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. They finished nine points behind champions Liverpool, who lost just twice all season and for much of the campaign looked uncatchable. Perhaps the most memorable game of the season was in the league atAnfield just before Liverpool’s title was confirmed, when United were 3–1 down at half time but fought back to hold the hosts to a 3–3 draw.

United lost just five times in the league in 40 games, and lost only once at Old Trafford, 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.

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.

 

Pre-season and friendlies

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
22 July 1987	Næstved	A	2 – 0	Moran, Robson	6,500
24 July 1987	IS Halmia	A	9 – 1	Whiteside (4), Davenport (2), Strachan, Olsen, Marshall (o.g.)	2,607
26 July 1987	B 1903	A	3 – 2	Robson, Davenport, McClair (pen.)	2,500
28 July 1987	Vejle	A	4 – 1	Anderson, Davenport, Olsen, McClair	7,000
4 August 1987	Manchester City	A	3 – 1	McClair (2), Robson	20,250
5 August 1987	Atlético Mineiro	N	3 – 1	McClair (3)	7,150
10 August 1987	Irish League	N	0 – 0		10,000
21 October 1987	Weymouth	A	0 – 1		4,904
28 November 1987	Bermuda	A	4 – 1	Robson, McClair (pen.), Whiteside, Davenport	4,200
1 December 1987	Somerset CC	A	4 – 1	Wilson, McClair, Knox, Olsen	2,000
28 March 1988	Tottenham Hotspur	A	3 – 2	Strachan (2), Davenport	20,190
22 April 1988	Walsall	A	3 – 1	Whiteside, Strachan, McClair	6,141
8 May 1988	Manchester City	H	0 – 2		14,898
17 May 1988	Milan	H	2 – 3	McClair, Olsen	37,392

First Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	League position
15 August 1987	Southampton	A	2 – 2	Whiteside (2) 25′, 31′	21,214	10th
19 August 1987	Arsenal	H	0 – 0		43,893	12th
22 August 1987	Watford	H	2 – 0	McGrath 10′, McClair 20′	38,769	7th
29 August 1987	Charlton Athletic	A	3 – 1	McClair 10′, Robson 22′, McGrath 45′	14,046	5th
31 August 1987	Chelsea	H	3 – 1	McClair 25′, Strachan 48′, Whiteside 83′	46,616	1st
5 September 1987	Coventry City	A	0 – 0		27,125	2nd
12 September 1987	Newcastle United	H	2 – 2	Olsen 8′, McClair 45′ (pen.)	45,619	3rd
19 September 1987	Everton	A	1 – 2	Whiteside 59′	38,439	6th
26 September 1987	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1 – 0	McClair 44′ (pen.)	48,087	6th
3 October 1987	Luton Town	A	1 – 1	McClair 54′	9,137	6th
10 October 1987	Sheffield Wednesday	A	4 – 2	Robson 40′, McClair (2) 53′, 78′, Blackmore 60′	32,779	4th
17 October 1987	Norwich City	H	2 – 1	Davenport 46′, Robson 80′	39,821	4th
24 October 1987	West Ham United	A	1 – 1	Gibson 45′	19,863	5th
31 October 1987	Nottingham Forest	H	2 – 2	Robson 54′, Whiteside 59′	44,669	5th
15 November 1987	Liverpool	H	1 – 1	Whiteside 50′	47,106	5th
21 November 1987	Wimbledon	A	1 – 2	Blackmore 65′	11,532	6th
5 December 1987	Queens Park Rangers	A	2 – 0	Davenport 35′, Robson 74′	20,632	6th
12 December 1987	Oxford United	H	3 – 1	Strachan (2) 23′, 31′, Olsen 50′	34,709	4th
19 December 1987	Portsmouth	A	2 – 1	Robson 35′, McClair 48′	22,207	4th
26 December 1987	Newcastle United	A	0 – 1		26,461	5th
28 December 1987	Everton	H	2 – 1	McClair (2) 50′, 73′ (pen.)	47,024	4th
1 January 1988	Charlton Athletic	H	0 – 0		37,257	4th
2 January 1988	Watford	A	1 – 0	McClair 39′	18,038	4th
16 January 1988	Southampton	H	0 – 2		35,716	5th
24 January 1988	Arsenal	A	2 – 1	Strachan 11′, McClair 67′	29,392	3rd
6 February 1988	Coventry City	H	1 – 0	O’Brien 5′	37,144	3rd
10 February 1988	Derby County	A	2 – 1	Strachan 71′, Whiteside 88′	20,016	2nd
13 February 1988	Chelsea	A	2 – 1	Bruce 50′, O’Brien 52′	25,014	2nd
23 February 1988	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1 – 1	McClair 82′	25,731	2nd
5 March 1988	Norwich City	A	0 – 1		19,129	2nd
12 March 1988	Sheffield Wednesday	H	4 – 1	Blackmore 1′, McClair (2) 7′, 53′, Davenport 79′	33,318	2nd
19 March 1988	Nottingham Forest	A	0 – 0		27,598	2nd
26 March 1988	West Ham United	H	3 – 1	Strachan 58′, Anderson 83′, Robson 90′	37,269	2nd
2 April 1988	Derby County	H	4 – 1	McClair (3) 16′, 23′, 64′, Gibson 51′	40,146	2nd
4 April 1988	Liverpool	A	3 – 3	Robson (2) 3′, 66′, Strachan 77′	43,497	2nd
12 April 1988	Luton Town	H	3 – 0	McClair 44′, Robson 66′, Davenport 68′	28,830	2nd
30 April 1988	Queens Park Rangers	H	2 – 1	Bruce 10′, Parker 83′ (o.g.)	35,733	2nd
2 May 1988	Oxford United	A	2 – 0	Anderson 7′, Strachan 37′	8,966	2nd
7 May 1988	Portsmouth	H	4 – 1	McClair (2) 5′, 58′, Davenport 25′, Robson 35′	35,105	2nd
9 May 1988	Wimbledon	H	2 – 1	McClair (2) 50′, 75′ (pen.)	28,040	2nd

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	D’Avray 28′ (o.g.), Anderson 64′	23,012
30 January 1988	Round 4	Chelsea	H	2 – 0	Whiteside 42′, McClair 70′	50,716
20 February 1988	Round 5	Arsenal	A	1 – 2	McClair 52′	54,161

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
23 September 1987	Round 2 First leg	Hull City	H	5 – 0	McGrath 38′, Davenport 71′, Whiteside 74′, Strachan 81′, McClair85′	25,041
7 October 1987	Round 2 Second leg	Hull City	A	1 – 0	McClair 62′	13,586
28 October 1987	Round 3	Crystal Palace	H	2 – 1	McClair (2) 7′ (pen.), 28′	27,283
18 November 1987	Round 4	Bury	H	2 – 1	Whiteside 63′, McClair 68′	33,519
20 January 1988	Round 5	Oxford United	A	0 – 2		12,658

Football League Centenary Tournament

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
16 April 1988	Round 1	Luton Town	N	2 – 0	McClair, Davenport
16 April 1988	Quarter-final	Everton	N	1 – 0	Bruce
16 April 1988	Semi-final	Sheffield Wednesday	N	1 – 2	Davenport (pen.)

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