1996–97 Preston North End F.C. season

Preston North End
1996–97 season
Chairman	Bryan Gray
Manager	Gary Peters
Stadium	Deepdale
Second Division	15th
FA Cup	Second round
League Cup	Second round
Football League Trophy	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Reeves (11); All: Reeves (14)
Average home league attendance	9,411
	← 1995–96 1997–98 →

During the 1996–97 English football season, Preston North End F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Season summary

In the 1996-97 season, Preston manager Peters kept faith with the majority of his promotion winning outfit from last season, reinforcing his squad at various stages of the season with players who would be crucial to the club's success in subsequent campaigns. Mark Rankine joined from Wolves, Sean Gregan from Darlington for £350,000 and Michael Jackson from Bury. Slowly the team that had got Preston promoted were moved on, as the club looked to build for the future.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Bury	46	18	5	0	39	7	6	7	10	23	31	62	38	+24	84
2	Stockport County	46	15	5	3	31	14	8	8	7	28	27	59	41	+18	82
3	Luton Town	46	13	7	3	38	14	8	8	7	33	31	71	45	+26	78
4	Brentford	46	8	11	4	26	22	12	3	8	30	21	56	43	+13	74
5	Bristol City	46	14	4	5	43	18	7	6	10	26	33	69	51	+18	73
6	Crewe Alexandra	46	15	4	4	38	15	7	3	13	18	32	56	47	+9	73
7	Blackpool	46	13	7	3	41	21	5	8	10	19	26	60	47	+13	69
8	Wrexham	46	11	9	3	38	28	6	9	8	17	22	54	50	+4	69
9	Burnley	46	14	3	6	48	27	5	8	10	23	28	71	55	+16	68
10	Chesterfield	46	10	9	4	25	18	8	5	10	17	21	42	39	+3	68
11	Gillingham	46	13	3	7	37	25	6	7	10	23	34	60	59	+1	67
12	Walsall	46	12	8	3	35	21	7	2	14	19	32	54	53	+1	67
13	Watford	46	10	8	5	24	14	6	11	6	21	24	45	38	+7	67
14	Millwall	46	12	4	7	27	22	4	9	10	23	33	50	55	–5	61
15	Preston North End	46	14	5	4	33	19	4	2	17	16	36	49	55	–6	61
16	Bournemouth	46	8	9	6	24	20	7	6	10	19	25	43	45	–2	60
17	Bristol Rovers	46	13	4	6	34	22	2	7	14	13	28	47	50	–3	56
18	Wycombe Wanderers	46	13	4	6	31	14	2	6	15	20	43	51	56	–5	55
19	Plymouth Argyle	46	7	11	5	19	18	5	7	11	28	40	47	58	–11	54
20	York City	46	8	6	9	27	31	5	7	11	20	37	47	68	–21	52
21	Peterborough United	46	7	7	9	38	34	4	7	12	17	39	55	73	–18	47
22	Shrewsbury Town	46	8	6	9	27	32	3	7	13	22	42	49	74	–25	46
23	Rotherham United	46	4	7	12	17	29	3	7	13	22	41	39	70	–31	35
24	Notts County	46	4	9	10	20	25	3	5	15	13	34	33	59	–26	35

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

Preston North End's score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Notts County	A	1–2	6,879	Bryson
24 August 1996	Bristol Rovers	H	0–0	9,752
27 August 1996	Crewe Alexandra	H	2–1	9,498	Wilkinson (2)
30 August 1996	Plymouth Argyle	A	1–2	9,209	Wilkinson
7 September 1996	Bristol City	A	1–2	8,016	Kilbane
10 September 1996	York City	H	1–0	6,276	Ashcroft
14 September 1996	Bournemouth	H	0–1	8,268
21 September 1996	Wrexham	A	0–1	5,299
28 September 1996	Millwall	H	2–1	9,400	Holt, Saville
1 October 1996	Watford	A	0–1	6,434
5 October 1996	Peterborough United	H	3–4	8,874	Ashcroft (2), Holt
12 October 1996	Stockport County	A	0–1	8,405
15 October 1996	Walsall	A	0–1	3,224
19 October 1996	Shrewsbury Town	H	2–1	8,333	Seabury (own goal), Reeves
26 October 1996	Gillingham	A	1–1	6,256	Kilbane
29 October 1996	Burnley	H	1–1	12,652	Reeves
2 November 1996	Rotherham United	H	0–0	8,997
9 November 1996	Chesterfield	A	1–2	4,759	Reeves
19 November 1996	Luton Town	H	3–2	7,004	Moyes (2), Ashcroft
23 November 1996	Wycombe Wanderers	A	1–0	4,920	Ashcroft (pen)
30 November 1996	Gillingham	H	1–0	9,616	Davey
3 December 1996	Bury	A	0–3	5,447
13 December 1996	Blackpool	H	3–0	14,626	Bennett (2), Reeves
21 December 1996	Brentford	A	0–0	5,365
28 December 1996	Bristol City	H	0–2	10,905
11 January 1997	Millwall	A	2–3	7,096	Davey (2, 1 pen)
18 January 1997	Watford	H	1–1	8,735	Bennett
25 January 1997	Burnley	A	2–1	16,186	Ashcroft (2)
1 February 1997	Chesterfield	H	0–1	8,681
8 February 1997	Rotherham United	A	1–0	3,556	Reeves
11 February 1997	Bournemouth	A	0–2	4,769
15 February 1997	Wycombe Wanderers	H	2–1	7,923	McKenna, Davey
22 February 1997	Luton Town	A	1–5	6,454	Reeves
25 February 1997	York City	A	1–3	2,515	Cartwright
1 March 1997	Bury	H	3–1	8,749	Moyes, Reeves, Stallard
8 March 1997	Brentford	H	1–0	9,489	Bryson
15 March 1997	Blackpool	A	1–2	8,017	Davey
18 March 1997	Wrexham	H	2–1	8,271	Reeves, Ashcroft
23 March 1997	Bristol Rovers	A	0–1	6,405
29 March 1997	Notts County	H	2–0	9,472	Reeves, Moyes
31 March 1997	Crewe Alexandra	A	0–1	4,407
5 April 1997	Plymouth Argyle	H	1–1	8,503	Reeves
12 April 1997	Peterborough United	A	0–2	5,040
19 April 1997	Stockport County	H	1–0	10,298	Bryson
26 April 1997	Shrewsbury Town	A	2–0	5,341	Gregan, Davey
3 May 1997	Walsall	H	2–0	10,800	Holt, Reeves

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	16 November 1996	Altrincham	H	4–1	8,286	Reeves (3), Ashcroft
R2	7 December 1996	York City	H	2–3	7,893	Ashcroft (2, 1 pen)

League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	20 August 1996	Wigan Athletic	A	3–2	3,713	Wilkinson (3)
R1 2nd Leg	3 September 1996	Wigan Athletic	H	4–4 (won 7-6 on agg)	5,767	Davey, Wilkinson, Atkinson, McDonald
R2 1st Leg	17 September 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–1	16,258	Holt
R2 2nd Leg	25 September 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–3 (lost 1-4 on agg)	20,080

Football League Trophy


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
NR1	9 December 1996	Chesterfield	A	2–0	1,169
NR2	21 January 1997	York City	A	0–1	1,428

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	ENG	David Lucas
—	GK	ENG	Bobby Mimms
—	GK	FIN	Teuvo Moilanen
—	GK	EIR	Kelham O'Hanlon
—	DF	ENG	Dean Barrick
—	DF	ENG	Sean Gregan
—	DF	ENG	Michael Jackson
—	DF	ENG	John Kay
—	DF	ENG	Ryan Kidd
—	DF	ENG	Ryan Kirby
—	DF	SCO	David Moyes
—	DF	NIR	Darren Patterson (on loan from Luton Town)
—	DF	SCO	Ray Sharp
—	DF	ENG	Paul Sparrow
—	DF	ENG	Jamie Squires
—	DF	ENG	Shaun Teale (on loan from Tranmere Rovers)
—	DF	ENG	Russ Wilcox
—	MF	ENG	Graeme Atkinson
—	MF	SCO	Ian Bryson


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Lee Cartwright
—	MF	WAL	Simon Davey
—	MF	ENG	Kevin Gage
—	MF	EIR	Kevin Kilbane
—	MF	ENG	Neil McDonald
—	MF	ENG	Paul McKenna
—	MF	ENG	Mark Rankine
—	FW	ENG	Lee Ashcroft
—	FW	ENG	Darren Beckford
—	FW	ENG	Gary Bennett
—	FW	ENG	Mickey Brown
—	FW	EIR	Tony Grant
—	FW	ENG	Michael Holt
—	FW	WAL	Kurt Nogan
—	FW	ENG	Dave Reeves
—	FW	ENG	Andy Saville
—	FW	SCO	Allan Smart
—	FW	ENG	Mark Stallard (on loan from Bradford City)
—	FW	ENG	Steve Wilkinson

References

^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2015-07-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ http://www.11v11.com/teams/preston-north-end/tab/players/season/1997

[1] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2015-07-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[2] ttp://www.11v11.com/teams/preston-north-end/tab/players/season/1997

[1]

[2]

v t e Preston North End Football Club
General	Players Managers History Players of the Year Seasons The Invincibles
Grounds	Deepdale
Rivalries	West Lancashire derby League record by opponent Burial of the Coffin

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