Liverpool FC Season 1987–88. A modern day record. The Reds claim their 17th League title at a canter. And blow yet another “Double”.
Derby County (1) Liverpool (1) and the unbeaten Reds just need to stay unbeaten away at Everton to set a modern day record…….
Welcome to Part 1 of my scrapbooking odyssey on the football team my dear old Mum “persuaded” me to follow when just a small boy and around the mercurial times of Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish, winnings cups in May and seemingly always holding that beautiful gleaming trophy with the “Big Ears”.
I attended my first Liverpool game as a 10 year old on 8th August 1982 when the Reds formed a “triangle” of pre-season friendlies with Coventry City and Ipswich Town and all hosted by my hometown club of Portsmouth. I was already a Red as far back as 1980 and I have no idea how my Mother achieved such a feat but she bought me the “Hitachi” home shirt and one I proudly wore as an 8 year old to a very stuffy, best bib and tucker occasion at Portsmouth Guildhall as I met the Lord Mayor after winning a painting competition with my entry, naturally, entitled “The Football Match”. So of course I was going to attend this Gala event to meet the man in the chains as an 8 year old in my Liverpool shirt. What self respecting Red at that age wouldn’t?
So I’m not a Scouser (though I envy those with that particular birthplace) and I’m an “out of towner”. But please allow me to very briefly give you some bona fides as to the veracity of my support for this wonderful football club.
My first game was 1982 and my last was 2012. In the 30 years in between I have followed the Reds at over 55 league grounds in England and Wales as well as 7 European grounds and I’ve probably travelled to see them 300+ times. Not an idyll boast, nor is it overly ground breaking. I’ve been incredibly lucky as well as being incredibly skint watching the Reds! I became a season ticket holder in the season before the first lock down after being on the waiting list since 1998 . I had the crest tattooed on my arm as a 15 year old, I’ve sat on a cold coach for days going to Switzerland for a 2nd Round Cup Winners Cup tie, I watched *that* goal in *that* 1996 FA Cup Final on a tiny Casio TV outside “our” end of Wembley without a ticket. Well, I had a ticket, but that’s a whole other story for another day.
So I’m a Southern born Red with a lot of scrapbook cuttings to share and maybe the occasional commentary to go along with them too. I hope you enjoy sharing them with me.
Allez! Allez! Allez!
Disclaimer — All pictures contained within this blog will be almost certainly from the “main” UK publications of the day but more importantly perhaps wholly contained within some loved, if dusty, scrapbooks of a 30 year vintage and placed here purely for enjoyment purposes and I hope that this disclaimer meets everyone’s needs. If not, thank you www.guardian.comwww.dailymail.co.ukwww.thetimes.co.ukwww.mirror.co.ukwww.telegraph.co.ukwww.liverpoolecho.co.uk et al for entertaining this Pritt Stick and scissors wielding young child/spotty teen/tall and gangly late teenager and young adult who should’ve stopped ripping and cutting up newspapers long before he hung up his scissors! All programmes shown here are also from my collection.
Disclaimer II — This is far from a fully comprehensive review of the season and purely the contents and selected pages from my scrapbooks and boxes of programmes. I was nicknamed by my Liverpool match going pal as “The Cutter” in reference to an Echo and the Bunnymen song and so hence, here are my cuttings.
Disclaimer III — There will be images from a certain reviled newspaper that I will not name and I only include them (where available) as they represent the cuttings at that time. I have consciously limited their use and left out large chunks but only included where necessary or narratively. I despise that “newspaper” and when I used to “go the match” I always wore my Hillsborough Support Group scarf and a white sticker imploring everyone not to buy that unnamed “newspaper”.
So onto the good stuff! I have 10+ seasons of cuttings to share and I hope these scraps from my books jog a memory of the match concerned or the era, the city in general or your life at that time.
Human memories are a precious commodity. I hope you enjoy.
Due to a collapsed sewer underneath The Kop the Reds had to play their first three fixtures away from home and I was lucky enough to attend two of them. The opening day of the season at Arsenal was sweltering and 54,703 were in attendance at the old Highbury, however that didn’t include the tens and tens of “Gunners” fans on top of the North Bank roof! The game was momentous for the debuts of John Barnes and Peter Beardsley but my memories are of Steve Nicol’s incredible headed winning goal from the edge of the penalty area and of the LFC stewards going berserk behind the goal! Oh, and the fake gold I bought at Tottenham Court Road that I stuffed into my socks as I was being searched going into the ground. And opening the train door on the way home out of mischievousness and boredom. And of “going the game” with my oldest mate Marc. Two early teenagers just following the Reds around the country on the train without a care in the world. I can’t remember if Marc came with me to West Ham and I have no further memory of that game at all. Anyway, the Reds were off and running and about to play at Anfield for the first time this season.
I was an avid programme collector in my youth. I used to be a member (yes member!) of the Strathclyde Programme Shop, a far away shop in Scotland that would send a monthly programme collector’s guide. I also attended many a “Programme Fair” with my oldest and dearest friend Marc. My early collection was a pride and joy and I know Marc’s collection was too.
Newcastle (1) Liverpool (4), 20th September 1987. Attendance at St James’ Park 24,141. This was a “rare” live Television game for the time and Steve Nicol obviously grabbed the headlines with his brilliant hat-trick but John Barnes was magnificent that day. Mesmerising.
Liverpool (4) Portsmouth (0), 3rd October 1987. Attendance 44,357.
My first trip to Anfield and my first taste of standing on The Kop. I can still visualise going through the turnstiles (after sitting right outside the wooden door for hours), walking up the stairs at the back of The Kop and being greeted with the sight I’d only ever seen on a TV before. A silly teenage dream had been realised. I was inwardly proud of the “Pompey Chimes” ringing out from the Away End and the 15 year old me left The Coliseum and got the 5 hour+ train home. At 15! On my own! I did say me and Marc had been rather practised at this “let’s just jump on a train and watch the Reds and who cares if we’re only 13/14. We’ll be ok” lark! And we were. Such innocent times indeed.
Liverpool (4) Queens Park Rangers (0), 17th October 1987. Attendance 43,735. It should read one more on the attendance figure as I was going but the night before the (in)famous UK hurricane of 1987 landed (despite assurances from the BBC weather forecaster Michael Fish that no such occurrence was forecast) and I rose at 4.30am for the 5am train to London Waterloo to see trees in the middle of the road and walls missing sizeable amounts of bricks! Travel was train/bus service intermittently and no guarantee of getting anywhere fast so I returned home and of course, returned the money my dear old Mum had leant me in the first place! The football? Could and should have been 6/7/8 rather than the 4–0. John Barnes set up the first and scored the last two and they are so reminiscent of goals scored today by Jurgen’s incredible team. The 4th goal was Barnes at his sublime best working the ball foot to foot from the halfway line before slotting home but the 3rd goal was equally impressive as the Reds smelled blood, hunted for the ball, Whelan won it, deftly flicked to Beardsley who put in Barnes for a cool finish. I missed all that because of the supposed unpredictability of the English weather.
Wimbledon (1) Liverpool (1), 4th November 1987. Attendance 13,454. I (and Marc and sometimes Roger too) always went to Wimbledon as the slow train from Portsmouth stopped there so it was a doddle, even for 15 year olds. However, this was a night game on 4th November and replaced the original fixture scheduled for 10th October. The original fixture was postponed just mere hours before kick off due to incessant rain and a waterlogged pitch but I didn’t know that as I trundled my way to the game on the train. I promptly turned around and got on the first train home and arrived much earlier than I planned and much to the amusement of my dear old Mum! And this is where that grand old lady takes centre stage in this mini story as I asked her to write a letter for school saying I was leaving at lunchtime for the rearranged game and she did! And the school said nothing. So I left school at lunchtime (after playing football at the Mountbatten Centre) waved to my school mates from the bus and went to London on the train and saw Ray Houghton make his debut at Plough Lane. “Razor” became a fine player and a firm favourite of mine in the years to come.
Liverpool (2) Everton (0), 1st November 1987. Attendance 44,760. I adored Peter Beardsley. I even copied his “shuffle” where he’d faint to go one way and “cock” his leg before driving past a defender with the ball at his other foot. A supreme (supreme) footballer. Thanks for the memories genius.
Tottenham Hotspur (0) Liverpool (2), 28th November 1987. Attendance 47,362. I have many stories to tell of trips to White Hart Lane but strangely I have nothing for this game. At all. My match programme (slightly creased) doesn’t throw up any memories either but that’s beside the point. Steve McMahon and Craig Johnston scored the goals that secured the Reds ALL the points.
Southampton (2) Liverpool (2), 12th December 1987. Attendance 19,507.
For some reason I don’t have any cuttings from this game in my scrapbook so you’ll have to make do with some grainy 34 year old pictures of a wonderful football team playing at a dreadful, dreadful ground.
Liverpool (4) Newcastle United (0), 28th December 1987. Attendance at Anfield 44,637.
Liverpool (2) Arsenal (0), 16th January 1988. Attendance 44,294. The Reds were outstanding in this game and should’ve won by a bucketful.
Charlton Athletic (0) Liverpool (2), 23rd January 1988. Attendance 28,095.
Aston Villa (0) Liverpool (2), 31st January 1988. FA Cup 4th Round tie at Villa Park. Attendance 46,324.
Everton (0) Liverpool (1), 21st February 1988. FA Cup 5th Round tie at Goodison Park. Attendance 48,270. And *that* Ray Houghton header. Now that header only came about because Peter Beardsley refused to stop hassling the Blues defence, won a throw in and from the throw in played a simple “one two” with a marauding John Barnes who curled a beautiful cross into the penalty area that Houghton brilliantly headed into the corner of the net, sending the Red hordes behind the goal into delirium.
Portsmouth (0) Liverpool (2), 27th February 1988. Attendance 28,117. Two goals from John Barnes but not before horrendous pressure from a side already destined for relegation. I was stood on what was known then as the “North Terrace” (see top right picture) and high up by the half way line with my dear old Mum if memory serves me. She loved this season!
7 days later and it’s Queens Park Rangers (0) Liverpool (1) and I was stood right behind Brucie as he did the above handstand to celebrate Barnes’ winning goal.
Derby County (1) Liverpool (1), 16th March 1988 and the above cutting says it all. They just needed to keep the unbeaten run going at Everton and they’d hold the record all by themselves rather than sharing this unbelievable record with Nottingham Forest (if memory serves me?). But Wayne Clarke and Everton had other ideas sadly.
Liverpool (2) Nottingham Forest (1), FA Cup Semi-Final at Hillsborough, Sheffield. Attendance 51,627. Cue John Motson: “Aldridge is there. ALDRIRDGE!”. 4 days later, the now Wembley bound Reds would beat Forest 5–0 at Anfield in a flawless display that if recreated today would probably burst those interminable “stats” that ruin the current game. Forest barely had a kick of the bag of wind all night and barely left their own half of the field until the dying embers of the game.
The League Championship is won so the Reds make a ridiculous “FA Cup Final Song” and manage to have head wounds to both Gary Gillespie and Nigel Spackman in a 1–1 draw with Luton Town just 5 days before the FA Cup Final.
Liverpool (0) Wimbledon (1) FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, 14th May 1988. Attendance 98,203. I didn’t go to this Final (I’ve only been lucky enough to be at two FA Cup Finals — 1986 and 2012. I was in and out of the 1996 FA Cup Final but that’s another story). But my mate did and he returned home as white as a ghost! Please excuse my childish profanity, but then again, if you’re a Red and reading this you no doubt expressed something similar at the time. “The crazy gang have beaten the culture club” so said John Motson, and sadly, he was right.
I loved that old League Championship trophy. Champions by 9 points. Only 2 defeats all season. 26 wins out of 40. 87 goals scored and a goal difference of 63! It was quite a season indeed.
The remainder of my match programmes from this season.
This is Part 1 of a number of rambles along “Scrapbook Lane”.
