1996–97 Middlesbrough F.C. season

March 2015 March 2015 Middlesbrough 1996–97 Bryan Robson Steve Gibson Riverside Stadium Premier League 19th (relegated) FA Cup Runners-up League Cup Runners-up Ravanelli (16) Ravanelli (31) 30,215 (vs. Tottenham Hotspur, 19 October) 17,136 (vs. Hereford United, 18 September) 28,724 1995–96 1997–98 During the 1996–97 English football season, Middlesbrough competed in the Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons). Despite reaching the finals of both domestic cup competitions, Middlesbrough were relegated from the Premier League in 19th place (although this came after a 3-point deduction for postponing a fixture against Blackburn Rovers) on 21 December 1996. Season summary The multi-million pound signings of Brazilian midfielder Emerson and Italian striker Fabrizio Ravanelli suggested that Middlesbrough could compete with the very best after finishing 12th the previous season, but ahead lay quite a unique season which ultimately ended in disappointment; though, on the goalscoring front, Middlesbrough's games were undeniably entertaining to watch, as in total, 111 goals were witnessed, the fourth highest total of goals for and against within Premier League clubs' matches. The season though started brightly with a thrilling 3–3 draw against Liverpool with Ravanelli scoring a hat-trick on his debut. The next two home games were impressively won: 4–1 against West Ham United and 4–0 against Coventry City (with Ravanelli and Juninho scoring two goals each in that match). Their season's first away win at Everton saw them rise as high as fourth in the table; however, beginning from their 2–0 home defeat to title challengers Arsenal, they were not to win another match in 12 attempts until Boxing Day, winning the return fixture against the Toffees 4–2. By Christmas, Middlesbrough were deep in relegation trouble, despite Ravanelli proving himself as one of the league's top goalscorers. Added to this, Middlesbrough were faced with the wrath of the Football Association for postponing a fixture against Blackburn Rovers at short notice. The club's officials insisted that manager Bryan Robson had been unable to field a team due to a severe injury and illness crisis among his players, but this did not prevent the Football Association from docking the club 3 points. Middlesbrough managed to put together a good run of results and look like decent bets for survival, but the Football Association's refusal to restore Middlesbrough's 3 points counted against them and a 1–1 draw at Leeds United on the final day of the season, when they needed a win, resulted in relegation that would have been avoided (at the expense of Coventry City) if the points had not been deducted. Middlesbrough also hit the headlines with two brilliant cup runs. As a club who had never won a major trophy or even reached a domestic cup final before, history was made in February when Middlesbrough reached the League Cup final. They drew 1–1 with Leicester City at Wembley in the first match, but lost the replay 1–0 at Hillsborough. Two months later, they took on Chelsea in the FA Cup final, but lost 2–0. Therefore, they became the first team to finish in the last two of both major cup competitions whilst also being relegated - surpassing Crystal Palace's distinction (attained in 1995) of finishing in the last four of both major cup competitions while being relegated in the league. Final league table 1996–97 FA Premier League MID Results summary 8 5 6 34 25 3 3 2 7 10 17 35 39 Statto September 2015 Results by round table b Round Ground H/A/A/H/H/A/H/A/A/H/H/A/A/H/A/H/H/A/H/A/A/H/H/A/H/A/H/A/H/H/H/A/H/A/H/A/A/A Result D/L/D/W/W/W/L/L/D/L/D/L/L/D/L/L/D/L/W/L/L/L/W/D/L/L/W/W/W/W/D/D/L/L/W/D/D/D Position 7/14/14/9/7/4/8/9/8/11/12/15/15/15/16/16/16/16/17/17/18/20/20/20/20/20/20/20/19/17/17/18/19/19/19/19/18/19 Home Away green2 Win yellow2 Draw red2 Loss 1st 2nd 3rd red1 Statto.com September 2015 Results Middlesbrough's score comes firstMiddlesbrough 1996-1997 Home - statto.com http://www.statto.com/football/teams/middlesbrough/1996-1997 https://web.archive.org/web/20120307072711/http://www.statto.com/football/teams/middlesbrough/1996-1997 7 March 2012 live 2012-02-26 dmy-all Legend WinDrawLoss FA Premier League DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 17 August 1996 LiverpoolH3–330,039Ravanelli (3, 1 pen) 21 August 1996 ChelseaA0–128,272 24 August 1996 Nottingham ForestA1–124,705Juninho 4 September 1996 West Ham UnitedH4–130,060Emerson, Mustoe, Ravanelli, Stamp 7 September 1996 Coventry CityH4–029,811Ravanelli (2), Juninho (2) 14 September 1996 EvertonA2–139,250Barmby, Juninho 21 September 1996 ArsenalH0–229,629 28 September 1996 SouthamptonA0–415,230 14 October 1996 SunderlandA2–220,936Emerson, Ravanelli 19 October 1996 Tottenham HotspurH0–330,215 26 October 1996 WimbledonH0–029,758 3 November 1996 Newcastle UnitedA1–336,577Beck 17 November 1996 Derby CountyA1–217,350Ravanelli 23 November 1996 Manchester UnitedH2–230,063Ravanelli, Hignett (pen) 30 November 1996 Aston VillaA0–139,053 3 December 1996 Leicester CityH0–229,709 7 December 1996 Leeds UnitedH0–030,018 14 December 1996 LiverpoolA1–539,491Fjørtoft 26 December 1996 EvertonH4–229,673Hignett, Blackmore, Juninho (2) 28 December 1996 Coventry CityA0–320,617 1 January 1997 ArsenalA0–237,573 11 January 1997 SouthamptonH0–129,509 18 January 1997 Sheffield WednesdayH4–229,485Ravanelli (pen), Festa, Emerson (pen), Juninho 1 February 1997 WimbledonA1–115,046Mustoe 22 February 1997 Newcastle UnitedH0–130,063 1 March 1997 Sheffield WednesdayA1–328,206Mustoe 5 March 1997 Derby CountyH6–129,739Kinder, Ravanelli (3), Hignett, Beck 15 March 1997 Leicester CityA3–120,561Blackmore, Juninho, Beck 19 March 1997 Blackburn RoversH2–129,891Juninho, Ravanelli 22 March 1997 ChelseaH1–029,811Juninho 24 March 1997 Nottingham ForestH1–129,888Beck 9 April 1997 West Ham UnitedA0–023,988 19 April 1997 SunderlandH0–130,106 24 April 1997 Tottenham HotspurA0–129,947 3 May 1997 Aston VillaH3–230,074Ravanelli (2, 1 pen), Beck 5 May 1997 Manchester UnitedA3–354,489Juninho, Emerson, Hignett 8 May 1997 Blackburn RoversA0–027,411 11 May 1997 Leeds UnitedA1–138,567Juninho FA Cup 1996–97 FA Cup +RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersR34 January 1997 Chester CityH6–018,684Ravanelli (2), Hignett, Cox, Beck, StampR425 January 1997 Hednesford TownA3–227,511Lambert (own goal), Fjørtoft, RavanelliR515 February 1997 Manchester CityA1–030,462JuninhoQF8 March 1997 Derby CountyA2–017,567Juninho, RavanelliSF13 April 1997 ChesterfieldN3–349,640Ravanelli, Hignett (pen), FestaSFR22 April 1997 ChesterfieldN3–030,339Beck, Ravanelli, EmersonF17 May 1997 ChelseaN0–279,160 League Cup 1996–97 Football League Cup +RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersR2 1st Leg 18 September 1996 Hereford UnitedH7–017,136Ravanelli (4, 1 pen), Emerson, Branco, FlemingR2 2nd Leg 24 September 1996 Hereford UnitedA3–0 (won 10–0 on agg)4,522Beck, Stamp, BrancoR323 October 1996 Huddersfield TownH5–126,615Juninho, Emerson, Ravanelli (2), BeckR427 November 1996 Newcastle UnitedH3–129,831Whyte, Beck, RavanelliQF8 January 1997 LiverpoolH2–128,670Hignett, VickersSF 1st Leg 26 February 1997 Stockport CountyA2–011,778Beck, RavanelliSF 2nd Leg 12 March 1997 Stockport CountyH0–1 (won 2–1 on agg)29,633F6 April 1997 Leicester CityN1–1 76,757RavanelliFR16 April 1997 Leicester CityN0–1 39,428 First-team squad Squad at end of seasonhttp://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/1996-1997/faprem/middles.htm FootballSquads - Middlesbrough - 1996/97 www.footballsquads.co.uk 2 ENG DF Neil Cox 3 SCO DF Derek Whyte 4 ENG DF Steve Vickers 5 ENG DF Nigel Pearson captain 6 BRA MF Emerson 7 SVK DF Vladimír Kinder 8 ENG MF Robbie Mustoe 9 DEN FW Mikkel Beck 10 BRA MF Juninho 11 ITA FW Fabrizio Ravanelli 12 IRL MF Alan Moore 13 ENG GK Gary Walsh 14 IRL DF Curtis FlemingFleming was born in Manchester, England, but was raised in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland. 69 ENG DF Antony Cottrell 16 ENG MF Bryan Robson player-manager 17 WAL DF Clayton Blackmore 18 ITA DF Gianluca Festa 19 AUS GK Mark Schwarzer 20 ENG MF Phil Stamp 21 ENG MF Craig Hignett 22 ENG DF Craig Liddle 24 ENG FW Chris Freestone 25 ENG GK Ben Roberts 26 IRL DF Chris MorrisMorris was born in Newquay, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his mother. 27 ENG DF Michael Barron 28 ENG DF Viv Anderson 30 BRA DF Branco 31 ENG DF Alan White 32 ENG FW Andy Campbell 33 ENG MF Mark Summerbell 34 IRL MF Keith O'Halloran 35 ENG MF Anthony Ormerod Left club during season 1 ENG GK Alan Miller to West Bromwich Albion 7 ENG MF Nick Barmby to Everton 18 IRL MF Graham Kavanagh to Stoke City 19 SCO FW John Hendrie to Barnsley 23 NOR FW Jan-Åge Fjørtoft to Sheffield United 29 ENG MF Jamie Pollock to Bolton Wanderers Reserve squad - IRL DF Jason Gavin - ENG DF Craig Harrison - IRL MF Micky Cummins - ENG MF Andrew Swalwell Appearances and goals Premier League FA Cup League Cup |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers 13 Gary Walsh GK ENG 12 0 1 0 3 0 19 Mark Schwarzer GK AUS 7 0 0 0 3 0 25 Ben Roberts GK ENG 9+1 0 6 0 1+1 0 |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders 2 Neil Cox DF ENG 29+2 0 3 1 7 0 3 Derek Whyte DF SCO 20+1 0 3+1 0 3+1 1 4 Steve Vickers DF ENG 26+3 0 5+1 0 5+1 1 5 Nigel Pearson DF ENG 17+1 0 3 0 5 0 7 Vladimír Kinder DF SVK 4+2 1 2+1 0 1 0 14 Curtis Fleming DF IRL 30 0 4+1 0 7 1 15 Phil Whelan DF ENG 9 0 0 0 2 0 17 Clayton Blackmore DF WAL 14+2 2 4+1 0 2+1 0 18 Gianluca Festa DF ITA 13 1 5 1 4 0 22 Craig Liddle DF ENG 5 0 1 0 0 0 26 Chris Morris DF IRL 3+1 0 0 0 2 0 30 Branco DF BRA 1+1 0 0 0 2 2 |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders 6 Emerson MF BRA 32 4 5 1 8 2 8 Robbie Mustoe MF ENG 31 3 7 0 8 0 10 Juninho MF BRA 34+1 12 6 2 7 1 12 Alan Moore MF IRL 10+7 0 1+1 0 1+3 0 16 Bryan Robson MF ENG 1 0 0 0 0 0 20 Phil Stamp MF ENG 15+9 1 3+1 1 4+2 1 21 Craig Hignett MF ENG 19+3 4 6 2 6 1 33 Mark Summerbell MF ENG 0+2 0 0 0 0 0 |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards 9 Mikkel Beck FW DEN 22+3 5 5+1 2 6+1 4 11 Fabrizio Ravanelli FW ITA 33 16 7 6 8 9 24 Chris Freestone FW ENG 0+3 0 0 0 0 0 32 Andy Campbell FW ENG 0+3 0 0 0 0 0 |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players transferred out during the season 1 Alan Miller GK ENG 10 0 0 0 2 0 7 Nick Barmby MF ENG 10 1 0 0 0 0 19 John Hendrie FW SCO 0 0 0 0 1+1 0 23 Jan-Åge Fjørtoft FW NOR 2+3 1 0+2 1 1 0 30 May 1997 https://www.11v11.com/teams/middlesbrough/tab/players/season/1997/ All Middlesbrough players: 1997 www.11v11.com November 2017 References Category:Middlesbrough F.C. seasons Middlesbrough