Rare Busby Babes v Wolves programme sells for £6k

One of the rarest football programmes in the world, featuring an abandoned match between Wolves and Manchester United, sold for £6,200 to a Chinese bidder when it went under the hammer at a Midland auction.

The programme was printed for the match on February 8, 1958. It never went ahead because of the Munich air crash.

The programme for the postponed match went up for auction at the Coleshill Hotel, Coleshill yesterday.

It is in good condition and, unusually, includes the token which season ticket holders would collect to gain tickets to the cup final. Also on page four, the result of the Red Star Belgrade game is noted – the match the team were on their way home from when the crash happened.

Eight united players were killed as the British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off from a snow-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport on February 6, 1958. The legendary young and gifted team, nicknamed the Busby Babes, included Dudley's Duncan Edwards, who died in hospital 15 days after the crash

The majority of the programmes were destroyed once it became clear that the game would not go ahead. Experts believe there can only be a maximum of five left in existence.

The auction of the 1958 programme was over in seconds as nobody in the room was prepared to bid higher than the Chinese buyer. He had registered his interest four days before the auction. Robert Adcock, from Sporting Memory's Worldwide Auctions, said there was a great deal of interest in the exceptionally rare programme.

He said: "We knew this would go for a lot because it is just so rare. We had a lot of interest, particularly from China. Manchester United are very popular over there." He added: "We had three bids and a reserve on it of £4,500. I understand the gentleman in question was prepared to go higher."

Other items at the auction included a Wolves versus Leeds programme from April 17, 1937, which sold for £460, a Stoke City versus West Bromwich Albion programme from February 2, 1937, and a West Bromwich Albion autographed album page from 1931, which sold for £220.