1996–97 Leicester City F.C. season

Leicester City
1996–97 season
Chairman	Tom Smeaton
Manager	Martin O'Neill
Stadium	Filbert Street
Premiership	9th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Winners
Player of the Year	Simon Grayson
Top goalscorer	League: Claridge (11); All: Claridge (14)
Highest home attendance	21,134 vs Newcastle United ; (26 Oct 1996, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance	10,793 vs Scarborough ; (25 Sep 1996, League Cup)
Average home league attendance	20,182
	← 1995–96 1997–98 →

During the 1996–97 English football season, Leicester City F.C. competed in the FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary

Most observers had tipped Leicester for an immediate return to Division One, so Martin O'Neill's ultimate task for this season was to achieve survival for Leicester. However, he defied many of the pre-season predictions by finishing 9th in the table. Leicester's season was capped by a victory over Middlesbrough in the League Cup final to win their first major trophy for 33 years and their passport to the following season's UEFA Cup.^[1]

Final league table

Template:1996–97 FA Premier League table

Results summary


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	12	11	15	46	54	−8	47	7	5	7	22	26	−4	5	6	8	24	28	−4

Source: Statto

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	A	H	H	H	A
Result	D	W	L	L	D	L	W	W	L	L	W	L	W	L	L	W	D	L	D	D	L	W	D	L	W	W	W	D	L	D	D	D	L	L	L	D	W	W
Position	11	7	12	13	14	16	14	10	12	14	11	13	10	12	14	12	12	13	13	12	16	12	13	14	12	10	9	10	11	11	11	11	13	13	14	16	12	9

Source: Statto.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Results

Leicester City's score comes first^[2]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Sunderland	A	0-0	19,262
21 August 1996	Southampton	H	2-1	17,562	Heskey (2)
24 August 1996	Arsenal	H	0-2	20,429
2 September 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1-2	17,657	Claridge
7 September 1996	Nottingham Forest	A	0-0	24,105
15 September 1996	Liverpool	H	0-3	20,987
22 September 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2-1	24,159	Claridge, Marshall
28 September 1996	Leeds United	H	1-0	20,359	Heskey
12 October 1996	Chelsea	H	1-3	20,766	Watts
19 October 1996	West Ham United	A	0-1	22,285
26 October 1996	Newcastle United	H	2-0	21,134	Claridge, Heskey
2 November 1996	Derby County	A	0-2	18,010
16 November 1996	Aston Villa	A	3-1	36,193	Claridge, Parker (pen), Izzet
23 November 1996	Everton	H	1-2	20,975	Walsh
30 November 1996	Manchester United	A	1-3	55,196	Lennon
3 December 1996	Middlesbrough	A	2-0	29,709	Claridge, Izzet
7 December 1996	Blackburn Rovers	H	1-1	19,306	Marshall
21 December 1996	Coventry City	H	0-2	20,038
26 December 1996	Liverpool	A	1-1	40,786	Claridge
28 December 1996	Nottingham Forest	H	2-2	20,838	Heskey, Izzet
11 January 1997	Leeds United	A	0-3	29,486
18 January 1997	Wimbledon	H	1-0	18,927	Heskey
29 January 1997	Sunderland	H	1-1	17,883
2 February 1997	Newcastle United	A	3-4	36,396	Elliott, Claridge, Heskey
22 February 1997	Derby County	H	4-2	20,323	Marshall (3), Claridge
1 March 1997	Wimbledon	A	3-1	11,487	Elliott (2), Robins
5 March 1997	Aston Villa	H	1-0	20,626	Claridge
8 March 1997	Coventry City	A	0-0	19,220
15 March 1997	Middlesbrough	H	1-3	20,561	Marshall
19 March 1997	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1-1	20,563	Claridge
22 March 1997	Southampton	A	2-2	15,044	Heskey, Dryden (own goal)
9 April 1997	Everton	A	1-1	30,368	Marshall
12 April 1997	Arsenal	A	0-2	38,044
19 April 1997	Chelsea	A	1-2	27,723	Sinclair (own goal)
23 April 1997	West Ham United	H	0-1	20,327
3 May 1997	Manchester United	H	2-2	21,068	Walsh, Marshall
7 May 1997	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1-0	20,793	Elliott
11 May 1997	Blackburn Rovers	A	4-2	25,881	Heskey (2), Claridge, Wilson

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	15 January 1997	Southend United	H	2-0	13,982	Claridge, Marshall
R4	25 January 1997	Norwich City	H	2-1	16,703	Marshall, Parker (pen)
R5	16 February 1997	Chelsea	H	2-2	19,125	Walsh, Newton (own goal)
R5R	26 February 1997	Chelsea	A	0-1	26,053

League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	17 September 1996	Scarborough	A	2-0	4,168	Izzet, Lawrence
R2 2nd Leg	25 September 1996	Scarborough	H	2-1	10,793	Lawrence, Parker (pen)
R3	22 October 1996	York City	A	2-0	8,406	Lennon, Grayson
R4	27 November 1996	Manchester United	H	2-0	20,428	Claridge, Heskey
QF	21 January 1997	Ipswich Town	A	1-0	20,793	Robins
SF 1st Leg	18 February 1997	Wimbledon	H	0-0	16,021
SF 2nd Leg	11 March 1997	Wimbledon	A	1-1 (a.e.t.) on away goals	17,810	Grayson
F	6 April 1997	Middlesbrough	N	1-1 (a.e.t.)	76,757	Heskey
FR	16 April 1997	Middlesbrough	N	1-0 (a.e.t.)	39,500	Claridge

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[3]^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	ENG	Kevin Poole
2	DF	ENG	Simon Grayson
3	DF	ENG	Mike Whitlow
4	DF	ENG	Julian Watts
5	DF	ENG	Steve Walsh (captain)
6	MF	ENG	Muzzy Izzet^[5]
7	MF	NIR	Neil Lennon
8	MF	ENG	Scott Taylor
9	FW	ENG	Steve Claridge
10	MF	ENG	Garry Parker
11	FW	ENG	Emile Heskey
12	FW	ENG	Mark Robins
13	GK	USA	Kasey Keller


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
14	DF	ENG	Colin Hill
15	DF	SWE	Pontus Kåmark
16	DF	FRA	Franck Rolling
17	DF	ENG	Spencer Prior
18	DF	SCO	Matt Elliott^[6] (vice-captain)
19	DF	ENG	Rob Ullathorne
20	FW	ENG	Ian Marshall
21	MF	ENG	Jamie Lawrence^[7]
22	DF	ENG	Neil Lewis
24	MF	ENG	Steve Guppy
25	MF	ENG	Stuart Wilson
26	MF	ENG	Stuart Campbell^[8]
28	MF	GER	Sascha Lenhart

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
24	DF	ENG	Jimmy Willis (retired)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
24	MF	ENG	Stuart Slater (to Watford)

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
23	MF	ENG	Sam McMahon
27	FW	ENG	Justin Harrington
29	GK	ENG	Paul Hyde


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
30	GK	ENG	Ian Andrews
33	DF	ENG	Martin Fox

Transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
17 August 1996	DF	Spencer Prior	Norwich City	£600,000^[9]
17 August 1996	GK	Kasey Keller	Millwall	£900,000
31 August 1996	FW	Ian Marshall	Ipswich Town	£800,000
1 September 1996	MF	Sascha Lenhart	Royal Antwerp	Free transfer
16 January 1997	DF	Matt Elliott	Oxford United	£1,600,000
17 February 1997	DF	Robert Ullathorne	Osasuna	£600,000
28 February 1997	MF	Steve Guppy	Port Vale	£850,000

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
23 August 1996	MF	Mark Blake	Walsall	Free transfer
27 November 1996	MF	Stuart Slater	Watford	Free transfer
14 March 1997	GK	Paul Hyde	Leyton Orient	Free transfer
22 June 1997	DF	Jamie Lawrence	Bradford City	£50,000
22 June 1997	DF	Neil Lewis	Peterborough United	£75,000
26 June 1997	DF	Simon Grayson	Aston Villa	£1,300,000

Transfers in:

£5,350,000

Transfers out:

£1,425,000

Total spending:

£3,925,000

References

^ Moore, Glenn (17 April 1997). "Claridge's five-star silver service". The Independent. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
^ "Leicester City 1996-1997 Home - statto.com". Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/1996-1997/faprem/leicester.htm
^ http://www.11v11.com/teams/leicester-city/tab/players/season/1997
^ Izzet was born in Tower Hamlets, England, but also qualified to represent Turkey internationally through his father and would make his international debut for Turkey in June 2000.
^ Elliott was born in Wandsworth, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally and would make his international debut for Scotland in November 1997.
^ Lawrence was born in Wandsworth, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally through his parents and would make his international debut for Jamaica in 2000.
^ Campbell was born in Corby, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally through his parents and would make his international debut for Scotland U-21 in 1998.
^ "On the move". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. 18 August 1996. Retrieved 16 April 2012.

[1] Moore, Glenn (17 April 1997). "Claridge's five-star silver service". The Independent. Retrieved 16 September 2011.

[2] "Leicester City 1996-1997 Home - statto.com". Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[3] ttp://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/1996-1997/faprem/leicester.htm

[4] ttp://www.11v11.com/teams/leicester-city/tab/players/season/1997

[5] Izzet was born in Tower Hamlets, England, but also qualified to represent Turkey internationally through his father and would make his international debut for Turkey in June 2000.

[6] Elliott was born in Wandsworth, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally and would make his international debut for Scotland in November 1997.

[7] Lawrence was born in Wandsworth, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally through his parents and would make his international debut for Jamaica in 2000.

[8] Campbell was born in Corby, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally through his parents and would make his international debut for Scotland U-21 in 1998.

[9] "On the move". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. 18 August 1996. Retrieved 16 April 2012.

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