Manchester United _ already bigger than the Dallas Cowboys and more valuable than the Yankees _ are in New York to play Wednesday’s MLS All-Star game at Red Bull Arena (8:30 p.m., ESPN2) and make the world’s richest club even richer. Over the past four decades, they’ve taken the remains of a disaster and built it into a dynasty.
Last month Forbes named them the world’s most valuable sports team, worth an estimated $1.86 billion to top the runnerup Cowboys and third-place Bombers. They’ve become romanticized after losing most of their team in the 1958 Munich Air Disaster, and rebuilding to take the European Cup a decade later. From that tragedy grew seeds of romance, and from that romance sprung a worldwide brand that just keeps spreading.
“It has to do with the romance of the club, and the events that happened in 1958 which created that romance,’’ said manager Sir Alex Ferguson, whose team faces an all-star squad led by Thierry Henry and David Beckham. “To recover from the Munich Air disaster and win the European Cup in 1968 with mainly homegrown players was an incredible feat; it created what we see at Manchester United today.
“The Munich Air Disaster created this appeal, but most importantly it was how the club recovered from that. It showed the determination of the manager at the time (Matt Busby); and he without question laid the foundations for what we see Manchester United is today. They always played the right way they always tried to win. Losing was not on the agenda of Manchester United and never will be.’’
Eight players were killed when the team plane returning from a European Cup match crashed on Feb. 6, 1958; two others survived but never suited up again.
But they’ve gone on to win their record 19th Premier League crown and reach the Champions League final last year. They’ve added Ashley Young, Phil Jones and David de Gea in a summer spending spree to make their team even stronger, with Ferguson trying to rubbish reports they’re still trying to prise Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder from Inter Milan.
“Manchester United players don’t come over here for a holiday. They come over to win. They come here to get their fitness up, to work hard, to win. It’s never easy coming up against Manchester United; but you have to enjoy these occasions,’’ Beckham, who spent ten years at Old Trafford and called United “the biggest club in the world.”
They have an estimated 333 million fans worldwide, 6.5 million in the U.S. And there popularity has grown exponentially in Mexico, after a 20-goal debut by El Tri striker Javier Hernandez last season. There is a reason Nike is eager to re-up a jersey deal worth roughly a half-billion dollars.
“(The U.S. tour) is more about creating a fan base for the club; that’s been important,’’ said Ferguson, who has a long history of blooding young talent into the lineup, Hernandez’ debut playing alongside superstar Wayne Rooney the latest example.
“The one thing in my mind is to work hard and keep improving, keep learning, to help my team,’’ said Hernandez. “If I score goals….it’s a team effort. I’m happy, and I’m enjoying it a lot. I’m in a dream _ a dream come true.’’
Of course. How could he not be, playing at Old Trafford, dubbed by Sir Bobby Charlton the Theatre of Dreams?
*** The MLS all-stars will be led by Beckham and Henry, the latter joined by Red Bull teammates Juan Agudelo, Tim Ream, Rafa Marquez and Joel Lindpere, although the latter two are inactive. Beckham’s Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan has also pulled out of tomorrow’s game with a calf injury.
