1986–87 Manchester United F.C. season

Manchester United

1986–87 season
Chairman	Martin Edwards
Manager	Ron Atkinson (until 4 Nov 1986) Alex Ferguson (from 6 Nov 1986)
First Division	11th
FA Cup	Fourth Round
Littlewoods Cup	Third Round
Top goalscorer	League: Peter Davenport (14) All: Peter Davenport (16)
Highest home attendance	54,294 vs Manchester City (10 January 1987)
Lowest home attendance	18,906 vs Port Vale (24 September 1986)
Average home attendance	39,962
← 1985–86 1987–88 →

The 1986–87 season was Manchester United's 84th season in the Football League, and their 12th consecutive season in the top division of English football.

The season saw Ron Atkinson sacked as manager on 6 November after a dismal run of form in the league and a League Cup exit at Southampton, and Alex Ferguson recruited as his successor on the same day from Scottish side Aberdeen. United recovered well in the league after his appointment and finished 11th.

First Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
23 August 1986	Arsenal	A	0 – 1		41,382
25 August 1986	West Ham United	H	2 – 3	Davenport, Stapleton	43,306
30 August 1986	Charlton Athletic	H	0 – 1		37,544
6 September 1986	Leicester City	A	1 – 1	Whiteside	16,785
13 September 1986	Southampton	H	5 – 1	Stapleton (2), Davenport, Olsen, Whiteside	40,135
16 September 1986	Watford	A	0 – 1		21,650
21 September 1986	Everton	A	1 – 3	Robson	25,843
28 September 1986	Chelsea	H	0 – 1		33,340
4 October 1986	Nottingham Forest	A	1 – 1	Robson	34,828
11 October 1986	Sheffield Wednesday	H	3 – 1	Davenport (2), Whiteside	45,890
18 October 1986	Luton Town	H	1 – 0	Stapleton	39,927
25 October 1986	Manchester City	A	1 – 1	Stapleton	32,440
1 November 1986	Coventry City	H	1 – 1	Davenport	36,946
8 November 1986	Oxford United	A	0 – 2		13,545
15 November 1986	Norwich City	A	0 – 0		22,684
22 November 1986	Queens Park Rangers	H	1 – 0	Sivebæk	42,235
29 November 1986	Wimbledon	A	0 – 1		12,112
7 December 1986	Tottenham Hotspur	H	3 – 3	Davenport (2), Whiteside	35,957
13 December 1986	Aston Villa	A	3 – 3	Davenport (2), Whiteside	29,205
20 December 1986	Leicester City	H	2 – 0	C. Gibson, Stapleton	34,150
26 December 1986	Liverpool	A	1 – 0	Whiteside	40,663
27 December 1986	Norwich City	H	0 – 1		44,610
1 January 1987	Newcastle United	H	4 – 1	Olsen, Stapleton, Whiteside, own goal	43,334
3 January 1987	Southampton	A	1 – 1	Olsen	20,409
24 January 1987	Arsenal	H	2 – 0	T. Gibson, Strachan	51,367
7 February 1987	Charlton Athletic	A	0 – 0		15,482
14 February 1987	Watford	H	3 – 1	Davenport, McGrath, Strachan	35,763
21 February 1987	Chelsea	A	1 – 1	Davenport	26,516
28 February 1987	Everton	H	0 – 0		47,421
7 March 1987	Manchester City	H	2 – 0	Robson, own goal	48,619
14 March 1987	Luton Town	A	1 – 2	Robson	12,509
21 March 1987	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0 – 1		29,888
28 March 1987	Nottingham Forest	H	2 – 0	McGrath, Robson	39,182
4 April 1987	Oxford United	H	3 – 2	Davenport (2), Robson	32,443
14 April 1987	West Ham United	A	0 – 0		23,486
18 April 1987	Newcastle United	A	1 – 2	Strachan	32,706
20 April 1987	Liverpool	H	1 – 0	Davenport	54,103
25 April 1987	Queens Park Rangers	A	1 – 1	Strachan	17,414
2 May 1987	Wimbledon	H	0 – 1		31,686
4 May 1987	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0 – 4		36,692
6 May 1987	Coventry City	A	1 – 1	Whiteside	23,407
9 May 1987	Aston Villa	H	3 – 1	Blackmore, Duxbury, Robson	35,179

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
10	Coventry City	42	17	12	13	50	45	+5	63
11	Manchester United	42	14	14	14	52	45	+7	56
12	Southampton	42	14	10	18	69	68	+1	52

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
10 January 1987	Round 3	Manchester City	H	1 – 0	Whiteside	54,294
31 January 1987	Round 4	Coventry City	H	0 – 1		49,082

Littlewoods Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
24 September 1986	Round 2 First leg	Port Vale	H	2 – 0	Stapleton, Whiteside	18,906
7 October 1986	Round 2 Second leg	Port Vale	A	5 – 2	Moses (2), Barnes, Davenport, Stapleton	10,486
29 October 1986	Round 3	Southampton	H	0 – 0		23,639
4 November 1986	Round 3 Replay	Southampton	A	1 – 4	Davenport	17,915

Events of the season

The 1986 close season marked five years since the appointment of Ron Atkinson as manager of Manchester United. When he first arrived at the club, they had gone four years without a major trophy and had only won one major trophy since the 1968 European Cup triumph. Atkinson's first season at Old Trafford had ended without a major trophy, but they finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup. A year later, they finished third again, but the big success story had come in the shape of an FA Cup triumph. Although United's defence of the trophy was ended at the first attempt by Third Division minnows AFC Bournemouth at the first attempt, United performed well in the league (finishing fourth although they had topped the league at several stages) and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup. A year after that, they secured their second FA Cup glory in three seasons, but were denied another European adventure due to the ban on English clubs in European competitions arising from the Heysel disaster that year, in which rioting by Liverpool fans had resulted in 39 spectators being killed.

The 1985-86 season had started in blistering form for United, who won their first 10 league games and looked all set for their first top division title glory since 1967. However, their form started to fall away in mid-season and during February they were knocked off the top of the table. They were unable to regain their lead of the league and the title eventually went to Liverpool. The sale of key striker Mark Hughes to FC Barcelona at the end of the season brought further disappointment for fans, and his replacement Peter Davenport did not appear to be a popular successor.

During the close season, there was speculation that Atkinson was about to be sacked and that Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson was going to be appointed in his place. Atkinson tried to fight back and prove the critics wrong. He attempted to sign the England defender Terry Butcher from Ipswich Town, but lost out to Glasgow Rangers (being managed by the former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness).

On 8 August, dozens of Manchester United and West Ham United fans were arrested following clashes on an Amsterdam bound Sealink ferry. This sparked fears that English clubs could even be banned from contesting friendlies with foreign sides[2]

The First Division campaign kicked off on 23 August, with Manchester United losing 1-0 to Arsenal. All of United's first three league games ended in defeat, placing them second from bottom in the First Division with only Aston Villa below them. [3]

Their first league win of the season finally came on 13 September when they demolished Southampton 5-1 at Old Trafford, [4] which lifted them to 19th of 22 in a division in which they had never finished lower than fourth in any of the five previous campaigns. [5]

A dismal league game at Old Trafford on 28 September saw United lose 1-0 at home to Chelsea, and more frustratingly United missed both of the two penalties they were awarded in the game; the first from Jesper Olsen, the second from Gordon Strachan.^[1]

In late October, experienced defender John Gidman joined neighbours Manchester City on a free transfer, but there was no talk of new additions to a hard pressed squad. [6] There were also fears that Gary Bailey, still only 28 but out of action for nearly a year due to a knee injury, could retire from football in the near future if he failed to make a good recovery from the injury. [7]

On 1 November, Manchester United completed a six-match unbeaten run in the league (their last defeat being against Chelsea on 28 September) by drawing 1-1 with Coventry City, but they were still fourth from bottom and speculation over Ron Atkinson's future as manager continued to mount. [8]

Atkinson was finally dismissed on 5 November, the day after his team were beaten 4-1 by Southampton in the Football League Cup third round replay. It was their first defeat in a competitive game since 28 September, and their heaviest in a competitive game for 18 months. Within 24 hours, Alex Ferguson had agreed to take over as Manchester United's new manager on a four-year contract. His first game in charge took place three days later when Manchester United's six-match unbeaten run in the league came to an end with a 2-0 defeat to Oxford United. His first win at the helm came on 22 November when they beat Queen's Park Rangers 1-0 in the league at Old Trafford.

Their good progress continued in December as they gained their first away league win of the season with a 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield. It was the first time that Liverpool lost a home game in the 1986-87 league season. Norman Whiteside scored the only goal of the game for a side who have climbed from 21st to 14th in the league since Ferguson's appointment. [9] [10]

There was a setback two days later, however, when captain Bryan Robson suffered a hamstring injury in Manchester United's 1-0 home defeat by Norwich City in the league. [11]

The quest for the FA Cup began on 10 January at Old Trafford, in a Manchester derby which United won 1-0, the only goal of the game being scored by Norman Whiteside.

Four days after the FA Cup win, winger Peter Barnes became the second Manchester United player to join Manchester City that season, moving to Maine Road in a £20,000 deal. [12]

The club's name was tarnished again on 20 January when 26 suspected football hooligans (some of them Manchester United supporters) were arrested in police raids across England. [13]

Manchester United blew their final chance of silverware this season by losing 1-0 at home to Coventry City in the FA Cup fourth round at the end of January.

The 110th Manchester derby (a league clash at Old Trafford on 7 March) saw Manchester United win 2-0, taking them to 10th place, while Manchester City sink into 19th place (the relegation playoff place). [14] [15]

Later that month, Alex Ferguson expressed interest in bringing Mark Hughes back to Old Trafford after a spell in Spain which had so far been disappointing. [16]

Plans were unveiled around this time for Old Trafford to be expanded into a world class modern stadium which to resemble Barcelona's Nou Camp. [17]

In April, chairman Martin Edwards announced plans to introduce a ground-breaking new membership scheme to combat football hooliganism. [18]

April also saw Manchester United complete a double over Liverpool in the North West derby with a 1-0 win at Old Trafford, counting against the red half of Merseyside's title hopes as the title was heading for Everton. [19]

Gary Bailey finally announced his retirement from playing on 23 April 1987, having failed to make a full recovery from the knee injury he had suffered 17 months earlier.

Manchester United's season ended with a 3-1 home win over relegated Aston Villa [20] which secured them an 11th place finish in the First Division - their lowest since relegation from the top flight 13 years ago. [21]

Goalkeeper Chris Turner and defender Graeme Hogg were put on the transfer list at the end of the season. [22]

Bids were made for the Celtic and Scotland striker Brian McClair as well as the AC Milan and England striker Mark Hateley. [23] A potential record breaking bid was made for the Newcastle United and England striker Peter Beardsley, who had a brief and unsuccessful spell at Old Trafford five years earlier.

A less significant signing was made by Ferguson when he pays £250,000 for Arsenal defender Viv Anderson. [24] Striker Frank Stapleton was on his way out of the Old Trafford exit door that summer, moving to Ajax Amsterdam of Holland in a £100,000 deal. [25]

Brian McClair finally agreed to sign for Manchester United in a deal which a tribunal set at £850,000, while Beardsley joined Liverpool for a national record fee of £1.9million and Hateley remained on the continent in a transfer to AS Monaco.

United also made an approach for Norwich City striker Kevin Drinkell, but the player rejected Alex Ferguson's terms and decided to remain at Carrow Road instead. [26]

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Littlewoods Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Gary Bailey	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
GK	Chris Turner	23	0	2	0	4	0	29	0
GK	Gary Walsh	14	0	0	0	0	0	14	0
DF	Arthur Albiston	19(3)	0	0	0	4	0	23(3)	0
DF	Clayton Blackmore	10(2)	1	1	0	0	0	11(2)	1
DF	Mike Duxbury	32	1	2	0	3	0	37	1
DF	Billy Garton	9	0	2	0	0	0	11	0
DF	Colin Gibson	24	1	1	0	1	0	26	1
DF	Graeme Hogg	11	0	0	0	2	0	13	0
DF	Paul McGrath	34(1)	2	0(1)	0	4	0	38(2)	2
DF	Kevin Moran	32(1)	0	2	0	2(1)	0	36(2)	0
DF	John Sivebæk	27(1)	1	2	0	1	0	30(1)	1
MF	Peter Barnes	7	0	0	0	2	1	9	1
MF	Tony Gill	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
MF	Remi Moses	17(1)	0	0	0	4	2	21(1)	2
MF	Liam O'Brien	9(2)	0	0	0	0	0	9(2)	0
MF	Jesper Olsen	22(6)	3	2	0	1(1)	0	25(7)	3
MF	Bryan Robson	29(1)	7	0	0	3	0	32(1)	7
MF	Gordon Strachan	33(1)	4	2	0	2	0	37(1)	4
FW	Peter Davenport	34(5)	14	1(1)	0	4	2	39(6)	16
FW	Terry Gibson	12(4)	1	1(1)	0	0(2)	0	13(7)	1
FW	Frank Stapleton	25(9)	7	2	0	4	2	31(9)	9
FW	Norman Whiteside	31	8	2	1	3(1)	1	36(1)	10
FW	Nicky Wood	2	0	0	0	0(1)	0	2(1)	0

Notes and references

1. ^ [1]