1986/87 Season Review

After the tragedy of Basran, Roy Race had to rebuild his squad. And rebuild it he did, with six new first-team players, Rovers defended their League Cup title, defeating Stambridge City two-one in the Final.

This season would introduce a number of new favourites, Steve 'Nobby' Wootten, Bruno Johnson, Blackie's son, Mark 'Cracker' Gray and the topical 'Boat-Boy' Pak Soon, from Vietnam. But the best signing would always be, 'The Hard Man' Johnny Dexter, specially chosen by Roy to add steel and experience to a young side.

1986/87 Melchester Rovers matches, opponents, results, line-ups, players list, scorers









League position: Top Half
League Cup: Winners
F.A. Cup: 5th Round (covered in Specials and Annuals)

Squad:
G - Styles, Carter
D - Wootten, McKay, Johnson, Dexter, Giles, Drake, Butler
M - B.Gray, M.Gray, Olsen, Clark, Miller
F - Race, Richards, Pak Soon, Ritchie

Line-up (4-3-3):

1986/87 Melchester Rovers formation, line-up, players list

Players In:
Steve Wootten (Youth), Bruno Johnson (Melchester University), Johnny Dexter (Burnside), Mark Gray (Youth), Olaf Olsen (Denmark), Pak Soon (Youth), Kevin Clark (Selbridge), Bruce Miller (Italy)

Players out:
Noel Baxter, Trevor Cassidy, Neville Jones, Jimmy Slade, Kenny Logan, Carl Hunt, Steve Naylor, Vic Guthrie (all died in Basran), Bob Wilson (Retired), Emlyn Hughes (Retired), Steve Norman and Martin Kemp (released)

1986/87 New look Melchester Rovers side

Notes:
- The last featured match of the season, was the first mention in a ROTR story of Tynefield (didn't say City or United), the club associated with famous goalies Gordon and Rick Stewart.
- Roy played for England against Turkey in a Euro '88 qualifier and suffered a career-threatening injury, before recovering to embark on a European tour as an ambassador of English football.

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