BRYCE FULTON

Born: 07 August 1935

Came from: Manchester United   Went to: Exeter City

First game: 15 February 1958   Last game: 25 April 1964

Appearances: 192 (192/0)   Goals: 0

Born in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire in 1935, Fulton joined the ground staff (as was common place back then) and burgeoning youth set-up at Manchester United in 1952, at the age of 17.

In 1953 he became a member of United's under-18 team that won the first-ever FA Youth Cup. He played right back while the wing half-backs were Eddie Colman and Duncan Edwards. The inside forwards were Billy Whelan and David Pegg. Edwards and Pegg were particularly close friends. Pegg lived close by and Edwards, whose home was in Dudley, often had his Sunday lunch at Fulton’s house because he could not always get back to the Midlands.

Faced with stiff competition from Matt Busby’s ‘Babes’, and unable to break into the first team, he was persuaded by Argyle’s player-manager Jack Rowley - formerly of United and who knew Fulton at Old Trafford - to move to Home Park in the summer of 1957.

On 6th February 1958, Fulton would, however, have cut a frustrated figure after training. The Argyle team for the derby game at Exeter City had been named and once again he had been overlooked.

Rowley had believed that some of the fringe players at Old Trafford could do a job at Home Park. He persuaded Fulton that he would have more first team opportunities, but eight months on he had still not made his Football League debut. He had already asked for a transfer, angry that he had turned down two Second Division clubs to join Argyle.

Just hours after that February 1958 training session at Home Park however, the news would have been trickling through that there had been a crash at Munich-Riem Airport involving a plane carrying the Manchester United team. There was nothing like the blanket 24/7 coverage we enjoy now. At that time of the day the prime source of news would have been the billboard on the Herald seller’s stand and the paper he was selling. Few people had portable radios and television (a single BBC channel was all that was available nationally) news was at fixed times.

It was a disaster that reached far further than Manchester. It was a national disaster that saw people crying in the street. The impact on 22-year-old Fulton cannot be imagined. Three players that he had shared a dressing room with - David Pegg, Billy Whelan and Eddie Colman were dead. Edwards’ life was hanging by a thread.

Argyle’s initial gesture was to offer Fulton and Tommy Barrett, who was signed from United at the same time, back to United to help them fulfil their fixtures. The offer was not taken up but the club also gave Jack Rowley, Fulton and Barrett unlimited time off. The three men attended all the funerals.

Fulton finally made his Argyle first team debut at home to Queens Park Rangers a week-and-a-half later, on 15th February 1958, the first of six consecutive wins for the club. He had probably been heartened by news bulletins on Duncan Edwards, which were encouraging but would have been carrying a huge emotional burden. The German medical staff were said to be in awe of Edwards' determination to live. Fulton retained his place for the following Saturday, in a 3-0 win over Northampton Town. Tragically his great friend Duncan Edwards had passed away the previous afternoon.

Over the next two years the stocky left-back worked hard for the number three shirt, playing a part in Argyle's successful promotion side of 1958-59, before making the position his own in the early seasons of the sixties. He was to clock up nearly 200 appearances without scoring, in seven seasons at Home Park.

At his peak, and at times of happiness during what was undoubtedly a difficult time for him following the Munich disaster, he was one of the first & only people in Plymouth to own one of the distinct and iconic two-coloured Austin (Nash) Metropolitan convertible cars and was often seen in the city, driving it with his wife. An early 'Posh & Becks' perhaps in some of their happier times, in Devon.

By the 1963-64 his place was less certain, however, having played only 22 games that season. That summer he left Home Park for rivals Exeter City, where he played 37 times over the following two seasons before hanging up his boots at the age of 31, in 1966.

Following retirement from the game, tragically Fulton's life was cut short. Returning to Manchester, he sadly died in 1975 aged just 40 years old. Following the end of his career he had not necessarily lived a particularly healthy life and one can only imagine the intolerable impact and stress that the Munich Disaster would have had on him, perhaps more so when his career had ended, with more time to dwell. Things were really never the same again.

His widow Brenda was to remain living in the same Manchester home that belonged to Fulton’s parents. She had originally lived nearby and when Fulton first joined United had lived just around the corner from him, meeting him as he was friends with her brother.