# 1986–87 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

The 1986–87 season was Nottingham Forest's 122nd year in existence and eleventh consecutive season in the First Division. Also the club competed in the FA Cup and League Cup.

## Summary

During summer manager Clough continued the squad rebuilding without notable transfers. Central back defender Chris Fairclough returned after a year injured, the same situation happened with veteran Forward Garry Birtles "reinforcing" the strikers line. Meanwhile, Dutch Goalkeeper Hans Segers lost his spot as starter to Steve Sutton and left the club to sign with Stoke City. The defensive line lined up Gary Fleming as right back, Walker and Metgod as Central backs and Pearce as left back. Fairclough left the squad during summer of 1987. In the midfield veteran Ian Bowyer was aided by Neil Webb, Gary Mills and Franz Carr, the line was exhausted after some bright matches (included a 6–2 at Chelsea) due to loss of form through spring and the team collapsed to 8th spot in League. Veteran Garry Birtles and Nigel Clough completed the starters squad not being aided by an already weaker midfield. The club opted out of Full Members' Cup in its 1986–87 edition.

## Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | ENG | Steve Sutton |
| — | GK | ENG | Paul Crichton |
| — | GK | NED | Hans Segers |
| — | DF | NIR | Gary Fleming |
| — | DF | ENG | Des Walker |
| — | DF | ENG | Colin Foster |
| — | DF | ENG | Chris Fairclough |
| — | DF | ENG | Brett Williams |
| — | DF | ENG | Gary Andrews |
| — | DF | ENG | Darren Wassall |
| — | DF | ENG | Stuart Pearce (c) |
| — | MF | ENG | Franz Carr |
| — | MF | ENG | Ian Bowyer |
| — | MF | NED | Johnny Metgod |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | ENG | Neil Webb |
| — | MF | NIR | David Campbell |
| — | MF | ENG | Gary Mills |
| — | MF | NOR | Kjetil Osvold |
| — | MF | ENG | Ray Campbell |
| — | MF | SCO | Brian Rice |
| — | MF | ENG | Calvin Plummer |
| — | FW | ENG | Phil Starbuck |
| — | FW | ENG | Garry Birtles |
| — | FW | ENG | Nigel Clough |
| — | FW | ENG | Paul Wilkinson |
| — | FW | ENG | David Riley |
| — | FW | SCO | Paul Chalmers |
| — | FW | SCO | Lee Glover |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| MF | Kjetil Osvold | Lillestrøm SK | £80,000 |
| DF | Colin Foster | Leyton Orient F.C. | £50,000 |
| MF | Calvin Plummer | Barnsley F.C. | |
| DF | Darren Wassall | | |
| FW | Phil Starbuck | | |
| FW | Lee Glover | | |
| GK | Paul Crichton | | |
| DF | Gary Andrews | | |
| MF | Ray Campbell | | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| MF | Colin Walsh | Charlton Athletic | |
| DF | Jim McInally | Coventry City | £112,000 |
| DF | Ian Butterworth | Norwich City | £160,000 |
| MF | John Robertson | | |
| MF | Steve Wigley | Sheffield United | |
| MF | Steve Hodge | Tottenham Hotspur | |
| MF | Steven Murray | Celtic Glasgow | |
| MF | Leigh Palin | | |
| FW | Mick Perry | | |
| GK | Darren Heyes | | |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | David Riley | Darlington F.C. | £40,000 |
| GK | Hans Segers | Stoke City | loan |
| MF | Calvin Plummer | Lahden Reipas | loan |
| DF | Ian Butterworth | Norwich City | |

#### Spring

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Paul Wilkinson | Everton | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | David Riley | Peterborough United | loan |

## Results
### Division One
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 6 | Chelsea | 42 | 20 | 11 | 11 | 57 | 56 | +1 | 71 |
| 7 | Arsenal | 42 | 20 | 9 | 13 | 49 | 47 | +2 | 69 |
| 8 | Nottingham Forest | 42 | 19 | 11 | 12 | 69 | 53 | +16 | 68 |
| 9 | Luton Town | 42 | 18 | 12 | 12 | 61 | 44 | +17 | 66 |
| 10 | Tottenham Hotspur | 42 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 74 | 52 | +22 | 65 |

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 |
| Ground | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | L | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | D | L | W | L | W | L | L | W | W | W | L | D | L | D | D | D | W | W | D | D | L | W | L | D | W | L | D | W | L | D | L | W | L | W |
| Position | 19 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 |

#### Matches

* .- Source: https://www.11v11.com/teams/nottingham-forest/tab/matches/season/1987/

### FA Cup
#### Third round
## Statistics
### Squad statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Football League Division One | Football League Division One | FA Cup | FA Cup | Football League Cup | Football League Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| | GK | ENG | Steve Sutton | 31 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | DF | NIR | Gary Fleming | 38 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Des Walker | 48 | 0 | 41 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| | DF | NED | Johnny Metgod | 44 | 4 | 36+1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| | DF | ENG | Stuart Pearce | 44 | 8 | 39 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| | MF | ENG | Gary Mills | 38 | 1 | 27+5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4+1 | 1 |
| | MF | ENG | Ian Bowyer | 40 | 3 | 35 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Neil Webb | 39 | 14 | 32 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Franz Carr | 42 | 7 | 36 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 |
| | FW | ENG | Nigel Clough | 49 | 16 | 42 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| | FW | ENG | Garry Birtles | 33 | 15 | 28 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| | GK | NED | Hans Segers | 18 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Chris Fairclough | 30 | 2 | 24+2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2+1 | 1 |
| | MF | NIR | David Campbell | 18 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | FW | ENG | Paul Wilkinson | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Colin Foster | 9 | 1 | 7+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Ian Butterworth | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | MF | NOR | Kjetil Osvold | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | ENG | Phil Starbuck | 6 | 2 | 3+2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Brian Rice | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Brett Williams | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | FW | ENG | David Riley | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Gary Andrews | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| | MF | NIR | Ray Campbell | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Paul Chalmers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | GK | ENG | Paul Crichton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Lee Glover | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Calvin Plummer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Darren Wassall | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source: https://www.11v11.com/teams/nottingham-forest/tab/players/season/1987/