1987–88 Football Conference

Kidderminster Harriers, Lincoln City, 16 matches
Longest losing run	Dagenham, 12 matches
Highest attendance	Lincoln City v Wycombe Wanderers, 9,432 (2 May 1988)
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	1,249 (+ 36% from the previous season)
	← 1986–87 1988–89 →

The Football Conference season of 1987–88 (known as the GM Vauxhall Conference for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the

Football Conference

.

Overview

Football League, where they replaced the bottom placed Fourth Division club Newport County

.

The season featured an experimental rule change, whereby no attacker could be offside directly from a free-kick. The change was not deemed a success, as the attacking team invariably packed the six yard box for any free-kick (and had several players stand in front of the opposition goalkeeper). The experiment was swiftly dropped.[2]

New teams in the league this season

Lincoln City (relegated from the Football League 1986–87)
Fisher Athletic (promoted 1986–87)
Macclesfield Town (promoted 1986–87)
Wycombe Wanderers (promoted 1986–87)

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Lincoln City	42	16	4	1	53	13	8	6	7	33	35	+38	82	Football League Fourth Division
2	Barnet	42	15	4	2	57	23	8	7	6	36	22	+48	80
3	Kettering Town	42	13	5	3	37	20	9	4	8	31	28	+20	75
4	Runcorn	42	14	4	3	42	20	7	7	7	26	27	+21	74
5	Telford United	42	11	5	5	33	23	9	5	7	32	27	+15	70
6	Stafford Rangers	42	12	4	5	43	25	8	5	8	36	33	+21	69
7	Kidderminster Harriers	42	11	8	2	42	28	7	7	7	33	38	+9	69
8	Sutton United	42	9	8	4	41	25	7	10	4	36	29	+23	66
9	Maidstone United	42	8	5	8	38	33	10	4	7	41	31	+15	63
10	Weymouth	42	13	7	1	33	13	5	2	14	20	30	+10	63
11	Macclesfield Town^[a]	42	10	5	6	36	27	8	4	9	28	35	+2	63
12	Enfield	42	8	5	8	35	34	7	5	9	33	44	−10	55	FA Trophy winners
13	Cheltenham Town	42	6	11	4	36	32	5	9	7	28	35	−3	53
14	Altrincham	42	11	5	5	41	21	3	5	13	18	38	0	52
15	Fisher Athletic^[a]	42	8	7	6	28	23	5	6	10	30	38	−3	52
16	Boston United	42	9	5	7	33	25	5	2	14	27	50	−15	49
17	Northwich Victoria	42	8	6	7	30	25	2	11	8	16	32	−11	47
18	Wycombe Wanderers^[a]	42	8	5	8	32	43	3	8	10	18	33	−26	46
19	Welling United	42	8	4	9	33	32	3	5	13	17	40	−22	42
20	Bath City	42	7	5	9	27	32	2	5	14	21	44	−28	37	Relegated to the Southern League
21	Wealdstone	42	3	11	7	20	33	2	6	13	19	43	−37	32	Relegated to the Southern League
22	Dagenham	42	4	3	14	20	46	1	3	17	17	58	−67	21	Relegated to the Isthmian League

Source: ^[1]
Notes:

^ ^a ^b ^c New club in the Conference

Note: Conference League Cup winners,

Horwich RMI F.C. (Northern Premier League

)

Results

Home \ Away	ALT	BAR	BAT	BOS	CHL	DAG	ENF	FIS	KET	KID	LIN	MAC	MDS	NOR	RUN	STA	SUT	TEL	WEA	WEL	WEY	WYC
Altrincham		1–1	2–0	4–1	1–1	6–0	5–1	2–3	2–2	2–3	0–0	1–3	0–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	0–3	1–0	1–0	3–0	4–2
Barnet	3–1		4–0	1–0	1–1	3–2	3–0	2–0	4–0	1–1	4–2	2–1	2–0	4–1	1–2	2–2	6–2	0–2	5–1	5–2	3–2	1–1
Bath City	2–0	0–1		2–1	1–1	4–2	0–1	1–3	2–0	3–3	2–1	3–4	1–3	0–0	0–1	0–3	0–4	1–2	0–0	0–0	3–1	2–1
Boston United	2–2	2–1	2–0		4–1	1–0	2–3	2–1	0–2	1–0	1–2	0–2	3–3	0–1	2–2	4–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–0	4–0
Cheltenham Town	1–0	0–2	3–3	1–5		5–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	2–2	3–3	1–0	2–2	1–1	0–0	2–3	1–1	3–0	1–1	2–2	2–1	2–2
Dagenham	3–2	0–0	1–1	4–2	1–3		1–2	1–5	0–5	1–2	0–3	0–0	0–3	1–0	1–4	2–4	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–2	0–3	2–1
Enfield	1–1	2–0	1–3	3–2	0–1	2–2		0–0	2–0	5–2	0–0	1–2	2–4	0–1	1–3	0–0	2–3	1–4	5–2	1–0	3–2	3–2
Fisher Athletic	3–2	2–2	2–0	0–0	1–0	5–1	2–3		1–1	3–1	1–1	1–2	0–3	0–0	0–2	1–2	1–1	0–1	3–1	1–0	1–0	0–0
Kettering Town	1–2	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–1	3–0	2–1	2–1		1–1	2–0	3–2	0–2	3–1	0–3	1–0	2–2	1–0	3–2	1–0	3–0	3–0
Kidderminster Harriers	4–1	1–1	3–2	1–0	3–2	1–1	4–0	1–1	2–1		3–3	3–2	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–2	2–4	2–1	5–2	1–0	0–2
Lincoln City	5–0	2–1	3–0	5–1	5–1	3–0	4–0	3–0	0–1	5–3		3–0	1–1	3–2	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	3–0	2–1	0–0	2–0
Macclesfield Town	1–0	2–2	0–2	2–1	1–0	3–1	0–3	2–4	0–0	1–2	2–0		1–0	5–0	4–0	2–3	1–1	1–1	3–2	3–2	1–2	1–1
Maidstone United	2–2	2–1	3–0	1–2	2–2	2–0	3–2	2–2	2–3	1–2	1–2	2–0		1–1	3–0	4–2	2–4	2–4	1–1	0–1	2–1	0–1
Northwich Victoria	1–2	2–1	2–1	6–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–1	2–3	2–1	2–3		2–0	1–1	1–4	1–2	0–0	0–0	2–1	2–1
Runcorn	1–1	0–1	2–1	3–0	2–2	2–1	2–2	5–1	1–0	2–0	4–1	1–2	3–2	2–1		1–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	4–0	2–1	1–2
Stafford Rangers	3–0	1–1	1–0	3–4	2–2	4–0	3–1	3–2	2–1	0–2	1–4	0–1	2–3	3–0	2–1		2–0	1–1	5–2	2–0	0–0	3–0
Sutton United	2–1	0–1	3–1	1–2	3–0	1–1	3–3	2–0	2–2	2–0	4–1	2–3	5–1	1–1	2–2	2–0		2–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–2
Telford United	1–0	2–4	3–1	2–1	0–1	1–0	4–0	2–1	2–3	4–3	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–2	3–3		1–1	2–0	1–0	0–0
Wealdstone	0–0	0–6	1–1	1–1	1–4	2–3	1–0	2–1	0–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–3	2–2	0–1	4–2	0–0	2–2		1–1	0–2	0–0
Welling United	0–1	0–2	2–1	3–1	0–1	6–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	1–2	1–4	3–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–5	1–4	4–1	4–0		0–2	1–0
Weymouth	1–0	2–0	3–1	3–1	1–1	1–0	1–3	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	4–0		0–0
Wycombe Wanderers	1–0	0–7	2–2	1–2	5–3	2–1	1–5	1–1	0–3	0–1	1–2	5–0	1–5	1–1	2–2	0–4	1–1	2–1	1–0	3–1	2–1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Rothmans Football Yearbook 1988–89. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1988.[1]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Kidderminster Harriers

Locations of the Football Conference teams 1987–1988

Locations of the Football Conference teams 1987–1988

Top scorers in order of league goals

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	Total^[1]
1	Steve Norris	Telford United	24	0	6	5	35
=	Phil Derbyshire	Stafford Rangers	24	3	3	2	32
=	Paul Davies	Kidderminster Harriers	24	2	1	0	27
4	Steve Butler	Maidstone United	22	3	4	0	29
=	Mark Carter	Runcorn	22	1	2	0	25
=	Nicky Evans	Barnet	22	7	0	1	30
7	Nicky Francis	Enfield	21	1	4	3	29
8	Steve Burr	Macclesfield Town	19	9	4	0	32
=	Lenny Dennis	Sutton United	19	4	0	2	25
=	Dave Sansom	Barnet	19	3	2	3	27
11	Kim Casey	Kidderminster Harriers	17	2	2	0	21
12	Phil Brown	Lincoln City	16	1	2	1	20
=	Mark Smith	Kettering Town	16	0	2	1	19
=	Paul Wilson	Boston United	16	2	3	0	21
=	Brett Angell	Cheltenham Town	16	5	1	0	22
16	Steve Biggins	Telford United	15	1	3	1	20
=	John McGinley	Lincoln City	15	3	0	2	20
=	Paul McKinnon	Sutton United	15	2	0	2	19

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

Lincoln City (to the Football League Fourth Division)
Aylesbury United (from the Southern Premier League)
Chorley (from the Northern Premier League)
Yeovil Town (from the Isthmian League)

Relegated

Newport County (from the Football League Fourth Division)
Bath City (to the Southern Premier League)
Dagenham (to the Isthmian League)
Wealdstone (to the Southern Premier League)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jack Rollin (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1988–89. Queen Anne Press, MacDonald & Co., London and Sydney, 1988.
^ King, Ian (8 February 2014). "Six Of The Worst: Football's Failed Rule Change Experiments". twohundredpercent. Retrieved 21 September 2019.

External links

1987–88 Conference National Results

[table_note_MAC0.60660735359723-3] New club in the Conference

[Rothmans-1] Jack Rollin (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1988–89. Queen Anne Press, MacDonald & Co., London and Sydney, 1988.

[2] King, Ian (8 February 2014). "Six Of The Worst: Football's Failed Rule Change Experiments". twohundredpercent. Retrieved 21 September 2019.

[a]

[1]