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, rugb ...

. He began his career with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

and was one of the " Busby Babes" who survived the Munich air disaster of 1958. Although he sustained severe injuries, he recovered and continued to play league football for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

, Lincoln City and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ye ...

. 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, England, immediately south of Manchester city centre. It has a significant industrial heritage. Historically in Lancashire, the name Hulme is derived from the Old Norse word ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, 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. I ...

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 mostl ...

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 David Pegg (20 September 1935 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer and one of the eight Manchester United players who died in the Munich air disaster on 6 February 1958. Career He signed for United on leaving school in 1950 and ...

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 known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Be ...

; 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 Munich air disaster. 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 built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as publishe ...

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 In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

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 Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...

factory near

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembl ...

, and being a docker in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

. In 2006, Scanlon complained about several "inaccuracies" in an episode of ''

Surviving Disaster ''Surviving Disaster'' is a 2006 BBC, Discovery Channel, and ProSieben co-production documentary-drama series about disasters in the 20th century, starring people who survived them. It was produced in association with France 5. It is narrated b ...

'' 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 (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

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

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

final appearance in May 2008 in Moscow, being flown to the game in Russia on a private jet hired by United along with fellow Munich survivors

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (born 11 October 1937) is an English former footballer who played either as a midfielder or a forward. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World ...

and

Harry Gregg Henry Gregg, (27 October 1932 – 16 February 2020), was a Northern Irish professional footballer and manager. A goalkeeper, he played for Manchester United during the reign of Sir Matt Busby, with a total of 247 appearances for the club. He w ...

. 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 a suburb in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. In 2014, Weaste and Seedley ward had a population of 12,616. History Historically in Lancashire, it is an industrial area, with many industrial estates. The A57 (E ...

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

Denis Law Denis Law (born 24 February 1940) is a Scottish former 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 Manchester City ...

and Nobby Stiles.

References

External links

Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scanlon, Albert 1935 births 2009 deaths People from Hulme English footballers England 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 Association football forwards