1997–98 Sunderland A.F.C. season

Sunderland

1997–98 season
Chairman	Bob Murray
Manager	Peter Reid
Stadium	Stadium of Light
First Division	3rd
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Phillips (29) All: Phillips (35)
Average home league attendance	33,492
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

During the 1997–98 English football season, Sunderland A.F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

In the 1997–98 season, their first campaign at their new ground, Sunderland finished third in Division One. After beating Sheffield United in the Football League play-offs semi-final, they reached the final at Wembley with a place in the Premier League at stake. Over 40,000 fans travelled from the North-East to see the game against Charlton Athletic. The match was drawn 4–4 after extra time had been played; Charlton, however, won the game on a penalty shootout, after Michael Gray had his penalty saved by Charlton goalkeeper Saša Ilić.

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

Sunderland's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
10 August 1997	Sheffield United	A	0–2	17,324
15 August 1997	Manchester City	H	3–1	38,827	Quinn, Phillips, Clark
23 August 1997	Port Vale	A	1–3	8,290	Phillips
30 August 1997	Norwich City	H	0–1	29,204
2 September 1997	Oxford United	H	3–1	27,643	Phillips, Beauchamp (own goal), Melville
5 September 1997	Bradford City	A	4–0	16,484	Gray, Clark, Phillips, Johnston
14 September 1997	Birmingham City	A	1–0	17,478	Gray
20 September 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–1	30,682	Smith
28 September 1997	Middlesbrough	H	1–2	35,384	Ball
4 October 1997	Reading	A	0–4	10,795
18 October 1997	Huddersfield Town	H	3–1	24,782	Smith, Bridges, Clark
21 October 1997	Swindon Town	H	0–0	27,553
25 October 1997	Stoke City	A	2–1	14,587	Clark (2)
1 November 1997	Stockport County	A	1–1	9,474	Clark
4 November 1997	Charlton Athletic	H	0–0	25,455
8 November 1997	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	33,160	Phillips
15 November 1997	Portsmouth	A	4–1	10,702	Quinn, Clark, Johnston, Summerbee
22 November 1997	Bury	A	1–1	7,790	Phillips
29 November 1997	Tranmere Rovers	H	3–0	26,674	Clark (2), Phillips
6 December 1997	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–0	15,266	Quinn
13 December 1997	West Bromwich Albion	H	2–0	29,231	Phillips, Johnston
20 December 1997	Crewe Alexandra	A	3–0	5,404	Phillips, Summerbee, Quinn
26 December 1997	Bradford City	H	2–0	40,055	Phillips, Johnston
28 December 1997	Oxford United	A	1–1	8,659	Phillips
10 January 1998	Sheffield United	H	4–2	36,391	Quinn, Rae, Phillips (2)
17 January 1998	Manchester City	A	1–0	31,715	Phillips
28 January 1998	Norwich City	A	1–2	15,940	Clark
31 January 1998	Port Vale	H	4–2	39,258	Johnston, Phillips, Quinn, Carragher (own goal)
7 February 1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–0	27,502	Ball
17 February 1998	Reading	H	4–1	40,579	Quinn, Rae, Phillips (2)
21 February 1998	Middlesbrough	A	1–3	30,227	Clark
24 February 1998	Huddersfield Town	A	3–2	14,615	Johnston (3, 1 pen)
28 February 1998	Ipswich Town	H	2–2	35,114	Williams, Phillips
4 March 1998	Nottingham Forest	A	3–0	29,009	Rae, Johnston, Phillips
7 March 1998	Stockport County	H	4–1	34,870	Quinn (3), Phillips
10 March 1998	Birmingham City	H	1–1	37,602	Johnston
15 March 1998	Charlton Athletic	A	1–1	15,355	Phillips
21 March 1998	Portsmouth	H	2–1	38,134	Phillips, Johnston
28 March 1998	Bury	H	2–1	37,425	Clark, Phillips
3 April 1998	Tranmere Rovers	A	2–0	14,116	Phillips, Summerbee
10 April 1998	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–2	40,014	Quinn (2)
13 April 1998	West Bromwich Albion	A	3–3	20,181	Quinn (2), Phillips
18 April 1998	Crewe Alexandra	H	2–1	40,441	Ball, Clark
25 April 1998	Stoke City	H	3–0	41,214	Williams, Phillips (2)
28 April 1998	Ipswich Town	A	0–2	20,902
3 May 1998	Swindon Town	A	2–1	14,868	Phillips (2)

First Division play-offs

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SF 1st Leg	10 May 1998	Sheffield United	A	1–2	23,800	Ball
SF 2nd Leg	13 May 1998	Sheffield United	H	2–0 (won 3-2 on agg)	40,092	Marker (own goal), Phillips
F	25 May 1998	Charlton Athletic	N	4–4 (lost 6-7 on pens)	77,739	Quinn (2), Phillips, Summerbee

FA Cup

Main article: 1997–98 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	3 January 1998	Rotherham United	A	5–1	11,500	Phillips (4, 1 pen), Quinn
R4	24 January 1998	Tranmere Rovers	A	0–1	14,055

League Cup

Main article: 1997–98 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 First Leg	16 September 1997	Bury	H	2–1	18,775	Williams, Bridges
R2 Second Leg	23 September 1997	Bury	A	2–1 (won 4-2 on agg)	3,928	Smith, Rae
R3	15 October 1997	Middlesbrough	A	0–2	26,451

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 Lionel Pérez - GK Edwin Zoetebier - GK Luke Weaver - GK Mike Pollitt - DF Michael Gray - DF Allan Johnston - DF Darren Williams - DF Darren Holloway - DF Jody Craddock - DF Chris Makin - DF Richard Ord - DF Andy Melville - DF Martin Scott - DF Gareth Hall - DF Mark Maley - DF Paul Heckingbottom - DF Kim Heiselberg - DF Elliott Dickman - MF Lee Clark

No. Position Player - MF Kevin Ball - MF Alex Rae - MF Nicky Summerbee - MF Chris Byrne - MF Steve Agnew - MF John Mullin - MF Sam Aiston - MF Chris Lumsdon - MF Paul Bracewell - MF Paul Thirlwell - MF David Duke - FW Kevin Phillips - FW Niall Quinn - FW Martin Smith - FW Michael Bridges - FW Danny Dichio - FW Craig Russell - FW Michael Proctor