Greatest footballer of all time? Duncan Edwards

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Who is the greatest footballer of all time?
It's a question I'm sure you've been asked many times.
In my lifetime the greatest player I've ever seen is George Best. I grew up watching Best, Law and Charlton – and George was my hero.

But the answer to the question really depends on how old you are. Many of my younger friends will say Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Others may say Pele, Maradona, Cryuff or Messi.
There are a few contenders.

But ask someone the same question who was around in the 1950s and in my experience there's only one real contender. Duncan Edwards.

Just 21 years old when his life was cut short by the Munich Air Disaster. But already a football icon. A giant of the game, who'd conquered every level from schoolboy to full international.

This Friday in his home town of Dudley, Edwards becomes the first ever Manchester United and England footballer to have a museum dedicated in his honour. It's been created by my good friend Rose Cook Monk, founder of the Duncan Edwards Foundation.

Fittingly the museum will officially be opened by the family of the great Jimmy Murphy, who became a father figure to the young hero destined to conquer the world until disaster struck. No one spoke more highly of Duncan than Jimmy

As a filmmaker and a journalist I've interviewed many greats from yesteryear who all insist Edwards was the greatest of all time. Non more famous than Sir Bobby Charlton who's always said no other player made him feel inferior. And of course Bobby played with my hero Georgie Best

Duncan Edwards was very much the talisman of Busby's team. And recognised by all his piers as the greatest of the Busby Babes. While filming interviews for a film about Jimmy Murphy I remember chatting to Cliff Jones, a double winner with Spurs in 1961.

Jones had the unique experience of playing in an Army team that included both Edwards and Charlton. At the same time as playing for the Army, Edwards was a star of Manchester United's League champions of 1956 and 1957.

Duncan was the greatest of all time, said Jones. And I've heard many legends of the game from that era say exactly the same.


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As Sir Bobby once said: "Duncan had everything. He had strength and character that just spilled out of him on the field.”
Wing-half was Edwards most regular position. He made the No.6 shirt his own. But truth was he could play absolutely anywhere.

"Duncan could do anything. If the goalkeeper kicked the ball downfield, he would be heading it, if there was a corner kick he would be knocking the ball in, and if someone was running through he would be the one to dispossess him.” Again the words of Sir Bobby Charlton.

But it's a quote from Jimmy Murphy that for me resonates more than any other when it comes to the final word on Duncan Edwards:

"When I used to hear Muhammed Ali proclaim to the world he was the greatest I used to smile,” said the proud Welshman.

“You see, the greatest of them all was an English footballer named Duncan Edwards."

It is sad there's limited match video to remind us of just how great Duncan was. But now at last we have a wonderful museum in Dudley just a few short steps from the statue in his honour. A museum enshrining some rare and wonderful memories of the man Jimmy Murphy and so many others have told us was the greatest of all time.

JOHN GUBBA

#DuncanEdwards #GreatestOfAllTime #WeWillNeverDie