The time Man Utd got relegated

By @UtdNiamh, published on 01/10/21

These days when the club goes a few games without winning or playing attractive football, Twitter is up and arms, requesting the manager to get sacked and a new manager to come in. Things got bad back in the 70s, so bad that the team that had won the European Cup only six years prior ended up in the second division. This article will go through how this happened and how the club got promoted back into the first division.

The Backstory

If we compare Busby's departure to Sir Alex Ferguson's departure, the man who was the 60s version of David Moyes was the former United player Wilf McGuinness. He only lasted 18 months in the role, and Sir Matt was still involved with the club, with players often seeing him for problems. After McGuinness's sacking Busby came back in for a while to steady the ship. The next man to take the job was Irish man Frank O'Farrell who fared just as well as his predecessor in the end. The Cork man started well at the club but faded away and lasted 18 months of his five-year contract. He didn't work because of the interference from Sir Matt and the decline and disappearance of the once-great George Best.

Enter the Doc

The story of how Tommy Docherty got the united job is one of betrayal. He went to watch two of his Scottish players play against United at Old Trafford. Docherty was sat in front of the directors that game, at full-time Sir Matt Busby, asked to see him in his office. The Doc was told that his good friend would get sacked and asked if he would like the next manager. On the 18th of December 1972, Frank O'Farrell got sacked, and only a few days later, Tommy Docherty was officially appointed head coach of Manchester United. United finished the 72/73 season in 18th place, narrowly missing out on relegation to the second division. They would not get as lucky the following season

1973/1974- The season that Manchester United got relegated

The season started badly when the reds got beat 3-0 by Arsenal. They did win the next two games against Stoke and Queens Park Rangers. They would only win one more game in September and a game in October. After the win in October against Birmingham, they would not win a game until the end of December when they beat Ipswich City. 1974 started as 1973 ended with the club not winning a game until March when they beat Sheffield United. In that same month, they beat Chelsea. They went on a good run in April, beating Norwich, Newcastle and Everton. This was before the inevitable happened at the end of the month. After drawing with Southampton, they got defeated by Everton. The 27th of April 1973 is a day MUFC fans of a certain age will remember. United played bitter rivals city in Maine Road and needed a point to stay in the division. Then former United player and European cup winner Dennis Law stuck a dagger into United's hearts by scoring the game's only goal. This goal didn't relegate United. Still, it's left a sour taste in some fans mouths. The aftermath of the match saw MUFC fans invade the pitch. The unimaginable had happened. The biggest club in English football was now a second division side and had to rebuild to get back into the league they wanted to be in.

The new adventure- the second tier of English football

This wasn't the league that Man United wanted to be in, but they were in it and had to find a way out of it. The team performed like expected in the second tier by only losing eight games and finishing top of the league. The fans had a blast visiting cities they had never been to before, like Blackpool and York City. The attendance didn't fall either, with the biggest home crowd in the second tier being 60,585, and they had the highest average attendance in the country. Looking back, The Doc was justified with him being the only manager in the last 50 years to get united promoted back to the first division.

Back in the big league and winning the FA Cup in 77

The first season back in the top flight ended in a mid-table finish, and a good FA Cup run. This would get United to the final competition where Southampton beat them by a goal to nil. The following season United finally got their hands on a trophy by winning the same competition that they had lost in the final the previous year. They beat bitter rivals Liverpool to win their first FA cup since the 60s. After all the thrill of winning the FA Cup and the parade where Tommy Docherty dedicated the trophy to the fans, the shocking news came out that he had been sacked after it had emerged that he had been having an affair with the physio's wife. Thus ended an era where the club went through. Relegation and won a FA Cup, this was an exciting era where you never knew what would happen. Older fans always happily look back on the Doc era and wonder what would have happened if he had stayed.

Conclusion

Being a football fan these days is hard, but next time you scream for the manager to be sacked or for a player to be sold, remember how bad things can get when a legendary manager leaves this club. Man United will be here before and after every manager, and this should be a cautionary tale for Manchester United fans worldwide.

Niamh Maguire