1997–98 Middlesbrough F.C. season

Middlesbrough
	1997–98 season
Chairman	Steve Gibson
Manager	Bryan Robson
Stadium	Riverside Stadium
First Division	2nd (promoted)
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Runners-up
Top goalscorer	League: Beck (15); All: Merson (16)
Average home league attendance	29,994
← 1996–97	1998–99 →

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

Season summary

Middlesbrough were promoted to the Premier League, also reaching the League Cup final, where the club lost its third domestic cup final in a year. Just reaching the final was a huge success, though, with the club not playing in the top flight and having lost international star players Fabrizio Ravanelli and Juninho following relegation.

The season also saw the arrivals of well-known players such as Paul Gascoigne from Rangers, Marco Branca from Inter Milan and Paul Merson from Arsenal, with Boro bucking the trend of players only being attracted by top-flight clubs.

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	Promotion to 1998–99 FA Premier League
3	Sunderland	46	26	12	8	86	50	+36	90	Qualification to 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	56	−6	61
11	Crewe Alexandra	46	18	5	23	58	65	−7	59
12	Oxford United	46	16	10	20	60	64	−4	58
13	Bradford City	46	14	15	17	46	59	−13	57
14	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	14	18	54	57	−3	56
15	Norwich City	46	14	13	19	52	69	−17	55
16	Huddersfield Town	46	14	11	21	50	72	−22	53
17	Bury	46	11	19	16	42	58	−16	52
18	Swindon Town	46	14	10	22	42	73	−31	52
19	Port Vale	46	13	10	23	56	66	−10	49
20	Portsmouth	46	13	10	23	51	63	−12	49
21	Queens Park Rangers	46	10	19	17	51	63	−12	49
22	Manchester City (R)	46	12	12	22	56	57	−1	48	Relegation to 1998–99 Second Division
23	Stoke City (R)	46	11	13	22	44	74	−30	46
24	Reading (R)	46	11	9	26	39	78	−39	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

Middlesbrough's score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	Charlton Athletic	H	2–1	29,414	Festa, Ravanelli
23 August 1997	Stoke City	H	0–1	30,122
30 August 1997	Tranmere Rovers	A	2–0	12,095	Mustoe, Beck
2 September 1997	Stockport County	A	1–1	8,257	Merson
13 September 1997	Bradford City	A	2–2	17,767	Kinder, Ormerod
20 September 1997	Birmingham City	H	3–1	30,125	Kinder, Beck, Emerson
28 September 1997	Sunderland	A	2–1	35,384	Emerson, Mustoe
5 October 1997	Sheffield United	H	1–2	30,000	Beck
18 October 1997	Crewe Alexandra	A	1–1	5,759	Townsend
21 October 1997	Oxford United	A	4–1	8,306	Emerson, Mustoe, Fleming, Merson
25 October 1997	Port Vale	H	2–1	30,096	Merson (2 pens)
28 October 1997	Huddersfield Town	H	3–0	29,965	Merson, Beck (2)
1 November 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–1	26,896
5 November 1997	Portsmouth	H	1–1	29,724	Townsend
8 November 1997	Queens Park Rangers	H	3–0	30,067	Beck, Merson, Ormerod
15 November 1997	Norwich City	A	3–1	16,011	Beck, Merson, Ormerod
22 November 1997	Swindon Town	A	2–1	15,228	Merson, Emerson
26 November 1997	Nottingham Forest	H	0–0	30,143
29 November 1997	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–0	30,164	Beck
2 December 1997	Ipswich Town	A	1–1	13,619	Merson
6 December 1997	Bury	A	1–0	8,016	Beck
13 December 1997	Reading	H	4–0	29,876	Hignett (2), Beck (2)
20 December 1997	Manchester City	A	0–2	28,097
26 December 1997	Huddersfield Town	A	1–0	18,820	Gray (own goal)
28 December 1997	Stockport County	H	3–1	30,166	Hignett, Beck (2)
10 January 1998	Charlton Athletic	A	0–3	15,742
17 January 1998	Ipswich Town	H	1–1	30,081	Pearson
1 February 1998	Stoke City	A	2–1	13,242	Pearson, Moreno
4 February 1998	Tranmere Rovers	H	3–0	29,540	Hignett, Merson (2)
7 February 1998	Birmingham City	A	1–1	20,639	Festa
14 February 1998	Bradford City	H	1–0	30,165	Hignett
21 February 1998	Sunderland	H	3–1	30,227	Branca (2), Armstrong
25 February 1998	Crewe Alexandra	H	1–0	29,936	Maddison
1 March 1998	Nottingham Forest	A	0–4	25,286
4 March 1998	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–5	11,580
11 March 1998	Swindon Town	H	6–0	29,581	Branca (2), Maddison (2), Armstrong (2)
14 March 1998	Portsmouth	A	0–0	17,003
22 March 1998	Norwich City	H	3–0	30,040	Maddison, Armstrong, Beck
4 April 1998	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–2	20,620	Branca
7 April 1998	Sheffield United	A	0–1	18,421
11 April 1998	Bury	H	4–0	30,218	Ricard, Branca (3)
13 April 1998	Reading	A	1–0	14,501	Branca
17 April 1998	Manchester City	H	1–0	30,182	Armstrong
24 April 1998	Port Vale	A	1–0	25,781	Merson
29 April 1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–1	29,878	Ricard
3 May 1998	Oxford United	H	4–1	30,228	Armstrong (2), Hignett (2)

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	3 January 1998	Queens Park Rangers	A	2–2	13,379	Hignett, Mustoe
R3R	13 January 1998	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–0	21,817	Campbell, Mustoe
R4	24 January 1998	Arsenal	H	1–2	28,264	Merson

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 First Leg	16 September 1997	Barnet	H	1–0	9,611	Freestone
R2 Second Leg	23 September 1997	Barnet	A	2–0 (won 3-0 on agg)	3,968	Beck, Merson (pen)
R3	15 October 1997	Sunderland	H	2–0	26,451	Campbell, Hignett
R4	18 November 1997	Bolton Wanderers	H	2–1 (a.e.t.)	22,801	Summerbell, Hignett
R5	6 January 1998	Reading	A	1–0	13,072	Hignett
SF 1st Leg	27 January 1998	Liverpool	A	1–2	33,438	Merson
SF 2nd Leg	18 February 1998	Liverpool	H	2–0 (won 3-2 on agg)	29,828	Merson (pen), Branca
F	29 March 1998	Chelsea	N	0–2	77,698

Squad

[1] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Position	Player
-	GK	Mark Schwarzer
-	GK	Ben Roberts
-	GK	Marlon Beresford
-	GK	Andy Dibble
-	DF	Gianluca Festa
-	DF	Steve Vickers
-	DF	Curtis Fleming
-	DF	Nigel Pearson
-	DF	Vladimír Kinder
-	DF	Craig Harrison
-	DF	Derek Whyte
-	DF	Steve Baker
-	DF	Craig Liddle
-	DF	Robbie Stockdale
-	DF	Jason Gavin
-	DF	Alan White
-	MF	Paul Merson
-	MF	Andy Townsend
-	MF	Robbie Mustoe
-	MF	Emerson
-	MF	Neil Maddison
-	MF	Michael Thomas

No.	Position	Player
-	MF	Anthony Ormerod
-	MF	Phil Stamp
-	MF	Paul Gascoigne
-	MF	Mark Summerbell
-	MF	Alan Moore
-	MF	Clayton Blackmore
-	MF	Fabio Moreira
-	MF	Ronnie O'Brien
-	MF	Micky Cummins
-	MF	Paul Connor
-	MF	Andrew Swalwell
-	MF	John O'Loughlin
-	FW	Mikkel Beck
-	FW	Craig Hignett
-	FW	Marco Branca
-	FW	Alun Armstrong
-	FW	Andy Campbell
-	FW	Hamilton Ricard
-	FW	Fabrizio Ravanelli
-	FW	Jaime Moreno
-	FW	Chris Freestone
-	FW	Kris Trevor

References

↑ http://www.statto.com/football/teams/middlesbrough/1997-1998/results

[1] ttp://www.statto.com/football/teams/middlesbrough/1997-1998/results

[1]

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1997–98 Middlesbrough F.C. season

Contents

Season summary

Final league table

Results

Legend

Football League First Division

FA Cup

League Cup

Squad

References

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