1996–97 Leicester City F.C. season

Leicester City

1996–97 season

Chairman

Tom Smeaton

Manager

Martin O'Neill

Stadium

Filbert Street

Premiership

9th

FA Cup

Fifth round

League Cup

Winners

Top goalscorer

League: Claridge (12)
All: Claridge (14)

Highest home attendance

21,134 vs Newcastle United
(26 Oct 1996, Premier League)

Lowest home attendance

10,793 vs Scarborough
(25 Sep 1996, League Cup)

Average home league attendance

20,182

Home colours

Away colours

Third colours

← 1995–96

1997–98 →

During the 1996–97 English football season, Leicester City F.C. competed in the FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary

Most observers had tipped Leicester for an immediate return to Division One, so Martin O'Neill's ultimate task for this season was to achieve survival for Leicester. However, he defied many of the pre-season predictions by finishing 9th in the table. Leicester's season was capped by a victory over Middlesbrough in the League Cup final to win their first major trophy for 33 years and their passport to the following season's UEFA Cup.^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1.	Manchester United	38	21	12	5	76	44	+32	75
2.	Newcastle United	38	19	11	8	73	40	+33	68
3.	Arsenal	38	19	11	8	62	32	+30	68
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
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
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	38	10	10	18	35	53	–18	40
19.	Middlesbrough ***	38	10	12	16	51	60	–9	39
20.	Nottingham Forest	38	6	16	16	31	59	–28	34

Note: Middlesbrough deducted 3 points for failing to fulfil a fixture.

Key
Qualified for the Champions League
Qualified for the UEFA Cup
Qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup
Relegated to Division One

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	12	11	15	46	54	−8	47	7	5	7	22	26	−4	5	6	8	24	28	−4

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
Result	D	W	L	L	D	L	W	W	L	L	W	L	W	L	L	W	D	L	D	D	L	W	D	L	W	W	W	D	L	D	D	D	L	L	L	D	W	W
Position	11	7	12	13	14	16	14	10	12	14	11	13	10	12	14	12	12	13	13	12	16	12	13	14	12	10	9	10	11	11	11	11	13	13	14	16	12	9

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

Results

Leicester City's score comes first^[2]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Sunderland	A	0-0	19,262
21 August 1996	Southampton	H	2-1	17,562	Heskey (2)
24 August 1996	Arsenal	H	0-2	20,429
2 September 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1-2	17,657	Claridge
7 September 1996	Nottingham Forest	A	0-0	24,105
15 September 1996	Liverpool	H	0-3	20,987
22 September 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2-1	24,159	Claridge, Marshall
28 September 1996	Leeds United	H	1-0	20,359	Heskey
12 October 1996	Chelsea	H	1-3	20,766	Watts
19 October 1996	West Ham United	A	0-1	22,285
26 October 1996	Newcastle United	H	2-0	21,134	Claridge, Heskey
2 November 1996	Derby County	A	0-2	18,010
16 November 1996	Aston Villa	A	3-1	36,193	Claridge, Parker (pen), Izzet
23 November 1996	Everton	H	1-2	20,975	Walsh
30 November 1996	Manchester United	A	1-3	55,196	Lennon
3 December 1996	Middlesbrough	A	2-0	29,709	Claridge, Izzet
7 December 1996	Blackburn Rovers	H	1-1	19,306	Marshall
21 December 1996	Coventry City	H	0-2	20,038
26 December 1996	Liverpool	A	1-1	40,786	Claridge
28 December 1996	Nottingham Forest	H	2-2	20,838	Heskey, Izzet
11 January 1997	Leeds United	A	0-3	29,486
18 January 1997	Wimbledon	H	1-0	18,927	Heskey
29 January 1997	Sunderland	H	1-1	17,883
2 February 1997	Newcastle United	A	3-4	36,396	Elliott, Claridge, Heskey
22 February 1997	Derby County	H	4-2	20,323	Marshall (3), Claridge
1 March 1997	Wimbledon	A	3-1	11,487	Elliott (2), Robins
5 March 1997	Aston Villa	H	1-0	20,626	Claridge
8 March 1997	Coventry City	A	0-0	19,220
15 March 1997	Middlesbrough	H	1-3	20,561	Marshall
19 March 1997	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1-1	20,563	Claridge
22 March 1997	Southampton	A	2-2	15,044	Heskey, Dryden (own goal)
9 April 1997	Everton	A	1-1	30,368	Marshall
12 April 1997	Arsenal	A	0-2	38,044
19 April 1997	Chelsea	A	1-2	27,723	Sinclair (own goal)
23 April 1997	West Ham United	H	0-1	20,327
3 May 1997	Manchester United	H	2-2	21,068	Walsh, Marshall
7 May 1997	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1-0	20,793	Elliott
11 May 1997	Blackburn Rovers	A	4-2	25,881	Heskey (2), Claridge, Wilson

FA Cup

Main article: 1996–97 FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	15 January 1997	Southend United	H	2-0	13,982	Claridge, Marshall
R4	25 January 1997	Norwich City	H	2-1	16,703	Marshall, Parker (pen)
R5	16 February 1997	Chelsea	H	2-2	19,125	Walsh, Newton (own goal)
R5R	26 February 1997	Chelsea	A	0-1	26,053

League Cup

Main article: 1996–97 Football League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	17 September 1996	Scarborough	A	2-0	4,168	Izzet, Lawrence
R2 2nd Leg	25 September 1996	Scarborough	H	2-1	10,793	Lawrence, Parker (pen)
R3	22 October 1996	York City	A	2-0	8,406	Lennon, Grayson
R4	27 November 1996	Manchester United	H	2-0	20,428	Claridge, Heskey
QF	21 January 1997	Ipswich Town	A	1-0	20,793	Robins
SF 1st Leg	18 February 1997	Wimbledon	H	0-0	16,021
SF 2nd Leg	11 March 1997	Wimbledon	A	1-1 (a.e.t.) on away goals	17,810	Grayson
F	6 April 1997	Middlesbrough	N	1-1 (a.e.t.)	76,757	Heskey
FR	16 April 1997	Middlesbrough	N	1-0 (a.e.t.)	39,500	Claridge

Squad

^[3] 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	Kevin Poole
2	DF	Simon Grayson
3	DF	Mike Whitlow
4	DF	Julian Watts
5	DF	Steve Walsh (captain)
6	MF	Muzzy Izzet
7	MF	Neil Lennon
8	MF	Scott Taylor
9	FW	Steve Claridge
10	MF	Garry Parker
11	FW	Emile Heskey
12	FW	Mark Robins
13	GK	Kasey Keller
14	DF	Colin Hill
15	DF	Pontus Kåmark
16	DF	Franck Rolling

No.	Position	Player
17	DF	Spencer Prior
18	DF	Matt Elliott (vice-captain)
19	DF	Rob Ullathorne
20	FW	Ian Marshall
21	DF	Jamie Lawrence
22	DF	Neil Lewis
23	MF	Sam McMahon
24	MF	Steve Guppy
25	MF	Stuart Wilson
26	MF	Stuart Campbell
27	FW	Justin Harrington
28	MF	Sascha Lenhart
29	GK	Paul Hyde
30	GK	Ian Andrews
33	DF	Martin Fox

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
24		DF	Jimmy Willis (retired)

No.		Position	Player
24		MF	Stuart Slater (to Watford)

Transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
17 August 1996	DF	Spencer Prior	Norwich City	£600,000^[4]
17 August 1996	GK	Kasey Keller	Millwall	£900,000
31 August 1996	FW	Ian Marshall	Ipswich Town	£800,000
1 September 1996	MF	Sascha Lenhart	Royal Antwerp	Free transfer
16 January 1997	DF	Matt Elliott	Oxford United	£1,600,000
17 February 1997	DF	Robert Ullathorne	Osasuna	£600,000
28 February 1997	MF	Steve Guppy	Port Vale	£850,000

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
23 August 1996	MF	Mark Blake	Walsall	Free transfer
27 November 1996	MF	Stuart Slater	Watford	Free transfer
14 March 1997	GK	Paul Hyde	Leyton Orient	Free transfer
22 June 1997	DF	Jamie Lawrence	Bradford City	£50,000
22 June 1997	DF	Neil Lewis	Peterborough United	£75,000
26 June 1997	DF	Simon Grayson	Aston Villa	£1,300,000

Transfers in:

£5,350,000

Transfers out:

£1,425,000

Total spending:

£3,925,000

References

↑ Moore, Glenn (17 April 1997). "Claridge's five-star silver service". The Independent. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
↑ "Leicester City 1996-1997 Home - statto.com". Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
↑ http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/1996-1997/faprem/leicester.htm
↑ "On the move". The Independent (Independent Print Limited). 18 August 1996. Retrieved 16 April 2012.

Leicester City Football Club

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Rivalries	Nottingham Forest rivalry Derby County rivalry M69 Derby

Misc.	When You're Smiling

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1996–97 in English football

« 1995–96

1997–98 »

FA competitions

Premier League and
Football League

Football Conference

Football Conference
Conference League Cup

Lower leagues

European competitions

Related to national team

1998 FIFA World Cup (UEFA Qualification Group 2)

Glenn Hoddle

Club seasons

Premier League	Arsenal Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Chelsea Coventry City Derby County Everton Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester United Middlesbrough Newcastle United Nottingham Forest Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Sunderland Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United Wimbledon

First Division	Barnsley Birmingham City Bolton Wanderers Bradford City Charlton Athletic Crystal Palace Grimsby Town Huddersfield Town Ipswich Town Manchester City Norwich City Oldham Athletic Oxford United Portsmouth Port Vale Queens Park Rangers Reading Sheffield United Southend United Stoke City Swindon Town Tranmere Rovers West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division	Blackpool Bournemouth Brentford Bristol City Bristol Rovers Burnley Bury Chesterfield Crewe Alexandra Gillingham Luton Town Millwall Notts County Peterborough United Plymouth Argyle Preston North End Rotherham United Shrewsbury Town Stockport County Walsall Watford Wrexham Wycombe York City

Third Division	Barnet Brighton & Hove Albion Cambridge United Cardiff City Carlisle United Chester City Colchester United Darlington Doncaster Rovers Exeter City Fulham Hartlepool United Hereford United Hull City Leyton Orient Lincoln City Mansfield Town Northampton Town Rochdale Scarborough Scunthorpe United Swansea City Torquay United Wigan Athletic

Others	Newport Woking

Summer 1996 transfers
Winter 1996–97 transfers