1996–97 Blackburn Rovers F.C. season

During the 1996–97 English football season, Blackburn Rovers F.C. competed in the FA Premier League.

Blackburn Rovers F.C.

1996–97 season
Owner	Jack Walker
Chairman	Robert Coar
Manager	Ray Harford (until 25 October) Tony Parkes (from 25 October)
Stadium	Ewood Park
FA Premier League	13th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Chris Sutton (11) All: Chris Sutton (12)
Average home league attendance	24,947
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

Season summary

An early exit from the League Cup at the hands of Division Two side Stockport County was the final straw for manager Ray Harford, who stepped down on 25 October with Rovers also bottom of the FA Premier League with no wins from their opening 11 games.^[1] 18 months earlier, they had been league champions. Long-serving coach Tony Parkes was appointed caretaker, remaining in the post until the end of the season, when he handed over the reins to Roy Hodgson after Sampdoria's Sven-Göran Eriksson lied about accepting the manager's job and joined Lazio instead. Parkes steered Blackburn to safety as they finished 13th.

The world record £15 million sale of striker Alan Shearer to Newcastle United was seen as the biggest factor in Blackburn's lowest top flight finish since they returned to the elite in 1992. However, his strike-partner Chris Sutton helped keep the club alive after recovering from a drastic loss of form triggered by a spate of injuries the previous season. The acquisition of Swedish striker Martin Dahlin at the end of the season enhanced Blackburn's attack and gave fans hope for a higher finish next time round.

Final league table

Main article: 1996–97 FA Premier League

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
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

Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

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	9	15	14	42	43	−1	42	8	4	7	28	23	+5	1	11	7	14	20	−6

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
Ground	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H
Result	L	L	D	L	L	L	D	D	L	D	L	W	D	D	W	D	L	W	D	W	W	D	L	W	D	W	D	D	W	L	L	D	L	D	W	L	D	L
Position	16	19	18	19	19	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	19	19	18	17	17	18	18	17	14	14	16	13	15	14	13	12	12	12	12	13	14	14	13	13	13	13

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

Results

Blackburn Rovers' score comes first^[2]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Main article: 1996–97 FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
17 August 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0–2	26,960
21 August 1996	Aston Villa	A	0–1	32,457
25 August 1996	Manchester United	A	2–2	54,178	Warhurst, Bohinen
4 September 1996	Leeds United	H	0–1	23,226
9 September 1996	Derby County	H	1–2	19,214	Sutton
14 September 1996	Newcastle United	A	1–2	36,424	Sutton
21 September 1996	Everton	H	1–1	27,091	Donis
28 September 1996	Coventry City	A	0–0	17,032
12 October 1996	Arsenal	H	0–2	24,303
19 October 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–1	22,191	Bohinen
26 October 1996	West Ham	A	1–2	23,947	Berg
3 November 1996	Liverpool	H	3–0	29,598	Sutton (2), Wilcox
16 November 1996	Chelsea	H	1–1	27,229	Gallacher
25 November 1996	Nottingham Forest	A	2–2	17,525	Gallacher, Wilcox
30 November 1996	Southampton	H	2–1	23,018	Sherwood, Sutton
7 December 1996	Leicester City	A	1–1	19,306	Sutton
14 December 1996	Wimbledon	A	0–1	13,246
26 December 1996	Newcastle United	H	1–0	30,398	Gallacher
28 December 1996	Derby County	A	0–0	17,847
1 January 1997	Everton	A	2–0	30,427	Sherwood, Sutton
11 January 1997	Coventry City	H	4–0	24,055	Sutton (2), Gallacher, Donis
18 January 1997	Sunderland	A	0–0	20,850
29 January 1997	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–2	22,943	Hendry
1 February 1997	West Ham United	H	2–1	21,994	Gallacher, Sutton
22 February 1997	Liverpool	A	0–0	40,747
1 March 1997	Sunderland	H	1–0	24,208	Gallacher
5 March 1997	Chelsea	A	1–1	25,784	Pedersen
11 March 1997	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	20,485	Gallacher
15 March 1997	Wimbledon	H	3–1	23,333	Gallacher (3)
19 March 1997	Middlesbrough	A	1–2	29,891	Sutton
22 March 1997	Aston Villa	H	0–2	24,274
7 April 1997	Leeds United	H	0–0	27,264
12 April 1997	Manchester United	H	2–3	30,476	McKinlay, Warhurst
19 April 1997	Arsenal	A	1–1	38,086	Flitcroft
22 April 1997	Sheffield Wednesday	H	4–1	20,845	Berg, Sherwood, Le Saux, Flitcroft
3 May 1997	Southampton	A	0–2	15,247
8 May 1997	Middlesbrough	H	0–0	27,411
11 May 1997	Leicester City	H	2–4	25,881	Flitcroft, Fenton

FA Cup

Main article: 1996–97 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	4 January 1997	Port Vale	H	1–0	19,891	Bohinen
R4	15 February 1997	Coventry City	H	1–2	21,123	Sherwood

League Cup

Main article: 1996–97 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	17 September 1996	Brentford	A	2–1	8,938	Flitcroft, Sutton
R2 2nd Leg	24 September 1996	Brentford	H	2–0 (won 4–1 on agg)	9,599	Gallacher, Sherwood
R3	22 October 1996	Stockport County	H	0–1	14,622

Squad

Squad at end of season^[3]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Tim Flowers 2 DF  WAL Chris Coleman 3 DF  IRL Jeff Kenna 4 MF  ENG Tim Sherwood (captain) 5 DF  SCO Colin Hendry 6 DF  ENG Graeme Le Saux 7 MF  ENG Stuart Ripley 8 FW  SCO Kevin Gallacher 9 FW  ENG Chris Sutton 10 MF  NOR Lars Bohinen 11 MF  ENG Jason Wilcox 12 DF  ENG Nicky Marker 13 GK  IRL Shay Given 14 MF  ENG Graham Fenton 15 MF  ENG Matty Holmes 16 FW  DEN Per Pedersen 17 DF  SCO Billy McKinlay

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 MF  SWE Niklas Gudmundsson 19 DF  ENG Adam Reed 20 DF  NOR Henning Berg 21 MF  GRE Giorgos Donis 23 MF  ENG Garry Flitcroft 24 DF  ENG Paul Warhurst 25 DF  ENG Ian Pearce 26 DF  ENG Marlon Broomes 27 DF  ENG Tony Whealing 28 MF  ENG Wayne Gill 29 DF  ENG Steve Hitchen 30 FW  ENG James Beattie 32 MF  IRL Damien Duff 33 DF  NIR Damien Johnson 34 DF  ENG Gary Croft 35 FW  WAL James Thomas

Reserve squad

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

No. Pos. Nation Player - GK  ENG Gareth Stewart - GK  WAL Anthony Williams

No. Pos. Nation Player - DF  IRL Graham Coughlan - DF  IRL David Worrell

Transfers

In

^[4]

• July 1996: George Donis - Panathinaikos, free
• February 1997: Per Pedersen - Odense, £2,500,000

Out

• Alan Shearer - Newcastle United, £15,000,000