1997–98 Football League

Football League, Second Division
Season	1997–98
Champions	Watford (2nd third tier title)
Direct promotion	Watford,; Bristol City
Promoted through play-offs	Grimsby Town
Relegated	Brentford,; Carlisle United,; Plymouth Argyle,; Southend United
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,337 (2.42 per match)
Top goalscorer	Barry Hayles (Bristol Rovers), 23 [1]
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Football League, First Division
Season	1997–98
Champions	Nottingham Forest (3rd second tier title)
Direct promotion to FA Premier League	Nottingham Forest,; Middlesbrough
Promoted through play-offs	Charlton Athletic
Relegated	Manchester City,; Reading,; Stoke City
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,410 (2.55 per match)
Top goalscorer	Pierre van Hooijdonk (Nottingham Forest), 29; Kevin Phillips (Sunderland), 29 [1]
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

The Football League
Season	1997–98
Champions	Nottingham Forest
Promoted	Nottingham Forest; Middlesbrough; Charlton Athletic
Relegated	Doncaster Rovers
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

The 1997–98 Football League (known as the Nationwide Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 99th completed season of The Football League.

Champions Nottingham Forest and runners-up Middlesbrough won promotion back to the Premiership at the first time of asking. Charlton Athletic won the play-offs to end an eight-year absence from the top flight.

Reading were relegated in bottom place. They were joined on the last day of the season by Manchester City and Stoke City. The blue half of Manchester endured relegation to the third tier of the English league for the first time in its history, despite beating also doomed Stoke 5–2 away on the last day of the season, but neither fans took lightly to relegation, as mass football violence outside outshone the match. QPR, Portsmouth and Port Vale all won their games to avoid the drop.

Graham Taylor’s second spell as manager brought instant success as Watford won the Division Two championship. They were joined by runners-up Bristol City and playoff winners Grimsby Town.

Going down to Division Three were Brentford, Plymouth Argyle, Carlisle United and Southend United. Brentford had been losing playoff finalists just 12 months earlier, Plymouth had been promoted to Division Two just two seasons earlier, Carlisle were newly promoted and Southend had endured their second successive relegation.

Macclesfield Town finished runners-up in Division Three to gain their second successive promotion, a year after winning the Conference. They were joined by champions Notts County, who won the title by 17 points and became the first team since World War II to secure promotion in March, third-placed Lincoln City and playoff winners Colchester United.

Doncaster Rovers suffered an English league record of 34 defeats and won just four games to lose their league status. They were replaced by Conference champions Halifax Town, who regained their league status five years after losing it.

First Division

First Division table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Nottingham Forest	46	18	2	3	52	20	10	8	5	30	22	82	42	+40	94
2	Middlesbrough	46	17	4	2	51	12	10	6	7	26	29	77	41	+36	91
3	Sunderland	46	14	7	2	49	22	12	5	6	37	28	86	50	+36	90
4	Charlton Athletic	46	17	5	1	48	17	9	5	9	32	32	80	49	+31	88
5	Ipswich Town	46	14	5	4	47	20	9	9	5	30	23	77	43	+34	83
6	Sheffield United	46	16	5	2	44	20	3	12	8	25	34	69	54	+15	74
7	Birmingham City	46	10	8	5	27	15	9	9	5	33	20	60	35	+25	74
8	Stockport County	46	14	6	3	46	21	5	2	16	25	48	71	69	+2	65
9	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	13	6	4	42	25	5	5	13	15	28	57	53	+4	65
10	West Bromwich Albion	46	9	8	6	27	26	7	5	11	23	30	50	56	–6	61
11	Crewe Alexandra	46	10	2	11	30	34	8	3	12	28	31	58	65	–7	59
12	Oxford United	46	12	6	5	36	20	4	4	15	24	44	60	64	–4	58
13	Bradford City	46	10	9	4	26	23	4	6	13	20	36	46	59	–13	57
14	Tranmere Rovers	46	9	8	6	34	26	5	6	12	20	31	54	57	–3	56
15	Norwich City	46	9	8	6	32	27	5	5	13	20	42	52	69	–17	55
16	Huddersfield Town	46	9	5	9	28	28	5	6	12	22	44	50	72	–22	53
17	Bury	46	7	10	6	22	22	4	9	10	20	36	42	58	–16	52
18	Swindon Town	46	9	6	8	28	25	5	4	14	14	48	42	73	–31	52
19	Port Vale	46	7	6	10	25	24	6	4	13	31	42	56	66	–10	49
20	Portsmouth	46	8	6	9	28	30	5	4	14	23	33	51	63	–12	49
21	Queens Park Rangers	46	8	9	6	28	21	2	10	11	23	42	51	63	–12	49
22	Manchester City	46	6	6	11	28	26	6	6	11	28	31	56	57	–1	48
23	Stoke City	46	8	5	10	30	40	3	8	12	14	34	44	74	–30	46
24	Reading	46	8	4	11	27	31	3	5	15	12	47	39	78	–39	42

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).

Key
	Football League Champions, promoted to FA Premier League 1998-99
	Promoted to FA Premier League
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted to Premier League through play-offs
	Relegated

Play-offs

Semifinals 1st leg – 10 May; 2nd leg – 13 May 1998					Final at Wembley 25 May 1998

3rd	Sunderland	1	2	3
6th	Sheffield United	2	0	2
					3rd	Sunderland	4 (6)
					4th	Charlton Athletic (pen.)	4 (7)
4th	Charlton Athletic	1	1	2
5th	Ipswich Town	0	0	0

^[2]

First Division results

Home \ Away^[1]	BIR	BRA	Bury	CHA	CRE	HUD	IPS	MCI	MID	NWC	NOT	OXF	PTV	POR	QPR	REA	SHU	STP	STK	SUN	SWI	TRA	WBA	WOL
Birmingham City		0–0	1–3	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	3–0	2–0	4–1	2–0	0–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	1–0
Bradford City	0–0		1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–2	2–1	0–3	0–0	2–1	1–3	1–1	4–1	1–1	2–1	0–0	0–4	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–0
Bury	2–1	2–0		0–0	1–1	2–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–3	1–3
Charlton Athletic	1–1	4–1	0–0		3–2	1–0	3–0	2–1	3–0	2–1	4–2	3–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	2–1	1–3	1–1	1–1	3–0	2–0	5–0	1–0
Crewe Alexandra	0–2	5–0	1–2	0–3		2–5	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–4	2–1	0–1	3–1	2–3	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–0	0–3	2–0	2–1	2–3	0–2
Huddersfield Town	0–1	1–2	2–0	0–3	2–0		2–2	1–3	0–1	1–3	0–2	5–1	0–4	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	3–1	2–3	0–0	3–0	1–0	1–0
Ipswich Town	0–1	2–1	2–0	3–1	3–2	5–1		1–0	1–1	5–0	0–1	5–2	5–1	2–0	0–0	1–0	2–2	0–2	2–3	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	3–0
Manchester City	0–1	1–0	0–1	2–2	1–0	0–1	1–2		2–0	1–2	2–3	0–2	2–3	2–2	2–2	0–0	0–0	4–1	0–1	0–1	6–0	1–1	1–0	0–1
Middlesbrough	3–1	1–0	4–0	2–1	1–0	3–0	1–1	1–0		3–0	0–0	4–1	2–1	1–1	3–0	4–0	1–2	3–1	0–1	3–1	6–0	3–0	1–0	1–1
Norwich City	3–3	2–3	2–2	0–4	0–2	5–0	2–1	0–0	1–3		1–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	5–0	0–2	1–1	0–2
Nottingham Forest	1–0	2–2	3–0	5–2	3–1	3–0	2–1	1–3	4–0	2–3		1–3	2–1	1–0	4–0	1–0	3–0	2–1	1–0	0–3	3–0	2–2	1–0	3–0
Oxford United	0–2	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	0–0	1–4	2–0	0–1		2–0	1–0	3–1	3–0	2–4	3–0	5–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	3–0
Port Vale	0–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	2–3	4–1	1–3	2–1	0–1	2–2	0–1	3–0		2–1	2–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	0–0	3–1	0–1	0–1	1–2	0–2
Portsmouth	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–3	3–0	0–1	0–3	0–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	3–1		3–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–4	0–1	1–0	2–3	3–2
Queens Park Rangers	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–4	3–2	2–1	0–0	2–0	5–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0		1–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	0–0	2–0	0–0
Reading	2–0	0–3	1–1	2–0	3–3	0–2	0–4	3–0	0–1	0–1	3–3	2–1	0–3	0–1	1–2		0–1	1–0	2–0	4–0	0–1	1–3	2–1	0–0
Sheffield United	0–0	2–1	3–0	4–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	2–2	4–0		5–1	3–2	2–0	2–1	2–1	2–4	1–0
Stockport County	2–2	1–2	0–0	3–0	0–1	3–0	0–1	3–1	1–1	2–2	2–2	3–2	3–0	3–1	2–0	5–1	1–0		1–0	1–1	4–2	3–1	2–1	1–0
Stoke City	0–7	2–1	3–2	1–2	0–2	1–2	1–1	2–5	1–2	2–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–2	2–2	2–1		1–2	1–2	0–3	0–0	3–0
Sunderland	1–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	3–1	2–2	3–1	1–2	0–1	1–1	3–1	4–2	2–1	2–2	4–1	4–2	4–1	3–0		0–0	3–0	2–0	1–1
Swindon Town	1–1	1–0	3–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–3	1–2	1–0	0–0	4–1	4–2	0–1	3–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–2		2–1	0–2	0–0
Tranmere Rovers	0–3	3–1	0–0	2–2	0–3	1–0	1–1	0–0	0–2	2–0	0–0	0–2	1–2	2–2	2–1	6–0	3–3	3–0	3–1	0–2	3–0		0–0	2–1
West Bromwich Albion	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–2	2–3	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	2–2	0–3	1–1	1–0	2–0	3–2	1–1	3–3	0–0	2–1		1–0
Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–3	2–1	4–2	3–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–0	5–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	3–2	3–1	0–0	3–4	1–1	0–1	3–1	2–1	0–1

Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

First Division maps

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Locations of the Football League First Division 1997–1998 teams

Charlton Athletic

Queens Park Rangers

Locations of the Football League First Division London teams 1997–1998

Second Division

Second Division table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Watford	46	13	7	3	36	22	11	9	3	31	19	67	41	+26	88
2	Bristol City	46	16	5	2	41	17	9	5	9	28	22	69	39	+30	85
3	Grimsby Town	46	11	7	5	30	14	8	8	7	25	23	55	37	+18	72
4	Northampton	46	14	5	4	33	17	4	12	7	19	20	52	37	+15	71
5	Bristol Rovers	46	13	2	8	43	33	7	8	8	27	31	70	64	+6	70
6	Fulham	46	12	7	4	31	14	8	3	12	29	29	60	43	+17	70
7	Wrexham	46	10	10	3	31	23	8	6	9	24	28	55	51	+4	70
8	Gillingham	46	13	7	3	30	18	6	6	11	22	29	52	47	+5	70
9	Bournemouth	46	11	8	4	28	15	7	4	12	29	37	57	52	+5	66
10	Chesterfield	46	13	7	3	31	19	3	10	10	15	25	46	44	+2	65
11	Wigan Athletic	46	12	5	6	41	31	5	6	12	23	35	64	66	–2	62
12	Blackpool	46	13	6	4	35	24	4	5	14	24	43	59	67	–8	62
13	Oldham Athletic	46	13	7	3	43	23	2	9	12	19	31	62	54	+8	61
14	Wycombe Wanderers	46	10	10	3	32	20	4	8	11	19	33	51	53	–2	60
15	Preston North End	46	10	6	7	29	26	5	8	10	27	30	56	56	±0	59
16	York City	46	9	7	7	26	21	5	10	8	26	37	52	58	–6	59
17	Luton Town	46	7	7	9	35	38	7	8	8	25	26	60	64	–4	57
18	Millwall	46	7	8	8	23	23	7	5	11	20	31	43	54	–11	55
19	Walsall	46	10	8	5	26	16	4	4	15	17	36	43	52	–9	54
20	Burnley	46	10	9	4	34	23	3	4	16	21	42	55	65	–10	52
21	Brentford	46	9	7	7	33	29	2	10	11	17	42	50	71	–21	50
22	Plymouth Argyle	46	10	5	8	36	30	2	8	13	19	40	55	70	–15	49
23	Carlisle United	46	8	5	10	27	28	4	3	16	30	45	57	73	–16	44
24	Southend United	46	8	7	8	29	30	3	3	17	18	49	47	79	–32	43

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).

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted through play-offs
	Relegated

Play-offs

Semifinals 1st leg – 9/10 May; 2nd leg – 13 May 1998					Final at Wembley Stadium 24 May 1998

3rd	Grimsby Town	1	1	2
6th	Fulham	1	0	1
					3rd	Grimsby Town	1
					4th	Northampton	0
4th	Northampton	1	3	4
5th	Bristol Rovers	3	0	3

^[2]

Second Division maps

Locations of the Football League Second Division 1997–1998 teams

Locations of the Football League Second Division London teams 1997–1998

Third Division

Football League, Third Division
Season	1997–98
Champions	Notts County (2nd fourth tier title)
Direct promotion	Notts County, Lincoln City, Macclesfield Town
Promoted through play-offs	Colchester United
Relegated to Conference	Doncaster Rovers
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,431 (2.59 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gary Jones (Notts County), 28 ^[1]
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Third Division table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Notts County	46	14	7	2	41	20	15	5	3	41	23	82	43	+39	99
2	Macclesfield Town	46	19	4	0	40	11	4	9	10	23	33	63	44	+19	82
3	Lincoln City	46	11	7	5	32	24	9	8	6	28	27	60	51	+9	75
4	Colchester United	46	14	5	4	41	24	7	6	10	31	36	72	60	+12	74
5	Torquay United	46	14	4	5	39	22	7	7	9	29	37	68	59	+9	74
6	Scarborough	46	14	6	3	44	23	5	9	9	23	35	67	58	+9	72
7	Barnet	46	10	8	5	35	22	9	5	9	26	29	61	51	+10	70
8	Scunthorpe United	46	11	7	5	30	24	8	5	10	26	28	56	52	+4	69
9	Rotherham United	46	10	9	4	41	30	6	10	7	26	31	67	61	+6	67
10	Peterborough United	46	13	6	4	37	16	5	7	11	26	35	63	51	+12	67
11	Leyton Orient	46	14	5	4	40	20	5	7	11	22	27	62	47	+15	66	^{[notes 1]}
12	Mansfield Town	46	11	9	3	42	26	5	8	10	22	29	64	55	+9	65
13	Shrewsbury Town	46	12	3	8	35	28	4	10	9	26	34	61	62	–1	61
14	Chester	46	12	7	4	34	15	5	3	15	26	46	60	61	–1	61
15	Exeter City	46	10	8	5	39	25	5	7	11	29	38	68	63	+5	60
16	Cambridge United	46	11	8	4	39	27	3	10	10	24	30	63	57	+6	60
17	Hartlepool United	46	10	12	1	40	22	2	11	10	21	31	61	53	+8	59
18	Rochdale	46	15	3	5	43	15	2	4	17	13	40	56	55	+1	58
19	Darlington	46	13	6	4	43	28	1	6	16	13	44	56	72	–16	54
20	Swansea City	46	8	8	7	24	16	5	3	15	25	46	49	62	–13	50
21	Cardiff City	46	5	13	5	27	22	4	10	9	21	30	48	52	–4	50
22	Hull City	46	10	6	7	36	32	1	2	20	20	51	56	83	–27	41
23	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	3	10	10	21	34	3	7	13	17	32	38	66	–28	35
24	Doncaster Rovers	46	3	3	17	14	48	1	5	17	16	65	30	113	–83	20

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).

↑ Leyton Orient had 3 points deducted.

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted through play-offs
	New club in the league (see Macclesfield Town)
	Relegated to Conference

Play-offs

Semifinals 1st leg – 10 May; 2nd leg – 13 May 1998					Final at Wembley Stadium 22 May 1998

4th	Colchester United	0	3	3
7th	Barnet	1	1	2
					4th	Colchester United	1
					5th	Torquay United	0
5th	Torquay United	3	4	7
6th	Scarborough	1	1	2

^[2]

Third Division maps

Locations of the Football League Third Division teams 1997–1998

Barnet

Leyton Orient

Locations of the Football League Third Division London teams 1997–1998

Topscorers

First Division

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Kevin Phillips	Sunderland	29
=	Pierre Van Hooijdonk	Nottingham Forest	29
3	Kevin Campbell	Nottingham Forest	23
=	Clive Mendonca	Charlton Athletic	23
5	David Johnson	Ipswich Town	20
6	Brett Angell	Stockport County	18
7	Paul Furlong	Birmingham City	15
=	Marcus Stewart	Huddersfield Town	15

Second Division

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Barry Hayles	Bristol Rovers	23
2	Carlo Corazzin	Plymouth Argyle	17
=	Kevin Donovan	Grimsby Town	17
=	Mark Stallard	Wycombe Wanderers	17
=	Ian Stevens	Carlisle United	17
6	Andy Cooke	Burnley	16
=	David Lowe	Wigan Athletic	16
8	Peter Beadle	Bristol Rovers	15
=	Paul Moody	Fulham	15
10	Lee Ashcroft	Preston North End	14
=	Jeroen Boere	Southend United	14

Third Division

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Gary Jones	Notts County	28
2	Steve Whitehall	Mansfield Town	24
3	Darran Rowbotham	Exeter City	21
4	Jimmy Quinn	Peterborough United	20
5	Carl Griffiths	Leyton Orient	18

References

The tables below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website,^[2] with home and away statistics separated. Play-off results are from the same website.

1 2 3 "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
1 2 3 4 "England 1997–98". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2010-02-24.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[3] Leyton Orient had 3 points deducted.

[topscorers-1] 1 2 3 "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 2010-10-31.

[rsssf-2] 1 2 3 4 "England 1997–98". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2010-02-24.

[1]

1997–98 Football League

First Division

First Division table

Play-offs

First Division results

First Division maps

Second Division

Second Division table

Play-offs

Second Division maps

Third Division

Third Division table

Play-offs

Third Division maps

Topscorers

First Division

Second Division

Third Division

See also

References