Harry Gregg

A goalkeeper whose career was almost defined by the Munich Air Disaster on February 6 1958, Gregg came over from Northern Ireland in 1952 to sign for Doncaster. He excelled between the sticks at Belle Vue, earning him a move to Matt Busby's Manchester United in 1957.

Gregg would later become a hero for his role in the immediate aftermath of the crash on the Munich runway, helping team-mates, Busby, and the wife and daughter of a Yugoslavian diplomat escape from the burning plane.

Rated as one of the best ever United goalkeepers, he kept 48 clean sheets for the club, but numerous injuries cruelly denied him medals for winning League titles in 1965 and 1967, and the FA Cup in 1963.

After nine years at United, he signed for Stoke in 1967 but made just two appearances for them and he retired a year later.

Gregg earned 25 caps over a 10-year period for Northern Ireland, a team never likely to challenge for major honours. Yet that more humble status may have allowed Gregg to pick up the one prize of his career, having been denied in club football. Footballers claim to place trophies over individual awards, but who could begrudge Gregg officially being named the best goalkeeper of the 1958 World Cup?

Immediately after his retirement as a player, Gregg moved into management, taking charge of Shrewsbury. He spent four uneventful years there before Swansea came calling. Again he achieved little and resigned after three years to join Crewe.

Three years later, in 1978, that job came to an end, and coaching and assistant manager roles at Manchester United and Swindon followed. He returned to management eight years after he had left it, accepting an offer from Carlisle, but he was unable to prevent them from falling into the Fourth Division.