Manchester United legend still feels sick over 'horrendous' injury which 'should have seen match called off'
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Nicky Butt has recalled the distressing aftermath of former Coventry City defender David Busst’s horrific injury against Manchester United.
The two sides met at Old Trafford towards the end of the 1995/96 Premier League season in a 1-0 home win for the hosts, but the match was halted in the early stages.
Busst attempted to meet a flicked-on Coventry corner at the back post but collided with United’s Denis Irwin and Brian McClair.
Opposition goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel saw what turned out to be his broken leg and ran off with his hands over his face in shock.
The Coventry man screamed in pain and was quickly tended to by paramedics on the pitch before being stretchered off.
Butt wasn’t near the injury that saw Busst’s leg grimly turn into an L-shape but has described the horrible scenes that followed.
When speaking to his former United teammate Paul Scholes about the final weeks of their title win that season on the Football’s Greatest podcast, he said: “We’ve beat Newcastle, we’re clawing back the points.
“Anything you remember about that run-in, I mean for me, the Coventry game stands out because of that horrendous injury of David Busst with the leg. I don’t remember too much of the tackle because it was really innocuous.
“But I remember the aftermath of it, and even now talking about it, it makes me feel sick. Because even though I didn’t actually see the injury, I think a few lads said the bone was poking out of the sock.
“I remember Brian McClair’s reaction and everybody else’s reaction, but one thing [that] sticks in my mind about that was after he went off, it must have been 15 minutes on the pitch, after he got stretchered off, the ground staff threw a bucket of water on the area where the injury [was].
“The backsplash of the blood, it turned me sideways. I believe that game should have been called off, because I don’t remember a tackle going in for 50 minutes after it.
“I think it was a really sad, horrible game that and that was one part of the season that really resonates badly on me. It was a horrible, horrible game, and the lad, I don’t think he played again.”
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher officiated the match and told talkSPORT in 2020 just how much it impacted him.
“I refereed 1,245 professional games and if I could delete one, it would be Manchester United vs Coventry on Easter Saturday ’96 when I was the referee when David Busst broke his leg,” said the official.
“It was the most horrific thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, I wouldn’t wish it on anybody in the world. If God would allow me one day to wipe out of life, it would be that day and that match wouldn’t take place.
“I spoke to Phil Don who was our boss at the time, I said I didn’t want to go back to Old Trafford, it was just really, really bad memories. I didn’t go back for two years and ironically, the way he got me to go back was he changed my game on Friday.
“I was due to go to Arsenal and on the Friday afternoon he said there’s a switch of games. I had to go, and it was brilliant really because what he did, he didn’t allow me to build up throughout the week thinking about it, it was just I had to go in there and do it.
“It was a bit like riding a bike in the end, all my fears of doing a game there again won’t haunt me about it. Evaporated when you blew the whistle because all you could concentrate [on] was the game in front of you.”
Busst suffered compound fractures to the tibia and fibula of his right leg and underwent 22 operations.
The match was unfortunately the last of his professional playing career as he retired in November 1996 following medical advice.
He was given a testimonial match against United a year later at Coventry’s old home Highfield Road before working in his former club’s backroom staff and as a manager in non-league.
