1996–97_Premier_League

FA Premier League
Season	1996–97
Dates	17 August 1996 – 11 May 1997
Champions	Manchester United; 4th Premier League title; 11th English title
Relegated	Sunderland; Middlesbrough; Nottingham Forest
Champions League	Manchester United; Newcastle United
Cup Winners' Cup	Chelsea
UEFA Cup	Arsenal; Liverpool; Aston Villa (through UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking); Leicester City
Matches played	380
Goals scored	970 (2.55 per match)
Top goalscorer	Alan Shearer; (25 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Nigel Martyn (19 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Everton 7–1 Southampton; (16 November 1996); Newcastle United 7–1 Tottenham Hotspur; (28 December 1996)
Biggest away win	Leeds United 0–4 Manchester United; (7 September 1996); Nottingham Forest 0–4 Manchester United; (26 December 1996); Sunderland 0–4 Tottenham Hotspur; (4 March 1997)
Highest scoring	Southampton 6–3 Manchester United; (26 October 1996)
Longest winning run	7 games; Newcastle United; Wimbledon
Longest unbeaten run	16 games; Manchester United
Longest winless run	16 games; Nottingham Forest
Longest losing run	6 games; Everton
Highest attendance	55,314; Manchester United 2–1 Wimbledon; (29 January 1997)
Lowest attendance	7,979; Wimbledon 2–0 Leeds United; (16 April 1997)
Total attendance	10,818,380
Average attendance	28,469
	← 1995–96 1997–98 →

1996–97 FA Premier League

5th season of the Premier League

The 1996–97 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the FA Premier League 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's and Newcastle's failure to win in their penultimate games of the season; at 75 points it is the lowest points total for a Premier League champion club and lowest since the 3-1-0 points system was introduced in the 1981–82 season.

Quick Facts Season, Dates ...

Middlesbrough, who had high-profile foreign players like Juninho, Emerson, 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 final and the League Cup final. Middlesbrough finished in 19th place, but would have been placed 14th without a three-point deduction imposed for unilaterally postponing a 21 December 1996 fixture at Blackburn Rovers, with the Middlesbrough board making the decision due to the absence of 23 players ill or injured.^[3]^[4] The club consulted the Premier League prior to calling off the fixture and was told to do 'what they thought best'. To protect the integrity of the game, and avoid fielding a team of untried teenagers including three goalkeepers, Middlesbrough called off the match. The Premier League subsequently absolved itself of all responsibility and deducted the three points. This sanction meant Coventry City, who had been in the top division since 1967, finished in 17th place and avoided relegation. The decision was controversial, and later resurfaced in 2006–07 when West Ham escaped a points deduction and subsequently avoided relegation.

Another relegation place 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 1997 Manager of the Month award. In March, Pearce quit as manager to be replaced by Dave Bassett, formerly of Crystal Palace. Also relegated, due to a 1–0 defeat to Wimbledon in their last game of the season, was 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 for the start of the 1997–98 season in Division One.

Results

More information Home \ Away, ARS ...

Home \ Away	ARS	AVL	BLB	CHE	COV	DER	EVE	LEE	LEI	LIV	MUN	MID	NEW	NFO	SHW	SOU	SUN	TOT	WHU	WIM
Arsenal		2–2	1–1	3–3	0–0	2–2	3–1	3–0	2–0	1–2	1–2	2–0	0–1	2–0	4–1	3–1	2–0	3–1	2–0	0–1
Aston Villa	2–2		1–0	0–2	2–1	2–0	3–1	2–0	1–3	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	5–0
Blackburn Rovers	0–2	0–2		1–1	4–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	2–4	3–0	2–3	0–0	1–0	1–1	4–1	2–1	1–0	0–2	2–1	3–1
Chelsea	0–3	1–1	1–1		2–0	3–1	2–2	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–0	6–2	3–1	3–1	2–4
Coventry City	1–1	1–2	0–0	3–1		1–2	0–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	0–2	3–0	2–1	0–3	0–0	1–1	2–2	1–2	1–3	1–1
Derby County	1–3	2–1	0–0	3–2	2–1		0–1	3–3	2–0	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	1–0	4–2	1–0	0–2
Everton	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–2	1–1	1–0		0–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	7–1	1–3	1–0	2–1	1–3
Leeds United	0–0	0–0	0–0	2–0	1–3	0–0	1–0		3–0	0–2	0–4	1–1	0–1	2–0	0–2	0–0	3–0	0–0	1–0	1–0
Leicester City	0–2	1–0	1–1	1–3	0–2	4–2	1–2	1–0		0–3	2–2	1–3	2–0	2–2	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–0
Liverpool	2–0	3–0	0–0	5–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	4–0	1–1		1–3	5–1	4–3	4–2	0–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	0–0	1–1
Manchester United	1–0	0–0	2–2	1–2	3–1	2–3	2–2	1–0	3–1	1–0		3–3	0–0	4–1	2–0	2–1	5–0	2–0	2–0	2–1
Middlesbrough	0–2	3–2	2–1	1–0	4–0	6–1	4–2	0–0	0–2	3–3	2–2		0–1	1–1	4–2	0–1	0–1	0–3	4–1	0–0
Newcastle United	1–2	4–3	2–1	3–1	4–0	3–1	4–1	3–0	4–3	1–1	5–0	3–1		5–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	7–1	1–1	2–0
Nottingham Forest	2–1	0–0	2–2	2–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	0–4	1–1	0–0		0–3	1–3	1–4	2–1	0–2	1–1
Sheffield Wednesday	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–0		1–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	3–1
Southampton	0–2	0–1	2–0	0–0	2–2	3–1	2–2	0–2	2–2	0–1	6–3	4–0	2–2	2–2	2–3		3–0	0–1	2–0	0–0
Sunderland	1–0	1–0	0–0	3–0	1–0	2–0	3–0	0–1	0–0	1–2	2–1	2–2	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–1		0–4	0–0	1–3
Tottenham Hotspur	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–2	0–2	1–2	1–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	3–1	2–0		1–0	1–0
West Ham United	1–2	0–2	2–1	3–2	1–1	1–1	2–2	0–2	1–0	1–2	2–2	0–0	0–0	0–1	5–1	2–1	2–0	4–3		0–2
Wimbledon	2–2	0–2	1–0	0–1	2–2	1–1	4–0	2–0	1–3	2–1	0–3	1–1	1–1	1–0	4–2	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–1

Source: 11v11
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article 1996–97_Premier_League, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[5] This was Derby County's last season at Baseball Ground as they were scheduled to relocate to the Pride Park Stadium at the end of the season.

[6] Due to Wimbledon lacking a home stadium, they played their home games at Selhurst Park, which is the home stadium of Crystal Palace.

[table_note_res_UC10.040059487354038-7] Aston Villa was rewarded entry to the UEFA Cup through UEFA Fair Play ranking.

[table_note_res_UCWC10.040059487354038-8] Chelsea qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as FA Cup winners.

[table_note_res_LEI0.040059487354038-9] Leicester City qualified for the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners.

[table_hth_MID0.040059487354038-10] Middlesbrough were docked three points for failing to fulfill their original fixture at Blackburn Rovers on 21st December 1996.

[24] Earle was born in England, but made his debut for Jamaica in September 1997.

[25] Evans was born in England, but made his debut for the Republic of Ireland in October 1997.

[stats-1] [1]
"English Premier League 1996–97". statto.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.

[attendance-2] [2]
"Premier League 1996/1997 » Attendance » Home matches". WorldFootball.net. Retrieved 12 January 2024.

[3] [3]
"Football's biggest punishments". Retrieved 20 September 2006.

[4] [4]
"Funny Old Game|Happened on this day – 20 December". Retrieved 20 September 2006.

[11] [5]
Culley, Jon (18 August 1996). "Campbell calls tune". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2009.

[12] [6]
"Middlesbrough v Liverpool". The Times. London. 9 November 2002. Retrieved 14 July 2009.

[13] [7]
Moore, Glenn (17 September 1996). "Football: Wright's hat-trick lifts the gloom". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2009.

[14] [8]
Turnbull, Simon (1 October 1996). "Yorke hat-trick in vain for Villa". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2009.

[15] [9]
Brown, Geoff (17 November 1996). "Football: Speed puts foot down". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2009.

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"Liverpool 5–1 Middlesbrough". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 17 February 2005. Retrieved 14 July 2009.

[17] [11]
Hodgson, Guy (3 February 1997). "Football: Shearer provides Newcastle fantasy". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2009.

[18] [12]
Fox, Norman (23 February 1997). "Football: Marshall's triple tale of the unexpected". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2009.

[19] [13]
Stamiforth, Tommy (5 March 1997). "Football: Spurs boosted by Iversen's hat-trick". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2009.

[20] [14]
Turnbull, Simon (6 March 1997). "Football: Ravanelli hat-trick bodes well for Boro". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2009.

[21] [15]
Hadfield, Dave (17 March 1997). "Football: Gallacher takes advantage of Sullivan's sudden relapse". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2009.

[22] [16]
Houston, Bob (4 May 1997). "Kitson glory day". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2009.

[assists-23] [17]
"Statistical Leaders – 1997". Premier League. Archived from the original on 24 June 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2018.

[Premier_League_seasonal_awards-26] [18]
"Seasonal Awards 1996/97" Archived 18 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 September 2006.

[27] [19]
"England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Players' Players of the Year". Retrieved 20 September 2006.

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"England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Young Players of the Year". Retrieved 20 September 2006.

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"England Player Honours – Football Writers' Association Footballers of the Year". Retrieved 20 September 2006.

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Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Arsenal	London (Highbury)	Arsenal Stadium	38,419
Aston Villa	Birmingham	Villa Park	39,399
Blackburn Rovers	Blackburn	Ewood Park	31,367
Chelsea	London (Fulham)	Stamford Bridge	36,000
Coventry City	Coventry	Highfield Road	23,489
Derby County	Derby	Baseball Ground^{[lower-alpha 1]}	18,300
Everton	Liverpool (Walton)	Goodison Park	40,157
Leeds United	Leeds	Elland Road	40,204
Leicester City	Leicester	Filbert Street	22,000
Liverpool	Liverpool (Anfield)	Anfield	42,730
Manchester United	Manchester	Old Trafford	55,314
Middlesbrough	Middlesbrough	Riverside Stadium	30,000
Newcastle United	Newcastle upon Tyne	St James' Park	36,649
Nottingham Forest	West Bridgford	City Ground	30,539
Sheffield Wednesday	Sheffield	Hillsborough Stadium	39,859
Southampton	Southampton	The Dell	15,200
Sunderland	Sunderland	Roker Park	22,500
Tottenham Hotspur	London (Tottenham)	White Hart Lane	36,230
West Ham United	London (Upton Park)	Boleyn Ground	28,000
Wimbledon	London (Selhurst)	Selhurst Park^{[lower-alpha 2]}	26,309

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Arsenal	Arsène Wenger	Tony Adams	Nike	JVC
Aston Villa	Brian Little	Andy Townsend	Reebok	AST Research
Blackburn Rovers	Tony Parkes	Tim Sherwood	Asics	CIS
Chelsea	Ruud Gullit	Dennis Wise	Umbro	Coors
Coventry City	Gordon Strachan	Gary McAllister	Le Coq Sportif	Peugeot
Derby County	Jim Smith	Igor Štimac	Puma	Puma
Everton	Dave Watson (caretaker)	Dave Watson	Umbro	Danka
Leeds United	George Graham	Lucas Radebe	Puma	Packard Bell
Leicester City	Martin O'Neill	Steve Walsh	Fox Leisure	Walkers
Liverpool	Roy Evans	John Barnes	Reebok	Carlsberg
Manchester United	Alex Ferguson	Eric Cantona	Umbro	Sharp
Middlesbrough	Bryan Robson	Nigel Pearson	Erreà	Cellnet
Newcastle United	Kenny Dalglish	Peter Beardsley	Adidas	Newcastle Brown Ale
Nottingham Forest	Dave Bassett	Stuart Pearce	Umbro	Labatt's
Sheffield Wednesday	David Pleat	Peter Atherton	Puma	Sanderson
Southampton	Graeme Souness	Matt Le Tissier	Pony	Sanderson
Sunderland	Peter Reid	Kevin Ball	Avec	Vaux Breweries
Tottenham Hotspur	Gerry Francis	Gary Mabbutt	Pony	Hewlett-Packard
West Ham United	Harry Redknapp	Julian Dicks	Pony	Dagenham Motors
Wimbledon	Joe Kinnear	Vinnie Jones	Lotto	Elonex

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Chelsea	Glenn Hoddle	Signed by England	10 May 1996	Pre-season	Ruud Gullit	10 May 1996
Southampton	Dave Merrington	Sacked	14 June 1996		Graeme Souness	3 July 1996
Arsenal	Bruce Rioch		12 August 1996		Stewart Houston (caretaker)	12 August 1996
Leeds United	Howard Wilkinson		10 September 1996	9th	George Graham	10 September 1996
Arsenal	Stewart Houston	Signed by Queens Park Rangers	16 September 1996	7th	Pat Rice (caretaker)	16 September 1996
Arsenal	Pat Rice	End of caretaker spell	30 September 1996	3rd	Arsène Wenger	30 September 1996
Blackburn Rovers	Ray Harford	Resigned	25 October 1996	20th	Tony Parkes (caretaker)	25 October 1996
Coventry City	Ron Atkinson	Promoted to director of football	5 November 1996	18th	Gordon Strachan	5 November 1996
Nottingham Forest	Frank Clark	Resigned	19 December 1996	20th	Stuart Pearce (caretaker)	20 December 1996
Newcastle United	Kevin Keegan	Resigned	8 January 1997	4th	Terry McDermott (caretaker)	8 January 1997
Newcastle United	Terry McDermott	End of caretaker spell	14 January 1997	4th	Kenny Dalglish	14 January 1997
Everton	Joe Royle	Resigned	27 March 1997	13th	Dave Watson (caretaker)	1 April 1997

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Kevin Campbell	Nottingham Forest	Coventry City	3–0 (A)	17 August 1996	^[5]
Fabrizio Ravanelli	Middlesbrough	Liverpool	3–3 (H)	17 August 1996	^[6]
Ian Wright	Arsenal	Sheffield Wednesday	4–1 (H)	16 September 1996	^[7]
Dwight Yorke^L	Aston Villa	Newcastle United	4–3 (A)	30 September 1996	^[8]
Gary Speed	Everton	Southampton	7–1 (H)	16 November 1996	^[9]
Robbie Fowler⁴	Liverpool	Middlesbrough	5–1 (H)	14 December 1996	^[10]
Alan Shearer	Newcastle United	Leicester City	4–3 (H)	2 February 1997	^[11]
Ian Marshall	Leicester City	Derby County	4–2 (H)	22 February 1997	^[12]
Steffen Iversen	Tottenham Hotspur	Sunderland	4–0 (A)	4 March 1997	^[13]
Fabrizio Ravanelli	Middlesbrough	Derby County	6–1 (H)	5 March 1997	^[14]
Kevin Gallacher	Blackburn Rovers	Wimbledon	3–1 (H)	15 March 1997	^[15]
Paul Kitson	West Ham United	Sheffield Wednesday	5–1 (H)	3 May 1997	^[16]

Award	Winner	Club
Premier League Manager of the Season	Alex Ferguson^[18]	Manchester United
Premier League Player of the Season	Juninho^[18]	Middlesbrough
PFA Players' Player of the Year	Alan Shearer^[19]	Newcastle United
PFA Young Player of the Year	David Beckham^[20]	Manchester United
FWA Footballer of the Year	Gianfranco Zola^[21]	Chelsea

1996–97_Premier_League

1996–97 FA Premier League

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Hat-tricks

Top assists

Awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

See also

Notes

References

External links

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United (C)	38	21	12	5	76	44	+32	75	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Newcastle United	38	19	11	8	73	40	+33	68	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
3	Arsenal	38	19	11	8	62	32	+30	68	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round^{[lower-alpha 1]}
4	Liverpool	38	19	11	8	62	37	+25	68
5	Aston Villa	38	17	10	11	47	34	+13	61
6	Chelsea	38	16	11	11	58	55	+3	59	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round^{[lower-alpha 2]}
7	Sheffield Wednesday	38	14	15	9	50	51	−1	57
8	Wimbledon	38	15	11	12	49	46	+3	56
9	Leicester City	38	12	11	15	46	54	−8	47	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round^{[lower-alpha 3]}
10	Tottenham Hotspur	38	13	7	18	44	51	−7	46
11	Leeds United	38	11	13	14	28	38	−10	46
12	Derby County	38	11	13	14	45	58	−13	46
13	Blackburn Rovers	38	9	15	14	42	43	−1	42
14	West Ham United	38	10	12	16	39	48	−9	42
15	Everton	38	10	12	16	44	57	−13	42
16	Southampton	38	10	11	17	50	56	−6	41
17	Coventry City	38	9	14	15	38	54	−16	41
18	Sunderland (R)	38	10	10	18	35	53	−18	40	Relegation to the Football League First Division
19	Middlesbrough (R)	38	10	12	16	51	60	−9	39^{[lower-alpha 4]}
20	Nottingham Forest (R)	38	6	16	16	31	59	−28	34

Rank	Player	Club	Assists^[17]
1	Eric Cantona	Manchester United	12
2	Neal Ardley	Wimbledon	11
3	Dennis Bergkamp	Arsenal	9
	Andy Hinchcliffe	Everton
	Gary McAllister	Coventry City
	Gianfranco Zola	Chelsea
7	Nick Barmby	Everton	8
	David Beckham	Manchester United
	Stig Inge Bjørnebye	Liverpool
	Les Ferdinand	Newcastle United

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
Month	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	David Pleat	Sheffield Wednesday	David Beckham	Manchester United
September	Joe Kinnear	Wimbledon	Patrik Berger	Liverpool
October	Graeme Souness	Southampton	Matt Le Tissier	Southampton
November	Jim Smith	Derby County	Ian Wright	Arsenal
December	Gordon Strachan	Coventry City	Gianfranco Zola	Chelsea
January	Stuart Pearce	Nottingham Forest	Tim Flowers	Blackburn Rovers
February	Alex Ferguson	Manchester United	^{[lower-alpha 1]} Robbie Earle	Wimbledon
March	Bryan Robson	Middlesbrough	Juninho	Middlesbrough
April	Graeme Souness	Southampton	^{[lower-alpha 2]} Mickey Evans	Southampton

PFA Team of the Year
Goalkeeper	David Seaman (Arsenal)
Defence	Gary Neville (Manchester United)	Tony Adams (Arsenal)	Mark Wright (Liverpool)	Stig Inge Bjørnebye (Liverpool)
Midfield	David Beckham (Manchester United)	Roy Keane (Manchester United)	David Batty (Newcastle United)	Steve McManaman (Liverpool)
Attack	Alan Shearer (Newcastle United)		Ian Wright (Arsenal)