1997–98 Watford F.C. season

Watford
1997–98 season
Chairman	Elton John
Manager	Graham Taylor
Stadium	Vicarage Road
Second Division	1st (champions)
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Auto Windscreens Shield	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Kennedy (11); All: Kennedy (13)
Average home league attendance	11,532

During the 1997–98 English football season, Watford F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Season summary

In the 1997–98 season, Kenny Jackett was demoted to the position of assistant manager and Graham Taylor returned for a second spell as Watford manager. The transition proved a success; Watford secured the Division Two title, beating Bristol City into second place after a season-long struggle.

Final league 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 Town	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

Results

Watford's score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	Burnley	H	1–0	11,155	Lee
16 August 1997	Carlisle United	A	2–0	7,395	Kennedy, Johnson
23 August 1997	Brentford	H	3–1	10,125	Millen, Melvang, Johnson
30 August 1997	Preston North End	A	0–2	11,042
2 September 1997	Plymouth Argyle	A	1–0	5,141	Noel-Williams
7 September 1997	Wycombe Wanderers	H	2–1	12,100	Hyde, Lee
13 September 1997	Chesterfield	H	2–1	11,204	Rosenthal, Lee
20 September 1997	Gillingham	A	2–2	7,780	Rosenthal (pen), Johnson
27 September 1997	York City	H	1–1	13,812	Lee
4 October 1997	Luton Town	A	4–0	9,041	Johnson, Thomas, Kennedy (2)
14 October 1997	Bristol Rovers	A	2–1	8,110	Kennedy, Rosenthal (pen)
18 October 1997	Millwall	H	0–1	12,530
21 October 1997	Fulham	H	2–0	11,486	Rosenthal, Robinson
25 October 1997	Grimsby Town	A	1–0	5,699	Rosenthal
1 November 1997	Blackpool	H	4–1	9,723	Lee (2), Johnson, Rosenthal
4 November 1997	Southend United	A	3–0	4,001	Kennedy (3)
8 November 1997	Walsall	A	0–0	5,077
18 November 1997	Oldham Athletic	H	2–1	8,397	Thomas, Mooney
22 November 1997	Northampton Town	A	1–0	7,373	Kennedy
29 November 1997	Wigan Athletic	H	2–1	9,455	Thomas, Mooney
2 December 1997	Wrexham	A	1–1	3,702	Rosenthal
13 December 1997	Bristol City	H	1–1	16,072	Noel-Williams
20 December 1997	Bournemouth	A	1–0	6,081	Kennedy
26 December 1997	Wycombe Wanderers	A	0–0	8,090
28 December 1997	Plymouth Argyle	H	1–1	11,594	Mooney
10 January 1998	Burnley	A	0–2	9,551
17 January 1998	Preston North End	H	3–1	10,182	Kennedy (2), Hyde
24 January 1998	Brentford	A	2–1	6,969	Mooney, Johnson
31 January 1998	Chesterfield	A	1–0	5,975	Noel-Williams
8 February 1998	Gillingham	H	0–2	10,498
14 February 1998	Luton Town	H	1–1	15,182	Robinson
21 February 1998	York City	A	1–1	4,890	Palmer
25 February 1998	Millwall	A	1–1	7,126	Mooney
28 February 1998	Bristol Rovers	H	3–2	12,186	Noel-Williams, Rosenthal, Mooney
3 March 1998	Walsall	H	1–2	8,096	Noel-Williams
7 March 1998	Blackpool	A	1–1	5,237	Bazeley
14 March 1998	Southend United	H	1–1	10,750	Hyde
17 March 1998	Carlisle United	H	2–1	7,274	Palmer, Bazeley
21 March 1998	Oldham Athletic	A	2–2	5,744	Bazeley, Gibbs
28 March 1998	Northampton Town	H	1–1	14,268	Johnson
4 April 1998	Wigan Athletic	A	2–3	4,262	Foley, Hyde
11 April 1998	Wrexham	H	1–0	12,340	Lee
13 April 1998	Bristol City	A	1–1	19,141	Lee
25 April 1998	Grimsby Town	H	0–0	14,002
28 April 1998	Bournemouth	H	2–1	12,834	Lee, Noel-Williams
2 May 1998	Fulham	A	2–1	17,114	Noel-Williams, Lee

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	15 November 1997	Barnet	A	2–1	4,040	Rosenthal (2)
R2	6 December 1997	Torquay United	A	1–1	3,416	Noel-Williams
R2R	16 December 1997	Torquay United	H	2–1 (a.e.t.)	5,848	Noel-Williams (2)
R3	3 January 1998	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–1	18,306	Kennedy
R3R	14 January 1998	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0–0 (lost 3-5 on pens)	18,707

League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	13 August 1997	Swindon Town	A	2–0	6,271	Noel-Williams, Rosenthal
R1 2nd Leg	26 August 1997	Swindon Town	H	1–1 (won 3-1 on agg)	7,712	Hyde
R2 1st Leg	16 September 1997	Sheffield United	H	1–1	7,154	Kennedy
R2 2nd Leg	23 September 1997	Sheffield United	A	0–4 (lost 1-5 on agg)	7,511

Football League Trophy


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SR1	9 December 1997	Fulham	A	0–1	3,364

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	Alec Chamberlain
-	GK	Chris Day
-	GK	Andrew Iga
-	DF	Rob Page
-	DF	Keith Millen
-	DF	Nigel Gibbs
-	DF	Steve Palmer
-	DF	Paul Robinson
-	DF	Darren Bazeley
-	DF	Clint Easton
-	DF	Lars Melvang
-	DF	Colin Miles
-	DF	Mark Rooney
-	DF	Darren Ward
-	DF	Dominic Ludden
-	DF	David Perpetuini
-	MF	Richard Johnson

No.	Position	Player
-	MF	Micah Hyde
-	MF	Peter Kennedy
-	MF	Alon Hazan
-	MF	Steve Talboys
-	MF	Tommy Smith
-	MF	Jóhann Guðmundsson
-	FW	Tommy Mooney
-	FW	Jason Lee
-	FW	Gifton Noel-Williams
-	FW	Ronny Rosenthal
-	FW	Stuart Slater
-	FW	Dai Thomas
-	FW	Dominic Foley
-	FW	Nathan Lowndes
-	FW	Wayne Andrews
-	FW	Danny Grieves

References

↑ "Watford 1997-1998 Results - statto.com". statto.com. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
↑ "All Watford players: 1998". 11v11.com. Retrieved 2014-08-18.

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

[statto-1] "Watford 1997-1998 Results - statto.com". statto.com. Retrieved 2014-08-18.

[11v11-2] "All Watford players: 1998". 11v11.com. Retrieved 2014-08-18.

Watford Football Club
The club	History Seasons Players (fewer than 50 appearances) Players of the season Managers Records Watford Ladies Europe Current season
Stadiums	Cassio Road Vicarage Road
Training Ground	Watford Training Ground
Matches	1984 FA Cup Final 1999 play-off final 2006 play-off final 2013 play-off final
Supporters	Luton Town rivalry Theme from Z-Cars
Sister clubs	Udinese Calcio Granada CF