Duncan Edwards: Eternal: An intimate portrait of Manchester United’s lost genius

Product Information

The most forensic account of this remarkable life and career includes new interviews, as well as contributions from icons of United and the wider English game - plus quotes from Edwards himself. Within the pages of 'Eternal' are incredible new insights about Edwards, as well as a selection of rarely seen images that were supplied by his family and also sourced from the Reach publishing archive. Bobby Charlton remembered it vividly too: “‘Try to put more pressure on your own ability,’ he told us. In analysing his game and what it actually was, you get a fairer picture and it really enhances his legacy. But once I knew the angle they wanted to go at, and that it was something different to the way that the story has been told before, I was excited.

Duncan Edwards book: Jimmy Murphy team talk showed just New Duncan Edwards book: Jimmy Murphy team talk showed just

For a giant spotlight toppled from its mast high above the area and crashed – smack into the seat where Dunc had been sitting. We didn’t know this at the time, but we did get a shock when one of the players exclaimed: ‘Look – out of the window! This fascinating new biography, with support from friends and relatives, includes rare and unseen pictures and tells the story of the boy who left his home in Dudley to earn his Manchester United debut at the age of 16 - and made such an impression that he was an England international at 18. On the evening in Bucharest, some of the players went out to the circus, where Ronnie remembered how Duncan had, “for the second time within a matter of hours.

I’ve tried to tell Duncan as he was and try and remove the hyperbole of the post-Munich stuff, so you get an idea of how he actually was. At half-time Jimmy was a bit quiet, and we were all thinking he was going to blow,” McGuinness said. Even going to Ringway Airport with Molly to watch the flights take off sometimes made him apprehensive. This would have been a traumatic event for anyone, and yet, it was not Duncan’s last brush with death on this day. The words above were uttered by legendary United figure Jimmy Murphy, as United trailed at half-time of an FA Youth Cup tie away to Chelsea in 1955.

Duncan Edwards - eternal : an intimate portrait of Manchester Duncan Edwards - eternal : an intimate portrait of Manchester

Whether or not this particular story would be one of embarrassment more than it might stir some political unrest was not quite certain – Duncan was due to be demobbed, and may well have had that on his mind too. So we should not always look for him to get us out of trouble, we should rely on ourselves to make it happen. Then, in the 55th minute, Duncan struck one of his trademark goals; receiving the ball in the Chelsea half, two home defenders launched into tackles but literally bounced off him, such was Edwards’ upper body power. Yeah, he’s this mythical son and they are so proud of him; they want the local kids to know that it’s aspirational; that a local ordinary lad did this.Dunc turned to me and, in a voice which sounded strangely unlike his own, said: ‘You don’t look so good. And – only a couple of yards away, it seemed – we saw another aircraft, bearing on its fuselage a red star. Some of the current players and all of the parasitic owners could do a lot worse than read this book to remind them what an institution Manchester United is and to treat the club with the dignity and respect it deserves. All the stories – like the one Wilf McGuinness tells about Jimmy saying ‘Just give the ball to Duncan’– they are true.

New Duncan Edwards book tells tales of Manchester United

As I was going along, you look at the match reports and you see that there are some teething problems in his game. Duncan Edwards was the jewel in the crown of the Busby Babes, an all-time legend at just 21, who was denied the chance to achieve even greater footballing success by the Munich Air Disaster in 1958.Dudley’s favourite son was 21 when he died from injuries sustained in the Munich Air Disaster, yet his legacy lives on and he is still described by many as the greatest player there ever was. Over the following years, they’d make it known in conversations that there was a wish in Duncan’s family [to do a book]. This definitive family-authorised biography tells the story of the boy who left his home in Dudley to earn his Manchester United debut at the age of 16 – and made such an impression that he was an England international at 18. Yet, even 65 years on from unjustly early death, the new biography 'Duncan Edwards: Eternal' shines new light on the life and career of a remarkable young man. Yes, I’ll use some interviews from after Duncan passed, but I used a lot of interviews from the time and press reports from at the time.

Duncan Edwards: Eternal : An intimate portrait of Manchester

That seat was splintered into hundreds of pieces – and if Dunc had stayed there’s no doubt he would have been crushed to a pulp. Team-mate Bobby Charlton summed Edwards up best: “Sentiment can throw a man’s judgement out of perspective. Eternal’ is the complete story of an extraordinary footballer, whose influence on Manchester United and the success that followed can still be felt today. The book, which will be released on February 16, includes new interviews from United and English football heroes as well as unseen photographs from an iconic career and life that was agonisingly cut short by the Munich Air Disaster in 1958. Written by author Wayne Barton, the book attempts to interpret Duncan’s life and career, and it has been fully authorised by the family of the lost genius.If those United kids had played as Murphy believed they could, then his team-talk may well have gone down in history. People might disagree, but if you were to name five precious people in United history, Duncan, Jimmy and George are probably in that five.