1965–66 Manchester United F.C. season

The 1965–66 season was Manchester United's 64th season in the Football League, and their 21st consecutive season in the top division of English football.

Manchester United

1965–66 season
Manchester United players during their preseason tour in Finland, 21 September 1965. In front Pat Crerand carries Denis Law; middle George Best carries Tony Dunne; at back Noel Cantwell carries Pat Dunne.
Chairman	Louis Edwards
Manager	Matt Busby
First Division	4th
FA Cup	Semi-finals
European Cup	Semi-finals
Charity Shield	Shared
Top goalscorer	League: David Herd (24) All: David Herd (33)
Highest home attendance	64,035 vs Benfica (2 February 1966)
Lowest home attendance	23,039 vs Aston Villa (9 May 1966)
Average home league attendance	41,352
Home colours Away colours Third colours

As defending champions of the First Division title, they finished fourth and secured qualification for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. They lost to eventual winners Everton in the FA Cup semifinal.

In the European Cup, they were also semi-finalists, edged out by Yugoslav champions Partizan Belgrade. They had to negotiate a preliminary round of the competition before qualifying for the first round, and did so by achieving a 9–2 aggregate win over Finnish champions HJK Helsinki.

United's top scorer for this season was David Herd, with 24 league goals and 33 in all competitions.

FA Charity Shield

Main article: 1965 FA Charity Shield

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
14 August 1965	Liverpool	H	2–2	Best, Herd	48,502

First Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
21 August 1965	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–0	Herd	37,524
24 August 1965	Nottingham Forest	A	2–4	Aston, Best	33,744
28 August 1965	Northampton Town	A	1–1	Connelly	21,140
1 September 1965	Nottingham Forest	H	0–0		38,777
4 September 1965	Stoke City	H	1–1	Herd	37,603
8 September 1965	Newcastle United	A	2–1	Herd, Law	57,380
11 September 1965	Burnley	A	0–3		30,235
15 September 1965	Newcastle United	H	1–1	Stiles	30,401
18 September 1965	Chelsea	H	4–1	Law (3), Charlton	37,917
25 September 1965	Arsenal	A	2–4	Aston, Charlton	56,757
9 October 1965	Liverpool	H	2–0	Best, Law	58,161
16 October 1965	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–5	Charlton	58,051
23 October 1965	Fulham	H	4–1	Herd (3), Charlton	32,716
30 October 1965	Blackpool	A	2–1	Herd (2)	24,703
6 November 1965	Blackburn Rovers	H	2–2	Charlton, Law	38,823
13 November 1965	Leicester City	A	5–0	Herd (2), Best, Charlton, Connelly	34,551
20 November 1965	Sheffield United	H	3–1	Best (2), Law	37,922
4 December 1965	West Ham United	H	0–0		32,924
11 December 1965	Sunderland	A	3–2	Best (2), Herd	37,417
15 December 1965	Everton	H	3–0	Best, Charlton, Herd	32,624
18 December 1965	Tottenham Hotspur	H	5–1	Law (2), Charlton, Herd, Beal (o.g.)	39,270
27 December 1965	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–1	Law	54,102
1 January 1966	Liverpool	A	1–2	Law	53,790
8 January 1966	Sunderland	A	1–1	Best	39,162
12 January 1966	Leeds United	A	1–1	Herd	49,672
15 January 1966	Fulham	A	1–0	Charlton	33,018
29 January 1966	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0–0		39,281
5 February 1966	Northampton Town	H	6–2	Charlton (3), Law (2), Connelly	34,986
19 February 1966	Stoke City	A	2–2	Connelly, Herd	36,667
26 February 1966	Burnley	H	4–2	Herd (3), Charlton	49,892
12 March 1966	Chelsea	A	0–2		60,269
19 March 1966	Arsenal	H	2–1	Law, Stiles	47,246
6 April 1966	Aston Villa	A	1–1	Cantwell	28,211
9 April 1966	Leicester City	H	1–2	Connelly	42,593
16 April 1966	Sheffield United	A	1–3	Sadler	22,330
25 April 1966	Everton	A	0–0		50,843
27 April 1966	Blackpool	H	2–1	Charlton, Law	26,953
30 April 1966	West Ham United	A	2–3	Aston, Cantwell	36,416
4 May 1966	West Bromwich Albion	A	3–3	Aston, T. Dunne, Herd	22,609
7 May 1966	Blackburn Rovers	A	4–1	Herd (2), Charlton, Sadler	14,513
9 May 1966	Aston Villa	H	6–1	Herd (2), Sadler (2), Charlton, Ryan	23,039
19 May 1966	Leeds United	H	1–1	Herd	35,008

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Liverpool (C)	42	26	9	7	79	34	2.324	61	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Leeds United	42	23	9	10	79	38	2.079	55	Qualification for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup second round
3	Burnley	42	24	7	11	79	47	1.681	55	Qualification for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round
4	Manchester United	42	18	15	9	84	59	1.424	51
5	Chelsea	42	22	7	13	65	53	1.226	51
6	West Bromwich Albion	42	19	12	11	91	69	1.319	50	Qualification for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup second round
7	Leicester City	42	21	7	14	80	65	1.231	49
8	Tottenham Hotspur	42	16	12	14	75	66	1.136	44
9	Sheffield United	42	16	11	15	56	59	0.949	43
10	Stoke City	42	15	12	15	65	64	1.016	42
11	Everton	42	15	11	16	56	62	0.903	41	Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round
12	West Ham United	42	15	9	18	70	83	0.843	39
13	Blackpool	42	14	9	19	55	65	0.846	37
14	Arsenal	42	12	13	17	62	75	0.827	37
15	Newcastle United	42	14	9	19	50	63	0.794	37
16	Aston Villa	42	15	6	21	69	80	0.863	36
17	Sheffield Wednesday	42	14	8	20	56	66	0.848	36
18	Nottingham Forest	42	14	8	20	56	72	0.778	36
19	Sunderland	42	14	8	20	51	72	0.708	36
20	Fulham	42	14	7	21	67	85	0.788	35
21	Northampton Town (R)	42	10	13	19	55	92	0.598	33	Relegation to the Second Division
22	Blackburn Rovers (R)	42	8	4	30	57	88	0.648	20

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
22 January 1966	Round 3	Derby County	A	5–2	Best (2), Law (2), Herd	33,827
12 February 1966	Round 4	Rotherham United	H	0–0		54,263
15 February 1966	Round 4 Replay	Rotherham United	A	1–0	Connelly	23,500
5 March 1966	Round 5	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	4–2	Law (2), Best, Herd	53,500
26 March 1966	Round 6	Preston North End	A	1–1	Herd	37,876
30 March 1966	Round 6 Replay	Preston North End	H	3–1	Law (2), Connelly	60,433
23 April 1966	Semi-final	Everton	N	0–1		60,000

European Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
22 September 1965	Preliminary round First leg	HJK Helsinki	A	3–2	Connelly, Herd, Law	25,000
6 October 1965	Preliminary round Second leg	HJK Helsinki	H	6–0	Connelly (3), Best (2), Charlton	30,388
17 November 1965	Round 1 First leg	Vorwärts Berlin	A	2–0	Connelly, Law	40,000
1 December 1965	Round 1 Second leg	Vorwärts Berlin	H	3–1	Herd (3)	30,082
2 February 1966	Quarter-final First leg	Benfica	H	3–2	Foulkes, Herd, Law	64,035
9 March 1966	Quarter-final Second leg	Benfica	A	5–1	Best (2), Charlton, Connelly, Crerand	75,000
13 April 1966	Semi-final First leg	Partizan	A	0–2		60,000
20 April 1966	Semi-final Second leg	Partizan	H	1–0	Stiles	62,500

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		European Cup		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Pat Dunne	8	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	11	0
GK	David Gaskell	8	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	9	0
GK	Harry Gregg	26	0	7	0	5	0	0	0	38	0
FB	Shay Brennan	28	0	5	0	5	0	1	0	39	0
FB	Noel Cantwell	23	2	2	0	3	0	1	0	29	2
FB	Tony Dunne	40	1	7	0	8	0	1	0	56	0
FB	Bobby Noble	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
HB	Pat Crerand	41	0	7	0	7	1	1	0	56	1
HB	John Fitzpatrick	3(1)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4(1)	0
HB	Bill Foulkes	33	0	7	0	8	1	0	0	48	1
HB	Nobby Stiles	39	2	7	0	8	1	1	0	55	3
FW	Willie Anderson	5(1)	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	7(1)	0
FW	John Aston, Jr.	23	4	2	0	2	0	1	0	28	4
FW	George Best	31	9	5	3	6	4	1	1	43	17
FW	Bobby Charlton	38	16	7	0	8	2	1	0	54	18
FW	John Connelly	31(1)	5	6	2	8	6	0	0	45(1)	13
FW	David Herd	36(1)	24	7	3	7	5	1	1	51(1)	33
FW	Denis Law	33	15	7	6	8	3	1	0	49	24
FW	Jimmy Ryan	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
FW	David Sadler	10	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	4