The 1985–86 season was Manchester United's 84th season in the Football League, and their 11th consecutive season in the top division of English football.

Despite having won the FA Cup the previous season, the team was unable to compete in the 1985–86 European Cup Winners' Cup due to the five-year ban on English clubs competing in European competitions that was imposed following the Heysel Stadium disaster at the 1985 European Cup Final. Instead, the clubs who would have qualified for Europe all competed in the Football League Super Cup.

With no European action to distract them, they got off to a 10-match winning start in the league, were unbeaten from their first 15 games, and remained top of the league until the beginning of February, but their dismal post Christmas form dragged them down to a final position of fourth in the league, and there was no success in the cup competitions to fall back on, leading to doubts about the future of Ron Atkinson as manager. He had completed five seasons as manager without them finishing outside the top four and had won two FA Cups, but the wait for a league title was now entering its 20th season.

Media reports linked two managers with a move to Old Trafford: Terry Venables, who had just rejected an offer to return to England from Barcelona to take charge at Arsenal; and Alex Ferguson, whose Aberdeen side had broken the Old Firm dominance of Celtic and Rangers in recent seasons. Despite this speculation, Atkinson remained in charge of United into the following season, but the pressure on him to deliver success to the club remained intense.

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