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Johnny
Berry |
Manchester United
FC
4 appearances, 0 goals
P 4 W 1 D 2 L 1 F
3:
A
3
50% successful
1953-56
disciplined: none
captaincies: none
minutes played: 306 |
|
 |
|
Profile |
|
Full name |
Reginald John Berry |
|
Notes |
NOT John James Berry. There is no John
James Berry anywhere in any registration born in Aldershot. His
death registration in September 1994 confirms that the Berry born on 1
June 1926 was in fact, Reginald.
By way of confirmation... Johnny's footballing brother, Peter, born in
Aldershot at the end of 1933, both his and Reginald's registration both
confirm that their mother's maiden name is identical...'O'Connor'. |
|
Born |
1 June 1926
in Aldershot, Hampshire [registered as Reginald J., in Farnham,
Surrey].
Attended St Joseph's School, Aldershot |
|
Married |
to Hilda D. Reeves
[registered in Aldershot, December 1948] |
|
Notes |
According to passenger lists, John Berry left
Southampton for New York on the Queen Elizabeth, a Cunard White Star ship,
on 30 April 1952. Amongst the 1196 was the entire Manchester United FC
squad. |
|
Died |
16 September 1994 in Farnham, Surrey,
aged
68 years 107 days
[registered as Reginald J., in Surrey SW, September 1994].
Following a short illness. |
|
Height/Weight |
5'
5½", 9st.
9lbs [1951]. |
|
Source |
Douglas Lammings' An
English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] & FindMyPast.com |
|
Club Career |
|
Club(s) |
Played schoolboy football in Aldershot, and also played with Aldershot
YMCA. He played football in the army, where he was spotted by Birmingham
City FC and signed for them in December 1944. After 104 league
appearances and six goals, his talents were noted by Matt Busby
who paid £25,000 for him to take him to Manchester United FC in
August 1951, becoming a Busby Babe. Like many of his teammates, he was
involved in the Munich Air disaster, but unlike many of his teammates,
Berry survived, but never played football again. He had made 247
league appearances, scoring 37 goals. |
|
Club honours |
Football League Champions
1951-52, 1955-56, 1956-57; FA Cup runners-up 1956-57 |
|
Individual honours |
Football League
(one appearance) |
|
Distinctions |
Survived the
Munich Air Disaster, although it ended his football career.
Brother of
Peter Berry (Cyrstal Palace FC
and Ipswich Town FC 1952-61) |
|
Source |
Douglas Lammings' An English
Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990]. |
|
England Career |
|
Player number |
One of two who became 719th
players (720) to appear for England. |
|
Position(s) |
Outside-left/right |
|
First match |
No. 277, 17 May 1953,
Argentina 0 England 0,
an end-of-season tour match at
Estadio Monumental, Nuñez, Buenos Aires
- abandoned after 36 minutes, aged
26 years
350 days. |
|
Last match |
No. 304,
16 May 1956,
Sweden
0 England 0, an end-of-season tour match at Råsunda Fotbollstadion, Solna, aged
29 years 350 days. |
|
Major tournaments |
None |
|
Team honours |
None |
|
Individual honours |
England B (one
appearance) |
|
Distinctions |
None |
|
 |
|
On 6th
February 1958 the airliner carrying players and backroom staff of
Manchester United, plus a number of journalists and supporters, crashed in
a blizzard on its third attempt to take off from Munich airport. United
were returning from Belgrade where they had just beaten Red Star Belgrade
in the European Cup and had stopped off at Munich for re-fuelling.
Twenty-three of the forty-four passengers on board the aircraft lost their
lives. - Munich Remembered and Never Forgotten -
Munich58.co.uk |
|
United Disgrace |
|
His injuries in 1958 meant that he was
never able to pursue his career in football again. He took a job with
Massey Ferguson in Trafford Park but in 1960, United asked him to vacate
their club house in Davyhulme to accommodate the signing of Maurice
Setters. It was a sad state of affairs and one that made the Berry family
understandably, very bitter. The family moved back to his home town of Aldershot. - Rednews.co.uk |
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Beyond England |
|
After leaving school, he had been a
projectionist in an Aldershot cinema. And spotted playing football during
the war. After his career was curtailed, upon moving back to Aldershot, Johnny
opened a sports shop 'Berry's' with his brother Peter in Cove, where he
remained for twenty years. He then went onto work as a storeman in a
television retail warehouse. -
An English Football Internationalists' Who's Who.
Douglas Lamming (1990). Hatton Press, p.32./Rednews.co.uk |
|
Johnny Berry - Career Statistics |
| Squads |
Apps |
Comp.
Apps |
Mins. |
Goals |
Goals
Av.min |
Comp.
Goals |
Capt. |
Disc. |
|
7 |
4 |
0 |
306 |
0 |
0
min |
0 |
none |
none |
|
Due to the fact that
many matches rarely stuck to exactly ninety minutes long, allowing time
for injuries, errors and substitutions. The minutes here
given can only ever be a guideline and cannot therefore be accurate, only
an approximation. |
|
Johnny Berry
- Match Record - All Matches - By
Colour of Shirt - By Type of Match |
|
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS
|
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts
% |
W/L |
|
Away
- White - Friendly |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
=0 |
2 |
2 |
0.667 |
0.667 |
50.0 |
=0 |
| All |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
=0 |
2 |
2 |
0.667 |
0.667 |
50.0 |
=0 |
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Johnny Berry
- Match History |
|
Club: Manchester
United F.C. - 4 full caps |
Coach: Walter
Winterbottom - 4
full capsx
|
|
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Age 25 |
|
1 |
b |
26 March 1952
- Netherlands 0 England 1,
Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam |
Fr |
AW |
Start |
11 |
|
Age 26 |
|
1 |
277 |
17 May 1953 -
Argentina vs. England,
Estadio Monumental,
Buenos Aires - abandoned after 36 minutes |
Tour |
Aab |
Start end 36 |
11 |
|
2 |
278 |
24 May 1953 -
Chile 1 England 2,
Estadio Nacional
de Chile,
Santiago |
AW |
Start |
11 |
|
3 |
279 |
31 May 1953 - Uruguay 2
England 1,
Estadio
Centenario, Montevideo |
AL |
Start |
11 |
|
- |
280 |
8 June 1953 - USA 3 England 6, Yankee Stadium, New York |
AW |
squad member |
|
Age 29 |
|
4 |
304 |
16 May 1956 -
Sweden
0 England 0,
Råsunda Fotbollstadion, Solna |
Tour |
AD |
Start |
7 |
|
- |
305 |
20 May 1956 - Finland 1 England
5, Olympiastadion,
Helsinki |
AW |
squad member |
|
- |
306 |
26 May 1956 - West
Germany 1
England 3,
Olympiastadion, Berlin |
AW |
Notes
JOHNNY BERRY
survived the 1958 Munich air disaster, but his career as a footballer did not.
The injuries he received in the crash, four months before his 32nd birthday,
consigned to memory his nimble play on Manchester United's right flank as a
seasoned professional in a team of prodigious fledglings.
Matt Busby paid Birmingham City £25,000 for Berry
in 1951, when the 'Busby Babes' were but a twinkle in the great manager's eye.
The transfer began to take shape in Busby's mind two years earlier, when two
goals by Berry helped sabotage United's championship prospects after they had
led the First Division by four points going into Easter.
Busby's initial signing, Jimmy Delaney, a 32-year-old
Celtic winger, had proved an inspired choice in galvanising the splendid
United team of the late 1940s, and the fearless Berry's experience contributed
immensely to the club's youth-based success in the 1950s. He won three
championship medals and was selected for England on four occasions.
While distinctive in his own merit, Berry typified the
diminutive winger: a fast raider with skilful ball control whose low centre of
gravity appeared to enable him to bounce up when knocked down. He played
during an era prolific in maestros of the wing, and while Stanley Matthews, of
Blackpool, and Tom Finney, of Preston, were undoubtedly the most celebrated of
the species one has particularly vivid memories of matches between United and
Wolverhampton Wanderers featuring Berry in the red jersey and the equally
light and lively Johnny Hancocks among the old gold.
Though Berry and David Pegg are remembered as the
established wingers in the Busby Babes' team, neither played in the European
Cup quarter-final away to Red Star Belgrade, after which the club's chartered
Elizabethan crashed on take-off in snow and ice after stopping to refuel at
Munich on 6 February 1958. Ken Morgans took Berry's place, and Pegg's
left-wing position was occupied by Albert Scanlon. Pegg was among the eight
players who died.
After being discharged from hospital in Munich, Berry
spent a year in Manchester before returning to Aldershot, his birthplace. He
opened a sports outfitting business in partnership with his brother Peter, a
former player with Crystal Palace and Ipswich.
Johnny Berry showed early promise playing for St Joseph's
School, Aldershot Boys and the YMCA, but on leaving school he worked as a
projectionist at a local cinema. It was during service with the Royal
Artillery that he was brought to Birmingham City's attention, and he signed as
a professional at St Andrews in 1944.
After leaving Manchester, his visits to Old Trafford were
rare. He once declared himself to be old-fashioned in thinking football was no
longer what it used to be, though he admitted he would be happy to be paid the
wages of the modern player. He consoled himself with memories of being one of
a vibrant team which thrilled huge crowds. 'I enjoyed my football. Of course I
did. I think it's the same in any job - if you have success at it, you enjoy
it.' - The Independent Obituary
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CG
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