Duncan Edwards: 'The Greatest' - a review with Mike Parry.

'The Greatest' is the story of Duncan Edwards, one of the most talented footballers to grace a football pitch, but who was tragically taken away in the Munich air disaster of 1958.
Mike Parry meets the author James Leighton, who in his page-turning and poignant book, tells a story of a magnificent sportsman and great man - the perfect antidote to the headline-grabbing footballers of today.
Joining Mike and James to discuss Edwards are legendary Manchester journalist David Meek and Manchester United statistician Cliff Butler.

[@davidunderhill2106]

Great wonderful programme on our local hero who will never be forgotten RIP Duncan.

[@footballoldboy4818]

England win the world cups in 58 and 62 without Munich. Remember we already beat Garrincha's Brazil 4-2 in 1956. We also drew with them 0-0 in the 58 World Cup only 4 months after Munich. Pele was great but take 2 world cups away from his haul and he is a mere mortal. The deceased Babes plus Wright, Charlton, Haynes, Moore, Greaves etc would have seen us champions for at least 2 more world cups.

[@martinh1309]

So true, Duncan got 3rd in the Ballon D'or at the age of 20 aswell...incredible

[@thelegendfamily4836]

Good spotting of Johnny Berry, mate!!

[@wuffothewonderdog]

The picture at frame 5.30 is part of the defining shot of Edwards. I saw this in a book years ago and in the complete photo in front of Edwards are two or three opponents scattering before the blast coming at them. The bow wave of that ferocious shot would blow them away and they knew it.

[@Chalky-ze6js]

I couldn’t agree more. It’s my favourite all time photo of any sportsman.

[@boonyee4421]

In many ways Duncan Edward's style of play resembles Michel Platini but Duncan was bigger,powerful and more stronger.He was like a tank stream rolling every opponent like he is saying "Get off my back.This is Duncan Edwards".

[@boonyee4421]

He was tragically cut down in his prime in 1958.Duncan Edwards the Dudley born would have been 82 today had it not for the Munich accident. He really was from the 1950s an era of hard leathered balls and the maximum wage. Unlike the professional footballers of today which earn mega million bucks Duncan played in an era where you were unjustly treated as a professional.And like many players of his era like Tom Finney,Stanley Matthews,Roger Byrne,Don Revie and many others Duncan had to be contented with the maximum wage which was only lifted in 1961.

[@carlknuthammar8215]

Boon Yee 17£ a week mate

[@chrisevans5259]

If your looking for the perfect judge to say who really is the GREATEST player of ALL-TIME then Bobby Charlton is your man, he's played against some of the greatest De Stefano, Puskas, Pele, Beckenbaur , Eusabio , Muller, to name but a few and played along some of the greats Best, Moore, Law , Greaves, Hirst, and seen all the modern day greats like Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane, Maradona, Cruyff, and you ask him who he thinks is the greatest ever player and he simply remarks .....DUNCAN EDWARDS.

[@liamwhitcombe1237]

Chris Evans you're BANG ON there Chris. 100% correct mate

[@victorformosa2825]

If Bobby Charlton said it, then it's good enough for me, as he too was a world class player.

[@chrisevans5259]

@@victorformosa2825 sir Bobby Charlton was not only a great player, but a great ambassador for the game,.....and a real gentleman

[@victorformosa2825]

@@chrisevans5259 Totally agree.

[@martinh1309]

@@victorformosa2825 Bobby Charlton is a top 10-15 players of all time, his word is the gold standard

[@neilcarpenter2669]

THE GREATEST.

[@markanderson8006]

Just finished the book. Smashing read. I was born in 1972 the best footballer I’ve seen was maradona. However I think edwards death along with the other busby babes was probably the biggest tragedy ever in sport. Big Duncan was only 21. Most famous footballer in the country at the time. In the country where the greatest game was invented. It goes without saying he would’ve captained England 62,66,70 World Cup. All the experts who saw him can’t all be wrong the greatest footballer of all time he certainly was. Best was good Gascoigne aswell but couldn’t hold a candle to big Duncan

[@selby16]

if i had to chose pele or duncan edwards no question about it it would be duncan everytime he was brilliant in any position pele was brilliant in attack

[@Krzyszczynski]

The image of Duncan Edwards they're talking about at 5.30 is not from his England debut against Scotland in 1955. If you look at archive footage of that match, you'll see that the Scottish players are wearing a different kind of shirt from the one on the player in the background here. (But I don't know what game the picture is actually from.)

[@shaka7594]

1957 v scotland the game he got the winner

[@thelegendfamily4836]

Edwards was a completely different sort of player, mate: you might as well be comparing Gordon Banks to Gerd Muller.

[@johnhughes8466]

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAÀAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!

[@regmoorcraft4339]

Mike Parry got it wrong about Duncan winning two FA cup winners medals. Sadly he only played in one FA cup final in which Man. United lost to Aston Villa in 1957,

[@martinh1309]

Due to an assault on Ray Wood

[@nicknewman7848]

Stop shouting Mike.. you've got a microphone.