| Continentalcup1: | New club in League |
| Nextseason: | 1988–89 |
The 1987–88 season was the 89th completed season of The Football League.
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.
| Competition: | First Division |
| Season: | 1987–88 |
| Winners: | Liverpool 17th English title |
| Relegated: | Chelsea Portsmouth Watford Oxford United |
| League Topscorer: | John Aldridge (26 goals)[2] |
| Matches: | 420 |
| Total Goals: | 1049 |
| Prevseason: | 1986–87 |
| Nextseason: | 1988–89 |
Liverpool won the league title by nine points, and with only 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.
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watford | Graham Taylor | Signed by Aston Villa | 27 May 1987 | Pre-season | Dave Bassett | 18 June 1987 | |
| Everton | Howard Kendall | Signed by Athletic Bilbao | 18 June 1987 | Colin Harvey | 18 June 1987 | ||
| Wimbledon | Dave Bassett | Signed by Watford | 18 June 1987 | Bobby Gould | 25 June 1987 | ||
| Luton Town | John Moore | Resigned | 20 June 1987 | Ray Harford | 22 June 1987 | ||
| Tottenham Hotspur | David Pleat | 23 October 1987 | 7th | Terry Venables | 28 November 1987 | ||
| Norwich City | Ken Brown | Sacked | 9 November 1987 | 19th | Dave Stringer | 9 November 1987 | |
| Watford | Dave Bassett | 11 January 1988 | 21st | Steve Harrison | 15 January 1988 | ||
| Chelsea | John Hollins | 6 March 1988 | 16th | Bobby Campbell | 6 March 1988 | ||
| Oxford United | Maurice Evans | Resigned | 18 March 1988 | 20th | Mark Lawrenson | 19 March 1988 |
| Competition: | Second Division |
| Season: | 1987–88 |
| Winners: | Millwall |
| Promoted: | Millwall Aston Villa Middlesbrough |
| Relegated: | Sheffield United Reading Huddersfield Town |
| Highest Scoring: | (7 November 1987) |
| Biggest Home Win: | (7 November 1987) |
| Biggest Away Win: | (2 January 1988) |
| Matches: | 506 |
| Total Goals: | 1389 |
| Prevseason: | 1986–87 |
| Nextseason: | 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, and Middlesbrough won promotion via play-offs.
Huddersfield Town and Sheffield United were relegated.
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]
Source:[6]
| Competition: | Third Division |
| Season: | 1987–88 |
| Winners: | Sunderland |
| Promoted: | Sunderland Brighton & Hove Albion Walsall |
| Relegated: | Rotherham United Grimsby Town York City Doncaster Rovers |
| Matches: | 552 |
| Prevseason: | 1986–87 |
| Nextseason: | 1988–89 |
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]
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.
| Competition: | Football League, Fourth Division |
| Season: | 1987–88 |
| Winners: | Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| Continentalcup1: | Promoted |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Cardiff City, Bolton Wanderers, Swansea City |
| Continentalcup2: | Relegated |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Newport County |
| Continentalcup3: | New team in League |
| Continentalcup3 Qualifiers: | Scarborough |
| Matches: | 552 |
| Prevseason: | 1986–87 |
| Nextseason: | 1988–89 |
The top goalscorers in each division were: