The 1989–90 season was Manchester United‘s 87th season in the Football League, and their 15th consecutive season in the top division of English football.

The season brought their lowest league finish since their relegation from the First Division 15 years earlier, as they finished 13th in the league, and by Christmas there were continued calls from fans for Alex Ferguson to be sacked as manager. However, the season ended on a high as United won the FA Cup by beating Crystal Palace 1–0 in a replay after drawing the first game 3–3. It was their first major trophy for five years, and their first since the appointment of Alex Ferguson as manager.

It also saw them enter European competition as England’s representatives in the 1990–91 European Cup Winners’ Cup following the end of the ban on English clubs in European competition arising from the Heysel Stadium disaster of 1985.

1989–90 saw Mark Hughes top the club’s goalscoring charts for the second year running, while the club welcomed four new major signings in the early part of the season – Danny Wallace, Neil Webb, Paul Ince and Gary Pallister.

This season also saw the attempted purchase of the club by businessman Michael Knighton after chairman Martin Edwards considered selling the club for a reported £10 million. The sale fell through after Knighton was found to not have the money required to maintain the club. This period is best remembered for Knighton – wearing a United kit and tracksuit top – performing a keepie uppie routine before a United game with Arsenal.

According to Alex Ferguson in his autobiography; Managing My Life (published nearly a decade later), this display of showboating annoyed Ferguson as he felt it was detrimental to his teams’ preparation for the forthcoming match – although United did go on to win the game. He also revealed in the autobiography that in spite of the club’s dismal form during the first half of the season, he was assured by the club’s directors that his position as manager was never at risk; although naturally disappointed with the club’s lack of progress in the league, they understood the reason for this – namely that a number of key players, including Neil Webb, were unavailable for long spells due to injury. However, Ferguson also admitted in his autobiography that had he not achieved success with United that season, he feared that the pressure on the club’s board to sack him could soon have become irresistible.

There had been numerous calls from fans during the season for Ferguson to be sacked, and media reports had suggested that the former Everton manager Howard Kendall would be appointed as his successor. Ironically, Kendall was appointed by United’s local rivals Manchester City during the season.

Pre-season and friendlies

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
30 July 1989	Thailand National XI	A	1 – 1 (4 – 2p)	Robson	12,000
2 August 1989	Everton	N	1 – 3	Webb	8,000
7 August 1989	Japan National XI	A	1 – 0	Robins	40,000
11 August 1989	Bristol City	A	3 – 2	McClair, Webb, Beardsmore	9,799
13 August 1989	Manchester City	H	0 – 2		19,958
12 September 1989	Torquay United	A	1 – 0	Duxbury	4,108
26 September 1989	Hearts	A	4 – 2	Wallace, Blackmore (2), McClair	9,001
17 October 1989	St. Johnstone	A	1 – 0	McClair	9,788

First Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	League position
19 August 1989	Arsenal	H	4 – 1	Bruce 2′, Hughes 63′, Webb 79′, McClair 83′	47,245	1st
22 August 1989	Crystal Palace	A	1 – 1	Robson 19′	22,423	1st
26 August 1989	Derby County	A	0 – 2		22,175	9th
30 August 1989	Norwich City	H	0 – 2		41,610	14th
9 September 1989	Everton	A	2 – 3	McClair 57′, Beardsmore 66′	37,916	16th
16 September 1989	Millwall	H	5 – 1	Hughes (3) 13′, 75′, 85′, Robson 43′, Sharpe 60′	42,746	11th
23 September 1989	Manchester City	A	1 – 5	Hughes 50′	43,246	14th
14 October 1989	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0 – 0		41,492	17th
21 October 1989	Coventry City	A	4 – 1	Bruce 5′, Hughes (2) 29′, 69′, Phelan 65′	19,625	14th
28 October 1989	Southampton	H	2 – 1	McClair (2) 16′, 61′	37,122	11th
4 November 1989	Charlton Athletic	A	0 – 2		16,065	13th
12 November 1989	Nottingham Forest	H	1 – 0	Pallister 44′	34,182	11th
18 November 1989	Luton Town	A	3 – 1	Wallace 5′, Blackmore 28′, Hughes 76′	11,141	9th
25 November 1989	Chelsea	H	0 – 0		46,975	10th
3 December 1989	Arsenal	A	0 – 1		34,484	12th
9 December 1989	Crystal Palace	H	1 – 2	Beardsmore 9′	33,514	12th
16 December 1989	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0 – 1		36,230	13th
23 December 1989	Liverpool	A	0 – 0		37,426	12th
26 December 1989	Aston Villa	A	0 – 3		41,247	15th
30 December 1989	Wimbledon	A	2 – 2	Hughes 74′, Robins 75′	9,622	15th
1 January 1990	Queens Park Rangers	H	0 – 0		34,824	15th
13 January 1990	Derby County	H	1 – 2	Pallister 48′	38,985	15th
21 January 1990	Norwich City	A	0 – 2		17,370	17th
3 February 1990	Manchester City	H	1 – 1	Blackmore 70′	40,274	17th
10 February 1990	Millwall	A	2 – 1	Wallace 65′, Hughes 84′	15,491	15th
24 February 1990	Chelsea	A	0 – 1		29,979	16th
4 March 1990	Luton Town	H	4 – 1	McClair 25′, Hughes 33′, Wallace 44′, Robins 66′	35,327	16th
14 March 1990	Everton	H	0 – 0		37,398	16th
18 March 1990	Liverpool	H	1 – 2	Whelan 80′ (o.g.)	46,629	16th
21 March 1990	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0 – 1		33,260	16th
24 March 1990	Southampton	A	2 – 0	Gibson 66′, Robins 88′	20,510	16th
31 March 1990	Coventry City	H	3 – 0	Hughes (2) 27′, 36′, Robins 87′	39,172	16th
14 April 1990	Queens Park Rangers	A	2 – 1	Robins 68′, Webb 74′	18,997	14th
17 April 1990	Aston Villa	H	2 – 0	Robins (2) 24′, 45′	44,080	13th
21 April 1990	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1 – 2	Bruce 68′ (pen.)	33,317	14th
30 April 1990	Wimbledon	H	0 – 0		29,281	15th
2 May 1990	Nottingham Forest	A	0 – 4		21,186	16th
5 May 1990	Charlton Athletic	H	1 – 0	Pallister 36′	35,389	13th

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
12	Coventry City	38	14	7	17	39	59	−20	49
13	Manchester United	38	13	9	16	46	47	−1	48
14	Manchester City	38	12	12	14	43	52	−9	48

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 1990	Round 3	Nottingham Forest	A	1 – 0	Robins 56′	23,072
28 January 1990	Round 4	Hereford United	A	1 – 0	Blackmore 86′	13,777
18 February 1990	Round 5	Newcastle United	A	3 – 2	Robins 19′, Wallace 60′, McClair 77′	31,748
11 March 1990	Round 6	Sheffield United	A	1 – 0	McClair 29′	34,344
8 April 1990	Semi-final	Oldham Athletic	N	3 – 3 (a.e.t.)	Robson 29′, Webb 72′, Wallace 92′	44,026
11 April 1990	Semi-final Replay	Oldham Athletic	N	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	McClair 50′, Robins 114′	35,005
12 May 1990	Final	Crystal Palace	N	3 – 3 (a.e.t.)	Robson 35′, Hughes (2) 62′, 113′	80,000
17 May 1990	Final Replay	Crystal Palace	N	1 – 0	Martin 59′	80,000

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
20 September 1989	Round 2 First leg	Portsmouth	A	3 – 2	Ince (2) 19′, 41′, Wallace 44′	18,072
3 October 1989	Round 2 Second leg	Portsmouth	H	0 – 0		26,698
25 October 1989	Round 3	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0 – 3		45,759

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Mark Bosnich	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
GK	Jim Leighton	35	0	7	0	3	0	45	0
GK	Les Sealey	2	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
DF	Viv Anderson	14(2)	0	4	0	1	0	19(2)	0
DF	Clayton Blackmore	19(9)	2	2(1)	1	0	0	21(10)	3
DF	Steve Bruce	34	3	7	0	2	0	43	3
DF	Mal Donaghy	13(1)	0	1	0	3	0	17(1)	0
DF	Mike Duxbury	12(7)	0	2(2)	0	1(1)	0	15(10)	0
DF	Colin Gibson	5(1)	1	1(1)	0	0	0	6(2)	1
DF	Lee Martin	28(4)	0	8	1	1	0	37(4)	1
DF	Gary Pallister	35	3	8	0	3	0	46	3
DF	Derek Brazil	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0
MF	Russell Beardsmore	8(13)	2	1(2)	0	1	0	10(15)	2
MF	Deiniol Graham	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0
MF	Paul Ince	25(1)	0	6(1)	0	3	2	34(2)	2
MF	Ralph Milne	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0
MF	Mike Phelan	38	1	7	0	3	0	48	1
MF	Bryan Robson	20	2	4	2	3	0	27	4
MF	Lee Sharpe	13(5)	1	0	0	1(1)	0	14(6)	1
MF	Neil Webb	10(1)	2	4	1	0	0	14(1)	3
FW	Mark Hughes	36(1)	13	8	2	3	0	47(1)	15
FW	Giuliano Maiorana	0(1)	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0(2)	0
FW	Brian McClair	37	5	8	3	3	0	48	8
FW	Mark Robins	10(7)	7	3(3)	3	0	0	13(10)	10
FW	Danny Wallace	23(3)	3	6(1)	2	2	1	31(4)	6