1996–97 Sunderland A.F.C. season

Sunderland

1996–97 season
Chairman	Bob Murray
Manager	Peter Reid
Stadium	Roker Park
Premiership	18th (relegated)
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	Russell/Stewart (4)
Highest home attendance	22,512 vs Derby County (26 Dec 1996, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance	10,659 vs Watford (24 Sep 1996, League Cup)
Average home league attendance	20,865
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

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

Season summary

Just one year after they had almost slipped into Division Two, Sunderland had returned to the top flight under new manager Peter Reid. With a new 42,000-seat stadium due to be ready in the summer of 1997, Reid and his players were determined to secure survival in the final season at historic Roker Park and give the new stadium at Monkwearmouth a debut season in the Premiership.

The first half of the season went well for club, finding themselves in a comfortable 11th position by the end of January, boasting a strong home form going into the February. However, a run of 4 consecutive defeats against Aston Villa, Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hospur saw them slip down to 16th by March.

Sunderland lost 1-0 to Wimbledon on the final day of the season; with Coventry City's win at Tottenham, the Wearsiders were relegated.

On a high note, Sunderland did manage to beat Chelsea (3-0), Arsenal (1-0) and Manchester United (2-1) all at home during the season.

Final league table

Main article: 1996-97 FA Premier League

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United (C)	38	21	12	5	76	44	+32	75	1997–98 UEFA Champions League group stage
2	Newcastle United	38	19	11	8	73	40	+33	68	1997–98 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
3	Arsenal	38	19	11	8	62	32	+30	68	1997–98 UEFA Cup First round
4	Liverpool	38	19	11	8	62	37	+25	68
5	Aston Villa	38	17	10	11	47	34	+13	61
6	Chelsea	38	16	11	11	58	55	+3	59	1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup First round 1
7	Sheffield Wednesday	38	14	15	9	50	51	−1	57
8	Wimbledon	38	15	11	12	49	46	+3	56
9	Leicester City	38	12	11	15	46	54	−8	47	1997–98 UEFA Cup First round 2
10	Tottenham Hotspur	38	13	7	18	44	51	−7	46
11	Leeds United	38	11	13	14	28	38	−10	46
12	Derby County	38	11	13	14	45	58	−13	46
13	Blackburn Rovers	38	9	15	14	42	43	−1	42
14	West Ham United	38	10	12	16	39	48	−9	42
15	Everton	38	10	12	16	44	57	−13	42
16	Southampton	38	10	11	17	50	56	−6	41
17	Coventry City	38	9	14	15	38	54	−16	41
18	Sunderland (R)	38	10	10	18	35	53	−18	40	Relegation to 1997–98 Football League First Division
19	Middlesbrough (R)	38	10	12	16	51	60	−9	0393
20	Nottingham Forest (R)	38	6	16	16	31	59	−28	34

Updated to games played on 11 May 1997.
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹ Chelsea qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as FA Cup winners.
² Leicester City qualified for the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners.
³ Middlesbrough were docked three points for failing to fulfil a fixture.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

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	10	10	18	35	53	−18	40	7	6	6	20	18	+2	3	4	12	15	35	−20

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	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A
Result	D	W	D	L	D	L	W	L	D	L	W	L	L	D	W	L	W	L	W	L	D	W	D	D	L	L	L	L	W	L	L	D	D	L	W	L	W	L
Position	11	3	5	10	10	13	10	12	13	15	13	16	16	16	12	14	14	14	11	13	11	11	11	11	12	14	15	16	15	15	15	16	15	18	16	17	17	18

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

Results

Sunderland's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Leicester City	H	0-0	19,262
21 August 1996	Nottingham Forest	A	4-1	22,874	Gray, Quinn (2), Ord
24 August 1996	Liverpool	A	0-0	40,503
4 September 1996	Newcastle United	H	1-2	22,037	Scott (pen)
8 September 1996	West Ham United	H	0-0	18,642
14 September 1996	Derby County	A	0-1	17,692
21 September 1996	Coventry City	H	1-0	19,459	Agnew
28 September 1996	Arsenal	A	0-2	38,016
14 October 1996	Middlesbrough	H	2-2	20,936	Rae (pen), Russell
19 October 1996	Southampton	A	0-3	15,225
26 October 1996	Aston Villa	H	1-0	21,059	Stewart
2 November 1996	Leeds United	A	0-3	31,667
16 November 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0-2	31,867
23 November 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1-1	20,644	Melville
30 November 1996	Everton	A	3-1	40,087	Russell, Bridges (2)
7 December 1996	Wimbledon	H	1-3	19,672	Melville
15 December 1996	Chelsea	H	3-0	19,683	Duberry (own goal), Ball, Russell
21 December 1996	Manchester United	A	0-5	55,081
26 December 1996	Derby County	H	2-0	22,512	Ord, Russell
28 December 1996	West Ham United	A	0-2	24,077
1 January 1997	Coventry City	A	2-2	17,700	Bridges, Agnew (pen)
11 January 1997	Arsenal	H	1-0	21,154	Adams (own goal)
18 January 1997	Blackburn Rovers	H	0-0	20,850
29 January 1997	Leicester City	A	1-1	17,883	Williams
1 February 1997	Aston Villa	A	0-1	32,491
22 February 1997	Leeds United	H	0-1	21,890
1 March 1997	Blackburn Rovers	A	0-1	24,208
4 March 1997	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0-4	20,785
8 March 1997	Manchester United	H	2-1	22,225	Gray, Mullin
12 March 1997	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1-2	20,294	Ball
16 March 1997	Chelsea	A	2-6	24,027	Stewart, Rae
22 March 1997	Nottingham Forest	H	1-1	22,120	Ball
5 April 1997	Newcastle United	A	1-1	36,582	Gray
13 April 1997	Liverpool	H	1-2	21,938	Stewart
19 April 1997	Middlesbrough	A	1-0	30,106	Williams
22 April 1997	Southampton	H	0-1	21,521
3 May 1997	Everton	H	3-0	22,108	Stewart (pen), Waddle, Johnston
11 May 1997	Wimbledon	A	0-1	21,338

FA Cup

Main article: 1996–97 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	4 January 1997	Arsenal	A	1-1	37,793	Gray
R3R	15 January 1997	Arsenal	H	0-2	15,277

League Cup

Main article: 1996–97 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	17 September 1996	Watford	A	2-0	9,136	Quinn, Rae
R2 2nd Leg	24 September 1996	Watford	H	1-0 (won 3-0 on agg)	10,659	Scott
R3	23 October 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1-2	24,867	Ball

Squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Tony Coton 2 DF Dariusz Kubicki 3 DF Martin Scott 4 MF Paul Bracewell (vice-captain) 5 MF Kevin Ball (captain) 6 DF Andy Melville 7 DF Michael Gray 8 DF Richard Ord 9 FW Craig Russell 10 MF Paul Stewart 11 MF Steve Agnew 12 DF Gareth Hall 13 GK David Preece 14 DF Lee Howey 15 MF Alex Rae 16 FW David Kelly

No. Position Player 17 FW Niall Quinn 18 FW Martin Smith 19 FW Michael Bridges 20 DF Darren Holloway 21 MF Sam Aiston 22 MF John Mullin 23 DF Darren Williams 24 DF Paul Heckingbottom 25 MF Chris Waddle 26 MF Allan Johnston 28 GK Philip Naisbett 29 MF Steven Pickering 30 GK Lionel Pérez 32 GK Chris Woods 33 DF Jan Eriksson 34 MF Kim Heiselberg

Reserve squad

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

No. Position Player - DF Elliott Dickman - FW Brett Angell - FW Paul Beavers - FW Steve Brodie

No. Position Player - FW Paul Conlon - FW Stephen Grant - FW Chris Tate

Transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
1 June 1996	MF	Alex Rae	Millwall	£1,000,000
11 July 1996	FW	Paul Conlon	Hartlepool United	Free transfer
18 July 1996	GK	Tony Coton	Manchester United	£600,000
1 August 1996	FW	Chris Tate	York City	Signed
1 August 1996	GK	Lionel Pérez	Bordeaux	£200,000
17 August 1996	FW	Niall Quinn	Manchester City	£1,300,000
18 October 1996	DF	Darren Williams	York City	£50,000
7 January 1997	DF	Jan Eriksson	Helsingborgs IF	£250,000
17 March 1997	MF	Chris Waddle	Bradford City	£75,000
21 March 1997	MF	Kim Keiselberg	Esbjerg fB	£125,000
26 March 1997	GK	Chris Woods	Colorado Rapids	Signed
1 April 1997	MF	Allan Johnston	Rennes	£550,000

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
10 July 1996	GK	Alec Chamberlain	Watford	£40,000
27 July 1996	DF	Scott Coates	Berwick Rangers	Signed
1 August 1996	MF	Brian Atkinson	Darlington	Free transfer
1 August 1996	MF	Gordon Armstrong	Bury	Free transfer
22 November 1996	FW	Brett Angell	Stockport County	£120,000
14 February 1997	FW	Steve Brodie	Scarborough	Free transfer

Transfers in: £4,150,000

Transfers out: £160,000

Total spending: £3,990,000