1996–97 Hartlepool United F.C. season

Hartlepool United 1996–97 football season

Hartlepool United

1996–97 season

Chairman

Harold Hornsey

Manager

Keith Houchen (player-manager until 4 November)
Mick Tait (player-manager from 4 November)

Stadium

Football League Trophy

First round

Top goalscorer

League: Allon/Cooper (9)
All: Allon (11)

Average home league attendance

2,107

Home colours

← 1995–96 1997–98 →

During the 1996–97 English football season, Hartlepool United F.C. competed in the Football League Third Division.

Season summary

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. Houchen continued to bemoan referring decisions which seemed to consistently go against Hartlepool. This in turn led to continued punishments from the FA over his use of foul language towards officials. 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. 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.

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 v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
18	Darlington	46	14	10	22	64	78	−14	52
19	Doncaster Rovers	46	14	10	22	52	66	−14	52
20	Hartlepool United	46	14	9	23	53	66	−13	51
21	Torquay United	46	13	11	22	46	62	−16	50
22	Exeter City	46	12	12	22	48	73	−25	48

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

Results

Hartlepool United's score comes first

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

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	Paul O'Connor
—	GK	ENG	Stephen Pears
—	DF	ENG	Michael Barron (on loan from Middlesbrough)
—	DF	ENG	Russell Bradley (on loan from Scunthorpe United)
—	DF	ENG	Glen Davies
—	DF	ENG	Stephen Hutt
—	DF	ENG	Denny Ingram
—	DF	ENG	Darren Knowles
—	DF	ENG	Graeme Lee
—	DF	ENG	Sean McAuley
—	DF	ENG	Ian McGuckin
—	MF	ENG	Chris Beech
—	MF	ENG	Michael Brown (on loan from Manchester City)
—	MF	ENG	David Clegg
—	MF	ENG	Mark Cooper
—	MF	ENG	Jon Cullen
—	MF	ENG	Andy Elliott


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Kona Hislop
—	MF	ENG	Chris Homer
—	MF	FRA	Alain Horace
—	MF	ENG	Richard Lucas
—	MF	SCO	Chris McDonald
—	MF	ENG	Mark Proctor
—	MF	ENG	Jon Sunderland
—	MF	ENG	Mick Tait
—	MF	ENG	Paul Walton
—	MF	ENG	Craig Winstanley
—	FW	ENG	Joe Allon
—	FW	ENG	Paul Baker
—	FW	ENG	Stephen Halliday
—	FW	ENG	Keith Houchen
—	FW	ENG	Steve Howard
—	FW	ENG	Stuart Irvine
—	FW	ENG	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
"England 1996–97". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
"Hartlepool United 1996-1997". Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
"All Hartlepool United players: 1997". 11v11.com. Retrieved 22 July 2015.

Sources

Strange, Jonathan (2006). A Tenner and Box of Kippers: The Story of Keith Houchen. Stadia. ISBN 978-0-7524-3796-5.)

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1996–97 in English football

« 1995–96 1997–98 »

National teams

League competitions

Level 1	Premier League
Levels 2–4	Football League (First Division, Second Division, Third Division, play-offs)
Level 5	Football Conference
Levels 6–7	Isthmian League (Premier, One) Northern Premier League (Premier, One) Southern League (Premier, Midland, Southern)
Levels 8–9	Isthmian League (Two, Three) Combined Counties League (level 8 only) Eastern Counties League (Premier, One) Essex Senior League (level 8 only) Hellenic League (Premier, One) Kent League (level 8 only) Midland Alliance (level 8 only) Midland Football Combination (level 9 only) North West Counties League (One, Two) Northern Counties East League (Premier, One) Northern League (One, Two) South Midlands League (Premier, Senior) Spartan League (Premier, One) Sussex County League (One, Two) United Counties League (Premier, One) Wessex League (level 8 only) West Midlands (Regional) League (level 9 only) Western League (Premier, One)

Cup competitions

FA cups	FA Cup (Qualifying rounds, Final) Charity Shield FA Trophy (Final)
Football League cups	League Cup (Final) Football League Trophy (Final)

European competitions

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

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