Scanlon: Why Him Not Me?

Albert Scanlon, one of the five living members of Matt Busby's 1958 squad, knows that the anniversary is not a time for tears - or at least not in public.

The former Busby Babe, now 72, revealed he dreads meeting relatives of the victims, the parents, brothers, sisters of his deceased friends. And I can't blame him.

'The hardest part of my life since the air crash is meeting relations.

'You meet families. I hate meeting families. I used to meet Eddie Colman's dad - I worked with Eddie Colman's dad for years - and I always had the feeling he'd look at me and he'd be thinking 'Why is he stood there and my lad's dead?'

'You always have that feeling. 'Why him not me?' Put me with one of the families and I start struggling.'

Yet he will not shed tears during Wednesday's ceremony at Old Trafford - because it is not the time for their tears, he reckons. But Sir Bobby Charlton, Harry Gregg, Bill Foulkes, Kenny Morgans and himself are still aware of their loss.

'All five of us are aware that we are on show and that the ceremony will take its lead from us. We want it to be a dignified and thoughtful service to our mates.

'It's not that we don't feel sad - these were people we knew personally, and there isn't a day goes by when I don't think about the ones who died.

'It's just that the time for tears was 50 years ago. Our tributes will still be heartfelt, just a little more muted.'