Editing Ron Atkinson (section)

===Manchester United===
Atkinson was seen as the man who could bring the spark to Manchester United that had been so sorely lacking under his predecessor. Sexton had taken them to second place in the league in [[1979–80 Manchester United F.C. season|1980]] but did not win a major trophy in his four years at the club. United had finished eighth in the [[1980–81 Manchester United F.C. season|season before Atkinson's appointment]], and Atkinson had actually missed out of the chance of overseeing a [[UEFA Cup]] campaign by departing from Albion and taking over at United.

In the [[1981–82 Manchester United F.C. season|1981–82]] season, United finished third in the First Division, to qualify for the [[UEFA Cup]], though for much of the season they were one of several teams who topped the table before a late surge from [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]] saw [[Bob Paisley]]'s team seal the title. Early in the season he had paid a national record £1.5&nbsp;million for [[Bryan Robson]] from his old club West Bromwich Albion, and shortly afterwards also added midfielder [[Remi Moses]], also from West Brom, and [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] striker [[Frank Stapleton]] to his ranks. He also gave a debut to promising young forward [[Norman Whiteside]] in April 1982, just before the player's 17th birthday.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}

In the [[1982–83 Manchester United F.C. season|1982–83]] season, two appearances at Wembley, one of which was an FA Cup victory against [[Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.|Brighton & Hove Albion]], coupled with another third-place finish in the league, fuelled speculation that United were back in a big way. During the first half of the season, they had topped the league more than once but a storming run of form by Liverpool beginning before Christmas meant that the title headed for [[Anfield]] for the second year running. 1982–83 also saw the breakthrough of Whiteside as one of the best performing players in the First Division. Whiteside was also on the scoresheet for the FA Cup final replay as United beat Brighton 4–0 after drawing the first game 2–2.

In the [[1983–84 Manchester United F.C. season|1983–84]] season, Atkinson's side reached the semi-finals of the [[UEFA Cup Winners' Cup|European Cup Winners' Cup]] although their defence of the FA Cup ended at the first hurdle with a shock 2–0 defeat at [[Football League Third Division|Third Division]] team [[AFC Bournemouth]]. They finished fourth in the league, having topped the table at several stages once again, before injuries to key players counted against them and they dropped points. The end of the season saw the sale of key midfielder [[Ray Wilkins]] to [[A.C. Milan]] of Italy for £1.5&nbsp;million, while the duration of the season had seen the breakthrough of young striker [[Mark Hughes]]. Rather than plunge into the transfer market for a big name, Atkinson shifted Norman Whiteside into midfield to fill the gap left by Wilkins and allowed Hughes to form a partnership with the experienced Frank Stapleton.

In the [[1984–85 Manchester United F.C. season|1984–85]] season, United again won the FA Cup. However, Atkinson and his team were denied the chance of another European Cup Winners Cup campaign as the [[Heysel disaster]] at the [[1985 European Cup final|European Cup final]] that year resulted in an indefinite ban from European competitions for all English clubs.

In the [[1985–86 Manchester United F.C. season|1985–86]] season, they won their first ten games of the league season and were unbeaten after their first fifteen games to build a comfortable lead at the top of the table that lasted into the new year. However, their form tailed off badly and they again finished fourth, with Liverpool finishing the season as league champions. With the ban on English clubs in European competitions continuing, there was not even the consolation of a [[UEFA Cup]] place. United's title chances were not helped by the fact that captain Bryan Robson was only available for half of United's league games due to injuries.

There was more disappointment for United's fans when the sale of [[Mark Hughes]] to Spanish club [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]] was announced at the end of the season. Atkinson had prepared for Hughes' departure in March 1986 by paying [[Nottingham Forest F.C.|Nottingham Forest]] £570,000 for [[England national football team|England]] striker [[Peter Davenport]]. Although Davenport was their top scorer in the [[1986–87 Manchester United F.C. season|1986–87 season]], he failed to achieve the same success as Hughes and was not a popular figure among fans.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

Despite media speculation that Atkinson would be sacked in favour of [[Aberdeen F.C.|Aberdeen]] manager [[Alex Ferguson]] or Barcelona manager [[Terry Venables]], the 1986–87 season began with Atkinson still at the helm. His two FA Cup wins and five successive top four league finishes had made him the most successful United manager since [[Matt Busby]], but the pressure to build on the earlier successes was becoming more intense than ever. The 1986–87 season began poorly with three successive defeats, and despite a minor upturn in September and October which included a 5–1 home win over [[Southampton F.C.|Southampton]] in the league, the pressure on Atkinson remained intense and the board finally ran out of patience on 6 November 1986 when he was dismissed as manager two days after a 4–1 exit at the hands of Southampton in the League Cup. United were still in the bottom four of the First Division with a third of the season already gone.