A 2011 period drama about Manchester United "Busby Babes" squad and the death of several team members in the 1958 Munich air disaster.
Provides examples of:
- And I'm the Queen of Sheba: The police officer's reaction to Bobby telling him that he's going to be playing at Old Trafford later that day.
- Big Brother Mentor: Duncan acts as a mentor to Bobby, encouraging him to keep working hard when Bobby is waiting for his chance to pay for the first team.
- Call-Forward: After their 4-2 against Charlton Athletic, one of their players angrily exclaims, "How can you win like that when you're just kids?" In 1995, Match of the Day's Alan Hansen famously said "You can't win anything with kids" after United lost an away game to Aston Villa with a team of young players who'd just been brought on to replace more experienced ones who had left. United later went on to win the Premier League and the FA cup that same season.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance:
- Duncan tells Bobby that he shouldn't tell any girl he's trying to chat up that he's a footballer, since the maximum wage for a player on the first team is capped at £15 per week. Nowadays, professional footballers are regarded as extremely desirable partners on financial grounds alone.
- Bobby asks his Uncle Tommy to drive him to Old Trafford for the FA Cup quarter-final. Tommy agrees as long as he can finish his pint first.
- It Will Never Catch On: The club is almost barred from taking part in the European championships since the Football League reckon the competition will fizzle out in a year or two.
- It's All My Fault: Matt blames himself for the accident because it was his idea to charter a plane so that the team could make it back in time for their League fixture.
- Northern Irish and Nasty: Northern Irish goalie Harry Gregg joins the team from Doncaster. He's an animal in the penalty box and off the pitch his teammates regard him as a bit of a buzzkill who takes himself too seriously.
- Not So Stoic: Jimmy manages to hold it together when he first makes it to the hospital, but shortly after he talks to Duncan when he wakes up, there's an abrupt cut to him sobbing uncontrollably in an empty stairwell.
- Shout-Out:
- The Training Montage is soundtracked by "Manchester United Calypso" by Edric Connor.
- After their match with Belgrade Red Star, the team attend an official dinner where they sing an impromptu rendition of "On Ilkley Moor Bar t'At."
- So Proud of You: Before the FA Cup final at Wembley stadium, Jimmy tells the team how proud he is of each of them, and that no matter what happens on the pitch, they've won just by making it this far.
- Tempting Fate: If you come into the film not knowing exactly who dies in the crash, you might get an inkling from the fact that Molly talks about setting a date for hers and Duncan's wedding once the football season's finished.
- Training Montage: There's a brief training montage of team going out jogging in the snow (possibly thanks to the massive snowfall that coated the whole of the UK in the winter of 2010
when the film was presumably being shot.) - Young Future Famous People The film's protagonist is a young Bobby Charlton, who would go on to play in England's World-Cup-winning team in 1966, struggling to get onto the first team.
