Despite not adding to their trophy roster since the glorious European Cup triumph of 1968, as the late-60s gave way to the early-70s Manchester United remained the biggest box office draw in English football. Old Trafford was routinely packed to the rafters by a supporter base drawn from all over the country, who when they travelled did so in such vast numbers it invariably brought the biggest gate of the season to the ground being visited.
The team sheet continued exuding glamour, the ‘holy trinity‘ of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton remaining in tandem to not just maintain an undeniable aura about the team, but connection to glory games aplenty from the ‘spinning 60s’ when United frequently turned the opposition inside out.
But as the new decade unfolded spin became thin due to a distinct lack of silverware, the picture becoming increasingly confused by conundrums on and off the field – Best being implicated in both.
Now in his mid-twenties, Belfast-born Best remained the most spectacular individual talent in British football. But a high-profile lifestyle based on his unique superstar status and frustration at carrying an aging, underperforming team, had begun to manifest in wayward behaviour that brought him into conflict with the club and wider football authorities.
At the same time Manchester United as an entity were short on stability. Long-serving, now veteran boss Sir Matt Busby handed the reins to Wilf McGuiness in June 1969 whose fleeting spell in charge ended with Busby (who had taken the position of general manager) coming out of retirement to resume control, the baton then passed to Frank O’Farrell in the summer of 1971.
Through the opening months of the 1971-72 season the appointment of Irishman O’Farrell appeared to have been a masterstroke as United once more featured among the title chasers only for their challenge to fade, not helped by more off-field dramas involving the errant Best.
The malaise gripping the club only worsened as they made a poor start to the 1972-73 campaign, the extent of their troubles reflected in them falling into the relegation zone as Christmas approached. O’Farrell lost his job on the back of a 5-0 thrashing at Crystal Palace on December 16, the Old Trafford board moving quickly to appoint Tommy Docherty three days later, who resigned as manager of the Scotland team to accept the post.
The flamboyant, always-quotable Scot inherited a side with only five league wins from twenty two games, Docherty under no illusion of the task before him as seven matches passed before he enjoyed a victory. An eight game unbeaten run through the early spring quelled any fears of going down, but defeats in the last two fixtures without managing a goal was more indicative of what would follow.
The sense of Manchester United being at a crossroads was reinforced by Charlton having already announced he would be retiring at the end of the season, (the fact he finished top scorer with six in his farewell campaign spoke volumes), subsequently taking a player-manager position at Preston North End. Law, meanwhile, was given a free transfer by Docherty, whereupon he crossed Manchester to sign for City.
Given serious reinvestment was needed in a squad that had staggered to an eighteenth-placed finish, in scoring only 44 goals it was clear the team was in urgent need of strike power.
Therefore, it was something of surprise that during the summer of 1973, with young strikers such as John Richards (Wolves), Bob Latchford (Birmingham City) and Mick Channon (Southampton) having announced their arrival on the scene, the only transfer arrivals at Old Trafford should be Scottish full-back Stewart Houston bought for £50,000 from third division Brentford and young Dubliners Mick Martin and Gerry Daly who arrived from Bohemians.
So with the lack of goal threat not addressed and Best embroiled in issues beyond first team action, none of which appeared to involve training (he would not be seen in the side until late October), the 1973-74 season began on Saturday 25 August with a visit to Highbury – and rarely have portents for the next eight months been so apparent during an opening day fixture.
Which is perhaps a shade unfair on a defence who would be largely exonerated in the final reckoning. Not that there was much shade to be had in the warm sunshine of a North London afternoon when United were constantly exposed by Arsenal, who are far too good for the disjointed, attack-shy opposition – goals from Ray Kennedy, John Radford and Alan Ball seeing the hosts to an easy victory.
That miserable performance in N5 was partially offset by successive home victories in the week that followed when Stoke City (1-0) and QPR (2-1) were beaten at Old Trafford. Yet of the three goals United scored two came from central defenders Steve James and Jim Holton, the other an effort from Northern Ireland midfield man Sammy McIlroy.
But as fixtures came thick and fast any thoughts United could muddle through by scoring few but conceding fewer were dispelled with narrow defeats at Leicester (0-1) and Ipswich Town (1-2). Seven days after they had gone down at Filbert Street came a 2-1 reversal on home soil to The Foxes, United on this occasion scoring through goalkeeper Alex Stepney, who had been nominated by Docherty as penalty taker – indicative of the manager having little faith in his outfield players to convert or none of them wanting the responsibility.
If an air of resignation for a season that already looked set to be fraught with difficulty had begun to descend, it was momentarily kept at bay by victory over visiting West Ham, the goals in a 3-1 success the last ever scored for the club by ’68 European Cup winner Brian Kidd (2) – sold to Arsenal at the end of the season – and winger Ian Storey-Moore, whose career was almost over due to recurring injuries.
September closed with commendable goalless draws at eventual league champions Leeds and at home to perspective FA Cup winners Liverpool. The first silverware avenue closed off to United was the League Cup, second division pacesetters and later runaway title winners Middlesbrough finding one goal was enough to secure victory at Old Trafford. Three days earlier United had gone down at Molineux, Wolves, who had also made an inauspicious start to the season (recovering in the months ahead to win the League Cup), winning by the odd goal in three, McIlroy netting a late consolation as the home side edged a scrappy encounter.
Having scored just nine times in eleven matches it was blatantly obvious where their problem lay. In what proved the final match of Brian Clough as manager of visiting Derby County before he resigned 48 hours later, on Saturday 13 October his side scored the only goal needed to defeat United.
Seven days later Stepney rose to the rank of joint top scorer when he netted from the spot in securing a 1-0 home win over Birmingham City. At the end of a week when England had failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup on being held to a Wembley draw by Poland, many United supporters could be consoled by Best making a return to the side, his two month first team exile coming to an end against the St Andrews outfit.
Despite playing again at Burnley the following week Best was unable to improve their meagre goal return, the Turf Moor contest ending in stalemate.
The early November visit of Chelsea was akin to a couple of former Oscar winners being reduced to bit parts, both forgetting their lines on a bewildering afternoon that saw United score twice in the final ninety seconds to emerge with an unlikely point.
Trailing to goals from Tommy Baldwin and Peter Osgood another home defeat loomed until full-back Tony Young fired home from twenty yards to register the only United goal he would ever score. Chelsea, who following their cup conquests earlier in the decade had begun their own slow sleepwalk toward Division Two, were then pegged back at the death by a first appearance on the score sheet of young centre-back Brian Greenhoff.
Earning a draw in such circumstances had been known in others to prompt an upswing in fortunes. Yet even that dramatic comeback failed to have a positive effect and while Best scored his first of the season at Spurs in the next game, a slipshod performance resulted in a 2-1 defeat.
With the prospect of being relegated coming closer through each passing fixture, no matter what permutation Docherty sent out in attack, goals remained elusive – which made those scored by Scottish internationals George Graham and Lou Macari at Newcastle seem a glut by recent standards. But even then they were not enough to avoid losing, United going down in a five goal contest. Opportunity to arrest the slide then came in the form of successive home matches against fellow strugglers Norwich City and Southampton, yet there was something ominously fatalistic in neither fixture yielding a goal for any team.
If failing to score against rival relegation candidates was woeful, then despair and disillusionment gripped the December 15 arrival of Coventry City. Barely 26,000, the smallest attendance for an Old Trafford league fixture in years, saw United net twice only to be outscored by the Sky Blues. The match became remembered for a well-worked Willie Morgan goal and what proved the last of his 179 for Manchester United by Best – whose nocturnal habits were generating as much negative publicity for the front pages as poor results were for the back.
If a subsequent 2-0 defeat at Anfield was all too predictable, not unexpected either, given the paucity of their attacking efforts, was a Boxing Day home defeat to Sheffield United. The ‘Merry Xmas Everybody‘ glam-rockers Slade were encouraging people to have with their festive number one by-passed Old Trafford, a goal from Macari not enough to prevent a 2-1 reversal.
Without a win in nine weeks, only eighteen goals from twenty one league matches and prospect of going into the new year with ‘keeper Stepney (2) as joint top-scorer, some belated Yuletide cheer arrived on December 29. Macari and McIlroy both found the target against visiting Ipswich Town, the Red Devils ending a torrid period and utterly forgettable twelve months with a 2-0 victory.
For Docherty it needed to be the springboard toward better times if a relegation fight was to be avoided, but an overdue win and turn of a year brought no fresh invigoration, just familiar failings.
On New Year’s Day they were soundly beaten at QPR after which Best headed into the West End, never to be seen at Old Trafford again as a Manchester United player. On not turning up for training in the days that followed, Docherty removed him from the first team squad, the 3-0 Loftus Road defeat an inglorious end to his eleven year United career.
Being walloped in W12 had greater current significance than Best departing the scene. At their AGM the previous summer the Football League had decided to increase the number of relegated clubs in the top two divisions from two to three and as United fell into the now extended drop zone, the battle for survival was suddenly real and present.
The FA Cup third round offered respite from their league predicament, but they were flattered by the victory over third division Plymouth Argyle (shortly to contest a two-leg League Cup semi-final against Manchester City), a Macari goal sparing them the trek to Home Park for a replay. The following week Docherty and his beleaguered team made a quick return to London in order to face West Ham, where they went down to a late Pat Holland goal after McIlroy had cancelled out an opener from Billy Bonds – United dropping another place on losing to a side with relegation fears on their own.
In normal circumstances a point against Arsenal would have been acceptable, but the January 19 visitors were another outfit who appeared to have lost their bearings as a mid-table finish beckoned, United taking a share of the spoils through a goal from centre-back James.
Seven days later the FA Cup ceased to be a distraction when they made a fourth round exit at the hands of visiting Ipswich. While an only goal defeat against a side currently sitting fifth was far from shaming, hard to overlook was the fact they had beaten the same opposition just a month before in what was being termed their ‘best display of the season.’
Such a claim was not challenged by a dismal performance at Coventry where they suffered a now customary defeat on conceding first. League leaders Leeds then made short work of the home side in registering a 2-0 Old Trafford victory with goals from Mick Jones and future United man Joe Jordan. Defeat against the Elland Road men was not just chastening in terms of the sides once being rival title challengers, but for the literal chasm between them – United sent to the foot of the table by virtue of their fifth home defeat of the campaign.
Recording only one win in their past fifteen league fixtures and now in bottom spot, Docherty, in what seems extraordinary by latter-day standards retained the support of the board, if for no other reason than many of the problems were viewed as predating his arrival.
The players summoned some of the application that had often been lacking in earning a 2-2 draw at Derby, this drawn encounter feeling like a win even if defenders Greenhoff and Houston, with his first for the club, scored the goals. The following week, however, honours even felt like a loss as United failed to make their dominance count against Wolves, both sides drawing a blank in a dour Old Trafford meeting.
The first Saturday of March finally brought an away success, Macari scoring the only goal in a win at Sheffield United. Victory, however, was not the tonic it might have been as those just above them, namely Birmingham and West Ham also won, the weekend improving morale if not league position. Wednesday 13 March brought the first Manchester derby of 1973-74, hosts City, still smarting from a recent League Cup Final defeat against Wolves, having the better of a tense rather than technically accomplished fixture.
If the game was short on method it lacked nothing in the way of malice, tempers boiling over to the point that referee Clive Thomas – not for the last time courting controversy at Maine Road – sent off Macari and City skipper Mike Doyle. The Welsh official then instructed the police to detain each player in their respective dressing room in order to prevent continuation of their confrontation. Meanwhile out on the pitch, over 51,000 saw hostilities conclude in a goalless draw, one headline the following day describing events as: ‘Point Each, Nothing For Soccer’
With a four match unbeaten trot representing their best run of the season, they travelled to Birmingham for a game with huge implications for the relegation fight. What ensued was a ragged, nervous affair reflecting the parlous position of both sides, the deciding goal a suitably unconventional effort. In making a tackle on the edge of the United penalty area, Blues’ substitute Joe Gallagher saw the ball drift over Stepney and into the net, City taking the points with seventeen minutes left.
If the source of this latest defeat bordered on farcical then reality was no laughing matter, United now seven points from safety with only ten matches left.
If there was a fixture offering ideal opportunity to bounce back at this juncture it would have come in the shape of a visit from Spurs. Ambling along with the domestic also-rans, their thoughts were taken by upcoming UEFA Cup semi-final meetings with Lokomotiv Leipzig. That said, the United defence appear not to be concentrating in failing to clear a Martin Chivers long-throw, Ralph Coates duly accepting a simple chance – this latest defeat suggesting relegation was a racing, if not yet mathematical, certainty.
But then, with similar timing to the revival that saw them to safety twelve months before (although not from such a perilous position), a sudden and improbable transformation took hold.
The next fixture brought a visit to Stamford Bridge where winger Morgan gave United an early lead. The points were secured with goals midway through the second half when Daly and McIlroy netted in quick succession. Chelsea managed a late consolation as their own dispiriting season continued apace, but for Docherty victory over a former club and opposing manager Dave Sexton, who further down the road would be his Old Trafford successor, offered hope the game was not yet up – even if a Herculean effort was needed to reach a position of safety.
Division One bottom six (1/4/1974):
Wolves (P35/GD -5/Pts 32)
West Ham (P36/GD -7/Pts 31)
Southampton (P35/GD -16/Pts 31)
Birmingham City (P35/GD -16/Pts 29)
Norwich City (P35/GD -17/Pts 25)
Manchester United (P34/GD -13/Pts 24)
As April dawned United had eight matches between them and the distinct possibility of going down. The first was a midweek visit from Burnley, who three days earlier had suffered an FA Cup semi-final defeat against Newcastle. In a creditable first season back in the top flight, The Clarets had not only enjoyed a fine FA Cup run but were still in the running for a UEFA Cup place, although such ambitions took a dent when McIlroy put the home side ahead inside the first sixty seconds.
Burnley responded through Paul Fletcher and levelled again with a Leighton James penalty after Alex Forsyth had put United back in front. Six minutes after Welsh winger James equalised, he converted a 74th minute spot-kick as Burnley took the lead for the first time – United earning a point from this frenetic 3-3 draw when Holton headed home two minutes shy of the final whistle.
The first week of April ended with a trip to Norwich, the ‘must win‘ mantra applying to both teams. On a day when Abba were to win the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, United put off meeting their own ‘Waterloo‘ a little while longer as second half goals from Greenhoff and Macari saw them emerge with a 2-0 win. Victory enabled United to climb above the Carrow Road side but they remained five points from safe sanctuary.
With the Easter weekend came the portents United might just defy the odds and survive after all. Southampton and Birmingham, the two teams directly above, each played twice but only collected a point between them, while in contrast four were added to a growing Manchester United total.
The first home win of 1974 was secured by a goal from Jim McCalliog. Signed by Docherty from Wolves at the end of March for £60,000, the former Scottish international made the decisive contribution as FA Cup finalists Newcastle left Old Trafford empty handed.
The same player then netted an Easter Monday brace as visiting Everton were dispatched, Houston scoring the other in a comfortable 3-0 win.
Climbing up to third bottom, with four games remaining they were now only two points from safety. Next up was a crucial away game at Southampton, who had taken that role of being the side who slide into trouble from a position of relative safety. In January the Saints had been in no apparent danger, yet despite the goals of Division One top scorer Mick Channon a tumble down the table ensued, lining up to face United having taken just five points from the last eleven games.
Not only had McCalliog weighed in with goals from open play he was also entrusted with penalty kick duties, duly converting at The Dell as United took a first half lead, the home side restoring level terms with a goal from England man Channon. Ultimately the 1-1 outcome did neither side any favours and was of more benefit to those hovering just above the drop zone.
With April fast drawing to a close it was clear what happened next would determine if Southampton or Manchester United prevailed or failed in their efforts to preserve Division One status. The Saints were first to play again, their fate all but sealed with a 3-0 loss at Burnley 48 hours after sharing the spoils with United – who the following night travelled to Goodison Park for the return against Everton, whose reliable home form had maintained an outside chance of UEFA Cup qualification.
Defending a six match unbeaten run record the visitors, at the very least, had to avoid defeat in order to keep the struggle alive. But the sequence came to an end and with it all realistic hopes of beating the drop, a second half Mick Lyons goal deciding the matter and taking the destiny of United out of their own hands – a disastrous evening turning even worse when news came through Birmingham had greatly enhanced their own survival chances with a hefty home win over QPR.
The odds now stacked against them despite having a match in hand on the two sides directly above, the vagaries of a bewildering season were such that United closed their home programme with a visit from neighbours City. Well aware victory may not be enough to avoid the prospect of Old Trafford hosting second division football in the near future, should Birmingham beat already doomed Norwich it would send United down, irrespective of how the Manchester derby played out.
City themselves had endured a trying season. Latest incumbent Tony Book was their third manager of the campaign, just two wins in twelve matches since losing the League Cup Final had seen them fall away to fourteenth and only the bottom two had scored fewer goals. The game brought the return of Denis Law to the red side of the city, the long since anointed ‘King of Old Trafford‘ back in front of the Stretford End, but in the sky blue of their crosstown rivals.
The tension pervading an untidy first half only increased during the interval when notice came that Southampton, West Ham, but most pertinently, Birmingham were all winning, United left with no option other than to force the issue.
As the match opened up chances occurred at both ends, but as City counter-attacked with nine minutes left there had yet to be a goal. The move downfield took the visitors into the United penalty area where former England striker Francis Lee fired across the goalmouth, the ball rolling through to an unmarked Law.
Positioned six yards out and facing away from the goal he reacted with the audacity that had been his trademark throughout an illustrious eleven season Manchester United career – scoring past former team-mate Stepney with the most famous back-heeled goal in football history. While his team-mates showed their delight, Law chose not to celebrate and on reaching the halfway line, amidst a smattering of pitch invaders, was substituted – his last touch of a ball on a ground where he was so revered condemning United to the drop.
The game continued on but when incursions from the terraces became a full-scale invasion – United followers surging onto the field intent on causing the match to be abandoned and replayed – referee David Smith, noting the 90 minutes were almost up blew for time, the pitch already swamped as players headed back to the dressing rooms.
The 90th derby fixture involving the sides may have ended in chaos but the truth was unequivocal, the thirty six year tenure of Manchester United as first division club was over – and while legend took hold of Law sending them down with his instinctive finish, the goal decided a fixture that ultimately had no bearing on proceedings. Victory for Birmingham and a point for West Ham against Liverpool meant relegation was a formality even if they had managed to beat City.
Of greater significance is that in scoring his 12th league goal of the season, Law had netted double the amount of United top scorer McIlroy. During the course of the 1973-74 football season, the UK experienced the three-day working week and was riven by the industrial action of car workers and miners – strikers to be found everywhere it seems, other than Old Trafford.
On May 2 the Football League formally confirmed the score in the recent Manchester derby would stand, by which time United had completed their fixtures. Two days on from the City defeat they suffered a 1-0 reversal at sixth-placed Stoke, a somewhat fitting conclusion to an abject, goal-shy season precipitating a turn of events unthinkable even two years before, let alone in the halcyon days of being Champions of Europe.
Division One bottom six 1973-74 season:
Chelsea (P42/GD -4/Pts 37)
West Ham (P42/GD -5/Pts 37)
Birmingham City (P42/GD -12/Pts 37)
Southampton (P42/GD -21/Pts 36)
Manchester United (P42/GD -10/Pts 32)
Norwich City (P42/GD -25/Pts 29)
It was a campaign blighted by their inability to score, failing in nineteen fixtures, with only bottom club Norwich scoring fewer, United netting the fewest (23) at home. It was then somewhat ironic they should finish with the sixth best defensive record in Division One, relegation not counting against defenders Jim Holton and Martin Buchan or wide man Willie Morgan in being selected for the Scotland squad contesting the World Cup in West Germany that summer.
Even before the dust had truly settled on their demotion, the United directors showed continued faith in Docherty, backing him to the tune of £200,000 in the purchase of Stuart Pearson from fellow second division outfit Hull City in May 1974 – Yorkshire-born Pearson being a striker.
If some found it difficult to reconcile the club who were lifting the European Cup six years before with where they currently stood, such illusions were tested again when fixtures for the 1974-75 season were issued.
The opening day brought London visits for Manchester United and Carlisle United. Once upon a time a curtain raiser of Law, Best and Charlton pitting their skills against those of Osgood, Hudson and Cooke at Chelsea would have been a standout game, but that era was consigned to their past, old familiarities no longer in place. Now it was the promoted Cumbrians heading to SW6, taking their top flight bow beneath an impressive new East Stand at Stamford Bridge.
One level below, Manchester United, the most renowned club in England, headed across the capital, although not to White Hart Lane, Upton Park or even Highbury, where they had started the 1973-74 season, but bound for Leyton Orient. Their status as a second division club confirmed in the packed, yet modest surroundings of Brisbane Road.
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.