The 1987–88 season was the 89th completed season of The Football League.
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, with home and away statistics separated.
First Division
Liverpool won the league title by nine points, and with only 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.
Final table
Results
Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Watford Graham Taylor Signed by Aston Villa 27 May 1987 Pre-season Dave Bassett 18 June 1987 Everton Howard Kendall Signed by Athletic Bilbao 18 June 1987 Colin Harvey 18 June 1987 Wimbledon Dave Bassett Signed by Watford 18 June 1987 Bobby Gould 25 June 1987 Luton Town John Moore Resigned 20 June 1987 Ray Harford 22 June 1987 Tottenham Hotspur David Pleat 23 October 1987 7th Trevor Hartley (caretaker) 23 October 1987 Norwich City Ken Brown Sacked 9 November 1987 19th Dave Stringer 9 November 1987 Tottenham Hotspur Trevor Hartley End of caretaker spell 28 November 1987 11th Terry Venables 28 November 1987 Watford Dave Bassett Sacked 11 January 1988 21st Steve Harrison 15 January 1988 Chelsea John Hollins 6 March 1988 16th Bobby Campbell 6 March 1988 Oxford United Maurice Evans Resigned 18 March 1988 20th Mark Lawrenson 19 March 1988
First Division maps
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, and Middlesbrough won promotion via play-offs.
Huddersfield Town and Sheffield United were relegated.
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 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.
Source:
Second Division results
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 automatic relegation places were occupied by Grimsby Town, York City and Doncaster Rovers, with Rotherham United relegated after play-offs.
Third Division play-offs
Replay
Third Division results
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.
Fourth Division play-offs
Fourth Division results
Goalscorers The top goalscorers in each division were: Division 1 - John Aldridge (26) Division 2 - David Currie (28) Division 3 - David Crown (26) Division 4 - Steve Bull (34)
Attendances Sources:
First Division
Second Division
See also 1987–88 in English football
References