1997–98 Queens Park Rangers F.C. season

Queens Park Rangers

1997–98 season
Chairman	Chris Wright
Manager	Stewart Houston (until 10 November) John Hollins (caretaker from 11 November - 5 December) Ray Harford (from 5 December)
Stadium	Loftus Road
First Division	21st
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	Sheron (11)
Average home league attendance	13,083
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

During the 1997–98 English football season, Queens Park Rangers F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

In the 1997–98 season, QPR did start the campaign brightly but in November, Houston was sacked as manager with the club in 13th place and only four points adrift from the playoff places. Ray Harford was appointed as Houston's replacement and QPR went on to struggle with only three wins at the end of the season since his appointment and only managed to avoid relegation by one point at the expense of Manchester City, Stoke City and Reading.

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

Queens Park Rangers' score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	Ipswich Town	H	0–0	17,614
15 August 1997	Tranmere Rovers	A	1–2	7,467	Peacock
23 August 1997	Stockport County	H	2–1	11,108	Sinclair (2)
30 August 1997	Nottingham Forest	A	0–4	18,804
2 September 1997	Reading	A	2–1	10,203	Spencer, Swales (own goal)
13 September 1997	West Bromwich Albion	H	2–0	14,399	Sheron, Peacock
20 September 1997	Crewe Alexandra	A	3–2	5,348	Spencer, Maddix, Sinclair
24 September 1997	Portsmouth	H	1–0	12,620	Spencer
27 September 1997	Port Vale	A	0–2	7,197
4 October 1997	Charlton Athletic	H	2–4	14,825	Sheron (2)
18 October 1997	Sheffield United	A	2–2	18,006	Murray, Morrow
21 October 1997	Bury	A	1–1	4,602	Spencer
26 October 1997	Manchester City	H	2–0	14,451	Ready, Peacock (pen)
1 November 1997	Birmingham City	H	1–1	12,715	Barker
5 November 1997	Swindon Town	A	1–3	10,132	Peacock
8 November 1997	Middlesbrough	A	0–3	30,067
15 November 1997	Stoke City	H	1–1	11,923	Barker (pen)
22 November 1997	Huddersfield Town	H	2–1	16,066	Quashie (2)
29 November 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	2–3	23,645	Sheron, Peacock
3 December 1997	Norwich City	H	1–1	10,141	Peacock
6 December 1997	Sunderland	H	0–1	15,266
12 December 1997	Oxford United	A	1–3	6,664	Peacock
21 December 1997	Bradford City	H	1–0	8,853	Peacock (pen)
26 December 1997	Portsmouth	A	1–3	12,314	Sheron
28 December 1997	Reading	H	1–1	13,015	Spencer
10 January 1998	Ipswich Town	A	0–0	12,672
17 January 1998	Tranmere Rovers	H	0–0	12,033
24 January 1998	Nottingham Forest	H	0–1	13,220
31 January 1998	Stockport County	A	0–2	7,958
7 February 1998	Crewe Alexandra	H	3–2	13,429	Kennedy (2), Ready
14 February 1998	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–1	19,143	Dowie
17 February 1998	Charlton Athletic	A	1–1	15,555	Peacock (pen)
21 February 1998	Port Vale	H	0–1	14,198
25 February 1998	Sheffield United	H	2–2	9,560	Sheron, Ready
28 February 1998	Norwich City	A	0–0	12,730
4 March 1998	Middlesbrough	H	5–0	11,580	Vickers (own goal), Bruce, Gallen, Sheron (2)
7 March 1998	Birmingham City	A	0–1	18,298
14 March 1998	Swindon Town	H	1–2	13,486	Quashie
21 March 1998	Stoke City	A	1–2	11,051	Barker (pen)
28 March 1998	Huddersfield Town	A	1–1	13,681	Jones
1 April 1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0–0	12,337
10 April 1998	Sunderland	A	2–2	40,014	Sheron (2)
14 April 1998	Oxford United	H	1–1	12,859	Gallen
19 April 1998	Bradford City	A	1–1	14,871	Gallen
25 April 1998	Manchester City	A	2–2	32,040	Sheron, Pollock (own goal)
3 May 1998	Bury	H	0–1	15,210

FA Cup

Main article: 1997–98 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	3 January 1998	Middlesbrough	H	2–2	13,379	Spencer, Gallen
R3R	13 January 1998	Middlesbrough	A	0–2	21,817

League Cup

Main article: 1997–98 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 First Leg	12 August 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0–2	8,355
R1 Second Leg	27 August 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	2–1 (lost 2-3 on agg)	18,398	Peacock, Murray

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 Lee Harper GK Tony Roberts GK Juergen Sommer DF Karl Ready DF Steve Morrow DF Danny Maddix DF Rufus Brevett MF Gavin Peacock MF Nigel Quashie MF Paul Murray MF Trevor Sinclair FW Mike Sheron FW John Spencer FW Kevin Gallen DF Steve Yates MF Simon Barker DF Matthew Rose DF David Bardsley DF George Kulcsar FW Iain Dowie MF Mark Kennedy (on loan from Liverpool)

No. Position Player DF Ian Baraclough MF Matt Brazier MF Vinnie Jones DF Keith Rowland DF Neil Ruddock (on loan from Liverpool) MF Tony Scully DF Mark Perry FW Steve Slade DF Paul Bruce DF Antti Heinola MF Michael Mahoney-Johnson MF Mark Graham DF Chris Plummer DF Trevor Challis MF Andy Impey MF Leon Jeanne MF Richard Langley DF Rik Lopez DF Karl Owen FW Wayne Purser DF David Whittle