Sheffield Wednesday 1997–98 football season
The 1997–98 season was Sheffield Wednesday F.C. ' s 131st season. They competed in the twenty-team Premiership , the top tier of English football , finishing sixteenth.
Season summary [ edit ] Having narrowly missed out on a UEFA Cup place in 1996–97, the club record £5.7 million signing of Italian striker Paolo Di Canio from Celtic gave Owls fans hopes of another challenge for Europe. But it was not to be, and by the time they lost 6–1 to Manchester United in November, relegation was looking a real possibility. Manager David Pleat was swiftly sacked, and Ron Atkinson – manager of the 1991 promotion and League Cup winning side – returned to the manager's seat on a short-term contract. He achieved safety by a margin of four points, in 16th place on 44 points by virtue of goal difference (three other sides had finished on 44 points), and was disappointed on being told that his contract would not be renewed. He was succeeded by Danny Wilson , a former Owls player who played for them in the early, more successful part of the decade.
Final league table [ edit ] Source:
Premier League Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated
Results summary Overall Home Away Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts W D L GF GA GD W D L GF GA GD 38 12 8 18 52 67 −15 44 9 5 5 30 26 +4 3 3 13 22 41 −19
Results by round Round 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Ground A H A A H A H H A H A H A H H A H A H H A H A H A H H A H A A H A H A A H A Result L L D L W L D L D W L L L W W W W L L D D W W D L D W L W L L W L D L W L L Position 17 18 16 18 15 19 19 19 18 16 17 18 20 19 16 14 13 13 14 14 15 12 11 10 14 12 12 13 12 13 13 13 14 14 14 13 14 16
Results [ edit ] Sheffield Wednesday's score comes first [1]
FA Premier League [ edit ] Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers 9 August 1997 Newcastle United A 1–2 36,711 Carbone 13 August 1997 Leeds United H 1–3 31,520 Hyde 23 August 1997 Wimbledon A 1–1 11,503 Di Canio 27 August 1997 Blackburn Rovers A 2–7 19,618 Carbone (2) 30 August 1997 Leicester City H 1–0 24,851 Carbone (pen) 13 September 1997 Liverpool A 1–2 34,705 Collins 20 September 1997 Coventry City H 0–0 21,087 24 September 1997 Derby County H 2–5 22,391 Di Canio , Carbone (pen) 27 September 1997 Aston Villa A 2–2 32,044 Collins , Whittingham 4 October 1997 Everton H 3–1 24,486 Carbone (2, 1 pen), Di Canio 19 October 1997 Tottenham Hotspur A 2–3 25,097 Collins , Di Canio 25 October 1997 Crystal Palace H 1–3 22,072 Collins 1 November 1997 Manchester United A 1–6 55,259 Whittingham 8 November 1997 Bolton Wanderers H 5–0 25,027 Di Canio , Whittingham , Booth (3) 22 November 1997 Arsenal H 2–0 34,373 Booth , Whittingham 29 November 1997 Southampton A 3–2 15,244 Atherton , Collins , Di Canio 8 December 1997 Barnsley H 2–1 29,086 Stefanović , Di Canio 13 December 1997 West Ham United A 0–1 24,344 20 December 1997 Chelsea H 1–4 28,334 Pembridge 26 December 1997 Blackburn Rovers H 0–0 33,502 28 December 1997 Leicester City A 1–1 20,800 Booth 10 January 1998 Newcastle United H 2–1 29,446 Di Canio , Newsome 17 January 1998 Leeds United A 2–1 33,166 Newsome , Booth 31 January 1998 Wimbledon H 1–1 22,655 Mark Pembridge 7 February 1998 Coventry City A 0–1 18,375 14 February 1998 Liverpool H 3–3 35,405 Carbone , Di Canio , Hinchcliffe 21 February 1998 Tottenham Hotspur H 1–0 29,871 Di Canio 28 February 1998 Derby County A 0–3 30,203 7 March 1998 Manchester United H 2–0 39,427 Atherton , Di Canio 14 March 1998 Bolton Wanderers A 2–3 24,847 Booth , Atherton 28 March 1998 Arsenal A 0–1 38,087 4 April 1998 Southampton H 1–0 29,677 Carbone 11 April 1998 Barnsley A 1–2 18,692 Stefanović 13 April 1998 West Ham United H 1–1 28,036 Magilton 19 April 1998 Chelsea A 0–1 29,075 25 April 1998 Everton A 3–1 35,497 Pembridge (2), Di Canio 2 May 1998 Aston Villa H 1–3 34,177 Sanetti 10 May 1998 Crystal Palace A 0–1 16,876
Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers R3 3 January 1998 Watford A 1–1 18,306 Alexandersson R3R 14 January 1998 Watford H 0–0 (won 5–3 on pens) 18,707 R4 26 January 1998 Blackburn Rovers H 0–3 15,940
League Cup [ edit ] Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers R2 1st Leg 17 September 1997 Grimsby Town A 0–2 6,429 R2 2nd Leg 1 October 1997 Grimsby Town H 3–2 (lost 3–4 on agg) 11,120 Davison (own goal), Di Canio (2)
Players [ edit ] First-team squad [ edit ] Squad at end of season [2] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Left club during season [ edit ] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Reserve squad [ edit ] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Transfers [ edit ] Date Pos Name From Fee 24 June 1997 DF Patrick Blondeau AS Monaco £1,800,000 6 August 1997 FW Paolo Di Canio Celtic £3,000,000 9 September 1997 MF Jim Magilton Southampton £1,600,000 22 September 1997 GK Bruce Grobbelaar Oxford United Nominal 2 October 1997 MF Petter Rudi Molde £800,000 17 November 1997 DF Derek Geary Rivermount Boys Signed 5 December 1997 MF Niclas Alexandersson IFK Göteborg £750,000 6 December 1997 MF Alan Quinn Cherry Orchard Nominal 30 January 1998 DF Andy Hinchcliffe Everton £3,000,000 19 February 1998 DF Goce Sedloski Hajduk Split £750,000 24 February 1998 DF Earl Barrett Everton Free transfer 26 March 1998 GK Stuart Jones Weston-super-Mare £20,000 26 March 1998 DF Emerson Thome Benfica Signed 30 April 1998 FW Francesco Sanetti Genoa Free transfer
Transfers in: £11,720,000 Transfers out: £5,900,000 Total spending: £5,820,000 Statistics [ edit ] Appearances and goals [ edit ] Starting 11 [ edit ] Considering starts in all competitions [3] GK: #1, Kevin Pressman , 41 RB: #2, Peter Atherton , 31 CB: #5, Jon Newsome , 29 CB: #6, Des Walker , 43 LB: #3, Ian Nolan , 32 CM: #25, Petter Rudi , 22 CM: #24, Jim Magilton , 16 (#7, Guy Whittingham , and #18, Dejan Stefanović , both have 20 starts) CM: #4, Mark Pembridge , 36 AM: #8, Benito Carbone , 31 CF: #10, Andy Booth , 23 CF: #11, Paolo Di Canio , 39 ^ Nolan was born in Liverpool , England , but also qualified to represent Northern Ireland internationally and made his international debut for Northern Ireland in 1996. ^ Poric was born in London , England , but also qualified to represent Australia internationally and represented them at U-20 level. ^ Grobbelaar was born in Durban , South Africa , but was raised in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe ) from the age of two months and made his international debut for Rhodesia in 1977 and for Zimbabwe in 1980. ^ Jones was born in Sheffield , England , but also qualified to represent Wales internationally and made his international debut for Wales in May 1994. ^ McKeever was born in Derry , Northern Ireland , but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and represented them at U-19 and U-21 level. References [ edit ] Dickinson, Jason (1999). One Hundred Years at Hillsborough . Sheffield: The Hallamshire Press/Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. pp. 244–245, 386. ISBN 978-1-874718-29-1 . Dickinson, Jason; Brodie, John (2005). The Wednesday Boys: A Definitive Who's Who of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club 1880–2005 . Sheffield: Pickard Communication. pp. 346–347, 350. ISBN 978-0-9547264-9-2 . Drake, A. "1997–98 Players" . BT Internet . Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2008 .
National teams
League competitions
Level 1 Levels 2–4 Level 5 Levels 6–7 Levels 8–9 Isthmian League (Two , Three ) Combined Counties League (level 8 only ) Eastern Counties League (Premier , One ) Essex Senior League (level 8 only ) Hellenic League (Premier , One ) Kent League (level 8 only ) Midland Alliance (level 8 only ) Midland Football Combination (level 9 only ) North West Counties League (One , Two ) Northern Counties East League (Premier , One ) Northern League (One , Two ) Spartan South Midlands League (Premier North , Premier South , Senior ) Sussex County League (One , Two ) United Counties League (Premier , One ) Wessex League (level 8 only ) West Midlands (Regional) League (level 9 only ) Western League (Premier , One )
Cup competitions
FA cups Football League cups
European competitions