Michael Carrick\u2019s side rescued a point against Aston Villa at Old Trafford through Patrick Dorgu\u2019s very late equalizer, but the late drama was not enough to lift United clear of danger. By the end of the weekend, the club remained in the relegation zone, a position that would have seemed unthinkable only recently.<\/p>\n
The Opta supercomputer now gives United a 21.58% chance of going down, a figure that leaves them only 7% less likely to be relegated than Ipswich Town. With the prospect of appointing a modern equivalent of arguably the best manager in soccer history looking slim, the numbers underline just how serious the situation has become.<\/p>\n
United\u2019s standing has already prompted mocking from rival supporters. This weekend, as Nottingham Forest beat Manchester City, fans of the blue side of Manchester sang, \u201cWe\u2019re going down with United.\u201d<\/p>\n
If relegation were to happen, it would rank among the most extraordinary outcomes in Premier League history, something close to a reverse Leicester City title win. Yet Manchester United have been here before, despite their current status as one of the sport\u2019s most valuable and successful clubs, the most valuable English soccer club by Forbes and the team with the most Premier League titles.<\/p>\n
Their first relegation came in 1894, when they were still Newton Heath. They had finished bottom of the First Division the previous season, survived via a playoff, then lost another playoff 2-0 to an emerging Liverpool side. The club, renamed United in 1902 and now playing in red rather than green and gold, dropped again in 1922 and 1931, with the latter campaign beginning with 12 straight losses that remain part of the club\u2019s longest win-less streak.<\/p>\n
United narrowly avoided a first drop into the third tier in 1934 by beating Millwall 2-0 on the final day, but relegation arrived again in 1937. Immediate promotion followed, and the club later stabilized under new financial backing and Matt Busby\u2019s appointment in 1945.<\/p>\n
After World War Two, United became a giant, winning five First Division titles in the 1950s and 1960s and becoming the first English club to win the European Cup in 1968. Their fifth and most recent relegation came six years after that triumph, in a chaotic season marked by George Best\u2019s contract being ripped up by New Year and goalkeeper Alex Stepney becoming penalty taker. Denis Law\u2019s 81st-minute backheel for Manchester City against his old club sealed the outcome in the penultimate match, although results elsewhere meant the damage was already done. United have not come especially close to repeating that fate since, with Ferguson later steering them away from serious danger before the club\u2019s long spell of success between 1990 and 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United\u2019s relegation history is long, dramatic, and now uncomfortably relevant again in 2026\/27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,172],"tags":[1162,59],"class_list":["post-22386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-epl","tag-analytics","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}