1996–97 FA 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 F.C.
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 →

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.

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. 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.

Teams

Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the First Division. The promoted teams were Sunderland, Derby County (both teams returning to the top flight after a five-year absence) and Leicester City (immediately returning to the top flight after a season's absence). This was also both Sunderland and Derby County's first season in the Premier League. They replaced Manchester City, Queens Park Rangers and Bolton Wanderers, who were relegated to the Division One.

Newcastle United broke the world transfer record fee before the season began, paying Blackburn Rovers £15million for England striker Alan Shearer, who went on to top the Premier League goal charts with 25 goals throughout the season. Manchester United, whose efforts to sign Shearer failed, paid a fraction of that fee for Norwegian strike Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who finished the season as United’s top league scorer on 18 goals, with a further goal on United’s run to their first European Cup semi final since 1969.

The title was won by Manchester United, who topped the table from late January onwards and finished seven points ahead of their nearest rivals Newcastle United, Arsenal and Liverpool. Aston Villa’s fifth place finish was enough for a fourth UEFA Cup campaign in five seasons. Chelsea F.C. finished sixth and won the FA Cup to end their 26-year wait for a major trophy, with new Dutch player-manager Ruud Gullit becoming the first foreign manager to win a major trophy with an English club. Arsenal also appointed a foreign manager, Frenchman Arsene Wenger, several games into the season, following the dismissal of Bruce Rioch a few days before the league campaign commenced.

Howard Wilkinson, one of the longest serving managers in the English league, was sacked by Leeds United in September after eight years in charge. He was succeeded by George Graham, who returned to management 18 months after being dismissed by Arsenal for accepting illegal payments from an agent who had overseen two transfers several years earlier.

Newly promoted Leicester City also ended their own long wait for silverware by winning the League Cup, also finishing an impressive ninth in the league.

Blackburn Rovers, bottom of the division and winless until November, a mere 18 months after being league champions, enjoyed an upturn in form after manager Ray Harford resigned, with long serving coach Tony Parkes steering the club to survival before handing over the reins to Roy Hodgson.

Nottingham Forest, UEFA Cup quarter finals the previous season, were relegated in bottom place with just six wins all season. Middlesbrough, with a squad containing several multi million signings including Italian striker Fabrizio Ravanelli, were deducted three points after postponing a mid-season fixture due to an injury and illness crisis - a penalty which ultimately cost them their Premier League status on the final day of the season. They were also losing finalists in both the FA Cup and the League Cup. Coventry City survived relegation at Middlesbrough’s expense. Also going down to Division One were newly promoted Sunderland, in their final season at Roker Park before relocating to the new Stadium of Light.

Wimbledon emerged as surprise title contenders in an excellent first half of the season, peaking at second place in the league in early December before eventually finishing eighth. They also reached the semi finals of both the FA Cup and the League Cup.

There was a major shock just after the end of the campaign, when champions Manchester United announced that their captain Eric Cantona was retiring from football after five seasons at Old Trafford.

Stadiums and locations

London

Aston Villa

Blackburn Rovers

Coventry City

Derby County

Everton

Leeds United

Leicester City

Liverpool

Manchester United

Middlesbrough

Newcastle United

Nottingham Forest

Sheffield Wednesday

Southampton

Sunderland

London teams:
Arsenal
Chelsea
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wimbledon

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Locations of the 1996–97 Premier League teams

Arsenal

Chelsea

Tottenham
Hotspur

West Ham United

Wimbledon

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Greater London Premier League football clubs

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	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	26,309

Personnel and kits

(as of 11 May 1997)

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

Managerial changes

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
	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		8 January 1997	4th	Terry McDermott (caretaker)	8 January 1997
	Terry McDermott	End of caretaker spell	14 January 1997		Kenny Dalglish	14 January 1997
Everton	Joe Royle	Resigned	27 March 1997	13th	Dave Watson (caretaker)	1 April 1997

League table

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
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
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
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
20	Nottingham Forest (R)	38	6	16	16	31	59	−28	34

Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

Results

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.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Newcastle's Alan Shearer was the top scorer for the third and final time, with 25 goals.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Alan Shearer	Newcastle United	25
2	Ian Wright	Arsenal	23
3	Robbie Fowler	Liverpool	18
	Ole Gunnar Solskjær	Manchester United
5	Dwight Yorke	Aston Villa	17
6	Les Ferdinand	Newcastle United	16
	Fabrizio Ravanelli	Middlesbrough
8	Dion Dublin	Coventry City	13
	Matt Le Tissier	Southampton
10	Dennis Bergkamp	Arsenal	12
	Steve Claridge	Leicester City
	Stan Collymore	Liverpool
	Juninho	Middlesbrough

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Premier League hat-tricks

Middlesbrough's Fabrizio Ravanelli was the only player to score a hat-trick more than once during the 1996–97 season.

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

Note: ⁴ Player scored 4 goals; ^L Player finished on the losing side; (H) – Home; (A) – Away

Top assists

Manchester United's Eric Cantona assisted 12 goals for the club in the 1996–97 Premier League season.

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
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

Awards

Southampton's Graeme Souness was the only manager to win the Manager of the Month award more than once.

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the 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	Robbie Earle	Wimbledon
March	Bryan Robson	Middlesbrough	Juninho	Middlesbrough
April	Graeme Souness	Southampton	Mickey Evans	Southampton

Annual awards

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

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)

Attendances

Manchester United drew the highest average home attendance in the 1996-97 edition of the Premier League.

#	Football club	Home games	Average attendance
1	Manchester United	19	55,081
2	Liverpool FC	19	39,777
3	Arsenal FC	19	37,821
4	Newcastle United	19	36,467
5	Everton FC	19	36,188
6	Aston Villa	19	36,027
7	Leeds United	19	32,118
8	Tottenham Hotspur	19	31,067
9	Middlesbrough FC	19	29,871
10	Chelsea FC	19	27,617
11	Sheffield Wednesday	19	25,714
12	Blackburn Rovers	19	24,947
13	Nottingham Forest	19	24,587
14	West Ham United	19	23,209
15	Sunderland AFC	19	20,974
16	Leicester City	19	20,184
17	Coventry City	19	19,608
18	Derby County	19	17,889
19	Wimbledon FC	19	15,139
20	Southampton FC	19	15,105

See also

• 1996–97 in English football

External links

• 1996–97 Premier League Season at RSSSF