1996–97 Brentford F.C. season

Brentford

1996–97 season
Chairman	Martin Lange
Manager	David Webb
Stadium	Griffin Park
Second Division	4th
Play-offs	Runners-up
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Auto Windscreens Shield	Quarter finals
Top goalscorer	Asaba (23)
Average home league attendance	5,832
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

During the 1996–97 English football season, Brentford F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Season summary

In the 1996-97 season, Brentford reached the play-offs and got to the final but lost 1-0 to Crewe Alexandra at Wembley.^[1] This was despite the fact they were top of the table for so long during the season before losing the last four league games which saw them slip out of the automatic promotion places. Also earlier in the season, manager Webb threatened to quit after Brentford supporters verbally abused him in Brentford's 1-0 defeat to Preston back in March.^[2]

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts
1	Bury	46		18	5	0	39	7		6	7	10	23	31		62	38	+24		84
2	Stockport County	46		15	5	3	31	14		8	8	7	28	27		59	41	+18		82
3	Luton Town	46		13	7	3	38	14		8	8	7	33	31		71	45	+26		78
4	Brentford	46		8	11	4	26	22		12	3	8	30	21		56	43	+13		74
5	Bristol City	46		14	4	5	43	18		7	6	10	26	33		69	51	+18		73
6	Crewe Alexandra	46		15	4	4	38	15		7	3	13	18	32		56	47	+9		73
7	Blackpool	46		13	7	3	41	21		5	8	10	19	26		60	47	+13		69
8	Wrexham	46		11	9	3	38	28		6	9	8	17	22		54	50	+4		69
9	Burnley	46		14	3	6	48	27		5	8	10	23	28		71	55	+16		68
10	Chesterfield	46		10	9	4	25	18		8	5	10	17	21		42	39	+3		68
11	Gillingham	46		13	3	7	37	25		6	7	10	23	34		60	59	+1		67
12	Walsall	46		12	8	3	35	21		7	2	14	19	32		54	53	+1		67
13	Watford	46		10	8	5	24	14		6	11	6	21	24		45	38	+7		67
14	Millwall	46		12	4	7	27	22		4	9	10	23	33		50	55	–5		61
15	Preston North End	46		14	5	4	33	19		4	2	17	16	36		49	55	–6		61
16	Bournemouth	46		8	9	6	24	20		7	6	10	19	25		43	45	–2		60
17	Bristol Rovers	46		13	4	6	34	22		2	7	14	13	28		47	50	–3		56
18	Wycombe Wanderers	46		13	4	6	31	14		2	6	15	20	43		51	56	–5		55
19	Plymouth Argyle	46		7	11	5	19	18		5	7	11	28	40		47	58	–11		54
20	York City	46		8	6	9	27	31		5	7	11	20	37		47	68	–21		52
21	Peterborough United	46		7	7	9	38	34		4	7	12	17	39		55	73	–18		47
22	Shrewsbury Town	46		8	6	9	27	32		3	7	13	22	42		49	74	–25		46
23	Rotherham United	46		4	7	12	17	29		3	7	13	22	41		39	70	–31		35
24	Notts County	46		4	9	10	20	25		3	5	15	13	34		33	59	–26		35

• 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

Brentford's score comes first^[3]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1996	Bury	A	1–1	3,373	Taylor
24 August 1996	Luton Town	H	3–2	5,404	Asaba, Bates, Taylor
27 August 1996	Gillingham	H	2–0	5,384	Abrahams (2)
31 August 1996	Shrewsbury Town	A	3–0	3,530	Asaba (3)
7 September 1996	Chesterfield	A	2–0	3,643	Bates, Forster
10 September 1996	Plymouth Argyle	H	3–2	5,377	Smith, Asaba, Bent
14 September 1996	Blackpool	H	1–1	5,908	Asaba
21 September 1996	Wycombe Wanderers	A	1–0	5,330	Bent
28 September 1996	York City	H	3–3	5,243	Taylor, Asaba (2)
1 October 1996	Bristol City	A	2–1	9,520	Asaba, Forster
5 October 1996	Rotherham United	H	4–2	6,137	Asaba (2), Taylor, Forster
12 October 1996	Crewe Alexandra	A	0–2	4,313
15 October 1996	Peterborough United	A	1–0	5,037	Taylor
19 October 1996	Walsall	H	1–1	5,419	Hutchings
26 October 1996	Millwall	H	0–0	7,691
29 October 1996	Bristol Rovers	A	1–2	5,163	Hutchings
2 November 1996	Watford	A	0–2	11,448
9 November 1996	Stockport County	H	2–2	5,076	Canham, Forster
19 November 1996	Bournemouth	A	1–2	3,464	Anderson
23 November 1996	Wrexham	H	2–0	4,885	Forster, Asaba
29 November 1996	Millwall	A	0–0	7,845
3 December 1996	Notts County	H	2–0	3,675	Bent, Asaba
14 December 1996	Burnley	A	2–1	10,575	Asaba, Forster
21 December 1996	Preston North End	H	0–0	5,365
26 December 1996	Plymouth Argyle	A	4–1	9,525	Forster (2), Asaba, Omigie
11 January 1997	York City	A	4–2	3,085	Asaba (2), Forster (2)
18 January 1997	Bristol City	H	0–0	7,606
21 January 1997	Bristol Rovers	H	0–0	4,191
1 February 1997	Stockport County	A	2–1	8,650	McGhee, Taylor
8 February 1997	Watford	H	1–1	8,679	Asaba
22 February 1997	Bournemouth	H	1–0	6,071	Asaba
1 March 1997	Notts County	A	1–1	4,323	Ashby
4 March 1997	Wycombe Wanderers	H	0–0	5,375
8 March 1997	Preston North End	A	0–1	9,489
15 March 1997	Burnley	H	0–3	6,624
21 March 1997	Luton Town	A	0–1	8,164
25 March 1997	Wrexham	A	2–0	4,053	Asaba (2, 1 pen)
29 March 1997	Bury	H	0–2	7,823
31 March 1997	Gillingham	A	2–1	7,361	Janney, Asaba
5 April 1997	Shrewsbury Town	H	0–0	5,355
11 April 1997	Rotherham United	A	1–0	1,797	Taylor
15 April 1997	Chesterfield	H	1–0	5,216	Asaba
19 April 1997	Crewe Alexandra	H	0–2	6,183
22 April 1997	Blackpool	A	0–1	4,030
26 April 1997	Walsall	A	0–1	5,359
3 May 1997	Peterborough United	H	0–1	5,274

Second Division play-offs

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SF 1st Leg	11 May 1997	Bristol City	A	2–1	15,581	Smith, Taylor
SF 2nd Leg	14 May 1997	Bristol City	H	2–1 (won 4-2 on agg)	9,496	Taylor, Bent
F	25 May 1997	Crewe Alexandra	N	0–1	34,149

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	16 November 1996	Bournemouth	H	2–0	4,509	Smith, Forster
R2	7 December 1996	Sudbury Town	A	3–1	3,973	McGhee, Taylor (2)
R3	25 January 1997	Manchester City	H	0–1	12,019

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	20 August 1996	Plymouth Argyle	H	1–0	3,034	Taylor
R1 2nd Leg	3 September 1996	Plymouth Argyle	A	0–0 (won 1-0 on agg)	5,180
R2 1st Leg	17 September 1996	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–2	8,938	Forster
R2 2nd Leg	24 September 1996	Blackburn Rovers	A	0–2 (lost 1-4 on agg)	9,599

Football League Trophy

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SR1	10 December 1996	Bristol Rovers	A	2–1	2,752
SR2	7 January 1997	Barnet	H	2–1 (a.e.t.)	1,455	Taylor, Forster
SQF	28 January 1997	Colchester United	H	0–1	2,253

Squad

^[4] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Kevin Dearden GK Tamer Fernandes DF Ijah Anderson DF Barry Ashby DF Jamie Bates DF Gus Hurdle DF David McGhee DF Richard Goddard-Crawley DF Lee Harvey DF Brian Statham MF Scott Canham MF Kevin Dennis MF Carl Hutchings

No. Position Player MF Stuart Myall MF Mark Janney (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur) MF Paul Smith FW Paul Abrahams FW Carl Asaba FW Marcus Bent FW Nicky Forster FW Malcolm McPherson FW Joe Omigie FW Kevin Rapley FW Steve Slade (on loan from QPR) FW Robert Taylor

References

1. Rowbottom, Mike (26 May 1997). "Gradi dreams on no more". The Independent. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
2. "Furious Webb set to quit.". The Free Library. Sunday Mirror. 9 March 1997. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
3. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/brentford/1996-1997/results
4. http://www.11v11.com/teams/brentford/tab/players/season/1997