1987–88 Birmingham City F.C. season

Birmingham City F.C.

1987–88 season
Chairman	Ken Wheldon
Manager	Garry Pendrey
Ground	St Andrew's
Football League Second Division	19th
FA Cup	Fifth round (eliminated by Nottingham Forest)
League Cup	First round (eliminated by Mansfield Town)
Full Members' Cup	First round (eliminated by Derby County)
Top goalscorer	League: Steve Whitton (14) All: Steve Whitton (16)
Highest home attendance	34,494 vs Nottingham Forest, FA Cup 5th round, 20 February 1988
Lowest home attendance	5,878 vs Millwall, 9 February 1988
Average home league attendance	8,576
Home colours

The 1987–88 Football League season was Birmingham City Football Club's 85th in the Football League and their 35th in the Second Division. They finished in 19th position in the division, expanded for this season to 23 teams as part of a restructuring process, and again avoided relegation only by two points. They entered the 1987–88 FA Cup in the third round proper and lost in the fifth round to Nottingham Forest, and were beaten by Mansfield Town over two legs in the first round of the League Cup and by Derby County in the first round of the Full Members' Cup.

Football League Second Division

Main article: 1987–88 Football League

The league programme did not end on the same day for all clubs. Although Birmingham were in 18th place after their last match, on 6 May, the last Second Division fixture was played the following day, when they were overtaken by Shrewsbury Town, so finished 19th.[1][2]

Date	League position	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance
15 August 1987	1st	Stoke City	H	W	2–0	Rees 2	13,137
22 August 1987	1st	Aston Villa	A	W	2–0	Handysides, Rees	30,870
29 August 1987	3rd	AFC Bournemouth	H	D	1–1	Kennedy	8,284
1 September 1987	5th	Millwall	A	L	1–3	Rees	6,758
5 September 1987	14th	Crystal Palace	H	L	0–6		7,011
12 September 1987	10th	Swindon Town	A	W	2–0	Handysides, Whitton	9,128
15 September 1987	6th	Blackburn Rovers	H	W	1–0	Whitton	6,032
19 September 1987	5th	Shrewsbury Town	H	D	0–0		7,183
26 September 1987	8th	Plymouth Argyle	A	D	1–1	McElhinney og	8,912
30 September 1987	8th	West Bromwich Albion	A	L	1–2	Kennedy	15,399
3 October 1987	7th	Huddersfield Town	H	W	2–0	Whitton 2	6,282
10 October 1987	8th	Reading	H	D	2–1	Whitton, Kennedy	6,147
17 October 1987	9th	Bradford City	A	L	0–4		12,256
20 October 1987	7th	Sheffield United	A	W	2–0	Withe 2	9,287
24 October 1987	9th	Middlesbrough	H	D	0–0		7,404
31 October 1987	6th	Oldham Athletic	A	W	2–1	Frain, Whitton pen	5,486
3 November 1987	6th	Barnsley	H	W	2–0	Whitton 2	6,622
7 November 1987	7th	Hull City	A	L	0–2		7,901
14 November 1987	8th	Leicester City	H	D	2–2	Whitton 2	8,666
21 November 1987	10th	Manchester City	A	L	0–3		22,690
28 November 1987	9th	Ipswich Town	H	W	1–0	Frain	6,718
5 December 1987	10th	Leeds United	A	L	1–4	Kennedy	15,987
12 December 1987	10th	Aston Villa	H	L	1–2	Kennedy	27,789
19 December 1987	12th	Blackburn Rovers	A	L	0–2		8,542
26 December 1987	15th	Plymouth Argyle	H	L	0–1		9,166
28 December 1987	14th	Shrewsbury Town	A	D	0–0		6,367
1 January 1988	14th	AFC Bournemouth	A	L	2–4	Dicks, Wigley	7,963
2 January 1988	15th	Swindon Town	H	D	1–1	Childs	7,829
16 January 1988	15th	Stoke City	A	L	1–3	Kennedy	10,076
6 February 1988	16th	Crystal Palace	A	L	0–3		8,809
9 February 1988	16th	Millwall	H	W	1–0	Whitton	5,878
27 February 1988	16th	Huddersfield Town	A	D	2–2	Robinson, Whitton	5,441
5 March 1988	17th	Bradford City	H	D	1–1	Whitton	8,101
8 March 1988	17th	West Bromwich Albion	H	L	0–1		12,331
12 March 1988	17th	Reading	A	D	1–1	Handysides	6,598
19 March 1988	17th	Oldham Athletic	H	L	1–3	Wigley	6,012
26 March 1988	17th	Middlesbrough	A	D	1–1	Atkins	15,465
2 April 1988	17th	Hull City	H	D	1–1	Williams	7,059
5 April 1988	18th	Leicester City	A	L	0–2		13,541
9 April 1988	17th	Sheffield United	H	W	1–0	Kennedy	7,046
23 April 1988	17th	Barnsley	A	D	2–2	Whitton pen, Jeffels og	4,949
30 April 1988	17th	Manchester City	H	L	0–3		8,014
2 May 1988	18th	Ipswich Town	A	L	0–1		11,127
6 May 1988	18th	Leeds United	H	D	0–0		6,024

League table (part)

Final Second Division table (part)[2]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
17th	AFC Bournemouth	44	13	10	21	56	68	−12	49
18th	Shrewsbury Town	44	11	16	17	42	54	−12	49
19th	Birmingham City	44	11	15	18	41	66	−25	48
20th	West Bromwich Albion	44	12	11	21	50	69	−19	47
21st	Sheffield United	44	13	7	24	45	74	−29	46

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
44	11	15	18	41	66	−25	48	7	9	6	20	24	−4	4	6	12	21	42	−21

Source: [3]

FA Cup

Main article: 1987–88 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance
Third round	9 January 1988	Gillingham	A	W	3–0	Greenall og, Williams, Handysides	9,267
Fourth round	30 January 1988	Barnsley	A	W	2–0	Rees, Wigley	13,219
Fifth round	20 February 1988	Nottingham Forest	H	L	0–1		34,494

League Cup

Main article: 1987–88 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance
First round 1st leg	18 August 1987	Mansfield Town	A	D	2–2	Whitton, Handysides	4,425
First round 2nd leg	25 August 1987	Mansfield Town	H	L	0–1		6,054

Full Members' Cup

Main article: 1987–88 Full Members' Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance
First round	25 November 1987	Derby County	A	L	1–3	Whitton	8,277

Appearances and goals

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances made as a substitute.

Players with name in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Birmingham.

Players marked † left the club during the playing season.

Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; DF – Defender; MF – Midfielder; FW – Forward

Players' appearances and goals by competition

Pos.	Nat.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Full Members' Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	ENG	Roger Hansbury	22	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	25	0
GK	ENG	Tony Godden	22	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	25	0
DF	ENG	Kevin Ashley	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0 (2)	0
DF	ENG	Adrian Bird	6 (3)	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	8 (3)	0
DF	ENG	Julian Dicks †	32	1	3	0	2	0	0	0	37	1
DF	ENG	Vince Overson	37	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	40	0
DF	ENG	Ray Ranson	38	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	42	0
DF	ENG	Brian Roberts	26	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	29	1
DF	SCO	Tommy Williams	33	1	3	1	2	0	1	0	39	2
MF	ENG	Ian Atkins	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	1
MF	SCO	Des Bremner	37	0	2	0	2	0	1	0	42	0
MF	ENG	Gary Childs	23 (9)	1	3	0	0 (1)	0	1	0	27 (10)	1
MF	ENG	John Frain	12 (2)	2	1	0	0	0	1	0	13 (2)	2
MF	ENG	Ian Handysides	28 (2)	3	3	1	2	1	0	0	33 (2)	5
MF	ENG	Kevin Langley	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
MF	ENG	Ronnie Morris	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0
MF	ENG	Paul Tait	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0
MF	ENG	John Trewick	25 (1)	0	1 (1)	0	0	0	1	0	28 (2)	0
MF	ENG	Steve Wigley	43	2	3	1	2	0	1	0	49	3
MF	ENG	Mark Yates	1 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1 (2)	0
FW	SCO	Andy Kennedy	15 (13)	7	1	0	2	0	1	0	19 (13)	7
FW	WAL	Tony Rees †	17 (6)	4	2	1	2	0	0 (1)	0	21 (7)	5
FW	ENG	Colin Robinson	3 (1)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3 (1)	1
FW	ENG	Guy Russell	6 (3)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6 (3)	0
FW	ENG	Neil Sproston	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0
FW	ENG	Phil Starbuck	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
FW	ENG	Steve Whitton	32 (1)	14	2	0	2	1	1	1	37 (1)	16
FW	ENG	Peter Withe *	8	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	2

See also

• Birmingham City F.C. seasons

Sources

• Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
• Matthews, Tony (2010). Birmingham City: The Complete Record. Derby: DB Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85983-853-2.
• For match dates, league positions and results: "Birmingham City 1987–1988: Results". Statto Organisation. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
• For line-ups, appearances, goalscorers and attendances: Matthews (2010), Complete Record, pp. 410–11, 480.

References

1. "English Division Two (old) 1987–1988: Table: 6 May 1988". Statto Organisation. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
2. "English Division Two (old) 1987–1988: Table". Statto Organisation. Archived from the original on 1 June 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
3. "Birmingham City league performance history". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 30 May 2024. Select content required via dropdown menus.