John Massey: Five Games That Changed Me

Picking five pieces of fruit from the Ferguson years alone is enough to invite a headache. But Stockton Heath-born fan John Massey has it even tougher than most. 

Born in 1942, he’s been a match-goer since 1955 and is still heavily involved with the club now, as the Fans’ Forum representative for Executive Members. His selections range from the Busby Babes era to Cristiano Ronaldo’s first spell at the club, and cover the huge emotions around being a United fan – particularly those who lived through the trauma of the Munich Air Disaster in 1958. 

“I’ve moved around the country a lot,” says John, “but United has always stayed with me. I’ve always continued going to games. 

“Of course, I’m biased, because I’ve watched United for so long! But it’s still, to me, a magic place to go. I felt it straight away. As soon as we started to go – I was 13 then, I’ve just touched 80 now! There are so many games I could have chosen, and I’ve skipped some obvious ones to add interest. But these are my five...” 

ONE: UNITED 10 ANDERLECHT 0
European Cup | Maine Road | 26 September 1956

“My first game is United versus Anderlecht. Of course, it was played at Maine Road because United didn’t have floodlights. Dennis Viollet got four, Tommy Taylor scored three, but the star of the night was undoubtedly David Pegg, who played on the left wing. He was superb, and was providing assist after assist for the likes of Taylor and Viollet. For the last 20 minutes or quarter of an hour, they were all trying to provide an assist for him! But it just wouldn’t go in.

"There was great anticipation around the game, because no English team had done it [gone into Europe] and you didn’t know what to expect. It was new, it was different. Would we be good enough? Well, we were more than good enough, and Anderlecht couldn’t get anywhere near us. We overwhelmed them, as the scoreline indicates! Did we think every game was going to be easy after that? Possibly so, but it soon turned out not to be the case, as we ran into Real Madrid, who had people like Di Stefano and Gento. But starting off against Anderlecht and winning 10-0 was a hell of a start.” 

TWO: UNITED 3 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0
FA Cup | Old Trafford | 19 February 1958

“The first game after the Munich Air Disaster. At that stage of my life, as a young boy, this was the greatest tragedy I’d ever seen. There were four of us schoolboys that used to go regularly and we sent flowers to all the funerals, and then the emotion of that game... getting there and the programme had 11 blank spaces for United’s team, because we were signing players up until a couple of hours before kick-off. It was a very emotional night, of course. A lot of the youngsters played and Shay Brennan scored twice, once directly from a corner. I was stood on the Stretford End and the first two goals were scored at the Scoreboard End, and then the third was in front of us.

"It was just amazing that this young team had emerged, and with Harry Gregg and Bill Foulkes, of course – the two survivors who played in that match. Regrettably, I haven’t got the programme any more. I saw recently one going online for around £100, not that I ever would have sold mine. I’d been piling all the programmes in the garage and my dear and late mother at one stage decided she needed to tidy up. She got rid of them, much to my ultimate regret. But to get to the final [after the disaster] was just amazing. I remember another game in the run, against West Brom, where we won 1-0 with Colin Webster scoring in the last minute, again at the Scoreboard End. That was the biggest crowd I’d ever seen in my lifetime, at that point. We came straight from school to queue, because there was no ticketing.” 

THREE: UNITED 1 LIVERPOOL 0
FA Cup | Wembley Stadium | 11 May 1996

“We’re going to jump quite a way forward now. I could have picked games from the 1964/65 season or 1966/67, when we won titles, but I’ll jump to the FA Cup final of 1996 against Liverpool. ‘Calamity’ James was in the Liverpool goal and Eric scored to win us our second Double. That was extremely satisfying because it was Liverpool that we beat. Becoming the first team to win the Double twice was a big factor too. The youngsters – Beckham, Scholes – were beginning to emerge, and Eric Cantona was such a big influence on them and the club that I had to pick a game to get him into the narrative.

"Eric was tempestuous but that was part of the attraction. A wonderful player, a magical player. There are so many great players I’ve seen, and Eric was definitely one. He retired, in my opinion, too early. I think he was frustrated with himself that we hadn’t won the Champions League in 1997. He’s only one of many wonderful players – Duncan Edwards, Bobby Charlton, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Cristiano, of course, Wayne Rooney – and let’s hope we have a few more! But the way Cantona adjusted his body here to score the goal... simply wonderful.” 

FOUR: FULHAM 1 UNITED 2
Premier League | Craven Cottage | 24 February 2007

“I see this as the start of our great run of winning the Premier League in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Cristiano scored a great, late goal and then ran to the United dugout to Heinze, who was obviously his great mate. The joy in the away end – because we hadn’t played that well – was just unbelievable. To be there and to be part of it was fantastic. It highlighted Ronaldo’s ability and his influence, in those days, on the team. Some people said he was a show pony when he first arrived, but you could see the underlying ability.

"I still think, of Ronaldo and Messi, that Ronaldo is the superior player. He was such a great footballer, and such a great influence on the club in his first spell. Even in his second spell, he scored 24 goals last season. And nothing will take away from his skill, particularly between 2003 and 2009, when he was an absolutely amazing player. It was a great time, when we were winning the league and going to Champions League finals, and I was glad I saw him in his peak years at Old Trafford.” 

FIVE: UNITED 1 CHELSEA 1 (6-5 ON PENS)
Champions League | Luzhniki Stadium | 21 May 2008

“The last choice has to be Moscow 2008. Again, I was fortunate to be there, and the tension of that penalty shootout was quite something. We benefited from the fact the shootout took place in front of our end. We were all stood there waiting for John Terry to win it for Chelsea and then he slipped on his backside – wonderful – and hits the post. Edwin van der Sar had his back to us when he saved Anelka’s penalty, but when you watch the TV replays, when van der Sar is going down to save it, he’s actually got a smile on his face. He knows he’s going to save it and win the European Cup for United. I was on the club trip with United’s travel partners.

"On the flight out there, Denis Irwin and his son were sat next to me. After the game it was total joy and chaos, really. Once we got back to Moscow Airport, you just got on any flight! There was no schedule, they just counted enough people for each flight and said: ‘Get on that one.’ And of course there were constant flights back to Manchester. The soldiers in the airport appeared to be about 12 years old. But it was an amazing atmosphere once we’d won the thing, after the very tense shootout. We’d played them off the park, particularly in the first half. I was at Wigan when we won the Premier League that year and, having missed the 1999 final, this was so satisfying. It was marvellous that we got to so many of those finals in those days. Hopefully we will do again soon!”

This feature was first published in the February 2023 edition of Inside United.