1996–97 FA Premier League

Premier League
Season	1996–97
Champions	Manchester United; 4th Premier League title; 11th English title
Relegated	Sunderland; Middlesbrough; Nottingham Forest
Champions League	Manchester United; Newcastle United
Cup Winners' Cup	Chelsea
UEFA Cup	Arsenal; Aston Villa; Leicester City; Liverpool
Matches played	380
Goals scored	970 (2.55 per match)
Top goalscorer	Alan Shearer (25)
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
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 v Wimbledon; (29 January 1997)
Lowest attendance	7,979; Wimbledon v Leeds United; (16 April 1997)
	← 1995–96 1997–98 →

Arsenal

Aston Villa

Locations of the Premier League 1996–97 teams

The 1996–97 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the competition, 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 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 and lowest since the 3-1-0 points system was introduced in the 1981–82 season.

Team summaries

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Arsenal	London	Highbury	38,419
Aston Villa	Birmingham	Villa Park	39,399
Blackburn Rovers	Blackburn	Ewood Park	31,367
Chelsea	London	Stamford Bridge	36,000
Coventry City	Coventry	Highfield Road	23,489
Derby County	Derby	Baseball Ground	18,300
Everton	Liverpool	Goodison Park	40,157
Leeds United	Leeds	Elland Road	40,204
Leicester City	Leicester	Filbert Street	22,000
Liverpool	Liverpool	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	Nottingham	City Ground	30,539
Sheffield Wednesday	Sheffield	Hillsborough	39,859
Southampton	Southampton	The Dell	15,200
Sunderland	Sunderland	Roker Park	22,500
Tottenham Hotspur	London	White Hart Lane	36,230
West Ham United	London	Boleyn Ground	28,000
Wimbledon	London	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

Arsenal appointed Arsène Wenger in September as permanent successor to Bruce Rioch, after Stewart Houston and Pat Rice had both temporarily served as caretaker managers.
Blackburn Rovers manager Ray Harford resigned in October and long-serving coach Tony Parkes was put in charge of the team for the remainder of the season, after which Roy Hodgson was named as manager.
Chelsea replaced Glenn Hoddle with 34-year-old Ruud Gullit as player-manager at the start of the season after Hoddle took the job as England coach.
Coventry City promoted Ron Atkinson from manager to director of football in October and gave the manager's job to 39-year-old player-coach Gordon Strachan.
Everton manager Joe Royle resigned in March and 35-year-old captain Dave Watson was named as manager on a temporary basis. After the season, Howard Kendall began his third spell as Everton manager.
Leeds United sacked manager Howard Wilkinson in September and replaced him with George Graham.
Newcastle United appointed Kenny Dalglish after Kevin Keegan quit in January 1997 after five years in charge.
Nottingham Forest manager Frank Clark resigned in December 1996 and Stuart Pearce was given the job on a temporary basis before Dave Bassett of Crystal Palace took over three months later.
Southampton manager Graeme Souness quit after just one season in charge and was replaced by Dave Jones of Stockport County.

Player and managerial awards

PFA Players' Player of the Year was Alan Shearer of Newcastle.^[2]
PFA Young Player of the Year was David Beckham of Manchester United.^[3]
FWA Footballer of the Year was Gianfranco Zola of Chelsea.^[4]
Premier League Manager of the Year was Alex Ferguson of Manchester United.^[5]
Premier League Player of the Year was Juninho of Middlesbrough.^[5]

Relegation controversy

Middlesbrough – despite spending millions of pounds on high-profile foreign players like 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 and League Cup finals. Middlesbrough finished in 19th place, but they would have been placed outside the relegation zone without a three-point deduction imposed for cancelling a December 1996 fixture against Blackburn Rovers, with the Middlesbrough board blaming the decision on the absence of 23 players ill or injured.^[6]^[7] 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.

The other relegation places 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 1996 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, were 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.

Final league table

Template:1996–97 FA Premier League table

Season statistics

Total goals:	970
Average goals per game:	2.55

Team summaries

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Player and managerial awards

Relegation controversy

Final league table

Season statistics

Results

Top goal scorers

Awards

Monthly awards

See also

References and notes

External links