1996–97 Blackburn Rovers F.C. season

Blackburn Rovers
	1996–97 season
Chairman	Robert Coar
Manager	Ray Harford (until 25 October); Tony Parkes (from 25 October)
Stadium	Ewood Park
Premiership	13th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Sutton (11); All: Sutton (12)
Average home league attendance	24,947
← 1995–96	1997–98 →

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

Season summary

An early exit from the League Cup at the hands of Division Two side Stockport County was the final straw for manager Ray Harford, who stepped down on 25 October with Rovers also bottom of the Premiership with no wins from their opening 10 games. 18 months earlier, they had been league champions. Long-serving coach Tony Parkes was appointed caretaker, remaining in the post until the end of the season, when he handed over the reins to Roy Hodgson after Sampdoria's Sven-Göran Eriksson changed his mind about accepting the manager's job and joined Lazio instead. Parkes steered Blackburn to safety as they finished 13th.

The world record £15 million sale of striker Alan Shearer to Newcastle United was seen as the biggest factor in Blackburn's lowest top flight finish since they returned to the elite in 1992. However, his strike-partner Chris Sutton helped keep the club alive after recovering from a drastic loss of form triggered by a spate of injuries the previous season. The acquisition of Swedish striker Martin Dahlin at the end of the season enhanced Blackburn's attack and gave fans hope for a higher finish next time round.

Final league table

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	9	15	14	42	43	−1	42	8	4	7	28	23	+5	1	11	7	14	20	−6

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	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H
Result	L	L	D	L	L	L	D	D	L	D	L	W	D	D	W	D	L	W	D	W	W	D	L	W	D	W	D	D	W	L	L	D	L	D	W	L	D	L
Position	16	19	18	19	19	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	19	19	18	17	17	18	18	17	14	14	16	13	15	14	13	12	12	12	12	13	14	14	13	13	13	13

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

Results

Blackburn Rovers' score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0-2	26,960
21 August 1996	Aston Villa	A	0-1	32,457
25 August 1996	Manchester United	A	2-2	54,178	Warhurst, Bohinen
4 September 1996	Leeds United	H	0-1	23,226
9 September 1996	Derby County	H	1-2	19,214	Sutton
14 September 1996	Newcastle United	A	1-2	36,424	Sutton
21 September 1996	Everton	H	1-1	27,091	Donis
28 September 1996	Coventry City	A	0-0	17,032
12 October 1996	Arsenal	H	0-2	24,303
19 October 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1-1	22,191	Bohinen
26 October 1996	West Ham United	A	1-2	23,947	Berg
3 November 1996	Liverpool	H	3-0	29,598	Sutton (2, 1 pen), Wilcox
16 November 1996	Chelsea	H	1-1	27,229	Gallacher
25 November 1996	Nottingham Forest	A	2-2	17,525	Gallacher, Wilcox
30 November 1996	Southampton	H	2-1	23,018	Sherwood, Sutton
7 December 1996	Leicester City	A	1-1	19,306	Sutton
14 December 1996	Wimbledon	A	0-1	13,246
26 December 1996	Newcastle United	H	1-0	30,398	Gallacher
28 December 1996	Derby County	A	0-0	17,847
1 January 1997	Everton	A	2-0	30,427	Sherwood, Sutton
11 January 1997	Coventry City	H	4-0	24,055	Sutton (2), Gallacher, Donis
18 January 1997	Sunderland	A	0-0	20,850
29 January 1997	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1-2	22,943	Hendry
1 February 1997	West Ham United	H	2-1	21,994	Gallacher, Sutton
22 February 1997	Liverpool	A	0-0	40,747
1 March 1997	Sunderland	H	1-0	24,208	Gallacher
5 March 1997	Chelsea	A	1-1	25,784	Pedersen
11 March 1997	Nottingham Forest	H	1-1	20,485	Gallacher
15 March 1997	Wimbledon	H	3-1	23,333	Gallacher (3)
19 March 1997	Middlesbrough	A	1-2	29,891	Sutton
22 March 1997	Aston Villa	H	0-2	24,274
7 April 1997	Leeds United	A	0-0	27,264
12 April 1997	Manchester United	H	2-3	30,476	McKinlay, Warhurst
19 April 1997	Arsenal	A	1-1	38,086	Flitcroft
22 April 1997	Sheffield Wednesday	H	4-1	20,845	Berg, Sherwood, Le Saux, Flitcroft
3 May 1997	Southampton	A	0-2	15,247
8 May 1997	Middlesbrough	H	0-0	27,411
11 May 1997	Leicester City	H	2-4	25,881	Flitcroft, Fenton

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	4 January 1997	Port Vale	H	1-0	19,891	Bohinen
R4	15 February 1997	Coventry City	H	1-2	21,123	Sherwood

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	17 September 1996	Brentford	A	2-1	8,938	Flitcroft, Sutton
R2 2nd Leg	24 September 1996	Brentford	H	2-0 (won 4-1 on agg)	9,599	Gallacher, Sherwood
R3	22 October 1996	Stockport County	H	0-1	14,622

Squad

Squad at end of season^[2]

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	Tim Flowers
2	DF	Chris Coleman
3	DF	Jeff Kenna
4	MF	Tim Sherwood (captain)
5	DF	Colin Hendry
6	DF	Graeme Le Saux
7	MF	Stuart Ripley
8	FW	Kevin Gallacher
9	FW	Chris Sutton
10	MF	Lars Bohinen
11	MF	Jason Wilcox
12	DF	Nicky Marker
13	GK	Shay Given
14	MF	Graham Fenton
15	MF	Matty Holmes
16	FW	Per Pedersen
17	DF	Billy McKinlay

No.	Position	Player
18	MF	Niklas Gudmundsson
19	DF	Adam Reed
20	DF	Henning Berg
21	MF	Giorgos Donis
23	MF	Garry Flitcroft
24	DF	Paul Warhurst
25	DF	Ian Pearce
26	DF	Marlon Broomes
27	DF	Tony Whealing
28	MF	Wayne Gill
29	DF	Steve Hitchen
30	FW	James Beattie
32	MF	Damien Duff
33	DF	Damien Johnson
34	DF	Gary Croft
35	FW	James Thomas

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
-		GK	Gareth Stewart
-		GK	Anthony Williams

No.		Position	Player
-		DF	Graham Coughlan
-		DF	David Worrell

Transfers

In

^[3]

July 1996: George Donis - Panathinaikos, free
February 1997: Per Pedersen - Odense, £2,500,000

Out

Alan Shearer - Newcastle United, £15,000,000

References

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↑ http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/1996-1997/faprem/blackbrn.htm
↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

[1] Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

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

[3] Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

[1]

[2]

[3]

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1996–97 Blackburn Rovers F.C. season

Contents

Season summary

Final league table

Results

Legend

FA Premier League

FA Cup

League Cup

Squad

Reserve squad

Transfers

In

Out

References

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