The death of a football team and the rebirth of a club

The Lost Babes: Manchester United And The Forgotten Victims Of Munich, by Jeff Connor, Harper Sport, €21.90.

First a confession. Aged just six, a Christmas letter dispatched to Santa Claus included a request for a West Ham football jersey. The present duly arrived but my flirtation with the Hammers was to prove short lived.

Along with the claret and blue shirt came one of the hardbound soccer annuals so beloved of young boys ...