1997–98 Fulham F.C. season

The 1997–98 season was Fulham's 100th season in professional football. They played in the Second Division (previously known as the Third Division).

Fulham F.C.

1997–98 season
Chairman	Mohammed Al Fayed
Manager	Micky Adams (until 25 September) Ray Wilkins (from 25 September to 3 May) Kevin Keegan (from 3 May)
Second Division	6th
Play-offs	Semi-finals
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Auto Windscreens Shield	Quarter finals
Top goalscorer	Moody (15)
Average home league attendance	9,018
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Season summary

Manager Micky Adams was sacked in September, soon after Mohammed Al Fayed's take-over. Ray Wilkins and Kevin Keegan were appointed as head coach and director of football respectively. The club managed to make the play-offs despite losing their last three games, but this wasn't good enough for Al Fayed, who sacked Wilkins and promoted Keegan to his position. Keegan was unable to navigate Fulham through the play-offs as they were defeated by Grimsby Town 2–1 on aggregate (1–1 and 1–0 over two legs) in the semi-finals.

Final league table

Main article: 1997–98 Football League

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
4	Northampton Town	46	18	17	11	52	37	+15	71	Qualification for the Second Division play-offs
5	Bristol Rovers	46	20	10	16	70	64	+6	70
6	Fulham	46	20	10	16	60	43	+17	70
7	Wrexham	46	18	16	12	55	51	+4	70
8	Gillingham	46	19	13	14	52	47	+5	70

Source: ^[1]
Rules for classification: In the Football League goals scored (GF) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).

Results

Fulham's score comes first^[2]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	Wrexham	H	1–0	8,789	Conroy
16 August 1997	Walsall	A	1–1	4,418	Keister (own goal)
23 August 1997	Luton Town	H	0–0	8,142
30 August 1997	Wycombe Wanderers	A	0–2	6,278
2 September 1997	Bristol City	A	2–0	10,293	Newhouse, Carpenter
9 September 1997	Plymouth Argyle	H	2–0	8,961	Moody (2)
13 September 1997	Grimsby Town	H	0–2	6,874
20 September 1997	Southend United	A	0–1	5,026
27 September 1997	Wigan Athletic	A	1–2	4,951	Hayward
4 October 1997	Oldham Athletic	H	3–1	8,805	Moody (2), Sinnott (own goal)
11 October 1997	Blackpool	H	1–0	7,760	Conroy
18 October 1997	Bournemouth	A	1–2	7,484	Vincent (own goal)
21 October 1997	Watford	A	0–2	11,486
25 October 1997	Northampton Town	H	1–1	9,848	Peschisolido
1 November 1997	Chesterfield	H	1–1	7,998	Blake
4 November 1997	Millwall	A	1–1	10,291	Peschisolido
8 November 1997	Bristol Rovers	A	3–2	6,166	Carpenter, Scott (2)
18 November 1997	York City	H	1–1	5,521	Peschisolido
21 November 1997	Gillingham	H	3–0	8,274	Peschisolido (2), Watson
29 November 1997	Preston North End	A	1–3	9,723	Scott
2 December 1997	Brentford	H	1–1	10,767	Peschisolido
13 December 1997	Carlisle United	A	0–2	4,574
19 December 1997	Burnley	H	1–0	5,096	Cullip
26 December 1997	Plymouth Argyle	A	4–1	9,469	Moody (2), Hayward, Trollope
28 December 1997	Bristol City	H	1–0	13,273	Moody
10 January 1998	Wrexham	A	3–0	5,338	Moody, Peschisolido, Trollope
17 January 1998	Wycombe Wanderers	H	0–0	10,468
24 January 1998	Luton Town	A	4–1	8,366	Moody (3, 1 pen), Hayward
31 January 1998	Grimsby Town	A	1–1	6,785	Lightbourne
7 February 1998	Southend United	H	2–0	9,122	Peschisolido, Lightbourne
14 February 1998	Oldham Athletic	A	0–1	6,063
21 February 1998	Wigan Athletic	H	2–0	7,791	Hayward, Peschisolido
24 February 1998	Bournemouth	H	0–1	7,708
28 February 1998	Blackpool	A	1–2	5,183	Coleman
3 March 1998	Bristol Rovers	H	1–0	6,843	Thorpe
7 March 1998	Chesterfield	A	2–0	5,129	Morgan, Blake
14 March 1998	Millwall	H	1–2	12,318	Thorpe
21 March 1998	York City	A	1–0	4,871	Peschisolido
28 March 1998	Gillingham	A	0–2	10,507
4 April 1998	Preston North End	H	2–1	8,814	Brazier, Collins
7 April 1998	Walsall	H	1–1	6,733	Trollope
11 April 1998	Brentford	A	2–0	10,510	Moody (2)
13 April 1998	Carlisle United	H	5–0	9,243	Peschisolido (3), Moody (pen), Thorpe
18 April 1998	Burnley	A	1–2	9,745	Moody
25 April 1998	Northampton Town	A	0–1	7,443
2 May 1998	Watford	H	1–2	17,114	Beardsley

Second Division play-offs

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SF 1st Leg	9 May 1998	Grimsby Town	H	1–1	13,954	Beardsley (pen)
SF 2nd Leg	13 May 1998	Grimsby Town	A	0–1 (lost 1–2 on agg)	8,689

FA Cup

Main article: 1997–98 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	16 November 1997	Margate	A	2–1	5,100	Carpenter, Scott
R2	6 December 1997	Southend United	H	1–0	8,537	Blake (pen)
R3	5 January 1998	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–3	27,909	Smith

League Cup

Main article: 1997–98 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	12 August 1997	Wycombe Wanderers	A	2–1	4,360	Newhouse, Conroy
R1 2nd Leg	26 August 1997	Wycombe Wanderers	H	4–4 (won 6–5 on agg)	5,055	Newhouse (2), Carpenter, Conroy
R2 1st Leg	16 September 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0–1	5,933
R2 2nd Leg	24 September 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–1 (lost 0–2 on agg)	17,862

Football League Trophy

Main article: 1997–98 Football League Trophy

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SR1	9 December 1997	Watford	H	1–0	3,364	Moody
SR2	13 January 1998	Wycombe Wanderers	H	3–1	4,319	Thomas (2), Freeman
SQF	27 January 1998	Luton Town	H	1–2	5,103	Lightbourne

Players

First-team squad

^[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 — GK  NIR Maik Taylor[notes 1] — GK  RSA Andre Arendse — GK  WAL Mark Walton — DF  ENG Jimmy Aggrey — DF  ENG Mark Blake — DF  ENG Rufus Brevett — DF  ENG Danny Cullip — DF  WAL Chris Coleman — DF  ENG Robbie Herrera — DF  ENG Matt Lawrence — DF  IRL Shaun Maher — DF  SCO Steve McAnespie — DF  ENG Simon Morgan — DF  GER Alan Neilson[notes 2] — DF  ENG Rob Scott — DF  ENG Simon Stewart — DF  ENG Martin Thomas — DF  ENG Paul Watson — MF  ENG Paul Bracewell — MF  ENG Matt Brazier — MF  ENG Paul Brooker

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Richard Carpenter — MF  ENG Glenn Cockerill — MF  ENG Wayne Collins — MF  ENG Nick Cusack — MF  ENG Sean Davis — MF  ENG Steve Hayward — MF  NIR Rod McAree — MF  ENG Ian Selley — MF  ENG Neil Smith — MF  WAL Paul Trollope[notes 3] — FW  ENG Andy Arnott — FW  ENG Peter Beardsley (on loan from Bolton Wanderers) — FW  ENG Luke Cornwall — FW  SCO Mike Conroy — FW  ENG Darren Freeman — FW  BER Kyle Lightbourne (on loan from Coventry City) — FW  ENG Leon McKenzie (on loan from Crystal Palace) — FW  ENG Paul Moody — FW  ENG Aidan Newhouse — FW  CAN Paul Peschisolido — FW  ENG Tony Thorpe

Transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
1 August 1997	DF	Jimmy Aggrey	Chelsea	Free transfer
1 August 1997	FW	Andy Arnott	Leyton Orient	£23,000
1 August 1997	MF	Neil Smith	Gillingham	Transfer
1 August 1997	GK	Andre Arendse	Cape Town Spurs	£200,000[4]
1 August 1997	FW	Paul Moody	Oxford United	£200,000
1 August 1997	DF	Ian McGuckin	Hartlepool United	£75,000
1 August 1997	MF	Steve Hayward	Carlisle United	£175,000
10 October 1997	MF	Paul Bracewell	Sunderland	£75,000
17 October 1997	MF	Ian Selley	Arsenal	£500,000
24 October 1997	FW	Paul Peschisolido	West Bromwich Albion	£1,100,000
14 November 1997	GK	Maik Taylor	Southampton	£700,000
26 November 1997	DF	Alan Neilson	Southampton	£250,000
27 November 1997	MF	Steve McAnespie	Bolton Wanderers	£100,000
27 November 1997	MF	Paul Trollope	Derby County	£600,000
1 December 1997	DF	Chris Coleman	Blackburn Rovers	£2,000,000
1 December 1997	MF	Shaun Maher	Bohemians	£35,000
22 January 1998	MF	Wayne Collins	Sheffield Wednesday	£400,000
30 January 1998	DF	Rufus Brevett	Queens Park Rangers	£375,000
26 February 1998	FW	Tony Thorpe	Luton Town	£800,000
20 March 1998	MF	Matt Brazier	Queens Park Rangers	£65,000

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
1 August 1997	DF	Terry Angus	Slough Town	Free transfer
1 August 1997	DF	John Hamsher	Rushden & Diamonds	Free transfer
1 August 1997	MF	Michael Mison	Rushden & Diamonds	Free transfer
31 October 1997	FW	Aidan Newhouse	Swansea City	£30,000
31 October 1997	MF	Nick Cusack	Swansea City	£50,000
7 November 1997	MF	Glenn Cockerill	Brentford	Free transfer
19 December 1997	DF	Paul Watson	Brentford	£50,000
6 February 1998	GK	Mark Walton	Gillingham	£40,000
18 February 1998	DF	Danny Cullip	Brentford	£75,000
26 March 1998	FW	Mike Conroy	Blackpool	£50,000

Transfers in: £7,473,000

Transfers out: £295,000

Total spending: £7,178,000