The 1988–89 season was Manchester United‘s 86th season in the Football League, and their 14th consecutive season in the top division of English football.

Despite finishing second in the 1987–88 season, Manchester United did not play in the UEFA Cup in 1988–89 due to the ban on English clubs in Europe since the Heysel stadium disaster.

Former Manchester United striker Mark Hughes returned to the club following spells atBarcelona and Bayern Munich, finishing the season as PFA Player of the Year and also as United’s joint top scorer alongside Brian McClair with 16 goals in all competitions.

Several important youth players including Lee Sharpe were given regular first team football in light of injuries to key players. Also new to the squad was goalkeeper Jim Leighton, who conceded just 35 goals in 38 league games and kept 15 clean sheets. Mid-season signings were defender Mal Donaghy from Luton Town and winger Ralph Milne from Bristol City. It was the final season at the club for Gordon Strachan, who left in March, and was followed at the end of the season by the departures of Norman Whiteside and Paul McGrath, while Remi Moses retired due to injury.

Ferguson’s other high profile target, Paul Gascoigne, turned down an opportunity to move to Manchester United despite a verbal agreement between Ferguson and the player and a Maltese holiday paid for by the United manager.

Manchester United’s inconsistency was highlighted early on, recording three consecutive wins; following the 2–0 victory over West Ham Unitedtowards the end of September, before failing to record another one until early December, ten games later. Manchester United also recorded six wins from seven games between Boxing Day 1988 and 11 February 1989 before their league season faltered, recording just three more victories in the season.

With the club failing to achieve in the league, many fans began to realise that the cups would be the only realistic opportunity for silverware. They needed three games to defeat Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup Third Round, before hitting four past Oxford United in the next round. United’s three biggest attendances for the season came in the FA Cup, highlighting its importance to the fans, though the campaign eventually ended in defeat at the hands of Brian Clough‘s Nottingham Forest side in the quarter finals.

Manchester United were also unsuccessful in the season’s League Cup; after confidently defeating Rotherham United over two legs, they lost 2–1 to Wimbledon at Plough Lane and were knocked out of the competition.

Pre-season and friendlies

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
6 August 1988	Laxå	A	4 – 0	McClair, Hughes, Olsen, Karlsson (o.g.)	1,521
10 August 1988	Vålerenga	A	0 – 0		6,296
11 August 1988	Karlstad	A	6 – 0	McClair, O’Brien, Strachan, Davenport, Hughes, Dalton	3,461
14 August 1988	Trollhättan	A	8 – 1	Davenport (3), O’Brien, Strachan, McClair, Hughes, Olsen	3,018
16 August 1988	Hamburg	H	0 – 0		14,348
21 August 1988	Manchester City	H	5 – 2	McClair (2; 1 pen), Olsen, Hughes, Martin	25,432
3 October 1988	Hibernian	A	3 – 0	Wilson, Hughes, Robins	14,236
29 November 1988	Birmingham City	A	5 – 2	Hughes, McClair (pen.), Robson, Blackmore, Robins	8,993
1 March 1989	Queen of the South	A	6 – 3	McClair (2), Robins (2), Donaghy, Gill (pen.)	3,776
20 May 1989	Histon	N	3 – 1	Toal, Blackmore, Hughes

First Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	League position
27 August 1988	Queens Park Rangers	H	0 – 0		46,377	10th
3 September 1988	Liverpool	A	0 – 1		42,026	14th
10 September 1988	Middlesbrough	H	1 – 0	Robson 70′	40,422	10th
17 September 1988	Luton Town	A	2 – 0	Davenport 19′, Robson 84′	11,010	8th
24 September 1988	West Ham United	H	2 – 0	Davenport 37′, Hughes 67′	39,941	5th
1 October 1988	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2 – 2	Hughes 43′, McClair 72′	29,318	5th
22 October 1988	Wimbledon	A	1 – 1	Hughes 23′	12,143	7th
26 October 1988	Norwich City	H	1 – 2	Hughes 59′	36,998	8th
30 October 1988	Everton	A	1 – 1	Hughes 69′	27,005	10th
5 November 1988	Aston Villa	H	1 – 1	Bruce 42′	44,804	11th
12 November 1988	Derby County	A	2 – 2	Hughes 42′, McClair 64′	24,080	11th
19 November 1988	Southampton	H	2 – 2	Robson 16′, Hughes 53′	37,277	11th
23 November 1988	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1 – 1	Hughes 83′	30,849	9th
27 November 1988	Newcastle United	A	0 – 0		20,350	11th
3 December 1988	Charlton Athletic	H	3 – 0	Milne 22′, McClair 55′, Hughes 78′	31,173	9th
10 December 1988	Coventry City	A	0 – 1		19,936	10th
17 December 1988	Arsenal	A	1 – 2	Hughes 81′	37,422	10th
26 December 1988	Nottingham Forest	H	2 – 0	Milne 23′, Hughes 53′	39,582	9th
1 January 1989	Liverpool	H	3 – 1	McClair 71′, Hughes 75′, Beardsmore 77′	44,745	6th
2 January 1989	Middlesbrough	A	0 – 1		24,411	9th
14 January 1989	Millwall	H	3 – 0	Blackmore 12′, Gill 23′, Hughes 73′	40,931	6th
21 January 1989	West Ham United	A	3 – 1	Strachan 28′, Martin 55′, McClair 60′	29,822	6th
5 February 1989	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1 – 0	McClair 57′	41,423	5th
11 February 1989	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2 – 0	McClair (2) 37′, 61′	34,820	3rd
25 February 1989	Norwich City	A	1 – 2	McGrath 82′	23,155	5th
12 March 1989	Aston Villa	A	0 – 0		28,332	7th
25 March 1989	Luton Town	H	2 – 0	Milne 3′, Blackmore 25′	36,335	6th
27 March 1989	Nottingham Forest	A	0 – 2		30,092	7th
2 April 1989	Arsenal	H	1 – 1	Adams 85′ (o.g.)	37,977	10th
8 April 1989	Millwall	A	0 – 0		17,523	10th
15 April 1989	Derby County	H	0 – 2		34,145	10th
22 April 1989	Charlton Athletic	A	0 – 1		12,055	10th
29 April 1989	Coventry City	H	0 – 1		29,799	11th
2 May 1989	Wimbledon	H	1 – 0	McClair 89′	23,368	10th
6 May 1989	Southampton	A	1 – 2	Beardsmore 54′	17,021	10th
8 May 1989	Queens Park Rangers	A	2 – 3	Bruce 15′, Blackmore 22′	10,017	11th
10 May 1989	Everton	H	1 – 2	Hughes 32′	26,722	11th
13 May 1989	Newcastle United	H	2 – 0	McClair 75′, Robson 82′	30,379	10th

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
10	Millwall	38	14	11	13	47	52	−5	53
11	Manchester United	38	13	12	13	45	35	+10	51
12	Wimbledon	38	14	9	15	50	46	+4	51

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
7 January 1989	Round 3	Queens Park Rangers	H	0 – 0		36,222
11 January 1989	Round 3 Replay	Queens Park Rangers	A	2 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Gill 75′, Graham 104′	22,236
23 January 1989	Round 3 Second Replay	Queens Park Rangers	H	3 – 0	McClair (2) 55′ (pen.), 79′, Robson 72′	46,257
28 January 1989	Round 4	Oxford United	H	4 – 0	Hughes 10′, Bruce 61′, J. Phillips 63′ (o.g.), Robson 82′	47,445
18 February 1989	Round 5	Bournemouth	A	1 – 1	Hughes 53′	12,708
22 February 1989	Round 5 Replay	Bournemouth	H	1 – 0	McClair 19′	52,422
18 March 1989	Round 6	Nottingham Forest	H	0 – 1		55,040

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
28 September 1988	Round 2 First leg	Rotherham United	A	1 – 0	Davenport 60′	12,588
12 October 1988	Round 2 Second leg	Rotherham United	H	5 – 0	McClair (3) 27′, 29′, 69′, Robson 35′, Bruce 48′	20,597
2 November 1988	Round 3	Wimbledon	A	1 – 2	Robson 30′	10,864

Football League Centenary Trophy

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
29 August 1988	Round 1	Everton	H	1 – 0	Strachan 66′	16,439
21 September 1988	Semi-final	Newcastle United	H	2 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Bruce 91′, McClair 101′	14,968
9 October 1988	Final	Arsenal	N	1 – 2	Blackmore 86′	22,182

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Littlewoods Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Jim Leighton	38	0	7	0	3	0	48	0
DF	Viv Anderson	5(1)	0	0	0	0(1)	0	6(2)	0
DF	Clayton Blackmore	26(2)	3	5(1)	0	3	0	34(3)	3
DF	Steve Bruce	38	2	7	1	3	1	48	4
DF	Mal Donaghy	30	0	7	0	0	0	37	0
DF	Mike Duxbury	16(2)	0	0	0	3	0	19(2)	0
DF	Billy Garton	13(1)	0	0	0	2	0	15(1)	0
DF	Colin Gibson	1(1)	0	0	0	1	0	2(1)	0
DF	Lee Martin	20(4)	1	4(1)	0	0	0	24(5)	1
DF	Paul McGrath	18(2)	1	4(1)	0	1	0	23(3)	1
MF	Russell Beardsmore	17(6))	2	3(2)	0	1(1)	0	21(9)	2
MF	Tony Gill	4(5)	1	2(2)	0	0	0	6(7)	2
MF	Deiniol Graham	0	0	0(1)	1	0	0	0(1)	1
MF	Ralph Milne	19(3)	3	7	0	0	0	26(3)	3
MF	Liam O’Brien	1(2)	0	0	0	1	0	2(2)	0
MF	Jesper Olsen	6(4)	0	0	0	1(1)	0	7(5)	0
MF	Bryan Robson	34	4	6	2	3	2	43	8
MF	Lee Sharpe	19(3)	0	5(1)	0	2	0	26(4)	0
MF	Gordon Strachan	21	1	5(0)	0	2(1)	0	28(1)	1
MF	Norman Whiteside	6	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
MF	David Wilson	0(4)	0	0(2)	0	0	0	0(6)	0
FW	Derek Brazil	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0
FW	Peter Davenport	7(1)	2	0	0	1(1)	1	8(2)	3
FW	Mark Hughes	38	14	7	2	3	0	48	16
FW	Giuliano Maiorana	2(4)	0	0	0	0	0	2(4)	0
FW	Brian McClair	38	10	7	3	3	3	48	16
FW	Mark Robins	1(9)	0	1	0	0(1)	0	1(10)	0