1996–97 Hartlepool United F.C. season

In the 1996-97 season, Hartlepool started the campaign with wins over Colchester United and Fulham, but Houchen's playing career came to an end after the fifth game of the season, against Wigan Athletic, when he retired due to a persistent knee injury.^[1] Houchen continued to bemoan referring decisions which seemed to consistently go against Hartlepool.^[2] This in turn led to continued punishments from the FA over his use of foul language towards officials.^[3] With Hartlepool on a poor run of results at the foot of the table, he left the club by mutual consent on 4 November 1996.^[4] His assistant Mick Tait led the club to a 20th-place finish, and organised a benefit match for Houchen against Middlesbrough, which raised £23,000.^[5]

There was also a change of ownership in 1997, when Harold Hornsey sold the club to an oil company called IOR.

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	Wigan Athletic	46	17	3	3	53	21	9	6	8	31	30	84	51	+33	87
2	Fulham	46	13	5	5	41	20	12	7	4	31	18	72	38	+34	87
3	Carlisle United	46	16	3	4	41	21	8	9	6	26	23	67	44	+23	84
4	Northampton Town	46	14	4	5	43	17	6	8	9	24	27	67	44	+23	72
5	Swansea City	46	13	5	5	37	20	8	3	12	25	38	62	58	+4	71
6	Chester City	46	11	8	4	30	16	7	8	8	25	27	55	43	+12	70
7	Cardiff City	46	11	4	8	31	24	9	5	9	26	31	56	54	+2	69
8	Colchester United	46	11	9	3	36	23	6	8	9	26	28	62	51	+11	68
9	Lincoln City	46	10	8	5	35	25	8	4	11	35	44	70	69	+1	66
10	Cambridge United	46	11	5	7	30	27	7	6	10	23	32	53	59	–6	65
11	Mansfield Town	46	9	8	6	21	17	7	8	8	26	28	47	45	+2	64
12	Scarborough	46	9	9	5	36	31	7	6	10	30	38	65	68	–3	63
13	Scunthorpe United	46	11	3	9	36	33	7	6	10	23	29	59	62	–3	63
14	Rochdale	46	10	6	7	34	24	4	10	9	24	34	58	58	±0	58
15	Barnet	46	9	9	5	32	23	5	7	11	14	28	46	51	–5	58
16	Leyton Orient	46	11	6	6	28	20	4	6	13	22	38	50	58	–8	57
17	Hull City	46	9	8	6	29	26	4	10	9	15	24	44	50	–6	57
18	Darlington	46	11	5	7	37	28	3	5	15	27	50	64	78	–14	52
19	Doncaster Rovers	46	9	7	7	29	23	5	3	15	23	43	52	66	–14	52
20	Hartlepool United	46	8	6	9	33	32	6	3	14	20	34	53	66	–13	51
21	Torquay United	46	9	4	10	24	24	4	7	12	22	38	46	62	–16	50
22	Exeter City	46	6	9	8	25	30	6	3	14	23	43	48	73	–25	48
23	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	12	6	5	41	27	1	4	18	12	43	53	70	–17	47	^{[notes 1]}
24	Hereford United	46	6	8	9	26	25	5	6	12	24	40	50	65	–15	47

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).

↑ Brighton & Hove Albion had two points deducted for failure to control spectators.

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted through play-offs
	New club in the league (none)
	Relegated to Conference

Results

Hartlepool United's score comes first^[6]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League Third Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Colchester United	A	2–0	2,942	Allon, McAuley
24 August 1996	Fulham	H	2–1	2,457	Cooper, Davies
27 August 1996	Mansfield Town	H	2–2	2,750	Cooper, Ingram
31 August 1996	Leyton Orient	A	0–2	4,342
7 September 1996	Hereford United	A	1–0	2,729	Halliday
10 September 1996	Carlisle United	H	1–2	3,077	Cooper
14 September 1996	Wigan Athletic	H	1–1	2,433	Cooper
21 September 1996	Hull City	A	0–1	3,886
28 September 1996	Chester City	H	2–0	2,042	Allon, Cooper (pen)
1 October 1996	Doncaster Rovers	A	1–2	1,471	Beech
5 October 1996	Cambridge United	A	0–1	3,406
12 October 1996	Darlington	H	1–2	3,799	Halliday
15 October 1996	Swansea City	H	1–1	1,310	Halliday
19 October 1996	Barnet	A	0–1	2,265
26 October 1996	Exeter City	A	0–2	3,043
29 October 1996	Northampton Town	H	0–2	1,254
2 November 1996	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	2–3	1,683	Mike, Cooper
9 November 1996	Scarborough	A	4–2	3,157	Howard, Clegg, Halliday (2)
23 November 1996	Torquay United	A	1–0	1,856	Allon
30 November 1996	Exeter City	H	1–1	1,419	Irvine
3 December 1996	Scunthorpe United	A	1–2	1,778	Clegg
14 December 1996	Rochdale	A	3–1	1,618	Beech, Howard, Allon
21 December 1996	Lincoln City	H	2–1	1,344	Cooper (pen), Sunderland
26 December 1996	Carlisle United	A	0–1	6,947
28 December 1996	Hereford United	H	2–1	1,923	Allon, Howard
1 January 1997	Hull City	H	1–1	1,944	Beech
11 January 1997	Chester City	A	0–0	1,885
18 January 1997	Doncaster Rovers	H	2–4	1,708	Howard, Cooper (pen)
25 January 1997	Northampton Town	A	0–3	5,039
1 February 1997	Scarborough	H	1–0	1,843	Cooper
8 February 1997	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	0–5	8,412
11 February 1997	Cardiff City	H	2–3	1,120	Beech (2)
15 February 1997	Torquay United	H	1–1	1,548	Beech
22 February 1997	Cardiff City	A	0–2	2,971
1 March 1997	Scunthorpe United	H	0–1	1,300
4 March 1997	Wigan Athletic	A	2–2	3,229	Halliday, Howard
8 March 1997	Lincoln City	A	1–2	2,915	Allon
15 March 1997	Rochdale	H	1–2	1,448	Beech
22 March 1997	Fulham	A	0–1	7,222
29 March 1997	Colchester United	H	1–0	2,725	Beech
31 March 1997	Mansfield Town	A	0–1	2,229
5 April 1997	Leyton Orient	H	3–1	2,576	Bradley, Baker, Halliday
12 April 1997	Cambridge United	H	0–2	3,186
19 April 1997	Darlington	A	2–1	4,662	Brown, Allon
26 April 1997	Barnet	H	4–0	3,070	Allon (2), Baker, Halliday
3 May 1997	Swansea City	A	2–2	5,423	Howard (2)

FA Cup

Main article: 1996-97 FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	16 November 1996	York City	H	0–0	3,011
R1R	26 November 1996	York City	A	0–3	3,257

League Cup

Main article: 1996-97 Football League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	20 August 1996	Lincoln City	H	2–2	2,073	Davies, Allon
R1 2nd Leg	3 September 1996	Lincoln City	A	2–3 (lost 5-6 on agg)	2,389	Allon, Beech

Football League Trophy

Main article: 1996-97 Football League Trophy


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
NR1	10 December 1996	Burnley	H	0–2	921

Squad

^[7] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Paul O'Connor
		GK	Stephen Pears
		DF	Michael Barron (on loan from Middlesbrough)
		DF	Russell Bradley (on loan from Scunthorpe United)
		DF	Glen Davies
		DF	Stephen Hutt
		DF	Denny Ingram
		DF	Darren Knowles
		DF	Graeme Lee
		DF	Sean McAuley
		DF	Ian McGuckin
		MF	Chris Beech
		MF	Michael Brown (on loan from Manchester City)
		MF	David Clegg
		MF	Mark Cooper
		MF	Jon Cullen
		MF	Andy Elliott

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Kona Hislop
		MF	Chris Homer
		MF	Alain Horace
		MF	Richard Lucas
		MF	Chris McDonald
		MF	Mark Proctor
		MF	Jon Sunderland
		MF	Mick Tait
		MF	Paul Walton
		MF	Craig Winstanley
		FW	Joe Allon
		FW	Paul Baker
		FW	Stephen Halliday
		FW	Keith Houchen
		FW	Steve Howard
		FW	Stuart Irvine
		FW	Adie Mike (on loan from Stockport County)

References

↑ Strange 2006, p. 222
↑ Strange 2006, p. 224
↑ Strange 2006, p. 226
↑ Strange 2006, p. 232
↑ Strange 2006, p. 236
↑ "Hartlepool United 1996-1997". Archived from the original on June 29, 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
↑ "All Hartlepool United players: 1997". 11v11.com. Retrieved 2015-07-22.

Hartlepool United Football Club

Hartlepool United F.C. Managers History Seasons Victoria Park

Hartlepool United F.C. seasons

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1996–97 in English football

« 1995–96

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FA competitions

Premier League and
Football League

Football Conference

Football Conference
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Lower leagues

European competitions

Related to national team

1998 FIFA World Cup (UEFA Qualification Group 2)

Glenn Hoddle

Club seasons

Premier League	Arsenal Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Chelsea Coventry City Derby County Everton Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester United Middlesbrough Newcastle United Nottingham Forest Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Sunderland Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United Wimbledon

First Division	Barnsley Birmingham City Bolton Wanderers Bradford City Charlton Athletic Crystal Palace Grimsby Town Huddersfield Town Ipswich Town Manchester City Norwich City Oldham Athletic Oxford United Portsmouth Port Vale Queens Park Rangers Reading Sheffield United Southend United Stoke City Swindon Town Tranmere Rovers West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division	Blackpool Bournemouth Brentford Bristol City Bristol Rovers Burnley Bury Chesterfield Crewe Alexandra Gillingham Luton Town Millwall Notts County Peterborough United Plymouth Argyle Preston North End Rotherham United Shrewsbury Town Stockport County Walsall Watford Wrexham Wycombe Wanderers York City

Third Division	Barnet Brighton & Hove Albion Cambridge United Cardiff City Carlisle United Chester City Colchester United Darlington Doncaster Rovers Exeter City Fulham Hartlepool United Hereford United Hull City Leyton Orient Lincoln City Mansfield Town Northampton Town Rochdale Scarborough Scunthorpe United Swansea City Torquay United Wigan Athletic

Others	Newport

Summer 1996 transfers
Winter 1996–97 transfers

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