1996–97 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

Tottenham Hotspur

1996–97 season
Chairman	Alan Sugar
Manager	Gerry Francis
Stadium	White Hart Lane
Premiership	10th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	League: Sheringham (7) All: Sheringham (8)
Highest home attendance	33,040 vs Leeds United (15 Mar 1997, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance	20,080 vs Preston North End (25 Sep 1996, League Cup)
Average home league attendance	31,067
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

During the 1996–97 season, Tottenham Hotspur participated in the FA Premier League.

Season summary

For two seasons running, Tottenham narrowly missed out on a UEFA Cup place. 1996-97 could have been the season when Gerry Francis finally got it right and secured either a top-five finish or victory in one of the cups, but early exits from the FA Cup and Coca-Cola Cup ended their chances of a Wembley final, and a 10th place finish in the final table was the club's lowest since Francis took over in November 1994. This disappointment saw the manager's future thrown into serious doubt, with fans calling for him to be dismissed.

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	13	7	18	44	51	−7	46	8	4	7	19	17	+2	5	3	11	25	34	−9

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	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	A	H	A	H
Result	W	D	D	L	L	W	L	L	W	W	L	W	W	L	L	W	D	D	W	L	L	L	W	L	D	L	L	W	W	D	L	W	L	L	D	W	L	L
Position	3	6	8	12	13	11	12	14	11	8	9	8	7	9	11	10	9	10	9	10	10	10	9	10	9	11	12	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	10

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

Results

Tottenham Hotspur's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Blackburn Rovers	A	2-0	26,960	Armstrong (2)
21 August 1996	Derby County	H	1-1	28,219	Sheringham
24 August 1996	Everton	H	0-0	29,669
4 September 1996	Wimbledon	A	0-1	17,306
7 September 1996	Newcastle United	H	1-2	32,594	Allen
14 September 1996	Southampton	A	1-0	15,251	Armstrong (pen)
22 September 1996	Leicester City	H	1-2	24,159	Wilson (pen)
29 September 1996	Manchester United	A	0-2	54,943
12 October 1996	Aston Villa	H	1-0	32,840	Nielsen
19 October 1996	Middlesbrough	A	3-0	30,215	Sheringham (2), Fox
26 October 1996	Chelsea	A	1-3	28,318	Armstrong
2 November 1996	West Ham United	H	1-0	32,975	Armstrong
16 November 1996	Sunderland	H	2-0	31,867	Sinton, Sheringham
24 November 1996	Arsenal	A	1-3	38,264	Sinton
2 December 1996	Liverpool	H	0-2	32,899
7 December 1996	Coventry City	A	2-1	19,656	Sheringham, Sinton
14 December 1996	Leeds United	A	0-0	33,783
21 December 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1-1	30,996	Nielsen
26 December 1996	Southampton	H	3-1	30,549	Iversen (2), Nielsen
28 December 1996	Newcastle United	A	1-7	36,308	Nielsen
12 January 1997	Manchester United	H	1-2	33,026	Allen
19 January 1997	Nottingham Forest	A	1-2	27,303	Sinton
29 January 1997	Blackburn Rovers	H	2-1	22,943	Iversen, Sinton
1 February 1997	Chelsea	H	1-2	33,027	Howells
15 February 1997	Arsenal	H	0-0	33,039
24 February 1997	West Ham United	A	3-4	23,998	Sheringham, Anderton, Howells
1 March 1997	Nottingham Forest	H	0-1	32,805
4 March 1997	Sunderland	A	4-0	20,729	Iversen (3), Nielsen
15 March 1997	Leeds United	H	1-0	33,040	Anderton
19 March 1997	Leicester City	A	1-1	20,563	Sheringham
22 March 1997	Derby County	A	2-4	18,083	Rosenthal, Dozzell
5 April 1997	Wimbledon	H	1-0	32,654	Dozzell
9 April 1997	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1-2	22,671	Nielsen
12 April 1997	Everton	A	0-1	36,380
19 April 1997	Aston Villa	A	1-1	39,339	Vega
24 April 1997	Middlesbrough	H	1-0	29,940	Sinton
3 May 1997	Liverpool	A	1-2	40,003	Anderton
11 May 1997	Coventry City	H	1-2	33,029	McVeigh

FA Cup

Main article: 1996–97 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	5 January 1997	Manchester United	A	0-2	52,495

League Cup

Main article: 1996–97 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	17 September 1996	Preston North End	A	1-1	16,258	Anderton
R2 2nd Leg	25 September 1996	Preston North End	H	3-0 (won 4-1 on agg)	20,080	Anderton, Allen (2)
R3	23 October 1996	Sunderland	H	2-1	24,867	Armstrong, Campbell
R4	27 November 1996	Bolton Wanderers	A	1-6	18,621	Sheringham

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 Ian Walker 2 DF Dean Austin 3 DF Justin Edinburgh 4 MF David Howells 5 DF Colin Calderwood 6 DF Gary Mabbutt (captain) 7 MF Ruel Fox 8 MF Allan Nielsen 9 MF Darren Anderton 10 FW Teddy Sheringham 11 FW Chris Armstrong 12 MF Jason Dozzell 13 GK Espen Baardsen 14 MF Stuart Nethercott 15 DF Clive Wilson 16 FW Ronny Rosenthal 17 DF John Scales

No. Position Player 18 FW Steffen Iversen 19 MF Paul McVeigh 20 FW Neale Fenn 21 MF Danny Hill 22 DF David Kerslake (on loan to Swindon Town) 23 DF Sol Campbell 24 DF Ramon Vega 25 DF Stephen Carr 26 FW Paul Mahorn 27 MF Andy Sinton 28 DF Jamie Clapham 29 FW Rory Allen 30 MF Simon Webb 31 GK Simon Brown 32 MF Garry Brady 34 DF Mark Arber

Left club during season

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

No. Position Player 17 MF Andy Turner (to Portsmouth) 18 MF Gerry McMahon (to Stoke City)

No. Position Player 19 DF Kevin Scott (to Norwich City) 24 DF Jason Cundy (to Ipswich Town)

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 - MF Stephen Clemence - MF Peter Gain - MF Mark Gower

No. Position Player - MF Simon Spencer - MF Simon Wormull

Coaching Staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Gerry Francis
Assistant manager	Chris Hughton

Source: