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1996–97 Coventry City F.C. season

Field	Value
club	Coventry City F.C.
season	1996–97
chairman	Bryan Richardson
manager	Ron Atkinson (until 5 November)
Gordon Strachan (from 5 November)
stadium	Highfield Road
league	FA Premier League
league result	17th
cup1	FA Cup
cup1 result	Fifth round
cup2	League Cup
cup2 result	Third round
league topscorer	Dion Dublin (13)
highest attendance	23,085 vs Manchester United
(18 Jan 1997, FA Premier League)
lowest attendance	11,828 vs Birmingham City
(18 Sep 1996, League Cup)
average attendance	19,625
prevseason	1995–96
nextseason	1997–98

Gordon Strachan (from 5 November) (18 Jan 1997, FA Premier League) (18 Sep 1996, League Cup) During the 1996–97 English football season, Coventry City F.C. competed in the FA Premier League.

Season summary

Manager Ron Atkinson stepped up to the role of Director of Football at struggling Coventry City in early November, with assistant Gordon Strachan stepping up to the manager's seat. A good run of form saw Coventry climb to 11th place in January, but then a decline set in and defeat in the penultimate game of the season made Coventry's 30-year stay in the top flight appear to be over. However, with a win over Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the season and losses for Sunderland and Middlesbrough, the Sky Blues pulled off a miraculous survival act to book themselves a 31st successive top flight campaign. The key player in the great escape act was striker Dion Dublin, who scored 14 FA Premier League goals to attract attention from several larger clubs and encourage calls for an international call-up from many observers.

However, Coventry only ultimately avoided relegation due to the three-point deduction imposed upon Middlesbrough, who had been penalised in mid-season for cancelling a fixture at short notice.

Final league table

Main article: 1996–97 FA Premier League

Results

Coventry City's score comes first

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Nottingham Forest	H	0–3	19,468
21 August 1996	West Ham United	A	1–1	21,580	McAllister
24 August 1996	Chelsea	A	0–2	25,024
4 September 1996	Liverpool	H	0–1	23,021
7 September 1996	Middlesbrough	A	0–4	29,811
14 September 1996	Leeds United	H	2–1	17,297	Salako, Whelan
21 September 1996	Sunderland	A	0–1	19,459
28 September 1996	Blackburn Rovers	H	0–0	17,032
13 October 1996	Southampton	H	1–1	15,485	Dublin
19 October 1996	Arsenal	A	0–0	38,140
26 October 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0–0	17,267
4 November 1996	Everton	A	1–1	31,477	McAllister
16 November 1996	Wimbledon	A	2–2	10,307	Whelan, Dublin
23 November 1996	Aston Villa	H	1–2	21,340	Dublin
30 November 1996	Derby County	A	1–2	18,042	Dublin
7 December 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–2	19,675	Whelan
17 December 1996	Newcastle United	H	2–1	21,538	Huckerby, McAllister
21 December 1996	Leicester City	A	2–0	20,038	Dublin (2)
26 December 1996	Leeds United	A	3–1	36,465	Huckerby, Dublin, McAllister (pen)
28 December 1996	Middlesbrough	H	3–0	20,617	Huckerby, McAllister (pen), Liddle (own goal)
1 January 1997	Sunderland	H	2–2	17,700	Dublin, Daish
11 January 1997	Blackburn Rovers	A	0–4	24,055
18 January 1997	Manchester United	H	0–2	23,085
29 January 1997	Nottingham Forest	A	1–0	22,619	Huckerby
1 February 1997	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0–0	21,793
19 February 1997	Aston Villa	A	1–2	30,409	Staunton (own goal)
22 February 1997	Everton	H	0–0	19,497
1 March 1997	Manchester United	A	1–3	55,230	Huckerby
3 March 1997	Wimbledon	H	1–1	15,273	Dublin
8 March 1997	Leicester City	H	0–0	19,220
15 March 1997	Newcastle United	A	0–4	36,571
22 March 1997	West Ham United	H	1–3	22,291	Rieper (own goal)
6 April 1997	Liverpool	A	2–1	40,079	Whelan, Dublin
9 April 1997	Chelsea	H	3–1	19,917	Dublin, Williams, Whelan
19 April 1997	Southampton	A	2–2	15,251	Ndlovu, Whelan
21 April 1997	Arsenal	H	1–1	19,998	Dublin
3 May 1997	Derby County	H	1–2	22,839	McAllister (pen)
11 May 1997	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2–1	33,029	Dublin, Williams

FA Cup

Main article: 1996–97 FA Cup

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	25 January 1997	Woking	H	1–1	16,040	Jess
R3R	4 February 1997	Woking	A	2–1	6,000	Whelan, Foster (own goal)
R4	15 February 1997	Blackburn Rovers	A	2–1	21,123	Jess, Huckerby
R5	26 February 1997	Derby County	A	2–3	18,003	Huckerby, Whelan

League Cup

Main article: 1996–97 Football League Cup

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	18 September 1996	Birmingham City	H	1–1	11,828	Daish
R2 2nd Leg	24 September 1996	Birmingham City	A	1–0	15,281	McAllister
R3	22 October 1996	Gillingham	A	2–2	10,603	Telfer (2)
R3R	13 November 1996	Gillingham	H	0–1	12,639

First-team squad

:Squad at end of season

Left club during season

Reserve squad

Transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
26 July 1996	MF	SCO Gary McAllister	ENG Leeds United	£3,000,000
10 August 1996	DF	BEL Régis Genaux	BEL Standard Liège	£750,000
23 November 1996	FW	ENG Darren Huckerby	ENG Newcastle United	£1,000,000
30 January 1997	DF	IRL Gary Breen	ENG Birmingham City	£2,500,000
30 January 1997	DF	UKR Oleksandr Yevtushok	UKR Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	£800,000
21 May 1997	FW	ENG Simon Haworth	WAL Cardiff City	£500,000
19 June 1997	MF	NOR Trond Egil Soltvedt	NOR Rosenborg	£500,000
4 July 1997	FW	Bermuda Kyle Lightbourne	ENG Walsall	£500,000
7 July 1997	GK	SWE Magnus Hedman	SWE AIK	Free
9 July 1997	MF	DEN Martin Johansen	DEN Copenhagen	Free

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
5 August 1996	DF	ENG David Rennie	ENG Northampton Town	Free
15 August 1996	DF	ENG Ally Pickering	ENG Stoke City	£280,000
28 January 1997	DF	BEL Régis Genaux	ITA Udinese	£800,000
1 July 1997	MF	NIR Chris McMenamin	ENG Peterborough United	Free
4 July 1997	MF	SCO Eoin Jess	SCO Aberdeen	£700,000
14 July 1997	FW	Zimbabwe Peter Ndlovu	ENG Birmingham City	£1,600,000
14 July 1997	GK	ENG Neil Wypior	ENG West Bromwich Albion	Undisclosed

:Transfers in: £6,550,000 :Transfers out: £3,380,000 :Total spending: £3,170,000

Statistics

Appearances and goals

|- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Goalkeepers |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Defenders |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Midfielders |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Forwards |- ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players who left the club during the season |- |}

References

(12 May 1997). "Football: Coventry perform escape act once again". The Independent.
"Coventry City 1996-1997 Results - statto.com".
"FootballSquads - Coventry City - 1996/97".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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