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FA Premier League 1996-97

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This article describes the FA Premier League 1996-97 season.
Premiership season 1996-97
Champions: Manchester United
Runners-up: Newcastle United
Newly promoted teams for the 1996-97 season: Sunderland
Derby County
Leicester City
Teams relegated after the 1996-97 season: Nottingham Forest
Middlesbrough
Sunderland

The 1996-97 FA Premier League season was the fifth season of the competition, since its formation in 1992. The majority of the season was contested by the reigning champions, Manchester United, along with Newcastle United, Arsenal and Liverpool. The title was eventually won by Manchester United, after Liverpool and Newcastle's failure to win in their penultimate games of the season.

Contents

[edit] Promoted teams

Promoted to the Premiership for the 1996-97 season were Sunderland and Derby County as Division One winners and runners up respectively. Leicester City were promoted as playoff winners.<ref>English league tables for 1995-96 season. Retrieved 21 September 2006</ref>

[edit] Relegated teams

Middlesbrough, despite spending millions of pounds on high profile foreign players like Emerson Moisés Costa, Fabrizio Ravanelli (who scored 31 goals in all competitions), Branco and Gianluca Festa, were relegated on the final day of the season and were on the losing side in both the FA Cup and League Cup finals. Middlebrough finished in 18th place, however they would have been placed outside the relegation zone without a 3-point deduction imposed for cancelling a December 1996 fixture against Blackburn Rovers, with the Middlesbrough board blaming the decision on the absence of 23 players ill or injured.<ref>"Football's biggest punishments". Retrieved 20 September 2006.</ref><ref>"Funny Old Game|Happened on this day - 20th December". Retrieved 20 September 2006.</ref> This sanction meant Coventry City, who had been in the top division since 1967, finished in 17th place and avoided relegation.

The other relegation places went to Nottingham Forest, who sacked manager Frank Clark in December. Stuart Pearce took over as temporary player-manager, spending three months in charge and winning the January 1996 Manager of the Month award. In March, Pearce quit as manager to be replaced by David Bassett, formerly of Crystal Palace. Also relegated were Sunderland, who were leaving Roker Park after 99 years and relocating to the 42,000-seat Stadium of Light on the banks of the River Wear.

[edit] Managerial changes

[edit] Player and managerial awards

[edit] Final league table

Final league table for FA Premier League 1996-97 season
Pos Team P W D L F A Pts
1 Manchester United 38 21 12 5 76 44 75 CL<ref>Qualify for 1997-98 UEFA Champions League group stage</ref>
2 Newcastle United 38 19 11 8 73 40 68 CLQ<ref>Qualify for 1997-98 UEFA Champions League qualification round</ref>
3 Arsenal 38 19 11 8 62 32 68 UC<ref name="UEFA Cup qualifier">Qualify for 1997-98 UEFA Cup first round</ref>
4 Liverpool 38 19 11 8 62 37 68
5 Aston Villa 38 17 10 11 47 34 61
6 Chelsea 38 16 11 11 58 55 59 CWC<ref>Qualify for 1997-98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup</ref>
7 Sheffield Wednesday 38 14 15 9 50 51 57 UC<ref name="UEFA Cup qualifier" />
8 Wimbledon 38 15 11 12 49 46 56
9 Leicester City 38 12 11 15 46 54 47
10 Tottenham Hotspur 38 13 7 18 44 51 46
11 Leeds United 38 11 13 14 28 38 46
12 Derby County 38 11 13 14 45 58 46
13 Blackburn Rovers 38 9 15 14 42 43 42
14 West Ham United 38 10 12 16 39 48 42
15 Everton 38 10 12 16 44 57 42
16 Southampton 38 10 11 17 50 56 41
17 Coventry City 38 9 14 15 38 54 41
18 Sunderland 38 10 10 18 35 53 40 R<ref>Relegated to Football League First Division</ref>
19 Middlesbrough 38 10 12 16 51 60 39*
20 Nottingham Forest 38 6 16 16 31 59 34

* Middlesbrough had 3 points deducted for failing to fulfill fixture

P = Games Played; W = Games Won; D = Games Drawn; L = Games Lost; F = Goals For; A = Goals Against; Pts = Points

[edit] Season Statistics

Total Goals: 970
Average Goals per game: 2.55

[edit] Arsenal

Arsenal sacked manager Bruce Rioch before the season started, and his assistant Stewart Houston once again stepped up to the manager's seat on a caretaker basis. Terry Venables and Johann Cruyff were just two of the many names linked with the club over the following weeks, but in the end it was Frenchman Arsene Wenger who got the job. He quickly took Arsenal to the top of the Premiership, though they were soon displaced by Liverpool and then Manchester United.

Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp continued to operate as an experienced, prolific partnership, while 20-year-old Frenchman Patrick Vieira showed promisement as one of the top young midfielders in Europe. But even these fine assets couldn't quite get the better of Manchester United, as the Gunners finished third - bracketed together on points with runners-up Newcastle and fourth-placed Liverpool.

Wenger used the summer break to bring in foreign stars like Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit, as he prepared to mount a challenge for Arsenal's name to make its first appearance on the Premiership trophy.

[edit] Aston Villa

Aston Villa made few headlines in 1996-97, but they continued their worth as an energetic, youthful side who were at least a match for most of the rest of the elite. They finished fifth and clinched the final UEFA Cup spot, and the close season capture of Stan Collymore for a club record fee of £7million gave Villa fans hope of making a more serious challenge for trophies.

[edit] Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn made a terrible start to the Premiership season following Alan Shearer's move to Newcastle, and manager Ray Harford resigned in late October following a shock Coca-Cola Cup exit at the hands of Division Two side Stockport County. Blackburn were now bottom of the Premiership and still looking for their first win of the season, just over a year after winning the league title! Long-serving coach Tony Parkes took over as manager on a temporary basis, and Swede Sven Goran Eriksson soon agreed to take over as manager after the end of the season. But Eriksson then decided against the move, and Roy Hodgson was chosen instead.

Blackburn's form steadily improved as the season went on, and they gradually lifted themselves clear of the danger zone. A 13th place finish was a reflection on Parkes's efforts to rejuvenate a demoralised side, and was helped no end by a return to form for striker Chris Sutton.

Hodgson's arrival gave the Ewood Park faithful hope of returning to their winning ways for the upcoming season.

[edit] Chelsea

Chelsea finished sixth in the final table to achieve their highest league finish for seven years, but the real big news of the season was a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough in the FA Cup final which ended their 26-year trophy drought and saw them return to Europe after an almost-as-long exile. Key players in their triumph were centre-half Frank le Bouef, striker Mark Hughes, captain Dennis Wise and midfielder (and record signing) Roberto Di Matteo. The success made manager Ruud Gullit, still only 34 and in his first season of management, the first foreign manager to win a major trophy in English football.

The season was overshadowed by the death of director Matthew Harding, who died in October as a result of a helicopter crash in Cheshire on his way home from the club's Coca-Cola Cup defeat at the hands of Bolton Wanderers.

[edit] Coventry City

The Premiership has produced quite a few amazing escape acts from relegation, but Coventry City's escape in 1996-97 has to rank as something little short of a miracle.

Manager Ron Atkinson moved upstairs to the role of Director of Football in late October, after his heavy spending had brought just four Premiership goals and a 19th place standing. His assistant Gordon Strachan was appointed manager, and come January they had climbed to a seemingly secure 11th place. But the Sky Blues soon started to drop points again, and even free-scoring Dion Dublin could not prevent them from falling back into the drop zone as the season entered its final weeks. Back-to-back wins in late April gave fans hope of survival, but their 30-year spell in the top flight appeared to be over after they suffered defeat in their penultimate game of the season.

But thanks to a win over Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the season, and both Middlesbrough and Sunderland losing, Coventry pulled off a miracle escape from relegation. In the end, they were only kept up as a result of Middlesbrough losing 3 points for calling off a mid-season game at short notice. Strachan then strengthened his squad, as well as holding onto the highly-rated Dublin, to avoid the threat of another struggle.

[edit] Derby County

Back in the top flight after a five-year exile, Derby were also playing their final season at the century-old Baseball Ground before their move to a new 30,000-seat stadium. They never looked in real danger of relegation, and were one of a select group of teams to be unbeaten by Manchester United - a 3-2 win at Old Trafford arguably being their best result of the season. 12th place finish was full credit to manager Jim Smith for bringing some long-awaited success to the Rams, who were especially pleased that their new stadium would host top division football.

[edit] Everton

Joe Royle walked out on Everton in late March after a dispute with the club over transfer funds. 35-year-old captain Dave Watson took over on a temporary basis, but insisted that he didn't want the job permanently. He did a decent job, confounding any remaining fears of relegation to achieve 15th place in the final table.

Howard Kendall, who had already been in charge of Everton twice before (winning two league titles during his first spell), was named as Royle's permanent successor, and brought in three new players - John Oster, Gareth Farrelly and Slaven Bilic - to give Everton fans hope of something slightly more positive than a relegation battle to look forward to.

[edit] Leeds United

Howard Wilkinson's eight-year reign as manager of Leeds United came to an end in September after his side's 4-0 home defeat against Manchester United. Former Arsenal manager George Graham returned from his year-long ban from football after a bungs scandal and was confirmed as the new Leeds manager. He made a succession of bids for several of his former Highbury players, but these were rebuffed and he was forced look elsewhere for reinforcements.

Leeds were third from bottom in the Premiership when Graham took over, and they finished in a secure 11th place. They would have finished higher still had they scored more than 29 goals - which made them the Premiership's lowest scorers. Veteran striker Ian Rush netted just three times in 36 appearances in his only season at Elland Road; he was then transferred to Newcastle.

Determined to re-create the glory days at Leeds, Graham boosted the side's goal-shy attack by signing Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Scottish forward David Hopkin.

[edit] Leicester City

Leicester City were most people's pre-season favourites for an immediate return to Division One, but Martin O'Neill's men quickly proved the observers wrong. They were never in any danger of going down, and finished ninth in the final table - their highest finish since the 1960s - ahead of more favoured sides including Tottenham, Everton and most impressively their local rivals Nottingham Forest, who went down in bottom place.

The real success of the season was a victory in the League Cup final which ended their 33-year trophy drought. In the first match against Middlesbrough, they drew 1-1 at Wembley; the replay at Hillsborough was settled by a single Steve Claridge goal. This triumph gave Leicester a UEFA Cup place which signalled their long-awaited return to European action.

[edit] Liverpool

Liverpool were top of the Premiership on Christmas Day 1996, but were knocked off the top by Manchester United in late January and never regained pole position. Any hopes of making a late comeback were crushed when Robbie Fowler missed the final four games of the season through suspension, and the title headed for Old Trafford. Roy Evans and his team were left with a UEFA Cup place as consolation, their fourth place finish not enough for England's new second place in the Champions' League, which went to Newcastle instead. One more point would have given Liverpool their first foray into Europe's top club competition for 13 years.

One of the biggest problems of the season was the discontention of striker Stan Collymore, a situation which was resolved when he agreed an end-of-season £7million move to Aston Villa. Experienced German striker Karlheinz Riedle was signed from European champions Borussia Dortmund, while a possible star of the future emerged in the shape of 17-year-old striker Michael Owen.

[edit] Manchester United

Although they weren't top of the table from the start of the season, Manchester United still held the longest unbeaten start to the Premiership season. That unbeaten start came to an end on October 20, when they were crushed 5-0 by Newcastle and endured their heaviest competitive defeat since 1984. A 6-3 defeat at Southampton followed, and then the team's 2-year unbeaten home Premiership record came to an end when they lost 2-1 to Chelsea.

On the continent, United qualified for the European Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 28 years despite suffering their first home defeat in 40 years of European football... to unfancied Turkish side Fernebahce. They comprehensively overcame F.C. Porto in the quarter-finals, but the European dream was ended by a semi-final defeat to eventual winners Borussia Dortmund. Both domestic cup competitions had ended in early exits, to Leicester in the League Cup and Wimbledon in the FA Cup.

Despite all these blows, and some disappointing performances from highly-rated players like Karel Poborský, United were crowned Premiership champions for the fourth time in five seasons.

On 18 May - just over a week after the end of the Premiership season - captain Éric Cantona shocked the football world by announcing his retirement from football, six days before his 31st birthday. Cantona defended his decision to retire at a relatively early age by saying that he had always intended to retire while at the top, and had no interest in a decline into mediocrity that had been the scene for the careers of so many iconic players before him.

United signed England and Tottenham striker Teddy Sheringham as Cantona's replacement, paying £3.5million for one of the most respected frontmen in English football.

[edit] Middlesbrough

1996-97 was like no other season in the history of Middlesbrough football club.

Bryan Robson's expensively-assembled side, which included Fabrizio Ravanelli, Emerson and Juninho, began the season rated as possible outsiders for a UEFA Cup place. They very nearly achieved this, despite being at the wrong end of the Premiership table. Their first stab at a European place came in March when they played their first-ever major final - the League Cup final. The game went into extra time and Fabrizio Ravanelli looked to have won Boro their first major trophy with a spectacular goal, but Leicester soon equalised and the replay at Hillsborough a few days later saw the trophy head for Filbert Street instead.

In spite of having one of the most expensive squads in the Premiership, Boro were near the foot of the Premiership when they cancelled a fixture against Blackburn just 24 hours before kick off on 21 December, blaming an injury and illness crisis. They were quickly charges with bringing the game into disrepute and a Premier League ruling saw them lose 3 points, making their survival task even harder.

Middlesbrough's survival bid was lost on the final day of the season, and they would have stayed up - in 14th place - had it not been for that unprecedented punishment. But there was still some hope of success - they had just reached their first FA Cup final, and arrived at Wembley on 17 May to take on Chelsea. They lost 2-0 and completed a unique season which saw them become the first English team to finish in the last two of all three major English tournaments.

With an impressive squad and high transfer budget, Middlesbrough approached the new season as most people's favourites for an immediate return to the Premiership.

[edit] Newcastle United

The world-record £15million signing of Newcastle-born striker Alan Shearer saw Newcastle establish themselves as title favourites for most of the observers, with manager Kevin Keegan even boasting that his side would "conquer Europe". The season started very well, with Shearer scoring regularly and making an explosive return from a seven-match absence enforced by surgery to correct a hernia. A 5-0 win over Manchester United in late October made Newcastle look even more like a title-winning team, though it was Arsenal who led the table at this stage.

On 5 January, Kevin Keegan shocked the people of Newcastle by announcing his resignation as manager. In five years as manager, he had taken them from the foot of the old Second Division to the brink of the league title. He felt he could take the club no further, despite them still looking like title contenders, and the task of taking the club further was given to Kenny Dalglish - who had ironically replaced Keegan as a player at Liverpool 20 years earlier.

Newcastle were in with a chance of title glory right up to the end of April, but couldn't quite get the better of Manchester United. There was some consolation, though, as they became the first English team to take advantage of the new second place in the European Cup.

[edit] Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest had a tough season from start to finish. It was quickly clear that they were in for a battle against relegation, and manager Frank Clark quit on 19 December to make way for 34-year-old captain Stuart Pearce, who was given a temporary role as player-manager. Forest were bottom of the Premiership on Christmas Day, a standing which had seen the last five teams with this distinction endure relegation at the end of the season.

A turn-around in form, inspired mostly by the return (on loan) of former favourite Nigel Clough, saw Pearce voted Manager of the Month for January and Forest were starting to look like they were capable of survival. Dave Bassett was appointed manager at the end of the following month and quickly signed Pierre Van Hooijdonk to reinforce the attack, but these changes were not enough to prevent Forest from going down in bottom place.

[edit] Sheffield Wednesday

David Pleat's men were among some people's pre-season favourites for relegation, but an excellent start to the season saw them top the Premiership at the end of August and Pleat was voted Manager of the Month. Although the Owls were unable to keep up this excellent form throughout the season, their seventh place finish equalled their highest-ever final Premiership place and was a massive improvement on the low finishes of the previous two campaigns.

Over the summer, Pleat broke the club's transfer record by splashing out nearly £6million on Celtic's controversial Italian striker Paulo Di Canio, sensing that he needed more strength up front to support injury-prone David Hirst and inexperienced Andy Booth for the Owls to remain contenders for a European place in the upcoming season.

[edit] Southampton

Southampton once again defied the odds to avoid relegation on the final day of the season, but once again it wasn't enough for the board - who decided that it was time for a new manager take over. This time the unlucky manager was Graeme Souness, who had been brought in to replace the inexperienced David Merrington. Souness brought in Norwegians Claus Ludnekvam and Egil Østenstad, and Østenstad proved to be a particularly fruitful investment, scoring a hat-trick in his team's 6-3 demolition of Manchester United in his first month at the club.

The Saints managed to beat the drop once again, but Souness was still removed from his position and replaced by Dave Jones, who had just taken Stockport County to promotion from Division Two and to the Coca-Cola Cup semi-finals.

[edit] Sunderland

Sunderland returned to the top flight after a five-year exile during which they had almost fallen into the league's third tier on no less than two occasions. The revival was mainly down to the motivation skills of manager Peter Reid, who hadn't been able to spend as heavily as some other managers who had failed to come anywhere near as close to success as he had. Now it was time for his skills to be tested at the highest level.

Sunderland struggled for much of the season along with local rivals Middlesbrough, and none of their players managed more than four Premiership goals all season. One of the few successes of the season was a shock 2-1 win over Manchester United at Roker Park in March. But defeat on the final day of the season condemned the Wearsiders to relegation.

The 1997 close season saw Sunderland move into a new 42,000-seat stadium at Monkwearmouth after 99 years at historic Roker Park, giving their fans more reason to expect success. Big stadiums are normally occupied by successful teams, and Sunderland fans became even more hungry for success after so many years in the shadows.

[edit] Tottenham Hotspur

Another frustrating season for Tottenham saw manager Gerry Francis and chairman Alan Sugar under increasing pressure to deliver success or go, and a 10th place finish wasn't anywhere near good enough for the club's fans. A club with a strong tradition of success in cup competitions suffered a first-hurdle FA Cup exit and never looked like qualifying for the UEFA Cup. The close-season sale of Teddy Sheringham to Manchester United left a huge hole to fill, but it was quickly filled by record signing Les Ferdinand - a £6million acquisition from Newcastle and a world-class goalscorer. He was seen by many observers as the last chance for Gerry Francis to succeed in his under-fire a job as manager.

[edit] West Ham United

Harry Redknapp spent the close season bringing in a host of new players, mostly from the continent, hoping to mount a challenge for a UEFA Cup place. But his new-look side failed to meet these expectations, and spent most of the season fighting a relegation battle which at one point looked as though it might be lost. Paolo Futre played just one game for the club before a long-standing knee injury caused him to retire, while Florin Radiciou left within months after failing to settle into the side, and on-loan striker Hugo Porfirio scored just twice in over 20 games.

One bright spot in West Ham's frustrating season was the emergence of 18-year-old centre-half Rio Ferdinand, who quickly broke into the first team and was soon being linked with an international call-up. It was the acquisition of strikers John Hartson and Paul Kitson which were the final pieces in the jigsaw for West Ham's survival, as they climbed to 14th place. West Ham finally had a squad which looked like making a serious bid for European qualification.

[edit] Wimbledon

The season began promisingly for Wimbledon football club, bolstered by the signing of highly-rated Millwall defender Ben Thatcher and the emergence of goalkeeper Neil Sullivan. They regularly threatened the top-five in the Premiership and enjoyed good cup runs, reaching the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and the League Cup. But their last hope of qualifying for the UEFA Cup ended when they could attain nothing higher than eighth place in the final table. Their task of chasing further honours in the future was made all the more complicated by the end-of-season sale of key midfielder Oyvind Leonhardsen to Liverpool.

[edit] Top goal scorers

Scorer Goals Team
Alan Shearer 25 Newcastle United F.C.
Ian Wright 23 Arsenal F.C.
Robbie Fowler 18 Liverpool F.C.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær 18 Manchester United F.C.
Dwight Yorke 17 Aston Villa F.C.

[edit] See also

[edit] References and notes

<references/>

FA Premier League 2006–07

v • d • e</div>

Arsenal | Aston Villa | Blackburn Rovers | Bolton Wanderers | Charlton Athletic | Chelsea | Everton | Fulham | Liverpool | Manchester City | Manchester United | Middlesbrough | Newcastle United | Portsmouth | Reading | Sheffield United | Tottenham Hotspur | Watford | West Ham United | Wigan Athletic

FA Premier League seasons

v • d • e</div>

1992–93 | 1993–94 | 1994–95 | 1995–96 | 1996–97 | 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–00 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 |

no:FA Premier League 1996–1997

pl:Premiership (1996/1997)

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