Albert Joseph Scanlon (10 October 1935 – 22 December 2009) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as an

outside left In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

. He began his career with

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and was one of the "

Busby Babes The "Busby Babes" were the group of footballers, recruited and trained by Manchester United chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of the ...

" who survived the

Munich air disaster The Munich air disaster occurred on 6 February 1958, when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. The aircraft was carrying the Manchester United F.C., Manche ...

of 1958. Although he sustained severe injuries, he recovered and continued to play league football for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, Lincoln City and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

. He then went on to play non-league football until his retirement.

Early life

Born in

Hulme Hulme () is an inner city area and electoral ward of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England, immediately south of Manchester city centre. It has a significant industrial heritage. Historically in Lancashire, the name Hulme is derived from ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Scanlon was a nephew of former

winger

Charlie Mitten Charles Mitten (17 January 1921 – 2 January 2002) was an English football player and manager who came through the junior ranks at Manchester United. Over his career, Mitten also played for Fulham, Mansfield Town and Altrincham in England, and ...

. He attended St Wilfred's School in Hulme. His talent for football was noticed early on, and he was selected to play for the Manchester Boys side. He joined the Manchester United groundstaff in 1950, before signing a professional contract in December 1952.

Manchester United

Scanlon made his way through the Manchester United youth system, winning two

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

s in 1953 and 1954 before making his first-team debut against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 20 November 1954. Scanlon was involved in two league title wins – in 1956 and 1957 – but he failed to make enough appearances to earn a winners' medal on either occasion, with David Pegg being United's regular left winger during this time. Scanlon was occasionally used as a right winger, which was the regular position of

Johnny Berry Reginald John Berry (1 June 1926 – 16 September 1994), also listed as John James Berry, was an English footballer. Berry joined Manchester United from Birmingham City in 1951. Despite his diminutive stature, he was a natural right winger with ...

. On 5 February 1958, Scanlon started on the left wing in United's European Cup quarter-final second leg away to

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

; for five of the players who started the game, it was to be their last match for the club. The next day, on the return journey to Manchester, the team's plane crashed while attempting to take off from Munich airport, in an incident that later became known as the

. The crash killed 23 of the plane's 44 passengers and crew, and Scanlon suffered a fractured skull, a broken leg and kidney damage. He did not play again that season. He made a full recovery and was back in action at the start of the following season, going on to appear in every game that season, scoring 16 goals in the process.

Later career

Scanlon was sold to

for £18,000 in November 1960, but his time on

Tyneside Tyneside is a List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne in Northern England. The population of Tyneside as published in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 774,891 ...

was not a success and he then dropped down to a lower level to play for Lincoln City in February 1962. He was on the move again just over a year later, joining

in April 1963, just in time to participate in the club's celebrations at being promoted to the Third Division. Mansfield narrowly missed out on promotion to the Second Division two years later, finishing third in Division Three, but they dropped to 19th the following season and Scanlon dropped out of league football. He joined Belper Town in 1966, and retired shortly afterwards.

Later years and death

Following his retirement, Scanlon returned to the Manchester area and worked in a succession of jobs outside football, including working as a security guard at a

Colgate-Palmolive The Colgate-Palmolive Company, commonly known as Colgate-Palmolive, is an American multinational corporation, multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in ...

factory near

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

, and being a docker in

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

. In 2006, Scanlon complained about several "inaccuracies" in an episode of '' Surviving Disaster'' focussing on the Munich air disaster, despite being consulted by the production company. On 13 May 2007, Scanlon presented the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

trophy to Manchester United along with former teammate

Bill Foulkes William Anthony Foulkes ( or ; 5 January 1932 – 25 November 2013) was an English footballer who played for Manchester United in the Busby Babes teams of the 1950s, and also in the 1960s. His favoured position was centre-half. For Manchester ...

. He attended United's victorious Champions League final appearance in May 2008 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, being flown to the game in Russia on a private jet hired by United, along with fellow Munich survivors

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (11 October 1937 – 21 October 2023) was an English professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, left winger or centre-forward. Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member ...

and Harry Gregg. Bill Foulkes, the other remaining survivor, attended the game as well. Scanlon was admitted to the Salford Royal Hospital with kidney problems and pneumonia on 21 October 2009. He was in intensive care for more than a month, and died on 22 December 2009, aged 74. His funeral was held on 13 January 2010, and more than 300 people attended the service at All Souls' Church in

Weaste Weaste () is an inner-city suburb of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is bordered by the town of Eccles, Greater Manchester, Eccles to the West and Seedley to the East. In 2014 Weaste and Seedley (ward), Weaste and Seedley ward had a pop ...

, including fellow Munich survivors Bobby Charlton, Harry Gregg and Bill Foulkes, and former Manchester United players

Denis Law Denis Law (24 February 1940 – 17 January 2025) was a Scottish footballer who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchest ...

and

Nobby Stiles Norbert Peter Stiles (18 May 194230 October 2020) was an English professional footballer. He played for England for five years, winning 28 caps and scoring one goal. He played every minute of England's victorious 1966 FIFA World Cup campaign. I ...

References

External links

Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scanlon, Albert 1935 births 2009 deaths People from Hulme English men's footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Manchester United F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Belper Town F.C. players Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents English Football League players English Football League representative players Men's association football forwards 20th-century English sportsmen