Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and women’s head coach Casey Stoney attended the Munich memorial service at Old Trafford on Thursday afternoon, alongside other club staff and supporters.
Solskjaer and Stoney joined former United captain Bryan Robson in laying a wreath, as the Reds marked the anniversary of the air disaster that claimed 23 lives in 1958.
Also present at the event was Jimmy Murphy Jnr, who recalled how his father helped to rebuild United in his role as Matt Busby’s assistant.
Songs were sung and poems read out in front of the Munich plaque in the south-east corner of the Old Trafford forecourt, before the congregation observed a two-minute silence at 15:04 GMT, the exact time the plane crashed on 6 February 1958.
23 people, including eight players and three members of the club’s staff – suffered fatal injuries in the Munich Air Disaster.
The team had been travelling back from a European Cup tie against Red Star Belgrade when their aircraft stopped in Germany to refuel. The first two attempts to take off from Munich airport were aborted; following a third attempt, the plane crashed.
