Busby Babes' legacy lives on February 06 2008
'If they are good enough they are old enough.'
That is the message on one of Manchester United's best-selling T-shirts for half a century.
The words are those of Sir Matt Busby, and the fact that they are as pertinent today in a Manchester United team in which Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney epitomise the enduring emphasis on youth and flair is perhaps the club's greatest legacy.
United have never been more successful.
Sir Alex Ferguson has won nine Premier League titles, the FA Cup a record five times and the European Cup in the treble-winning year of 1999.
Yet all of it can be traced back to Busby and the foundations he laid back in the 1950s and 1960s when his courage and vision built and rebuilt the club and guided it through the tragedy of the Munich air crash in which 23 people died, including eight of the 'Busby Babes'.
Munich has become one of those iconic moments in 20th Century history.
It is recalled with the same sense of gravity and loss in many quarters as the sinking of the Titanic, the assassination of President Kennedy, the dropping of the atom bomb, the death of Princess Diana.
The death of young, vibrant, talented people taken before their time is always a reason for mourning.
And the famous Old Trafford clock which bears the fateful date February 6, 1958, is testament to the fact that Duncan Edwards, Eddie Colman, Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Liam 'Billy' Whelan will never be forgotten.
Nor should we forget that eight journalists also died, including Frank Swift of the News of the World who was also a former England and Manchester City goalkeeper.
City supporters who might be tempted to spoil the planned minute's silence before the match between United and City on February 10 to commemorate the tragedy might care to remember that.
They might also care to remember that former City goalkeeper Steve Fleet was due to be Colman's best man later that year in 1958 and instead ended up carrying his coffin.
If they really regard themselves as true football supporters they will put petty tribal rivalries aside for one day, at least for one minute, and remember what United and Busby did for English football.
Yes, I know City supporters believe the Munich crash prompted a wave of sympathy which propelled United into the minds of football folk around the globe, one which has helped turn United into one of the most famous, glamorous and powerful football forces on Earth.
You can understand the envy, but that is destructive.
Instead they should marvel at the steely men who built the club on uncompromising ideals of style and attacking football.
Above all, Busby, who spent two months fighting for his life in a German hospital confronting his demons and his feelings of guilt before returning to build another side capable of conquering Europe.
It is easy to forget that in the inaugural year of the European Cup, 1955-56, England had no representative because the Football League leant on league champions Chelsea not to take part.
They tried to do the same with United the following year, refusing to assist with fixture congestion caused by lengthy travelling times in Europe.
Busby defied them. He embraced Europe as an adventure.
He believed his young, talented side were pioneers. On the cusp of greatness. So much so that after winning the league in successive years he was to say: "In all modesty, my summing up of 1955-56 and 1956-57 must be that no club in the country could live with Manchester United."
Whatever you think of the monster the Champions League has turned into today, you have to concede Busby was a visionary.
Just as even their critics would have to concede that United have always stayed true to the entertaining ideals of their Scottish father figure.
We will never know whether the 'Busby Babes' would have won the European Cup, although sense says they would have stopped Real Madrid from winning the competition in its first five successive seasons. Perhaps even eclipsed Real Madrid full stop.
What we do know is that Busby's new team did win it a decade later and that the legacy lives on.
Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea supporters understandably will have other ideas, but how appropriate if Ferguson and his current dynamic side could once more lift the European Cup in Moscow in May and dedicate the triumph to Busby.
There could be no more fitting way to honour the legendary 'Babes'.