1987–88 Liverpool F.C. season

Liverpool

1987–88 season
Manager	Kenny Dalglish
First Division	1st
FA Cup	Runners-up
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: John Aldridge (26) All: John Aldridge (29)
Highest home attendance	44,798 (vs. Tottenham, League, 23 Apr)
Lowest home attendance	29,994 (vs. Blackburn Rovers, League Cup, 6 Oct)
Average home league attendance	42,267
Home colours Away colours
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

The 1987–88 season was the 96th season in Liverpool F.C.'s existence, their 25th consecutive year in the top-flight, and covered the period from 1 July 1987 to 30 June 1988.

The squad had altered significantly from the previous season, with star striker Ian Rush now at Juventus and player-manager Kenny Dalglish concentrating largely on the manager's job, though he was still registered as a player. In Rush's place was John Aldridge, signed halfway through the previous season from Oxford United, complemented up front by £1.9 million national record signing Peter Beardsley. Following Aldridge to Anfield from Oxford was winger Ray Houghton.

Liverpool enjoyed a record 29-match unbeaten start to the season and finished as champions with just two defeats from 40 league games and a nine-point gap between them and runners-up Manchester United, sealing the top division title for a record 17th time. They were widely expected to secure a unique second double, but surprisingly lost 1-0 to underdogs Wimbledon in the FA Cup final, in which their top scorer John Aldridge missed a penalty.

Regular season

Following the departure of Ian Rush to Juventus of Italy in the summer, and the decision of player-manager Kenny Dalglish to only occasionally select himself for the first team, Liverpool had a new look attack for the 1987–88 season. Filling Rush's boots was John Aldridge, who had actually joined the club halfway through the previous season when Rush was still at Anfield. Alongside him was Peter Beardsley, the England forward signed from Newcastle United over the summer for a national record fee of £1.9 million. Another new signing was fellow England international John Barnes, the Watford winger, for £900,000.

Liverpool began the season on a winning note, beating Arsenal – who had beaten them in the previous season's League Cup final and were also among the pre-season title favourites – 2–1 at Highbury. The next league action came two weeks later at the end of August, when Steve Nicol scored twice and John Aldridge and Peter Beardsley scored the other goals in a 4–1 win at FA Cup holders Coventry City.

By the end of September, any observers who doubted John Aldridge's suitability as successor to Ian Rush were silenced as he had now scored in all of the club's opening seven league games, capped by a hat-trick in the 4–0 home win over Derby County.^[1] Liverpool were second in the table, but had two games in hand over surprise leaders Queen's Park Rangers, who had a three-point lead.^[2]

Aldridge managed to score in nine successive games for Liverpool from the start of the season, bringing his league tally to 11 goals by the time of their 4–0 win over Queen's Park Rangers at Anfield on 17 October 1987, which put the Reds back on top of the First Division on goal difference, but still with a two-game advantage over the West Londoners.^[3]

November began with the Merseyside derby at Anfield, in which Liverpool ran out 2–0 winners with goals from Steve McMahon and Peter Beardsley. Three successive draws followed, which saw Arsenal edge ahead of the Reds to the top of the table.^[4]

Liverpool's League Cup challenge came to an end in the third round when they lost 1–0 to Everton at Goodison Park.

Back in the league, Liverpool had returned to their winning ways and back to the top of the First Division table by the end of November, as they were now five points ahead of their nearest rivals Arsenal and had a game in hand.^[5]

Aldridge reached the 10-goal point in the league on 6 December with a penalty in the 2–1 home win over Chelsea. After a 2–2 draw at Southampton in the next game, came a six-match winning run which put the Reds 17 points ahead of their nearest challengers Nottingham Forest by 23 January 1988.^[6]

The FA Cup quest started at the Victoria Ground in early January, with the Reds being held to a disappointing goalless draw by Second Division underdogs Stoke City. A Peter Beardsley goal won the replay 1–0 at Anfield, and the next round saw the Reds cruise to a 2–0 win at Aston Villa. The fifth round brought another Merseyside derby, and the Reds took revenge for the League Cup exit by winning 1–0 at Goodison Park with a Ray Houghton goal.

Liverpool's record unbeaten start to the league season finally ended on 20 March, when they lost 1–0 at Everton in their 30th game. They still had a 14-point lead and two games in hand over nearest rivals Manchester United, however.^[7]

The wait for the league title was prolonged by a dramatic clash with Manchester United at Anfield on 4 April. After a Steve McMahon goal had put them 3–1 up in the 46th minute, a late surge by United saw the game end 3–3, but Liverpool were still 11 points ahead of Alex Ferguson's men, and had seven games left to play whereas United only had five. Even if United won all of their remaining games, Liverpool (with a vastly superior goal difference) only needed four points from their final seven games to seal the title.^[8] A goalless draw at Norwich City on 20 April effectively confirmed Liverpool as champions; they only needed heavy defeats from their final four games and United four comprehensive victories from theirs for the title to slip out of Liverpool's grasp.^[9] Three days later, Liverpool confirmed their 17th title triumph with a Peter Beardsley goal giving them a 1–0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield.

With the exception of a 5–1 win at Sheffield Wednesday in the penultimate game of the season, in which Craig Johnston scored his final two goals for Liverpool, their remaining league games of the season all ended in 1–1 draws and they finished the season with just two league defeats from 40 games and a nine-point lead over runners-up Manchester United.

Liverpool were also on a run in the FA Cup. The quarter-final had seen them triumph 4–0 over Manchester City at Maine Road, and in the semi-finals two John Aldridge goals had given them a 2–1 win over Nottingham Forest to reach the final, where they would take on Wimbledon.

Their opponents, managed by Bobby Gould and containing the likes of bullish striker John Fashanu and hard tackling midfielder Vinnie Jones, were in only their second season as a First Division club and their 11th as Football League members. The Reds were overwhelming favourites to win the final and become the first team to the double twice. But after Peter Beardsley put the ball past goalkeeper Dave Beasant but had his goal disallowed by the referee who had already awarded a free kick to Liverpool, Wimbledon took a 37th-minute lead with a goal from midfielder Lawrie Sanchez. Liverpool were far from ready to admit defeat. On the hour, Liverpool were awarded a penalty and John Aldridge took it, only for his shot to be saved by Beasant – the first penalty miss in an FA Cup final at Wembley. Liverpool continued to put pressure on the Londoners but couldn't find a way past Beasant, and when the final whistle blew Wimbledon had won the trophy in one of the biggest FA Cup upsets of all time.

Squad

Goalkeepers

• Bruce Grobbelaar
• Mike Hooper

Defenders

• Gary Ablett
• Gary Gillespie
• Alan Hansen
• Mark Lawrenson
• John McGregor
• Steve Nicol
• Steve Staunton
• Barry Venison
• Alex Watson

Midfielders

• John Barnes
• Kenny Dalglish
• Ray Houghton
• Craig Johnston
• Kevin MacDonald
• Steve McMahon
• Mike Marsh
• Jan Mølby
• Steve Nicol
• Mark Seagraves
• Nigel Spackman
• John Wark
• Ronnie Whelan

Attackers

• John Aldridge
• Peter Beardsley
• John Durnin
• Alan Irvine
• Paul Walsh

Transfers

In

Pos	Player	From	Fee	Date
MF	John Barnes	Watford	£900,000	9 June 1987
MF	Peter Beardsley	Newcastle United	£1,900,000	14 July 1987
MF	Mike Marsh	Kirkby Town	Free	21 August 1987
MF	Ray Houghton	Oxford United	£825,000	19 October 1987

Out

Pos	Player	To	Fee	Date
DF	John McGregor	Rangers	£70,000	June 1987
FW	Ian Rush	Juventus	£3,200,000	1 July 1987
FW	Alan Irvine	Dundee United	£100,000	28 August 1987
DF	Ken De Mange	Leeds United	£65,000	September 1987
MF	Mark Seagraves	Manchester City	£100,000	25 September 1987
DF	Brian Mooney	Preston North End	£82,000	9 October 1987
MF	John Wark	Ipswich Town	£100,000	4 January 1988
FW	Paul Walsh	Tottenham Hotspur	£500,000	16 February 1988
DF	Mark Lawrenson	n/a	retired	March 1988
MF	Craig Johnston	n/a	retired	May 1988

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool	40	15	5	0	49	9	11	7	2	38	15	+63	90
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
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
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
19	Portsmouth	40	4	8	8	21	27	3	6	11	15	39	–30	35
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

Results

First Division

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Report 1	Report 2
15-Aug-87	Arsenal	A	2–1	Aldridge  9' Nicol  88'	54,703	Report	Report
29-Aug-87	Coventry City	A	4–1	Nicol  20', 49' Aldridge  pen 52' Beardsley  83'	27,637	Report	Report
05-Sep-87	West Ham United	A	1–1	Aldridge  pen 50'	29,865	Report	Report
12-Sep-87	Oxford United	H	2–0	Aldridge  13' Barnes  37'	42,266	Report	Report
15-Sep-87	Charlton Athletic	H	3–2	Aldridge  pen 9' Hansen  71' McMahon  73'	36,637	Report	Report
20-Sep-87	Newcastle United	A	4–1	Nicol  20', 47', 70' Aldridge  37'	24,141	Report	Report
29-Sep-87	Derby County	H	4–0	Aldridge  pen 41', Pen 68', 73' Beardsley  47'	43,405	Report	Report
03-Oct-87	Portsmouth	H	4–0	Beardsley  30' McMahon  50' Aldridge  pen 52' Whelan  71'	44,366	Report	Report
17-Oct-87	Queens Park Rangers	H	4–0	Johnston  41' Aldridge  pen 65' Barnes  79', 85'	43,735	Report	Report
24-Oct-87	Luton Town	A	1–0	Gillespie  71'	12,452	Report	Report
01-Nov-87	Everton	H	2–0	McMahon  35' Beardsley  70'	44,760	Report	Report
04-Nov-87	Wimbledon	A	1–1	Houghton  62'	13,544	Report	Report
15-Nov-87	Manchester United	A	1–1	Aldridge  21'	47,106	Report	Report
21-Nov-87	Norwich City	H	0–0		37,446	Report	Report
24-Nov-87	Watford	H	4–0	McMahon  54' Houghton  64' Aldridge  68' Barnes  71'	32,396	Report	Report
28-Nov-87	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2–0	McMahon  63' Johnston  80'	47,362	Report	Report
06-Dec-87	Chelsea	H	2–1	Aldridge  pen 67' McMahon  87'	31,211	Report	Report
12-Dec-87	Southampton	A	2–2	Barnes  11', 38'	19,507	Report	Report
19-Dec-87	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–0	Gillespie  76'	35,383	Report	Report
26-Dec-87	Oxford United	A	3–0	Aldridge  42' Barnes  54' McMahon  61'	13,680	Report	Report
28-Dec-87	Newcastle United	H	4–0	McMahon  4' Aldridge  pen 48', 76' Houghton  88'	44,637	Report	Report
01-Jan-88	Coventry City	H	4–0	Beardsley  22', 83' Aldridge  53' Houghton  75'	38,790	Report	Report
16-Jan-88	Arsenal	H	2–0	Aldridge  44' Beardsley  61'	44,294	Report	Report
23-Jan-88	Charlton Athletic	A	2–0	Beardsley  30' Barnes  60'	28,095	Report	Report
06-Feb-88	West Ham United	H	0–0		42,049	Report	Report
13-Feb-88	Watford	A	4–1	Beardsley  29', 49' Aldridge  47' Barnes  60'	23,838	Report	Report
27-Feb-88	Portsmouth	A	2–0	Barnes  49', 85'	28,117	Report	Report
05-Mar-88	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–0	Barnes  34'	23,171	Report	Report
16-Mar-88	Derby County	A	1–1	Johnston  54'	26,356	Report	Report
20-Mar-88	Everton	A	0–1		44,162	Report	Report
26-Mar-88	Wimbledon	H	2–1	Aldridge  34' Barnes  78'	36,464	Report	Report
02-Apr-88	Nottingham Forest	A	1–2	Aldridge  pen 70'	29,188	Report	Report
04-Apr-88	Manchester United	H	3–3	Beardsley  38' Gillespie  41' McMahon  46'	43,497	Report	Report
13-Apr-88	Nottingham Forest	H	5–0	Houghton  18' Aldridge  37', 88' Beardsley  79' Gillespie  58'	39,535	Report	Report
20-Apr-88	Norwich City	A	0–0		22,509	Report	Report
23-Apr-88	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–0	Beardsley  34'	44,798	Report	Report
30-May-88	Chelsea	A	1–1	Barnes  75'	35,625	Report	Report
02-May-88	Southampton	H	1–1	Aldridge  41'	37,610	Report	Report
07-May-88	Sheffield Wednesday	A	5–1	Johnston  31', 90' Barnes  36' Beardsley  87', 88'	35,893	Report	Report
09-May-88	Luton Town	H	1–1	Aldridge  17'	30,374	Report	Report

FA Cup

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Report 1	Report 2
09-Jan-88	Stoke City	A	0–0		31,979	Report	Report
12-Jan-88	Stoke City	H	1–0	Beardsley  9'	39,147	Report	Report
31-Jan-88	Aston Villa	A	2–0	Barnes  53' Beardsley  86'	46,324	Report	Report
21-Feb-88	Everton	A	1–0	Houghton  76'	48,270	Report	Report
13-Mar-88	Manchester City	A	4–0	Houghton  32' Beardsley  pen 53' Johnston  77' Barnes  85'	44,047	Report	Report
16-Apr-88	Nottingham Forest	N	2–1	Aldridge  pen 14', 51'	51,627	Report	Report

Final

Liverpool v Wimbledon

14 May 1988 15:00 BST

Liverpool	0–1	Wimbledon
	Report Report	Sanchez  37'

Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 98,203 Referee: Brian Hill

Liverpool

Wimbledon

GK 1 Bruce Grobbelaar RB 4 Steve Nicol CB 2 Gary Gillespie CB 6 Alan Hansen (c) LB 3 Gary Ablett RM 9 Ray Houghton CM 5 Nigel Spackman  74' CM 11 Steve McMahon LM 10 John Barnes CF 7 Peter Beardsley CF 8 John Aldridge  64' Substitutes: MF 12 Craig Johnston  64' MF 14 Jan Mølby  74' Manager: Kenny Dalglish

GK 1 Dave Beasant (c) RB 2 Clive Goodyear CB 5 Eric Young CB 6 Andy Thorn LB 3 Terry Phelan CM 10 Lawrie Sanchez CM 4 Vinnie Jones RW 8 Alan Cork  56' LW 11 Dennis Wise CF 7 Terry Gibson  63' CF 9 John Fashanu Substitutes: DF 12 John Scales  63' FW 14 Laurie Cunningham  56' Manager: Bobby Gould

Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary Replay if scores still level Two named substitutes Maximum of two substitutions

League Cup

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Report 1	Report 2
23-Sep-87	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–1	Nicol  30'	13,924	Report	Report
06-Oct-87	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–0	Aldridge  89'	28,994	Report	Report
28-Oct-87	Everton	H	0–1		44,071	Report	Report

References

• LFC History.net – Games for the 1987–88 season
• Liverweb - Games for the 1987–88 season