The
1987
Events January
* January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency.
* January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade.
* January 3 – Afghan leader ...
–
88 season was the 89th completed season of
The Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...
.
Final league tables and results
The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found a
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundationwebsite,
with home and away statistics separated.
First Division
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
won the league title by nine points, and with only two defeats all season. Second in the league were
Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
.
The automatically relegated sides were
Watford
Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne.
Initially a smal ...
,
Oxford United
Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...
and
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
.
Chelsea were subsequently relegated as well after losing to
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
in the playoff final.
Final table
First Division results
Managerial changes
First Division maps
Second Division
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...
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
Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...
, and
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
won promotion via
play-offs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
.
Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football.
Huddersfield Town we ...
and
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...
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
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
6–1 on aggregate, and third-placed
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
beat
Bradford City
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander.
The club was founded in 1903 and ...
3–2 on aggregate. The final was also played
over two legs. Playing at their
Ayresome Park
Ayresome Park was a football stadium in the Ayresome area of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It ...
ground in front of a crowd of 25,531, Middlesbrough duly won the first leg 2–0 with goals from
Bernie Slaven
Bernard Joseph Slaven (born 13 November 1960) is a former professional Association football, football Forward (association football), striker. He scored 223 goals in 567 league and cup appearances throughout an 18-year career and also earned sev ...
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
Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...
won the
Third Division and went back up to the
Second Division. They were joined by runners-up
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...
and playoff winners
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...
. The automatic relegation places were occupied by
Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system.
Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...
,
York City
York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...
and
Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...
, with
Rotherham United
Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...
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
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
by defeating
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...
at Wembley.
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...
,
Cardiff City
Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...
and
Swansea City
Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...
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
John William Aldridge (born 18 September 1958) is a former footballer and manager. Nicknamed "Aldo", he was a prolific, record-breaking striker. His tally of 329 Football League goals is the sixth-highest in the history of English football.
...
(26)
[
* Division 2 - David Currie (28)]
* Division 3 - David Crown
David Ian Crown (born 16 February 1958) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a forward in the Football League, most notably for Cambridge United and Southend United. He also played for Reading, Gillingham, Brentford, Po ...
(26)
* Division 4 - Steve Bull
Stephen George Bull (born 28 March 1965) is an English former professional footballer who is best remembered for his 13-year spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers. He played there from 1986 until his retirement from playing in 1999, and holds the c ...
(34)[
]
Attendances
See also
* 1987–88 in English football
The 1987–88 season was the 108th season of competitive football in England.
Diary of the season
3 July 1987 – Chelsea sign defender Tony Dorigo from Aston Villa for £475,000.
6 July 1987 – Nottingham Forest's Dutch midfielder Johnn ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1987-88 Football League
English Football League seasons