Almost hidden away, a two and a half minute drive from Bury New Road is The Cliff, formerly used by Broughton Rangers rugby team until 1933, purchased by Manchester United in 1951 and, from the late 1950s used to build some of the most exciting teams and players ever seen on a footy pitch…
Harry Gregg, the legendary United goalkeeper and Munich air crash survivor, speaking in 2000 as United moved the first team out of The Cliff to Carrington, recalled…
“When I arrived on the scene the Busby Babes didn’t train at The Cliff, we trained at Old Trafford, and it wasn’t until after the damned accident that everyone went to The Cliff, where we came back together again” he said in an interview for The Times in 2000.
“Those who survived Munich had their development at the Cliff” he added “The Cliff, to me, was the coming together of Manchester United as a family club again…The Cliff was the lifeblood of Manchester United, there’s no two ways about it. The Cliff was where it all began, the focal point of all the development…it was what United were all about. The Cliff brought together everything the club stood for, Busby always talked about it – even in team talks…
“The wonderful thing about it was the fans’ access to players” he said “That’s why United were the club they were…the youth of the side going back forty years had that connection with the local public, being at one with it in a downtrodden, poor area. That was the charm and wonderful thing about Manchester United, and that’s why it must never be taken away with these boxes at Old Trafford, corporate hospitality and all that – United are a club of the people…and that’s what The Cliff was all about. The wooden gates were never closed, except at night…
“When you start minding the fans getting autographs, there’s something wrong” he explained “As a kid you wanted to be a player and you wanted to see your name in the paper, and you wanted to be famous. Once you forget that, once you move away from that, no matter how big you become, you’re a thumbprint…I was lucky enough to live every kids’ dream. What a wonderful gift I had that I was able to live a billion dreams of other people. Why should I turn myself away from the public? Not at all. I love the public!
“At the end of the day, people in the media and press put fourteen men’s sons up on a pedestal” he said “They are, as I was, ordinary working class people. Once anyone forgets that it’s all over. The greatest gift you can have is that the public loves you. It’s better sometimes than the manager loving you!
“I knew David Beckham when…I knew Paul Scholes when…I knew the two Nevilles when…I knew Nicky Butt when…the same as I knew George Best as a little kid from Ireland”
he added “Those kids in the Under 16s team stopped in my hotel in 1991 when they won their first trophy, the Milk Cup. They sat in my hotel and the boy Scholes never spoke a word in ten days. The boy Beckham was another little child. If I met them today, they’d be the same kids. They weren’t the big time merchants they are now…”
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