1996–97 in English football

The 1996-1997 season was the 117th season of competitive football in England.

Overview

Premier League

Manchester United won their second consecutive title, despite a spell in the autumn where they lost three games and conceded 13 goals. They won the title by seven points, as Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool fell away in the closing weeks.

Newcastle United finished second again and qualified for the Champions League preliminary stages, while Arsenal, Liverpool and Leicester City (League Cup winners) qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Going down were Sunderland, Middlesbrough (after a three-point deduction) and Nottingham Forest.

Division One

Bolton Wanderers returned to the Premiership in superb fashion, hitting 100 goals and taking 98 points. Barnsley were promoted to the top flight for the first time in their history, while Crystal Palace returned after a two-year absence by winning the play-offs.

The decline of Oldham Athletic continued, falling into the third tier for the first time in 23 years, and just three years after being in the Premiership. Grimsby Town and Southend United joined them in relegation to Division Two.

Division Two

Bury won their second consecutive promotion, taking the Division Two title, Stockport County joined them in automatic promotion, and play-off winners Crewe Alexandra completed the trio moving up.

Going down were Peterborough United, Shrewsbury Town, Rotherham United and Notts County. County had been in the top division just five years earlier.

Division Three

Wigan Athletic won the Division Three title on goal difference from Fulham. Carlisle United and play-off winners Northampton Town also won promotion to Division Two.

Hereford United were the first club for four years to be relegated to the Conference after finishing bottom. Conference champions Macclesfield Town replaced Hereford (two years after Town had been denied entry to Division Three). In December, Brighton & Hove Albion were 11 points adrift at the bottom of Division Three, having had 2 points deducted for a pitch invasion. However a draw in their final game at Hereford kept Brighton in the league, and sent United down.

Events

Keegan quits Newcastle

On 5 January 1997, Newcastle United were hit with perhaps the biggest shock in their history: Kevin Keegan had resigned as manager. His reason for quitting was that he felt he had taken the club as far as he could. And during his five years at St James's Park, Keegan had overseen a revolution in Newcastle's fortunes. On his appointment in February 1992, Newcastle had been second from bottom in the old Second Division and looked favourites for relegation. But he kept them in the Second Division and they were founder members of the new Division One in 1992-93. A superb run of form kept them at the top of the division all season and they went up to the Premiership as Division One champions. Third and sixth place finishes followed before Newcastle led the Premiership for most of 1995-96, only to be overhauled by Manchester United in the final weeks of the season. He had walked out on Newcastle as they looked well place to challenge for a league title.

Kenny Dalglish was appointed manager of Newcastle in Keegan's place - ironically Dalglish had replaced Keegan as Liverpool's main striker 20 years earlier!

United wrap up Premiership title number 4

Manchester United collected their fourth Premiership title in five seasons despite a testing season which saw them lose their 40-year unbeaten home record in Europe against a Turkish Club Fenerbahçe, suffer elimination from the F.A Cup at the hands of Wimbledon, and concede 13 goals in 3 Premiership games during late October. Alex Ferguson had built on the success of the previous season's double winning team thanks largely to two new signings - Norwegians Ronny Johnsen (central defender) and Ole-Gunnar Solskjær (striker). The two Norwegians were little known outside their homeland when they arrived at Old Trafford. Johnsen proved himself as one of the Premiership's best defenders, while Solskjær made the headlines as he topped the club's goalscoring charts with 18 Premiership goals.

Meanwhile, 22-year-old midfielder David Beckham progressed further by collecting the PFA Young Player of the Year award as credit for his brilliant performances.

Au revoir, Cantona

On 18 May, Eric Cantona dropped a bombshell on Manchester United by announcing his retirement from playing. The news hit football like a tidal wave. Cantona was one of the most idolised footballers of his day, despite his fiery temper which saw him sidelined for eight months in 1995 after he kicked a spectator. Cantona wowed the footballing world with his talents and the way he bounced back from his long suspension won him even more admirers. In five seasons at Old Trafford, he had won four Premiership titles and two F.A Cups as well being voted PFA Player of the Year in 1994 and FWA Player of the Year in 1996. He had ironically been part of the Leeds United team which pipped Alex Ferguson's men to the league title in 1992, and proved himself to be one of the biggest bargains in Premiership football when he moved to Old Trafford the following November for little over £1million.

Boro go down in dramatic fashion

Middlesbrough were relegated from the Premiership after experiencing a unique season. They were on the losing side in both domestic cup finals and were relegated from the Premiership in 19th place, and had managed to finish in the last two of all three major English tournaments. But they would have avoided relegation had it not been for a 3-point deduction imposed in January as punishment for postponing a fixture against Blackburn Rovers within 24 hours of the scheduled kick-off. Chairman Steve Gibson had appealed against the ruling, protesting that too many players were ill or injured for the club to field a full team. But their appeal was rejected.

The 3-point deduction on Middlesbrough also preserved Coventry City's top flight status for the 31st season running.

Brighton survive in relegation decider

Brighton & Hove Albion had a traumatic season, the debt-ridden club propping up the League for virtually the entire season. Their precarious financial position had forced the club's directors to sell the Goldstone ground. Yet on the penultimate day of the season they moved above Hereford United, another club with major financial problems, and the final day of the season saw the two clubs battle it out in a relegation-decider at Edgar Street. Hereford needed to win while Brighton only needed a draw to survive. At half time the score was 1-0 to Hereford but Brighton equalised in the second half against the run of play. The match finished 1-1 and, with the teams level on points, the Seagulls stayed up on goals scored while the Bulls were relegated to the Conference.

Chesterfield reach the FA Cup semi-final

Chesterfield, playing in the third tier of English football, reached the FA Cup semi-final. On the way to the semi-final they beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 and Bolton Wanderers 3-2, with a hat trick from a young Kevin Davies. In the semis they met Middlesbrough at Old Trafford. After going 2-0 up Boro bought it back to 2-2, but not after controversy when Jonathan Howard's shot hit the underside of the crossbar and clearly crossed the line, but was waved off by the referee despite the linesman calling it in, as the referee had blown several seconds earlier for a deliberate foul. The match finished 3-3 AET and Chesterfield went on to lose the replay 3-0.

uccessful managers

Alex Ferguson guided Manchester United to their fourth Premiership title in five seasons.

Arsène Wenger took Arsenal to third place in the Premiership in his first season as manager.

Martin O'Neill defied the odds with newly-promoted Leicester City, who achieved an impressive ninth place finish in the Premiership as well as winning the League Cup.

Ruud Gullit had a massively successful first season as Chelsea manager by guiding them to glory in the F.A Cup. He ended their 26-year trophy drought as well as becoming the first foreign manager to win a major trophy with an English club.

Danny Wilson guided Barnsley to runners-up spot in Division One and delivered Premiership football to a club who had never played in the top flight before.

Steve Coppell won promotion to the Premiership with Crystal Palace, just weeks after beginning his third spell as the club's manager.

Colin Todd took Bolton back into the Premiership as Division One champions with 98 points and 100 goals.

Stan Ternent achieved a surprise second successive promotion with Bury, who were crowned Division Two champions.

John Deehan enjoyed the first success of his management career by winning the Division Three title with Wigan.

Micky Adams took Fulham into Division Two, a huge step up from one and a half years earlier, when they were 23rd in the division, 91st in the whole Football League.

Ian Atkins completed his three-year rebuilding programme at Northampton by guiding them to glory in the Division Three playoffs.

Successful players

22-year-old Manchester United midfielder David Beckham received the PFA Young Player of the Year award as well as collecting a Premiership title medal.

Chelsea's talismanic Italian striker Gianfranco Zola was voted Player of the Year by both the PFA and FWA as well as collecting an F.A Cup winner's medal.

Alan Shearer finished as the Premiership's top scorer with 25 goals in 31 games.

Dion Dublin's 18 Premiership goals almost single-handedly saved Coventry City from relegation.

19-year-old striker Emile Heskey was recognised as one of the Premiership's hottest young talents after helping Leicester City win the League Cup and finish in the top half of the league.

Honours

Nationwide League Division One

"See also: Play-off results"

NB In the Football League goals scored (F) takes precedence over goal difference

* - Brighton & Hove Albion 2 points deducted for failure to control spectators

Transfer deals

30 July 1996 - Alan Shearer from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United, £15m

For subsequent transfer deals see 1997-98 in English football.

Diary of the season

4 July 1996 - Middlesbrough pay a club record £7million for Juventus and Italy striker Fabrizio Ravanelli.

11 July 1996 - Keith Wiseman succeeds Sir Bert Millichip as chairman of the Football Association.

20 July 1996 - Manchester United pay Slavia Prague £3.5million for winger Karel Poborsky, who helped Czech Republic reach the final of Euro 96.

30 July 1996 - Newcastle United break the world transfer record by paying Blackburn Rovers £15million for Alan Shearer.

10 August 1996 - Lee Sharpe leaves Manchester United after eight years and joins Leeds United. Bruce Rioch is sacked after one year as Arsenal manager following a dispute with the club's board, with his assistant Stewart Houston being installed as caretaker manager.

11 August 1996 - Manchester United beat Newcastle United 4-0 to win the Charity Shield.

17 August 1996 - David Beckham scores a late goal from the halfway line in Manchester United's 3-0 away win over Wimbledon on the opening day of the season.

18 August 1996 - Speculation mounts that Frenchman Arsene Wenger will take over as manager at Arsenal, who sacked Bruce Rioch earlier this month.

24 August 1996 - Lincoln City manager John Beck is arrested by police in an investigation concerning Customs and Excise.

7 September 1996 - A Saudi consortium is reported to be in the process of taking over Manchester City in a £70million deal.

9 September 1996 - Leeds United sack Howard Wilkinson, their manager since 1988, the day after they lost 4-0 at home to Manchester United in a Premier League game.

28 September 1996 - Arsenal appoint 46-year-old Frenchman Arsène Wenger as their new manager.

6 October 1996 - Steve Coppell is appointed manager of Manchester City following the resignation of Alan Ball.

20 October 1996 - Newcastle United beat Manchester United 5-0 in a FA Premier League fixture, which end's the division's longest unbeaten start to the season.

22 October 1996 - Chelsea director Matthew Harding, 42, is killed with four other people in a helicopter crash in Cheshire on his journey home from the club's League Cup defeat against Bolton Wanderers.

25 October 1996 - Ray Harford resigns as manager of Blackburn Rovers, bottom of the FA Premier League just 18 months after being champions, and coach Tony Parkes takes over until the end of the season.

26 October 1996 - Manchester United endure another heavy defeat, this time a 6-3 crushing at Southampton in which Norwegian striker Egil Østenstad scores a hat-trick.

30 October 1996 - Manchester United, unbeaten since they first played in Europe 40 years ago, finally suffer a home defeat in a European fixture when they lost 1-0 at home to Fernebahce of Turkey in their fourth group game of the Champions League.

2 November 1996 - Manchester United's two-year unbeaten FA Premier League home run is ended by a 2-1 defeat against Chelsea.

7 November 1996 - Tommy Lawton, the former Everton and England forward, dies of pneumonia at the age of 77.

8 November 1996 - Steve Coppell resigns after 33 days as manager of Manchester City.

19 December 1996 - Frank Clark steps down after three-and-a-half years as manager of Nottingham Forest, with 34-year-old defender Stuart Pearce being appointed player-manager on a temporary basis.

30 December 1996 - 11 days after leaving Nottingham Forest, Frank Clark is named as manager of Manchester City.

5 January 1997 - Newcastle United are rocked by the resignation of manager Kevin Keegan, who explains "I feel I have taken this club as far as I can".

15 January 1997 - Kenny Dalglish is named as Newcastle United's new manager.

27 February 1997 - Dave Bassett leaves Crystal Palace to take over as manager at Nottingham Forest.

28 February 1997 - Steve Coppell is appointed as Crystal Palace manager for the third time since 1984.

26 March 1997 - Middlesbrough fail in an appeal to restore 3 points that were docked in early January as penalty for failing to fulfill a fixture against Blackburn Rovers.

18 April 1997 - Leicester City beat Middlesbrough 1-0 in the League Cup final replay at Hillsborough thanks to a Steve Claridge goal.

22 April 1997 - Middlesbrough reach their first-ever FA Cup final thanks to a 2-0 win in the semi-final replay against Division Two side Chesterfield, having drawn the first match 3-3.

4 May 1997 - Manchester United win their fourth FA Premier League title in five seasons after the nearest rivals Newcastle United and Liverpool drop points.

11 May 1997 - The FA Premier League season ends with Manchester United as champions and Newcastle United as runners-up, with both teams entering the European Cup after UEFA decided to give England a second place in the competition. Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Leicester City enter the UEFA Cup, while Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest are relegated. Middlesbrough would have stayed up had it not been for a 3-point deduction imposed in January after they cancelled a FA Premier League fixture against Blackburn Rovers due to an injury crisis. The lucky side who escaped relegation at Middlesbrough's expense was Coventry City, who were guaranteed a 31st successive season of top flight football.

12 May 1997 - Aston Villa play a club record £7million for Liverpool striker Stan Collymore.

17 May 1997 - Chelsea end their 26-year wait for a major trophy, and Ruud Gullit becomes the first foreign manager to win one, with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough in the FA Cup final.

18 May 1997 - Manchester United are left shocked after their iconic striker Eric Cantona announces his retirement from football six days before his 31st birthday. Cantona, who won four league titles and two FA Cups in five seasons at the club, explained that he had always intended to retire while still at the top.

23 June 1997 - Former Everton striker Andy Gray rejects an offer to return to the club as manager, preferring to stay in his current role as a football pundit with Sky Sports.

25 June 1997 - Howard Kendall leaves Sheffield United to take charge of Everton for the third time since 1981.

27 June 1997 - Manchester United sign Teddy Sheringham from Tottenham for £3.5million.

Famous Debutants

* Michael Owen, 17, comes off the bench to score for Liverpool at Wimbledon in May 1997, just over a year before being part of the England squad at the 1998 World Cup.

Deaths

*Tommy Lawton, 77, who scored 22 times in 23 games for England between the late 1930s and early 1950s. At club level turned out for Everton, Chelsea and Notts County.
*Denis Compton, 78, footballer and cricketer, played as a winger for Arsenal when they won the league championship in 1948 and the F.A Cup in 1950. Was president of Middlesex CCC for the final six years of his life.
*Matthew Harding, 42, vice chairman of Chelsea, died in a helicopter crash with four other people in Cheshire as they flew home from a game at Bolton.
*Gavin Hills, 30, who drowned, was an official magazine editor for Manchester United and the England team.
*Roy Sproson, 66, who died of cancer, spent his whole career as a centre-half with Port Vale and played 837 times for them. After retiring as a player in 1972 he later served the club as coach and manager.
*Stan Pearson, 78, who died in February 1997, made more than 300 league appearances for Manchester United either side of the second world war. The forward also represented England, Bury and Chester, where he later became manager.