1987–88 Aberdeen F.C. season

Aberdeen F.C.
1987-88 season
Chairman Dick Donald
Manager Ian Porterfield
Scottish Premier Division 4th
Scottish Cup Semi final
Scottish League Cup Final
UEFA Cup Second round
Top goalscorer League: Jim Bett (10)
All: Davie Dodds (15)
Highest home attendance 24,000 vs. Celtic, 1 September 1987
Lowest home attendance 5,500 vs. Motherwell, 7 May 1988
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

Aberdeen F.C. competed in the Scottish Premier Division, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup and UEFA Cup in season 1987–88.

Contents

Overview

Aberdeen finished fourth in the Premier Division for the second successive season. They reached the League Cup final, but lost 5–3 on penalty kicks after a 3–3 draw against Rangers in October. In the Scottish Cup, they lost in the semi-final after a second replay defeat to Dundee United. Aberdeen's UEFA Cup campaign ended in a second round defeat to Dutch club Feyenoord on the away goals rule, after defeating Irish club Bohemian F.C. in the first round.

New signings included Peter Nicholas from Luton Town, Gary Hackett, Tom Jones, Keith Edwards and Charlie Nicholas, who joined from Arsenal in December 1987.

Results

Scottish Premier Division

Match Day Date Opponent H/A Score Aberdeen Scorer(s) Attendance
1 8 August Dundee A 1–1 Dodds 10,223
2 12 August Morton H 3–1 Simpson, Dodds, J. Miller 8,000
3 15 August Rangers H 2–0 Dodds, P. Nicholas 22,500
4 22 August Motherwell A 1–0 Dodds 4,858
5 29 August Dundee United H 1–1 Bett 16,000
6 5 September Falkirk A 2–2 J. Miller, Falconer 5,327
7 12 September St. Mirren H 2–0 J. Miller, Falconer 11,000
8 19 September Celtic A 2–2 J. Miller, P. Nicholas 38,944
9 26 September Hibernian A 2–0 Grant, Falconer 10,500
10 3 October Dunfermline Athletic H 3–0 P. Nicholas, Falconer, Edwards 11,313
11 7 October Heart of Midlothian A 1–2 Bett 17,741
12 10 OCtober Dundee H 0–0 12,500
13 17 October Dundee United A 0–0 11,281
14 28 October St. Mirren A 3–1 Bett (2), Falconer 4,707
15 31 October Celtic H 0–1 21,000
16 7 November Morton A 0–0 3,000
17 14 November Heart of Midlothian H 0–0 20,000
18 17 November Rangers A 1–0 W. Miller 41,371
19 21 November Motherwell H 1–0 Dodds 9,700
20 24 November Hibernian H 1–1 Edwards 9,000
21 28 November Dunfermline Athletic A 3–0 Wright, Jones 7,500
22 5 December Dundee A 2–1 Wright (2), Dodds 8,799
23 9 December Falkirk H 3–1 Wright, Dodds, Bett 8,000
24 12 December Morton H 4–0 Connor, Dodds, Bett (2) 8,000
25 16 December St. Mirren H 2–1 W. Miller, Bett 6,500
26 19 December Celtic A 0–0 37,721
27 26 December Falkirk A 2–0 McLeish, Hewitt 5,000
28 2 January Dundee United H 0–0 21,500
29 9 January Hibernian A 0–0 16,000
30 16 January Dunfermline Athletic H 1–0 Falconer 20,000
31 23 January Motherwell A 1–2 C. Nicholas 6,584
32 6 February Rangers H 1–2 Bett 22,500
33 13 February Heart of Midlothian A 2–2 Bett, Jones 18,817
34 27 February Dundee H 1–0 Dodds 13,500
35 5 March St. Mirren A 0–0 4,858
36 19 March Dundee United A 2–0 Jones, C. Nicholas 10,403
37 26 March Falkirk H 2–0 Falconer, W. Miller 9,410
38 30 March Celtic H 0–1 22,700
39 2 April Dunfermline Athletic A 1–1 Falconer 7,132
40 16 April Morton A 2–0 C. Nicholas, Porteous 3,200
41 23 April Heart of Midlothian H 0–0 10,500
42 30 April Rangers A 1–0 Irvine 36,010
43 4 May Hibernian H 0–2 7,000
44 7 May Motherwell H 0–0 5,500

Final League table

P Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
3 Rangers 44 26 8 10 85 34 51 60
4 Aberdeen 44 21 17 6 56 25 31 59
5 Dundee United 44 16 15 13 54 47 7 47
6 Hibernian 44 12 19 13 41 42 –1 43

Scottish League Cup

Round Date Opponent H/A Score Aberdeen Scorer(s) Attendance
R2 18 August Brechin City H 5–1 Irvine, J. Miller (3), Hewitt 9,000
R3 26 August St. Johnstone H 3–0 Dodds (2), Bett 10,800
QF 1 September Celtic H 1–0 Bett 24,000
SF 23 September Dundee N 2–0 Irvine, Connor 22,034
F 25 October Rangers N 3–3 Hewitt, Bett, Falconer 71,961

Scottish Cup

Main article: Scottish Cup 1987–88
Round Date Opponent H/A Score Aberdeen Scorer(s) Attendance
R3 30 January St. Johnstone A 1–0 Connor 10,000
R4 20 February Hamilton Academical A 2–0 Dodds, Nicholas 7,270
QF 12 March Clyde H 5–0 Falconer, Dodds (3), Edwards 12,000
SF 9 April Dundee United N 0–0 20,488
SF R 13 April Dundee United N 1–1 Nicholas 17,288
SF R2 20 April Dundee United N 0–1 19,048

UEFA Cup

Main article: 1987–88 UEFA Cup
Round Date Opponent H/A Score Aberdeen Scorer(s) Attendance
R1 L1 15 September Bohemians A 0–0 10,000
R1 L2 30 September Bohemians H 1–0 Bett 9,950
R2 L1 21 October Feyenoord H 2–1 Falconer, J. Miller 16,000
R2 L2 4 November Feyenoord A 0–1 26,390

Squad

Appearances & Goals

No. Nat Pos Player Total Premier Division Scottish Cup League Cup Europe
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
MF Jim Bett 50 14 38 10 4 0 5 3 3 1
MF Bobby Connor 45 3 34 1 4 1 3 1 4 0
FW Davie Dodds 30 15 23 9 5 4 2 2 0 0
FW Keith Edwards 10 3 9 2 1 1 0 0 0 0
FW Willie Falconer 46 11 36 8 5 1 1 1 4 1
MF Lee Gardner 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MF Brian Grant 11 1 7 1 1 0 2 0 1 0
MF Stevie Gray 8 0 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
MF Gary Hackett 22 0 15 0 2 0 3 0 2 0
DF Scott Harvie 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FW John Hewitt 49 3 35 1 5 0 5 2 4 0
DF Brian Irvine 22 3 16 1 1 0 4 2 1 0
FW Tom Jones 31 3 28 3 3 0 0 0 0 0
GK Jim Leighton 59 0 44 0 6 0 5 0 4 0
MF Michael McArthur 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
DF Stewart McKimmie 55 0 42 0 5 0 5 0 3 0
DF Alex McLeish 47 1 36 1 5 0 2 0 4 0
FW Joe Miller 23 8 14 4 0 0 5 3 4 1
DF Willie Miller 57 3 42 3 6 0 5 0 4 0
FW Charlie Nicholas 22 5 16 3 6 2 0 0 0 0
FW Peter Nicholas 54 3 39 3 6 0 5 0 4 0
MF Ian Porteous 3 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
DF David Robertson 33 0 23 0 4 0 4 0 2 0
MF Neil Simpson 24 1 15 1 4 0 3 0 2 0
MF Peter Weir 9 0 5 0 0 0 1 0 3 0
FW Paul Wright 9 4 9 4 0 0 0 0 0 0

References

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