1996–97 Everton F.C. season

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

Everton

1996–97 season
Chairman	Peter Johnson
Manager	Joe Royle (until 27 March) Dave Watson (caretaker from 27 March)
Stadium	Goodison Park
Premiership	15th
FA Cup	Fourth Round
League Cup	Second Round
Top goalscorer	League: Duncan Ferguson (10) All: Duncan Ferguson, Gary Speed (11)
Highest home attendance	40,177 vs Liverpool (16 Apr 1997, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance	11,527 vs York City (18 Sep 1996, League Cup)
Average home league attendance	36,186
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

Season summary

After finishing sixth the previous season, Everton started the new season with much hope and ambitions of qualifying for Europe or winning a major trophy. But the mid-season sale of top scoring winger Andrei Kanchelskis to Fiorentina sabotaged Everton's chances of more success, and manager Joe Royle resigned in March, less than two years after guiding the club to FA Cup glory.^[1] Captain Dave Watson took over as acting manager and confirmed Everton's survival with a 15th-place finish, before Howard Kendall returned to Goodison Park for his third spell as manager.^[2]

Final league table

Main article: 1996–97 FA Premier League

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

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	10	12	16	44	57	−13	42	7	4	8	24	22	+2	3	8	8	20	35	−15

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	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	H	A	A	H
Result	W	D	D	L	L	L	D	W	W	W	D	W	D	W	L	D	W	D	L	L	L	L	L	L	W	D	L	D	L	W	L	L	D	W	D	D	L	L
Position	3	5	7	11	15	16	15	13	9	8	9	8	7	6	8	8	7	7	8	8	8	9	9	12	9	10	11	12	12	13	13	14	14	12	12	11	12	15

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

Results

Everton's score comes first^[3]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Newcastle United	H	2–0	40,117	Unsworth (pen), Speed
21 August 1996	Manchester United	A	2–2	54,943	Ferguson (2)
24 August 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–0	29,696
4 September 1996	Aston Villa	H	0–1	39,115
7 September 1996	Wimbledon	A	0–4	13,684
14 September 1996	Middlesbrough	H	1–2	39,250	Short
21 September 1996	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–1	27,091	Unsworth
28 September 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	H	2–0	34,160	Kanchelskis, Stuart
12 October 1996	West Ham United	H	2–1	36,571	Stuart, Speed
28 October 1996	Nottingham Forest	A	1–0	19,892	Short
4 November 1996	Coventry City	H	1–1	31,477	Stuart
16 November 1996	Southampton	H	7–1	35,669	Stuart, Kanchelskis (2), Speed (3), Barmby
20 November 1996	Liverpool	A	1–1	40,751	Speed
23 November 1996	Leicester City	A	2–1	20,975	Hinchcliffe, Unsworth
30 November 1996	Sunderland	H	1–3	40,087	Ferguson
7 December 1996	Chelsea	A	2–2	28,418	Branch, Kanchelskis
16 December 1996	Derby County	A	1–0	17,252	Barmby
21 December 1996	Leeds United	H	0–0	36,954
26 December 1996	Middlesbrough	A	2–4	29,673	Unsworth, Ferguson
28 December 1996	Wimbledon	H	1–3	36,733	Stuart
1 January 1997	Blackburn Rovers	H	0–2	30,427
11 January 1997	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–2	24,175	Ferguson
19 January 1997	Arsenal	A	1–3	38,095	Ferguson
29 January 1997	Newcastle United	A	1–4	36,143	Speed
1 February 1997	Nottingham Forest	H	2–0	32,567	Ferguson, Barmby
22 February 1997	Coventry City	A	0–0	19,497
1 March 1997	Arsenal	H	0–2	36,980
5 March 1997	Southampton	A	2–2	15,134	Ferguson, Speed
8 March 1997	Leeds United	A	0–1	32,055
15 March 1997	Derby County	H	1–0	32,140	D Watson
22 March 1997	Manchester United	H	0–2	40,079
5 April 1997	Aston Villa	A	1–3	39,339	Unsworth
9 April 1997	Leicester City	H	1–1	30,368	Branch
12 April 1997	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–0	36,380	Speed
16 April 1997	Liverpool	H	1–1	40,177	Ferguson
19 April 1997	West Ham United	A	2–2	24,545	Branch, Ferguson
3 May 1997	Sunderland	A	0–3	22,108
11 May 1997	Chelsea	H	1–2	38,321	Barmby

FA Cup

Main article: 1996–97 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	5 January 1997	Swindon Town	H	3–0	20,411	Kanchelskis, Barmby, Ferguson
R4	25 January 1997	Bradford City	H	2–3	30,007	O'Brien (own goal), Speed

League Cup

Main article: 1996–97 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	18 September 1996	York City	H	1–1	11,527	Kanchelskis
R2 2nd Leg	24 September 1996	York City	A	2–3	7,354	Rideout, Speed

Squad

^[4] 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  WAL Neville Southall 2 DF  ENG Earl Barrett 3 DF  ENG Andy Hinchcliffe 4 DF  ENG David Unsworth 5 DF  ENG Dave Watson (captain) 6 DF  IRL Terry Phelan 7 MF  ENG Graham Stuart 8 FW  ENG Paul Rideout 9 FW  SCO Duncan Ferguson 10 MF  WAL Gary Speed 12 MF  ENG Nick Barmby 13 GK  ENG Paul Gerrard 15 DF  DEN Claus Thomsen 17 DF  ENG Adam Eaton 18 MF  ENG Joe Parkinson

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 DF  SUI Marc Hottiger 20 MF  ENG Tony Grant 21 DF  ENG Craig Short 22 MF  ENG Gavin McCann 23 FW  ENG Michael Branch 24 DF  ENG Jon O'Connor 25 DF  ENG Michael Ball 26 DF  ENG Graham Allen 27 DF  IRL Richard Dunne 28 FW  ENG Danny Cadamarteri 30 MF  ENG Richard Townsend 32 MF  ENG Robert Tynan 34 DF  ENG Edward Hussin 35 DF  ENG John Hills

Left club during season

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 11 MF  SWE Anders Limpar (to Birmingham City) 14 MF  ENG John Ebbrell (to Sheffield United) 15 DF  ENG Matt Jackson (to Norwich City) 16 MF  ENG Vinny Samways (to UD Las Palmas) 17 MF  RUS Andrei Kanchelskis (to ACF Fiorentina)

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 MF  ENG Peter Holcroft (to Swindon Town) 25 DF  ENG Neil Moore (to Norwich City) 27 MF  ENG Mark Grugel 28 MF  ENG Chris Price 33 GK  ENG James Speare (to Darlington)

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 - FW  ENG Mark Quayle

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premier League		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK	WAL	Neville Southall	38	0	34	0	2	0	2	0
13	GK	ENG	Paul Gerrard	5	0	4+1	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
2	DF	ENG	Earl Barrett	40	0	36	0	2	0	2	0
3	DF	ENG	Andy Hinchcliffe	20	1	18	1	0	0	2	0
4	DF	ENG	David Unsworth	36	5	32+2	5	0	0	2	0
5	DF	ENG	Dave Watson	31	1	29	1	2	0	0	0
6	DF	IRL	Terry Phelan	16	0	15	0	1	0	0	0
15	DF	DEN	Claus Thomsen	16	0	15+1	0	0	0	0	0
19	DF	SUI	Marc Hottiger	9	0	4+4	0	0	0	1	0
21	DF	ENG	Craig Short	25	2	19+4	2	1	0	1	0
25	DF	ENG	Michael Ball	5	0	2+3	0	0	0	0	0
26	DF	ENG	Graham Allen	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
27	DF	IRL	Richard Dunne	8	0	6+1	0	1	0	0	0
35	DF	ENG	John Hills	3	0	1+2	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
7	MF	ENG	Graham Stuart	38	5	29+6	5	2	0	1	0
10	MF	WAL	Gary Speed	41	11	37	9	2	1	2	1
12	MF	ENG	Nick Barmby	29	8	22+3	4	2	1	1+1	3
18	MF	ENG	Joe Parkinson	31	0	28	0	1	0	2	0
20	MF	ENG	Tony Grant	20	0	11+6	0	0+2	0	1	0
Forwards
8	FW	ENG	Paul Rideout	12	1	4+5	0	1	0	1+1	1
9	FW	SCO	Duncan Ferguson	36	11	31+2	10	2	1	1	0
23	FW	ENG	Michael Branch	27	3	13+12	3	1	0	0+1	0
28	FW	ENG	Danny Cadamarteri	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
Players who left the club during the season
11	MF	SWE	Anders Limpar	3	0	1+1	0	0	0	1	0
14	MF	ENG	John Ebbrell	8	0	7	0	0	0	1	0
17	MF	RUS	Andrei Kanchelskis	24	6	20	4	2	1	2	1