The quote from manutdzone.com captures a sentiment that ran in Sir Matt Busby’s blood and in his thinking as any good United fan would know. See Eamon Dunphy’s excellent A Strange Kind of Glory: Sir Matt Busby and Manchester United. That Sir Matt was a visionary does not mean that either the FA or Football League were.

Quite apart from the veracity of internet citations, it’s misleading to conflate the two views above into one, which in turn creates a historically inaccurate representation of United’s entry into Europe.

Manchester United led the way for English clubs in Europe in 1956 when they defied the FA and took part in the European Cup. In the previous season Chelsea were denied taking part, however the isolationist approach of English football was on the wane with England’s 6-3 Wembley hammering to the Hungarians in 1953. England was no longer the world’s best and needed to prove itself.

From manutdzone.com

and

“They also became the first English team to compete in the European Cup, at the behest of the FA, who had denied Chelsea the same opportunity the previous season, and reached the semi-final, only to be knocked out by Real Madrid.”

From Wikipedia.

Elsewhere on Wikipedia, it is stated that “Against the Football League’s wishes, they became England’s first representatives in the European Cup”.