What is Man Utd's worst Premier League finish?
Manchester United’s struggles since Sir Alex Ferguson headed into retirement have been well documented, with a team that collected 13 Premier League titles under a legendary Scottish coach enduring serious regression since he stepped away from the dugout in 2013.
David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have all failed to rekindle former glories, while Ralf Rangnick is now preparing to pass a managerial baton to Erik ten Hag in the summer of 2022.
Champions League football won't be on the agenda for the incoming Dutch coach, with another backwards step being taken on the field at Old Trafford, but are the Red Devils heading towards their worst finish in the modern era? GOAL takes a look…
What is Man Utd's worst Premier League finish?
Manchester United's worst Premier League campaign came in 2013-14 – in the immediate aftermath of Ferguson’s departure.
The Red Devils finished that season, which saw Moyes dismissed in the April after just 10 months at the helm, in seventh spot and with just 64 points to their name.
They suffered 12 defeats through 38 games – another unwanted record in the Premier League era – and collected 19 wins.
Rank | Season | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2013-14 | 64 | 7th |
=2 | 2015-16 | 66 | 5th |
=2 | 2018-19 | 66 | 6th |
=2 | 2019-20 | 66 | 3rd |
United would finish inside the top four just once across the following three seasons, with point tallies in the 60s becoming an alarmingly common theme.
Since that rather disastrous showing under Moyes, with Ryan Giggs taking charge on an interim basis in the wake of his departure, the Red Devils have finished with 66 points on three occasions.
David Moyes' six-year contract at Manchester United would have ended today... 📝
— GOAL (@goal) June 30, 2019
The worst Premier League appointment ever?! 🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/pXSIA0ysXr
That return was only good enough for a fifth-placed standing under Van Gaal in 2015-16, although he did deliver FA Cup glory, while a further step backwards into sixth was taken in 2018-19 as Mourinho stumbled out of the blocks and Solskjaer wobbled on the back of an initial honeymoon period.
Champions League qualification was secured with 66 points in 2019-20, as a Norwegian Treble winner saw his side into third spot, but United are set to slip even further in 2021-22.
Rangnick's men are guaranteed to post a new club low at the end of the current campaign, with a 4-0 loss at Brighton on May 7 leaving them on 58 points ahead of a final day clash with Crystal Palace. United can only reach 61 points with a victory, while they can also now finish no higher than sixth in the table.
What is Man Utd's best ever Premier League finish?
Rank | Season | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1993-94 | 92 | 1st |
2 | 1999-00 | 91 | 1st |
3 | 2008-09 | 90 | 1st |
=4 | 2006-07 | 89 | 1st |
=4 | 2011-12 | 89 | 2nd |
=4 | 2012-13 | 89 | 1st |
While United have found the going tough of late, they have plenty of happy memories to fall back on.
Their best showing to date came in the second year of the Premier League in 1993-94, with back-to-back title triumphs wrapped up as an Eric Cantona-inspired side collected 92 points while also going on to lift the FA Cup as part of a memorable double.
A year on from going one better in completing a historic Treble, the Red Devils cemented their standing as top dogs in English football by accumulating 91 points in 1999-2000, with a club-record 28 victories collected along the way while also suffering just three defeats and plundering 97 goals.
Ferguson’s men broke back into the 90s a decade later, in 2008-09, and saw their defence breached just 24 times that season as they also savoured League Cup glory.
Three other campaigns, including Ferguson’s farewell tour, delivered 89-point hauls, with a final tally of 75 – on two occasions – as low as an all-time coaching great sunk in the wake of a rebranding of the English top-flight in 1992.
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