The number of people attending matches slumped again to 24,928,203 which represented a drop of more than 5 million in only 6 years. The Division 1 average fell by about 2,000 to 28,292.
Newcastle were one of only a few clubs whose attendances rose. The average of 32,791 (the best since 1969/70) making them the sixth best supported club in the country behind Man Utd, Liverpool, Leeds, Everton and Birmingham.
Forty thousand plus attendances were achieved for the matches against Man Utd, Liverpool and Everton; whilst 55,638 attended the Boxing Day match with Leeds.
Hooliganism became an even greater problem. United's friendly with Middlesbrough was one of many pre-season games marred by trouble prompting League President Len Shipman to call for the re-introduction of the birch. The match on Teesside brought trouble before, during and after the game with emergency police reinforcements having to be drafted in. The first major trouble occurred in the "showpiece" Cleveland Shopping Centre where rival fans clashed and terrorised shoppers.
Early on in the season the boys' gates were closed for a couple of games "because a number of quite ridiculous youngsters persist on running on to the pitch".
There was major trouble in Leeds a few weeks later when hundreds of United fans ran amok before the game. Hundreds of pounds worth of damage was reaked on The Old Peacock and Central Station pubs by United yobs.
During the season a working party was set-up by the Minister of Sport Denis Howell to look in to what measures could be taken to increase safety and reduce crowd trouble. They did consider fences but the Home Office stated this was not acceptable because of the safety angle; that is the pitch was an easy escape route in the event of a fire or a bomb scare.
Then when Newcastle were down to ten men and losing 3-1 at home to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup 6th round hundreds of United fans invaded the pitch causing a twelve minute delay. When play was resumed United stormed back to win 4-3.
An FA Commission decided that the match should be replayed but many in the media thought Newcastle should have been thrown out the Cup. The Football Digest's comment was typical. "Justice was done when Newcastle did NOT win the Cup. In the event they were never in with a chance, but they were given a chance which they - rather their crowd - did not deserve".
The magazine was equally critical of the additional punishment meted out that United would have to play all their FA Cup games away from home in the following season: "One boggles at the great minds which thought up this belated diffused punishment".
Streaking started to "take off" in a big way and at Bedford Town a "burly" male naturist was cheered on by the crowd as he ran across the pitch. He was rugby tackled by a coppa before he reached a waiting car.
After months of negotiations Newcastle Supporters Club finally moved from it's old headquarters in the Bridge Hotel to the Social Club in St James' Street.
The trip to The Hawthorns in the FA Cup 5th Round gave United supporters their first chance to make use of the much heralded League Liner which had been introduced during the 1973/74 season in an effort to cut down on soccer violence on the way to matches.
Unfortunately the Supporters Club was left to apologise for the lack of the super modern facilities. "The fact that there was no disco, cinema or TV was out of our hands and due entirely to licensing problems with the Football League".
Five unnamed business men who chartered a plane to Birmingham for the FA Cup match at The Hawthorns were set upon by fellow United supporters when they left the game. Two of then requiring treatment for injuries sustained.
For the FA Cup semi-final 10,000 tickets were automatically made available to season-ticket holders with the remaining 12,000 tickets going on sale on the Monday after the home game with Leicester.
Fans started queing during the half-time break and by late Saturday evening there were already around 500 waiting. They were unanimous in their condemnation of the club's ticket allocation procedures. First in the queue were Paul Newton, Eddie Hutchinson and Maureen Delaney from Walker.
On semi-final day the fans found that most pubs were closed and the ones that were open had hired bouncers to keep all but the locals out. There were also claims that the local police gave fans misleading information so as to get them out of the city centre.
Black and White clad footsoldiers wandered the streets looking for liquid refreshment and one elderly grocery shop owner was astonished when she sold as many bottles in 30 minutes as she would normally sell in a week.
The club was allocated 25,000 tickets for the Final. Their chosen ticket allocation method was to issue vouchers to all attendees (except season ticket holders who automatically got a ticket) for the match against Everton which would then be entered in a draw. This led to some fans taking the unusual step of paying more than once rather than the more usual sneaking in for free. It was later alleged that some members of the Newcastle Supporters Club were attempting to forge the vouchers
It was revealed that Fat Stan Flashman (self styled king of the ticket touts) was sending four of his best men to the area to "corner" the FA Cup Final ticket market and with a couple of weeks to go touts were bragging that they were selling £1 stand tickets for £18.
One United supporter offered two £5 tickets to see Andy Williams in exchange; at the time of reporting he had not had any offers.
The supporters club offered two different excursions for £2.20 you could leave Newcastle at 12.00 midnight on the Friday and return 24 hours later or for an extra £6.80 a stay at "the impressive Royal Scot Hotel on the Saturday night" was included.
One of the cup final traditions at the time was an "It's a Knockout" special between the two supporters clubs. This was filmed at Southport on the Sunday before; unfortunately we have no recollection of who won.
An estimated 30,000 fans travelled down to London including thousands without tickets. Trains arrived in Kings Cross at dawn and some fans travelled onto Euston to "meet up" with the Scousers but the trouble soon died down. Thousands others took over Trafalgar Square .
A 16 year old Newcastle fan - Stephen Tempest of Witton Gilbert - had to be rushed to hospital after being stabbed in the chest before the game when he was attacked by a mob of Liverpool yobs.
During the game the United supporters were fantastic despite seeing their side mercilessly taken apart by Shankley's side.
There was some trouble in Piccadilly after the game but this seemed to be caused by Londoners attacking both sets of visitors and for the most part the Geordies and Scousers "celebrated" together . Fifty arressts were made in total during the day.
Despite the defeat it was decided to go ahead with the open top bus ride and a stagerring quarter of a million people turned up to welcome home the returning "heroes."
The club also introduced new catering facilities at SJP; "a new and comprehensive range of Hot Drinks". "'Maxpax' is a unique and ingenious Hot Drinks system, each individual cup containing a pre-determined measure of ingredients packed in hygienic factory conditions, untouched by hand". For the less health conscious Keegan's Burgers were still available outside the ground.