Francis BURNS

Francis Burns joined Manchester United as a 15-year old in 1964. The side won the 1967/68 League Championship whilst Francis was carving a reputation in the reserves. He broke into the first team at 18 making his debut on 2nd September 1967 in a 3-1 win against West Ham United at Upton Park. His first goal came a week later on his home debut in a 2-2 draw with Burnley. He featured regularly throughout the season as the team's left-back and appeared in the opening seven games of the European Cup campaign up to and including the first leg of the semi-final when United beat Real Madrid 1-0 at Old Trafford.

However, Francis missed out on the final success against Benfica as Sir Matt Busby elected to play the more experienced Shay Brennan. By the following season Busby had seen enough to start with Francis as the European champions attempted to defend their crown. They began impressively with a 10-2 aggregate win against Waterford with Burns scoring in the second leg. He also played in the first leg of the fiercely fought World Club Championship against Estudiantes de la Plata.

Iinjury kept him out of the majority of the remainder of the season, though he did return to feature in both legs of the ultimately unsuccessful European Cup Semi-Final with AC Milan. Wilf McGuinness took over the reins at Old Trafford for the 1969/70 season and he saw the talent in Francis, as Burns was virtually a permanent fixture for the first three quarters of the campaign. Francis' United career was curtailed thereafter by a series of cartilage injuries and he left in June 1972, whilst Frank O'Farrell was in charge, for a fee of £50,000 to Southampton. He made his final appearance in a 0-0 home draw with Everton on 8th March 1972. (Steve Drabble)