1997–98 Tranmere Rovers F.C. season

During the 1997–98 English football season, Tranmere Rovers F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Tranmere Rovers

1997–98 season
Chairman	Frank Corfe
Manager	John Aldridge (player-manager)
Stadium	Prenton Park
First Division	14th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Kelly (11) All: Kelly (14)
Average home league attendance	7,999
colours
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Season summary

In the 1997–98 season, Tranmere had a poor start to the campaign with just three wins from their opening 14 league games which increased the pressure on player-manager Aldridge and by February were in the relegation zone, two points adrift from safety but then a brilliant run of 6 wins from 10 league games helped Tranmere on their way to escaping the drop.

Final league table

Main article: 1997–98 Football League First Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
12	Oxford United	46	16	10	20	60	64	−4	58
13	Bradford City	46	14	15	17	46	59	−13	57
14	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	14	18	54	57	−3	56
15	Norwich City	46	14	13	19	52	69	−17	55
16	Huddersfield Town	46	14	11	21	50	72	−22	53

Source: Statto.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference

Results

Tranmere Rovers' score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–2	16,727	Kelly
15 August 1997	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–1	7,467	Kelly, L. Jones
22 August 1997	Manchester City	A	1–1	26,336	L. Jones
30 August 1997	Middlesbrough	H	0–2	12,095
2 September 1997	Birmingham City	H	0–3	6,620
7 September 1997	Bury	A	0–1	5,073
13 September 1997	Swindon Town	A	1–2	6,811	L. Jones
20 September 1997	Reading	H	6–0	5,565	Morrissey, Kelly (2), L. Jones, G. Jones, Thompson
27 September 1997	Crewe Alexandra	A	1–2	4,845	Stevens
4 October 1997	Norwich City	H	2–0	6,674	Kelly, L. Jones
18 October 1997	Nottingham Forest	A	2–2	17,009	L. Jones, Thompson
22 October 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–2	20,841	G. Jones
25 October 1997	Charlton Athletic	H	2–2	5,911	Branch, L. Jones
1 November 1997	Sheffield United	A	1–2	16,578	Kelly
4 November 1997	Huddersfield Town	H	1–0	5,127	Irons
8 November 1997	Port Vale	H	1–2	7,063	Irons
15 November 1997	Bradford City	A	1–0	16,494	Aldridge
22 November 1997	Stoke City	H	3–1	8,009	L. Jones, Aldridge, O'Brien
29 November 1997	Sunderland	A	0–3	26,674
6 December 1997	Ipswich Town	H	1–1	5,720	L. Jones
13 December 1997	Stockport County	A	1–3	7,903	Aldridge
20 December 1997	Oxford United	H	0–2	5,181
26 December 1997	Bury	H	0–0	9,146
28 December 1997	Birmingham City	A	0–0	19,533
9 January 1998	West Bromwich Albion	H	0–0	8,058
17 January 1998	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–0	12,033
31 January 1998	Manchester City	H	0–0	12,830
4 February 1998	Middlesbrough	A	0–3	29,540
7 February 1998	Reading	A	3–1	7,069	Irons, Kelly, Branch
10 February 1998	Swindon Town	H	3–0	5,288	Thompson, Branch, Morrissey
18 February 1998	Norwich City	A	2–0	12,105	O'Brien, Kelly
21 February 1998	Crewe Alexandra	H	0–3	7,534
24 February 1998	Nottingham Forest	H	0–0	7,377
28 February 1998	Portsmouth	A	0–1	12,250
4 March 1998	Port Vale	A	1–0	5,465	Kelly
14 March 1998	Huddersfield Town	A	0–3	10,844
21 March 1998	Bradford City	H	3–1	9,463	Irons, G. Jones, Kelly
28 March 1998	Stoke City	A	3–0	16,692	G. Jones, Mellon, Kelly
3 April 1998	Sunderland	H	0–2	14,116
7 April 1998	Portsmouth	H	2–2	8,020	G. Jones, Challinor
11 April 1998	Ipswich Town	A	0–0	18,039
13 April 1998	Stockport County	H	3–0	8,070	G. Jones (2), Mellon
18 April 1998	Oxford United	A	1–1	6,489	Mahon
25 April 1998	Charlton Athletic	A	0–2	15,393
28 April 1998	Sheffield United	H	3–3	7,526	O'Brien, G. Jones, Parkinson
3 May 1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2–1	11,144	Aldridge (2, 1 pen)

FA Cup

Main article: 1997–98 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	13 January 1998	Hereford United	A	3–0	7,473	G. Jones (2), Hill
R4	24 January 1998	Sunderland	H	1–0	14,055	Parkinson
R5	14 February 1998	Newcastle United	A	0–1	36,675

League Cup

Main article: 1997–98 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 First Leg	12 August 1997	Hartlepool United	H	3–1	3,878	L. Jones, Morrissey, Kelly
R1 Second Leg	26 August 1997	Hartlepool United	A	1–2 (won 4–3 on agg)	1,626	O'Brien
R2 First Leg	16 September 1997	Notts County	A	2–0	1,779	G. Jones, Kelly
R2 Second Leg	23 September 1997	Notts County	H	0–1 (won 2–1 on agg)	3,287
R3	14 October 1997	Oxford United	H	1–1 (lost 5–6 on pens)	3,878	Kelly

Squad

^[2] 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 Steve Simonsen 2 DF  ENG Andy Thompson 3 DF  ENG John McGreal 4 DF  ENG Dave Challinor 5 DF  ENG Gary Stevens 6 MF  ENG Gary Jones 7 MF  IRL Liam O'Brien 8 MF  ENG Kenny Irons 9 MF  SCO Micky Mellon 10 FW  WAL Lee Jones 11 FW  ENG David Kelly 12 MF  ENG John Morrissey 13 GK  WAL Danny Coyne 14 DF  ENG Andy Thorn 15 MF  ENG Graham Branch

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF  WAL Alan Morgan 17 DF  ENG Clint Hill 18 DF  POL Dariusz Kubicki 19 MF  ENG Paul Cook 20 FW  ENG Andy Parkinson 21 FW  IRL John Aldridge (player-manager) 22 DF  SCO Stephen Frail 23 MF  IRL Alan Mahon 24 MF  ENG Kevin McIntyre 25 MF  WAL Jason Koumas 26 MF  GER Dirk Hebel 27 MF  ENG Ryan Williams 28 DF  ENG Michael Howard 29 MF  WAL Neil Gibson 30 DF  ENG Gareth Powell