incredible story that because the story goes Matt Busby was read the last rites - he was so ill, he actually was unaware of the scale of the disaster - he wasn't aware that other people had died or at least he hadn't been informed and so his question to Jimmy to keep the flag flying was more or less with the intention of, or the belief of, that everything was as it was and that he was the only one hurt and Jimmy took that promise and he did make good on that promise.
"He kept the flag flying as he asked him too and really once he got back to Manchester, Jimmy realised how difficult that would be because obviously there were so many people not only passed away but some of the players careers were completely devastated."
The full discussion can be heard here:
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