The Sexton Years - Part 1: August to November 1977

This is the first in a series of guest posts on Written Offside by Tony Park, aka mrmujac. 


Here is a bit more about Tony in his own words:


"I am a Management Consultant who works with large multi-nationals around the world helping them with Sales and Leadership. 

I have been living in South Manchester for the last ten years after spells in London, Paris and before that Manchester.

I started supporting United in the early 1970’s following after my father, when I was living in Australia and returned to the UK in 1987.

I have been a season ticket holder for over 20 years and sit in North Stand lower or as I like to call it....”the old ‘pop’ side”.

I was first interested in the Youth team back in the late 1970’s when the team reached the semi-finals and final in 1982 with Whiteside, Hughes et al.

Since then I have collated detailed information about the Youth team, players, coaches, results and history.
I am also a memorabilia collector and have an extensive collection of Manchester United going back to the 1930’s....with particular emphasis on anything to do with the Youth team."


THE SEXTON YEARS - PART 1: AUGUST TO NOVEMBER 1977

It was the 4^th of July 1977 and a shocked Manchester heard the news of Tommy Docherty’s sacking after his affair with Mary Brown. Supporters had revered Docherty and his exciting brand of football all over the country, particularly since the Reds return to the top flight in 1975.

So it was with much trepidation that supporters welcomed Dave Sexton to the helm at Old Trafford. United had tried once before to secure his services, after Wilf McGuinness’ departure, but the loyal Sexton was keen to stay with Chelsea. Six years later the Reds finally got their man who had left QPR and was ready to take up the head of coaching role at Arsenal.

Dave Sexton

Aware of United’s traditions, he opened his first matchday programme notes with comforting words to supporters of ‘not changing United’s attacking style’. He further gave evidence by quoting his success at Queens Park Rangers who came within a whisker of winning the league title in 1975/76 with an expansive style of football. An excellent coach, with strong managerial experience, he appreciated the continental game and seemed on paper to be a good choice.

However, for many, the jury was out! Sexton had taken over from the beloved Tommy Docherty and supporters and press alike were just waiting for him to fail.

The reality was something very different. In the 1976/77 season, United’s poor league form had been masked by success in winning the 1977 FA Cup against a far superior Liverpool team chasing the Treble. In fact, United’s last ten league games under Docherty brought just seven points from two wins, three draws and five losses. In the same period, the Reds conceded 21 goals which equated to relegation form. Tommy Cavanagh, United’s Assistant Manager under Docherty, has been quoted as saying “we spoke about the new season after the Cup win and agreed that significant changes needed to be made, particularly in defence.”

So Docherty was already planning an overhaul of the team and far from taking over a great team, Sexton was left with a decent side, but one that needed major surgery. However, performing the necessary triage too early would have caused more trouble on the terraces and in the press than the hooliganism that followed the Reds up and down the country. 

Looking back in hindsight, United had two players in the ‘world class’ category…Martin Buchan and Steve Coppell. Both these players would have walked into any team in the country. Additionally there were very good players in the calibre of Lou Macari, Sammy McIlroy and the up and coming Arthur Albiston. The remainder of the squad consisted of players such as Gordon Hill who could be a world beater one day and invisible the next, an aging Alex Stepney and a band of good solid professionals.

Hardly league title contenders!

However, that was the expectation for many on the terraces. The FA Cup success was just the kick-start that United needed to go on to championship success. So, when Sexton took over in July 1977, he had a poor squad that lacked significant quality in depth, high expectations from fans and the shadow of Tommy Docherty lurking over him.

The season opened with a trip to Wembley and a creditable 0-0 draw with Liverpool in the Charity Shield. So, two trophies won in just a few short months…albeit the Charity Shield was shared.  Expectations rise again!

Unfortunately, Jimmy Greenhoff was injured in the curtain raiser and before a league game commenced he was one striker down with no replacement. Additionally, Stewart Houston was still recovering from his broken ankle from the previous term.

AUGUST

In the opening league game the Reds visited St. Andrews and a Lou Macari hat-trick, his first for the club, helped the team return north with a 4-1 victory over Birmingham City. Dave McCreery had replaced Jimmy Greenhoff in attack and the following two home games saw the Reds defeat Coventry City 2-1 and draw with Ipswich Town 0-0 in front of 57, 904 supporters. With a lack of goalscoring threat identified very early, Sexton switched Steve Coppell to centre-forward playing with Stuart Pearson. Chris McGrath came in on the right wing but his ability was nowhere near the Coppell class. The final game of the month saw United lose 2-3 at Arsenal in the League Cup with Ashley Grimes making his debut in midfield.

League: Won 2 Drew 1 Lost 0

Lou Macari

SEPTEMBER

Lou Macari was on the score-sheet once again as United won 1-0 at Derby County before facing Manchester City at Maine Road. After a comprehensive defeat by the ‘Blues’ 1-3, more trouble descended as crowd trouble in the Cup Winner’s Cup tie in St. Etienne saw United expelled from the competition.  United won an appeal but the game was to be played 200 miles away. Back in the league United lost 0-1 at home to Chelsea and then drew 1-1 at Leeds with a Gordon Hill goal.

League: Won 1 Drew 1 Lost 2

OCTOBER

The first of the month saw United defeat Liverpool 2-0 with a great attacking display and goals from Macari and McIlroy and Jimmy Greenhoff returning from injury was a big boost. Greenhoff was critical up front as he held play up allowing others to get into attacking positions. United had missed him dearly in the opening couple of months. After defeating St. Etienne 2-0 at Home Park, Plymouth, the Reds lost 1-2 at Middlesbrough before returning to winning ways at home to Newcastle 3-2. Then disaster struck! A 0-4 whitewash in Porto in the next round of European competition, was followed by defeat at West Brom by the same score. With Brian Greenhoff now injured, Jimmy Nicholl was moved to central defence and Sexton gave a debut to young Martyn Rogers. A defeat at Aston Villa ended the month with vultures starting to circle.

To be fair, Sexton had wanted to give everyone a chance. By now he recognised the problems not only with the current first eleven but the lack of quality in the reserves. Additionally, striker Stuart Pearson had failed to hit the net and was now out injured.

League: Won 2 Drew 0 Lost 3

NOVEMBER

The return leg against Porto saw United win an exciting game 5-2 but go out on aggregate before losing the next league fixture at home to Arsenal. Crowds were still exceeding 50,000 for each home game and the style of play was ‘attack minded’ but with problems in front of goal and also in defence, the future looked grim. Sexton decided it was time to give Paddy Roche a chance in goal and dropped Alex Stepney. The Londoner was past his best and United had not spent money on finding a replacement. When Peter Shilton became available, United dithered while Nottingham Forest opened their cheque book. It was United’s loss as Forest then defeated United 2-1 at the County Ground with Shilton in top form. On the 19^th Norwich City visited and Stuart Pearson scored his first goal of the season to help the Reds to a needy 1-0 win. It was also the first time that Sexton’s two preferred forwards (Greenhoff and Pearson) had played together that term. More worrying was the drop in attendance to under 49,000. Two goals from Gordon Hill at QPR helped in a 2-2 draw and Sexton was able to reflect on his first three months in charge.

In the match-day programme, he noted that he was actively chasing three players, Joe Jordan, Gerry Francis and Gordon McQueen. One player from each area of team to give some fresh impetus, much needed cover and additional quality. Already Sexton had decided that Brian Greenhoff was surplus to requirements and that Gordon Hill was a luxury that United could not afford.  However, with Hill being a fan’s favourite, and United’s leading goalscorer Sexton made no decision on the winger at that point.

League: Won 1 Drew 1 Lost 2

In the next part of "The Sexton Years", find out about United's continuing inconsistency as the season heads towards the busy Christmas period and beyond and find out who was bought to lead the line and to shore up the back four.


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