Manchester City to mark United`s 1958 Munich air crash

Munich: Manchester City will put sporting rivalry aside to mark the 1958 Munich air disaster, which killed 23 people including eight Manchester United players, with a wreath-laying ceremony on Tuesday.

The players, officials and journalists, among them former City and England goalkeeper Frank Swift who was travelling with the team as a reporter, died on Feb. 6, 1958, when the plane crashed on a cold and snowy day in Munich. "It`s refreshing, we appreciate that from Manchester City," Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson told a news conference on Monday. "And of course one of their own players was killed in the crash, their former players anyway." United were travelling back after a game against Red Star Belgrade in Yugoslavia. A Manchester City delegation, expected to include lifetime chairman Bernard Halford, will lay a wreath at the memorial on Manchesterplatz ahead of City`s Champions League Group A match against Bayern Munich later in the day. "I think it`s a good sign that the game is not as bad as sometimes we think, I think there`s an element of supporters` contribution in a different way which is not nice," Ferguson said. "We appreciate what Manchester City are doing if that`s the case, well done." Bureau Report