Starmaker:
The Untold Story of Jimmy Murphy, by Brian Hughes (2002)
WHEN Jimmy Murphy arrived at Old Trafford in 1946, he was greeted by the ruins of what had once been one of the wonders of pre-war Manchester.
The stadium was a bombed-out wreck while the players trained on a patch of dangerous gravel not fit for a modern day car park and the club reeled from the embarassment of playing their ‘home’ games at Maine Road.
By the time Murphy packed his bags and left Old Trafford for the last time, Manchester United were world-famous: they had been conquered by and then conquered Europe, raised the profile of English league football to a degree unimaginable before the war and touched the hearts of millions in the process.