The good start to the season meant that the average home attendance improved by almost 3,000 to 23,711 with the highest crowd of 38,784 for the Tyne Wear derby. The calamitous end saw fans leaving in their droves and the lowest SJP crowd was 13,765 for the last match against Luton.
Even when United were riding high in the first half of the season the fans were on the edge. And even when they were top of the table they were occasionally jeered as when they struggled to break down a resilient Shrewsbury side in October. Alan Shoulder sympathised "they're frustrated, we're frustrated, everybody's frustrated."
Not surprisingly the frustration grew as the team slumped and two fans in particular made their feelings felt when United lost 2-0 at home to Watford. They ran onto the pitch, stomped on their scarves and "gestured" towards the director's box.
There were serious disturbances at the match in Oldham. Fans rampaged through the town before the game and fighting erupted on numerous occasions on the terraces. Missile-throwing was endemic at the time and bricks and pieces of concrete were thrown in the direction of the Latics keeper Peter McDonnel. Skipper Mick Martin was furious claiming that the players had been distracted by the actions and that "no club wants to be tainted by the antics of these sort of people".
The most controversial incident involving United fans occurred when a petrol bomb was thrown into the West Ham section of the ground. Not surprisingly the club were swift in their admonishment although they claimed that some of the press over reacted to the incident. Their main concern appeared to be that they would have to spend even more money to improve safety in the ground. Compliance with Safety at Sports Ground Act had already cost the club £350,000 in the last three years.
The Supporters Club - having been founded just before the 1955 Cup Final - was celebrating it's Silver Jubilee and a commemorative mug was available.
Although membership was high the vast majority of travelling fans were not signed up. After the incidents at Oldham an emergency meeting was requested by the club but the point was made that only a fifth of the fans at Boundary Park had made their way on Supporters Club coaches.
A new "Football Trust" was launched which would receive £3.5 million a year from the Pools Promoters' Association. Most of the money would be set aside for the Football Ground Improvement Trust (set up in 1975) with the remainder being specifically designated to tackling hooliganism.
Compliance with Safety at Sports Ground Act had already cost the club £350,000 in the last three years, but it really was a case of papering over the cracks in an increasingly dilapidated stadium. The capacity had also been reduced to 38,008 a drop of more than a third from the start of the decade.
The club desperately needed to generate more revenue and wanted to press ahead with the development of the Leazes End. Once more the club found themselves at loggerheads with the Council who demanded that the club build a corner section first to provide a better "blend" with Leazes Terrace. They backed down, but the estimated cost of the new stand was now £1.8 million; almost double the original estimate for the complete ground.
There was a problem for Supporters attending the home leg of the League Cup tie against Sunderland as a gang of pick pockets relieved a number of them of their trouser contents.