| Manchester United, almost certainly the biggest football | | | | Moving on we have non other than Bobby Charlton - |
| club in the world. As a result, they've had a few pretty | | | | now Sir Bobby Charlton of course. Another member |
| decent players run out onto the pitch for them over | | | | of the Busby Babes who also survived the crash in |
| the years. Rightly or wrongly, the position in any football | | | | Munich Bobby netted 249 times for United - the club |
| team that gets the most attention is striker. | | | | record. For a long time he also held the record for the |
| With that in mind, who have been the top strikers for | | | | most appearances for the club at 758, a figure that |
| Man United over the years? For what they are worth, | | | | has since been surpassed by Ryan Giggs. |
| here are my thoughts on the top 5 strikers in the | | | | My final selection, and surely few will question this one, |
| years prior to Sir Alex's reign at United. Don't worry, I'm | | | | is a certain Dennis Law. 'The King' or the 'Lawman' as |
| well aware not everyone who reads this will agree | | | | he was affectionately know played for Manchester |
| with me. | | | | United between 1962 and 1973. During that time he |
| Let's start in the past and work forward - seems to | | | | played for United a total of 409 times, scoring an |
| be fairly logical. I'm going to claim that the first forward | | | | impressive 237 goals. Law won European Footballer |
| of real note is a certain Jack Rowley who was part of | | | | of the year in 1965, during a season in which he |
| the team before and during the Busby Babes era. | | | | top-scored for United with 28 and helped then to win |
| Rowley played for United between 1937 and 1955, | | | | their first league title since Munich. |
| amassing a grand total of 211 goals in 424 | | | | Well, there you have it. My selection of the best |
| appearances. That alone gets him a spot among my | | | | strikers to play for United in pre-Ferguson. Why did I |
| top strikers. | | | | make the distinction and only feature forwards who |
| Overlapping in time and therefore sharing the pitch, my | | | | played for Manchester United before Alex Ferguson |
| next selection is Stan Pearson who scored 148 goals | | | | became manager in 1986? Well, there have been a |
| in 343 appearances playing between 1937 to 1953. | | | | good many years since then so the Ferguson reign |
| Next I've picked out Dennis Violet who played for the | | | | deserves special attention. There are plenty of great |
| reds of Manchester in no fewer than 291 games | | | | strikers who have played for the red half of |
| during the Busby Babes period. The lightening quick | | | | Manchester under Sir Alex. Details of my pick of that |
| centre forward scored 178 goals for United and was | | | | bunch will have to wait for another day. |
| one of the survivors of the Munich air disaster. | | | | |