1955–56 Manchester United F.C. season
{{Short description|74th season in existence of Manchester United}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2015}}
{{Infobox football club season
| club = Manchester United
| season = 1955–56
| manager = Matt Busby
| chairman = Harold Hardman
| league = First Division
| league result = 1st
| cup1 = FA Cup
| cup1 result = Third Round
| league topscorer =
Tommy Taylor (25)
| season topscorer =
Tommy Taylor (25)
| highest attendance = 62,277 vs Blackpool (7 April 1956)
| lowest attendance = 22,192 vs Chelsea (19 November 1955)
| average attendance = 38,893
| pattern_la1 = _thinwhiteborder |pattern_b1 = _white_collar |pattern_ra1 = _thinwhiteborder |pattern_sh1 = |pattern_so1 = _redtopwhitestripe
| leftarm1 = E20E0E |body1 = E20E0E |rightarm1 = E20E0E |shorts1 = FFFFFF |socks1 = 000000
| pattern_la2 = |pattern_b2 = _white_collar |pattern_ra2 = |pattern_sh2 = |pattern_so2 = _bluetop_whitestripe
| leftarm2 = 0000C0 |body2 = 0000C0 |rightarm2 = 0000C0 |shorts2 = FFFFFF |socks2 = 000000
| prevseason = 1954–55
| nextseason = 1956–57
}}
The 1955–56 season was Manchester United's 54th season in the Football League, and their 11th consecutive season in the top division of English football.{{cite web |url=http://www.stretfordend.co.uk/seasons/season1956.html |title=Manchester United Season 1955/56 |access-date=21 December 2011|publisher=StretfordEnd.co.uk }}
A United side consisted mostly of players in their late teens and early twenties finished the season as league champions 11 points ahead of their nearest rivals Blackpool and Wolves.
Right-half Eddie Colman made his debut for United this season, first featuring in the league match against Bolton Wanderers at Burnden Park on 12 November 1955 and was soon a regular partner to Duncan Edwards in the United half-back positions. Colman's breakthrough forced Jeff Whitefoot out of the team and contributed to his transfer to Grimsby Town in the summer of 1956, while long-serving goalkeeper Jack Crompton played his final game for United this season.{{cite web |title=Legends – Eddie Colman |url=http://www.manutd.com/en/Players-And-Staff/Legends/Eddie-Colman.aspx |work=ManUtd.com |publisher=Manchester United |access-date=9 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206085140/http://www.manutd.com/en/Players-And-Staff/Legends/Eddie-Colman.aspx |archive-date=6 December 2010 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}
First Division
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
| Date
!Opponents !H / A !Result !Scorers !Attendance |
|---|
| bgcolor="#ffffdd"
|20 August 1955 |A |2–2 |Viollet (2) |37,994 |
| bgcolor="#ffffdd"
|24 August 1955 |H |2–2 |25,406 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|27 August 1955 |H |3–1 |31,996 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|31 August 1955 |A |2–1 |Edwards (2) |27,453 |
| bgcolor="#ffdddd"
|3 September 1955 |A |0–1 | |59,162 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|7 September 1955 |H |2–1 |27,843 |
| bgcolor="#ffdddd"
|10 September 1955 |A |0–1 | |28,241 |
| bgcolor="#ffdddd"
|14 September 1955 |A |2–4 |34,897 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|17 September 1955 |H |3–2 |33,078 |
| bgcolor="#ffffdd"
|24 September 1955 |A |0–0 | |26,873 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|1 October 1955 |H |3–1 |Taylor (2), Colin Webster |34,409 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|8 October 1955 |H |4–3 |48,638 |
| bgcolor="#ffffdd"
|15 October 1955 |A |4–4 |Pegg (2), Blanchflower, Webster |29,478 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|22 October 1955 |H |3–0 |34,150 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|29 October 1955 |A |1–0 |27,795 |
| bgcolor="#ffffdd"
|5 November 1955 |H |1–1 |41,586 |
| bgcolor="#ffdddd"
|12 November 1955 |A |1–3 |38,109 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|19 November 1955 |H |3–0 |22,192 |
| bgcolor="#ffffdd"
|26 November 1955 |A |0–0 | |26,240 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|3 December 1955 |H |2–1 |39,901 |
| bgcolor="#ffdddd"
|10 December 1955 |A |2–3 |24,594 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|17 December 1955 |H |2–1 |27,704 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|24 December 1955 |A |4–1 |25,168 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|26 December 1955 |H |5–1 |Viollet (2), Byrne, Doherty, Taylor |44,611 |
| bgcolor="#ffdddd"
|27 December 1955 |A |0–3 | |42,040 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|31 December 1955 |H |2–1 |60,956 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|14 January 1956 |H |3–1 |30,162 |
| bgcolor="#ffdddd"
|21 January 1956 |A |1–3 |28,047 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|4 February 1956 |H |2–0 |27,342 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|11 February 1956 |A |2–0 |16,354 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|18 February 1956 |A |2–0 |Taylor (2) |40,014 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|25 February 1956 |H |1–0 |36,277 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|3 March 1956 |A |4–2 |32,050 |
| bgcolor="#ffffdd"
|10 March 1956 |H |1–1 |44,693 |
| bgcolor="#ffffdd"
|17 March 1956 |A |1–1 |50,758 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|24 March 1956 |H |1–0 |46,114 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|30 March 1956 |H |5–2 |Viollet (2), Doherty, Pegg, Taylor |58,994 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|31 March 1956 |A |2–0 |Taylor (2) |37,780 |
| bgcolor="#ffffdd"
|2 April 1956 |A |0–0 | |37,395 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|7 April 1956 |H |2–1 |62,277 |
| bgcolor="#ffffdd"
|14 April 1956 |A |2–2 |19,865 |
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|21 April 1956 |H |1–0 |38,417 |
{{:1955–56 Football League|transcludesection=First Division|showteam=MUN|only_totals=y}}
FA Cup
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
| Date
!Round !Opponents !H / A !Result !Scorers !Attendance |
|---|
| bgcolor="#ffdddd"
|7 January 1956 |Round 3 |A |0–4 | |35,872 |
Squad statistics
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" | ||||||
| rowspan="2" valign="bottom"|Pos.
!rowspan="2"|Name !colspan="2" width="85"|League !colspan="2" width="85"|FA Cup !colspan="2" width="85"|Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps
!Goals !Apps !Goals !Apps !Goals | ||||||
| align="left"|GK | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Jack Crompton
|1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| align="left"|GK | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Ray Wood
|41 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
| align="left"|FB | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Geoff Bent
|4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| align="left"|FB | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Roger Byrne
|39 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 3 |
| align="left"|FB | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Bill Foulkes
|26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| align="left"|FB | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Ian Greaves
|15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| align="left"|HB | align="left"|{{flagicon|NIR}} Jackie Blanchflower
|18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 3 |
| align="left"|HB | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Eddie Colman
|25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
| align="left"|HB | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Duncan Edwards
|33 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 3 |
| align="left"|HB | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Freddie Goodwin
|8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| align="left"|HB | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Mark Jones
|42 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 1 |
| align="left"|HB | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Wilf McGuinness
|3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| align="left"|HB | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Jeff Whitefoot
|15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| align="left"|HB | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Walter Whitehurst
|1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| align="left"|FW | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Johnny Berry
|34 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 4 |
| align="left"|FW | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} John Doherty
|16 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 4 |
| align="left"|FW | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Eddie Lewis
|4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| align="left"|FW | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} David Pegg
|35 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 9 |
| align="left"|FW | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Albert Scanlon
|6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| align="left"|FW | align="left"|{{flagicon|NIR}} Jackie Scott
|1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| align="left"|FW | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Tommy Taylor
|33 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 25 |
| align="left"|FW | align="left"|{{flagicon|ENG}} Dennis Viollet
|34 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 20 |
| align="left"|FW | align="left"|{{flagicon|WAL|1953}} Colin Webster
|15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 4 |
| align="left"|FW | align="left"|{{flagicon|IRL}} Billy Whelan
|13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 4 |
References
{{reflist}}
{{Manchester United F.C. seasons}}
{{1955–56 in English football}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:1955-56 Manchester United F.C. season}}