The 1980–81 season was Manchester United‘s 78th season in the Football League, and their 6th consecutive season in the top division of English football.

It was the last of their four seasons under the management of Dave Sexton, who was sacked after the end of the season after failing to win the club a major trophy. Sexton was succeeded by West Bromwich Albion manager Ron Atkinson.

The club also paid a club record of more than £1 million for Nottingham Forest striker Garry Birtles, but the player was a huge disappointment and ended the season without having scored a single league goal for the club. The club’s top scorer was Joe Jordan, who found the back of the net 15 times.

First Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
16 August 1980	Middlesbrough	H	3–0	Macari, Grimes, Thomas	54,394
19 August 1980	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–1		31,955
23 August 1980	Birmingham City	A	0–0		28,661
30 August 1980	Sunderland	H	1–1	Jovanović	51,498
6 September 1980	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–0		40,995
13 September 1980	Leicester City	H	5–0	Coppell, Grimes,Jovanović (2), Macari	43,229
20 September 1980	Leeds United	A	0–0		32,539
27 September 1980	Manchester City	H	2–2	Coppell, Albiston	55,918
4 October 1980	Nottingham Forest	A	2–1	Macari, Coppell	29,801
8 October 1980	Aston Villa	H	3–3	McIlroy (2; 1 pen.),Coppell	38,831
11 October 1980	Arsenal	H	0–0		49,036
18 October 1980	Ipswich Town	A	1–1	McIlroy (pen.)	28,572
22 October 1980	Stoke City	A	2–1	Jordan, Macari	24,534
25 October 1980	Everton	H	2–0	Jordan, Coppell	54,260
1 November 1980	Crystal Palace	A	0–1		31,449
8 November 1980	Coventry City	H	0–0		42,794
12 November 1980	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0–0		37,959
15 November 1980	Middlesbrough	A	1–1	Jordan	20,606
22 November 1980	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	4–1	Jordan (2), McIlroy,Duxbury	23,923
29 November 1980	Southampton	H	1–1	Jordan	47,783
6 December 1980	Norwich City	A	2–2	Bond (o.g.), Coppell	18,780
13 December 1980	Stoke City	H	2–2	Macari, Jordan	39,568
20 December 1980	Arsenal	A	1–2	Macari	33,730
26 December 1980	Liverpool	H	0–0		57,049
27 December 1980	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–3	Jovanović	38,615
10 January 1981	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	2–1	McQueen, Macari	42,208
28 January 1981	Sunderland	A	0–2		31,910
31 January 1981	Birmingham City	H	2–0	Jordan, Macari	39,081
7 February 1981	Leicester City	A	0–1		26,085
17 February 1981	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0–0		40,642
21 February 1981	Manchester City	A	0–1		50,114
28 February 1981	Leeds United	H	0–1		45,733
7 March 1981	Southampton	A	0–1		22,698
14 March 1981	Aston Villa	A	3–3	Jordan (2), McIlroy (pen.)	42,182
18 March 1981	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	Burns (o.g.)	38,205
21 March 1981	Ipswich Town	H	2–1	Thomas, Nicholl	46,685
28 March 1981	Everton	A	1–0	Jordan	25,856
4 April 1981	Crystal Palace	H	1–0	Duxbury	37,954
11 April 1981	Coventry City	A	2–0	Jordan (2)	20,201
14 April 1981	Liverpool	A	1–0	McQueen	31,276
18 April 1981	West Bromwich Albion	H	2–1	Jordan, Macari	44,442
25 April 1981	Norwich City	H	1–0	Jordan	40,165

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
7	Nottingham Forest	42	19	12	11	62	44	+18	50
8	Manchester United	42	15	18	9	51	36	+15	48
9	Leeds United	42	17	10	15	39	47	−8	44

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
3 January 1981	Round 3	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	2–2	Duxbury, Thomas	42,199
7 January 1981	Round 3 Replay	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	2–0	Nicholl, Birtles	26,915
24 January 1981	Round 4	Nottingham Forest	A	0–1		34,110

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
27 August 1980	Round 2 First leg	Coventry City	H	0–1		31,656
2 September 1980	Round 2 Second leg	Coventry City	A	0–1		18,946

UEFA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
17 September 1980	Round 1 First leg	Widzew Łódź	H	1–1	McIlroy	38,037
1 October 1980	Round 1 Second leg	Widzew Łódź	A	0–0		40,000

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		UEFA Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Gary Bailey	40	0	3	0	2	0	2	0	47	0
GK	Paddy Roche	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
DF	Arthur Albiston	42	1	3	0	2	0	2	0	49	1
DF	Martin Buchan	26	0	2	0	2	0	2	0	32	0
DF	Mike Duxbury	27(6)	2	0(2)	1	0	0	1(1)	0	28(9)	3
DF	Nikola Jovanović	19	4	1	0	2	0	2	0	24	4
DF	Gordon McQueen	11	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	13	2
DF	Kevin Moran	32	0	1	0	0	0	0(1)	0	33(1)	0
DF	Jimmy Nicholl	36	1	3	1	2	0	2	0	43	2
DF	Anthony Whelan	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0
MF	Steve Coppell	42	6	3	0	2	0	2	0	49	6
MF	Ashley Grimes	6(2)	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	8(2)	2
MF	Lou Macari	37(1)	9	3	0	2	0	1	0	43(1)	9
MF	Chris McGrath	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
MF	Sammy McIlroy	31(1)	5	1	0	2	0	2	1	36(1)	6
MF	Tom Sloan	0(2)	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0(3)	0
MF	Mickey Thomas	30	2	3	1	2	0	2	0	37	3
MF	Ray Wilkins	11(2)	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	13(2)	0
FW	Garry Birtles	25	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	28	1
FW	Jimmy Greenhoff	8(1)	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	11(1)	0
FW	Joe Jordan	33	15	3	0	0	0	1	0	37	15
FW	Scott McGarvey	0(2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(2)	0
FW	Andy Ritchie	3(1)	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	5(1)	0