1986–87 Football League

Second Division
Season	1986–87
Champions	Derby County
Promoted	Derby County; Portsmouth
Relegated	Sunderland; Grimsby Town; Brighton & Hove Albion
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,131 (2.45 per match)
Top goalscorer	Micky Quinn; (22 goals)
	← 1985–86 1987–88 →

First Division
Season	1986–87
Champions	Everton; 9th English title
Relegated	Leicester City; Manchester City; Aston Villa
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,215 (2.63 per match)
Top goalscorer	Clive Allen; (33 goals)
Biggest home win	Nottingham Forest 6–0 Aston Villa; (20 September 1986); Sheffield Wednesday 7–1 Queens Park Rangers; (2 May 1987)
Biggest away win	Chelsea 2–6 Nottingham Forest; (20 September 1986); Southampton 0–4 Arsenal; (15 November 1986); Aston Villa 0–4 Arsenal; (29 November 1986); Chelsea 0–4 Wimbledon; (6 December 1986); Newcastle United 0–4 Everton; (26 December 1986)
Highest scoring	Chelsea 2–6 Nottingham Forest; (20 September 1986); West Ham United 5–3 Chelsea; (11 October 1986); Liverpool 6–2 Norwich City; (1 November 1986); Sheffield Wednesday 7–1 Queens Park Rangers; (2 May 1987)
Longest winning run	7 matches; Everton
Longest unbeaten run	17 matches; Arsenal
Longest losing run	6 matches; Newcastle United
	← 1985–86 1987–88 →

The Football League
Season	1986–87
Champions	Everton
Relegated	Lincoln City
	← 1985–86 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.

Final league tables and results

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.

First Division

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^[who?] 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.

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Everton (C)	42	26	8	8	76	31	45	86	Disqualified from the European Cup
2	Liverpool	42	23	8	11	72	42	30	77	Disqualified from the UEFA Cup
3	Tottenham Hotspur	42	21	8	13	68	43	25	71
4	Arsenal^[a]	42	20	10	12	58	35	23	70
5	Norwich City	42	17	17	8	53	51	2	68
6	Wimbledon	42	19	9	14	57	50	7	66
7	Luton Town	42	18	12	12	47	45	2	66
8	Nottingham Forest	42	18	11	13	64	51	13	65
9	Watford	42	18	9	15	67	54	13	63
10	Coventry City^[b]	42	17	12	13	50	45	5	63	Disqualified from the European Cup Winners' Cup
11	Manchester United	42	14	14	14	52	45	7	56
12	Southampton	42	14	10	18	69	68	1	52
13	Sheffield Wednesday	42	13	13	16	58	59	−1	52
14	Chelsea	42	13	13	16	53	64	−11	52
15	West Ham United	42	14	10	18	52	67	−15	52
16	Queens Park Rangers	42	13	11	18	48	64	−16	50
17	Newcastle United	42	12	11	19	47	65	−18	47
18	Oxford United	42	11	13	18	44	69	−25	46
19	Charlton Athletic (O)	42	11	11	20	45	55	−10	44	Qualification for the Second Division play-offs
20	Leicester City (R)	42	11	9	22	54	76	−22	42	Relegation to the Second Division
21	Manchester City (R)	42	8	15	19	36	57	−21	39
22	Aston Villa (R)	42	8	12	22	45	79	−34	36

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Arsenal would have qualified as League Cup winners.
^ Coventry City would have qualified as FA Cup winners.

First Division results

Home \ Away	ARS	AST	CHA	CHE	COV	EVE	LEI	LIV	LUT	MCI	MUN	NEW	NWC	NOT	OXF	QPR	SHW	SOU	TOT	WAT	WHU	WDN
Arsenal		2–1	2–1	3–1	0–0	0–1	4–1	0–1	3–0	3–0	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–0	0–0	3–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	3–1	0–0	3–1
Aston Villa	0–4		2–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	2–0	2–2	2–1	0–0	3–3	2–0	1–4	0–0	1–2	0–1	1–2	3–1	0–3	1–1	4–0	0–0
Charlton Athletic	0–2	3–0		0–0	1–1	3–2	2–0	0–0	0–1	5–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–3	0–2	4–3	2–1	0–1
Chelsea	1–0	4–1	0–1		0–0	1–2	3–1	3–3	1–3	2–1	1–1	1–3	0–0	2–6	4–0	3–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	0–0	1–0	0–4
Coventry City	2–1	0–1	2–1	3–0		1–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	2–2	1–1	3–0	2–1	1–0	3–0	4–1	1–0	1–1	4–3	1–0	1–3	1–0
Everton	0–1	3–0	2–1	2–2	3–1		5–1	0–0	3–1	0–0	3–1	3–0	4–0	2–0	3–1	0–0	2–0	3–0	1–0	3–2	4–0	3–0
Leicester City	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	0–2		2–1	1–1	4–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	3–1	2–0	4–1	6–1	2–3	1–2	1–2	2–0	3–1
Liverpool	2–1	3–3	2–0	3–0	2–0	3–1	4–3		2–0	0–0	0–1	2–0	6–2	3–0	4–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–2
Luton Town	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	4–1		1–0	2–1	0–0	0–0	4–2	2–3	1–0	0–0	2–1	3–1	0–2	2–1	0–0
Manchester City	3–0	3–1	2–1	1–2	0–1	1–3	1–2	0–1	1–1		1–1	0–0	2–2	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–4	1–1	1–2	3–1	3–1
Manchester United	2–0	3–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–0		4–1	0–1	2–0	3–2	1–0	3–1	5–1	3–3	3–1	2–3	0–1
Newcastle United	1–2	2–1	0–3	1–0	1–2	0–4	2–0	0–2	2–2	3–1	2–1		4–1	3–2	0–0	0–2	2–3	2–0	1–1	2–2	4–0	1–0
Norwich City	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–0		2–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	4–3	2–1	1–3	1–1	0–0
Nottingham Forest	1–0	6–0	4–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–2	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–1		2–0	1–0	3–2	0–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–2
Oxford United	0–0	2–2	3–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–0	1–3	4–2	0–0	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–1		0–1	2–1	3–1	2–4	1–3	0–0	3–1
Queens Park Rangers	1–4	1–0	0–0	1–1	3–1	0–1	0–1	1–3	2–2	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	1–1		2–2	2–1	2–0	3–2	2–3	2–1
Sheffield Wednesday	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–3	6–1	7–1		3–1	0–1	0–1	2–2	0–2
Southampton	0–4	5–0	2–2	1–2	2–0	0–2	4–0	2–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	4–1	1–2	1–3	3–0	5–1	1–1		2–0	3–1	1–0	2–2
Tottenham Hotspur	1–2	3–0	1–0	1–3	1–0	2–0	5–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	4–0	1–1	3–0	2–3	3–1	1–0	1–1	2–0		2–1	4–0	1–2
Watford	2–0	4–2	4–1	3–1	2–3	2–1	5–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	0–3	0–1	1–1	1–0		2–2	0–1
West Ham United	3–1	1–1	1–3	5–3	1–0	1–0	4–1	2–5	2–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–2	1–2	0–1	1–1	0–2	3–1	2–1	1–0		2–3
Wimbledon	1–2	3–2	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–2	1–0	1–3	0–1	0–0	1–0	3–1	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	3–0	2–2	2–2	2–1	0–1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Managerial changes

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	Sacked	6 May 1987	22nd	Ron Wylie (caretaker)	6 May 1987

First Division maps

Locations of the Football League First Division London teams 1986–1987

Locations of the Football League First Division 1986–1987 teams

Second Division

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.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Derby County (C, P)	42	25	9	8	64	38	26	84	Promotion to the First Division
2	Portsmouth (P)	42	23	9	10	53	28	25	78	Promotion to the First Division
3	Oldham Athletic	42	22	9	11	65	44	21	75	Qualification for the Second Division play-offs
4	Leeds United	42	19	11	12	58	44	14	68
5	Ipswich Town	42	17	13	12	59	43	16	64
6	Crystal Palace	42	19	5	18	51	53	−2	62
7	Plymouth Argyle	42	16	13	13	62	57	5	61
8	Stoke City	42	16	10	16	63	53	10	58
9	Sheffield United	42	15	13	14	50	49	1	58
10	Bradford City	42	15	10	17	62	62	0	55
11	Barnsley	42	14	13	15	49	52	−3	55
12	Blackburn Rovers	42	15	10	17	45	55	−10	55
13	Reading	42	14	11	17	52	59	−7	53
14	Hull City	42	13	14	15	41	55	−14	53
15	West Bromwich Albion	42	13	12	17	51	49	2	51
16	Millwall	42	14	9	19	39	45	−6	51
17	Huddersfield Town	42	13	12	17	54	61	−7	51
18	Shrewsbury Town	42	15	6	21	41	53	−12	51
19	Birmingham City	42	11	17	14	47	59	−12	50
20	Sunderland (R)	42	12	12	18	49	59	−10	48	Qualification for the Third Division play-offs
21	Grimsby Town (R)	42	10	14	18	39	59	−20	44	Relegation to the Third Division
22	Brighton & Hove Albion (R)	42	9	12	21	37	54	−17	39	Relegation to the Third Division

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Second Division play-offs

Semi-finals 1st leg –14 May; 2nd leg –17 May 1987					Finals 1st leg –23 May; 2nd leg –25 May 1987

19th	Charlton Athletic (Div 1)	0	2	2

5th	Ipswich Town	0	1	1
					19th	Charlton Athletic (Div 1)	1	0	1

					4th	Leeds United	0	1	1
3rd	Oldham Athletic	0	2	2

4th	Leeds United ^{[notes2 1]}	1	1	2

^ Leeds United won on away goals.

Replay

29 May 1987

Leeds United	1 –2 (a.e.t.)	Charlton Athletic (Div 1)
	Report/Soccerbase [1]

St. Andrew's, Birmingham

Attendance: 18,000

Charlton Athletic remained in the First Division and Leeds United in the Second Division.

Second Division results

Home \ Away	BAR	BIR	BLB	BRA	B&HA	CRY	DER	GRI	HUD	HUL	IPS	LEE	MIL	OLD	PLY	POR	REA	SHU	SHR	STK	SUN	WBA
Barnsley		2–2	1–1	2–0	3–1	2–3	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–0	2–2	2–1	0–2	1–0	2–2
Birmingham City	1–1		1–1	2–1	2–0	4–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–2	2–1	1–1	1–3	3–2	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–2	0–0	2–0	0–1
Blackburn Rovers	4–2	1–0		2–1	1–1	0–2	3–1	2–2	1–2	0–2	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	2–1	2–1	6–1	0–1
Bradford City	0–0	0–0	2–0		2–0	1–2	0–1	4–2	4–3	2–0	3–4	2–0	4–0	0–3	2–2	1–0	3–0	1–1	0–0	1–4	3–2	1–3
Brighton & Hove Albion	1–1	2–0	0–2	2–2		2–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–0	3–0	1–0	0–3	2–0
Crystal Palace	0–1	6–0	2–0	1–1	2–0		1–0	0–3	1–0	5–1	3–3	1–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–3	1–2	2–3	1–0	2–0	1–1
Derby County	3–2	2–2	3–2	1–0	4–1	1–0		4–0	2–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	0–1	4–2	0–0	3–0	2–0	3–1	0–0	3–2	1–1
Grimsby Town	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–2	0–1	0–1		0–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	1–0	2–2	1–1	0–2	3–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	3–1
Huddersfield Town	2–2	2–2	1–2	5–2	2–1	1–2	2–0	0–0		1–3	1–2	1–1	3–0	5–4	1–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–1	2–2	0–2	2–1
Hull City	3–4	3–2	0–0	2–1	1–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	0–0		2–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	0–3	0–2	0–2	0–0	3–0	0–4	1–0	2–0
Ipswich Town	1–0	3–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	0–2	1–1	3–0	0–0		2–0	0–0	0–1	3–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–0
Leeds United	2–2	4–0	0–0	1–0	3–1	3–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	3–0	3–2		2–0	0–2	4–0	3–1	3–2	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	3–2
Millwall	1–0	0–2	2–2	1–2	3–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	4–0	0–1	1–0	1–0		0–0	3–1	1–1	2–1	1–0	4–0	1–1	1–1	0–1
Oldham Athletic	2–0	2–2	3–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–4	1–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	2–1		2–1	0–0	4–0	3–1	3–0	2–0	1–1	2–1
Plymouth Argyle	2–0	0–0	1–1	3–2	2–2	3–1	1–1	5–0	1–1	4–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	3–2		2–3	1–0	1–0	3–2	1–3	2–4	1–0
Portsmouth	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	3–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–0	0–1		1–0	1–2	3–0	3–0	3–1	2–1
Reading	0–0	2–2	4–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	2–3	3–2	1–0	1–4	2–1	0–1	2–3	2–0	2–2		2–0	3–1	0–1	1–0	1–1
Sheffield United	1–0	1–1	4–1	2–2	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–0	4–2	0–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	3–3		1–1	3–1	2–1	1–1
Shrewsbury Town	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	4–1	1–2	3–0	2–1	0–2	1–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0		4–1	0–1	1–0
Stoke City	1–2	0–2	1–0	2–3	1–1	3–1	0–2	5–1	2–0	1–1	0–0	7–2	2–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	3–0	5–2	1–0		3–0	1–1
Sunderland	2–3	2–0	3–0	2–3	1–1	1–0	1–2	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–0		0–3
West Bromwich Albion	0–1	3–2	0–1	2–2	0–0	1–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	3–4	3–0	0–1	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	1–2	4–1	2–2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second Division maps

Crystal Palace

Millwall

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Locations of the Football League Second Division London teams 1986–1987

Barnsley

Birmingham

Bradford City

Brighton & Hove Albion

Locations of the Football League Second Division 1986–1987 teams

Third Division

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.

Football League, Third Division
Season	1986–87
Champions	Bournemouth (1st title)
Promoted	Middlesbrough, Swindon Town
Relegated	Bolton Wanderers, Carlisle United, Darlington, Newport County
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,471 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Andy Jones (Port Vale), 29^[2]
← 1985–86 1987–88 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Bournemouth	46	19	3	1	44	14	10	7	6	32	26	36	97	Division Champions, promoted
2	Middlesbrough	46	16	5	2	38	11	12	5	6	29	19	37	94	Promoted
3	Swindon Town	46	14	5	4	37	19	11	7	5	40	28	30	87	Promoted through play-offs^[a]
4	Wigan Athletic	46	15	5	3	47	26	10	5	8	36	34	23	85	Participated in play-offs
5	Gillingham	46	16	5	2	42	14	7	4	12	23	34	17	78	Participated in play-offs
6	Bristol City	46	14	6	3	42	15	7	8	8	21	21	27	77
7	Notts County	46	14	6	3	52	24	7	7	9	25	32	21	76
8	Walsall	46	16	4	3	50	27	6	5	12	30	40	13	75
9	Blackpool	46	11	7	5	35	20	5	9	9	39	39	15	64
10	Mansfield Town	46	9	9	5	30	23	6	7	10	22	32	−3	61
11	Brentford	46	9	7	7	39	32	6	8	9	25	34	−2	60
12	Port Vale	46	8	6	9	43	36	7	6	10	33	34	6	57
13	Doncaster Rovers	46	11	8	4	32	19	3	7	13	24	43	−6	57
14	Rotherham United	46	10	6	7	29	23	5	6	12	19	34	−9	57
15	Chester City	46	7	9	7	32	28	6	8	9	29	31	2	56
16	Bury	46	9	7	7	30	26	5	6	12	24	34	−6	55
17	Chesterfield	46	11	5	7	36	33	2	10	11	20	36	−13	54
18	Fulham	46	8	8	7	35	41	4	9	10	24	36	−18	53
19	Bristol Rovers	46	7	8	8	26	29	6	4	13	23	46	−26	51
20	York City	46	11	8	4	34	29	1	5	17	21	50	−24	49
21	Bolton Wanderers	46	8	5	10	29	26	2	10	11	17	32	−12	45	Relegated in play-offs^[b]
22	Carlisle United	46	7	5	11	26	35	3	3	17	13	43	−39	38	Relegated
23	Darlington	46	6	10	7	25	28	1	6	16	20	49	−32	37
24	Newport County	46	4	9	10	26	34	4	4	15	23	52	−37	37

Source: ^[3]
Notes:

^ Swindon Town were winners of the play-offs and were thus promoted.
^ Bolton Wanderers lost in the first round of the play-offs and were thus relegated.

Third Division play-offs

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.

Semi-finals 1st leg –14 May; 2nd leg –17 May 1987					Finals 1st leg –22 May; 2nd leg –25 May 1987

20th	Sunderland (Div 2)	2	4	6

5th	Gillingham ^{[notes4 1]}	3	3	6
					3rd	Swindon Town ^{[notes4 2]}	0	2	2

					5th	Gillingham	1	1	2
3rd	Swindon Town	3	0	3

4th	Wigan Athletic	2	0	2

Replay

29 May 1987

Swindon Town	2 –0	Gillingham
	Report/Soccerbase [2]

Selhurst Park, South Norwood, London

Attendance: 18,491

^ After the second leg and an extra time the aggregate was 6–6, but Gillingham had scored 3 times at Sunderland, versus
Sunderland 2 times at Gillingham, and thus Gillingham progressed to finals on away goals.
^ Swindon won the replay 2–0, and were thus promoted to Division 2.

Third Division results

Home \ Away	BLP	BOL	BOU	BRE	BRC	BRR	BRY	CRL	CHE	CHF	DAR	DON	FUL	GIL	MAN	MID	NPC	NTC	PTV	ROT	SWI	WAL	WIG	YOR
Blackpool		1–1	1–3	2–0	1–0	6–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	1–1	3–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	5–1	2–1
Bolton Wanderers	1–0		0–1	0–2	0–0	2–2	2–3	2–0	1–1	1–2	4–3	0–1	3–2	3–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–2	1–0	1–2	3–1
Bournemouth	1–1	2–1		1–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	3–2	3–2	0–2	4–1	3–1	2–1	3–0	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	3–1	3–0
Brentford	1–1	1–2	1–1		1–1	1–2	0–2	3–1	3–1	2–2	5–3	1–1	3–3	3–2	3–1	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–2	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–3	3–1
Bristol City	3–1	4–1	2–0	0–2		0–1	2–2	3–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	5–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	2–2	4–0	3–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	3–0
Bristol Rovers	2–2	1–0	0–3	0–1	0–0		1–1	4–0	3–2	3–2	2–1	2–3	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–2	2–2	0–0	0–0	0–2	3–4	0–3	1–0	1–0
Bury	4–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–2	1–0		0–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–3	4–3	0–2	2–2	0–2	1–2	4–0	1–3	1–0
Carlisle United	3–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	2–0	2–1		0–2	3–0	1–0	1–0	1–3	2–4	1–2	0–1	2–2	0–2	2–0	3–5	0–3	0–3	0–2	2–2
Chester City	1–4	0–0	2–2	1–1	0–3	3–1	0–1	2–2		1–1	6–0	1–0	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–2	1–2	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–2	2–1
Chesterfield	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–1	3–2	0–1		1–0	4–1	3–1	1–0	0–1	2–1	3–2	1–2	2–4	2–1	1–3	3–2	4–3	1–0
Darlington	1–1	0–1	0–3	1–1	0–0	1–1	4–1	0–1	1–0	1–1		2–2	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–3	2–1	3–2	1–1	0–0	1–3	1–0	2–2
Doncaster Rovers	2–2	3–0	0–3	2–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–0		2–1	2–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–2	2–1	3–0	2–2	1–1	1–1	3–1
Fulham	0–1	4–2	1–3	1–3	0–3	2–2	2–1	3–0	0–5	3–1	3–1	0–0		2–2	1–1	2–2	2–0	3–1	0–6	1–1	0–2	2–2	2–2	1–0
Gillingham	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	4–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	3–0	4–1	2–1	4–1		2–0	0–0	1–1	3–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	4–0	0–0	2–0
Mansfield Town	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	5–0	1–3	2–0	2–3	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–0		1–1	1–0	1–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	2–0	1–5	1–1
Middlesbrough	1–3	0–0	4–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	3–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	3–0	3–0	1–0		2–0	2–0	2–2	0–0	1–0	3–1	0–0	3–1
Newport County	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–2	0–1	0–1	2–2	1–1	2–2	1–0	3–0	3–2	0–0	1–2	0–3	0–1		1–1	0–2	1–2	2–2	2–4	1–2	1–1
Notts County	3–2	0–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–2	3–1	2–3	3–1	0–0	1–0	5–2		4–1	5–0	2–3	2–1	2–0	5–1
Port Vale	1–6	1–1	1–2	4–1	0–0	4–1	2–0	0–1	2–1	2–2	1–2	4–2	0–1	1–2	3–2	0–0	6–1	1–1		1–1	3–4	4–1	0–1	2–3
Rotherham United	1–0	1–0	4–2	2–3	2–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	3–0	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	2–2	1–4	3–1	1–1	1–1		1–2	1–0	0–2	0–0
Swindon Town	2–6	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–2	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	3–0	1–2	1–0	2–0		0–0	3–1	3–1
Walsall	2–1	3–3	2–0	5–2	1–1	0–3	3–1	3–0	2–1	2–0	4–2	1–3	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	5–2	4–1	1–0		2–3	3–2
Wigan Athletic	4–1	2–1	0–2	1–1	3–1	4–3	1–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–1	3–0	0–2	1–2	1–0	2–1	2–1	3–2	5–1		3–2
York City	1–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–3	3–1	3–0	1–1	1–4	2–1	0–3	1–5	1–1

Source: [3] Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Fourth Division play-offs

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.

Semi-finals 1st leg –14 May; 2nd leg –17 May 1987					Finals 1st leg –23 May; 2nd leg –25 May 1987

21st	Bolton Wanderers (Div 3)	0	2	2

6th	Aldershot	1	2	3
					6th	Aldershot	2	1	3

					4th	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0	0	0
4th	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2	0	2

5th	Colchester United	0	0	0

Third Division maps

Brentford

Fulham

class=notpageimage|

Locations of the Football League Third Division London teams 1986–1987

Locations of the Football League Third Division teams 1986–1987

Fourth Division

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.^[4]

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.

Football League, Fourth Division
Season	1986–87
Champions	Northampton Town (1st title)
Promoted	Aldershot, Preston North End, Southend United
Relegated	Lincoln City
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,456 (2.64 per match)
Top goalscorer	Richard Hill (Northampton Town), 29^[2]
← 1985–86 1987–88 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Northampton Town	46	20	2	1	56	20	10	7	6	47	33	50	99	Division Champions, promoted
2	Preston North End	46	16	4	3	36	18	10	8	5	36	29	25	90	Promoted
3	Southend United	46	14	4	5	43	27	11	1	11	25	28	13	80	Promoted
4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	12	3	8	36	24	12	4	7	33	26	19	79	Participated in play-offs
5	Colchester United	46	15	3	5	41	20	6	4	13	23	36	8	70	Participated in play-offs
6	Aldershot	46	13	5	5	40	22	7	5	11	24	35	7	70	Promoted through play-offs^[a]
7	Leyton Orient	46	15	2	6	40	25	5	7	11	24	36	3	69
8	Scunthorpe United	46	15	3	5	52	27	3	9	11	21	30	16	66
9	Wrexham	46	8	13	2	38	24	7	7	9	32	27	19	65
10	Peterborough United	46	10	7	6	29	21	7	7	9	28	29	7	65
11	Cambridge United	46	12	6	5	37	23	5	5	13	23	39	−2	62
12	Swansea City	46	13	3	7	31	21	4	8	11	25	40	−5	62
13	Cardiff City	46	6	12	5	24	18	9	4	10	24	32	−2	61
14	Exeter City	46	11	10	2	37	17	0	13	10	16	32	4	56
15	Halifax Town	46	10	5	8	32	32	5	5	13	27	42	−15	55
16	Hereford United	46	10	6	7	33	23	4	5	14	27	38	−1	53
17	Crewe Alexandra	46	8	9	6	38	35	5	5	13	32	37	−2	53
18	Hartlepool United	46	6	11	6	24	30	5	7	11	20	35	−21	51
19	Stockport County	46	9	6	8	25	27	4	6	13	15	42	−29	51
20	Tranmere Rovers	46	6	10	7	32	37	5	7	11	22	35	−18	50
21	Rochdale	46	8	8	7	31	30	3	9	11	23	43	−19	50
22	Burnley	46	9	7	7	31	35	3	6	14	22	39	−21	49
23	Torquay United	46	8	8	7	28	29	2	10	11	28	43	−16	48
24	Lincoln City	46	8	7	8	30	27	4	5	14	15	38	−20	48	Relegated to Conference

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

^ Aldershot were winners of the play-offs and were thus promoted.

Fourth Division results

Home \ Away	ALD	BUR	CAM	CAR	COL	CRE	EXE	HAL	HAR	HER	LEY	LIN	NOR	PET	PNE	ROC	SCU	STD	STP	SWA	TOR	TRA	WOL	WRE
Aldershot		2–0	4–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	4–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	4–0	3–3	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	0–1	3–0	4–1	1–1	0–2	1–2	1–0
Burnley	0–1		0–2	1–3	2–1	4–0	0–0	3–0	1–1	0–6	2–1	3–1	2–1	0–0	1–4	0–3	1–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	2–2	2–2	2–5	0–0
Cambridge United	0–3	3–1		2–1	0–1	0–3	2–2	1–0	3–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	2–3	1–1	2–0	3–0	1–0	1–2	5–0	1–0	3–3	1–1	0–0	1–0
Cardiff City	2–0	1–0	3–0		0–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	4–1	4–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–0	3–1	0–2	0–2	0–0
Colchester United	0–1	1–0	1–2	3–1		2–1	1–1	3–1	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–0	3–1	1–3	0–2	2–0	1–0	1–2	5–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	3–0	2–1
Crewe Alexandra	1–3	1–0	0–0	1–2	1–1		2–2	2–2	1–0	1–2	3–2	1–2	0–5	1–3	2–2	5–1	2–2	2–1	5–0	1–1	1–0	3–2	1–1	1–1
Exeter City	4–0	3–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–0		2–2	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	4–0	2–2	2–2	1–0	1–3	4–2
Halifax Town	1–0	2–2	1–0	1–1	0–0	0–3	2–0		1–0	2–1	4–0	1–2	3–6	1–0	1–3	3–1	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	2–4	0–0	3–4	2–1
Hartlepool United	1–1	2–2	2–2	1–1	0–0	0–5	1–0	0–0		0–0	1–3	2–1	3–3	1–2	2–2	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–1
Hereford United	1–0	2–0	2–3	0–2	2–3	2–0	1–1	1–0	4–0		1–1	0–0	3–2	2–0	2–3	0–1	2–2	0–1	1–2	2–0	2–2	1–0	2–0	0–0
Leyton Orient	1–3	2–0	3–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–3	2–0	2–0		2–1	0–1	1–0	1–2	3–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–4	3–2	2–2	3–1	2–4
Lincoln City	0–2	2–1	0–3	0–1	3–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–4	0–0	2–0		3–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–3	0–0	4–0	1–1	3–1	3–0	0–1
Northampton Town	4–2	4–2	3–0	4–1	3–2	2–1	4–0	1–0	1–1	3–2	2–0	3–1		2–1	3–1	5–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–2
Peterborough United	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	2–0	1–2	2–2	2–0	3–1	2–1	0–1	0–1	0–1		2–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–1	1–0
Preston North End	1–2	2–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	3–2	0–0	2–1	1–0	3–0	1–0	0–0		2–4	2–1	2–0	3–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	2–2	1–0
Rochdale	3–1	0–2	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	5–3	0–2	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	3–2	0–2		1–1	1–2	2–1	2–0	3–3	0–1	0–3	3–3
Scunthorpe United	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–3	5–2	2–1	3–1	2–1	1–2	3–1	0–2	2–1	2–2	2–0	4–0	2–0		3–0	1–2	3–2	2–0	6–0	0–2	3–3
Southend United	2–0	2–1	3–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	2–1	2–3	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	0–4	2–2	1–2	5–3	3–1		0–0	1–2	4–0	3–0	1–0	0–3
Stockport County	0–0	0–1	3–2	2–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	0–2	1–2	2–2	1–0	0–3	3–1	1–3	1–1	1–0	0–2		3–1	0–0	0–2	0–2	2–1
Swansea City	2–1	2–2	2–0	2–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–3	4–1	2–0	2–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	1–0	3–0		0–1	2–0	1–0	0–3
Torquay United	2–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–2	2–1	2–2	2–1	0–0	3–5		0–2	1–2	2–1
Tranmere Rovers	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	3–4	3–2	1–0	3–4	1–1	3–3	1–3	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–3	0–3	1–1	2–2		0–1	0–2
Wolverhampton Wanderers	3–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–0	2–3	2–2	1–2	4–1	1–0	3–1	3–0	1–1	0–3	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	3–1	4–0	1–0	2–1		0–3
Wrexham	3–0	2–2	2–1	5–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–3	4–3	1–1	2–2	1–1	4–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–0