| Club: | Nottingham Forest |
| Season: | 1987–88 |
| Manager: | Brian Clough |
| Chairman: | Maurice Roworth |
| Stadium: | The City Ground |
| League: | First Division |
| Cup1: | FA Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Semifinals |
| Cup2: | League Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | Third round |
| Pattern La1: | _left |
| Pattern B1: | _snalchik11a |
| Pattern Ra1: | _right |
| Pattern Sh1: | _shorts |
| Pattern So1: | _southampton1415h2 |
| Leftarm1: | FF0000 |
| Body1: | 77DDFF |
| Rightarm1: | FF0000 |
| Shorts1: | FFFFFF |
| Socks1: | FFFFFF |
| Pattern La2: | _redborder |
| Pattern B2: | _redcollarplain |
| Pattern Ra2: | _redborder |
| Socks2: | DD0000 |
| League Topscorer: | Clough (19) |
| Season Topscorer: | Clough (22) |
| Prevseason: | 1986–87 |
| Nextseason: | 1988–89 |
The 1987–88 season was Nottingham Forest's 123rd year in existence and 12th consecutive season in the First Division. Also the club competed in the FA Cup and League Cup.
The season was, surprisingly, a decent campaign for Clough, with the club finishing third in the league despite losing several players during summer, but they did not play in the UEFA Cup the following season due to the ban on English clubs in Europe after the Heysel Stadium disaster. They finished 17 points behind champions Liverpool, who lost just twice all season (one of them against Forest on 2 April) and for much of the campaign looked uncatchable.
Forest lost just seven times in the league in 40 games, and lost only twice at City Ground, but a few disappointing draws against relatively unfancied sides including Charlton and Luton led to crucial points being dropped and prevented them from mounting a serious threat to Liverpool.
New arrivals for Clough were coming from the Youth team such as: Steve Chettle,[1] Steve Locker, Gareth Price, Terry Wilson and Billy Stubbs, only to be Terry Wilson [2] the one who clinched a spot as starter. Also, the club transferred in Gary Crosby,[3] Tommy Gaynor,[4] Nigel Jemson[5] and Garry Parker in a clear sign of austerity for this season.
Meanwhile, Clough transferred out several starters such as: Ian Bowyer, Gary Mills, Garry Birtles, Fairclough and Johnny Metgod. In FA Cup the squad reached the semifinals for the first time ever in the "Clough era" being eliminated by Liverpool F.C. After rejected to play the first two editions (1985–86 and 1986–87) the club accepted to participate in the Full Members' Cup[6] this 1987–88 campaign only to be eliminated on Round Three by Reading.
| In | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=3% | Pos. | width=33% | Name | width=28% | from | width=36% | Type |
| MF | Garry Parker | Hull City | £260,000 | ||||
| FW | Nigel Jemson | Preston North End | £150,000 | ||||
| MF | Gary Crosby | Grantham Town | £20,000 | ||||
| FW | Tommy Gaynor | Doncaster Rovers | |||||
| GK | Mark Crossley | Youth team | |||||
| DF | Steve Chettle | Youth team | |||||
| DF | Steve Locker | Youth team | |||||
| MF | Gareth Price | Youth team | |||||
| MF | Terry Wilson | Youth team | |||||
| DF | Billy Stubbs | Youth team | |||||
| Out | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=3% | Pos. | width=33% | Name | width=28% | To | width=36% | Type |
| MF | Ian Bowyer | ||||||
| MF | Gary Mills | ||||||
| FW | Garry Birtles | Notts County | |||||
| DF | Chris Fairclough | ||||||
| DF | Johnny Metgod | ||||||
| FW | David Riley | ||||||
| DF | Gary Andrews | ||||||
| MF | Ray Campbell | ||||||
| FW | Paul Chalmers | ||||||
| GK | Paul Crichton | ||||||
| MF | Kjetil Osvold | loan | |||||
| In | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=3% | Pos. | width=33% | Name | width=28% | from | width=36% | Type |
| DF | Martin Scott | Rotherham United | |||||
| Out | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=3% | Pos. | width=33% | Name | width=28% | To | width=36% | Type |
| GK | Hans Segers | loan | |||||
| DF | Steve Locker | Hartlepool United | |||||
| FW | Phil Starbuck | Birmingham City | loan | ||||
| MF | Kjetil Osvold | loan | |||||
| FW | Dave Campbell | Notts County | loan | ||||
See main article: 1987–88 Football League.
See main article: 1987-88 Football League Cup.
See main article: 1987–88 Full Members' Cup.
See main article: Football League Centenary Tournament.