1996–97 Wimbledon F.C. season

March 2015 March 2015 August 2010 Wimbledon 1996–97 Joe Kinnear Sam Hammam Selhurst Park Premier League 8th FA Cup Semi-finals League Cup Semi-finals Ekoku (11) Gayle (13) 25,786 (vs. Manchester United, 17 August) 3,811 (vs. Portsmouth, 18 September) 14,416 1995–96 1997–98 During the 1996–97 English football season, Wimbledon competed in the Premier League. The season marked 20 years since Wimbledon's election to the Football League and was their eleventh successive season of top division football. It was one of the most successful of the club's history as they finished eighth in the Premier League and reached the semi-finals of both domestic cups. Season summary The opening day of the season saw Wimbledon lose 3–0 at home to Manchester United in a game mostly remembered for David Beckham's late goal from inside his own half. The Dons also lost their next two games, but then went on a 19-match unbeaten run, including seven league wins in a row. A 1–0 over Blackburn Rovers in December left them 3rd in the table, one point behind leaders Arsenal. The team's form tailed off in the second half of the season and they missed out on the chance of European qualification, finishing 8th. Wimbledon also reached the semi-finals of both domestic cups. Their FA Cup run saw them knock out holders Manchester United but they lost 3–0 to the eventual winners Chelsea at Highbury. In the League Cup they were eliminated on away goals by Leicester City, who also went on to win the trophy. The sale of Øyvind Leonhardsen to Liverpool at the end of the season left manager Joe Kinnear with a big hole to fill in a squad which had, so far, achieved so much on a shoestring budget. Final league table 1996–97 FA Premier League WDN Results summary 9 6 4 28 21 6 5 8 21 25 Statto December 2014 Results by round table b Round Ground H/A/A/H/H/A/H/A/H/A/A/H/H/A/H/A/H/A/A/H/A/A/H/A/A/H/A/A/H/H/A/H/H/A/H/A/H/H Result L/L/L/W/W/W/W/W/W/W/D/D/D/D/W/W/W/L/W/D/L/L/D/W/D/L/D/L/D/D/L/L/W/L/L/D/W/W Position 19/20/20/17/11/8/6/3/5/2/3/4/4/4/4/2/3/3/4/5/5/5/6/6/5/6/6/7/8/8/8/8/7/8/8/8/8/8 Home Away green2 Win yellow2 Draw red2 Loss 1st 2nd 3rd red1 Statto.com December 2014 Results Wimbledon's score comes firstWimbledon 1996-1997 Home - statto.com https://www.statto.com/football/teams/wimbledon/1996-1997/results https://web.archive.org/web/20120103113238/http://www.statto.com/football/teams/wimbledon/1996-1997 3 January 2012 live 2012-02-27 dmy-all Legend WinDrawLoss FA Premier League DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 17 August 1996 Manchester UnitedH0–325,786 21 August 1996 Newcastle UnitedA0–236,385 26 August 1996 Leeds UnitedA0–125,860 4 September 1996 Tottenham HotspurH1–017,506Earle 7 September 1996 EvertonH4–013,684Ardley, Gayle, Earle, Ekoku 14 September 1996 West Ham UnitedA2–021,294Clarke, Ekoku 23 September 1996 SouthamptonH3–18,572Gayle, Ekoku (2) 28 September 1996 Derby CountyA2–017,022Earle, Gayle 12 October 1996 Sheffield WednesdayH4–210,512Ekoku, Earle, Leonhardsen, Jones 19 October 1996 ChelseaA4–228,020Earle, Ardley, Gayle, Ekoku 26 October 1996 MiddlesbroughA0–029,758 2 November 1996 ArsenalH2–225,521Jones, Gayle 16 November 1996 Coventry CityH2–210,307Earle, Gayle 23 November 1996 LiverpoolA1–139,027Leonhardsen 30 November 1996 Nottingham ForestH1–012,608Earle 7 December 1996 SunderlandA3–119,672Ekoku (2), Holdsworth 14 December 1996 Blackburn RoversH1–013,246Holdsworth 22 December 1996 Aston VillaA0–528,875 28 December 1996 EvertonA3–136,733Ekoku, Leonhardsen, Gayle 11 January 1997 Derby CountyH1–111,467Gayle 18 January 1997 Leicester CityA0–118,927 29 January 1997 Manchester UnitedA1–255,314Perry 1 February 1997 MiddlesbroughH1–115,046Cox (own goal) 23 February 1997 ArsenalA1–037,854Jones 26 February 1997 SouthamptonA0–014,418 1 March 1997 Leicester CityH1–311,487Holdsworth 3 March 1997 Coventry CityA1–115,273Ekoku 15 March 1997 Blackburn RoversA1–323,333Ekoku 18 March 1997 West Ham UnitedH1–115,771Harford 23 March 1997 Newcastle UnitedH1–123,175Leonhardsen 5 April 1997 Tottenham HotspurA0–132,654 9 April 1997 Aston VillaH0–29,015 16 April 1997 Leeds UnitedH2–07,979Holdsworth, Castledine 19 April 1997 Sheffield WednesdayA1–326,957Goodman 22 April 1997 ChelseaH0–114,601 3 May 1997 Nottingham ForestA1–119,865Leonhardsen 6 May 1997 LiverpoolH2–120,016Euell, Holdsworth 11 May 1997 SunderlandH1–021,338Euell FA Cup 1996–97 FA Cup +RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersR314 January 1997 Crewe AlexandraA1–15,011PerryR3R21 January 1997 Crewe AlexandraH2–04,951Earle, HoldsworthR425 January 1997 Manchester UnitedA1–153,342EarleR4R4 February 1997 Manchester UnitedH1–025,601GayleR515 February 1997 Queens Park RangersH2–122,395Gayle, EarleQF9 March 1997 Sheffield WednesdayA2–025,032Earle, HoldsworthSF13 April 1997 ChelseaN0–332,674 League Cup 1996–97 Football League Cup +RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersR2 1st Leg18 September 1996 PortsmouthH1–03,811HoldsworthR2 2nd Leg25 September 1996 PortsmouthA1–1 (won 2–1 on agg)4,006GayleR322 October 1996 Luton TownH1–15,043HoldsworthR3R12 November 1996 Luton TownA2–18,076Castledine, FearR426 November 1996 Aston VillaH1–07,573GayleQF8 January 1997 Bolton WanderersA2–016,968Ekoku, LeonhardsenSF 1st Leg18 February 1997 Leicester CityA0–016,021SF 2nd Leg11 March 1997 Leicester CityH1–1 (lost on away goals)17,810Gayle Players First-team squad Squad at end of seasonhttps://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/1996-1997/faprem/wimbled.htm FootballSquads - Wimbledon - 1996/97 1 SCO GK Neil SullivanSullivan was born in Sutton, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally and made his international debut for Scotland in 1997. 2 IRL DF Kenny Cunningham 3 ENG DF Alan Kimble 4 WAL MF Vinnie JonesJones was born in Watford, England, but also qualified to represent Wales through his maternal grandfather and made his international debut for Wales in December 1994. 5 ENG DF Dean Blackwell 6 ENG DF Ben ThatcherThatcher was born in Swindon, England and represented them at U-21 level, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally through his grandmother and made his international debut for Wales in March 2004. 7 NOR MF Øyvind Leonhardsen 8 JAM MF Robbie EarleEarle was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England, and was called up for England without playing, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for Jamaica in 1997. 9 NGA FW Efan EkokuEkoku was born in Cheetham, England, but also qualified to represent Nigeria internationally and made his international debut for Nigeria in 1994. 10 ENG FW Dean Holdsworth 11 ENG FW Marcus GayleGayle was born in Hammersmith, London, and represented them at U-18 level, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally through his father and would make his international debut for Jamaica in 1998. 12 ENG DF Chris Perry 13 ENG GK Paul Heald 14 IRL FW Jon GoodmanGoodman was born in Waltham Forest, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and made his debut for the Republic of Ireland in 1997. 15 ENG DF Alan Reeves 17 SCO DF Brian McAllister 18 ENG MF Neal Ardley 19 ENG MF Stewart Castledine 20 ENG FW Mick Harford 21 SCO DF Duncan JuppJupp was born in Haslemere, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally and represented them at U-21 level. 22 ENG FW Andy Clarke 23 ENG FW Jason EuellEuell was born in Lambeth, England, and represented them at U-21 level, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally through his father and would make his international debut for Jamaica in November 2004. 24 ENG MF Peter Fear 25 ENG DF Andy Pearce 26 ENG FW Carl CortCort was born in Southwark, England, but also qualified to represent Guyana internationally and would make his international debut for Guyana in 2011. 33 IRL GK Brendan Murphy Left club during season 16 ENG DF Andy Thorn to Hearts Reserve squad The following players did not appear for the first-team this season. ENG FW Gary Blissett Transfers In Date Pos. Name From Fee1 July 1996DFDuncan JuppFulham£200,0005 July 1996DFBen ThatcherMillwall£1,700,000 Out Date Pos. Name To Fee22 July 1996MFLenny PiperGillingham£40,00025 July 1996MFSteve TalboysWatfordFree transfer16 September 1996DFAndy ThornHeartsNon-contract18 September 1996DFGary ElkinsSwindon Town£100,000 Transfers in: £1,900,000 Transfers out: £140,000 Total spending: £1,760,000 Statistics Appearances and goals Premier League FA Cup League Cup |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Goalkeepers 1 Neil Sullivan GK SCO 36 0 7 0 7 0 13 Paul Heald GK ENG 2+1 0 0 0 1 0 |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Defenders 2 Kenny Cunningham DF IRL 36 0 7 0 7 0 3 Alan Kimble DF ENG 28+3 0 6 0 8 0 5 Dean Blackwell DF ENG 22+5 0 6 0 8 0 6 Ben Thatcher DF ENG 9 0 0 0 0 0 12 Chris Perry DF ENG 37 1 7 1 7 0 15 Alan Reeves DF ENG 0+2 0 0 0 1+1 0 17 Brian McAllister DF SCO 19+4 0 2+3 0 0+1 0 21 Duncan Jupp DF SCO 6 0 0+2 0 1 0 |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Midfielders 4 Vinnie Jones MF WAL 29 3 7 0 7 0 7 Øyvind Leonhardsen MF NOR 27 5 7 0 6+1 1 8 Robbie Earle MF JAM 32 7 7 4 6 0 18 Neal Ardley MF ENG 33 2 5 0 4+1 0 19 Stewart Castledine MF ENG 4+2 1 0 0 1 1 24 Peter Fear MF ENG 9+8 0 0 0 4 1 |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Forwards 9 Efan Ekoku FW NGA 28+2 11 6 0 5 1 10 Dean Holdsworth FW ENG 10+15 5 3+3 2 4+1 2 11 Marcus Gayle FW ENG 34+2 8 6 2 7 3 14 Jon Goodman FW IRL 6+7 1 0+3 0 1 0 20 Mick Harford FW ENG 3+9 1 0+2 0 0+5 0 22 Andy Clarke FW ENG 4+7 1 1 0 2+4 0 23 Jason Euell FW ENG 4+3 2 0 0 1 0 26 Carl Cort FW ENG 0+1 0 0 0 0 0 |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players who left the club during the season |- |} References 32em Notes notes Category:Wimbledon F.C. seasons Wimbledon