| Div 1 | 4th |
| FA Cup | Final |
| Attendance | 23,500 |
| Chairman | J Cameron |
| Secretary | F Watt |
| Trainer | J McPherson |
| Captain | A Gardner |
| Top Scorer | R Orr (21) |
The Champions made a poor start to the season, winning only one of their first seven games and they never seemed to fully recover.
United never achieved the level of consistency required - with their away form once more letting them down - and ended up finishing 5th, eight points behind Champions Liverpool.
There was another visit to the Palace for the United fans, but once again the Geordies were to leave disappointed as they were beaten by Everton. United were clear favourites and had done the double over the Toffeemen in the League, but played poorly and lost to a single goal.
The attempt to rediscover the right blend led to no less than 30 players being used. Despite this the first eleven remained relatively settled.
The Championship success financed significant ground redevelopment and during the season the capacity gradually rose to around 56,000 The average attendance rose again to 24,954 and the visit of Sunderland filled the ground to capacity providing record receipts of £1,600.
Kit images copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission
Division 1 was extended from 18 to 20 teams, but United gained 5 less points than In 1904/05 as they failed to maintain their Championship standards.
They got off to a bad start and were down in 15th by the end of September, but a run of 5 consecutive home games (all won) kicked-off the campaign. The run included an 8-0 demolition of Wolverhampton. United climbed to 3rd; the highest position they reached.
From December onwards they remained unbeaten at home but lost two-thirds of their away games. As a result they rarely looked like retaining the Championship.
| 2/9 | A | Sunderland | L | 2-3 | ||
| 6/9 | H | Man City | D | 2-2 | ||
| 9/9 | H | Birmingham | D | 2-2 | ||
| 13/9 | H | Wednesday | L | 0-3 | ||
| 16/9 | A | Everton | W | 2-1 | ||
| 23/9 | H | Derby | L | 0-1 | ||
| 30/9 | A | Wednesday | D | 1-1 | ||
| 7/10 | H | Nottm F | W | 3-2 | ||
| 21/10 | H | Bury | W | 3-1 | ||
| 28/10 | H | Middlesbrough | W | 4-1 | ||
| 4/11 | H | Preston | W | 1-0 | ||
| 11/11 | H | Wolves | W | 8-0 | ||
| 18/11 | A | Aston Villa | W | 3-0 | ||
| 25/11 | H | Liverpool | L | 2-3 | ||
| 2/12 | A | Sheff Utd | L | 0-2 | ||
| 9/12 | H | Notts | W | 3-1 | ||
| 16/12 | A | Stoke | L | 0-1 | ||
| 23/12 | H | Bolton | W | 2-1 | ||
| 25/12 | A | W Arsenal | L | 3-4 | ||
| 26/12 | A | Man City | W | 4-1 | ||
| 30/12 | H | Sunderland | D | 1-1 | ||
| 1/1 | A | Blackburn | L | 0-1 | ||
| 6/1 | A | Birmingham | W | 1-0 | ||
| 20/1 | H | Everton | W | 4-2 | ||
| 27/1 | A | Derby | L | 1-2 | ||
| 10/2 | A | Nottm F | L | 1-2 | ||
| 3/3 | A | Middlesbrough | L | 0-1 | ||
| 17/3 | A | Wolves | W | 2-0 | ||
| 24/3 | H | Aston Villa | W | 3-1 | ||
| 4/4 | H | Sheff Utd | W | 2-1 | ||
| 9/4 | A | Liverpool | L | 0-3 | ||
| 13/4 | A | Bury | W | 4-1 | ||
| 14/4 | A | Notts | L | 0-1 | ||
| 16/4 | H | W Arsenal | D | 1-1 | ||
| 24/4 | H | Stoke | W | 5-0 | ||
| 26/4 | A | Preston | D | 0-0 | ||
| 28/4 | A | Bolton | D | 1-1 | ||
| 30/4 | H | Blackburn | W | 3-0 |
| W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
| 01 | Liverpool | 23 | 5 | 10 | 79 | 46 | 51 |
| 02 | Preston | 17 | 13 | 8 | 54 | 39 | 47 |
| 03 | Wednesday | 18 | 8 | 12 | 63 | 52 | 44 |
| 04 | Newcastle | 18 | 7 | 13 | 74 | 48 | 43 |
| 05 | Man City | 19 | 5 | 14 | 73 | 54 | 43 |
| 06 | Bolton | 17 | 7 | 14 | 81 | 67 | 41 |
| 07 | Birmingham | 17 | 7 | 14 | 65 | 59 | 41 |
| 08 | Aston Villa | 17 | 6 | 15 | 72 | 56 | 40 |
| 09 | Blackburn | 16 | 8 | 14 | 54 | 52 | 40 |
| 10 | Stoke | 16 | 7 | 15 | 54 | 55 | 39 |
| 11 | Everton | 15 | 7 | 16 | 70 | 66 | 37 |
| 12 | W Arsenal | 15 | 7 | 16 | 62 | 64 | 37 |
| 13 | Sheff Utd | 15 | 6 | 17 | 57 | 62 | 36 |
| 14 | Sunderland | 15 | 5 | 18 | 61 | 70 | 35 |
| 15 | Derby | 14 | 7 | 17 | 39 | 58 | 35 |
| 16 | Notts Cty | 11 | 12 | 15 | 55 | 71 | 34 |
| 17 | Bury | 11 | 10 | 17 | 57 | 74 | 32 |
| 18 | Middlesbrough | 10 | 11 | 17 | 56 | 71 | 31 |
| R1 | 13/1 | H | Grimsby (D2: 9th) | W | 6-0 | ||
| R2 | 3/2 | A | Derby (D1: 9th) | D | 0-0 | ||
| R2r | 7/2 | H | Derby (D1: 9th) | W | 2-1 | ||
| R3 | 24/2 | H | Blackpool (D2: 18th) | W | 5-0 | ||
| QF | 10/3 | A | Birmingham (D1: 6th) | D | 2-2 | ||
| QFr | 14/3 | H | Birmingham (D1: 7th) | W | 3-0 | ||
| SF | 31/3 | N | W Arsenal D1: 16th) | W | 2-0 | ||
| Fin | 21/4 | N | Everton (D1: 13th) | L | 0-1 |
R1 - The Grimbarians gave up home advantage for £200 on top of the standard half-share of the gate. They had to play with 10 men for most of the first-half but United didn't need the help in what was a burlesque game.
R2 - A couple of tough games against The Peakites followed, the Magpies were always the superior side but Derby battled all the way.
R3 - Second Division strugglers Blackpool were hopelessly outclassed although they were unlucky to lose outide-right Gow with only 15 minutes on the clock.
QF - The conditions were wretched in the extreme at Birmingam and Newcastle were forced to drop their close-passing game after going 2-0 behind in the first half-hour. The replay was not settled until the second-half of extra time when United scored thrice.
SF - The Magpies adopted a more direct style and were superior to Woolwich in all departments.
Fin - Another final of shattered hopes as United suffered a repetition of their Palace paralysis. It was a scrappy game in which there was none of the bewildering football that the side had become famous for.
| Player | A | G |
|---|---|---|
| Aitken A | 19 | |
| Appleyard B | 26 | 17 |
| Blake S | 1 | |
| Bolton H | 1 | |
| Carr J | 31 | |
| Crumley B | 3 | |
| Dodds J | 1 | |
| Donnachie J | 2 | |
| Findlay J | 2 | |
| Gardner A | 36 | 1 |
| Gosnell A | 43 | 9 |
| Hardinge H | 9 | 1 |
| Higgins S | 3 | 1 |
| Howie J | 37 | 14 |
| Kirkaldy J | 8 | |
| Lawrence J | 41 | |
| Liddell Bob | 2 | |
| McClarence J | 13 | 5 |
| McCombie A | 37 | |
| McCracken B | 20 | |
| McWilliam P | 38 | 2 |
| Orr R | 42 | 21 |
| Raine J | 4 | 1 |
| Rowlandson T | 1 | |
| Rutherford J | 42 | 11 |
| Rutherford R | 1 | |
| Tildesley J | 5 | |
| Veitch C | 36 | 10 |
| Watts C | 1 | |
| Whitson Tony | 1 | |
| own goals | 1 |
Total number of games: 46
Total number of players used: 30
Figure in brackets denotes number of players used in position.
01: (4) Lawrence
02: (3) McCombie or McCracken
03: (3) Carr or McCombie
04: (7) Gardner Al
05: (4) Veitch or Aitken
06: (4) McWilliam
07: (3) Rutherford
08: (5) Howie
09: (4) Appleyard or McClarence
10: (5) Orr
11: (3) Gosnell
All of the main forward-tine had a decent scoring record: Orr [21], Appleyard [17], Howie [14] Rutherford [11] and Gosnell [9].
| Name | Date | From | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donnachie Joseph | 06/1905 | Morton | |
| Higgins Alex | 07/1905 | Kilmarnock | £250 |
| Nicholson Benjamin | 10/1905 | Morpeth Harriers | |
| Rowlandson Thomas | 10/1905 | Darlington | |
| Dodds John | 03/1906 | Northern Star | |
| Hedley George | 03/1906 | Whitley Bay Ath. | |
| Mccormack John | 03/1906 | Johnstone | £25 |
| Blackburn Robert | 05/1906 | Leith Athletic | |
| Jobey George | 5/1906 | Morpeth Harriers | ££0 |
| Soye James | 5/1906 | Southampton |
| Name | Date | To | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bolton Hugh | 01/1906 | Everton | |
| Donnachie Joseph | 02/1906 | Everton | |
| Crumley Robert | 04/1906 | Dundee | £50 |
| Mcintyre Edward | 05/1906 | Fulham | |
| Wills Thomas | 05/1906 | Crystal Palace | £50 |
Kit images copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission