Glaswegian James Lawrence took his place in the United citadel on no less than 496 occasions in his fourteen seasons (1904/05 - 1925/26) as the club's first choice goalkeeper. He would have made even more appearances if he had not lost four years to the War. Joined as a nineteen-year-old and stayed until he was thirty-three.
These days it appears that our weary players can't manage to play in every game, but in 1968/69 "Pop" Robson played a grand total of 59 games (League:42, League Cup:3, FA Cup:2, Fairs Cup:12). Little wonder he stated at the time "ten more games and I would have been completely blown out".
Tommy Gibb made his United debut in a 1-1 draw at Hillsborough in the second game of the 1968/69 season. Thereafter he played in every single competitive game until he was named as sub for the away match against Arsenal on October 9th 1971.
(206 - 1996/97 - 2005/06) He had to do another season and plough an increasingly lone furrow up front but it was enough to allow Big Al to overtake Wor Jackie's 200 goal haul and ensure him a place in Toon history. If he had not missed a significant number of many games through injury his haul would have been even more impressive
See Top Toon Strikers for the other big hitters.
Wee Hughie (1925/26 - 1929/30)scored twice on his debut and never looked back. He finished with 143 goals in 174 games a strike rate of 82%. As a striker he was playing at exactly the right time with the offside law amendment bringing a glut of goals, but it was still a remarkable total. He would have had more if he had been the club's regular penalty taker during all of his time at the club. Gallagher took none in his first three seasons.
(41 - 1993/94)It is very rare for a goalscoring record to be set in modern day football with the meaner defenders and correspondingly lower goal scores; therefore it was quite an achievement when Mr. Cole notched 41 goals in only 45 matches. Of course like Gallagher Cole's total was not supplemented by penalties. This could have boosted his total even more, then again when he did get a chance from the spot.....