1996–97 Norwich City F.C. season

Norwich City

1996–97 season
Manager	Mike Walker
Stadium	Carrow Road
First Division	13th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	Eadie (17)
Highest home attendance	20,256 vs. Ipswich Town (11 October 1996)
Lowest home attendance	11,946 vs. Portsmouth (1 January 1997)
Average home league attendance	14,719
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

During the 1996–97 English football season, Norwich City F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

In 1996, Mike Walker returned for a second spell as Norwich manager to the delight of the fans but during the season he could not achieve promotion during his first season back at the club with only a 13th-place finish. After a great start which saw the Canaries lose only 2 out of the first 14 games, Norwich's brilliant form deteriorated from the end of October, picking up 3 points from the next 10 matches with 7 defeats during the winless run which all but ended their chances of automatic promotion.

Final league table

Main article: 1996-97 Football League

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1.	Bolton Wanderers	46	28	14	4	100	53	+47	98
2.	Barnsley	46	22	14	10	76	55	+21	80
3.	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	22	10	14	68	51	+17	76
4.	Ipswich Town	46	20	14	12	68	50	+18	74
5.	Sheffield United	46	20	13	13	75	52	+23	73
6.	Crystal Palace	46	19	14	13	78	48	+30	71
7.	Portsmouth	46	20	8	18	59	53	+6	68
8.	Port Vale	46	17	16	13	58	55	+3	67
9.	Queens Park Rangers	46	18	12	16	64	60	+4	66
10.	Birmingham City	46	17	15	14	52	48	+4	66
11.	Tranmere Rovers	46	17	14	15	63	56	+7	65
12.	Stoke City	46	18	10	18	51	57	-6	64
13.	Norwich City	46	17	12	17	63	68	-5	63
14.	Manchester City	46	17	10	19	59	60	-1	61
15.	Charlton Athletic	46	16	11	19	52	66	-14	59
16.	West Bromwich Albion	46	14	15	17	68	72	-4	57
17.	Oxford United	46	16	9	21	64	68	-4	57
18.	Reading	46	15	12	19	58	67	-9	57
19.	Swindon Town	46	15	9	22	52	71	-19	54
20.	Huddersfield Town	46	13	15	18	48	61	-13	54
21.	Bradford City	46	12	12	22	47	72	-25	48
22.	Grimsby Town	46	11	13	22	60	81	-21	46
23.	Oldham Athletic	46	10	13	23	51	66	-15	43
24.	Southend United	46	8	15	23	42	86	-44	39

See also: Play-off results

Key
Promoted to the Premier League
Qualified for the promotion playoff
Relegated to Division Two

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

Results

Norwich City's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Swindon Town	H	2–0	15,165	Johnson, Fleck
24 August 1996	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–3	13,507	Eadie
27 August 1996	Oxford United	A	1–0	7,436	Adams
31 August 1996	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–0	14,456	Adams (pen)
7 September 1996	Bradford City	A	2–0	10,054	Sutch, Eadie
11 September 1996	Queens Park Rangers	H	1–1	14,000	Adams
14 September 1996	Southend United	H	0–0	12,461
21 September 1996	Portsmouth	A	1–0	7,511	Crook
28 September 1996	Tranmere Rovers	H	1–1	14,511	Fleck
1 October 1996	Grimsby Town	A	4–1	5,266	Eadie (2), Johnson, O'Neill
11 October 1996	Ipswich Town	H	3–1	20,256	Johnson (2), Polston
16 October 1996	Oldham Athletic	H	2–0	12,271	Eadie, Adams
19 October 1996	Manchester City	A	1–2	28,269	Scott
26 October 1996	Birmingham City	A	3–2	18,869	Johnson, Adams, Scott
30 October 1996	Sheffield United	H	1–1	14,534	Adams
2 November 1996	Charlton Athletic	H	1–2	14,145	Milligan
12 November 1996	Barnsley	A	1–3	9,697	Newman
16 November 1996	Reading	H	1–1	14,412	Scott
30 November 1996	Birmingham City	H	0–1	12,764
7 December 1996	Huddersfield Town	A	0–2	10,749
14 December 1996	Crystal Palace	H	1–1	16,395	Adams
18 December 1996	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–5	7,483	O'Neill
21 December 1996	Port Vale	A	1–6	6,278	Fleck
26 December 1996	Queens Park Rangers	A	2–3	15,699	Crook, Eadie
28 December 1996	Bradford City	H	2–0	13,473	Adams (pen), O'Neill
1 January 1997	Portsmouth	H	1–0	11,946	Jackson
18 January 1997	Grimsby Town	H	2–1	16,687	Polston, Sutch
22 January 1997	Stoke City	A	2–1	10,179	O'Neill, Eadie
28 January 1997	Tranmere Rovers	A	1–3	5,891	Eadie
1 February 1997	Barnsley	H	1–1	17,001	Eadie
9 February 1997	Sheffield United	A	3–2	15,301	Johnson, Ottosson, Holdsworth (own goal)
15 February 1997	West Bromwich Albion	H	2–4	14,845	Sutch, Adams (pen)
22 February 1997	Charlton Athletic	A	4–4	12,405	Adams (2), Eadie (2)
25 February 1997	Southend United	A	1–1	5,169	Fleck
1 March 1997	Huddersfield Town	H	2–0	13,001	Eadie (2)
4 March 1997	Reading	A	1–2	8,174	Adams
8 March 1997	Port Vale	H	1–1	16,101	Jackson
15 March 1997	Crystal Palace	A	0–2	17,378
22 March 1997	Bolton Wanderers	H	0–1	17,585
29 March 1997	Swindon Town	A	3–0	10,249	Eadie (2), O'Neill
31 March 1997	Oxford United	H	1–1	14,644	Eadie
5 April 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	2–3	26,938	Broughton, Adams
12 April 1997	Stoke City	H	2–0	13,805	O'Neill, Eadie
18 April 1997	Ipswich Town	A	0–2	22,397
25 April 1997	Manchester City	H	0–0	14,080
4 May 1997	Oldham Athletic	A	0–3	5,562

FA Cup

Main article: 1996-97 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	4 January 1997	Sheffield United	H	1–0	12,356	Polston
R4	25 January 1997	Leicester City	A	1–2	16,703	Adams (pen)

League Cup

Main article: 1996-97 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 First Leg	20 August 1996	Oxford United	A	1–1	6,062	Johnson
R1 Second Leg	4 September 1996	Oxford United	H	2–3 (lost 3-4 on agg)	7,301	Adams (2, 1 pen)

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 Andy Marshall GK Bryan Gunn DF Carl Bradshaw DF Matt Jackson DF Danny Mills DF Neil Moore (on loan from Everton) DF Rob Newman DF John Polston DF Kevin Scott (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur) DF Daryl Sutch DF Johnny Wright MF Neil Adams MF Shaun Carey MF Ian Crook MF Darren Eadie

No. Position Player MF Adrian Forbes MF Lee Marshall MF David Rocastle (on loan from Chelsea) MF Karl Simpson MF Andy Johnson MF Mike Milligan MF Keith O'Neill FW Drewe Broughton FW Jamie Cureton FW Matthew Rush FW Keith Scott FW Robert Fleck FW Craig Bellamy FW Ulf Ottosson FW Ade Akinbiyi