Sir Matt Busby, the legendary Manchester United manager who saw the team through unprecedented glory, as well as profound tragedy, made the club the global entity it is today. As a League footballer before WWII, Busby remained at the forefront of the game for four decades and made an extraordinary contribution to soccer. Busby's emphasis on youth, local players, and a passing attack game set a template that turned just another club into what is now the world’s greatest soccer brand. This definitive biography takes a look back at Busby’s phenomenal life and career, including the incredible force of the Busby Babes in the fifties, the tragic Munich air disaster that claimed 23 lives, and Manchester United’s historic victory 10 years on—becoming the first English team to win the European Cup. Sir Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Pat Crerand, Nobby Styles and Wilf McGuinness are among the host of witnesses testifying to the qualities that set Sir Matt apart.

Patrick Barclay began his career in football writing with the Guardian in Manchester in the mid-1970s, and became one of Sir Matt's many acquaintances in the newspaper world. In 1994, having moved to the Observer by way of the Independent, Barclay was voted Britain's leading sports writer. He later worked for the Sunday Telegraph, The Times and the Evening Standard in London. Barclay has written acclaimed biographies of Sir Matt's successors Sir Alex Ferguson (Football - Bloody Hell!) and Jose Mourinho (Further Anatomy of a Winner) and is also the author of The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman.