NUFC Season Summaries

NUFC Season 1982/83

So there we were wandering aimlessly around in second tier no-mans land when suddenly the arrival of one player turns the Toonworld upside down. Only when the signing of Keegan is considered within the perspective of the previous seasons can the enormity of his arrival be understood.

An opening day victory over QPR in front of a crowd of 35,718 (double the previous season's average) followed by another victory at Blackburn had everyone believing again. But one player - no matter how good and enthusiastic - cannot transform a team. United only won five of the next 22 games and had slumped to 14th by mid January

Terry Mcdermott arrived too and gave the side an immediate fillip as they won 5-1 at Rotheram as seen by millions on MoD; however that was one of only two wins out of the first 14 away games.

The last 18 games of the season saw a massive improvement as United had a record of won 11, drew: 4 and lost:3. It was enough to take them to the brink of promotion but they ended up 3 points shy of third placed Leicester.

The fans who had started to drift away again during the season started to return and there were mass celebrations on the pitch after the last home game victory over Sheffield Wednesday

The cup exits were both at home and particularly hard to swallow that season. United throwing away a 2-0 aggregate lead against The Tykes in the League Cup and Trelford Mills ensuring lifelong (and probably beyond) notoriety by disallowing two United "goals" in the last few minutes of the FA Cup tie against Brighton.

The gamble had not quite paid off, the question was would Keegan give it another go?