1987–88 Manchester United F.C. season

Manchester United

1987–88 season
Chairman	Martin Edwards
Manager	Alex Ferguson
First Division	2nd
FA Cup	Fifth Round
Littlewoods Cup	Fifth Round
Top goalscorer	League: Brian McClair (24) All: Brian McClair (31)
Highest home attendance	50,716 vs Chelsea (30 January 1988)
Lowest home attendance	25,041 vs Hull City (23 September 1987)
Average home attendance	38,605
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

The 1987–88 season was Manchester United's 85th season in the Football League, and their 13th consecutive season in the top division of English football.

The season was a relative success, with the club finishing second in the league, 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.

It was Alex Ferguson's first full season as United manager, and it was the first season at the club for new signings Brian McClair (who finished the season as one of the First Division's top scorers with 24 goals) and Viv Anderson. December also saw the arrival of defender Steve Bruce from Norwich City.

First Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
15 August 1987	Southampton	A	2 – 2	Whiteside (2)	21,214
19 August 1987	Arsenal	H	0 – 0		43,893
22 August 1987	Watford	H	2 – 0	McClair, McGrath	38,769
29 August 1987	Charlton Athletic	A	3 – 1	McClair, McGrath, Robson	14,046
31 August 1987	Chelsea	H	3 – 1	McClair, Strachan, Whiteside	46,616
5 September 1987	Coventry City	A	0 – 0		27,125
12 September 1987	Newcastle United	H	2 – 2	McClair, Olsen	45,619
19 September 1987	Everton	A	1 – 2	Whiteside	38,439
26 September 1987	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1 – 0	McClair	48,087
3 October 1987	Luton Town	A	1 – 1	McClair	9,137
10 October 1987	Sheffield Wednesday	A	4 – 2	McClair (2), Blackmore, Robson	32,779
17 October 1987	Norwich City	H	2 – 1	Davenport, Robson	39,821
24 October 1987	West Ham United	A	1 – 1	Gibson	19,863
31 October 1987	Nottingham Forest	H	2 – 2	Robson, Whiteside	44,669
15 November 1987	Liverpool	H	1 – 1	Whiteside	47,106
21 November 1987	Wimbledon	A	1 – 2	Blackmore	11,532
5 December 1987	Queens Park Rangers	A	2 – 0	Davenport, Robson	20,632
12 December 1987	Oxford United	H	3 – 1	Strachan (2), Olsen	34,709
19 December 1987	Portsmouth	A	2 – 1	McClair, Robson	22,207
26 December 1987	Newcastle United	A	0 – 1		26,461
28 December 1987	Everton	H	2 – 1	McClair (2)	47,024
1 January 1988	Charlton Athletic	H	0 – 0		37,257
2 January 1988	Watford	A	1 – 0	McClair	18,038
16 January 1988	Southampton	H	0 – 2		35,716
24 January 1988	Arsenal	A	2 – 1	McClair, Strachan	29,392
6 February 1988	Coventry City	H	1 – 0	O'Brien	37,144
10 February 1988	Derby County	A	2 – 1	Strachan, Whiteside	20,016
13 February 1988	Chelsea	A	2 – 1	Bruce, O'Brien	25,014
23 February 1988	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1 – 1	McClair	25,731
5 March 1988	Norwich City	A	0 – 1		19,129
12 March 1988	Sheffield Wednesday	H	4 – 1	McClair (2), Blackmore, Davenport	33,318
19 March 1988	Nottingham Forest	A	0 – 0		27,598
26 March 1988	West Ham United	H	3 – 1	Anderson, Robson, Strachan	37,269
2 April 1988	Derby County	H	4 – 1	McClair (3), Gibson	40,146
4 April 1988	Liverpool	A	3 – 3	Robson (2), Strachan	43,497
12 April 1988	Luton Town	H	3 – 0	Davenport, McClair, Robson	28,830
30 April 1988	Queens Park Rangers	H	2 – 1	Bruce, own goal	35,733
2 May 1988	Oxford United	A	2 – 0	Anderson, Strachan	8,966
7 May 1988	Portsmouth	H	4 – 1	McClair (2), Davenport, Robson	35,105
9 May 1988	Wimbledon	H	2 – 1	McClair (2)	28,040

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool	40	26	12	2	87	24	+63	90
2	Manchester United	40	23	12	5	71	38	+33	81
3	Nottingham Forest	40	20	13	7	67	39	+28	73

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
10 January 1988	Round 3	Ipswich Town	A	2 – 1	Anderson	23,012
30 January 1988	Round 4	Chelsea	H	2 – 0	McClair, Whiteside	50,716
20 February 1988	Round 5	Arsenal	A	1 – 2	McClair	54,161

Littlewoods Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
23 September 1987	Round 2 First leg	Hull City	H	5 – 0	Davenport, McClair, McGrath, Strachan, Whiteside	25,041
7 October 1987	Round 2 Second leg	Hull City	A	1 – 0	McClair	13,586
28 October 1987	Round 3	Crystal Palace	H	2 – 1	McClair (2)	27,283
18 November 1987	Round 4	Bury	H[1]	2 – 1	McClair, Whiteside	33,519
20 January 1988	Round 5	Oxford United	A	0 – 2		12,658

Events of the season

Manchester United began the 1987-88 season (the first full season under the management of Alex Ferguson) with new signings in the shape of defender Viv Anderson and striker Brian McClair, while Frank Stapleton and Terry Gibson were both on their way out of Old Trafford.

The First Division season began with Manchester United drawing 2-2 at Southampton, with Norman Whiteside scores both of United's goals, with Southampton's Danny Wallace scoring both of the home side's goals. [1] [2]

Bryan Robson was sent off on 29 August as Manchester United beat Charlton Athletic 3-1 away in their fourth league game of the season, placing them fifth [3] in the First Division. [4]

18 September 1987: Manchester United also made a bid to sign Wales striker Andy Jones from Port Vale, but the player instead opted for Charlton Athletic in a £300,000 deal. [5]

The good progress which saw Manchester United climb to mid table from near the foot of the First Division following Alex Ferguson's appointment last season has continued into this season as they soon established themselves as a top five force and perhaps the nearest serious challengers to traditional title favourites Liverpool.

Alex Ferguson had long been known to be keen to secure the signing of Mark Hughes, who had to stay outside Britain until at least April 1988 to avoid taxation on money earned since his move from Manchester United to FC Barcelona in June 1986, was reported to be on the verge of signing a permanent contract with Bayern Munich of West Germany after a successful start to his loan spell at the Olympiastadion. [6]

His hopes of signing the Rangers and England defender Terry Butcher were dashed when Rangers manager Graeme Souness offered him a lucrative contract to stay at Ibrox until at least 1993. [7]

On a tour of Bermuda in late November, winger Clayton Blackmore was arrested on allegations of rape but swiftly released from custody after no charges were brought against him.

Alex Ferguson then made a £750,000 bid to bring Steve Bruce to Manchester United from Norwich City, but the offer was rejected. Ferguson had turned his attention back to Bruce following his failure to secure Terry Butcher, having originally been put off Bruce by Norwich's £1million price tag. [8] A second bid for Steve Bruce - reported to be in the region of £850,000 - was then made, but again rejected. [9] The transfer was finally completed on 18 December at a cost of £900,000 transfer from Norwich City to Manchester United. [10]

Ferguson then looked to boost his attack with an offer for Luton Town striker Mick Harford, but the player decided to remain at Kenilworth Road after manager Ray Harford offered him a four-year contract. [11]

On 10 January 1988, Manchester United's FA Cup quest began with a 2-1 over Ipswich Town in the third round at Portman Road. [12] 10 days later, their hopes of Football League Cup glory were ended by a 2-0 defeat at Oxford United in the quarter-final. [13]

By the end of the month however, they had progressed to the FA Cup fifth round with a 2-0 home win over Chelsea. [14]

The FA Cup dream ended, however, on 20 February, when they suffered a 2-1 home defeat by Arsenal in the fifth round. Brian McClair, the club's leading goalscorer, missed a late penalty that would have forced a replay. [15]

Norman Whiteside, who had spent his whole seven-year playing career at Manchester United, handed in a transfer request near the end of March and spoke of his desire to play football in a foreign country. [16]

On 4 April, Manchester United pulled off a remarkable 3-3 draw with Liverpool at Anfield in a First Division game which Liverpool had led 3-1 at half time. [17] Manchester United trailed Liverpool, who have two games in hand, by 11 points as they still had five games left to play, so Liverpool inevitably clinched the title within three weeks of this game and United had to settle for second place. [18]

On 18 April, Ferguson agreed a deal for Lee Sharpe, the 16-year-old Torquay United winger, for £200,000 - a record fee for a YTS player. [19]

After the end of the season, Ferguson brought Mark Hughes back to Manchester United for a club record fee of £1.8million and also signed Aberdeen and Scotland goalkeeper Jim Leighton for £500,000. Newcastle United midfielder Paul Gascoigne had looked set to join Manchester United, but then spurned them for a national record £2million move to Tottenham Hotspur.

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Littlewoods Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Chris Turner	24	0	3	0	3	0	30	0
GK	Gary Walsh	16	0	0	0	2	0	18	0
DF	Arthur Albiston	5(6)	0	0	0	0	0	5(6)	0
DF	Viv Anderson	30(1)	2	3	1	4	0	37(1)	3
DF	Clayton Blackmore	15(7)	3	1(1)	0	3(1)	0	19(9)	3
DF	Steve Bruce	21	2	3	0	0	0	24	2
DF	Mike Duxbury	39	0	3	0	5	0	47	0
DF	Billy Garton	5(1)	0	0	0	2(1)	0	7(2)	0
DF	Colin Gibson	26(3)	2	2	0	5	0	33(3)	2
DF	Graeme Hogg	9(1)	0	2	0	0(1)	0	11(2)	0
DF	Lee Martin	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0
DF	Paul McGrath	21(1)	2	0	0	2	1	23(1)	3
DF	Kevin Moran	20(1)	0	1	0	2	0	23(1)	0
MF	Remi Moses	16(1)	0	1	0	1(1)	0	18(2)	0
MF	Liam O'Brien	6(11)	2	0(2)	0	0(2)	0	6(15)	2
MF	Jesper Olsen	30(7)	2	2(1)	0	3(1)	0	35(9)	2
MF	Bryan Robson	36	11	2	0	5	0	43	11
MF	Gordon Strachan	33(3)	8	3	0	5	1	41(3)	9
FW	Peter Davenport	21(13)	5	1(1)	0	3(1)	1	25(15)	6
FW	Deiniol Graham	1	0	0	0	0(1)	0	1(1)	0
FW	Brian McClair	40	24	3	2	5	5	48	31
FW	Norman Whiteside	26(1)	7	3	1	5	2	34(1)	10

Notes and references

1. ^ United were drawn away but the tie was switched to Old Trafford.