The original ‘Pancho’ of Old Trafford, so dubbed because of his long sideburns, Mark was a versatile, full-blooded player whose commitment to the cause was invaluable in the Reds’ time of need. Renowned for his sharp, well-timed tackling, Mark’s aggression was his headline act, but he was also – as with all of Matt Busby’s young charges – fluent in football played the right way.
Born in Derbyshire, spotted by United’s youth scouting network and recruited as a trainee, Pearson’s journey to senior football was – like many of his team-mates’ – hastened by the horrors of Munich, and thus he lined up for the senior team for the first time on probably the most surreal, emotional occasion in the club’s history: Sheffield Wednesday’s FA Cup visit to Old Trafford on 19 February, 1958.