1974–75 Manchester United F.C. season

The 1974–75 season was Manchester United's 73rd season in the Football League, and their first as a Second Division team since 1937–38, following relegation from the First Division at the end of the previous season.

Manchester United

1974–75 season
Chairman	Louis Edwards
Manager	Tommy Docherty
Second Division	1st (promoted)
FA Cup	Third Round
League Cup	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Stuart Pearson (17) All: Lou Macari (18) Stuart Pearson (18)
Highest home attendance	60,585 vs Sunderland (30 November 1974)
Lowest home attendance	21,616 vs Charlton Athletic (11 September 1974)
Average home league attendance	47,781
Home colours Away colours Third colours

The board of directors had kept faith in manager Tommy Docherty despite United's relegation, and he delivered an instant return to the First Division by guiding United to the Second Division title. Despite being a second division side, their average home attendance of 47,781 was still the highest in the country that season.

Second Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
17 August 1974	Orient	A	2–0	Morgan, Houston	17,772
24 August 1974	Millwall	H	4–0	Daly (3; 2 pen.), Pearson	44,756
28 August 1974	Portsmouth	H	2–1	Daly (pen.), McIlroy	42,547
31 August 1974	Cardiff City	A	1–0	Daly (pen.)	22,344
7 September 1974	Nottingham Forest	H	2–2	Greenhoff, McIlroy	40,671
14 September 1974	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–1	Pearson	28,666
16 September 1974	Millwall	A	1–0	Daly (pen.)	16,988
21 September 1974	Bristol Rovers	H	2–0	Greenhoff, Prince (o.g.)	42,948
25 September 1974	Bolton Wanderers	H	3–0	Macari, Houston, McAllister (o.g.)	47,084
28 September 1974	Norwich City	A	0–2		24,586
5 October 1974	Fulham	A	2–1	Pearson (2)	25,513
12 October 1974	Notts County	H	1–0	McIlroy	46,565
15 October 1974	Portsmouth	A	0–0		25,608
19 October 1974	Blackpool	A	3–0	Forsyth, Macari, McCalliog	25,370
26 October 1974	Southampton	H	1–0	Pearson	48,724
2 November 1974	Oxford United	H	4–0	Pearson (3), Macari	41,909
9 November 1974	Bristol City	A	0–1		28,104
16 November 1974	Aston Villa	H	2–1	Daly (2; 1 pen.)	55,615
23 November 1974	Hull City	A	0–2		23,287
30 November 1974	Sunderland	H	3–2	Pearson, Morgan, McIlroy	60,585
7 December 1974	Sheffield Wednesday	A	4–4	Houston, Macari (2), Pearson	35,230
14 December 1974	Orient	H	0–0		41,200
21 December 1974	York City	A	1–0	Pearson	15,314
26 December 1974	West Bromwich Albion	H	2–1	McIlroy, Daly (pen.)	51,104
28 December 1974	Oldham Athletic	A	0–1		26,356
11 January 1975	Sheffield Wednesday	H	2–0	McCalliog (2; 1 pen.)	45,662
18 January 1975	Sunderland	A	0–0		45,976
1 February 1975	Bristol City	H	0–1		47,118
8 February 1975	Oxford United	A	0–1		15,959
15 February 1975	Hull City	H	2–0	Houston, Pearson	44,712
22 February 1975	Aston Villa	A	0–2		40,353
1 March 1975	Cardiff City	H	4–0	Houston, Pearson, McIlroy, Macari	43,601
8 March 1975	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–0	Pearson	38,152
15 March 1975	Norwich City	H	1–1	Pearson	56,202
22 March 1975	Nottingham Forest	A	1–0	Daly	21,893
28 March 1975	Bristol Rovers	A	1–1	Macari	19,337
29 March 1975	York City	H	2–1	Morgan, Macari	46,802
31 March 1975	Oldham Athletic	H	3–2	McIlroy, Macari, Coppell	56,618
5 April 1975	Southampton	A	1–0	Macari	21,866
12 April 1975	Fulham	H	1–0	Daly	52,971
19 April 1975	Notts County	A	2–2	Houston, Greenhoff	17,832
26 April 1975	Blackpool	H	4–0	Pearson (2), Macari, Greenhoff	58,769

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United (C, P)	42	26	9	7	66	30	2.200	61	Promotion to the First Division
2	Aston Villa (P)	42	25	8	9	79	32	2.469	58	UEFA Cup first round and promotion to the First Division
3	Norwich City (P)	42	20	13	9	58	37	1.568	53	Promotion to the First Division
4	Sunderland	42	19	13	10	65	35	1.857	51
5	Bristol City	42	21	8	13	47	33	1.424	50
6	West Bromwich Albion	42	18	9	15	54	42	1.286	45
7	Blackpool	42	14	17	11	38	33	1.152	45
8	Hull City	42	15	14	13	40	53	0.755	44
9	Fulham	42	13	16	13	44	39	1.128	42
10	Bolton Wanderers	42	15	12	15	45	41	1.098	42
11	Oxford United	42	15	12	15	41	51	0.804	42
12	Orient	42	11	20	11	28	39	0.718	42
13	Southampton	42	15	11	16	53	54	0.981	41
14	Notts County	42	12	16	14	49	59	0.831	40
15	York City	42	14	10	18	51	55	0.927	38
16	Nottingham Forest	42	12	14	16	43	55	0.782	38
17	Portsmouth	42	12	13	17	44	54	0.815	37
18	Oldham Athletic	42	10	15	17	40	48	0.833	35
19	Bristol Rovers	42	12	11	19	42	64	0.656	35
20	Millwall (R)	42	10	12	20	44	56	0.786	32	Relegation to the Third Division
21	Cardiff City (R)	42	9	14	19	36	62	0.581	32
22	Sheffield Wednesday (R)	42	5	11	26	29	64	0.453	21

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
4 January 1975	Round 3	Walsall	H	0–0		43,353
7 January 1975	Round 3 Replay	Walsall	A	2–3 (aet)	Daly (pen.), McIlroy	18,105

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
11 September 1974	Round 2	Charlton Athletic	H	5–1	Macari (2), McIlroy, Houston, Bowman (o.g.)	21,616
9 October 1974	Round 3	Manchester City	H	1–0	Daly (pen.)	55,159
13 November 1974	Round 4	Burnley	H	3–2	Macari (2), Morgan	46,275
4 December 1974	Round 5	Middlesbrough	A	0–0		36,005
18 December 1974	Round 5 Replay	Middlesbrough	H	3–0	Pearson, McIlroy, Macari	49,501
15 January 1975	Semi-Final First leg	Norwich City	H	2–2	Macari (2)	58,010
22 January 1975	Semi-Final Second leg	Norwich City	A	0–1		31,621

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Paddy Roche	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
GK	Alex Stepney	40	0	2	0	7	0	49	0
DF	Arthur Albiston	2	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
DF	Martin Buchan	41	0	2	0	7	0	50	0
DF	Alex Forsyth	39	1	0	0	6	0	45	1
DF	Brian Greenhoff	39(2)	4	2	0	6	0	47(2)	4
DF	Jim Holton	14	0	0	0	3	0	17	0
DF	Stewart Houston	40	6	2	0	6	1	48	7
DF	Steve James	13	0	0	0	2	0	15	0
DF	Jimmy Nicholl	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0
DF	Arnie Sidebottom	12	0	2	0	2	0	16	0
DF	Tony Young	7(8)	0	2	0	1(4)	0	10(12)	0
MF	Steve Coppell	9(1)	1	0	0	0	0	9(1)	1
MF	Gerry Daly	36(1)	11	2	1	7	1	45(1)	13
MF	George Graham	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0
MF	Mick Martin	7(1)	0	0	0	1	0	8(1)	0
MF	Jim McCalliog	20	3	1	0	5(1)	0	26(1)	3
MF	David McCreery	0(2)	0	0	0	0	0	0(2)	0
MF	Sammy McIlroy	41(1)	7	2	1	7	2	50(1)	10
FW	Tommy Baldwin	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
FW	Ron Davies	0(8)	0	0(2)	0	0	0	0(10)	0
FW	Lou Macari	36(2)	11	2	0	6(1)	7	44(3)	18
FW	Willie Morgan	32(2)	3	1	0	6(1)	1	39(3)	4
FW	Stuart Pearson	30(1)	17	2	0	4	1	36(1)	18
–	Own goals	–	2	–	0	–	1	–	3