1996–97 Crewe Alexandra F.C. season

Crewe Alexandra

1996–97 season
Chairman	John Bowler
Manager	Dario Gradi
Stadium	Gresty Road
Second Division	6th (promoted via play-offs)
Play-offs	Winners
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	First round
Football League Trophy	Northern semi finals
Top goalscorer	League: Adebola (16) All: Adebola (18)
Average home league attendance	3,978
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

During the 1996–97 English football season, Crewe Alexandra F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Season summary

In the 1996-97 season, Crewe had a great season by reaching the play-offs by finishing in the final play-off position, which was achieved on the final day by earning a 1-1 draw at York that was required as Blackpool had scored more goals which meant knowing a defeat and a Blackpool win at Wrexham would see Crewe slip out of the top six and Blackpool would have still had a chance of promotion. Blackpool though lost 2-1 so it didn't matter in the end with Crewe's result. In the play-offs, they beat Luton, who just missed out on automatic promotion, 4-3 on aggregate to get to Wembley and achieved promotion with a 1-0 win against Brentford.

Final league table

Main article: 1996–97 Football League

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts
1	Bury	46		18	5	0	39	7		6	7	10	23	31		62	38	+24		84
2	Stockport County	46		15	5	3	31	14		8	8	7	28	27		59	41	+18		82
3	Luton Town	46		13	7	3	38	14		8	8	7	33	31		71	45	+26		78
4	Brentford	46		8	11	4	26	22		12	3	8	30	21		56	43	+13		74
5	Bristol City	46		14	4	5	43	18		7	6	10	26	33		69	51	+18		73
6	Crewe Alexandra	46		15	4	4	38	15		7	3	13	18	32		56	47	+9		73
7	Blackpool	46		13	7	3	41	21		5	8	10	19	26		60	47	+13		69
8	Wrexham	46		11	9	3	38	28		6	9	8	17	22		54	50	+4		69
9	Burnley	46		14	3	6	48	27		5	8	10	23	28		71	55	+16		68
10	Chesterfield	46		10	9	4	25	18		8	5	10	17	21		42	39	+3		68
11	Gillingham	46		13	3	7	37	25		6	7	10	23	34		60	59	+1		67
12	Walsall	46		12	8	3	35	21		7	2	14	19	32		54	53	+1		67
13	Watford	46		10	8	5	24	14		6	11	6	21	24		45	38	+7		67
14	Millwall	46		12	4	7	27	22		4	9	10	23	33		50	55	–5		61
15	Preston North End	46		14	5	4	33	19		4	2	17	16	36		49	55	–6		61
16	Bournemouth	46		8	9	6	24	20		7	6	10	19	25		43	45	–2		60
17	Bristol Rovers	46		13	4	6	34	22		2	7	14	13	28		47	50	–3		56
18	Wycombe Wanderers	46		13	4	6	31	14		2	6	15	20	43		51	56	–5		55
19	Plymouth Argyle	46		7	11	5	19	18		5	7	11	28	40		47	58	–11		54
20	York City	46		8	6	9	27	31		5	7	11	20	37		47	68	–21		52
21	Peterborough United	46		7	7	9	38	34		4	7	12	17	39		55	73	–18		47
22	Shrewsbury Town	46		8	6	9	27	32		3	7	13	22	42		49	74	–25		46
23	Rotherham United	46		4	7	12	17	29		3	7	13	22	41		39	70	–31		35
24	Notts County	46		4	9	10	20	25		3	5	15	13	34		33	59	–26		35

• Pld = Matches ; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
• NB: In the Football League goals scored (F) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted through play-offs
	Relegated

Results

Crewe Alexandra's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Stockport County	H	1–0	4,310	Tierney
24 August 1996	Peterborough United	A	2–2	6,357	Ellison (2)
27 August 1996	Preston North End	A	1–2	9,498	Murphy
31 August 1996	Watford	H	0–2	3,655
7 September 1996	Bournemouth	A	1–0	3,218	Savage
10 September 1996	Bury	H	2–0	3,627	Tierney, Barr
14 September 1996	Wrexham	H	3–1	4,469	Adebola (2), Tierney
21 September 1996	Millwall	A	0–2	9,320
28 September 1996	Plymouth Argyle	H	3–0	3,797	Barr, Adebola, Murphy
1 October 1996	Blackpool	H	3–2	4,314	Rivers, Adebola, Macauley
4 October 1996	Bristol Rovers	A	0–2	6,211
12 October 1996	Brentford	H	2–0	4,313	Rivers, S Smith (pen)
15 October 1996	York City	H	0–1	3,463
19 October 1996	Chesterfield	A	0–1	4,030
26 October 1996	Shrewsbury Town	A	1–0	3,878	Murphy
29 October 1996	Rotherham United	H	1–0	3,162	Barr
2 November 1996	Wycombe Wanderers	H	3–0	3,636	Adebola, Whalley, Murphy
9 November 1996	Burnley	A	0–2	9,459
23 November 1996	Walsall	A	0–1	3,653
30 November 1996	Shrewsbury Town	H	5–1	4,035	Murphy, S Smith, Rivers (2), Whalley
3 December 1996	Gillingham	A	1–2	3,575	Rivers
14 December 1996	Luton Town	A	0–6	5,455
20 December 1996	Notts County	H	3–0	3,125	Adebola (2), Charnock
28 December 1996	Bournemouth	H	2–0	3,687	Adebola (2)
11 January 1997	Plymouth Argyle	A	0–1	5,036
18 January 1997	Blackpool	A	2–1	4,760	Murphy, Adebola
25 January 1997	Rotherham United	A	4–1	2,832	Adebola (2), Murphy, S Smith
1 February 1997	Burnley	H	1–1	4,734	Macauley
8 February 1997	Wycombe Wanderers	A	0–2	4,902
15 February 1997	Walsall	H	1–0	4,648	Murphy
22 February 1997	Bristol City	A	0–3	11,306
1 March 1997	Gillingham	H	3–2	3,555	Barr (2), Murphy
8 March 1997	Notts County	A	1–0	4,047	Rivers
15 March 1997	Luton Town	H	0–0	4,475
18 March 1997	Millwall	H	0–0	3,695
22 March 1997	Peterborough United	H	1–1	3,565	Murphy
25 March 1997	Bristol City	H	1–2	3,687	Westwood
29 March 1997	Stockport County	A	0–1	7,411
31 March 1997	Preston North End	H	1–0	4,407	Adebola
5 April 1997	Watford	A	1–0	12,441	Whalley
12 April 1997	Bristol Rovers	H	1–0	4,281	Adebola
15 April 1997	Bury	A	0–1	4,725
19 April 1997	Brentford	A	2–0	6,183	Adebola, S Smith
22 April 1997	Wrexham	A	1–1	4,643	Johnson
26 April 1997	Chesterfield	H	1–2	4,858	Adebola
3 May 1997	York City	A	1–1	4,366	Westwood

Second Division play-offs

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SF 1st Leg	11 May 1997	Luton Town	H	2–1	5,467	Rivers, Little
SF 2nd Leg	14 May 1997	Luton Town	A	2–2 (won 4-3 on agg)	8,168	Little, S Smith
F	25 May 1997	Brentford	N	1–0	34,149	S Smith

FA Cup

Main article: 1996-97 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	16 November 1996	Kidderminster Harriers	H	4–1	4,651	Macauley, Murphy (2), Lightfoot
R2	7 December 1996	Hull City	A	5–1	3,756	Garvey, Murphy, Adebola, S Smith, Brien (own goal)
R3	14 January 1997	Wimbledon	H	1–1	5,011	Westwood
R3R	21 January 1997	Wimbledon	A	0–2	4,951

League Cup

Main article: 1996-97 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	20 August 1996	Port Vale	A	0–1	5,236
R1 2nd Leg	3 September 1996	Port Vale	H	1–5 (lost 1-6 on agg)	4,471	Adebola

Football League Trophy

Main article: 1996-97 Football League Trophy

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
NR2	28 January 1997	Plymouth Argyle	A	1–0	2,216
NQF	4 February 1997	Blackpool	H	1–0	3,033
NSF	28 January 1997	Stockport County	H	1–1 (lost 3-5 on pens)	3,529

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Ademola Bankole GK Neil Cutler GK Mark Gayle GK Jason Kearton GK Steve Mautone (on loan from West Ham United) GK Martin Taylor (on loan from Derby County) DF Billy Barr DF Peter Billing DF Ryan Kirby DF Chris Lightfoot DF Steve Macauley DF Steve Pope DF Shaun Smith DF Lee Unsworth DF Ashley Westwood MF Phil Charnock

No. Position Player MF Jamie Collins MF Steve Garvey MF Seth Johnson MF Brian Launders MF Danny Murphy MF Robbie Savage MF Kevin Street MF Francis Tierney MF Gareth Whalley FW Dele Adebola FW Steve Anthrobus FW Lee Ellison FW Colin Little FW Jamie Moralee FW Mark Rivers FW Peter Smith