1996–97 Hartlepool United F.C. season

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

Hartlepool United

1996–97 season
Chairman	Harold Hornsey
Manager	Keith Houchen (player-manager until 4 November) Mick Tait (player-manager from 4 November)
Stadium	Victoria Park
Third Division	20th
FA Cup	First round
League Cup	First round
Football League Trophy	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Allon/Cooper (9) All: Allon (11)
Average home league attendance	2,107
Home colours

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.[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

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).

1. 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

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

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

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. 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

1. Strange 2006, p. 222 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFStrange2006 (help)
2. Strange 2006, p. 224 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFStrange2006 (help)
3. Strange 2006, p. 226 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFStrange2006 (help)
4. Strange 2006, p. 232 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFStrange2006 (help)
5. Strange 2006, p. 236 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFStrange2006 (help)
6. "Hartlepool United 1996-1997". Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
7. "All Hartlepool United players: 1997". 11v11.com. Retrieved 22 July 2015.