1996–97 Sunderland A.F.C. season

English football club season March 2015 December 2022 Sunderland A.F.C. 1996–97 Bob Murray Peter Reid Roker Park FA Premier League 18th (relegated) FA Cup Third round League Cup Third round Craig Russell/Paul Stewart (4) 22,512 vs Derby County (26 Dec 1996, FA Premier League) 10,659 vs Watford (24 Sep 1996, League Cup) 20,865 1995–96 1997–98 During the 1996–97 English football season, Sunderland competed in the FA Premier League. Season summary Just one year after they had almost slipped into Division Two, Sunderland had returned to the top flight under new manager Peter Reid. With a new 42,000-seat stadium at Monkwearmouth due to be ready in the summer of 1997, Reid and his players were determined to secure survival in the final season at historic Roker Park and give the new stadium a debut season in the FA Premier League. The first half of the season went well for the club, who found themselves in a comfortable 11th position by the end of January, boasting strong home form. However, a run of four consecutive defeats against Aston Villa, Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hospur saw them slip down to 16th by March. Sunderland lost 1–0 to Wimbledon on the final day of the season; with the Wearsiders relegated due to Coventry City's win at Tottenham. On a high note, Sunderland did manage to beat Chelsea (3–0), Arsenal (1–0) and Manchester United (2–1) during the season, all at home. The events of the latter part of the season were recorded for a BBC documentary series, Premier Passions, broadcast approximately a year later.'The club was finished' - inside Sunderland's TV drama, Simon Armstrong, BBC Sport, 4 October 2025 Final league table 1996–97 FA Premier League SUN Results summary 7 6 6 20 18 3 4 12 15 35 Statto December 2014 Results by round table b Round Ground H/A/A/H/H/A/H/A/H/A/H/A/A/H/A/H/H/A/H/A/A/H/H/A/A/H/A/H/H/A/A/H/A/H/A/H/H/A Result D/W/D/L/D/L/W/L/D/L/W/L/L/D/W/L/W/L/W/L/D/W/D/D/L/L/L/L/W/L/L/D/D/L/W/L/W/L Position 11/3/5/10/10/13/10/12/13/15/13/16/16/16/12/14/14/14/11/13/11/11/11/11/12/14/15/16/15/15/15/16/15/18/16/17/17/18 Home Away green2 Win yellow2 Draw red2 Loss 1st 2nd 3rd red1 Statto.com December 2014 Results Sunderland's score comes firstSunderland 1996-1997 Home – statto.com http://www.statto.com/football/teams/sunderland/1996-1997 https://web.archive.org/web/20120103112352/http://www.statto.com/football/teams/sunderland/1996-1997 3 January 2012 live 2012-02-27 Legend WinDrawLoss FA Premier League DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 17 August 1996 Leicester CityH0–019,262 21 August 1996 Nottingham ForestA4–122,874Gray, Quinn (2), Ord 24 August 1996 LiverpoolA0–040,503 4 September 1996 Newcastle UnitedH1–222,037Scott (pen) 8 September 1996 West Ham UnitedH0–018,642 14 September 1996 Derby CountyA0–117,692 21 September 1996 Coventry CityH1–019,459Agnew 28 September 1996 ArsenalA0–238,016 14 October 1996 MiddlesbroughH2–220,936Rae (pen), Russell 19 October 1996 SouthamptonA0–315,225 26 October 1996 Aston VillaH1–021,059Stewart 2 November 1996 Leeds UnitedA0–331,667 16 November 1996 Tottenham HotspurA0–231,867 23 November 1996 Sheffield WednesdayH1–120,644Melville 30 November 1996 EvertonA3–140,087Russell, Bridges (2) 7 December 1996 WimbledonH1–319,672Melville 15 December 1996 ChelseaH3–019,683Duberry (own goal), Ball, Russell 21 December 1996 Manchester UnitedA0–555,081 26 December 1996 Derby CountyH2–022,512Ord, Russell 28 December 1996 West Ham UnitedA0–224,077 1 January 1997 Coventry CityA2–217,700Bridges, Agnew (pen) 11 January 1997 ArsenalH1–021,154Adams (own goal) 18 January 1997 Blackburn RoversH0–020,850 29 January 1997 Leicester CityA1–117,883Williams 1 February 1997 Aston VillaA0–132,491 22 February 1997 Leeds UnitedH0–121,890 1 March 1997 Blackburn RoversA0–124,208 4 March 1997 Tottenham HotspurH0–420,785 8 March 1997 Manchester UnitedH2–122,225Gray, Mullin 12 March 1997 Sheffield WednesdayA1–220,294Ball 16 March 1997 ChelseaA2–624,027Stewart, Rae 22 March 1997 Nottingham ForestH1–122,120Ball 5 April 1997 Newcastle UnitedA1–136,582Gray 13 April 1997 LiverpoolH1–221,938Stewart 19 April 1997 MiddlesbroughA1–030,106Williams 22 April 1997 SouthamptonH0–121,521 3 May 1997 EvertonH3–022,108Stewart (pen), Waddle, Johnston 11 May 1997 WimbledonA0–121,338 FA Cup 1996–97 FA Cup +RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersR34 January 1997 ArsenalA1–137,793GrayR3R15 January 1997 ArsenalH0–215,277 League Cup 1996–97 Football League Cup +RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersR2 1st Leg17 September 1996 WatfordA2–09,136Quinn, RaeR2 2nd Leg24 September 1996 WatfordH1–0 (won 3–0 on agg)10,659ScottR323 October 1996 Tottenham HotspurA1–224,867Ball Players First-team squad Squad at end of seasonhttp://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/1996-1997/faprem/sunder.htm FootballSquads – Sunderland – 1996/97http://www.11v11.com/teams/sunderland/tab/players/season/1997 All Sunderland players: 1997 1 ENG GK Tony Coton 2 POL DF Dariusz Kubicki 3 ENG DF Martin Scott 4 ENG MF Paul Bracewell vice-captain 5 ENG MF Kevin Ball captain 6 WAL DF Andy Melville 7 ENG DF Michael Gray 8 ENG DF Richard Ord 9 ENG FW Craig Russell 10 ENG MF Paul Stewart 11 ENG MF Steve Agnew 12 WAL DF Gareth HallHall was born in Croydon, England, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally and made his international debut for Wales in March 1988. 13 ENG GK David Preece 14 ENG DF Lee Howey 15 SCO MF Alex Rae 16 IRL FW David KellyKelly was born in Birmingham, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his father and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in November 1987. 17 IRL FW Niall Quinn 18 ENG FW Martin Smith 19 ENG FW Michael Bridges 20 ENG DF Darren Holloway 21 ENG MF Sam Aiston 22 ENG MF John Mullin 23 ENG DF Darren Williams 24 ENG DF Paul Heckingbottom 25 ENG MF Chris Waddle 26 SCO MF Allan Johnston 28 ENG GK Philip Naisbett 29 ENG MF Steven Pickering 30 FRA GK Lionel Perez 32 ENG GK Chris Woods 33 SWE DF Jan Eriksson 34 DEN MF Kim Heiselberg Reserve squad ENG DF Elliott Dickman ENG FW Brett Angell ENG FW Paul Beavers ENG FW Steve Brodie ENG FW Paul Conlon ENG FW Chris Tate IRL FW Stephen Grant Appearances and goals FA Premier League FA Cup League Cup |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers 1 GK Tony Coton ENG 10 0 0 0 2 0 13 GK David Preece ENG 0 0 0 0 0 0 30 GK Lionel Perez FRA 28+1 0 2 0 1 0 32 GK Chris Woods ENG 0 0 0 0 0 0 |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders 2 DF Dariusz Kubicki POL 28+1 0 2 0 1 0 3 DF Martin Scott ENG 15 1 0 0 2 1 6 DF Andy Melville WAL 30 2 2 0 3 0 8 DF Richard Ord ENG 33 2 2 0 3 0 12 DF Gareth Hall WAL 32 0 2 0 3 0 20 DF Darren Holloway ENG 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 DF Paul Heckingbottom ENG 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 DF Darren Williams ENG 10+1 2 1+1 0 0 0 33 DF Jan Eriksson SWE 1 0 0 0 0 0 |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders 4 MF Paul Bracewell ENG 38 0 1 0 2 0 5 MF Kevin Ball ENG 32 3 0 0 2+1 1 7 MF Michael Gray ENG 31+3 3 2 1 2 0 11 MF Steve Agnew ENG 11+4 2 1 0 2 0 15 MF Alex Rae SCO 13+10 2 0 0 2 1 21 MF Sam Aiston ENG 0+2 0 0 0 0 0 22 MF John Mullin ENG 9+1 1 2 0 0 0 25 MF Chris Waddle ENG 7 1 0 0 0 0 26 MF Allan Johnston SCO 4+2 1 0 0 0 0 |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards 9 FW Craig Russell ENG 10+19 4 1+1 0 1+2 0 10 FW Paul Stewart ENG 20+4 4 0 0 3 0 14 FW Lee Howey ENG 9+3 0 0 0 0 0 16 FW David Kelly IRL 23+1 0 2 0 1+1 0 17 FW Niall Quinn IRL 8+4 2 0 0 1 1 18 FW Martin Smith ENG 6+5 0 0+1 0 1 0 19 FW Michael Bridges ENG 10+15 3 2 0 1+1 0 |- |} Transfers In Date Pos. Name From Fee1 June 1996MFAlex RaeMillwall£1,000,00011 July 1996FWPaul ConlonHartlepool UnitedFree transfer18 July 1996GKTony CotonManchester United£600,0001 August 1996FWChris TateYork CitySigned1 August 1996GKLionel PerezBordeaux£200,00017 August 1996FWNiall QuinnManchester City£1,300,00018 October 1996DFDarren WilliamsYork City£50,0007 January 1997DFJan ErikssonHelsingborgs IF£250,00017 March 1997MFChris WaddleBradford City£75,00021 March 1997MFKim HeiselbergEsbjerg fB£125,00026 March 1997GKChris WoodsColorado RapidsSigned1 April 1997MFAllan JohnstonRennes£550,000 Out Date Pos. Name To Fee10 July 1996GKAlec ChamberlainWatford£40,00027 July 1996DFScott CoatesBerwick RangersSigned1 August 1996MFBrian AtkinsonDarlingtonFree transfer1 August 1996MFGordon ArmstrongBuryFree transfer22 November 1996FWBrett AngellStockport County£120,00014 February 1997FWSteve BrodieScarboroughFree transfer Transfers in: £4,150,000 Transfers out: £160,000 Total spending: £3,990,000 Notes notes References Category:Sunderland A.F.C. seasons Sunderland