Manchester United face their earliest end to a season since Sir Alex Ferguson’s first campaign in charge 28 years ago if Preston knock them out of the FA Cup
Should Manchester United do the unthinkable and lose their FA Cup clash at Preston North End it would represent their earliest end to a season in 28 years.
Louis van Gaal’s men head to Deepdale for the fifth round tie knowing that defeat will effectively end any hope of bringing silverware back to Old Trafford this year.
The Premier League, while mathematically still a possibility, is very unlikely. The Capital One Cup has gone, distinguished by that shock 4-0 humbling at League One MK Dons back in August.
An FA Cup exit at the hands of more League One opponents across Lancashire would mean that, while the hunt for a Champions League spot is ongoing, their realistic hopes for honours are over – earlier than any season since 1986-87 when Sir Alex Ferguson first arrived in Manchester from Aberdeen.
Last year, David Moyes presided over the club’s worst finish in Premier League history which saw them end in a lowly seventh place.
But the beleaguered former Everton boss at least managed to keep the season alive until April 9, when United were knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage by Bayern Munich.
Before that, and without even taking trophies into account, United had always finished in the top two of the Premier League since 2004-05. That season, however, they managed to get to the FA Cup final where they were beaten by Arsenal on penalties on May 21.
While the previous season had also yielded a third-placed finish, United lifted the FA Cup with a 2-0 victory over Millwall.
In 2002-03 they were domestic champions and while 2001-02 was another third-placed finish Ferguson’s men progressed to the semi-final of the Champions League where they went out to Bayer Leverkusen on away goals on April 30.
Going further back, you have to rewind to 1998 for a year when they failed to win the Premier League title.
That season saw a fifth round exit in the FA Cup and a third round exit of the League Cup but United were involved in a title battle with Arsenal which they would eventually lose.
You have to go back to 1990-91 when Ferguson’s team finished outside the top two again, in sixth place, but landed the Cup Winners’ Cup thanks to Mark Hughes’ strike against Barcelona on a rainy Rotterdam night in mid-May.
In 1989-90, with Ferguson under severe pressure, United beat Crystal Palace in an FA Cup final replay while the season before they at least managed to get to the sixth round of the same competition, losing 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest on March 18 despite finishing 11th in the old Division One.
In 1987-88, Ferguson’s first full season in charge, United finished second to Liverpool. Although the title was never in doubt after Kenny Dalglish’s men went on a 29-match unbeaten run, they did have to wait until April 23 to lift the trophy.
And so it was the season before, Ferguson’s first in charge with the likes of Paul McGrath, Bryan Robson and Gordon Strachan as key players, that ended sooner than this one might.
When the Scot took over in November, United were in 19th and in real danger of relegation. He guided them to 11th but a tilt at the title was never a serious option. In the League Cup, a fourth round defeat at Southampton preceded Ron Atkinson’s sacking before the turn of the year.
And in the FA Cup they did not fare much better going out with a home defeat to Coventry City on January 31.
Defeat at Deepdale would mean the earliest end to a bid for honours, barring an unexpected turn of events in the title race, since Keith Houchen’s goal gave Coventry a 1-0 win in front of 49,082 at Old Trafford.
Without wanting to knock Preston’s chances of lifting the trophy, at least 28 years ago United could say they lost to the eventual winners.
