1997–98 Swindon Town F.C. season

Swindon Town
1997–98 season
Chairman Rikki Hunt
Manager Steve McMahon
Stadium County Ground
First Division 18th
FA Cup Third round
League Cup First round
Top goalscorer Hay (14)
Average home league attendance 10,298

During the 1997–98 English football season, Swindon Town F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

Swindon started the season brilliantly and at the end of October they were top of the table but it all started to go downhill after hammering Oxford 4-1 in December, when Swindon managed just three more wins from the remaining 26 league games which also included an embarrassing FA Cup home defeat to non-league Stevenage. They finished the season in a lowly 18th position, and the pressure on McMahon to resign was immense, but chairman Rikki Hunt refused to sack him.

Final league table

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Nottingham Forest (C) 46 28 10 8 82 42+40 94 Promotion to 1998–99 FA Premier League
2 Middlesbrough (P) 46 27 10 9 77 41+36 91
3 Sunderland 46 26 12 8 86 50+36 90 Qualification for First Division play-offs
4 Charlton Athletic (P) 46 26 10 10 80 49+31 88
5 Ipswich Town 46 23 14 9 77 43+34 83
6 Sheffield United 46 19 17 10 69 54+15 74
7 Birmingham City 46 19 17 10 60 35+25 74
8 Stockport County 46 19 8 19 71 69+2 65
9 Wolverhampton Wanderers 46 18 11 17 57 53+4 65
10 West Bromwich Albion 46 16 13 17 50 566 61
11 Crewe Alexandra 46 18 5 23 58 657 59
12 Oxford United 46 16 10 20 60 644 58
13 Bradford City 46 14 15 17 46 5913 57
14 Tranmere Rovers 46 14 14 18 54 573 56
15 Norwich City 46 14 13 19 52 6917 55
16 Huddersfield Town 46 14 11 21 50 7222 53
17 Bury 46 11 19 16 42 5816 52
18 Swindon Town 46 14 10 22 42 7331 52
19 Port Vale 46 13 10 23 56 6610 49
20 Portsmouth 46 13 10 23 51 6312 49
21 Queens Park Rangers 46 10 19 17 51 6312 49
22 Manchester City (R) 46 12 12 22 56 571 48 Relegation to 1998–99 Second Division
23 Stoke City (R) 46 11 13 22 44 7430 46
24 Reading (R) 46 11 9 26 39 7839 42

Updated to games played on 3 May 1998.
Source: Statto.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Swindon Town's score comes first[1]

Legend

Win Draw Loss

Football League First Division

DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
9 August 1997 Crewe AlexandraH2–08,334Allison, Finney (pen)
16 August 1997 ReadingA1–09,338Hay
23 August 1997 Huddersfield TownH1–17,683Hay
30 August 1997 Stoke CityA2–123,000Allison, Hay
2 September 1997 Ipswich TownA1–211,246Allison
7 September 1997 Nottingham ForestH0–013,051
13 September 1997 Tranmere RoversH2–16,811Walters, Casper
20 September 1997 West Bromwich AlbionA0–016,237
27 September 1997 Manchester CityA0–626,646
4 October 1997 Port ValeH4–28,048Hay (3), Taylor
11 October 1997 BuryH3–17,640Hay (2), Gooden
18 October 1997 Wolverhampton WanderersA1–321,794Hay (pen)
21 October 1997 SunderlandA0–027,553
25 October 1997 Norwich CityH1–09,256Hay
31 October 1997 PortsmouthA1–08,707Hay
5 November 1997 Queens Park RangersH3–110,132Walters, Taylor, Hay
8 November 1997 Bradford CityH1–010,029Cowe
15 November 1997 Stockport CountyA2–47,694Hay, Leitch
22 November 1997 MiddlesbroughH1–215,228Ndah
28 November 1997 Charlton AthleticA0–313,769
6 December 1997 Oxford UnitedH4–110,902Wilsterman (own goal), Walters (pen), Finney, Gooden
13 December 1997 Sheffield UnitedA1–218,115Finney
20 December 1997 Birmingham CityH1–110,334Finney
26 December 1997 Nottingham ForestA0–326,500
28 December 1997 Ipswich TownH0–210,609
11 January 1998 Crewe AlexandraA0–24,176
17 January 1998 ReadingH0–29,500
24 January 1998 Bradford CityA1–115,130Hay
28 January 1998 Stoke CityH1–06,683Robinson
31 January 1998 Huddersfield TownA0–010,028
7 February 1998 West Bromwich AlbionH0–29,861
10 February 1998 Tranmere RoversA0–35,288
17 February 1998 Port ValeA1–05,925Collins
21 February 1998 Manchester CityH1–312,280Cowe
28 February 1998 BuryA0–15,002
7 March 1998 PortsmouthH0–19,100
11 March 1998 MiddlesbroughA0–629,581
14 March 1998 Queens Park RangersA2–113,486Walters (pen), Onoura
18 March 1998 Wolverhampton WanderersH0–07,770
21 March 1998 Stockport CountyH1–16,684McDonald
4 April 1998 Charlton AthleticH0–17,845
11 April 1998 Oxford UnitedA3–08,005Ndah (pen)
13 April 1998 Sheffield UnitedH1–15,956Walters
18 April 1998 Birmingham CityA0–317,016
25 April 1998 Norwich CityA0–518,443
3 May 1998 SunderlandH1–214,868Walters

FA Cup

Main article: 1997–98 FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R33 January 1998 Stevenage BoroughH1–29,422Walters

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R1 First Leg 13 August 1997 WatfordH0–26,271
R1 Second Leg 26 August 1997 WatfordA1–1 (lost 1-3 on agg)7,712Leitch

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
England GK Fraser Digby
England DF Brian Borrows
Northern Ireland DF Alan McDonald
England DF Craig Taylor
England DF Mark Robinson
England MF Ty Gooden
England MF Darren Bullock
England MF Mark Walters
Scotland MF Scott Leitch
Scotland FW Chris Hay
England FW Steve Finney
England FW Wayne Allison
Scotland MF Lee Collins
France MF Philippe Cuervo
England FW George Ndah
England GK Steve Mildenhall
England MF Kevin Watson
England DF Frédéric Darras
England DF Jason Drysdale
England DF David Kerslake
England MF David Thompson (on loan from Liverpool)
No. Position Player
England DF Ian Culverhouse
England MF Bobby Howe
England FW Steve Cowe
England DF Chris Casper (on loan from Manchester United)
England FW Iffy Onuora
England DF Mark Seagraves
England DF Sol Davis
England MF Alex Smith
Australia GK Frank Talia
Trinidad and Tobago GK Tony Warner (on loan from Liverpool)
England MF Stuart Elliott (on loan from Newcastle United)
England MF Steve McMahon
England MF Robin Hulbert
England FW Alex Meechan
Northern Ireland MF Paul McAreavey
Wales MF Michael Pattimore
England DF Phil King
England DF Adam Willis

References

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