Eddie Colman

Who was Eddie Colman?

Edward "Eddie" Colman was an English football player and one of the eight Manchester United players who lost their lives in the Munich air disaster.

Colman was born on Archie Street in Salford, Lancashire, the only child of plate layer Richard Colman and his wife Elizabeth.

He joined Manchester United's youth team on leaving school in the summer of 1952. He became a first-team member during the 1955–56 season. Over the next two-and-a-half years he made 108 first-team appearances, scoring two goals, the second of which came in the first leg of the fateful European Cup quarter-final tie against Red Star Belgrade. In his time at United, he was nicknamed "Snakehips" for his trademark body swerve.

Aged 21 years and 3 months, he was the youngest person to die in the Munich air disaster. An accommodation building at the University of Salford is named after him – the Eddie Colman Court is a block of flats located near the main campus.

A statue of Colman was erected at his graveside in Weaste Cemetery, Salford, after his death, but it was badly damaged by vandals within a few years and after being repaired was placed in the home of his father Dick. Dick Colman, who died in October 1986 at the age of 76, is buried alongside Eddie and Eddie's mother Elizabeth, who died in November 1971 at the age of 62.