Sammy McIlroy Pays Tribute To Sir Matt As Busby's 100th Birthday Approaches

May 26th 2009 is the 100th birthday of Sir Matt Busby, Mr Manchester United, the man who got us to where we are today. Nobody did it better than Sir Matt back in his day and to be honest there are not many who have done it better since. With the exception of possibly our very own Sir Alex right now. But even he uses the ethics instilled into Manchester United by Sir Matt.

United's status as world champions and arguably the best supported club on the planet owes much to the pioneering work of Sir Matt Busby in the 1950's and that's the view of former Reds midfielder Sammy McIlroy, who acknowledged this week's anniversary of Sir Matt's death in 1994 with a warm tribute on MUTV.

"I was lucky enough to play under him for a short period of time," said McIlroy, who was Busby's last signing as United boss in 1969. He was fantastic, the way he handled everyone at the football club. That really hit me when I came here from Belfast as a young boy. He knew everybody's name. He made it what it is. He's the man who made it a worldwide club."

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