1996–97 Wigan Athletic F.C. season

Wigan Athletic
1996–97 season
Chairman	Dave Whelan
Manager	John Deehan
Stadium	Springfield Park
Third Division	1st (champions)
FA Cup	First round
League Cup	First round
Football League Trophy	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Jones (31); All: Jones (32)
Average home league attendance	3,899

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

Season summary

In the 1996-97 season, Wigan Athletic became Third Division champions on the last day of the campaign, Graeme Jones scoring a club record 31 league goals in the process. In most seasons they would have been runners-up, but a temporary rule change which saw goals scored take precedence over goal difference allowed them to finish above runners-up Fulham, who had the same number of points and a better goal difference.

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).

↑ 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

Wigan Athletic's score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League Third Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Northampton Town	H	2–1	3,449	Lancashire, Biggins
24 August 1996	Barnet	A	1–1	1,905	Jones
27 August 1996	Cardiff City	A	2–0	3,354	Jones, Kilford
31 August 1996	Chester City	H	4–2	3,854	Jones (3, 1 pen), Shelton (own goal)
7 September 1996	Scunthorpe United	H	3–0	3,321	Jones, Lancashire (2)
10 September 1996	Darlington	A	1–3	2,601	Greenall
14 September 1996	Hartlepool United	A	1–1	2,433	Jones
21 September 1996	Lincoln City	H	1–0	3,394	Lancashire
28 September 1996	Scarborough	A	1–3	2,570	Lancashire
1 October 1996	Exeter City	H	2–0	2,788	Lancashire, Jones
5 October 1996	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1–0	3,744	Jones
12 October 1996	Colchester United	A	1–3	2,700	Sharp
15 October 1996	Mansfield Town	A	1–0	1,942	Sharp
19 October 1996	Torquay United	H	3–2	3,374	Jones (3)
26 October 1996	Hull City	H	1–2	3,887	Morgan
29 October 1996	Swansea City	A	1–2	2,227	Díaz
2 November 1996	Carlisle United	A	3–0	6,235	Díaz (2), Saville
9 November 1996	Hereford United	H	4–1	3,414	Martínez, Jones, Greenall, Saville
23 November 1996	Fulham	H	1–1	5,039	Martínez
30 November 1996	Hull City	A	1–1	3,537	Jones
3 December 1996	Doncaster Rovers	H	4–1	2,606	Biggins, Johnson, Saville, Jones
14 December 1996	Cambridge United	A	1–1	2,784	Kilford
21 December 1996	Rochdale	H	0–1	3,311
28 December 1996	Scunthorpe United	A	3–2	2,833	Saville, Rogers, Kilford
18 January 1997	Exeter City	A	1–0	3,067	Johnson
21 January 1997	Leyton Orient	A	2–1	3,014	Kilford, Jones
25 January 1997	Swansea City	H	3–2	4,058	Jones (2), Kilford
1 February 1997	Hereford United	A	1–3	2,532	Rogers
4 February 1997	Lincoln City	A	3–1	2,241	Jones (2), Johnson
8 February 1997	Carlisle United	H	1–0	6,195	Lowe
15 February 1997	Fulham	A	1–1	9,448	Lowe
22 February 1997	Leyton Orient	H	5–1	3,783	Jones (3), Lancashire, Rogers
25 February 1997	Darlington	H	3–2	3,667	Jones (3, 1 pen)
28 February 1997	Doncaster Rovers	A	0–2	2,948
4 March 1997	Hartlepool United	H	2–2	3,229	Jones, Kilford
8 March 1997	Rochdale	A	1–3	3,254	Jones (pen)
11 March 1997	Scarborough	H	7–1	3,094	Martínez, Lowe (2), Díaz (2), Lancashire, Biggins
15 March 1997	Cambridge United	H	1–1	3,867	Jones
22 March 1997	Barnet	H	2–0	3,286	Kilford, Martínez
29 March 1997	Northampton Town	A	1–0	5,914	Lowe
31 March 1997	Cardiff City	H	0–1	4,634
5 April 1997	Chester City	A	1–1	4,005	Kilford
8 April 1997	Colchester United	H	1–0	4,571	McGibbon
12 April 1997	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	0–1	8,703
26 April 1997	Torquay United	A	3–0	2,481	Jones (2), Díaz
3 May 1997	Mansfield Town	H	2–0	7,106	Lancashire, Lowe

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	16 November 1996	Blackpool	A	0–1	5,465 (1,832 away)

League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	20 August 1996	Preston North End	H	2–3	3,713	Lancashire, Jones
R1 2nd Leg	3 September 1996	Preston North End	A	4–4 (lost 5-6 on agg)	5,767 (1,158 away)	Lancashire (3), Greenall

Football League Trophy


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
NR2	14 January 1997	Shrewsbury Town	A	2–3 (a.e.t.)	1,639 (374 away)

Squad

^[2] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Lee Butler
		GK	Roy Carroll
		DF	Charlie Bishop
		DF	Matt Carragher
		DF	Colin Greenall
		DF	Ryan Kirby
		DF	Pat McGibbon
		DF	Steve Morgan
		DF	Roy O'Brien
		DF	John Pender
		DF	Kevin Sharp
		MF	Tony Black
		MF	John Butler
		MF	Isidro Díaz

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Gavin Johnson
		MF	Ian Kilford
		MF	Michael Love
		MF	Roberto Martínez
		MF	Paul Rogers
		MF	Jesús Seba
		MF	Mark Ward
		MF	Stuart Whittaker
		FW	Wayne Biggins
		FW	Terry Fearns
		FW	Graeme Jones
		FW	Graham Lancashire
		FW	David Lowe
		FW	Andy Saville

References

↑ "Wigan Athletic 1996-1997". Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
↑ "All Wigan Athletic players: 1997". 11v11.com.

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[1] Brighton & Hove Albion had two points deducted for failure to control spectators.

[2] "Wigan Athletic 1996-1997". Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.

[3] "All Wigan Athletic players: 1997". 11v11.com.