1985–86 Manchester United F.C. season

Manchester United
1985–86 season
Chairman	Martin Edwards
Manager	Ron Atkinson
First Division	4th
FA Cup	Fifth Round
League Cup	Fourth Round
Football League Super Cup	Group Stage (3rd)
Charity Shield	Runners-up
Top goalscorer	League: ; Mark Hughes (17); All: ; Mark Hughes (18)
Highest home attendance	54,575 vs Tottenham Hotspur (16 November 1985)
Lowest home attendance	20,130 vs Norwich City (11 December 1985)
Average home league attendance	42,821

The 1985–86 season was Manchester United's 84th season in the Football League, and their 11th consecutive season in the top division of English football.^[1]

Despite having won the FA Cup the previous season, the team was unable to compete in the 1985–86 European Cup Winners' Cup due to the five-year ban on English clubs competing in European competitions that was imposed following the Heysel Stadium disaster at the 1985 European Cup Final. Instead, the clubs who would have qualified for Europe all competed in the Football League Super Cup.

With no European action to distract them, they got off to a 10-match winning start in the league, were unbeaten from their first 15 games, and remained top of the league until the beginning of February, but their dismal post Christmas form dragged them down to a final position of fourth in the league, and there was no success in the cup competitions to fall back on, leading to doubts about the future of Ron Atkinson as manager. He had completed five seasons as manager without them finishing outside the top four and had won two FA Cups, but the wait for a league title was now entering its 20th season.

Media reports linked two managers with a move to Old Trafford: Terry Venables, who had just rejected an offer to return to England from Barcelona to take charge at Arsenal; and Alex Ferguson, whose Aberdeen side had broken the Old Firm dominance of Celtic and Rangers in recent seasons. Despite this speculation, Atkinson remained in charge of United into the following season, but the pressure on him to deliver success to the club remained intense.

The ban on English clubs in European competitions was extended to a second season, meaning that United would not be able to compete in the 1986–87 UEFA Cup.

Mark Hughes was once again United's top scorer, scoring 17 goals in the league and 18 in all competitions. However, he was less prolific during the second half of the season after scoring 11 times before Christmas, and on 21 March 1986 it was announced that he would be leaving United at the end of the season to sign for FC Barcelona of Spain in a £2million deal. United had already signed Nottingham Forest striker Peter Davenport as his successor. United had signed another striker, Terry Gibson from Coventry City, just after the turn of the new year.

United's title challenge was also not helped by the fact that captain Bryan Robson was only available for half of the club's league games this season due to injuries.

FA Charity Shield

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
10 August 1985	Everton	N	0–2		82,000

First Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	League position
17 August 1985	Aston Villa	H	4–0	Whiteside, Hughes (2), Olsen	49,743	1st
20 August 1985	Ipswich Town	A	1–0	Robson	18,777	1st
24 August 1985	Arsenal	A	2–1	Hughes, McGrath	37,145	1st
26 August 1985	West Ham United	H	2–0	Hughes, Strachan	50,773	1st
31 August 1985	Nottingham Forest	A	3–1	Hughes, Barnes, Stapleton	26,274	1st
4 September 1985	Newcastle United	H	3–0	Stapleton (2), Hughes	51,102	1st
7 September 1985	Oxford United	H	3–0	Whiteside, Robson, Barnes	51,820	1st
14 September 1985	Manchester City	A	3–0	Robson (pen.), Albiston, Duxbury	48,773	1st
21 September 1985	West Bromwich Albion	A	5–1	Brazil (2), Strachan, Blackmore, Stapleton	25,068	1st
28 September 1985	Southampton	H	1–0	Hughes	52,449	1st
5 October 1985	Luton Town	A	1–1	Hughes	17,454	1st
12 October 1985	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–0	Hughes, Olsen	48,845	1st
19 October 1985	Liverpool	H	1–1	McGrath	54,492	1st
26 October 1985	Chelsea	A	2–1	Olsen, Hughes	42,485	1st
2 November 1985	Coventry City	H	2–0	Olsen (2)	46,748	1st
9 November 1985	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0–1		48,105	1st
16 November 1985	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0–0		54,575	1st
23 November 1985	Leicester City	A	0–3		22,008	1st
30 November 1985	Watford	H	1–1	Brazil	42,181	1st
7 December 1985	Ipswich Town	H	1–0	Stapleton	37,981	1st
14 December 1985	Aston Villa	A	3–1	Blackmore, Strachan, Hughes	27,626	1st
21 December 1985	Arsenal	H	0–1		44,386	1st
26 December 1985	Everton	A	1–3	Stapleton	42,551	1st
1 January 1986	Birmingham City	H	1–0	C. Gibson	43,095	1st
11 January 1986	Oxford United	A	3–1	Whiteside, Hughes, C. Gibson	13,280	1st
18 January 1986	Nottingham Forest	H	2–3	Olsen (2; 1 pen.)	46,717	1st
2 February 1986	West Ham United	A	1–2	Robson	22,642	2nd
9 February 1986	Liverpool	A	1–1	C. Gibson	35,064	2nd
22 February 1986	West Bromwich Albion	H	3–0	Olsen (3; 2 pen.)	45,193	2nd
1 March 1986	Southampton	A	0–1		19,012	2nd
15 March 1986	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–1		23,407	3rd
19 March 1986	Luton Town	H	2–0	Hughes, McGrath	33,668	3rd
22 March 1986	Manchester City	H	2–2	C. Gibson, Strachan (pen.)	51,274	3rd
29 March 1986	Birmingham City	A	1–1	Robson	22,551	3rd
31 March 1986	Everton	H	0–0		51,189	3rd
5 April 1986	Coventry City	A	3–1	C. Gibson, Robson, Strachan	17,160	3rd
9 April 1986	Chelsea	H	1–2	Olsen (pen.)	45,355	3rd
13 April 1986	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0–2		32,331	3rd
16 April 1986	Newcastle United	A	4–2	Robson (pen.), Hughes (2), Whiteside	31,840	3rd
19 April 1986	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–0		32,357	3rd
26 April 1986	Leicester City	H	4–0	Stapleton, Hughes, Blackmore, Davenport (pen.)	38,840	3rd
3 May 1986	Watford	A	1–1	Hughes	18,414	4th

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
3	West Ham United	42	26	6	10	74	40	+34	84
4	Manchester United	42	22	10	10	70	36	+34	76
5	Sheffield Wednesday	42	21	10	11	63	54	+9	73

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
9 January 1986	Round 3	Rochdale	H	2–0	Stapleton, Hughes	40,223
25 January 1986	Round 4	Sunderland	A	0–0		35,484
29 January 1986	Round 4 Replay	Sunderland	H	3–0	Whiteside, Olsen (2; 1 pen.)	43,402
5 March 1986	Round 5	West Ham United	A	1–1	Stapleton	26,441
9 March 1986	Round 5 Replay	West Ham United	H	0–2		30,441

Football League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
24 September 1985	Round 2 First leg	Crystal Palace	A	1–0	Barnes	21,507
9 October 1985	Round 2 Second leg	Crystal Palace	H	1–0	Whiteside	26,118
29 October 1985	Round 3	West Ham United	H	1–0	Whiteside	32,056
26 November 1985	Round 4	Liverpool	A	1–2	McGrath	41,291

Football League Super Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
18 September 1985	Group stage	Everton	H	2–4	Robson (pen.), Stapleton	33,859
6 November 1985	Group stage	Norwich City	H	1–1	Whiteside (pen.)	20,130
4 December 1985	Group stage	Everton	A	0–1		20,542
11 December 1985	Group stage	Norwich City	A	1–1	C. Gibson	15,449

Group 1
Pos.	Team	Pld.	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts.
1	Everton	4	3	0	1	6	3	+3	9
2	Norwich City	4	1	2	1	3	3	0	5
3	Manchester United	4	0	2	2	4	7	–3	2

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Gary Bailey	25	0	2	0	4	0	3	0	34	0
GK	Chris Turner	17	0	3	0	0	0	2	0	22	0
DF	Arthur Albiston	37	1	5	0	3	0	3	0	48	1
DF	Clayton Blackmore	12	3	2(2)	0	2	0	4	0	20(2)	3
DF	Mike Duxbury	21(2)	1	3	0	3	0	2	0	29(2)	1
DF	Billy Garton	10	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	12	0
DF	John Gidman	24	0	2	0	1	0	3	0	30	0
DF	Mark Higgins	6	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
DF	Graeme Hogg	17	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	21	0
DF	Paul McGrath	40	3	4	0	4	1	5	0	53	4
DF	John Sivebæk	2(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2(1)	0
MF	Mark Dempsey	1	0	0	0	0	0	1(1)	0	2(1)	0
MF	Colin Gibson	18	5	4	0	0	0	2	1	24	6
MF	Kevin Moran	18(1)	0	3	0	4	0	1	0	26(1)	0
MF	Remi Moses	4	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	4(1)	0
MF	Jesper Olsen	25(3)	11	3(2)	2	3	0	3	0	34(5)	13
MF	Bryan Robson	21	7	3	0	2	0	2	1	28	8
MF	Gordon Strachan	27(1)	5	5	0	1	0	3(1)	0	36(2)	5
MF	Norman Whiteside	37	4	5	1	4	2	5	1	51	8
FW	Peter Barnes	12(1)	2	0	0	3	1	2	0	17(1)	3
FW	Alan Brazil	1(10)	3	0	0	2(2)	0	3	0	6(12)	3
FW	Peter Davenport	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	1
FW	Terry Gibson	2(5)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2(5)	0
FW	Mark Hughes	40	17	3	1	2	0	4	0	49	18
FW	Frank Stapleton	34(7)	7	5	2	4	0	4	1	47(7)	10
FW	Nicky Wood	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0

References

↑ "Manchester United Season 1985/86". StretfordEnd.co.uk. Retrieved 21 December 2011.

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[1] "Manchester United Season 1985/86". StretfordEnd.co.uk. Retrieved 21 December 2011.