1987–88 Football League

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
	← 1986–87 1988–89 →

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

The 1987–88 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

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

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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

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

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

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

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