1997–98 West Bromwich Albion F.C. season

West Bromwich Albion

1997–98 season
Chairman	Tony Hale
Manager	Ray Harford (until 4 December) Richie Barker and John Trewick (caretaker managers until 24 December) Denis Smith (from 24 December)
Stadium	The Hawthorns
First Division	10th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Hughes (14) All: Hunt/Hughes (14)
Highest home attendance	23,013 v Nottingham Forest
Lowest home attendance	7,227 v Luton Town
Average home league attendance	17,004 (16,635 all competitions)
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

During the 1997–98 English football season, West Bromwich Albion F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

In the first few months of the 1997–98 season, West Brom established themselves in the top six. Harford then stunned Albion supporters by moving to QPR after less than a year in charge, making way for Denis Smith, who struggled to maintain the momentum created by Harford, and the Baggies could only finish 10th.

Final league table

Main article: 1997-98 Football League

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Nottingham Forest (C)	46	28	10	8	82	42	+40	94	Promotion to 1998–99 FA Premier League
2	Middlesbrough (P)	46	27	10	9	77	41	+36	91
3	Sunderland	46	26	12	8	86	50	+36	90	Qualification to First Division play-offs
4	Charlton Athletic (P)	46	26	10	10	80	49	+31	88
5	Ipswich Town	46	23	14	9	77	43	+34	83
6	Sheffield United	46	19	17	10	69	54	+15	74
7	Birmingham City	46	19	17	10	60	35	+25	74
8	Stockport County	46	19	8	19	71	69	+2	65
9	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	18	11	17	57	53	+4	65
10	West Bromwich Albion	46	16	13	17	50	56	−6	61
11	Crewe Alexandra	46	18	5	23	58	65	−7	59
12	Oxford United	46	16	10	20	60	64	−4	58
13	Bradford City	46	14	15	17	46	59	−13	57
14	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	14	18	54	57	−3	56
15	Norwich City	46	14	13	19	52	69	−17	55
16	Huddersfield Town	46	14	11	21	50	72	−22	53
17	Bury	46	11	19	16	42	58	−16	52
18	Swindon Town	46	14	10	22	42	73	−31	52
19	Port Vale	46	13	10	23	56	66	−10	49
20	Portsmouth	46	13	10	23	51	63	−12	49
21	Queens Park Rangers	46	10	19	17	51	63	−12	49
22	Manchester City (R)	46	12	12	22	56	57	−1	48	Relegation to 1998–99 Second Division
23	Stoke City (R)	46	11	13	22	44	74	−30	46
24	Reading (R)	46	11	9	26	39	78	−39	42

Updated to games played on 3 May 1998.
Source: Statto.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(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.

Results

West Bromwich Albion's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	Tranmere Rovers	H	2–1	16,727	Kilbane, Hunt
16 August 1997	Crewe Alexandra	A	3–2	5,234	Hunt (pen), Hughes (2)
24 August 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–0	22,511	Curle (own goal)
30 August 1997	Ipswich Town	A	1–1	13,508	Sneekes
3 September 1997	Stoke City	A	0–0	17,500
7 September 1997	Reading	H	1–0	15,966	Hunt
13 September 1997	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–2	14,399
20 September 1997	Swindon Town	H	0–0	16,237
27 September 1997	Bury	A	3–1	6,439	Peschisolido (3)
4 October 1997	Oxford United	H	1–2	15,889	Hunt
18 October 1997	Portsmouth	A	3–2	9,158	Mardon, Hunt (2)
21 October 1997	Nottingham Forest	A	0–1	19,243
25 October 1997	Sheffield United	H	2–0	17,311	Hunt, Hughes
1 November 1997	Bradford City	A	0–0	16,212
4 November 1997	Norwich City	H	1–0	13,949	Hughes
8 November 1997	Charlton Athletic	H	1–0	16,124	Hunt
15 November 1997	Port Vale	A	2–1	11,124	Hunt, Hamilton
23 November 1997	Birmingham City	H	1–0	18,444	Sneekes
29 November 1997	Middlesbrough	A	0–1	30,164
2 December 1997	Manchester City	H	0–1	17,904
6 December 1997	Stockport County	H	3–2	14,957	Sneekes, Hughes, Hunt
13 December 1997	Sunderland	A	0–2	29,231
20 December 1997	Huddersfield Town	H	0–2	14,619
26 December 1997	Reading	A	1–2	10,154	Kilbane
28 December 1997	Stoke City	H	1–1	19,690	Hunt
9 January 1998	Tranmere Rovers	A	0–0	8,058
17 January 1998	Crewe Alexandra	H	0–1	15,257
27 January 1998	Ipswich Town	H	2–3	12,403	Murphy, Flynn
31 January 1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–0	28,244	Hunt
7 February 1998	Swindon Town	A	2–0	9,861	Carbon, Evans
14 February 1998	Queens Park Rangers	H	1–1	20,143	Hughes
17 February 1998	Oxford United	A	1–2	9,412	Taylor
21 February 1998	Bury	H	1–1	15,840	Hughes
24 February 1998	Portsmouth	H	0–3	12,757
28 February 1998	Manchester City	A	0–1	28,460
3 March 1998	Charlton Athletic	A	0–5	10,893
7 March 1998	Bradford City	H	1–1	13,281	Burgess
14 March 1998	Norwich City	A	1–1	16,663	Hughes
21 March 1998	Port Vale	H	2–2	14,242	Flynn, Taylor
28 March 1998	Birmingham City	A	0–1	23,260
4 April 1998	Middlesbrough	H	2–1	21,620	Quinn (2, 1 pen)
11 April 1998	Stockport County	A	1–2	7,943	Hughes
13 April 1998	Sunderland	H	3–3	22,181	Hughes (2), Kilbane
18 April 1998	Huddersfield Town	A	0–1	11,704
25 April 1998	Sheffield United	A	4–2	21,248	Hunt, Hughes (2), Kilbane
3 May 1998	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	23,013	Hughes (pen)

FA Cup

Main article: 1997–98 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	13 January 1998	Stoke City	H	3–1	17,598	Sneekes (2), Kilbane
R4	24 January 1998	Aston Villa	A	0–4	39,372

League Cup

Main article: 1997–98 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 First Leg	12 August 1997	Cambridge United	A	1–1	3,520	Peschisolido
R1 Second Leg	27 August 1997	Cambridge United	H	2–1 (won 3-2 on agg)	10,264	Hunt, Sneekes (pen)
R2 First Leg	16 September 1997	Luton Town	A	1–1	3,437	Taylor
R2 Second Leg	23 September 1997	Luton Town	H	4–2 (won 5-3 on agg)	7,227	Raven, McDermott, Peschisolido (2)
R3	15 October 1997	Liverpool	H	0–2	22,986

Squad

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

No. Position Player GK Alan Miller GK Chris Adamson GK Paul Crichton GK Nigel Spink DF Paul Holmes DF Paul Mardon DF Matt Carbon DF Daryl Burgess DF Shane Nicholson MF Kevin Kilbane MF Richard Sneekes MF Peter Butler MF Ian Hamilton MF Sean Flynn FW Andy Hunt FW Lee Hughes MF David Smith DF Shaun Murphy

No. Position Player DF Andy McDermott FW James Quinn FW Bob Taylor DF Steve Nicol DF Paul Raven DF Jason van Blerk DF Paul Beesley (on loan from Manchester City) MF Stacy Coldicott DF Tony Dobson FW Paul Peschisolido DF Graham Potter FW Mickey Evans FW Franz Carr FW James Thomas FW Brian Quailey MF Dave Gilbert MF Dean Bennett FW Michael Rodosthenous GK Neil Wypior