1987-88 in English football

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The 1987-88 season was the 108th season of competitive football in England.

Contents

[edit] Overview

[edit] First Division

Liverpool won the league title with a comfortable nine-point margin and just two defeats all season. Their key players were two new signings - winger John Barnes and striker John Aldridge - who helped defy any doubts that people might have had as to whether Liverpool could challenge for honours after Ian Rush's departure. Second in the league were Manchester United, rejuvenated under Alex Ferguson - who had bought some impressive new players including Brian McClair and Steve Bruce.

The first relegation places went to Watford and Oxford United, who both lost far too many games and picked up far too few points to have any realistic hope of avoiding relegation. Next to go down were Portsmouth, whose First Division comeback lasted just one season. Chelsea then became the first top division club in 90 years to lose their status after playoffs. They lost to Second Division Middlesbrough in the playoff final and surrendered their First Division place to the Teessiders.

[edit] Second Division

John Docherty's impressive Millwall side lifted the Second Division championship trophy and gained promotion to the First Division for the first time in their history. Runners-up were Aston Villa, managed by Graham Taylor and boasting a squad of strong players like David Platt and Gordon Cowans. Middlesbrough won promotion for the second season running after negotiating the relegation/promotion playoffs at the expense of Chelsea.

Huddersfield Town, who had suffered a 10-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City in November, were the Second Division's biggest flops during 1987-88 as they went down in bottom place. The Second/Third Division relegation/promotion playoffs once again saw a Second Division club suffer relegation, this time it was Sheffield United.

[edit] Third Division

Sunderland's first season in the Third Division ended in glory as they lifted the championship and went back up to the Second Division. They were joined by runners-up Brighton & Hove Albion and playoff winners Walsall.

The Third Division relegation places were occupied by Rotherham United, Grimsby Town, York City and Doncaster Rovers.

[edit] Fourth Division

Wolves ended their two-year tenure in the Fourth Division by finishing top of the table and winning promotion to the Third Division, one season after being rescued by new owner Jack Hayward and new manager Graham Turner. Bolton Wanderers, another fallen giant, also ensured their Fourth Division tenure was short lived by winning automatic promotion. Swansea City were promoted via the playoffs just two years after almost going out of existence, while their South Wales neighbours Cardiff City were also promoted.

Financially troubled Newport County were relegated for the second successive season and this time they lost their league status - less than a year later they were to go out of business. Lincoln City won the Conference title to take their place.

Scunthorpe United left the Old Showground and moved into Glanford Park, thus becoming the first English club in more than 30 years to move to a new stadium.

[edit] FA Cup

Wimbledon caused one of the biggest footballing upsets of the 20th century by defeating champions Liverpool 1-0 in the FA Cup final. The winners had only been league members for 11 years and First Division members for two years, while the losers had just wrapped up their 17th league championship.

[edit] League Cup

Ray Harford's Luton Town achieved a shock 3-2 win over Arsenal in the League Cup final to win the first major trophy of their history. Harford had only been promoted to the manager's seat from assistant manager a year earlier as successor to John Moore.

[edit] Star players

The PFA voted Liverpool's high scoring winger John Barnes Player of the Year and Newcastle United's exciting young midfielder Paul Gascoigne Young Player of the Year. Other players to hit the headlines during 1987-88 were Manchester United striker Brian McClair, Liverpool striker John Aldridge and West Ham striker Tony Cottee.

[edit] Star managers

  • Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish added the league title to his managerial CV to bring his total of championships to two in three seasons and Liverpool's all-time total to 17.
  • Alex Ferguson's efforts in rebuilding Manchester United saw them finished second in the league just 18 months after they had looked in danger of relegation.
  • Bobby Gould guided Wimbledon to a shock victory over Liverpool in the F.A Cup final.
  • Ray Harford earned Luton Town the first major trophy of their history by guiding them to victory over Arsenal in the League Cup final.
  • Graham Taylor's first season at Aston Villa ended in promotion to the First Division at the expense of his old club Watford.
  • John Docherty brought First Division football to Millwall for the first time in their history.
  • Bruce Rioch took Middlesbrough to the First Division just two years after financial problems almost put the club out of business.
  • Dennis Smith began Sunderland's revival by guiding them to the Third Division title.
  • Graham Turner guided Wolverhampton Wanderers to Fourth Division title glory which made them the first club to win all four divisions of the Football League.
  • Phil Neal ensured that Bolton Wanderers bounced back quickly from their recent sharp decline by taking them to runners-up spot in the Fourth Division.

[edit] National team

England were eliminated from Euro 88 after losing all three group games in West Germany. The Netherlands went on to win the tournament. In spite of continued calls from the tabloids for a new manager to be installed, the FA kept faith in Bobby Robson once more.

[edit] Transfers

Liverpool paid an English club record fee of £1.9million for Newcastle United's 26-year-old striker Peter Beardsley. They also forked out £900,000 for Watford winger John Barnes.

[edit] Diary of the season

3 August 1987 - Today cancel their sponsorship of the Football League after just one year, and less than 2 weeks before the new season is due to begin.

6 August 1987 - Peter Beardsley becomes the most expensive player to move between British clubs when he joins Liverpool in a 1.9million deal from Newcastle United.

12 August 1987 - Barclays Bank become the Football League's new sponsors in a three-year deal worth in the region of 5million.

31 October 1987 - Everton chairman Phillip Carter disowns his club's supporters who were making racist chants at the Liverpool winger John Barnes, shouting: "Stay away you scum".

23 October 1987 - David Pleat resigns after 15 months as manager of Tottenham Hotspur, following allegations that he was involved in kerb crawling, and is replaced by Terry Venables.

9 December 1987 - Manchester United pay 800,000 for Norwich City central defender Steve Bruce.

11 January 1988 - Dave Bassett is sacked after just six months in charge of Watford, who are currently bottom of the First Division a season after they finished ninth.

12 March 1988 - Maurice Evans resigns as manager of Oxford United, another struggling First Division side. Evans, 51, had managed the South Midlanders to Football League Cup glory two seasons ago but had failed to establish them as proven winners in the league.

20 March 1988 - Liverpool's record 29-match unbeaten start to the league season is ended when they lose to neighbours Everton.

14 May 1988 - Wimbledon pull off one the greatest footballing upsets of all time by achieving a 1-0 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup final. Wimbledon have been First Division members for just 2 seasons and have only been a Football League side for the last 11 years, while Liverpool recently became the first English team to win 30 major trophies. Striker Lawrie Sanchez was Wimbledon's goalscoring hero, while Liverpool would have won the trophy had it not been for Peter Beardsley's disallowed goal and John Aldridge's penalty miss.

[edit] Deaths

  • John Smith, 49, played over 400 career games as an inside-forward between 1956 and 1973. In 1958, at the age of 19, he helped West Ham United win promotion to the First Division. His biggest success came in 1969 when he helped Swindon Town win the League Cup and record the only major trophy victory of their history. During the 1972-73 season, he had a five-month spell as manager of Walsall.
  • Harold Dobbie, 65, former Middlesbrough forward who scored twice on his club debut in 1948 - against near neighbours Sunderland. Later played for Plymouth Argyle and finally Torquay United before retiring from football and returning to his native Newcastle to run a hardware shop.
  • John Harris, 70, born in Glasgow, was Chelsea's centre-half in their league championship winning side of 1955. Later managed Sheffield United and took them into the First Division in 1971.

[edit] Honours

Competition Winner Runner-up
First Division Liverpool Manchester United
Second Division Millwall Aston Villa
Third Division Sunderland Brighton & Hove Albion
Fourth Division Wolverhampton Wanderers Cardiff City
FA Cup Wimbledon Liverpool
League Cup Luton Town Arsenal
Charity Shield Everton Coventry City

[edit] League table

[edit] First Division

P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Liverpool 40 26 12 2 87 24 +63 90
2 Manchester United 40 23 12 5 71 38 +33 81
3 Nottingham Forest 40 20 13 7 67 39 +28 73
4 Everton 40 19 13 8 53 27 +26 70
5 Queen's Park Rangers 40 19 10 11 48 38 +10 67
6 Arsenal 40 18 12 10 58 39 +19 66
7 Wimbledon 40 14 15 11 58 47 +11 57
8 Newcastle United 40 14 14 12 55 53 +2 56
9 Luton Town 40 14 11 15 57 58 -1 53
10 Coventry City 40 13 14 13 46 53 -7 53
11 Sheffield Wednesday 40 15 8 17 52 66 -14 53
12 Southampton 40 12 14 14 49 53 -4 50
13 Tottenham Hotspur 40 12 11 17 38 48 -10 47
14 Norwich City 40 12 9 19 40 52 -12 45
15 Derby County 40 10 13 17 35 45 -10 43
16 West Ham United 40 9 15 16 40 52 -12 42
17 Charlton Athletic 40 9 15 16 38 52 -14 42
18 Chelsea 40 9 15 16 50 68 -18 42
19 Portsmouth 40 7 14 19 36 66 -30 35
20 Watford 40 7 11 22 27 51 -24 32
21 Oxford United 40 6 13 21 44 80 -36 31

[edit] Second Division

P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Millwall 44 25 7 12 72 52 +20 82
2 Aston Villa 44 22 12 10 68 41 +27 78
3 Middlesbrough 44 22 12 10 63 36 +27 78
4 Bradford City 44 22 11 11 74 54 +20 77
5 Blackburn Rovers 44 21 14 9 68 52 +16 77
6 Crystal Palace 44 22 9 13 86 59 +27 75
7 Leeds United 44 19 12 13 61 51 +10 69
8 Ipswich Town 44 19 9 16 61 52 +9 66
9 Manchester City 44 19 8 17 80 60 +20 65
10 Oldham Athletic 44 18 11 15 72 64 +8 65
11 Stoke City 44 17 11 16 50 57 -7 62
12 Swindon Town 44 16 11 17 73 60 +13 59
13 Leicester City 44 16 11 17 62 61 +1 59
14 Barnsley 44 15 12 17 61 62 -1 57
15 Hull City 44 14 15 15 54 60 -6 57
16 Plymouth Argyle 44 16 8 20 65 67 -2 56
17 Bournemouth 44 13 10 21 56 68 -12 49
18 Shrewsbury Town 44 11 16 17 42 54 -12 49
19 Birmingham City 44 11 15 18 41 66 -25 48
20 West Bromwich Albion 44 12 11 21 50 69 -19 47
21 Sheffield United 44 13 7 24 45 74 -29 46
22 Reading 44 10 12 22 44 70 -26 42
23 Huddersfield Town 44 6 10 28 41 100 -59 28

[edit] Third Division

P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Sunderland 46 27 12 7 92 48 +44 93
2 Brighton & Hove Albion 46 23 15 8 69 47 +22 84
3 Walsall 46 23 13 10 68 50 +18 82
4 Notts County 46 23 12 11 82 49 +33 81
5 Bristol City 46 21 12 13 77 62 +15 75
6 Northampton Town 46 18 19 9 70 51 +19 73
7 Wigan Athletic 46 20 12 14 70 61 +9 72
8 Bristol Rovers 46 18 12 16 68 56 +12 66
9 Fulham 46 19 9 18 69 60 +9 66
10 Blackpool 46 17 14 15 71 62 +9 65
11 Port Vale 46 18 11 17 58 56 +2 65
12 Brentford 46 16 14 16 53 59 -6 62
13 Gillingham 46 14 17 15 77 61 +16 59
14 Bury 46 15 14 17 58 57 +1 59
15 Chester City 46 14 16 16 51 62 -11 58
16 Preston North End 46 15 13 18 48 59 -11 58
17 Southend United 46 14 13 19 65 83 -18 55
18 Chesterfield 46 15 10 21 41 70 -29 55
19 Mansfield Town 46 14 12 20 48 59 -11 54
20 Aldershot 46 15 8 23 64 74 -10 53
21 Rotherham United 46 12 16 18 50 66 -16 52
22 Grimsby Town 46 12 14 20 48 58 -10 50
23 York City 46 8 9 29 48 91 -43 33
24 Doncaster Rovers 46 8 9 29 40 84 -44 33

[edit] Fourth Division

P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 46 27 9 10 82 43 +39 90
2 Cardiff City 46 24 13 9 66 41 +25 85
3 Bolton Wanderers 46 22 12 12 66 42 +24 78
4 Scunthorpe United 46 20 17 9 76 51 +25 77
5 Torquay United 46 21 14 11 66 41 +25 77
6 Swansea City 46 20 10 16 62 56 +6 70
7 Peterborough United 46 20 10 16 52 53 -1 70
8 Leyton Orient 46 19 12 15 85 63 +22 69
9 Colchester United 46 19 10 17 47 51 -4 67
10 Burnley 46 20 7 19 57 62 -5 67
11 Wrexham 46 20 6 20 69 58 +11 66
12 Scarborough 46 17 14 15 56 48 +8 65
13 Darlington 46 18 11 17 71 69 +2 65
14 Tranmere Rovers 46 19 9 18 61 53 +8 64
15 Cambridge United 46 16 13 17 50 52 -2 61
16 Hartlepool United 46 15 14 17 50 57 -7 59
17 Crewe Alexandra 46 13 19 14 57 53 +4 58
18 Halifax Town 46 14 14 18 54 59 -5 55
19 Hereford United 46 14 12 20 41 59 -18 54
20 Stockport County 46 12 15 19 44 58 -14 51
21 Rochdale 46 11 15 20 47 76 -29 48
22 Exeter City 46 11 13 22 53 68 -15 46
23 Carlisle United 46 12 8 26 57 86 -29 44
24 Newport County 46 6 7 33 35 105 -70 25

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points


Seasons in English football

1983-84 | 1984-85 | 1985-86 | 1986-87 | 1987-88 | 1988-89 | 1989-90 | 1990-91 | 1991-92
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