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 (33)
Average home league attendance	3,899
←  1997–98 →

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).

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)	Martínez, Jones

Squad[]

Note: Numbers in brackets are appearances as a substitute.
Source:^[2]

Nat.	Pos.	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
			League		FA Cup		Other[3]		Total
	FW	Wayne Biggins	20 (13)	3	1	0	1 (2)	0	22 (15)	3
	DF	Charlie Bishop	20 (1)	0	0	0	2	0	22 (1)	0
	DF	John Butler	20 (4)	0	1	0	1	0	22 (4)	0
	GK	Lee Butler	46	0	1	0	3	0	50	0
	DF	Matt Carragher	12 (6)	0	0 (1)	0	2	0	12 (7)	0
	MF	Isidro Díaz	26 (13)	6	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	26 (15)	6
	DF	Colin Greenall	46	2	1	0	2 (1)	1	49 (1)	3
	DF	Gavin Johnson	37	3	1	0	3	0	41	3
	FW	Graeme Jones	39 (1)	31	1	0	2 (1)	2	42 (2)	33
	MF	Ian Kilford	24 (11)	8	0	0	2 (1)	0	26 (12)	8
	DF	Ryan Kirby	05 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	05 (1)	0
	FW	Graham Lancashire	15 (9)	9	0	0	2	4	17 (9)	13
	DF	Michael Love	00 (3)	0	0	0	0	0	00 (3)	0
	FW	David Lowe	31 (11)	6	1	0	3	0	35 (11)	6
	MF	Roberto Martínez	38 (5)	4	1	0	2 (1)	1	41 (6)	5
	DF	Pat McGibbon	10	1	0	0	0	0	10	1
	DF	Steve Morgan	18 (5)	1	0	0	3	0	21 (5)	1
	DF	Roy O'Brien	00	0	0	0	0	0	00	0
	DF	John Pender	27 (2)	0	1	0	3	0	31 (2)	0
	MF	Paul Rogers	18 (2)	3	0	0	0	0	18 (2)	3
	FW	Andy Saville	17 (3)	4	1	0	1	0	19 (3)	4
	MF	Jesús Seba	00 (1)	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	00 (2)	0
	DF	Kevin Sharp	30 (5)	2	1	0	1 (1)	0	32 (6)	2
	MF	Mark Ward	05	0	0	0	0	0	05	0
	MF	Stuart Whittaker	02 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	02 (1)	0

References[]