| Div 1 | 15th |
| FA Cup | R5 |
| Attendance | 45,392 |
| Chairman | R Rutherford > S Seymour |
| Manager | S Seymour |
| Trainer | N Smith |
| Captain | J Scoular |
| Top Scorer | J Milburn (18) |
United were now firmly in a period of transition and it was another difficult season in which they battled against relegation largely as a result of failures upfront. Thankfully an excellent finishing run of five wins in seven games saved their skins.
Scottish International Jimmy Scoular arrived from Portsmouth to replace Harvey and Welsh International Ivor Broadis and Alan Monkhouse were other big money signings.
It was at home where they were having real problems and during Autumn they lost six games in a row at SJP including a 3-7 thrashing by WBA (who would finish runners up). Ten home games were lost in total.
The FA Cup was not much better as United needed replays to dispose of non-league Wigan and Burnley before going out against West Brom.
It was another unsettling season amongst the squad and six players requested transfers at one time or another; Stokoe, Hannah, Foulkes, Batty, Davies and Walker. In the end only Walker moved on.
Kit images copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission
| 22/8 | H | Sunderland | W | 2 - 1 | ||
| 26/8 | A | Liverpool | D | 2 - 2 | ||
| 29/8 | A | Man Utd | D | 1 - 1 | ||
| 02/9 | H | Liverpool | W | 4 - 0 | ||
| 05/9 | H | Bolton | L | 2 - 3 | ||
| 09/9 | A | WBA | D | 2 - 2 | ||
| 12/9 | A | Preston | D | 2 - 2 | ||
| 16/9 | H | WBA | L | 3 - 7 | ||
| 19/9 | H | Tottenham | L | 1 - 3 | ||
| 23/9 | A | Sheff Wed | L | 0 - 3 | ||
| 26/9 | A | Burnley | W | 2 - 1 | ||
| 03/10 | H | Charlton | L | 0 - 2 | ||
| 10/10 | H | Wolves | L | 1 - 2 | ||
| 17/10 | A | Aston Villa | W | 2 - 1 | ||
| 24/10 | H | Huddersfield | L | 0 - 2 | ||
| 31/10 | A | Sheff Utd | L | 1 - 3 | ||
| 07/11 | H | Cardiff | W | 4 - 0 | ||
| 14/11 | A | Man City | D | 0 - 0 | ||
| 21/11 | H | Portsmouth | D | 1 - 1 | ||
| 28/11 | A | Arsenal | L | 1 - 2 | ||
| 05/12 | H | Chelsea | D | 1 - 1 | ||
| 12/12 | A | Blackpool | W | 3 - 1 | ||
| 19/12 | A | Sunderland | D | 1 - 1 | ||
| 25/12 | A | Middlesbrough | W | 3 - 2 | ||
| 26/12 | H | Middlesbrough | L | 2 - 3 | ||
| 01/1 | H | Blackpool | W | 2 - 1 | ||
| 02/1 | H | Man Utd | L | 1 - 2 | ||
| 16/1 | A | Bolton | D | 2 - 2 | ||
| 23/1 | H | Preston | L | 0 - 4 | ||
| 06/2 | A | Tottenham | L | 0 - 3 | ||
| 13/2 | H | Burnley | W | 3 - 1 | ||
| 25/2 | A | Charlton | D | 0 - 0 | ||
| 27/2 | A | Wolves | L | 2 - 3 | ||
| 06/3 | H | Aston Villa | L | 0 - 1 | ||
| 13/3 | A | Huddersfield | L | 2 - 3 | ||
| 20/3 | H | Sheff Utd | W | 4 - 1 | ||
| 27/3 | A | Cardiff | L | 1 - 2 | ||
| 03/4 | H | Man City | W | 4 - 3 | ||
| 10/4 | A | Portsmouth | L | 0 - 2 | ||
| 16/4 | H | Sheff Wed | W | 3 - 0 | ||
| 17/4 | H | Arsenal | W | 5 - 2 | ||
| 24/4 | A | Chelsea | W | 2 - 1 |
| W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
| 01 | Wolves | 25 | 7 | 10 | 96 | 56 | 57 |
| 02 | West Brom | 22 | 9 | 11 | 86 | 63 | 53 |
| 03 | Huddersfield | 20 | 11 | 11 | 78 | 61 | 51 |
| 04 | Man Utd | 18 | 12 | 12 | 73 | 58 | 48 |
| 05 | Bolton | 18 | 12 | 12 | 75 | 60 | 48 |
| 06 | Blackpool | 19 | 10 | 13 | 80 | 69 | 48 |
| 07 | Burnley | 21 | 4 | 17 | 78 | 67 | 46 |
| 08 | Chelsea | 16 | 12 | 14 | 74 | 68 | 44 |
| 09 | Charlton | 19 | 6 | 17 | 75 | 77 | 44 |
| 10 | Cardiff | 18 | 8 | 16 | 51 | 71 | 44 |
| 11 | Preston | 19 | 5 | 18 | 87 | 58 | 43 |
| 12 | Arsenal | 15 | 13 | 14 | 75 | 73 | 43 |
| 13 | Aston Villa | 16 | 9 | 17 | 70 | 68 | 41 |
| 14 | Portsmouth | 14 | 11 | 17 | 81 | 89 | 39 |
| 15 | Newcastle | 14 | 10 | 18 | 72 | 77 | 38 |
| 16 | Tottenham | 16 | 5 | 21 | 65 | 76 | 37 |
| 17 | Man City | 14 | 9 | 19 | 62 | 77 | 37 |
| 18 | Sunderland | 14 | 8 | 20 | 81 | 89 | 36 |
| 19 | Sheff Wed | 15 | 6 | 21 | 70 | 91 | 36 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 11 | 11 | 20 | 69 | 90 | 33 |
| 21 | Middlesbrough | 10 | 10 | 22 | 60 | 91 | 30 |
| 22 | Liverpool | 9 | 10 | 23 | 68 | 97 | 28 |
| R3 | 09/1 | H | Wigan | D | 2 - 2 | ||
| R3r | 13/1 | A | Wigan | W | 3 - 2 | ||
| R4 | 30/1 | A | Burnley | D | 1 - 1 | ||
| R4r | 03/2 | H | Burnley | W | 1 - 0 | ||
| R5 | 20/2 | A | WBA | L | 2 - 3 |
| Player | A | G |
|---|---|---|
| Batty R | 14 | |
| Brennan F | 44 | |
| Broadis I | 28 | 13 |
| Cahill T | 1 | |
| Casey T | 15 | |
| Cooper J | 2 | |
| Cowell B | 45 | |
| Crowe C | 17 | |
| Davies R | 19 | 6 |
| Foulkes B | 19 | |
| Gaskell A | 1 | |
| Greener R | 3 | |
| Hannah G | 31 | 7 |
| Keeble V | 12 | 7 |
| Keery S | 6 | 1 |
| McMichael A | 33 | |
| Milburn J | 44 | 18 |
| Mitchell B | 40 | 16 |
| Monkhouse A | 15 | 8 |
| Mulgrew T | 1 | 1 |
| Punton B | 1 | |
| Scoular J | 32 | 1 |
| Simpson R | 47 | |
| Stokoe B | 29 | |
| Walker T | 5 | |
| White L | 13 | 3 |
Total Number of Games: 47
Total Number of Players Used: 26
Figure in brackets = total players used in that position
01: (1) Simpson
02: (3) Cowell
03: (3) McMichael
04: (3) Scoular
05: (3) Brennan
06: (3) Crowe or Casey or Stokoe
07: (4) Milburn or White or Foulkes
08: (4) Davies > Broadis
09: (5) Milbum or Keeble or Monkhouse
10: (4) Hannah
11: (5) Mitchell
| Name | Date | From | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ferguson Robert | 06/1953 | Dudley | |
| Scoular Jimmy | 06/1953 | Portsmouth | £22,250 |
| Mitchell Stewart | 09/1953 | Benburb Jnrs | £1,050 |
| Broadis Ivor | 10/1953 | Man City | £17,500 |
| Curry William | 10/1953 | Internal | |
| Gaskell Alex | 10/1953 | Southport | £5,000 |
| Monkhouse Alan | 10/1953 | Millwall | £11,500 |
| Harker Chris | 11/1953 | West Allotment | |
| Franks Albert | 12/1953 | Sunderland | £50 |
| Punton Bill | 02/1954 | Portadown | £6,000 |
| Cummings Robert | 05/1954 | New Hartley | £5,000 |
I Broadis
A Monkhouse
J Scoular
| Name | Date | To | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duncan John | 06/1953 | Retired (inj) | |
| Harvey Joseph | 06/1953 | Retired | |
| Houghton Frank | 08/1953 | Released | |
| Luke George | 10/1953 | Hartlepool | Free |
| Brander George | 01/1954 | Stirling Albion | £750 |
| Walker Tommy | 02/1954 | Oldham | £2,500 |