1958年2月6日ミュンヘンでユナイテッドの選手達が乗ってたチャーター機が大破して、主力選手のほとんどが死亡した事故。この事故をリーズやリバプのファンが「Uターン出来なかった男達」として、ユナイテッドを馬鹿にしてつけた蔑称が「ManU」です。このミュンヘンの飛行機事故で亡くなったユナイテッドの選手が、『ドイツの土のManUre（肥料）になった』とチャントしたのが始まりで、音の響きが「manure（肥やし)」 に近い事、欧米人が人を蔑む時には「manure」を使用する事からきています。

私の周囲にべらぼうな数の英国人のサポがおります。しかし、たとえCHELSEAやトテナムのサポでも、マンユーという言葉は使いません。それは最悪の侮辱だからなんです。イングランドでは、リバプールやリーズの一部のサポが、あえて、侮辱をするためにマンユーと呼ぶ人がいます。　

ManUnitedを応援していこうと思う皆さんは、マンユーという言葉を使用しないでください。

以前、私が原田公樹さんという在英のジャーナリストに意見したら、日本のマスコミは、マンUで統一決定されているから、無理。というとんでもない返事をもらいました。同じ英国にいながら、ジャーナリストの立場でありながら、なぜ日本の皆さんに大切なことを伝えてくれないのか、理解不能でした。どのクラブにも歴史があって、現地にいるジャーナリストが、現地の真実と事情を叫んでくれなければ、誰が叫ぶというのか？　日本のメディアが、マンUと標記 し続ける結果、テレビのキャスターが、マンユーと連呼する結果。その音がみなさんの口癖になるのです。時代が変わっているのに態度を変えない日本のメディアを受け入れないでください。日本からマンチェスターへ試合を観戦しにくる人が増えています。身についてしまった悪気のない、＜マンユー＞という呼称を、ここの現地サ ポが聞いたら、どれほど不快かというと、＜不快だ＞そうです。

シンガポールでは、悪気なく日本人のことをジャップと呼ぶ人が沢山います。あなたはどう感じますか？気分悪いでしょ？相手が嫌がることをするのは良くないのです。マンチェスターユナイテッドのサポが忌み嫌う蔑称“マンユー”という言葉の撲滅、よろしくお願いします。マンユナイテッド、で行きましょう。

ミュンヘンの悲劇（ミュンヘンのひげき、Munich air disaster）は、1958年2月6日、ドイツ・ミュンヘンのリーム空港（現在のフランツ・ヨーゼフ・ストラウス空港とは異なり、メッセゲレンデの場所にあった空港）で起こった航空事故。乗員・乗客44名のうち、23名が死亡した。イングランドフットボールリーグのチーム、マンチェスター・ユナイテッドのチャーター機であり、主力選手の命が多く失われた。

1955年から開始されたヨーロッパのクラブ選手権であるチャンピオンズカップに初めてイングランド代表として乗り込んだのが、当時黄金時代を迎えていたマンチェスター・ユナイテッドだった。しかしこの参戦は孤立主義を掲げていたイングランドサッカー協会の警告を無視したもので、国内リーグの日程を調整してもらうこともできず、強行日程を強いられることとなっていた。

準々決勝に進出したマンチェスター・ユナイテッドはユーゴスラビアの強豪、レッドスター・ベオグラードと対戦。ホームで2-1と勝利したのち、2月5日（水曜日）に敵地・ベオグラードに 乗り込み3-3の引き分け、総計5-4で準決勝進出を果たす。現代でこそ当たり前になった水曜・土曜の連戦だが、まだ飛行機の事情も良くなく、移動に労力 を費やしていたこの時代に共産圏の国で試合をしてまた帰ってくるというのは信じがたい強行日程であった。また、土曜日にはブラックバーン・ローヴァーズとの上位直接対決が控えており、帰国を焦っていた事情もあった。更に、この時期は欧州全土を寒波が襲っていたという。

滑走路に 積もったシャーベット状の雪または氷（スラッシュ）が機を失速させたことが明らかとなり、操縦士の責任ではないことが明らかとなった。この事故で得られた 経験はこれ以降、世界中の常識となった。しかし、機長のジェームズ・タイン（James Thain）は二度と操縦桿を握ることなく、心臓発作により54歳で亡くなるまで故郷でひっそりと養鶏を営み暮らしたという。

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In sports today (especially in football) history is one of the most rendered aspects of a club. For certain clubs, that history deals with some of the personalities that have passed through while for others it deals with the championships that have been won.

However, Manchester United have been one of a very select few clubs that can combine the two. Fans can hear stories of George Best and Eric Cantona, along with some of the championships that the Red Devils have won.

Fans throughout the world have grabbed onto the Manchester United brand and all that has gone with it and have made United into the most supported football club in the world.

Obviously fans have developed nicknames for Manchester United throughout the years. The most common of these nicknames has been the term "Man U."

In many different corners of the world, the Man U term is used to discuss the team. It is used in sports highlights telecasts to basic small talk between friends when talking about Manchester United.

Unfortunately, these fans have been uninformed about the origins of the term of Man U, which started after what is probably the darkest hour in the history of Manchester United.

The date was February 6, 1958. After defeating Yugoslavian side Red Star Belgrade on a 5-4 aggregate score in the quarterfinal of the European Cup, Manchester United's plane flew from Belgrade to Munich, where it was going to take a stop for refueling before flying back to Manchester.

The players that were on Manchester United's roster were known as "Busby's Babes" after famous manager Matt Busby. These players were considered to be the most talented young footballers in England and were the future of the English national team.

These players were exclusively developed by Manchester United and won the league in both 1955-56 and 1956-57 with the average age on the roster during these title-winning rosters being 21 and 22 years old, respectively.

The plane the United were flying in made two attempts to get back into the air at around 2:00 PM local time, but each time the pilots aborted the mission.

Subsequently, the pilots told the players that they were disembarking from the mission and that they would try to fly again the next day.

However, the pilots later had a change of heart and 15 minutes after the players left the plane, they were told to go back onto the plane for the plane's third attempted takeoff.

The players went into the plane scared, with multiple players purposely moving to the back of the plane, fearing the worst.

At 3:03 PM local time, the plane started up and as it moved down the runway, the plane's speed consistently was around 117 knots before the speed started to diminish.

Unfortunately the pilots could not abort the mission and the plane skidded off its runway, through a fence before it clipped a house and several trees before hitting a shed that contained a truck, causing the plane to explode.

On the plane, roughly half of the people were killed instantly. These innocent lives lost were not only some of the Busby Babes, but some also contained members of the media and crew members.

Altogether, there were 23 people who perished in the Munich Air Disaster while 21 were able to survive, nearly all of whom received injuries from the crash.

After the crash, there was one player who was able to survive the crash who later perished due to injuries suffered in the crash. That player was winger Duncan Edwards.

Even though he was just 21 years old, Edwards was viewed as one of the brightest prospects in England's history. He was just 16 when he made his debut for United and was a star for the English national team in qualifying for the 1958 World Cup.

Edwards suffered multiple leg fractures, fractured ribs and severely damaged kidneys from the crash, but his body's reaction to an artificial kidney caused internal bleeding and his body lost the ability to clot blood.

On February 21, 1958, Edwards became the last of the 23 people who perished as a result of the air disaster.

Following the air disaster, seven players were able to return and play for Manchester United (Bobby Charlton, Bill Foulkes, Harry Gregg, Kenny Morgans, Albert Scanlon, Dennis Viollet and Ray Wood) but it took years before Man United returned to the side that they were before the air disaster.

However, due to the air disaster and hatred for Man United, there were chants created to make fun of the Munich Air Disaster.

The first one was created by West Bromwich Albion to make fun of Duncan Edwards: "Duncan Edwards is manure, rotting in his grave, man you are manure rotting in your grave."

That is the chant that created the term "Man U."

Subsequently, two of United's biggest rivals, Leeds United and Liverpool, created chants that made fun of the Munich Air Disaster.

The chant that these two created went like this:

"Man U Man U went on a plane. Man U Man U never came back again"

"Man U Never Intended Coming Home" (if you combine the first letter of each word you get the word Munich)

Obviously every club has its own bad supporters, but these chants were the reason why the term "Man U" was created.

Today, most fans who say "Man U" have no idea where the term comes from or what it really means.

They do not understand that it is in face a derogatory term used to make fun of 23 innocent lives that were lost due to the Munich Air Disaster.

From this article, I hope that people will not only stop calling Manchester United "Man U," but we will also start to see this term diminished from popular use.