1987–88 Football League

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

The Football League

Season	1987–88
Champions	Liverpool
Relegated	Newport County
New club in League	Scarborough
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

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
Goals scored	1,049 (2.5 per match)
Top goalscorer	John Aldridge (Liverpool), 26 [2]
Longest winning run	Liverpool (8 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Liverpool (29 games)
Longest losing run	Oxford United (6 games)
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

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.

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Liverpool	40	15	5	0	49	9	11	7	2	38	15	+63	90	Football League Champions[lower-alpha 1]
2	Manchester United	40	14	5	1	41	17	9	7	4	30	21	+33	81
3	Nottingham Forest	40	11	7	2	40	17	9	6	5	27	22	+28	73
4	Everton	40	14	4	2	34	11	5	9	6	19	16	+26	70
5	Queens Park Rangers	40	12	4	4	30	14	7	6	7	18	24	+10	67
6	Arsenal	40	11	4	5	35	16	7	8	5	23	23	+19	66
7	Wimbledon	40	8	9	3	32	20	6	6	8	26	27	+11	57	FA Cup winners
8	Newcastle United	40	9	6	5	32	23	5	8	7	23	30	+2	56
9	Luton Town	40	11	6	3	40	21	3	5	12	17	37	−1	53	Football League Cup winners
10	Coventry City	40	6	8	6	23	25	7	6	7	23	28	−7	53
11	Sheffield Wednesday	40	10	2	8	27	30	5	6	9	25	36	−14	53
12	Southampton	40	6	8	6	27	26	6	6	8	22	27	−4	50
13	Tottenham Hotspur	40	9	5	6	26	23	3	6	11	12	25	−10	47
14	Norwich City	40	7	5	8	26	26	5	4	11	14	26	−12	45
15	Derby County	40	6	7	7	18	17	4	6	10	17	28	−10	43
16	West Ham United	40	6	9	5	23	21	3	6	11	17	31	−12	42
17	Charlton Athletic	40	7	7	6	23	21	2	8	10	15	31	−14	42
18	Chelsea	40	7	11	2	24	17	2	4	14	26	51	−18	42	Relegated via the Second Division play-offs[lower-alpha 2]
19	Portsmouth	40	4	8	8	21	27	3	6	11	15	39	−30	35	Automatically relegated to the Second Division
20	Watford	40	4	5	11	15	24	3	6	11	12	27	−24	32
21	Oxford United	40	5	7	8	24	34	1	6	13	20	46	−36	31

Source:
Notes:

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

First Division results

Home \ Away	ARS	CHA	CHE	COV	DER	EVE	LIV	LUT	MUN	NEW	NWC	NOT	OXF	POR	QPR	SHW	SOU	TOT	WAT	WHU	WDN
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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

First Division maps

Arsenal

Charlton Athletic

Chelsea

Tottenham

Queens Park Rangers

Watford

West Ham

Wimbledon

Locations of the Football League First Division London teams 1987–1988

Arsenal

Charlton

Chelsea

Coventry

Derby County

Everton

Liverpool

Luton Town

Manchester United

Newcastle

Norwich City

Nottingham Forest

Oxford

Portsmouth

QPR

Sheffield Wednesday

Southampton

Tottenham

Watford

West Ham

Wimbledon

Locations of the Football League First Division 1987–1988 teams

Second Division

Football League, Second Division

Season	1987–88
Champions	Millwall
Promoted	Aston Villa, Middlesbrough
Relegated	Huddersfield Town, Reading, Sheffield United
Matches played	506
Goals scored	1,389 (2.75 per match)
Biggest home win	Manchester City – Huddersfield Town 10–1 (7 Nov 1987)
Biggest away win	Birmingham City – Crystal Palace 0–6 (5 Sep 1987)
Highest scoring	Manchester City – Huddersfield Town 10–1 (7 Nov 1987)
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

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.

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Millwall	44	15	3	4	45	23	10	4	8	27	29	+20	82	Champions - automatically promoted to First Division
2	Aston Villa	44	9	7	6	31	21	13	5	4	37	20	+27	78	Runners-up - automatically promoted to First Division
3	Middlesbrough	44	15	4	3	44	16	7	8	7	19	20	+27	78	Promoted via the Second Division play-offs[lower-alpha 1]
4	Bradford City	44	14	3	5	49	26	8	8	6	25	28	+20	77	Participated in Second Division play-offs
5	Blackburn Rovers	44	12	8	2	38	22	9	6	7	30	30	+16	77
6	Crystal Palace	44	16	3	3	50	21	6	6	10	36	38	+27	75
7	Leeds United	44	14	4	4	37	18	5	8	9	24	33	+10	69
8	Ipswich Town	44	14	3	5	38	17	5	6	11	23	35	+9	66
9	Manchester City	44	11	4	7	50	28	8	4	10	30	32	+20	65
10	Oldham Athletic	44	13	4	5	43	27	5	7	10	29	37	+8	65
11	Stoke City	44	12	6	4	34	22	5	5	12	16	35	−7	62
12	Swindon Town	44	10	7	5	43	25	6	4	12	30	35	+13	59
13	Leicester City	44	12	5	5	35	20	4	6	12	27	41	+1	59
14	Barnsley	44	11	4	7	42	32	4	8	10	19	30	−1	57
15	Hull City	44	10	8	4	32	22	4	7	11	22	38	−6	57
16	Plymouth Argyle	44	12	4	6	44	26	4	4	14	21	41	−2	56
17	Bournemouth	44	7	7	8	36	30	6	3	13	20	38	−12	49
18	Shrewsbury Town	44	7	8	7	23	22	4	8	10	19	32	−12	49
19	Birmingham City	44	7	9	6	20	24	4	6	12	21	42	−25	48
20	West Bromwich Albion	44	8	7	7	29	26	4	4	14	21	43	−19	47
21	Sheffield United	44	8	6	8	27	28	5	1	16	18	46	−29	46	Relegated via the Third Division play-offs[lower-alpha 2]
22	Reading	44	5	7	10	20	25	5	5	12	24	45	−26	42	Automatically relegated to the Third Division
23	Huddersfield Town	44	4	6	12	20	38	2	4	16	21	62	−59	28

Source:
Notes:

1. Middlesbrough won the play-offs and were thus promoted.
2. Sheffield United lost in the first round of the play-offs and were thus 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.[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	AST	BAR	BIR	BLB	BOU	BRA	CRY	HUD	HUL	IPS	LEE	LEI	MCI	MID	MIL	OLD	PLY	REA	SHU	SHR	STK	SWI	WBA
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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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.[7]

Football League, Third Division

Season	1987–88
Champions	Sunderland
Promoted	Brighton and Hove Albion, Walsall
Relegated	Rotherham United, Grimsby Town, York City, Doncaster Rovers
Matches played	552
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Sunderland	46	14	7	2	51	22	13	5	5	41	26	+44	93	Champions - promoted to Second Division
2	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	15	7	1	37	16	8	8	7	32	31	+22	84	Runners-up - promoted to Second Division
3	Walsall	46	15	6	2	39	22	8	7	8	29	28	+18	82	Promoted via the Third Division play-offs
4	Notts County	46	14	4	5	53	24	9	8	6	29	25	+33	81	Participated in Third Division play-offs
5	Bristol City	46	14	6	3	51	30	7	6	10	26	32	+15	75
6	Northampton Town	46	12	8	3	36	18	6	11	6	34	33	+19	73
7	Wigan Athletic	46	11	8	4	36	23	9	4	10	34	38	+9	72
8	Bristol Rovers	46	14	5	4	43	19	4	7	12	25	37	+12	66
9	Fulham	46	10	5	8	36	24	9	4	10	33	36	+9	66
10	Blackpool	46	13	4	6	45	27	4	10	9	26	35	+9	65
11	Port Vale	46	12	8	3	36	19	6	3	14	22	37	+2	65
12	Brentford	46	9	8	6	27	23	7	6	10	26	36	−6	62
13	Gillingham	46	8	9	6	45	21	6	8	9	32	40	+16	59
14	Bury	46	9	7	7	33	26	6	7	10	25	31	+1	59
15	Chester City	46	9	8	6	29	30	5	8	10	22	32	−11	58
16	Preston North End	46	10	6	7	30	23	5	7	11	18	36	−11	58
17	Southend United	46	10	6	7	42	33	4	7	12	23	50	−18	55
18	Chesterfield	46	10	5	8	25	28	5	5	13	16	42	−29	55
19	Mansfield Town	46	10	6	7	25	21	4	6	13	23	38	−11	54
20	Aldershot	46	12	3	8	45	32	3	5	15	19	42	−10	53
21	Rotherham United	46	8	8	7	28	25	4	8	11	22	41	−16	52	Relegated via the Fourth Division play-offs
22	Grimsby Town	46	6	7	10	25	29	6	7	10	23	29	−10	50	Automatically relegated to the Fourth Division
23	York City	46	4	7	12	27	45	4	2	17	21	46	−43	33
24	Doncaster Rovers	46	6	5	12	25	36	2	4	17	15	48	−44	33

Source: [7]

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

30 May 1988

Walsall	4 – 0	Bristol City
	Report/Soccerbase

Fellows Park, Walsall

Attendance: 13,007

Third Division results

Home \ Away	ALD	BLP	BRE	B&HA	BRC	BRR	BRY	CHE	CHF	DON	FUL	GIL	GRI	MAN	NOR	NTC	PTV	PNE	ROT	STD	SUN	WAL	WIG	YOR
Aldershot		0–0	4–1	1–4	2–1	3–0	0–2	4–1	2–0	2–1	0–3	6–0	3–2	3–0	4–4	0–2	3–0	0–0	1–3	0–1	3–2	1–1	3–2	1–2
Blackpool	3–2		0–1	1–3	4–2	2–1	5–1	0–1	1–0	4–2	2–1	3–3	3–0	2–0	3–1	1–1	1–2	3–0	3–0	1–1	0–2	1–2	0–0	2–1
Brentford	3–0	2–1		1–1	0–2	1–1	0–3	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	2–2	0–2	2–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–2
Brighton & Hove Albion	1–1	1–3	2–1		3–2	2–1	2–1	1–0	2–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	0–0	3–1	3–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	3–1	2–1	1–0	1–0
Bristol City	2–0	2–1	2–3	5–2		3–3	3–2	2–2	2–1	1–0	4–0	3–3	1–1	1–2	2–2	2–1	1–0	3–1	2–0	3–2	0–1	0–0	4–1	3–2
Bristol Rovers	3–1	2–0	0–0	1–2	1–0		0–0	2–2	2–0	4–0	3–1	2–0	4–2	2–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–2	3–1	0–0	4–0	3–0	2–3	2–1
Bury	1–0	3–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	4–1		0–1	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	0–2	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	4–0	2–2	2–2	2–3	2–2	0–2	0–1
Chester City	4–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–0	0–3	4–4		1–1	1–1	1–2	3–1	1–0	0–2	0–5	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–0
Chesterfield	1–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–4	0–1	1–0	0–0		0–1	1–0	1–4	0–3	3–1	0–2	2–0	1–3	0–0	3–2	3–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–1
Doncaster Rovers	0–0	2–1	0–1	0–2	1–2	0–1	1–2	2–2	1–0		2–2	4–2	1–0	0–2	0–2	0–1	1–1	3–2	2–2	0–1	0–2	0–4	3–4	2–0
Fulham	1–2	3–1	2–2	1–2	0–0	3–1	0–1	1–0	1–3	4–0		0–2	5–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–1	3–1	3–1	0–2	2–0	3–2	3–1
Gillingham	2–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	3–0	3–3	0–1	10–0	3–1	2–2		1–1	0–0	1–2	3–1	0–0	4–0	0–2	8–1	0–0	0–1	0–1	3–1
Grimsby Town	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–4	0–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–2	2–0		2–3	2–2	0–0	3–1	0–1	2–1	1–3	0–1	0–2	0–2	5–1
Mansfield Town	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	1–2	0–1	2–0	0–2	2–2	1–0		3–1	2–2	4–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–4	1–3	0–1	2–1
Northampton Town	1–1	3–3	2–1	1–1	3–0	2–1	0–0	2–0	4–0	1–0	3–2	2–1	2–1	2–0		0–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	4–0	0–2	2–2	1–1	0–0
Notts County	2–1	2–3	3–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	3–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	5–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	3–1		1–2	4–2	4–0	6–2	2–1	3–1	4–4	3–0
Port Vale	4–2	0–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	5–0	0–0	0–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–3		3–2	0–0	4–1	0–1	2–1	2–1	2–1
Preston North End	0–2	2–1	1–2	3–0	2–0	3–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–3	1–0	0–0	1–2	3–2		0–0	1–1	2–2	1–0	0–1	3–0
Rotherham United	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	4–1	1–1	0–1	5–2	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–2	0–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	2–2		1–1	1–4	0–1	1–1	0–1
Southend United	0–1	4–0	2–3	2–1	2–0	4–2	1–0	2–2	3–0	4–1	0–2	0–0	1–3	2–1	1–1	1–2	3–3	1–2	1–1		1–4	1–1	3–2	3–1
Sunderland	3–1	2–2	2–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	3–2	3–1	2–0	2–1	1–1	4–1	3–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–0	7–0		1–1	4–1	4–2
Walsall	2–0	3–2	4–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	0–0	3–2	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	5–2	2–1	2–2		1–2	2–1
Wigan Athletic	4–0	0–0	1–1	3–3	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–3	1–1	0–1	2–1	2–2	2–1	2–0	2–0	3–0	1–0	2–2	3–1		1–1
York City	2–2	1–3	1–1	0–2	0–1	0–4	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–3	0–2	0–2	2–2	2–2	3–5	2–3	1–1	1–2	0–3	2–1	1–3	3–1

Source: Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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.

Football League, Fourth Division

Season	1987–88
Champions	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Promoted	Cardiff City, Bolton Wanderers, Swansea City
Relegated	Newport County
New team in League	Scarborough
Matches played	552
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	15	3	5	47	19	12	6	5	35	24	+39	90	Champions - automatically promoted to Third Division
2	Cardiff City	46	15	6	2	39	14	9	7	7	27	27	+25	85	Automatically promoted to Third Division; Welsh Cup Winners - qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
3	Bolton Wanderers	46	15	6	2	42	12	7	6	10	24	30	+24	78	Automatically promoted to Third Division
4	Scunthorpe United	46	14	5	4	42	20	6	12	5	34	31	+25	77	Participated in Fourth Division play-offs
5	Torquay United	46	10	7	6	34	16	11	7	5	32	25	+25	77
6	Swansea City	46	9	7	7	35	28	11	3	9	27	28	+6	70	Promoted via the Fourth Division play-offs[lower-alpha 1]
7	Peterborough United	46	10	5	8	28	26	10	5	8	24	27	−1	70
8	Leyton Orient	46	13	4	6	55	27	6	8	9	30	36	+22	69
9	Colchester United	46	10	5	8	23	22	9	5	9	24	29	−4	67
10	Burnley	46	12	5	6	31	22	8	2	13	26	40	−5	67
11	Wrexham	46	13	3	7	46	26	7	3	13	23	32	+11	66
12	Scarborough[lower-alpha 2]	46	12	8	3	38	19	5	6	12	18	29	+8	65
13	Darlington	46	13	6	4	39	25	5	5	13	32	44	+2	65
14	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	2	7	43	20	5	7	11	18	33	+8	64[lower-alpha 3]
15	Cambridge United	46	10	6	7	32	24	6	7	10	18	28	−2	61
16	Hartlepool United	46	9	7	7	25	25	6	7	10	25	32	−7	59
17	Crewe Alexandra	46	7	11	5	25	19	6	8	9	32	34	+4	58
18	Halifax Town	46	11	7	5	37	25	3	7	13	17	34	−5	55[lower-alpha 4]
19	Hereford United	46	8	7	8	25	27	6	5	12	16	32	−18	54
20	Stockport County	46	7	7	9	26	26	5	8	10	18	32	−14	51
21	Rochdale	46	5	9	9	28	34	6	6	11	19	42	−29	48
22	Exeter City	46	8	6	9	33	29	3	7	13	20	39	−15	46
23	Carlisle United	46	9	5	9	38	33	3	3	17	19	53	−29	44
24	Newport County	46	4	5	14	19	36	2	2	19	16	69	−70	25	Automatically relegated to the Football Conference

Source:
Notes:

1. Swansea City won the play-offs and were thus promoted.
2. Newly promoted from the Football Conference
3. Tranmere Rovers were deducted two points.
4. Halifax Town were deducted one point.

Fourth Division play-offs

	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

Fourth Division results

Home \ Away	BOL	BUR	CAM	CAR	CRL	COL	CRE	DAR	EXE	HAL	HAR	HER	LEY	NPC	PET	ROC	SCA	SCU	STP	SWA	TOR	TRA	WOL	WRE
Bolton Wanderers		2–1	2–2	1–0	5–0	4–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	6–0	2–0	0–0	3–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–0	2–0
Burnley	2–1		0–2	1–2	4–3	0–3	0–0	2–1	3–0	3–1	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	1–2	4–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–3	1–0
Cambridge United	2–2	2–0		0–0	1–2	0–1	4–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	0–1	2–0	4–0	1–3	1–2	1–0	3–3	2–0	0–3	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–1
Cardiff City	1–0	2–1	4–0		4–2	1–0	2–0	3–1	3–2	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	4–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	3–0	3–2	1–1
Carlisle United	0–2	3–4	2–1	0–0		4–0	0–1	3–3	0–0	1–1	1–3	3–1	1–2	3–1	0–2	2–0	4–0	3–1	2–0	0–1	3–3	3–2	0–1	0–4
Colchester United	3–0	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–0		1–4	2–1	0–2	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	4–1	1–0	1–3	0–3	2–0	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–2
Crewe Alexandra	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	4–1	0–0		3–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	3–3	2–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	3–1	2–2	0–1	0–0	0–2	2–0
Darlington	1–0	4–2	0–1	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–0		4–1	4–1	1–1	3–1	2–2	0–2	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–4	1–2	2–0	1–1	0–0	2–2	2–1
Exeter City	1–1	1–2	3–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	3–1	4–1		1–2	1–0	2–2	2–3	3–0	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	3–1	0–1	0–1	2–4	1–1
Halifax Town	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–2	1–2	2–2	2–0		3–1	2–1	1–0	3–1	0–0	1–2	2–2	2–2	2–0	3–1	2–3	2–1	2–1	2–0
Hartlepool United	0–0	2–1	2–1	0–1	0–0	3–1	2–1	2–5	3–1	2–1		1–2	2–2	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–3	0–2	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–0
Hereford United	0–3	2–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	4–2		0–3	4–2	0–1	0–0	1–1	2–3	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–2
Leyton Orient	1–2	4–1	0–2	4–1	4–1	0–0	1–1	4–3	2–3	4–1	0–2	4–0		4–1	2–0	8–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	3–0	0–2	3–1	0–2	2–1
Newport County	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–2	1–2	1–2	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–3	0–0	0–0		0–4	0–1	0–4	1–1	1–2	1–2	3–1	0–3	1–3	2–0
Peterborough United	0–4	5–0	1–0	4–3	1–0	2–0	0–4	1–2	2–1	1–0	0–1	1–2	1–2	3–0		1–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–2	2–1	1–1	1–0
Rochdale	2–2	2–1	2–1	2–2	1–2	1–4	2–2	1–3	0–0	0–0	0–2	3–1	1–3	3–0	1–1		1–1	2–1	0–1	2–3	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–2
Scarborough	4–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	3–1	3–1	2–0	0–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	3–1	3–1	1–1	2–1		0–0	1–1	2–0	1–2	2–0	2–2	0–2
Scunthorpe United	1–1	1–1	3–2	2–1	1–0	2–2	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	3–0	3–0	3–2	3–1	5–0	1–0	0–1		0–0	1–2	2–3	3–0	0–1	3–1
Stockport County	1–2	2–0	0–2	0–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–2	5–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–1		0–2	2–1	1–2	0–2	1–1
Swansea City	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–2	3–1	1–2	2–4	3–0	0–2	1–1	2–1	3–0	3–0	1–2	2–1	0–3	3–0	1–1	1–1		1–1	1–2	1–2	2–1
Torquay United	2–1	1–3	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	6–1	0–0	5–0	0–1	1–2	3–0	0–1		1–0	0–0	6–1
Tranmere Rovers	2–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	3–0	0–2	2–2	2–1	2–1	2–0	3–1	0–1	2–1	4–0	3–1	6–1	1–0	1–3	4–0	1–2	1–1		3–0	1–0
Wolverhampton Wanderers	4–0	3–0	3–0	1–4	3–1	2–0	2–2	5–3	3–0	0–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–1	0–1	2–0	0–0	4–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	3–0		0–2
Wrexham	0–1	1–3	3–0	3–0	4–0	0–1	2–1	0–1	3–0	2–2	2–1	0–0	2–2	4–1	3–1	2–3	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–2	2–3	3–0	4–2

Source: Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Goalscorers

The top goalscorers in each division were:

• Division 1 - John Aldridge (26) [8]
• Division 2 - David Currie (28)[8]
• Division 3 - David Crown (26)[9]
• Division 4 - Steve Bull (34)[9]

See also

• 1987–88 in English football

References

1. "England 1987–88". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 27 January 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
2. "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
3. Felton, Paul. "Season 1987–88". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 26 May 2016.
4. "Chelsea Football Club Match Results Season 1987–1988". bounder.friardale.co.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
5. 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.
6. "English Division One–Two (old) Play-Offs 1987–1988". Statto. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
7. Edward Ackers. "Season 1987-88". English Football League Tables. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
8. James M Ross (15 July 2011). "Football League Div 1 & 2 Leading Goalscorers 1947-92". RSSSF. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
9. James M Ross (15 July 2011). "Football League Div 3 & 4 Leading Goalscorers 1947-92". RSSSF. Retrieved 21 January 2012.