1987–88 Norwich City F.C. season

Norwich City

1987–88 season
Chairman	Robert Chase
Manager	Ken Brown (until 9 November) Dave Stringer (from 9 November)
Stadium	Carrow Road
First Division	14th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Third round
Full Members Cup	Fourth round
Player of the Year	Bryan Gunn
Top goalscorer	League: Kevin Drinkell (12) All: Kevin Drinkell (12)
Highest home attendance	22,509 v Liverpool
Lowest home attendance	11,872 v Wimbledon
Average home league attendance	15,759
Home colours Away colours
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

For the 1987–88 season, Norwich City F.C. competed in Football League Division One, as well as the FA Cup, Littlewoods Cup and Simod Cup.

The previous season had seen Norwich finish fifth in Division One, their highest position to that date,^[1] but any hope of a repeat was quickly dashed. By the beginning of November, Norwich had only registered three league wins, and would soon after slip to bottom of the table after only winning one point from five matches. Chairman Robert Chase took drastic action: On 9 November, long-serving manager Ken Brown was sacked. Dave Stringer, who had only become his assistant at the start of the year after previously being reserve team manager, was appointed as his replacement, initially on a caretaker basis and later permanent. Veteran player David Williams was made a player/coach as his assistant.

The trend was not immediately reversed and in December club captain Steve Bruce left the club for Manchester United. His vice-captain Mike Phelan replaced him as captain. With the money from the sale, Norwich acquired Robert Fleck, who would contribute seven goals in the second half of the season and be the club's leading scorer for the next four seasons, as well as buying Andy Linighan as a replacement for Bruce at centre-half. One of the most unfortunate incidents of the year surrounded John O'Neill, who signed for the club in December only to suffer a career-ending knee injury on his debut, after which he never played professionally again.^[2]

Norwich made early exits from all three cup competitions but six wins and six draws in the latter half of the season were enough to secure them another season in the top flight as they finished in 14th place, four places and three points clear of the relegation play-offs. Their biggest win of the season was 4–1 against West Ham United and their heaviest defeat was 3–0, which occurred four times. Their highest scoring game was 4–2 which happened twice, a defeat to Arsenal and a victory over Oxford United.^[3]

Squad at the end of season (7 May 1988)^[4]

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  SCO Bryan Gunn — GK  ENG Graham Benstead — GK  ENG Jon Sheffield — DF  ENG Ian Culverhouse — DF  ENG Tony Spearing — DF  ENG Ian Butterworth (vice-captain) — DF  ENG Andy Linighan — DF  ENG Shaun Elliott — DF  ENG Simon Ratcliffe — DF  ENG Kenny Brown — DF  NIR John O'Neill — DF  ENG Andy Fensome

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Mike Phelan (captain) — MF  WAL Mark Bowen — MF  ENG Trevor Putney — MF  ENG Ruel Fox — MF  ENG Ian Crook — MF  ENG Dale Gordon — MF  ENG Jeremy Goss — MF  WAL David Williams — FW  ENG Kevin Drinkell — FW  SCO Robert Fleck — FW  ENG Wayne Biggins — FW  ENG Robert Rosario

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee	Reference
16 June 1987	DF	Simon Ratcliffe	Manchester United	£40,000	[5]
23 July 1987	MF	Mark Bowen	Tottenham Hotspur	£90,000	[5]
23 July 1987	DF	Paul Wilson	Huddersfield Town	£30,000	[6]
16 December 1987	DF	John O'Neill	Queens Park Rangers	Unknown	[7]
17 December 1987	FW	Robert Fleck	Rangers	£580,000	[5]
4 March 1988	DF	Andy Linighan	Oldham Athletic	£350,000	[5][8]

Date	Pos	Name	To	Fee	Reference
1 June 1987	MF	Peter Mendham	King's Lynn	Free	[9]
3 July 1987	FW	Mark Barham	Huddersfield Town	£100,000	[10]
July 1987	FW	David Hodgson	Jerez Club de Portivo	Unknown	[11]
18 December 1987	DF	Steve Bruce	Manchester United	£900,000	[12]
December 1987	MF	Garry Brooke	Groningen	Unknown	[13]
4 March 1988	FW	Paul Clayton	Darlington	£25,000	[14]
29 March 1988	DF	Phil Chapple	Cambridge United	Free	[15][16]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
12	Southampton	40	12	14	14	49	53	−4	50
13	Tottenham Hotspur	40	12	11	17	38	48	−10	47
14	Norwich City	40	12	9	19	40	52	−12	45
15	Derby County	40	10	13	17	35	45	−10	43
16	West Ham United	40	9	15	16	40	52	−12	42

• Source:^[18]

• Source:^[19]

• Source:^[19]

• Source:^[20]

Pos	Player	League			FA Cup			Littlewoods Cup			Simod Cup			Total
		Starts	Sub	Goals	Starts	Sub	Goals	Starts	Sub	Goals	Starts	Sub	Goals	Starts	Subs	Goals
Goalkeepers
GK	Bryan Gunn	38	0	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	45	0	0
GK	Graham Benstead	2	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	0	0
Defenders
RB	Ian Culverhouse	33	0	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	40	0	0
LB	Tony Spearing	17	1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	17	1	0
CB	Steve Bruce	19	0	2	–	–	–	3	0	1	–	–	–	21	0	3
CB	Ian Butterworth	34	1	0	2	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	39	2	0
CB	Andy Linighan	12	0	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	12	0	2
LB	Shaun Elliott	14	2	0	–	–	–	3	0	0	1	1	0	18	3	0
CB	Simon Ratcliffe	6	3	0	–	–	–	2	0	0	–	–	–	8	3	0
RB	Kenny Brown	7	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	7	0	0
CB	John O'Neill	1	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	0	0
Midfielders
CM	Mike Phelan	37	0	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	44	0	0
DM	Mark Bowen	23	1	1	2	0	0	3	0	1	2	0	0	30	1	2
AM	Trevor Putney	25	1	1	2	0	0	–	–	–	1	0	0	28	1	1
AM	Ruel Fox	33	1	2	2	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	30	1	2
CM	Jeremy Goss	20	2	2	2	0	0	–	–	–	2	0	1	24	2	3
AM	Dale Gordon	16	5	3	2	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	21	5	3
CM	Ian Crook	16	7	1	–	–	–	1	1	0	0	1	0	17	9	1
DM	David Williams	7	2	0	–	–	–	2	0	0	0	1	0	9	3	0
Forwards
ST	Kevin Drinkell	38	0	12	2	0	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	45	0	12
ST	Robert Fleck	18	0	7	0	1	0	–	–	–	2	0	2	20	1	9
ST	Wayne Biggins	15	5	5	–	–	–	3	0	1	1	0	0	19	5	6
ST	Robert Rosario	9	5	2	2	0	0	–	–	–	0	1	0	11	6	2

• Source:^[20]

Rank	Position	Player	Division One	FA Cup	Littlewoods Cup	Simod Cup	Total
1	ST	Kevin Drinkell	12	0	0	0	12
2	ST	Robert Fleck	7	0	0	2	9
3	ST	Wayne Biggins	5	0	1	0	6
4	LW	Dale Gordon	3	0	0	0	3
	CB	Steve Bruce	2	0	1	0	3
	CM	Jeremy Goss	2	0	0	1	3
5	ST	Robert Rosario	2	0	0	0	2
	RW	Ruel Fox	2	0	0	0	2
	CB	Andy Linighan	2	0	0	0	2
	LB/LW	Mark Bowen	1	0	1	0	2
6	LW	Trevor Putney	1	0	0	0	1
	RW	Ian Crook	1	0	0	0	1

• Source:^[20]

• Canary Citizens Centenary Edition: Authors Mike Davage, John Eastwood and Kevan Platt ISBN 0711720207
• Barclays League Club Directory 1989: Editor Tony Williams ISBN 0-85144-472-5
• Norwich City: The Modern Era: Author Rob Hadgraft ISBN 978-1-905328-82-6
• News of the World Football Annual 1988-89 Editors Bill Bateson and Albert Sewell ISBN 0855431458
• Barclays League Club Directory 1993: Editor Tony Williams ISBN 1-873057-12-1