The 1987–88 season was the 89th completed season of The Football League.

Final league tables and results [ edit ]

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.

Liverpool won the league title with a comfortable nine-point margin and just two defeats all season. Second in the league were Manchester United in their first full season under the management of Alex Ferguson. Nottingham Forest finished an impressive third after three seasons of mediocrity. Defending champions Everton finished fourth after manager Howard Kendall left to take over of Atletico Bilbao in Spain, handing over the reins at Goodison Park to his assistant Colin Harvey. QPR finished an impressive fifth after battling relegation the previous season. Arsenal dipped two places below the previous season's finish to occupy sixth place in the final table, and suffered a shock defeat to Luton Town in the final of the Football League Cup. Wimbledon, in only their second season in the First Division, complemented their shock FA Cup triumph over Liverpool by finishing an impressive seventh in the league.

Tottenham Hotspur, who had made a serious challenge for all three major domestic trophies the previous season, endured a disappointing season with a lack of goals in the league dragging them down to 13th place. Manager David Pleat resigned in controversial circumstances in October 1987 and was replaced by Terry Venables.

The automatically relegated sides were Watford, Oxford United and Portsmouth. Chelsea were subsequently relegated as well after losing to Middlesbrough in the playoff final, just two years after they had been contenders for the league title.

The top eight teams also qualified for the Football League Centenary Trophy.

^ All English teams excluded from European competition as a result of Heysel ^ Chelsea lost in the final round of the play-offs and were thus relegated.

First Division results [ edit ]

First Division maps [ edit ]

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, were relegated. The Second/Third Division relegation/promotion play-offs saw Sheffield United relegated.

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

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 a crowd of 25,531, Middlesbrough duly 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 [ edit ]

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 automatic relegation places were occupied by Grimsby Town, York City and Doncaster Rovers, with Rotherham United relegated after play-offs.[7]





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

Third Division results [ edit ]

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.

Fourth Division results [ edit ]

Goalscorers [ edit ]

The top goalscorers in each division were:

See also [ edit ]