# 1987–88 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1987–88 season was Stoke City's 81st season in the Football League and 28th in the Second Division.
After the previous season's decent performance there was great optimism ahead for Mick Mills' third season in charge. However it turned out to be a frustrating season with Stoke unable to maintain a good run of form and they unsurprisingly finished in mid-table in a season of little progress.

## Season review
### League

Mick Mills now entering into his third season as City boss had the support of the fans following last season's improvement and for the third season running the club played in the Isle of Man Trophy, with Stoke beating Dundee in the final. This created great optimism amongst supporters that they would enjoy a good league campaign. However that quickly vanished on the opening day of the season as Birmingham City scored the first goal after just 45 seconds. This seemed to set the tone for a frustrating season. The team made a poor start winning just three of their first nine matches and it always looked too much for them to recover from. When Stoke did hit a run of form in January injury prevented any meaningful attempt to mount a push for a play-off place and the side made no progress and finished in 11th place.
Lee Dixon was sold to Arsenal in January for £375,000 a good price for a full back in 1988 and with Steve Bould's contract running out he also joined the "Gunners" for a fee of £390,000 which was settled at a tribunal.

### FA Cup

Stoke drew First Division side Liverpool in the third round and produced two excellent performances. In the first game at Stoke almost 32,000 saw a goalless draw which Stoke should have won but Graham Shaw missed an easy chance. In the replay a battling Stoke lost by a goal to nil.

### League Cup

In the League Cup Stoke beat Gillingham and Norwich City, but then lost in the next round to Arsenal.

### Full Members' Cup

Stoke had their best run in the Full Members' Cup beating Portsmouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester City before losing to eventual runner-up Luton Town in the quarter-final.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 9 | Manchester City | 44 | 19 | 8 | 17 | 80 | 60 | +20 | 65 |
| 10 | Oldham Athletic | 44 | 18 | 11 | 15 | 72 | 64 | +8 | 65 |
| 11 | Stoke City | 44 | 17 | 11 | 16 | 50 | 57 | −7 | 62 |
| 12 | Swindon Town | 44 | 16 | 11 | 17 | 73 | 60 | +13 | 59 |
| 13 | Leicester City | 44 | 16 | 11 | 17 | 62 | 61 | +1 | 59 |

## Results
### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League Second Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 15 August 1987 | Birmingham City | A | 0–2 | 13,137 | |
| 2 | 18 August 1987 | Hull City | H | 1–1 | 9,139 | Ford 68' |
| 3 | 22 August 1987 | Middlesbrough | H | 1–0 | 9,345 | Berry 60' (pen) |
| 4 | 29 August 1987 | Ipswich Town | A | 0–2 | 11,149 | |
| 5 | 31 August 1987 | Leicester City | H | 2–1 | 9,948 | Saunders 4' Heath 45' |
| 6 | 5 September 1987 | Sheffield United | A | 0–0 | 10,086 | |
| 7 | 12 September 1987 | Bradford City | H | 1–2 | 9,571 | Berry 50' |
| 8 | 16 September 1987 | Reading | A | 1–0 | 5,349 | Parkin 50' |
| 9 | 19 September 1987 | Manchester City | A | 0–3 | 19,322 | |
| 10 | 26 September 1987 | Huddersfield Town | H | 1–1 | 8,665 | Ford 74' |
| 11 | 30 September 1987 | Leeds United | A | 0–0 | 17,208 | |
| 12 | 3 October 1987 | Bournemouth | H | 1–0 | 8,104 | Ford 77' |
| 13 | 10 October 1987 | Plymouth Argyle | H | 1–0 | 8,275 | Heath 10' |
| 14 | 17 October 1987 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 0–2 | 7,280 | |
| 15 | 20 October 1987 | Swindon Town | A | 0–3 | 9,160 | |
| 16 | 24 October 1987 | Aston Villa | H | 0–0 | 13,494 | |
| 17 | 31 October 1987 | Barnsley | A | 2–5 | 5,908 | Shaw 62', Ford 75' |
| 18 | 7 November 1987 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 3–0 | 9,992 | Berry 16' (pen), Heath 45', Parkin 77' |
| 19 | 14 November 1987 | Crystal Palace | A | 0–2 | 8,309 | |
| 20 | 21 November 1987 | Millwall | H | 1–2 | 7,998 | Heath 36' |
| 21 | 28 November 1987 | Shrewsbury Town | A | 3–0 | 5,158 | Dixon 22', Ford 25', Saunders 32' |
| 22 | 8 December 1987 | Oldham Athletic | H | 2–2 | 6,470 | Shaw 14', Heath 77' |
| 23 | 12 December 1987 | Middlesbrough | A | 0–2 | 12,289 | |
| 24 | 19 December 1987 | Reading | H | 4–2 | 6,968 | Morgan 52', Talbot 72', Henry 82', Ford 85' |
| 25 | 26 December 1987 | Huddersfield Town | A | 3–0 | 9,510 | Morgan 55', Parkin 75', Shaw 84' |
| 26 | 28 December 1987 | Manchester City | H | 1–3 | 18,020 | Berry 82' (pen) |
| 27 | 1 January 1988 | Ipswich Town | H | 1–2 | 9,976 | Morgan 8' |
| 28 | 2 January 1988 | Bradford City | A | 4–1 | 12,223 | Morgan 10', Ford 14', Dixon 39', Henry 64' |
| 29 | 16 January 1988 | Birmingham City | H | 3–1 | 10,076 | Talbot 7', Henry (2) 82', 87' |
| 30 | 6 February 1988 | Sheffield United | H | 1–0 | 9,344 | Saunders 63' |
| 31 | 13 February 1988 | Hull City | A | 0–0 | 6,424 | |
| 32 | 23 February 1988 | Leeds United | H | 2–1 | 10,129 | Heath 35', Berry 90' |
| 33 | 27 February 1988 | Bournemouth | A | 0–0 | 6,871 | |
| 34 | 5 March 1988 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 2–1 | 14,098 | Morgan 14', Shaw 76' |
| 35 | 12 March 1988 | Plymouth Argyle | A | 0–3 | 8,749 | |
| 36 | 16 March 1988 | Leicester City | A | 1–1 | 10,502 | Shaw 72' |
| 37 | 19 March 1988 | Barnsley | H | 3–1 | 8,029 | Daly 53', Henry 60', Hemming 78' |
| 38 | 26 March 1988 | Aston Villa | A | 1–0 | 20,392 | Heath 71' |
| 39 | 2 April 1988 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 0–2 | 12,144 | |
| 40 | 4 April 1988 | Crystal Palace | H | 1–1 | 9,613 | Shaw 43' |
| 41 | 9 April 1988 | Oldham Athletic | A | 1–5 | 6,505 | Heath 23' |
| 42 | 23 April 1988 | Swindon Town | H | 1–0 | 6,293 | Stainrod 16' |
| 43 | 30 April 1988 | Millwall | A | 0–2 | 12,636 | |
| 44 | 2 May 1988 | Shrewsbury Town | H | 1–1 | 7,452 | Stainrod 59' |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R3 | 9 January 1988 | Liverpool | H | 0–0 | 31,979 | |
| R3 Replay | 12 January 1988 | Liverpool | A | 0–1 | 39,147 | |

### League Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R2 1st Leg | 22 September 1987 | Gillingham | H | 2–0 | 7,189 | Shaw (2) 18', 65' |
| R2 2nd Leg | 6 October 1987 | Gillingham | A | 1–0 | 5,039 | Morgan 12' |
| R3 | 27 October 1987 | Norwich City | H | 2–1 | 8,603 | Daly 14', Talbot 17' |
| R4 | 17 November 1987 | Arsenal | A | 0–3 | 30,059 | |

### Full Members' Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R1 | 10 November 1987 | Portsmouth | A | 3–0 | 3,226 | Heath 16', Daly 36', Shaw 51' |
| R2 | 2 December 1987 | Sheffield Wednesday | A | 1–0 | 15,228 | Berry 54' |
| R3 | 19 January 1988 | Leicester City | A | 0–0 (5–3 pens) | 5,161 | |
| QF | 1 March 1988 | Luton Town | A | 1–4 | 4,480 | Shaw 71' |

### Isle of Man Trophy

| Round | Opponent | Result |
| Group match 1 | Isle of Man XI | 3–1 |
| Group match 2 | Wigan Athletic | 2–0 |
| Semi-final | Hibernian | 1–0 |
| Final | Dundee | 1–0 |

### Friendlies

| Match | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| 1 | Port Vale | H | 2–0 |
| 2 | Eastwood Hanley | A | 1–1 |
| 3 | Newcastle Town | A | 0–0 |
| 4 | Derby County | H | 0–0 |
| 5 | Port Vale | A | 1–1 |
| 6 | Telford United | A | 3–3 |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Full Members' Cup | Full Members' Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Scott Barrett | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 33 | 0 |
| GK | Peter Fox | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| DF | Steve Bould | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
| DF | Cliff Carr | 39(2) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 48(2) | 0 |
| DF | Lee Dixon | 29 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 2 |
| DF | Lee Fowler | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 |
| DF | Chris Hemming | 20(4) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 23(4) | 1 |
| DF | Andy Holmes | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2(1) | 0 |
| DF | Kevin Lewis | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 |
| DF | Mick Mills | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Brian Talbot | 19(3) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 24(3) | 3 |
| MF | Ian Allinson | 6(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7(3) | 0 |
| MF | Carl Beeston | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| MF | George Berry | 35(1) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 45(1) | 6 |
| MF | Gerry Daly | 16(5) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 24(5) | 3 |
| MF | Tony Ford | 44 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 54 | 7 |
| MF | Tony Henry | 22 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 5 |
| MF | Steve Parkin | 42(1) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 49(1) | 3 |
| MF | David Puckett | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| MF | Paul Ware | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Ian Gibbons | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 |
| FW | Gary Hackett | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Phil Heath | 32(7) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3(1) | 1 | 39(8) | 9 |
| FW | Nicky Morgan | 27(1) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 35(1) | 6 |
| FW | Carl Saunders | 15(2) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2(1) | 0 | 18(3) | 3 |
| FW | Graham Shaw | 30(3) | 6 | 0(2) | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2(1) | 2 | 36(6) | 10 |
| FW | Simon Stainrod | 11(1) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15(1) | 2 |