During the 1950s the two clubs were the biggest in the Amateur and Professional game. Bishop winning the Amateur Cup in 1955-56-57, whilst United  had developed a side known after their manager, Matt Busby, the ‘Busby Babes’ Champions in 1956 and 1957, FA Cup Finalists in 1957, European Cup semi-finalists in 1957.

Then came the Munich Air Disaster…

February 6^th 1958 the Manchester United team were decimated when their plane, on its third take off returning from a European Cup quarter final tie in Belgrade, crashed on take-off at Munich airport after a refuel. In total, eight footballers were killed, two would never play again and five were in a Munich hospital, so to resume playing football matches, out of 22 players 15 were unavailable.

Derek Lewin who had trained with the ‘Busby Babes’ to achieve fitness for playing in the 1956 Olympics, visited Old Trafford to pay his respects. There he met Jimmy Murphy and was asked could he get any of the Bishop lads to help United out. Derek, Bob and a young Manchester lad who played for Bishop, Warren Bradley came up to Old Trafford from Bishop Auckland and helped stabilize Manchester United out.

This is the story of Bishop United a historical and educational tool about a story where an amateur football club helped a household name professional club survive.