Many great strikers have graced the Old Trafford stage, but none has matched Dennis Viollet’s 32 league goals in the 1959/60 season.

Blessed with pace and positional sense, Viollet scored a remarkable 179 goals in 293 United appearances, making him the club’s joint-fourth highest goalscorer alongside George Best.

Moss Side-born Viollet joined United as an amateur in the 1949/50 season, turning professional at the age of 17 and making his debut two years later.

As part of the Busby Babes, he formed a formidable partnership with the physical Tommy Taylor. The marriage of subtlety and strength reaped

dividends as United won back-to-back championships in 1956 and 1957.

The following year, having scored in the quarter-final clash with Red Star Belgrade, Viollet escaped from the Munich air disaster with minor head injuries.

He missed the majority of the season and, although he recovered in time to take his place in the 1958 FA Cup final, was helpless as United were beaten by Bolton Wanderers.

In January 1962 Viollet left Old Trafford to join Second Division Stoke City, where he won a Second Division Championship medal (1962/63) and reached the League Cup final (1963/64).

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