1997–98 Oldham Athletic A.F.C. season

Oldham Athletic
1997–98 season
Chairman	Ian Stott
Manager	Neil Warnock
Stadium	Boundary Park
Second Division	13th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	First round
Auto Windscreens Shield	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Barlow (12); All: Barlow (13)
Average home league attendance	5,586
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

During the 1997–98 English football season, Oldham Athletic A.F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Season summary

In the 1997–98 season, Warnock was unable to achieve promotion with Oldham during the Division Two campaign and left after one disappointing year in charge, despite Oldham being in the play-off places until early March.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Watford	46	13	7	3	36	22	11	9	3	31	19	67	41	+26	88
2	Bristol City	46	16	5	2	41	17	9	5	9	28	22	69	39	+30	85
3	Grimsby Town	46	11	7	5	30	14	8	8	7	25	23	55	37	+18	72
4	Northampton Town	46	14	5	4	33	17	4	12	7	19	20	52	37	+15	71
5	Bristol Rovers	46	13	2	8	43	33	7	8	8	27	31	70	64	+6	70
6	Fulham	46	12	7	4	31	14	8	3	12	29	29	60	43	+17	70
7	Wrexham	46	10	10	3	31	23	8	6	9	24	28	55	51	+4	70
8	Gillingham	46	13	7	3	30	18	6	6	11	22	29	52	47	+5	70
9	Bournemouth	46	11	8	4	28	15	7	4	12	29	37	57	52	+5	66
10	Chesterfield	46	13	7	3	31	19	3	10	10	15	25	46	44	+2	65
11	Wigan Athletic	46	12	5	6	41	31	5	6	12	23	35	64	66	–2	62
12	Blackpool	46	13	6	4	35	24	4	5	14	24	43	59	67	–8	62
13	Oldham Athletic	46	13	7	3	43	23	2	9	12	19	31	62	54	+8	61
14	Wycombe Wanderers	46	10	10	3	32	20	4	8	11	19	33	51	53	–2	60
15	Preston North End	46	10	6	7	29	26	5	8	10	27	30	56	56	±0	59
16	York City	46	9	7	7	26	21	5	10	8	26	37	52	58	–6	59
17	Luton Town	46	7	7	9	35	38	7	8	8	25	26	60	64	–4	57
18	Millwall	46	7	8	8	23	23	7	5	11	20	31	43	54	–11	55
19	Walsall	46	10	8	5	26	16	4	4	15	17	36	43	52	–9	54
20	Burnley	46	10	9	4	34	23	3	4	16	21	42	55	65	–10	52
21	Brentford	46	9	7	7	33	29	2	10	11	17	42	50	71	–21	50
22	Plymouth Argyle	46	10	5	8	36	30	2	8	13	19	40	55	70	–15	49
23	Carlisle United	46	8	5	10	27	28	4	3	16	30	45	57	73	–16	44
24	Southend United	46	8	7	8	29	30	3	3	17	18	49	47	79	–32	43

Pld = Matches ; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

NB: In the Football League goals scored (F) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted through play-offs
	Relegated

Results

Oldham Athletic's score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	York City	H	3–1	6,474	Garnett, Barlow, Reid
16 August 1997	Wrexham	A	1–3	4,429	McCarthy
23 August 1997	Bournemouth	H	2–1	4,986	McCarthy (2)
30 August 1997	Luton Town	A	1–1	5,404	Barlow
2 September 1997	Burnley	A	0–0	11,189
9 September 1997	Preston North End	H	1–0	8,732	Wright
13 September 1997	Northampton Town	H	2–2	5,588	Graham, S McNiven
20 September 1997	Blackpool	A	2–2	7,174	Barlow (2)
27 September 1997	Bristol Rovers	H	4–4	5,990	Barlow (2), McCarthy, Garnett
4 October 1997	Fulham	A	1–3	8,805	Hodgson
11 October 1997	Millwall	A	1–2	7,906	Hodgson
18 October 1997	Chesterfield	H	2–0	5,777	Ritchie, Barlow
21 October 1997	Grimsby Town	H	2–0	4,520	Wright, Duxbury
25 October 1997	Southend United	A	1–1	3,595	Barlow
1 November 1997	Bristol City	A	0–1	10,221
4 November 1997	Wigan Athletic	H	3–1	5,446	McCarthy (2), Graham
7 November 1997	Gillingham	H	3–1	5,338	Reid (2, 1 pen), Barlow
18 November 1997	Watford	A	1–2	8,397	Duxbury
22 November 1997	Brentford	H	1–1	5,012	McCarthy
29 November 1997	Plymouth Argyle	A	2–0	5,452	Mauge (own goal), Rickers
2 December 1997	Carlisle United	H	3–1	4,449	Rickers, Barlow, Duxbury
13 December 1997	Wycombe Wanderers	A	1–2	5,327	Barlow
19 December 1997	Walsall	H	0–0	4,677
26 December 1997	Preston North End	A	1–1	13,441	Hodgson
10 January 1998	York City	A	0–0	4,454
17 January 1998	Luton Town	H	2–1	6,057	Graham (2)
24 January 1998	Bournemouth	A	0–0	4,079
27 January 1998	Wrexham	H	3–0	4,680	Rickers, Duxbury, Ritchie
31 January 1998	Northampton Town	A	0–0	6,559
7 February 1998	Blackpool	H	0–1	6,576
14 February 1998	Fulham	H	1–0	6,063	Duxbury
21 February 1998	Bristol Rovers	A	1–3	5,789	Starbuck (pen)
24 February 1998	Chesterfield	A	1–2	4,077	Garnett
28 February 1998	Millwall	H	1–1	4,805	Barlow
3 March 1998	Gillingham	A	1–2	5,254	Holt
14 March 1998	Wigan Athletic	A	0–1	4,277
21 March 1998	Watford	H	2–2	5,744	Littlejohn, Allott
28 March 1998	Brentford	A	1–2	4,547	Reid (pen)
31 March 1998	Bristol City	H	1–2	4,543	Rush
4 April 1998	Plymouth Argyle	H	2–0	4,244	Littlejohn (2)
11 April 1998	Carlisle United	A	1–3	4,594	Hodgson
13 April 1998	Wycombe Wanderers	H	0–1	4,305
18 April 1998	Walsall	A	0–0	3,562
25 April 1998	Southend United	H	2–0	4,485	Jepson, D McNiven
28 April 1998	Burnley	H	3–3	9,781	Jepson, Rickers, Allott
2 May 1998	Grimsby Town	A	2–0	8,054	Jepson (2)

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	15 November 1997	Mansfield Town	H	1–1	5,253	McCarthy
R1R	25 November 1997	Mansfield Town	A	1–0	4,097	Serrant
R2	6 December 1997	Blackpool	H	2–1	6,590	Graham, Barlow
R3	3 January 1998	Cardiff City	A	0–1	6,635

League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	12 August 1997	Grimsby Town	H	1–0	5,656	Ritchie
R1 2nd Leg	26 August 1997	Grimsby Town	A	0–5 (lost 1-5 on agg)	5,078

Football League Trophy


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
NR1	9 December 1997	Carlisle United	A	0–1 (a.e.t.)	1,518

Squad

^[2] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
-	GK	EIR	Gary Kelly
-	GK	ENG	Mike Pollitt (on loan from Notts County)
-	GK	ZIM	Bruce Grobbelaar
-	GK	ENG	Ian Ironside
-	GK	NIR	David Miskelly
-	DF	ENG	Richard Graham
-	DF	ENG	Shaun Garnett
-	DF	ENG	Steve Redmond
-	DF	ENG	Carl Serrant
-	DF	SCO	Scott McNiven
-	DF	AUS	Doug Hodgson
-	DF	EIR	Danny Boxall
-	DF	ENG	Lee Sinnott
-	DF	ENG	Neil Thompson (on loan from Barnsley)
-	DF	ENG	Andy Holt
-	DF	SCO	Mark Innes
-	DF	ENG	Phil Salt
-	MF	ENG	Paul Reid
-	MF	ENG	Lee Duxbury


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
-	MF	ENG	Paul Rickers
-	MF	ENG	Mark Allott
-	MF	ISL	Þorvaldur Örlygsson
-	MF	ENG	Andrew Hughes
-	MF	ENG	Mark Hotte
-	MF	ENG	Lee Richardson
-	FW	ENG	Stuart Barlow
-	FW	WAL	Sean McCarthy
-	FW	ENG	Matthew Rush
-	FW	ENG	Andy Ritchie
-	FW	SCO	Tommy Wright
-	FW	ENG	Ronnie Jepson
-	FW	ENG	Phil Starbuck
-	FW	ENG	Adrian Littlejohn
-	FW	ENG	David McNiven
-	FW	WAL	Matthew Tipton
-	FW	ENG	Lee Clitheroe
-	FW	ENG	Ian Ormondroyd
-	FW	AUS	Alex Kyratzoglou

Transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
1 August 1997	DF	Lee Sinnott	Huddersfield Town	£50,000
11 November 1997	GK	Jonathan Scargill	Hyde United	Non-contract
15 January 1998	FW	Ronnie Jepson	Bury	£400,000
20 March 1998	FW	Adrian Littlejohn	Plymouth Argyle	Signed

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
15 July 1997	GK	Jon Hallworth	Cardiff City	Free transfer
1 August 1997	DF	Craig Fleming	Norwich City	£600,000
5 September 1997	FW	Ian Ormondroyd	Scunthorpe United	£25,000
23 October 1997	MF	Lee Richardson	Huddersfield Town	£65,000
20 March 1998	FW	Phil Starbuck	Plymouth Argyle	Signed
23 March 1998	MF	Andrew Hughes	Notts County	Transfer
26 March 1998	FW	Stuart Barlow	Wigan Athletic	£45,000

Transfers in:

£450,000

Transfers out:

£735,000

Total spending:

£285,000

References

[1] ttp://www.statto.com/football/teams/oldham-athletic/1997-1998/results

[2] ttp://www.11v11.com/teams/oldham-athletic/tab/players/season/1998

[1]

[2]

v t e Oldham Athletic Association Football Club
Players Managers Statistics Honours Seasons Current season
Related	Boundary Park Trust Oldham 1990 Football League Cup final

v t e Oldham Athletic A.F.C. seasons
1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 99–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25