utd would probably have won the league if Docherty hadn’t been so stubborn and played Paddy in them games, and as history shows man utd were relegated in 73/74 not 74/75.
Aye, 73/74 when United were relegated – I might learn to type one of these days.
But I don’t think it was Tommy Doc’s stubborness which got Roche into the team. Stepney was 34, and TD probably thought – quite resonably – that early in the season was the best time to give Roche match practice, when the pressure was less.
In any case, one of the three games you mention was a League Cup game (v City when United lost 4-0). So, even if Stepney had played in the other two and United had won them both, they would have still been level on points with Liverpool at the end of the season, but United’s goal average would have remained inferior, barring a couple of 5-nils.
But, enough of this anoraky stuff – it was a great team United had back then, probably as good as pre-Munich. Plenty of old videos on youtube. Like this one… Would Stepney have stopped Kevin Keegan’s header?
