The 1991–92 season was Manchester United‘s 85th season in the Football League, and their 17th consecutive season in the top division of English football.

The season saw United lift the League Cup for the first time in their history with a 1–0 win over Nottingham Forest at Wembley Stadium, but they then endured the disappointment of being beaten to the league title by rivals Leeds United, having led the league for much of the season.

New signings for the season included Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and Englandright-back Paul Parker. Ryan Giggs, who had played twice for United in 1990–91, broke into the first team and was one of the most exciting players in the country as he won thePFA Young Player of the Year award.

Soviet international winger Andrei Kanchelskis, who had joined United in the later stages of the 1990–91 season, was also putting in star performances to give manager Alex Ferguson a more attacking alternative to the ageing Mike Phelan on the right hand side of midfield.

Pre-season and friendlies

Date	Opponents	H / A	ResultF – A	Scorers	Attendance
24 July 1991	Mazda	H	1 – 2	Ferguson
29 July 1991	Strømsgodset	A	3 – 1	Ince, Beardsmore, Wallace	7,809
30 July 1991	Viking	A	1 – 0	Robins	6,025
1 August 1991	Molde	A	3 – 1	Blackmore, Hughes (2)	3,468
4 August 1991	Dumbarton	A	5 – 0	Robins (2), Hughes (2), McClair	1,570
5 August 1991	Aberdeen	A	1 – 1(4 – 3p)	Hughes	20,300
7 August 1991	Austria Memphis	A	1 – 5	McClair	12,000
11 August 1991	Republic of Ireland XI	H	1 – 1	Robson	33,412
3 May 1992	Everton	H	2 – 4	Ince, Hughes	7,434
8 May 1992	Manchester City	A	2 – 1	Bruce (pen.), Toal	4,696

First Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	ResultF – A	Scorers	Attendance	Leagueposition
17 August 1991	Notts County	H	2 – 0	Hughes 40′, Robson 57′	46,278	1st
21 August 1991	Aston Villa	A	1 – 0	Bruce 38′ (pen.)	39,995	1st
24 August 1991	Everton	A	0 – 0		36,085	2nd
28 August 1991	Oldham Athletic	H	1 – 0	McClair 85′	42,078	1st
31 August 1991	Leeds United	H	1 – 1	Robson 85′	43,778	1st
3 September 1991	Wimbledon	A	2 – 1	Blackmore 25′, Pallister 43′	13,824	1st
7 September 1991	Norwich City	H	3 – 0	Irwin 20′, McClair 23′, Giggs 28′	44,946	1st
14 September 1991	Southampton	A	1 – 0	Hughes 48′	19,264	1st
21 September 1991	Luton Town	H	5 – 0	Ince 23′, Bruce 63′ (pen.), McClair (2) 76′, 80′, Hughes 87′	46,491	1st
28 September 1991	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2 – 1	Hughes 21′, Robson 86′	35,087	1st
6 October 1991	Liverpool	H	0 – 0		44,997	1st
19 October 1991	Arsenal	H	1 – 1	Bruce 44′	46,594	1st
26 October 1991	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2 – 3	McClair (2) 17′, 22′	38,260	2nd
2 November 1991	Sheffield United	H	2 – 0	Hoyland 35′ (o.g.), Kanchelskis 78′	42,942	1st
16 November 1991	Manchester City	A	0 – 0		38,180	2nd
23 November 1991	West Ham United	H	2 – 1	Giggs 15′, Robson 42′	47,185	1st
30 November 1991	Crystal Palace	A	3 – 1	Webb 26′, McClair 57′, Kanchelskis 58′	29,017	2nd
7 December 1991	Coventry City	H	4 – 0	Bruce 13′, Webb 20′, McClair 27′, Hughes 81′	42,549	2nd
15 December 1991	Chelsea	A	3 – 1	Irwin 19′, McClair 57′, Bruce 61′	23,120	1st
26 December 1991	Oldham Athletic	A	6 – 3	Irwin (2) 2′, 54′, Kanchelskis 43′, McClair (2) 56′, 59′, Giggs 78′	18,947	1st
29 December 1991	Leeds United	A	1 – 1	Webb 46′	32,638	1st
1 January 1992	Queens Park Rangers	H	1 – 4	McClair 83′	38,554	2nd
11 January 1992	Everton	H	1 – 0	Kanchelskis 56′	46,619	1st
18 January 1992	Notts County	A	1 – 1	Blackmore 70′ (pen.)	21,055	2nd
22 January 1992	Aston Villa	H	1 – 0	Hughes 48′	45,022	1st
1 February 1992	Arsenal	A	1 – 1	McClair 27′	41,703	2nd
8 February 1992	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1 – 1	McClair 12′	47,074	1st
22 February 1992	Crystal Palace	H	2 – 0	Hughes (2) 11′, 51′	46,347	1st
26 February 1992	Chelsea	H	1 – 1	Hughes 87′	44,872	1st
29 February 1992	Coventry City	A	0 – 0		23,967	1st
14 March 1992	Sheffield United	A	2 – 1	McClair 62′, Blackmore 82′	30,183	2nd
18 March 1992	Nottingham Forest	A	0 – 1		28,062	2nd
21 March 1992	Wimbledon	H	0 – 0		45,428	2nd
28 March 1992	Queens Park Rangers	A	0 – 0		22,603	2nd
31 March 1992	Norwich City	A	3 – 1	Ince (2) 41′, 58′, McClair 66′	17,489	1st
7 April 1992	Manchester City	H	1 – 1	Giggs 20′	46,781	1st
16 April 1992	Southampton	H	1 – 0	Kanchelskis 65′	43,972	1st
18 April 1992	Luton Town	A	1 – 1	Sharpe 25′	13,410	1st
20 April 1992	Nottingham Forest	H	1 – 2	McClair 36′	47,576	2nd
22 April 1992	West Ham United	A	0 – 1		24,197	2nd
26 April 1992	Liverpool	A	0 – 2		38,669	2nd
2 May 1992	Tottenham Hotspur	H	3 – 1	McClair 37′, Hughes (2) 57′, 59′	44,595	2nd

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Leeds United	42	22	16	4	74	37	+37	82
2	Manchester United	42	21	15	6	63	33	+30	78
3	Sheffield Wednesday	42	21	12	9	62	49	+13	75

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	ResultF – A	Scorers	Attendance
15 January 1992	Round 3	Leeds United	A	1 – 0	Hughes 44′	31,819
27 January 1992	Round 4	Southampton	A	0 – 0		19,506
5 February 1992	Round 4Replay	Southampton	H	2 – 2 (a.e.t.)(2 – 4p)	Kanchelskis 42′, McClair 90′	33,414

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	ResultF – A	Scorers	Attendance
26 September 1991	Round 2First leg	Cambridge United	H	3 – 0	Giggs 44′, McClair 48′, Bruce 66′	30,934
9 October 1991	Round 2Second leg	Cambridge United	A	1 – 1	McClair 2′	9,248
30 October 1991	Round 3	Portsmouth	H	3 – 1	Robins (2) 59′, 89′, Robson 74′	29,543
4 December 1991	Round 4	Oldham Athletic	H	2 – 0	McClair 1′, Kanchelskis 25′	38,550
8 January 1992	Round 5	Leeds United	A	3 – 1	Blackmore 31′, Kanchelskis 51′, Giggs 56′	28,886
4 March 1992	Semi-finalFirst leg	Middlesbrough	A	0 – 0		25,572
11 March 1992	Semi-finalSecond leg	Middlesbrough	H	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Sharpe 29′, Giggs 106′	45,875
12 April 1992	Final	Nottingham Forest	N	1 – 0	McClair 14′	76,810

Cup Winners’ Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	ResultF – A	Scorers	Attendance
18 September 1991	First roundFirst leg	Athinaikos	A	0 – 0		5,400
2 October 1991	First roundSecond leg	Athinaikos	H	2 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Hughes 109′, McClair 111′	35,023
23 October 1991	Second roundFirst leg	Atlético Madrid	A	0 – 3		40,000
6 November 1991	Second roundSecond leg	Atlético Madrid	H	1 – 1	Hughes 4′	39,654

UEFA Super Cup

Date	Opponents	H / A	ResultF – A	Scorers	Attendance
19 November 1991	Red Star Belgrade	H	1 – 0	McClair 67′	22,110

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Rumbelows Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Peter Schmeichel	40	0	3	0	6	0	3	0	1	0	53	0
GK	Gary Walsh	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	4	0
GK	Ian Wilkinson	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Clayton Blackmore	19(14)	3	1	0	4(1)	1	1	0	1	0	26(15)	4
DF	Steve Bruce	37	5	1	0	7	1	4	0	1	0	50	6
DF	Mal Donaghy	16(4)	0	2	0	3(1)	0	0	0	0	0	21(5)	0
DF	Denis Irwin	37(1)	4	3	0	7	0	2	0	1	0	50(1)	4
DF	Lee Martin	0(1)	0	0	0	1	0	1(2)	0	1	0	3(3)	0
DF	Gary Pallister	37(3)	1	3	0	8	0	3(1)	0	1	0	52(4)	1
DF	Paul Parker	24(2)	0	3	0	6	0	2	0	0	0	35(2)	0
MF	Russell Beardsmore	0	0	0	0	0	0	1(2)	0	0	0	1(2)	0
MF	Darren Ferguson	2(2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2(2)	0
MF	Ryan Giggs	32(6)	4	2(1)	0	6(2)	3	1	0	0(1)	0	41(10)	7
MF	Paul Ince	31(2)	3	3	0	6(1)	0	3	0	1	0	44(3)	3
MF	Andrei Kanchelskis	28(6)	5	2	1	4	2	1	0	1	0	36(6)	8
MF	Mike Phelan	14(4)	0	0	0	2(1)	0	4	0	0	0	20(5)	0
MF	Bryan Robson	26(1)	4	2	0	5(1)	1	3	0	0	0	36(2)	5
MF	Lee Sharpe	8(6)	1	0(1)	0	1(3)	1	0	0	0	0	9(10)	2
MF	Neil Webb	29(2)	3	3	0	6	0	3	0	1	0	42(2)	3
FW	Mark Hughes	38(1)	11	2(1)	1	6	0	4	2	1	0	51(2)	14
FW	Brian McClair	41(1)	18	3	1	8	4	4	1	1	1	57(1)	25
FW	Mark Robins	1(1)	0	0	0	0(3)	2	2(1)	0	0	0	3(5)	2
FW	Danny Wallace	0	0	0	0	0	0	1(1)	0	0	0	1(1)	0