The 1971–72 season was

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

's 70th season in the Football League, and their 27th consecutive season in the top division of English football. In a pre-season competition United participated in the Watney Cup, which was contested by the teams that had scored the most goals in each of the four divisions of the Football League the previous season who had not been promoted or admitted to one of the European competitions. Before the beginning of the season, on 8 June 1971,

Frank O'Farrell Francis O'Farrell (9 October 1927 – 6 March 2022) was an Irish football player and manager. He played as a wing half for Cork United, West Ham United and Preston North End. He made over 300 appearances in the Football League before joining ...

was appointed as United manager, more than five months after

Wilf McGuinness Wilfred McGuinness (born 25 October 1937) is an English former football player and manager, who played twice for England in his short playing career. He succeeded Sir Matt Busby as manager of Manchester United in 1969. Following his tenure at ...

had been sacked.

Sir Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an ...

had returned to the role of manager until the end of the season before returning to his role of director. Due to Manchester United being banned from playing their first two home matches in

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, after hooligans had thrown knives into the away section at a match at the end of the previous season, their opening "home" games were played at Anfield and the Victoria Ground. O'Farrell's first season as United managed started well, and they were top of the league by Christmas. However, a run of seven successive league defeats after the turn of 1972 dragged them down the table. In January and February 1972, United conceded 16 goals, including 5 at Elland Road. O'Farrell attempted to shore up the leaky defence with the signing of Martin Buchan from Aberdeen for a (then) club record fee of £125,000. United never recovered their early season form and they could only manage an eighth-place finish.

Watney Cup

First Division

FA Cup

League Cup

Squad statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1971-72 Manchester United F.C. season Manchester United F.C. seasons