2018 Porsche 991 Carrera GTS

I took these photographs in the Manchester United car park in May 2019.

It’s a 2018 Porsche 991 Carrera GTS which is a seventh generation model of the Porsche 911 and has a 2,981cc flat-six engine.

BMW Z4 M40i

Here are two photographs that I took in the car park at Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground in September 2019.

It’s a BMW Z4 M40i which was introduced in 2018 and has a 6-cylinder inline 2,998cc turbocharged engine.

2018 McLaren 570S Coupé

This is a car that I spotted on the Manchester United car park at Old Trafford in October 2019.

It’s a 2018 McLaren 570S which has a twin turbocharged 3,799cc V8 McLaren M838T engine and was produced from 2015 to 2021.

2023 Audi R8

This is a car that I saw in the Manchester United car park in April 2023.

It's a 2023 Audi R8, a Second Generation model.

 It has a 5,204cc V10 engine.

Manchester United Munich Air Disaster

Today is the 66th anniversary of the Munich air disaster when 23 people, including 8 of the Manchester United players, died when the aeroplane in which they were returning to Manchester from a European Cup match in Belgrade crashed when trying to take off at Munich airport after a refuelling stop. Thirteen days later the team played their first game since the crash, an FA Cup match against Sheffield Wednesday, and pictures of the front of the programme of that match, and of the team sheet on the middle pages are frequently shown. When the programme went to be printed the club had no idea which players would be available so there are blanks where the names of the players are normally shown. Here are pictures of each of the pages in that programme.

Duncan Edwards succumbed to his injuries at the hospital on 21st February, two days after this match.

Johnny Berry and Jackie Blanchflower never played again.

Euro 1996 Germany v Croatia 23 June 1996

The recent Euro 2020 tournament took me back to the only occasion on which it was held solely in England, in 1996. Some of the matches took place at Manchester United's Old Trafford Stadium and I went to several of them, including the Quarter Final match on 23 June 1996 between Germany and Croatia. I was standing in the middle of a host of Croatia fans at the Stretford End who refused to sit for the whole match and I took these few photographs.

Jürgen Klinsmann gave Germany the lead after 20 minutes with this penalty.

Jürgen Klinsmann went off injured after 39 minutes and was replaced by Steffen Freund. When Davor Šuker equalised just after half time it looked like Croatia might win, but when Igor Štimac was sent off with over half an hour to go they couldn't hold the Germans and Mathias Sammer scored the winning goal three minutes after the sending-off.

Two Maseratis

Here's two of the cars that were in the Manchester United car park on 11 January 2020.

This car is a 2013 Maserati Quattroporte with a 3,797cc twin-turbocharged F154 V8 engine.

This car is a 2019 Maserati Levante GTS also with the 3,797cc twin-turbocharged F154 V8 engine.

Tottenham Hotspur

Our eldest son Paul's father-in-law, Martyn, is a Tottenham Hotspur fan. Tottenham Hotspur is one of those clubs that in the 55 years I've been watching football have always tried to play play attractive football and are always a pleasure to watch. 

In the 1960-61 season Tottenham became the first English team of the 20th century to achieve a League and FA Cup double, and although they're not my team I can still reel off the Tottenham team from that period: Brown, Baker, Henry, Blanchflower, Norman, Mackay, Jones, White, Smith, Allen and Dyson (reciting the names of football teams like that always makes me feel like Michael Palin's character Gordon Ottershaw in the Ripping Yarns episode 'Golden Gordon'!). John White was tragically killed on a golf course by a lightening strike in 1964. Danny Blanchflower was the brother of Manchester United's Jackie Blanchflower who survived the Munich air crash but received such severe injuries that he was never able to play again.

In September of the season after the double Tottenham played Manchester United at Old Trafford and I took my camera along to the game and below are some of the photographs I took - the colour transparencies have deteriorated somewhat in the intervening years.

Teams:

Manchester United - Gregg, Brennan, Cantwell, Stiles, Foulkes, Setters, Quixall, Viollet, Herd, Pearson, Charlton.

Tottenham - Brown, Baker, Henry, Blanchflower, Norman, Marchi, Jones, White, Smith, Allen, Dyson

Gregg saves during a Spurs attack in the first half. The other defending United players, from left to right, are Stiles, Foulkes, Brennan, Cantwell and Setters with Quixall in the background. The Tottenham players are (I think) White, Smith, Jones and Dyson.

The closest Spurs player here is, I think, Cliff Jones and the two United players next to him Foulkes and Stiles. Canwell's in the middle with Setters just beyond Harry Gregg.

Harry Gregg punching clear from Bobby Smith with Bill Foulkes in close attendance.

The second half and the nearest United players are Bobby Charlton, Dennis Viollet and David Herd, and I think that's Mark Pearson on the other side of Spurs goalkeeper Bill Brown. Danny Blanchflower's the Spurs player between Charlton and Viollet and I think that's Ron Henry on the other side of Charlton.

United players from the left are Nobby Stiles, Maurice Setters, David Herd and Bobby Charlton hidden behind the Spurs player in the middle. Tottenham players are Ron Henry, Danny Blanchflower and, I think, Peter Baker and Tony Marchi. Bill Brown in goal, of course.

One of the problems of taking photographs in a crowd. This is the United winning goal scored in the 67th minute. The ball's in the net behind the big head of the man in front of me. Albert Quixall, the goalscorer is also out of sight to the left of the picture. The United players are Charlton, Herd, Setters, Pearson and Stiles. To the left of the photo is Spurs number 5 Maurice Norman, Ron Henry's the number 3, and Danny Blanchflower's the player to be seen to the right behind the goal stanchion. Not sure who the Spurs player in the centre is - it could be Tony Marchi again. And that's Bill Brown's leg just beyond the arm of the man in front of me.

A close match ending in a 1-0 win for United, but Dave Mackay was missing for Spurs and that could have made all the difference.

Manchester United

This is a photograph of the original Munich Memorial at Old Trafford which I took in about 1962.

The wording on the memorial was always difficult to read, especially in bright sunlight as it was in gold letters on a green field and this photograph was a colour slide which has deteriorated somewhat over the years. The memorial is still there although it cannot now be seen as it was over the main entrance to the stadium which is on the south side alongside the railway line. When the stadium was extended on that side, which resulted in the upper part of the stand being built out over the access road thus creating a tunnel, it was decided that it wasn't possible to remove and re-site the memorial so it disappeared from sight when the alterations were made.