Profile
Tommy Taylor joined United from Barnsley in 1953 and quickly became one of the outstanding centre-forwards in English football. Busby paid a significant fee because Taylor already looked like the kind of striker who could turn a gifted young side into a title-winning one.
Taylor was a classic centre-forward, but that phrase should not make him sound limited. He attacked crosses, held off defenders, linked with inside-forwards and finished with the regularity elite teams require. His physical presence gave the Babes a focal point, while his movement allowed quicker players around him to combine and rotate.
His partnership with the other United forwards was central to the team's rise. Dennis Viollet, Liam Whelan, Bobby Charlton and others benefited from a striker who could occupy centre-backs and still participate in football outside the six-yard box. Taylor gave Busby's side power without making it crude.
He was also an England international, and by the time of Munich he was already established at a level that made him valuable far beyond United. That is why his death at 26 was such a footballing loss as well as a human one. He was not a prospect waiting to happen; he was a major player already in his prime years.
Taylor died in the Munich air disaster, leaving one of the clearest examples of achievement cut short. His United scoring record remains extraordinary, but his legacy is broader than numbers: he was the centre-forward around whom one of the club's most beloved young teams could play serious, winning football.