Showing results by author "Wayne Barton" in All Categories

The world’s biggest football club comes under scrutiny like no other sporting institution on earth. Yet how did Manchester United become the global behemoth it is? And how and why did Matt Busby take the club to the summit of the game—and build an empire that lasted for decades? Football, Taught By Matt Busby delves into the DNA of Manchester United, the world’s most famous football club, exploring the identity and philosophy of the team from its beginnings in Newton Heath to its global prominence today.

This compelling and moving story of Manchester United's rejuvenation after the Munich Air Crash revisits an era that is fundamental to the club's place in the modern game. The 1958 Munich Air Crash that ripped the heart from one of Britain's greatest ever teams. Barton focuses on the five years immediately after the tragedy, how the shattered ambitions of the club were revived and rejuvenated by recovering manager Matt Busby and his assistant Murphy. The engrossing story is told through in-depth research and exclusive interviews with many players from the era.

Alongside Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson, nobody in the long history of Manchester United is as important as Jimmy Murphy. As legendary Manchester United manager Busby lay in an oxygen tent in his hospital bed, recovering from the horror of the Munich plane crash, he clutched the friend of his close friend and faithful right-hand-man Murphy. Murphy stepped into Busby’s shoes and answered United’s call in their hour of need. More than that, he provided the spark which would see a phoenix spectacularly rise from the flames.

True Genius is the definitive family-backed account of his remarkable career published to coincide with what would have been his 75th birthday. The games, the goals, the glory. This is the untold story. Written by celebrated Manchester United author Wayne Barton, this biography goes into unparalleled depth to tell the complete story for the first time of how the lad from Cregagh, Northern Ireland, became the game's first superstar. Barton has trawled the archives and spoken to a host of former team-mates, managers, friends and close family to tell his story.

Bud Tilden had intended to be a farmer outside Comanche, Texas. But when he unexpectedly walked into an ambush of the town deputy and killed one of the attackers, the whole town called him a hero. Before he knew it, Bud had raised his gun again and again, and soon he was living by the gun.

When Marshal Tom Sturdivant unpinned his badge, he meant to lay down the gun that had made him famous and retire to his Wyoming ranch. Then a violent incident in Lodestone, Colorado, gave him a score to settle and one more job to do - a job that would bring him face to face with A. J. Adler, the notorious gunman who'd stolen his woman so long ago.

Riding into Willow Springs, Texas, Jefferson Davis King trails a horse behind him intended as a gift for his friend, C. D. Hollis. But Sheriff Hollis isn't around to collect; he'd been killed with a shotgun blast weeks earlier by an unknown gunman.

Texas Ranger, J. D. King feels like he's been rode hard and put away wet. After a shotgun blast took his half-brother, C. D. Hollis, King had nearly lost an arm seeing to the killer. Now, he's heading home for Christmas and a hard reunion with Hollis' family. Edwin Spivey has plans for Christmas and for King too. Some time back, Sheriff Hollis and Tom Trueblood put him in prison. Now, he's broken out to make them all pay, including their kin.

Once they'd fought at each other's side. Nantahe, the Apache scout, and Jess Faver, trackers for the U.S. Calvary. Then the Army imprisoned its Indian scouts, and the past was left behind. Bound by loyalty and love, Jess helped his blood brother escape. But when an innocent man was found dead in the mud, Jess knew Nantahe had gone bad with hate. Now it was up to him to bring the renegade back.

When Steve Merritt and Clint Davidson fought Comanches for the US Army at Fort Phantom Hill, the future was clear and bright. Then came the Civil War. Merritt went North, Davidson went South, and both made their own separate journeys through hell. When Merritt returned to Phantom Hill, he found a town full of angry ex-Confederates and Davidson's wife and child abandoned on their struggling ranch. Merritt was determined to find out what happened to his old friend, and to make the ranch prosper.

Adam Hunter has more than his share of battles to fight, and demons to dodge. He's searching the Colorado high country for a killer he's never seen but knows only too well. When Hunter saves the life of ranch foreman Edge Pardee, and the ranch owner asks him to stay on and help, he agrees. But the last thing a man needs when he's stalking a killer is to be stuck in the middle of a range war with responsibilities and a woman he can't resist....

Texas was just as noisy, reckless, and wide open in 1914 as it was in the days of the Wild West - with one important exception: success no longer paid off in livable wages, it paid off in millions. Lee Temple, fresh out of a Fort Worth jail and broke, knew that to survive he'd have to give in to change. No sooner had he ditched his saddle than he got caught in a fracas involving the newly-rich oil trash Hargroves.

This is Manchester United: The Lost Tapes. Stories about United's rich history, told in a way you've never heard before. Written by Wayne Barton, narrated by Patrick Barclay and Paul Ansorge, and produced by Ed Barker of Studio 1878.Episode One: CantonaEric Cantona’s arrival from Leeds United transformed Manchester United after a 25-year title drought, reshaping the club’s fortunes and igniting the Premier League’s imagination. Internal conflict at Leeds and Cantona’s infamous disciplinary issues under Howard Wilkinson, culminated in a startling twist when Leeds approached United about...