| Nextseason: | 1987–88 |
The 1986–87 season was the 88th completed season of The Football League.
Play-offs to determine promotion places were introduced in 1987 so that more clubs remained eligible for promotion closer to the end of the season, and at the same time to aid in the reduction over two years of the number of clubs in the First Division from 22 to 20.
At the same time, automatic promotion and relegation between the Fourth Division and the Football Conference was introduced for one club, replacing the annual application for re-election to the League of the bottom four clubs and linking the League to the developing National League System pyramid.
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]
As of this season, there were no more re-election procedures, but instead, the club finishing last in the Fourth Division was demoted to Conference. The first casualty of this new practice were Lincoln City.
| Competition: | First Division |
| Season: | 1986–87 |
| Winners: | Everton 9th English title |
| Relegated: | Leicester City Manchester City Aston Villa |
| League Topscorer: | Clive Allen (33 goals)[2] |
| Biggest Home Win: | (20 September 1986) (2 May 1987) |
| Biggest Away Win: | (20 September 1986) (15 November 1986) (29 November 1986) (6 December 1986) (26 December 1986) |
| Highest Scoring: | (20 September 1986) (11 October 1986) (1 November 1986) (2 May 1987) |
| Matches: | 462 |
| Total Goals: | 1215 |
| Longest Wins: | 7 matches Everton |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 17 matches Arsenal |
| Longest Losses: | 6 matches Newcastle United |
| Prevseason: | 1985–86 |
| Nextseason: | 1987–88 |
The First Division championship went to Everton in their final season under the management of Howard Kendall before his departure to Athletic Bilbao. This remains Everton's last league title. His side overcame a spate of injuries to fight off competition from runners-up Liverpool and third-placed Tottenham Hotspur. Fourth place went to George Graham's emerging young Arsenal side who also won the League Cup in his first season in charge. Fifth place went to newly-promoted Norwich City, whose manager Ken Brown built a strong squad on a limited budget to achieve a finish which would have been enough to qualify for the UEFA Cup had it not been for the ongoing ban on English clubs in European competitions.
Wimbledon finished sixth in the First Division in only their tenth season as a Football League club. Dave Bassett's men had led the league for the first two weeks of September, but sixth place was still much higher than most pundits had predicted at the start of the season. Luton Town enjoyed their highest league position by finishing seventh.
Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson had been under pressure for months, after his side had finished fourth in the league in 1985–86, 12 points behind the champions, Liverpool. The United board had initially decided to stick with Atkinson as manager for the 1986–87 season, but finally sacked him in November with United fourth from bottom in the league and having suffered a League Cup exit to Southampton. Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson took over, and results began to improve despite no immediate new signings being made, with United finally finishing 11th.
West Ham United, who had come close to winning the title the previous season, slipped to 15th place in 1986–87.
Aston Villa were relegated to the Second Division just five years after they won the European Cup. Chairman Doug Ellis had sensed from the start that 1986-87 would be a tough season for the club, so he axed manager Graham Turner in September and replaced him with Manchester City's Billy McNeill. But McNeill was unable to stop the rot and Villa went down in bottom place. McNeill was subsequently sacked and replaced by Watford's Graham Taylor.
Villa were joined on the way down by Manchester City and Leicester City. In the first season of the relegation/promotion play-offs, Charlton Athletic beat Second Division Leeds United to retain their top flight status.
No European qualification took place due to UEFA voting to ban English clubs from European competitions for a third season following the Heysel disaster in 1985.
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | Steve Burtenshaw | End of caretaker spell | 14 May 1986 | Pre-season | George Graham | 14 May 1986 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Peter Shreeves | Sacked | 15 May 1986 | David Pleat | 16 May 1986 | |
| Luton Town | David Pleat | Signed by Tottenham Hotspur | 16 May 1986 | John Moore | 16 May 1986 | |
| Leicester City | Gordon Milne | Became general manager | 3 June 1986 | Bryan Hamilton | 3 June 1986 | |
| Aston Villa | Graham Turner | Sacked | 16 September 1986 | 21st | Billy McNeill | 22 September 1986 |
| Manchester City | Billy McNeill | Signed by Aston Villa | 22 September 1986 | 15th | Jimmy Frizzell | 22 September 1986 |
| Manchester United | Ron Atkinson | Sacked | 6 November 1986 | 19th | Alex Ferguson | 7 November 1986 |
| Aston Villa | Billy McNeill | 6 May 1987 | 22nd | Ron Wylie (caretaker) | 6 May 1987 |
| Competition: | Second Division |
| Season: | 1986–87 |
| Winners: | Derby County |
| Promoted: | Derby County Portsmouth |
| Relegated: | Sunderland Grimsby Town Brighton & Hove Albion |
| League Topscorer: | Micky Quinn (22 goals) |
| Matches: | 462 |
| Total Goals: | 1131 |
| Prevseason: | 1985–86 |
| Nextseason: | 1987–88 |
There were just two guaranteed promotion places in the Second Division this season due to the introduction of the playoffs and the phased reorganization of the league. Derby County finished top of the Second Division to clinch a second successive promotion and reclaim the First Division place they had last held in 1980. Portsmouth, absent from the First Division for nearly 30 years and who had missed promotion by a single place in the previous two seasons, finally achieved promotion by finishing second. Oldham Athletic and Ipswich Town failed to progress beyond the semi-finals of the new playoffs, leaving Leeds United to take on Charlton Athletic in a two-legged contest for a First Division place. Charlton won the replay to keep their First Division status and condemn Leeds to a sixth successive season in the Second Division.
Financially troubled Grimsby Town were relegated, along with Brighton & Hove Albion. Sunderland's second relegation in three seasons condemned them to Third Division football for the first time in their history as they went down after losing in the playoffs.
The three promotion places in this division were gained by three clubs who were among the least fancied promotion contenders at the start of the season. Champions Bournemouth were promoted to the Second Division for the first time in their history thanks to the efforts of hard working manager Harry Redknapp. Runners-up spot went to Bruce Rioch's Middlesbrough, who had begun the season on the verge of extinction and had been forced to play their first home game of the season at Hartlepool's ground because the official receiver had locked them out of Ayresome Park.
The relegation/promotion play-offs between the Third and Fourth Divisions saw Bolton Wanderers go down to the bottom division for the first time. Newport County, Darlington and Carlisle United went down automatically. The Fourth Division would be familiar territory for Newport and Darlington, but Carlisle had not played in the Fourth Division for nearly a quarter of a century and just three years earlier had been in the race for a First Division place. Defeat in the playoffs meant that Bolton Wanderers would be playing Fourth Division football for the first time in their history.
| Season: | 1986–87 |
| Winners: | Bournemouth (1st title) |
| Continentalcup1: | Promoted |
| Continentalcup2: | Relegated |
| League Topscorer: | Andy Jones (Port Vale), 29 |
| Matches: | 552 |
| Total Goals: | 1471 |
| Nextseason: | 1987–88 |
Both the semifinals and the finals were decided over two legs.
The full results can be found at: Football League Division Three play-offs 1987.
Both the semifinals and the finals were decided over two legs, and only the aggregates are given in the schemata below.
The full results can be found at: Football League Division Four play-offs 1987.
The stars of the Fourth Division during 1986-87 were Graham Carr's runaway champions Northampton Town, with young midfielder Eddie McGoldrick being the key player in his side's season of success. Northampton were confirmed as promoted with nine matches (19.6% of all matches) remaining, the earliest promotion in Football League history to date.[3]
Also automatically promoted were Preston North End and Southend United. The fourth promotion place went to Aldershot by winning the promotion/relegation playoffs.
Down at the bottom end of the division, an injury time winner for Torquay United kept them in the Football League after a police dog had bitten one of their players. The introduction of automatic relegation to the Conference saw Lincoln City lose their league status in favour of Conference champions Scarborough.
Burnley – league champions 27 years earlier – plummeted to new depths. They finished third from bottom in the league and only a win on the last day of the season prevented them from going down to the Conference.
| Season: | 1986–87 |
| Winners: | Northampton Town (1st title) |
| Continentalcup1: | Promoted |
| Continentalcup2: | Relegated |
| Continentalcup3: | New club in the league |
| League Topscorer: | Richard Hill (Northampton Town), 29 |
| Matches: | 552 |
| Total Goals: | 1456 |
| Nextseason: | 1987–88 |