The 1996–97 season was the 98th season of competitive league football in the history of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. They played the season in the second tier of the English football system, the Football League First Division.

The team finished in third position in the league, their highest position in the football pyramid since their relegation from the top flight in 1983–84. Nonetheless, the season ended in disappointment for the club as they lost in the semi-finals of the play-offs to Crystal Palace, thereby failing to reach the Premier League.

Their failure to finish ahead of unfancied Barnsley in the automatic promotion places, and then subsequent play-off exit, caused owner Sir Jack Hayward to make an emotional outburst days after the campaign in which he accused manager Mark McGhee and the chairman, his son Jonathan, of "blackmailing" him into funding their high transfer spending. He promised that there would be an end to Wolves being a "sloppily-run club".

Results

Football League First Division

A total of 24 teams competed in the Football League First Division in the 1996–97 season. Each team played every other team twice: once at their stadium, and once at the opposition's. Three points were awarded to teams for each win, one point per draw, and none for defeats. Teams finishing level on points were firstly divided by the number of goals scored rather than goal difference.

The provisional fixture list was released on 17 June 1996, but was subject to change in the event of matches being selected for television coverage or police concerns.

Final table Team 1 Bolton Wanderers 46 28 14 4 100 53 +47 98 2 Barnsley 46 22 14 10 76 55 +21 80 3 Wolverhampton Wanderers 46 22 10 14 68 51 +17 76 4 Ipswich Town 46 20 14 12 68 50 +18 74 5 Sheffield United 46 20 13 13 75 52 +23 73 6 Crystal Palace 46 19 14 13 78 48 +30 71 Source: Statto.com

Results summary

Results by round

Play-offs

FA Cup

League Cup

Players

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Transfers

In DatePlayerFromFee1 July 1996 Ady WilliamsReading£750,0005 July 1996 Iwan RobertsLeicester City£1.3 million31 July 1996 Keith CurleManchester City£650,00012 August 1996 Serge Romano MartiguesFree30 August 1996 Hans SegersUnattachedFree27 March 1997 Michael Gilkes Reading£150,000

Out DatePlayerToFeeJune 1996 John de WolfReleasedFreeJune 1996 Andy De BontHereford UnitedFreeJune 1996 Gavin MahonHereford UnitedFreeJune 1996 Steve PiearceDoncaster RoversFreeJune 1996 Quentin TownsendHereford UnitedFreeJune 1996 Mark WilliamsReleasedFree16 July 1996 Paul JonesStockport County£60,00020 July 1996 Paul BirchDoncaster RoversFree17 September 1996 Mark RankinePreston North End£100,00028 March 1997 Neil MastersGillingham£150,000

Loans in Start datePlayerFromEnd date9 October 1996 Jens Dowe HamburgEnd of season11 October 1996 Robin van der LaanDerby County1 January 199726 February 1997 Vince BartramArsenal14 March 1997

Loans out Start datePlayerToEnd date21 February 1997 Glen CroweExeter City12 April 1997

Management and coaching staff PositionNameManagerMark McGheeAssistant managerColin LeeFirst Team coachMike HickmanYouth Development OfficerChris EvansYouth Team coachChris TurnerClub doctorsDr Peter Ackroyd and Dr Peter BekennClub PhysioBarry Holmes

Kit The season saw Puma take over as the club's kit manufacturer, and two new kits were therefore introduced. Both used a "wolf head" design to the shirts as a central feature, the home shirt using their traditional gold and black colours, while the away kit used shades of teal. In a further emphasis of the "wolf head", a new club emblen was introduced replacing the usage of the Wolverhampton city crest on the shirts that had been adopted for the previous three seasons. Both shirts featured the sponsor name of Goodyear.

References