“You know, this is Manchester United Football Club we’re talking about here.”
Pundits and commentators alike have seemingly been left in a perpetual state of shock regarding the demise of a grand insitution. Manchester United were the team for a generation.
Led by Sir Alex Ferguson for over two decades and inspired by many talents that grew up Manchester lads, United were the gold standard that their competitors aspired to be.
However, nothing has ever been quite the same since Fergie’s retirement in 2013. Sure, there have been subdued peaks, but the troughs have largely outweighed any periods of optimism. Sustained success once synonymous with the club has eluded them, with mediocrity prevailing instead.
Here are the ten worst seasons in United’s Premier League history based on their points tallies.
This is the sole Ferguson-led season which features on this list, and it was hardly a disaster. United were only beaten to the title by one of the all-time great Premier League sides: Arsenal’s Invincibles.
Perhaps the campaign would’ve played out differently had Ruud van Nistelrooy ended the Gunners’ unbeaten run in September with that penalty before it really got going.
Still, United were top of the tree in late January before they lost away at Wolves, lost Rio Ferdinand to an eight-month ban, and embarked on a four-game winless run either side of the March international break. The title was long gone after that, and three more defeats from their final six games meant the lowest Premier League points tally of the Fergie era.
A strong end to 2019/20 meant United entered 2020/21 rather optimistic over their title chances. However, a poor start to the season meant they were almost immediately playing catch-up.
United suffered a humiliating 6-1 home defeat to Tottenham on matchday three and lost to a mediocre Arsenal team at Old Trafford three weeks later. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seemed on the brink, but the Red Devils settled.
They lost just one of their next 29 Premier League games – remarkably to a woeful Sheffield United side – but a streak of draws before the March break allowed Man City to build a healthy lead at the summit. Two defeats during the final month of the season meant Ole’s United finished with 74 points.
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