During the 1996–97 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Second Division. Despite having led the division for most of the season, a collapse in the final 13 matches dropped the Bees into the playoffs, where they were defeated by Crewe Alexandra in the 1997 Second Division playoff Final.

Quick Facts Chairman, Manager ...

Brentford

1996–97 season
Chairman	Martin Lange
Manager	David Webb
Stadium	Griffin Park
Second Division	4th
Play-offs	Runners-up
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Football League Trophy	Quarter-final
Top goalscorer	League: Asaba (23) All: Asaba (24)
Highest home attendance	12,019
Lowest home attendance	1,455
Average home league attendance	5,920
Home colours Away colours
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

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Despite a hangover in the 1995–96 season, Brentford entered 1996–97 with largely the same core of players which reached the 1995 Second Division playoff semi-finals.^[1] That said, central defender Barry Ashby and midfielders Paul Smith and Carl Hutchings all rejected new contracts in favour of monthly agreements, but the trio signed new deals during the opening two months of the season.^[1] Manager David Webb's only significant signing of the 1996 off-season was that of midfielder Scott Canham, paying West Ham United a £25,000 fee to turn his loan from the previous season into a permanent deal.^[1]

Brentford began the Second Division season with an 11-match unbeaten run and firmly held on to top spot in the table.^[2] The four-pronged attack of Carl Asaba, Nicky Forster, Robert Taylor and Marcus Bent proved fruitful and Asaba's 7-minute hat-trick versus Shrewsbury Town on 31 August 1996 was the quickest ever in a league match by a Brentford player.^[3][4] One win in eight matches from mid-October through to mid-November dropped the Bees back into the playoff positions, but the club returned to the summit early in the following 13-match unbeaten run.^[2] Forward Nicky Forster, who was in the final year of his contract, was sold to Birmingham City for a £700,000 fee on 31 January 1997, but he was not replaced.^[1]

Despite the loss of Forster, the unbeaten run continued until defeat away to Preston North End on 8 March.^[1] In the aftermath of the match, manager David Webb tendered his resignation,^[5] citing verbal abuse of himself, the coaching staff and the players and "undisclosed sensitive issues" as the reason.^[1] Chairman Martin Lange refused to accept Webb's resignation.^[1] The fallout from the Preston match gave way to a run of eight defeats in the final 13 matches of the season, in which just six goals were scored and the team failed to find the net at all during the final four matches.^[2] Things went from bad to worse when central defender Barry Ashby suffered an injury on 19 April and Carl Asaba was sent off in the penultimate match of the season.^[1] The run dropped Brentford from 1st to 4th place and into a two-legged tie with Bristol City in the playoff semi-finals.^[1]

Brentford rallied in the playoff semi-finals, seeing off Bristol City (who had finished the regular season with five consecutive wins) 4–2 on aggregate,^[2] winning 2–1 home and away.^[6] The Bees were "exposed and outclassed" in the final at Wembley Stadium versus Crewe Alexandra, losing 1–0 in a match which saw the Railwaymen hit the woodwork on three occasions and have two goalbound efforts cleared off the line by Carl Hutchings.^[3] In addition, Bees defender Brian Statham was sent off for committing a second bookable offence 15 minutes from time.^[3]

Brentford's goal tally listed first.

Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1996–97 season.

More information Position, Name ...

Position	Name	Nationality	Date of birth (age)	Signed from	Signed in	Notes
Goalkeepers
GK	Kevin Dearden		(1970-03-08)8 March 1970 (aged 26)	Tottenham Hotspur	1993
GK	Tamer Fernandes		(1974-12-07)7 December 1974 (aged 21)	Youth	1993
Defenders
DF	Ijah Anderson		(1975-12-30)30 December 1975 (aged 20)	Southend United	1995
DF	Barry Ashby		(1970-11-21)21 November 1970 (aged 25)	Watford	1994
DF	Jamie Bates (c)		(1968-02-24)24 February 1968 (aged 28)	Youth	1986
DF	Carl Hutchings		(1974-09-24)24 September 1974 (aged 21)	Youth	1993
DF	Brian Statham		(1969-05-21)21 May 1969 (aged 27)	Tottenham Hotspur	1992
Midfielders
MF	Scott Canham		(1974-11-11)11 November 1974 (aged 21)	West Ham United	1996
MF	Kevin Dennis		(1976-12-14)14 December 1976 (aged 19)	Arsenal	1996
MF	Richard Goddard		(1978-03-31)31 March 1978 (aged 18)	Arsenal	1996
MF	Lee Harvey		(1966-12-21)21 December 1966 (aged 29)	Nottingham Forest	1993
MF	Gus Hurdle		(1973-10-14)14 October 1973 (aged 22)	Carshalton Athletic	1993
MF	David McGhee		(1976-06-19)19 June 1976 (aged 20)	Youth	1994
MF	Paul Smith		(1971-09-18)18 September 1971 (aged 24)	Southend United	1993
Forwards
FW	Carl Asaba		(1973-01-28)28 January 1973 (aged 23)	Dulwich Hamlet	1994
FW	Marcus Bent		(1978-05-19)19 May 1978 (aged 18)	Youth	1995
FW	Malcolm McPherson		(1974-12-09)9 December 1974 (aged 21)	West Ham United	1996
FW	Joe Omigie		(1972-06-13)13 June 1972 (aged 24)	Donna	1994
FW	Kevin Rapley		(1977-09-21)21 September 1977 (aged 18)	Youth	1997
FW	Robert Taylor		(1971-04-30)30 April 1971 (aged 25)	Leyton Orient	1994
Players who left the club mid-season
MF	Paul Abrahams		(1973-10-31)31 October 1973 (aged 22)	Colchester United	1995	Transferred to Colchester United
MF	Mark Janney		(1977-12-02)2 December 1977 (aged 18)	Tottenham Hotspur	1997	Returned to Tottenham Hotspur after loan
FW	Nicky Forster		(1973-09-08)8 September 1973 (aged 22)	Gillingham	1994	Transferred to Birmingham City
FW	Steve Slade		(1975-10-06)6 October 1975 (aged 20)	Queens Park Rangers	1997	Returned to Queens Park Rangers after loan

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• Source: Soccerbase

Supplier: Cobra Sports
Sponsor(s): Ericsson

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Goalkeeper

Source: Brentford F.C.

• Supporters' Player of the Year: Barry Ashby^[19]
• Star Player of the Year: Barry Ashby^[20]
• London Evening Standard Player of the Month: Jamie Bates (December 1996)^[1]
• Ericsson Player of the Month: Kevin Dennis (April 1997)^[20]
• Football League Second Division Manager of the Month: David Webb (August 1996)^[1]