The need to respect the victims of the Munich disaster "transcends" local rivalry, according to former Manchester City goalkeeper Steve Fleet.Fleet was the best friend of Manchester United wing-half and 'Busby Babe' Eddie Coleman, who at 21 was the youngest person to die in the tragedy almost 50 years ago.

He has backed United's determination to mark the 50th anniversary of the crash with a minute's silence at Old Trafford when City and the Red Devils meet on February 10 - four days after the actual anniversary.

City's official supporters club had written to United and the Premier League to request that a minute's applause be held instead for fear of the silence being marred by disrespectful away fans.

However, United's communications director Phil Townsend insisted yesterday that applause would not be an appropriate way to mark the occasion.

That was a stance backed by Fleet, who had been due to be Coleman's best man, and has called for a repeat of the respect and sportsmanship that was shown in the wake of the crash, which claimed 23 lives.

"The shouting and booing that they're frightened of in the forthcoming game wasn't about at the time - everybody had a big respect because we'd just come out of the war," he told BBC Radio Five Live.

"The sportsmanship that existed at that time was far greater and it's something I personally would love to see come back into the game. I think the leaders of the game these days should really work on sportsmanship.

"Everybody in Manchester, whatever colour they were, they felt for the people who had been killed in the crash. That transcends football."

He added: "There were plenty of tears in the Manchester City dressing room because life is a much bigger game than football, and there were a lot of tears shed for Manchester United by the City personnel on that day."

Fleet believes a minute's applause could never achieve the poignancy of a well-observed silence.

"It's only through silence that your thoughts can go out, a pregnant silence is a wonderful thing," he said.

"Sometimes in the modern world we forget that silence can be a very creative thing.

"If we get silence at this match it would be particularly good because the atmosphere 50 years ago was just as one - everybody in Manchester felt it from a humanitarian point of view."

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