Ron Atkinson and Manchester United were hoping for title success in the 1985-86 season, however the best they could manage was finishing forth in the top flight, and they suffered with failure in winning any trophies. United also could not participate in the European Cup Winners Cup as all English clubs were banned from European competitions. Bryan Robson’s injury did not help late on in the season and they had to anticipate for the 1986-87 campaign.
The 1986-87 season could be considered a disaster for United, After a terrible start to the season, change needed to occur, as United were in the bottom five at one stage of the season, they parted company with Ron Atkinson, replacing him with Alex Ferguson, however despite an improvement in results, they still finished in the bottom half of the table, in 11th position. The disappointing league form was short lived as Alex Ferguson embarked on a spending spree when the transfer window opened and the 1987-88 season saw them finish second to Liverpool. Usually a tally of 80 points would be more than enough to win the league, however Liverpool’s outstanding form denied them the league title.
United and Alex Ferguson entered the 1988-89 season, hoping to win the league title, as buying the likes of Mark Hughes showed real promise however the 88-89 season went in the complete opposite direction that Manchester United were hoping for.
They failed to reach far in either the league or FA Cup and could only manage finishing 11th in the league. Many people were now questioning whether Ferguson should be in charge. Ferguson decided to strengthen his side further in time for the 1989-90 campaign and went on another huge spending spree, buying Paul Ince, Gary Pallister and Neil Webb, in search for huge success. However, considering the amount Ferguson had spent on buying new players, United were awful and at one stage in December they were very close to the relegation zone. It was only a decent FA Cup run which was helping Ferguson in maintaining his position as manager. United however found themselves in the semi finals of the FA Cup and with their league form slightly improving, they now realized that they had a decent chance of winning silverware. After a 3-3 thrilling draw against Oldham in the semis, United won the replay 1-0, which in turn earned an FA Cup final clash at Wembley, against Crystal Palace. A 3-3 draw failed to separate the two clubs and the final was forced to a replay, Lee Martin scored the only goal of the replay as United were the FA Cup winners of 1990.