1996–97 Football Conference

The Vauxhall Conference season of 1996–97 was the eighteenth season of the Conference National.

Contents

Overview

Macclesfield Town won their second Conference title in three years, and this time earned a promotion to the Football League — thanks to their upgraded stadium — at the expense of Hereford United.

New teams in the league this season

Final League Table[1]

Football Conference
Season 1996–97[1]
Champions Macclesfield Town (2nd Football Conference title)
Promoted to the Football League Macclesfield Town
Conference League Cup winners Kidderminster Harriers
FA Trophy winners Woking (3rd FA Trophy title
Relegated to Level 6 Altrincham,
Bath City,
Bromsgrove Rovers
Matches played 462
Goals scored 1306 (2.83 per match)
Top goalscorer Lee Hughes (Kidderminster Harriers), 30
Biggest home win Woking – Altrincham 7–1 (30 Nov 1996);
Kidderminster Harriers – Bath City 6–0 (28 Dec 1996);
Slough Town – Telford United 6–0 (19 Oct 1996);
Stevenage Borough – Halifax Town 6–0 (17 Aug 1996)
Biggest away win Slough Town – Stevenage Borough 1–6 (1 Jan 1997);
Bromsgrove Rovers – Northwich Victoria 0–5 (1 Mar 1997);
Dover Athletic – Kidderminster Harriers 0–5 (24 Aug 1996);
Telford United – Rushden & Diamonds 0–5 (7 Dec 1996)
Highest scoring Halifax Town – Bath City 4–5 (15 Feb 1997)
Longest winning run Macclesfield Town, 8 matches
Longest unbeaten run Morecambe, 12 matches
Longest losing run Bromsgrove Rovers, 7 matches
Highest attendance Stevenage Borough v Kidderminster Harriers, 6,489 (25 Jan 1997)
Lowest attendance ?
Average attendance 1,258
Locations of the Football Conference 1996–1997 teams
Locations of the Football Conference teams 1996–1997
Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A F A GD Pts Notes
1 Macclesfield Town 42 15 4 2 41 11 12 5 4 39 19 80 30 + 50 90
2 Kidderminster Harriers 42 14 4 3 48 18 12 3 6 36 24 84 42 + 42 85
3 Stevenage Borough 42 15 4 2 53 23 9 6 6 34 30 87 53 + 34 82
4 Morecambe 42 10 5 6 34 23 9 4 8 35 33 69 56 + 13 66
5 Woking 42 10 5 6 41 29 8 5 8 30 34 71 63 + 8 64
6 Northwich Victoria 42 11 5 5 31 20 6 7 8 30 34 61 54 + 7 63
7 Farnborough Town 42 9 6 6 35 29 7 7 7 23 24 58 53 + 5 61
8 Hednesford Town 42 10 7 4 28 17 6 5 10 24 33 52 50 + 2 60
9 Telford United 42 6 7 8 21 30 10 3 8 25 26 46 56 – 10 58
10 Gateshead 42 8 6 7 32 27 7 5 9 27 36 59 63 – 4 56
11 Southport 42 8 5 8 27 28 7 5 9 24 33 51 61 – 10 55
12 Rushden & Diamonds 42 8 8 5 30 25 6 3 12 31 38 61 63 – 2 53
13 Stalybridge Celtic 42 9 5 7 35 29 5 5 11 18 29 53 58 – 5 52
14 Kettering Town 42 9 4 8 30 28 5 5 11 23 34 53 62 – 9 51
15 Hayes 42 7 7 7 27 21 5 7 9 27 34 54 55 – 1 50
16 Slough Town 42 7 7 7 42 32 5 7 9 20 33 62 65 – 3 50
17 Dover Athletic 42 7 9 5 32 30 5 5 11 25 38 57 68 – 11 50
18 Welling United 42 9 2 10 24 26 4 7 10 26 34 50 60 – 10 48
19 Halifax Town 42 9 5 7 39 37 3 7 11 16 37 55 74 – 19 48
20 Bath City 42 9 5 7 27 28 3 6 12 26 52 53 80 – 27 47 Relegated to the Southern Premier League
21 Bromsgrove Rovers 42 8 4 9 29 30 4 1 16 12 37 41 67 – 26 41 Relegated to the Southern Premier League
22 Altrincham 42 6 3 12 25 34 3 9 9 24 39 49 73 – 24 39 Relegated to the Northern Premier League
Key
Football Conference Champions, promoted to Football League Third Division
FA Trophy winners
Conference League Cup winners
New club in the Conference
Relegated to Level 6

Results[1]

Home \ Away1 ALT BAT BRO DOV FAR GAT HAL HAY HED KET KID MAC MOR NOR R&D SLO SOU STL STB TEL WEL WOK
Altrincham 1–3 3–1 1–2 0–3 0–1 2–1 0–2 1–1 4–3 0–1 0–1 0–1 2–3 4–3 0–1 1–0 1–0 1–2 2–3 1–1 1–1
Bath City 1–2 1–0 2–1 1–1 3–0 0–0 3–1 2–1 0–2 0–3 0–3 2–1 3–2 3–2 0–0 0–2 0–2 0–0 2–3 3–1 3–1
Bromsgrove Rovers 4–0 2–1 3–1 1–1 2–2 3–0 2–2 1–0 1–2 0–1 0–3 2–3 0–5 0–1 4–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 2–1 1–0 0–3
Dover Athletic 2–2 2–2 2–0 0–0 0–1 2–2 1–0 2–2 0–1 0–5 2–1 3–0 2–2 1–1 0–0 0–1 2–1 3–3 1–4 2–1 5–1
Farnborough Town 1–1 4–1 2–1 2–3 1–2 3–0 1–1 1–0 0–2 2–1 0–1 2–2 2–2 2–2 2–1 3–3 1–0 3–1 0–2 2–1 1–2
Gateshead 1–1 5–0 1–0 1–3 1–0 0–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 3–1 0–0 0–3 5–1 1–0 2–1 2–2 0–2 2–2 2–3 1–2 3–2
Halifax Town 1–1 4–5 1–0 1–3 3–0 2–0 2–2 1–0 2–1 2–3 3–3 1–1 0–3 1–3 4–1 2–0 4–1 4–2 0–3 1–1 0–4
Hayes 3–1 0–1 1–0 2–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–0 2–1 0–1 0–2 2–3 1–1 1–1 5–0 1–1 0–2 1–3 0–1 1–1 3–2
Hednesford Town 2–2 2–0 3–0 1–1 0–1 0–0 1–1 2–0 0–0 1–4 4–1 2–1 3–0 1–0 2–1 0–1 2–1 0–0 0–0 0–3 2–0
Kettering Town 3–1 1–0 2–0 1–1 3–1 4–1 4–1 2–2 0–2 3–1 1–4 0–2 1–0 1–5 0–0 0–1 1–0 1–2 0–1 2–3 0–0
Kidderminster Harriers 1–1 6–0 1–2 4–1 2–3 3–2 3–0 5–1 2–1 4–0 0–0 2–2 1–0 1–0 1–2 3–0 1–1 3–0 1–0 3–2 1–0
Macclesfield Town 1–1 2–2 4–0 1–0 3–0 3–0 1–0 1–0 4–0 2–0 0–1 0–0 0–1 2–1 2–0 3–2 2–0 2–1 2–1 1–1 5–0
Morecambe 2–1 1–1 1–0 3–1 1–1 4–0 1–0 2–4 2–2 5–2 2–3 1–0 2–0 2–0 0–0 2–1 0–0 1–2 0–1 1–2 1–2
Northwich Victoria 2–2 1–0 1–0 2–0 1–1 4–2 2–2 2–1 2–1 2–1 1–1 2–1 1–0 1–2 0–1 5–1 0–1 0–1 1–0 0–0 1–2
Rushden & Diamonds 3–2 4–1 1–2 1–1 0–2 0–4 1–0 2–2 0–2 1–0 1–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 2–2 3–0 1–1 0–1 2–0 3–0 1–1
Slough Town 0–1 5–2 2–0 2–2 1–1 0–1 1–0 1–3 2–2 1–1 0–2 0–0 1–2 3–4 5–0 1–1 4–1 1–6 6–0 3–3 3–0
Southport 1–3 3–1 0–0 0–1 0–3 1–1 2–1 0–2 1–2 2–2 1–0 1–5 3–1 0–0 2–1 0–1 3–0 0–0 0–1 3–2 4–1
Stalybridge Celtic 1–0 2–2 3–0 4–2 2–0 2–5 2–3 3–1 1–2 3–1 4–1 0–1 2–1 0–1 2–0 2–2 2–2 0–3 0–0 0–0 0–2
Stevenage Borough 2–1 2–1 3–0 4–1 3–1 4–1 6–0 2–0 3–2 0–0 2–2 2–3 4–2 2–0 4–1 2–2 2–1 1–1 3–0 2–1 0–3
Telford United 0–0 1–1 3–1 1–0 2–0 0–3 1–1 0–0 1–1 1–0 0–2 0–3 2–3 2–2 0–5 0–2 1–0 1–1 2–3 2–0 1–2
Welling United 1–0 2–0 1–2 1–0 0–2 2–0 0–1 1–0 1–2 1–2 0–1 0–3 1–4 1–1 0–1 3–2 2–3 2–0 2–0 2–1 1–1
Woking 7–1 2–2 1–3 1–1 0–2 1–1 2–2 1–2 2–0 2–1 2–1 2–3 1–2 3–1 4–2 2–0 0–1 3–2 3–1 0–0 2–1

Source: Glenda Rollin (ed.), Jack Rollin (exec. ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1997–98. Headline, 1997.
1The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion and relegation

Relegated

Topscorers in Order of League Goals[1]

Rank Player Club League FA Cup FA Trophy League Cup Total
1 Lee Hughes Kidderminster Harriers 30 1 2 1 34
2 Lennie Dennis Welling United 21 1 1 2 25
3 Andy Whittaker Southport 19 6 2 0 27
4 Gary Abbott Slough Town 18 0 0 0 18
5 Justin Jackson Woking 17 4 2 0 23
6 Barry Hayles Stevenage Borough 16 3 2 0 21
= David Leworthy Rushden & Diamonds 16 4 0 0 20
= Lee Steele Northwich Victoria 16 0 0 0 16
9 Joe O'Connor Hednesford 15 9 0 0 24
= Paul Thompson Gateshead 15 6 1 1 23
= Clive Walker Woking 15 3 1 0 19
= Steve Wood Macclesfield Town 15 0 0 1 16
13 Mike Davis Bath City 14 7 0 0 21
= Neil Doherty Kidderminster Harriers 14 1 1 0 16
= Niell Hardy Altrincham 14 3 1 0 18
= Mickey Norbury Halifax Town 14 0 0 0 14
17 Carl Alford Rushden & Diamonds 13 2 0 0 15
= Ian Arnold Stalybridge Celtic 13 0 0 0 13
= Chris Boothe Farnborough Town 13 9 0 3 25
= Martin Randall Hayes 13 0 4 0 17
= Phil Wingfield Farnborough Town 13 2 1 0 16

References

  1. ^ a b c d Glenda Rollin (ed.), Jack Rollin (exec. ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1997–98. Headline, 1997.

External links

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