1986–87 Leeds United A.F.C. season

1986–87 season of Leeds United

Leeds United 1986–87 football season

Leeds United
1986–87 season
Chairman	Leslie Silver
Manager	Billy Bremner
Stadium	Elland Road
Second Division	4th
Play-offs	Final
FA Cup	Semi-final
League Cup	Second round
Full Members' Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Ian Baird John Sheridan (15 each) All: Ian Baird (19)
Highest home attendance	31,395 vs Charlton Athletic (29 May 1987, Play-offs)
Lowest home attendance	3,960 vs Bradford City (1 October 1986, Full Members' Cup)
Average home league attendance	31,178
← 1985–86 1987–88 →

The 1986–87 season was Leeds United's 60th season in the Football League, and their fifth consecutive season in the Football League Second Division, the second tier of English football, where they finished 4th, qualifying for the Football League Second Division play-offs, where they lost in the final to Charlton Athletic. Alongside the Second Division, the club competed in the FA Cup and the Football League Cup, being eliminated in the semi-finals of the former and the second round of the latter.

Background

Leeds United had played in the second tier of English football since they were relegated in the 1981–82 season. Billy Bremner had been appointed as their manager in October 1985, replacing Eddie Gray. After leading the club to 14th position in the league that season, Bremner made a number of changes to playing staff, including bringing in at least ten players. Along with the fourth-place finish in the league, Bremner oversaw Leeds' run to the semi-final of the 1986–87 FA Cup where they lost to Coventry City F.C.

Season summary

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (April 2021)

Competitions

Second Division

Main article: 1986–87 Football League § Second Division

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
2	Portsmouth (P)	42	23	9	10	53	28	+25	78	Promotion to the First Division
3	Oldham Athletic	42	22	9	11	65	44	+21	75	Qualification for the Second Division play-offs
4	Leeds United	42	19	11	12	58	44	+14	68
5	Ipswich Town	42	17	13	12	59	43	+16	64
6	Crystal Palace	42	19	5	18	51	53	−2	62

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(P) Promoted

Matches

Win

Draw

Loss

Second Division match results
Date	Opponent	Venue	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
23 August 1986	Blackburn Rovers	Away	1–2	Ritchie	8,346
25 August 1986	Stoke City	Home	2–1	Sheridan, Baird	13,334
30 August 1986	Sheffield United	Home	0–1		18,294
2 September 1986	Barnsley	Away	1–0	Baird	6,839
6 September 1986	Huddersfield Town	Away	1–1	Sheridan	9,306
13 September 1986	Reading	Home	3–2	Edwards, Ritchie, Buckley	12,248
20 September 1986	Bradford City	Away	0–2		13,525
27 September 1986	Hull City	Home	3–0	Ritchie (pen.), Baird, Ormsby	13,551
4 October 1986	Plymouth Argyle	Away	1–1	Baird	11,923
11 October 1986	Crystal Palace	Home	3–0	Sheridan (pen.), Ormsby, Edwards	14,316
18 October 1986	Portsmouth	Home	3–1	Sheridan (pen.), Ritchie, Baird	21,361
25 October 1986	Grimsby Town	Away	0–0		7,223
1 November 1986	Shrewsbury Town	Home	1–0	Aspin	14,966
8 November 1986	Millwall	Away	0–1		6,869
15 November 1986	Oldham Athletic	Home	0–2		21,052
21 November 1986	Birmingham City	Away	1–2	Sheridan	7,836
29 November 1986	Derby County	Home	2–0	Sheridan, Edwards	19,129
6 December 1986	West Bromwich Albion	Away	0–3		19,853
13 December 1986	Brighton & Hove Albion	Home	3–1	Sheridan, Snodin, Baird	12,014
21 December 1986	Stoke City	Away	2–7	Baird, Sheridan (pen.)	12,358
26 December 1986	Sunderland	Home	1–1	Bennett (o.g.)	21,286
27 December 1986	Oldham Athletic	Away	1–0	Ritchie	8,477
1 January 1987	Ipswich Town	Away	0–2		14,125
3 January 1987	Huddersfield Town	Home	1–1	Baird	17,983
24 January 1987	Blackburn Rovers	Home	0–0		14,452
7 February 1987	Sheffield United	Away	0–0		12,494
14 February 1987	Barnsley	Home	2–2	Baird, Sheridan	14,216
28 February 1987	Bradford City	Home	1–0	Edwards	21,802
7 March 1987	Grimsby Town	Home	2–0	Ritchie, Sheridan (pen.)	14,270
10 March 1987	Portsmouth	Away	1–1	Adams	13,745
21 March 1987	Crystal Palace	Away	0–1		8,781
28 March 1987	Plymouth Argyle	Home	4–0	Sheridan, Baird (3)	18,618
4 April 1987	Millwall	Home	2–0	Baird, Ritchie	18,304
8 April 1987	Hull City	Away	0–0		9,531
14 April 1987	Shrewsbury Town	Away	2–0	Sheridan, Pearson	4,186
18 April 1987	Ipswich Town	Home	3–2	McDonald, Sheridan, Ormsby	24,839
20 April 1987	Sunderland	Away	1–1	Pearson	14,725
22 April 1987	Reading	Away	1–2	Pearson	7,415
25 April 1987	Birmingham City	Home	4–0	Sheridan, Baird (2), Edwards	19,100
2 May 1987	Derby County	Away	1–2	Ashurst	20,087
4 May 1987	West Bromwich Albion	Home	3–2	Sheridan (pen.), Pearson, Ormsby	24,688
9 May 1987	Brighton & Hove Albion	Away	1–0	Edwards	8,139

Source:

Play-offs

Main articles: 1987 Football League play-offs and 1987 Football League Second Division play-off Final 14 May 1987 (1987-05-14)Semi-final, first leg

Leeds United	1–0	Oldham Athletic
Edwards

Elland Road, LeedsAttendance: 29,472Referee: George Tyson 17 May 1987 (1987-05-17)Semi-final, second leg

Oldham Athletic	2–1 (a.e.t.) Leeds United win on away goals	Leeds United
Williams, Cecere		Edwards

Boundary Park, OldhamAttendance: 19,216Referee: George Courtney 23 May 1987 (1987-05-23)Final, first leg

Charlton Athletic	1–0	Leeds United
Melrose

Selhurst Park, LondonAttendance: 16,680Referee: Roger Milford 25 May 1987 (1987-05-25)Final, second leg

Leeds United	1–0	Charlton Athletic
Ormsby

Elland Road, LeedsAttendance: 31,395Referee: Brian Hill 29 May 1987 (1987-05-29)Final replay

Leeds United	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Charlton Athletic
Sheridan		Shirtliff

St Andrew's, BirminghamAttendance: 15,841Referee: Allan Gunn

FA Cup

Main article: 1986–87 FA Cup

FA Cup match details
Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
Third round	11 January 1987	Telford United	Away	2–1	Baird (2)	6,460
Fourth round	3 February 1987	Swindon Town	Away	2–1	Quinn (o.g.), Baird	14,031
Fifth round	21 February 1987	Queens Park Rangers	Home	2–1	Baird, Ormsby	31,324
Sixth round	15 March 1987	Wigan Athletic	Away	2–0	Stiles, Adams	12,479
Semi-final	12 April 1987	Coventry City	Neutral	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Rennie, Edwards	51,372

Source:

League Cup

Main article: 1986–87 Football League Cup

League Cup match details
Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
Second round, first leg	23 September 1986	Oldham Athletic	Away	2–3	Aspin, Taylor	5,569
Second round, second leg	8 October 1986	Oldham Athletic	Home	0–1		11,449

Source:

Full Members' Cup

Main article: 1986–87 Full Members' Cup

Full Members' Cup match details
Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
First round	1 October 1986	Bradford City	Home	0–1 (a.e.t.)		3,960

Source:

Notes

Match played at The Hawthorns instead of Telford's home stadium

References

"Leeds United". Football Club History Database. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
Chapman, Daniel (2019). 100 Years of Leeds United. Icon Books Limited. pp. 285–86. ISBN 978-178578-430-9.
Sobot, Lee (11 October 2020). "When Leeds United were eight minutes away from going back up under Billy Bremner". Yorkshire Evening Post. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook: 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 204–205. ISBN 9780356143545. OCLC 1036852697.
^ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook: 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 409–410. ISBN 9780356143545. OCLC 1036852697.
Hill, Tony. "Leeds United 1–0 Oldham Athletic – 14 May 1987". ozwhitelufc.net.au. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
Hill, Tony. "Oldham Athletic 2–1 Leeds United (a.e.t.) – 17 May 1987". ozwhitelufc.net.au. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
Hill, Tony. "Charlton Athletic 1–0 Leeds United – 23 March 1987". ozwhitelufc.net.au. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
Hill, Tony. "Leeds United 1–0 Charlton Athletic – 25 March 1987". ozwhitelufc.net.au. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
Hill, Tony. "Charlton Athletic 2–1 Leeds United (a.e.t.) – 29 May 1987". ozwhitelufc.net.au. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook: 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 486–489. ISBN 9780356143545. OCLC 1036852697.
Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook: 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 451–454. ISBN 9780356143545. OCLC 1036852697.
Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook: 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 458. ISBN 9780356143545. OCLC 1036852697.

v t e Leeds United F.C. seasons
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Leeds United F.C. seasons

1919–20
1920–21
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1924–25
1925–26
1926–27
1927–28
1928–29
1929–30
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1974–75
1975–76
1976–77
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1978–79
1979–80
1980–81
1981–82
1982–83
1983–84
1984–85
1985–86
1986–87
1987–88
1988–89
1989–90
1990–91
1991–92
1992–93
1993–94
1994–95
1995–96
1996–97
1997–98
1998–99
1999–2000
2000–01
2001–02
2002–03
2003–04
2004–05
2005–06
2006–07
2007–08
2008–09
2009–10
2010–11
2011–12
2012–13
2013–14
2014–15
2015–16
2016–17
2017–18
2018–19
2019–20
2020–21
2021–22
2022–23
2023–24
2024–25

1986–87 in English football

« 1985–86 1987–88 »

National teams

Bobby Robson
Rous Cup
UEFA Euro 1988 (qualification – Group 4)

League
competitions

Levels 1–4	Football League (First Division, Second Division, Third Division, Fourth Division, play-offs)
Level 5	Football Conference
Levels 6–7	Isthmian League (Premier, One) Northern Premier League (level 6 only) Southern League (Premier, Midland, Southern)
Levels 8–9	Isthmian League (Two North, Two South) Combined Counties League (level 8 only) Eastern Counties League (level 8 only) Essex Senior League (level 8 only) Hellenic League (Premier, One) Kent League (level 8 only) London Spartan League (Premier, One) Midland Football Combination (level 8 only) North West Counties League (One, Two) Northern Counties East League (Premier, One) Northern League (One, Two) South Midlands League (Premier, One) Sussex County League (One, Two) United Counties League (Premier, One) Wessex League (level 8 only) West Midlands (Regional) League (level 8 only) Western League (Premier, One)

Cup
competitions

FA cups	FA Cup (Qualifying rounds, Final) Charity Shield FA Trophy (Final)
Football League cups	League Cup (Final) Full Members' Cup (Final) Associate Members' Cup (Final)

Club seasons
First Division	Arsenal Aston Villa Charlton Athletic Chelsea Coventry City Everton Leicester City Liverpool Luton Town Manchester City Manchester United Newcastle United Norwich City Nottingham Forest Oxford United Queens Park Rangers Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Tottenham Hotspur Watford West Ham United Wimbledon
Second Division	Barnsley Birmingham City Blackburn Rovers Bradford City Brighton & Hove Albion Crystal Palace Derby County Grimsby Town Huddersfield Town Hull City Ipswich Town Leeds United Millwall Oldham Athletic Plymouth Argyle Portsmouth Reading Sheffield United Shrewsbury Town Stoke City Sunderland West Bromwich Albion
Third Division	Blackpool Bolton Wanderers Bournemouth Brentford Bristol City Bristol Rovers Bury Carlisle United Chester City Chesterfield Darlington Doncaster Rovers Fulham Gillingham Mansfield Town Middlesbrough Newport County Port Vale Notts County Rotherham United Swindon Town Walsall Wigan Athletic York City
Fourth Division	Aldershot Burnley Cardiff City Cambridge United Colchester United Crewe Alexandra Exeter City Halifax Town Hartlepool United Hereford United Lincoln City Northampton Town Orient Peterborough United Preston North End Rochdale Scunthorpe United Southend United Southport Stockport County Swansea City Torquay United Tranmere Rovers Wolverhampton Wanderers Wrexham

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