1987–88 Football League

The Football League
Season	1987–88
Champions	Liverpool
Relegated	Newport County
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

The 1987–1988 season was the 89th completed season of The Football League.

Overview

First Division

Liverpool won the league title with a comfortable nine-point margin and just two defeats all season. Second in the league were Manchester United.

The automatically-relegated sides were Watford, Oxford United and Portsmouth. Chelsea were subsequently relegated as well after losing to Middlesbrough in the playoff final.

Second Division

Millwall 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. Middlesbrough won promotion for the second season running after negotiating the relegation/promotion play-offs at the expense of Chelsea.

Huddersfield Town, who suffered a 10-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City in November, were relegated. The Second/Third Division relegation/promotion play-offs once again saw a Second Division club suffer relegation, this time it was Sheffield United.

Third Division

Sunderland won the Third Division 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.

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. They also won the Sherpa Van Trophy final by defeating Burnley at Wembley.

Bolton Wanderers, Cardiff City and Swansea City were also promoted.

Newport County were relegated for the second successive season. They were replaced in the Football League by Lincoln City.

Scunthorpe United left the Old Showground and moved into Glanford Park.

Final league tables and results

The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website,^[1] with home and away statistics separated.

First Division

Football League, First Division
Season	1987–88
Champions	Liverpool (17th English title)
Relegated	Chelsea, Oxford United, Portsmouth, Watford
FA Cup winners	Wimbledon (1st FA Cup title)
Matches played	420
Top goalscorer	John Aldridge (Liverpool), 26 ^[2]
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Liverpool	40	15	5	0	49	9	11	7	2	38	15	87	24	+63	90	All English teams excluded from European competition as a result of Heysel
2	Manchester United	40	14	5	1	41	17	9	7	4	30	21	71	38	+33	81
3	Nottingham Forest	40	11	7	2	40	17	9	6	5	27	22	67	39	+28	73
4	Everton	40	14	4	2	34	11	5	9	6	19	16	53	27	+26	70
5	Queens Park Rangers	40	12	4	4	30	14	7	6	7	18	24	48	38	+10	67
6	Arsenal	40	11	4	5	35	16	7	8	5	23	23	58	39	+19	66
7	Wimbledon	40	8	9	3	32	20	6	6	8	26	27	58	47	+11	57	FA Cup winners
8	Newcastle United	40	9	6	5	32	23	5	8	7	23	30	55	53	+2	56
9	Luton Town	40	11	6	3	40	21	3	5	12	17	37	57	58	–1	53	Football League Cup winners
10	Coventry City	40	6	8	6	23	25	7	6	7	23	28	46	53	–7	53
11	Sheffield Wednesday	40	10	2	8	27	30	5	6	9	25	36	52	66	–14	53
12	Southampton	40	6	8	6	27	26	6	6	8	22	27	49	53	–4	50
13	Tottenham Hotspur	40	9	5	6	26	23	3	6	11	12	25	38	48	–10	47
14	Norwich City	40	7	5	8	26	26	5	4	11	14	26	40	52	–12	45
15	Derby County	40	6	7	7	18	17	4	6	10	17	28	35	45	–10	43
16	West Ham United	40	6	9	5	23	21	3	6	11	17	31	40	52	–12	42
17	Charlton Athletic	40	7	7	6	23	21	2	8	10	15	31	38	52	–14	42
18	Chelsea	40	7	11	2	24	17	2	4	14	26	51	50	68	–18	42	^{[notes 1]}
19	Portsmouth	40	4	8	8	21	27	3	6	11	15	39	36	66	–30	35
20	Watford	40	4	5	11	15	24	3	6	11	12	27	27	51	–24	32
21	Oxford United	40	5	7	8	24	34	1	6	13	20	46	44	80	–36	31

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

↑ Chelsea lost in the final round of the play-offs and were thus relegated.

Key
	Football League Champions
	Relegated via the Second Division play-offs
	Automatically relegated to the Second Division

First Division results

Home ╲ Away	Arsenal !ARS	Charlton Athletic !CHA	Chelsea !CHE	Coventry City !COV	Derby County !DER	Everton !EVE	Liverpool !LIV	Luton Town !LUT	Manchester United !MUN	Newcastle United !NEW	Norwich City !NOR	Nottingham Forest !NOT	Oxford United !OXF	Portsmouth !POR	Queens Park Rangers !QPR	Sheffield Wednesday !SHW	Southampton !SOU	Tottenham Hotspur !TOT	Watford !WAT	West Ham United !WHU	Wimbledon !WDN
Arsenal !Arsenal		4–0	3–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	1–2	1–1	2–0	0–2	2–0	6–0	0–0	3–1	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–0	3–0
Charlton Athletic !Charlton Athletic	0–3		2–2	2–2	0–1	0–0	0–2	1–0	1–3	2–0	2–0	1–2	0–0	2–1	0–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	1–1
Chelsea !Chelsea	1–1	1–1		1–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	3–0	1–2	2–2	1–0	4–3	2–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1
Coventry City !Coventry City	0–0	0–0	3–3		0–3	1–2	1–4	4–0	0–0	1–3	0–0	0–3	1–0	1–0	0–0	3–0	2–3	2–1	1–0	0–0	3–3
Derby County !Derby County	0–0	1–1	2–0	2–0		0–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–2	0–1	0–1	0–0	0–2	2–2	2–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–1
Everton !Everton	1–2	1–1	4–1	1–2	3–0		1–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	4–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	3–1	2–2
Liverpool !Liverpool	2–0	3–2	2–1	4–0	4–0	2–0		1–1	3–3	4–0	0–0	5–0	2–0	4–0	4–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	4–0	0–0	2–1
Luton Town !Luton Town	1–1	1–0	3–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	0–1		1–1	4–0	1–2	1–1	7–4	4–1	2–1	2–2	2–2	2–0	2–1	2–2	2–0
Manchester United !Manchester United	0–0	0–0	3–1	1–0	4–1	2–1	1–1	3–0		2–2	2–1	2–2	3–1	4–1	2–1	4–1	0–2	1–0	2–0	3–1	2–1
Newcastle United !Newcastle United	0–1	2–1	3–1	2–2	0–0	1–1	1–4	4–0	1–0		1–3	0–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	2–0	3–0	2–1	1–2
Norwich City !Norwich City	2–4	2–0	3–0	3–1	1–2	0–3	0–0	2–2	1–0	1–1		0–2	4–2	0–1	1–1	0–3	0–1	2–1	0–0	4–1	0–1
Nottingham Forest !Nottingham Forest	0–1	2–2	3–2	4–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–2	2–0		5–3	5–0	4–0	3–0	3–3	3–0	1–0	0–0	0–0
Oxford United !Oxford United	0–0	2–1	4–4	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–3	2–5	0–2	1–3	3–0	0–2		4–2	2–0	0–3	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	2–5
Portsmouth !Portsmouth	1–1	1–1	0–3	0–0	2–1	0–1	0–2	3–1	1–2	1–2	2–2	0–1	2–2		0–1	1–2	2–2	0–0	1–1	2–1	2–1
Queens Park Rangers !Queens Park Rangers	2–0	2–0	3–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	3–0	2–1	3–2	2–1		1–1	3–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	1–0
Sheffield Wednesday !Sheffield Wednesday	3–3	2–0	3–0	0–3	2–1	1–0	1–5	0–2	2–4	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–0	3–1		2–1	0–3	2–3	2–1	1–0
Southampton !Southampton	4–2	0–1	3–0	1–2	1–2	0–4	2–2	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	3–0	0–2	0–1	1–1		2–1	1–0	2–1	2–2
Tottenham Hotspur !Tottenham Hotspur	1–2	0–1	1–0	2–2	0–0	2–1	0–2	2–1	1–1	3–1	1–3	1–1	3–0	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–1		2–1	2–1	0–3
Watford !Watford	2–0	2–1	0–3	0–1	1–1	1–2	1–4	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	3–0	0–0	0–1	1–3	0–1	1–1		1–2	1–0
West Ham United !West Ham United	0–1	1–1	4–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	3–2	1–1	1–1	0–3	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–0		1–2
Wimbledon !Wimbledon	3–1	4–1	2–2	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–2	1–1	2–0	3–0	1–2	1–1

Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Millwall	44	15	3	4	45	23	10	4	8	27	29	72	52	+20	82
2	Aston Villa	44	9	7	6	31	21	13	5	4	37	20	68	41	+27	78
3	Middlesbrough	44	15	4	3	44	16	7	8	7	19	20	63	36	+27	78	^{[notes2 1]}
4	Bradford City	44	14	3	5	49	26	8	8	6	25	28	74	54	+20	77
5	Blackburn Rovers	44	12	8	2	38	22	9	6	7	30	30	68	52	+16	77
6	Crystal Palace	44	16	3	3	50	21	6	6	10	36	38	86	59	+27	75
7	Leeds United	44	14	4	4	37	18	5	8	9	24	33	61	51	+10	69
8	Ipswich Town	44	14	3	5	38	17	5	6	11	23	35	61	52	+9	66
9	Manchester City	44	11	4	7	50	28	8	4	10	30	32	80	60	+20	65
10	Oldham Athletic	44	13	4	5	43	27	5	7	10	29	37	72	64	+8	65
11	Stoke City	44	12	6	4	34	22	5	5	12	16	35	50	57	– 7	62
12	Swindon Town	44	10	7	5	43	25	6	4	12	30	35	73	60	+13	59
13	Leicester City	44	12	5	5	35	20	4	6	12	27	41	62	61	+1	59
14	Barnsley	44	11	4	7	42	32	4	8	10	19	30	61	62	– 1	57
15	Hull City	44	10	8	4	32	22	4	7	11	22	38	54	60	– 6	57
16	Plymouth Argyle	44	12	4	6	44	26	4	4	14	21	41	65	67	– 2	56
17	Bournemouth	44	7	7	8	36	30	6	3	13	20	38	56	68	– 12	49
18	Shrewsbury Town	44	7	8	7	23	22	4	8	10	19	32	42	54	– 12	49
19	Birmingham City	44	7	9	6	20	24	4	6	12	21	42	41	66	– 25	48
20	West Bromwich Albion	44	8	7	7	29	26	4	4	14	21	43	50	69	– 19	47
21	Sheffield United	44	8	6	8	27	28	5	1	16	18	46	45	74	– 29	46	^{[notes2 2]}
22	Reading	44	5	7	10	20	25	5	5	12	24	45	44	70	– 26	42
23	Huddersfield Town	44	4	6	12	20	38	2	4	16	21	62	41	100	– 59	28

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

↑ Middlesbrough won the play-offs and were thus promoted.
↑ Sheffield United lost in the first round of the play-offs and were thus relegated.

Key
	Division Champions - automatically promoted to First Division
	Division runners-up - automatically promoted to First Division
	Promoted via the Second Division play-offs
	Participated in Second Division play-offs
	Relegated via the Third Division play-offs
	Automatically relegated to the Third Division

Second Division play-offs

The team fourth from bottom of the First Division played off for one place in that division with the teams finishing third, fourth and fifth in the Second Division. In the semi-final, Chelsea of the First Division beat fifth-placed Blackburn Rovers 6–1 on aggregate, and third-placed Middlesbrough beat Bradford City 3–2 on aggregate. The final was also played over two legs. Playing at their Ayresome Park ground in front of an Ayresome Park crowd of 25,531, Middlesbrough won the first leg 2–0 with goals from Bernie Slaven and Trevor Senior. In the second leg at Stamford Bridge, which was marred by violence perpetrated by some of the 40,550 spectators, Chelsea's Gordon Durie scored the only goal. Thus Middlesbrough won 2–1 on aggregate and were promoted to the First Division for 1988–89, while Chelsea were relegated to the Second.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Semi-finals 1st leg – 15 May; 2nd leg – 18 May 1988				Final 1st leg – 25 May; 2nd leg – 28 May 1988


Blackburn Rovers	0	1	1

Chelsea (Div 1)	2	4	6
				Chelsea (Div 1)	0	1	1

				Middlesbrough	2	0	2
Bradford City	2	0	2

Middlesbrough	1	2	3

Source:^[6]

Second Division results

Home ╲ Away	Aston Villa !AST	Barnsley !BAR	Birmingham City !BIR	Blackburn Rovers !BLB	Bournemouth !BOU	Bradford City !BRA	Crystal Palace !CRY	Huddersfield Town !HUD	Hull City !HUL	Ipswich Town !IPS	Leeds United !LEE	Leicester City !LEI	Manchester City !MCI	Middlesbrough !MID	Millwall !MIL	Oldham Athletic !OLD	Plymouth Argyle !PLY	Reading !REA	Sheffield United !SHU	Shrewsbury Town !SHR	Stoke City !STK	Swindon Town !SWI	West Bromwich Albion !WBA
Aston Villa !Aston Villa		0–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	4–1	1–1	5–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–2	5–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–0
Barnsley !Barnsley	1–3		2–2	0–1	2–1	3–0	2–1	1–0	1–3	2–3	1–1	1–1	3–1	0–3	4–1	1–1	2–1	5–2	1–2	2–1	5–2	0–1	3–1
Birmingham City !Birmingham City	1–2	2–0		1–0	1–1	1–1	0–6	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–2	0–3	0–0	1–0	1–3	0–1	2–2	1–0	0–0	2–0	1–1	0–1
Blackburn Rovers !Blackburn Rovers	3–2	0–1	2–0		3–1	1–1	2–0	2–2	2–1	1–0	1–1	3–3	2–1	0–2	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	4–1	2–2	2–0	0–0	3–1
Bournemouth !Bournemouth	1–2	1–2	4–2	1–1		2–0	2–3	0–2	6–2	1–1	0–0	2–3	0–2	0–0	1–2	2–2	2–2	3–0	1–2	2–0	0–0	2–0	3–2
Bradford City !Bradford City	2–4	1–1	4–0	2–1	2–0		2–0	0–1	2–0	2–3	0–0	4–1	2–4	2–0	3–1	5–3	3–1	3–0	2–0	1–1	1–4	2–0	4–1
Crystal Palace !Crystal Palace	1–1	3–2	3–0	2–0	3–0	1–1		2–1	2–2	1–2	3–0	2–1	2–0	3–1	1–0	3–1	5–1	2–3	2–1	1–2	2–0	2–1	4–1
Huddersfield Town !Huddersfield Town	0–1	2–2	2–2	1–2	1–2	1–2	2–2		0–2	1–2	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–4	2–1	2–2	2–1	0–2	0–2	0–0	0–3	0–3	1–3
Hull City !Hull City	2–1	1–2	2–0	2–2	2–1	0–0	2–1	4–0		1–0	3–1	2–2	3–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–2	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–4	1–0
Ipswich Town !Ipswich Town	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–2	4–0	2–3	3–0	2–0		1–0	0–2	3–0	4–0	1–1	2–0	1–2	2–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	3–2	1–1
Leeds United !Leeds United	1–3	0–2	4–1	2–2	3–2	2–0	1–0	3–0	0–2	1–0		1–0	2–0	2–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	5–0	2–1	0–0	4–2	1–0
Leicester City !Leicester City	0–2	0–0	2–0	1–2	0–1	0–2	4–4	3–0	2–1	1–1	3–2		1–0	0–0	1–0	4–1	4–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	3–2	3–0
Manchester City !Manchester City	0–2	1–1	3–0	1–2	2–0	2–2	1–3	10–1	2–0	2–0	1–2	4–2		1–1	4–0	1–2	2–1	2–0	2–3	1–3	3–0	1–1	4–2
Middlesbrough !Middlesbrough	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	3–1	2–0	1–2	2–1		1–1	1–0	3–1	0–0	6–0	4–0	2–0	2–3	2–1
Millwall !Millwall	2–1	3–1	3–1	1–4	1–2	0–1	1–1	4–1	2–0	2–1	3–1	1–0	0–1	2–1		1–1	3–2	3–0	3–1	4–1	2–0	2–2	2–0
Oldham Athletic !Oldham Athletic	0–1	1–0	1–2	4–2	2–0	0–2	1–0	3–2	1–2	3–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	0–0		0–1	4–2	3–2	2–2	5–1	4–3	2–1
Plymouth Argyle !Plymouth Argyle	1–3	0–0	1–1	3–0	1–2	2–1	1–3	6–1	3–1	0–0	6–3	4–0	3–2	0–1	1–2	1–0		1–3	1–0	2–0	3–0	1–0	3–3
Reading !Reading	0–2	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–3	3–2	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–2	0–2	0–0	2–3	3–0	0–1		2–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–2
Sheffield United !Sheffield United	1–1	1–0	0–2	3–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	2–2	2–1	4–1	2–2	2–1	1–2	0–2	1–2	0–5	1–0	4–1		0–1	0–0	1–0	0–0
Shrewsbury Town !Shrewsbury Town	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–2	2–1	2–2	2–0	3–1	2–2	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	2–3	2–1	0–1	2–0		0–3	2–1	0–1
Stoke City !Stoke City	0–0	3–1	3–1	2–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–1	1–3	1–0	1–2	2–2	1–0	4–2	1–0	1–1		1–0	3–0
Swindon Town !Swindon Town	0–0	3–0	0–2	1–2	4–2	2–2	2–2	4–1	0–0	4–2	1–2	3–2	3–4	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	4–0	2–0	1–1	3–0		2–0
West Bromwich Albion !West Bromwich Albion	0–2	2–2	3–1	0–1	3–0	0–1	1–0	3–2	1–1	2–2	1–4	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–4	0–0	1–0	0–1	4–0	2–1	2–0	1–2

Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Sunderland	46	14	7	2	51	22	13	5	5	41	26	92	48	+44	93
2	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	15	7	1	37	16	8	8	7	32	31	69	47	+22	84
3	Walsall	46	15	6	2	39	22	8	7	8	29	28	68	50	+18	82	^{[notes4 1]}
4	Notts County	46	14	4	5	53	24	9	8	6	29	25	82	49	+33	81
5	Bristol City	46	14	6	3	51	30	7	6	10	26	32	77	62	+15	75
6	Northampton Town	46	12	8	3	36	18	6	11	6	34	33	70	51	+19	73
7	Wigan Athletic	46	11	8	4	36	23	9	4	10	34	38	70	61	+9	72
8	Bristol Rovers	46	14	5	4	43	19	4	7	12	25	37	68	56	+12	66
9	Fulham	46	10	5	8	36	24	9	4	10	33	36	69	60	+9	66
10	Blackpool	46	13	4	6	45	27	4	10	9	26	35	71	62	+9	65
11	Port Vale	46	12	8	3	36	19	6	3	14	22	37	58	56	+2	65
12	Brentford	46	9	8	6	27	23	7	6	10	26	36	53	59	– 6	62
13	Gillingham	46	8	9	6	45	21	6	8	9	32	40	77	61	+16	59
14	Bury	46	9	7	7	33	26	6	7	10	25	31	58	57	+1	59
15	Chester City	46	9	8	6	29	30	5	8	10	22	32	51	62	– 11	58
16	Preston North End	46	10	6	7	30	23	5	7	11	18	36	48	59	– 11	58
17	Southend United	46	10	6	7	42	33	4	7	12	23	50	65	83	– 18	55
18	Chesterfield	46	10	5	8	25	28	5	5	13	16	42	41	70	– 29	55
19	Mansfield Town	46	10	6	7	25	21	4	6	13	23	38	48	59	– 11	54
20	Aldershot	46	12	3	8	45	32	3	5	15	19	42	64	74	– 10	53
21	Rotherham United	46	8	8	7	28	25	4	8	11	22	41	50	66	– 16	52	^{[notes4 2]}
22	Grimsby Town	46	6	7	10	25	29	6	7	10	23	29	48	58	– 10	50
23	York City	46	4	7	12	27	45	4	2	17	21	46	48	91	– 43	33
24	Doncaster Rovers	46	6	5	12	25	36	2	4	17	15	48	40	84	– 44	33

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

↑ Walsall won the play-offs and were thus promoted.
↑ Rotherham United lost in the first round of the play-offs and were thus relegated.

Key
	Division Champions - automatically promoted to Second Division
	Division Runners-up - automatically promoted to Second Division
	Promoted via the Third Division play-offs
	Participated in Third Division play-offs
	Relegated via the Fourth Division play-offs
	Automatically relegated to the Fourth Division

Third Division play-offs

Semi-finals 1st leg – 15 May; 2nd leg – 18 May 1988					Final 1st leg – 25 May; 2nd leg – 28 May 1988


21st	Sheffield United (Div 2)	0	1	1

5th	Bristol City	1	1	2
					3rd	Walsall	3	0	3

					5th	Bristol City	1	2	3
3rd	Walsall	3	1	4

4th	Notts County	1	1	2

Replay

Walsall v Bristol City

30 May 1988

Walsall	4 – 0	Bristol City
	Report/Soccerbase

Fellows Park, Walsall
Attendance: 13,007

Fourth Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	15	3	5	47	19	12	6	5	35	24	82	43	+39	90
2	Cardiff City	46	15	6	2	39	14	9	7	7	27	27	66	41	+25	85
3	Bolton Wanderers	46	15	6	2	42	12	7	6	10	24	30	66	42	+24	78
4	Scunthorpe United	46	14	5	4	42	20	6	12	5	34	31	76	51	+25	77
5	Torquay United	46	10	7	6	34	16	11	7	5	32	25	66	41	+25	77
6	Swansea City	46	9	7	7	35	28	11	3	9	27	28	62	56	+6	70	^{[notes5 1]}
7	Peterborough United	46	10	5	8	28	26	10	5	8	24	27	52	53	– 1	70
8	Leyton Orient	46	13	4	6	55	27	6	8	9	30	36	85	63	+22	69
9	Colchester United	46	10	5	8	23	22	9	5	9	24	29	47	51	– 4	67
10	Burnley	46	12	5	6	31	22	8	2	13	26	40	57	62	– 5	67
11	Wrexham	46	13	3	7	46	26	7	3	13	23	32	69	58	+11	66
12	Scarborough	46	12	8	3	38	19	5	6	12	18	29	56	48	+8	65
13	Darlington	46	13	6	4	39	25	5	5	13	32	44	71	69	+2	65
14	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	2	7	43	20	5	7	11	18	33	61	53	+8	64
15	Cambridge United	46	10	6	7	32	24	6	7	10	18	28	50	52	– 2	61
16	Hartlepool United	46	9	7	7	25	25	6	7	10	25	32	50	57	– 7	59
17	Crewe Alexandra	46	7	11	5	25	19	6	8	9	32	34	57	53	+4	58
18	Halifax Town	46	11	7	5	37	25	3	7	13	17	34	54	59	– 5	55
19	Hereford United	46	8	7	8	25	27	6	5	12	16	32	41	59	– 18	54
20	Stockport County	46	7	7	9	26	26	5	8	10	18	32	44	58	– 14	51
21	Rochdale	46	5	9	9	28	34	6	6	11	19	42	47	76	– 29	48
22	Exeter City	46	8	6	9	33	29	3	7	13	20	39	53	68	– 15	46
23	Carlisle United	46	9	5	9	38	33	3	3	17	19	53	57	86	– 29	44
24	Newport County	46	4	5	14	19	36	2	2	19	16	69	35	105	– 70	25

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

↑ Swansea City won the play-offs and were thus promoted.

Key
	Division Champions - automatically promoted to Third Division
	Division Runners-up - automatically promoted to Third Division
	Promoted via the Fourth Division play-offs
	Participated in Fourth Division play-offs
	Welsh Cup Winners - qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
	Newly promoted from the Football Conference
	Automatically relegated to the Football Conference

Fourth Division play-offs

Both the semifinals and the finals were decided over two legs
The full results can be found in the main article (see link above).

Semi-finals 1st leg – 15 May; 2nd leg – 18 May 1988					Finals 1st leg – 25 May; 2nd leg – 28 May 1988


21st	Rotherham United (Div 3)	0	1	1

6th	Swansea City	1	1	2
					6th	Swansea City	2	3	5

					5th	Torquay United	1	3	4
4th	Scunthorpe United	1	1	2

5th	Torquay United	2	1	3

Goalscorers

The top goalscorers in each division were:

Division 1 - John Aldridge (26) ^[7]
Division 2 - David Currie (28)^[7]
Division 3 - David Crown (26)^[8]
Division 4 - Steve Bull (34)^[8]

References

↑ "England 1987–88". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 27 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
↑ "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
↑ Felton, Paul. "Season 1987–88". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 26 May 2016.
↑ "Chelsea Football Club Match Results Season 1987–1988". bounder.friardale.co.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
↑ Barley, Sophie (3 August 2015). "'The Battle of Stamford Bridge': Violent scenes on a victorious day for Boro". The Gazette. Middlesbrough. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
↑ "English Division One–Two (old) Play-Offs 1987–1988". Statto. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
1 2 James M Ross (15 July 2011). "Football League Div 1 & 2 Leading Goalscorers 1947-92". RSSSF. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
1 2 James M Ross (15 July 2011). "Football League Div 3 & 4 Leading Goalscorers 1947-92". RSSSF. Retrieved 21 January 2012.

English Football League seasons

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1987–88 in English football

« 1986–87

1988–89 »

FA competitions

Football League

Lower leagues

Related to national team

Bobby Robson
Rous Cup
UEFA Euro 1988 (qualification – Group 4)

Club seasons
First Division	Arsenal Charlton Athletic Chelsea Coventry City Derby County Everton Liverpool Luton Town Manchester United Newcastle United Norwich City Nottingham Forest Oxford United Portsmouth Queens Park Rangers Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Tottenham Hotspur Watford West Ham United Wimbledon
Second Division	Aston Villa Barnsley Birmingham City Blackburn Rovers Bournemouth Bradford City Crystal Palace Huddersfield Town Hull City Ipswich Town Leeds United Leicester City Manchester City Middlesbrough Millwall Oldham Athletic Plymouth Argyle Reading Sheffield United Shrewsbury Town Swindon Town Stoke City West Bromwich Albion
Third Division	Aldershot Blackpool Brentford Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol City Bristol Rovers Bury Chester City Chesterfield Doncaster Rovers Fulham Gillingham Grimsby Town Mansfield Town Northampton Town Port Vale Preston North End Notts County Rotherham United Southend United Sunderland Walsall Wigan Athletic York City
Fourth Division	Bolton Wanderers Burnley Cardiff City Cambridge United Carlisle United Colchester United Crewe Alexandra Darlington Exeter City Halifax Town Hartlepool United Hereford United Leyton Orient Newport County Peterborough United Rochdale Scarborough Scunthorpe United Southport Stockport County Swansea City Torquay United Tranmere Rovers Wolverhampton Wanderers Wrexham

1987–88 in European football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '87 '88 England Faroe Islands '87 '88 Finland '87 '88 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '87 '88 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '87 '88 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union '87 '88 Spain Sweden '87 '88 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '87 '88 Finland '87 '88 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '87 '88 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '87 '88 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Israel Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Scotland Soviet Union '87 '88
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Intertoto Cup Super Cup

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1987–88 Football League

Overview

First Division

Second Division

Third Division

Fourth Division

Final league tables and results

First Division

First Division results

Second Division

Second Division play-offs

Second Division results

Third Division

Third Division play-offs

Fourth Division

Fourth Division play-offs

Goalscorers

See also

References