1980–81 Manchester United F.C. season

99th season in existence of Manchester United

Manchester United 1980–81 football season

Manchester United

1980–81 season

Chairman

Manager

8th

Fourth Round

Second Round

First Round

Top goalscorer

League:
Joe Jordan (15)
All:
Joe Jordan (15)

Highest home attendance

57,049 vs Liverpool (26 December 1980)

Lowest home attendance

31,656 vs Coventry City (27 August 1980)

Average home league attendance

44,099

Home colours

Away colours

Third colours

← 1979–80 1981–82 →

The 1980–81 season was Manchester United's 79th 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. The likes of Lawrie McMenemy, Brian Clough, Bobby Robson and Ron Saunders were all linked with the job, before 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 with just one goal from 28 appearances. The club's top scorer was Joe Jordan, who found the back of the net 15 times.

United were indeed one of the hardest teams to beat in the First Division this season, losing just nine out of 42 games and winning their final seven, but they were also held to a draw on 18 occasions. This restricted them to eighth-place finish - not even enough for a UEFA Cup place.

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	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
6	Southampton	42	20	10	12	76	56	+20	50	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
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
10	Tottenham Hotspur	42	14	15	13	70	68	+2	43	Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
Notes:

Tottenham Hotspur qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round as the 1980–81 FA Cup winners.

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
Pos.	Name	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

References

"Manchester United Season 1980/81". StretfordEnd.co.uk. Retrieved 21 December 2011.

v t e Manchester United F.C. seasons
1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

Manchester United F.C. seasons

1883–84
1884–85
1885–86
1886–87
1887–88
1888–89
1889–90
1890–91
1891–92
1892–93
1893–94
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1924–25
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1934–35
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1942–43
1943–44
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1980–81
1981–82
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2024–25

1980–81 in English football

« 1979–80 1981–82 »

National teams

League competitions

Levels 1–4	Football League (First Division, Second Division, Third Division, Fourth Division)
Level 5	Alliance Premier League
Levels 6–7	Isthmian League (Premier, One) Northern Premier League (level 6 only) Southern League (Midland, Southern) (level 6 only)
Levels 8–9	Isthmian League (Two) Athenian League (level 8 only) Cheshire County League (One, Two) Combined Counties League (level 8 only) Town & Country League (level 8 only) Essex Senior League (level 8 only) Hellenic League (Premier, One) Kent League (level 8 only) Lancashire Combination (level 8 only) London Spartan League (Premier, Senior) Midland Football Combination (level 8 only) Midland League (Premier, One) Northern League (level 8 only) South Midlands League (Premier, One) Sussex County League (One, Two) United Counties League (Premier, One) West Midlands (Regional) League (level 8 only) Western League (Premier, One) Yorkshire League (One, Two)

Cup competitions

FA cups	FA Cup (Qualifying rounds, Final) Charity Shield FA Trophy (Final) FA Vase
Football League cups	League Cup (Final)

European competitions

Club seasons
First Division	Arsenal Aston Villa Birmingham City Brighton & Hove Albion Coventry City Crystal Palace Everton Ipswich Town Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Middlesbrough Norwich City Nottingham Forest Southampton Stoke City Sunderland Tottenham Hotspur West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers
Second Division	Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers Bristol City Bristol Rovers Cambridge United Cardiff City Chelsea Derby County Grimsby Town Luton Town Newcastle United Notts County Oldham Athletic Orient Preston North End Queens Park Rangers Sheffield Wednesday Shrewsbury Town Swansea City Watford West Ham United Wrexham
Third Division	Barnsley Blackpool Brentford Burnley Carlisle United Charlton Athletic Chester Chesterfield Colchester United Exeter City Fulham Gillingham Huddersfield Town Hull City Millwall Newport County Oxford United Plymouth Argyle Portsmouth Reading Rotherham United Sheffield United Swindon Town Walsall
Fourth Division	Aldershot Bournemouth Bradford City Bury Crewe Alexandra Darlington Doncaster Rovers Halifax Town Hartlepool United Hereford United Lincoln City Mansfield Town Northampton Town Peterborough United Port Vale Rochdale Scunthorpe United Southend United Southport Stockport County Torquay United Tranmere Rovers Wimbledon York City

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