1997–98 Leeds United A.F.C. season

Leeds United

1997–98 season
Chairman	Bill Fotherby (until 23 June) Peter Ridsdale
Manager	George Graham
Stadium	Elland Road
Premiership	5th
FA Cup	Quarter finals
League Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	League: Hasselbaink (16) All: Hasselbaink (22)
Highest home attendance	39,952 vs Manchester United (27 Sep 1997, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance	8,806 vs Bristol City (17 Sep 1997, League Cup)
Average home league attendance	34,725
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

During the 1997–98 season, Leeds United competed in the Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary

After a goal-shy Leeds side managed only an 11th-place finish the previous season, the acquisition of Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink bolstered their attack substantially and they were soon back to their winning ways after two seasons of struggle. George Graham's hard work in his second season as manager soon paid off with a fifth-place finish – the club's highest for three years – and UEFA Cup qualification.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Arsenal (C)	38	23	9	6	68	33	+35	78	1998–99 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2	Manchester United	38	23	8	7	73	26	+47	77	1998–99 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
3	Liverpool	38	18	11	9	68	42	+26	65	1998–99 UEFA Cup First round
4	Chelsea	38	20	3	15	71	43	+28	63	1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup First round ^1
5	Leeds United	38	17	8	13	57	46	+11	59	1998–99 UEFA Cup First round
6	Blackburn Rovers	38	16	10	12	57	52	+5	58
7	Aston Villa	38	17	6	15	49	48	+1	57
8	West Ham United	38	16	8	14	56	57	−1	56
9	Derby County	38	16	7	15	52	49	+3	55
10	Leicester City	38	13	14	11	51	41	+10	53
11	Coventry City	38	12	16	10	46	44	+2	52
12	Southampton	38	14	6	18	50	55	−5	48
13	Newcastle United	38	11	11	16	35	44	−9	44	1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup First round ^2
14	Tottenham Hotspur	38	11	11	16	44	56	−12	44
15	Wimbledon	38	10	14	14	34	46	−12	44
16	Sheffield Wednesday	38	12	8	18	52	67	−15	44
17	Everton	38	9	13	16	41	56	−15	40
18	Bolton Wanderers (R)	38	9	13	16	41	61	−20	40	Relegation to 1998–99 Football League First Division
19	Barnsley (R)	38	10	5	23	37	82	−45	35
20	Crystal Palace (R)	38	8	9	21	37	71	–34	33	1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup Third round ^3
										Relegation to the 1998–99 Football League First Division

Updated to games played on 10 May 1998.
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹ Chelsea qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as defending champions and were the League Cup winners.
² As Arsenal qualified for the Champions League, their Cup Winners' Cup place as FA Cup winners defaulted to Newcastle United, the losing finalists.
³ Despite being relegated, Crystal Palace qualified for the 1998 Intertoto Cup.
(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 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	17	8	13	57	46	+11	59	9	5	5	31	21	+10	8	3	8	26	25	+1

Source: 1997-98 FA Premier League table

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	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H
Result	D	W	L	L	L	W	L	W	W	D	W	L	W	W	W	W	D	D	W	L	D	L	L	W	L	D	L	W	W	W	L	W	W	L	W	D	L	D
Position	9	5	9	11	14	9	14	8	6	7	6	8	7	4	4	4	5	4	4	5	5	6	7	7	7	8	8	7	7	5	5	4	4	5	4	5	5	5

Source: 11v11.com: 1997-98 Leeds United results
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Results

Leeds United's score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	Arsenal	H	1–1	37,993	Hasselbaink
13 August 1997	Sheffield Wednesday	A	3–1	31,520	Wallace (2), Ribeiro
23 August 1997	Crystal Palace	H	0–2	29,076
26 August 1997	Liverpool	H	0–2	39,775
30 August 1997	Aston Villa	A	0–1	39,027
14 September 1997	Blackburn Rovers	A	4–3	21,956	Wallace (2), Molenaar, Hopkin
20 September 1997	Leicester City	H	0–1	29,620
24 September 1997	Southampton	A	2–0	15,102	Molenaar, Wallace
27 September 1997	Manchester United	H	1–0	39,952	Wetherall
4 October 1997	Coventry City	A	0–0	17,770
18 October 1997	Newcastle United	H	4–1	39,834	Ribeiro, Kewell, Beresford (own goal), Wetherall
25 October 1997	Wimbledon	A	0–1	15,718
1 November 1997	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–0	26,441	Wallace
8 November 1997	Derby County	H	4–3	33,572	Wallace, Kewell, Hasselbaink (pen), Bowyer
23 November 1997	West Ham United	H	3–1	30,031	Hasselbaink (2), Håland
29 November 1997	Barnsley	A	3–2	18,690	Håland, Wallace, Lilley
6 December 1997	Everton	H	0–0	34,869
13 December 1997	Chelsea	A	0–0	34,690
20 December 1997	Bolton Wanderers	H	2–0	31,163	Ribeiro, Hasselbaink
26 December 1997	Liverpool	A	1–3	43,854	Håland
28 December 1997	Aston Villa	H	1–1	36,287	Hasselbaink
10 January 1998	Arsenal	A	1–2	38,018	Hasselbaink
17 January 1998	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–2	33,166	Pembridge (own goal)
31 January 1998	Crystal Palace	A	2–0	25,248	Wallace, Hasselbaink
7 February 1998	Leicester City	A	0–1	21,244
22 February 1998	Newcastle United	A	1–1	36,511	Wallace
28 February 1998	Southampton	H	0–1	28,791
4 March 1998	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–0	31,394	Kewell
11 March 1998	Blackburn Rovers	H	4–0	32,933	Bowyer, Hasselbaink, Håland (2)
15 March 1998	Derby County	A	5–0	30,217	Laursen (own goal), Halle, Bowyer, Kewell, Hasselbaink
30 March 1998	West Ham United	A	0–3	24,107
4 April 1998	Barnsley	H	2–1	37,749	Hasselbaink, Moses (own goal)
8 April 1998	Chelsea	H	3–1	37,276	Hasselbaink (2), Wetherall
11 April 1998	Everton	A	0–2	37,099
18 April 1998	Bolton Wanderers	A	3–2	25,000	Håland, Halle, Hasselbaink
25 April 1998	Coventry City	H	3–3	36,522	Hasselbaink (2), Kewell
4 May 1998	Manchester United	A	0–3	55,167
10 May 1998	Wimbledon	H	1–1	38,172	Håland

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	3 January 1998	Oxford United	H	4–0	20,568	Radebe, Hasselbaink (pen), Kewell (2)
R4	24 January 1998	Grimsby Town	H	2–0	29,598	Molenaar, Hasselbaink
R5	14 February 1998	Birmingham City	H	3–2	35,463	Wallace, Hasselbaink (2)
QF	7 March 1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0–1	39,902

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st leg	17 September 1997	Bristol City	H	3–1	8,806	Wetherall, Hasselbaink (pen), Ribeiro
R2 2nd leg	30 September 1997	Bristol City	A	1–2 (won 4-3 on agg)	10,857	Hasselbaink
R3	15 October 1997	Stoke City	A	3–1 (a.e.t.)	16,203	Kewell, Wallace (2)
R4	18 November 1997	Reading	H	2–3	15,069	Wetherall, Bowyer

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 1 GK Nigel Martyn 2 DF Gary Kelly 3 DF David Robertson 4 DF Alf-Inge Håland 5 DF Lucas Radebe 6 DF David Wetherall 7 MF Lee Sharpe 8 FW Rod Wallace 9 FW Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink 10 MF Bruno Ribeiro 11 MF Lee Bowyer 12 MF David Hopkin 14 FW Andy Gray[3] 15 GK Mark Beeney 17 FW Derek Lilley 18 DF Gunnar Halle 19 FW Harry Kewell

No. Position Player 20 DF Ian Harte 21 DF Martin Hiden 22 MF Matt Jones 24 MF Jason Blunt 27 DF Alan Maybury 28 DF Paul Shepherd 29 DF Mark Jackson 30 DF Robert Molenaar 31 MF Martin Foster 32 MF Andy Wright 33 MF Wesley Boyle 35 FW Lee Matthews 37 MF Stephen McPhail[4] 38 DF Damian Lynch 39 GK Simon Briggs 40 DF John Butler 45 GK Paul Robinson

Left club during season

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

No. Position Player 16 DF Richard Jobson (to Manchester City) 21 FW Tony Yeboah (Hamburg) 22 FW Ian Rush (to Newcastle United)

No. Position Player 25 FW Pierre Laurent (to Bastia) 26 MF Carlton Palmer (to Southampton) 36 FW Tomas Brolin (to Crystal Palace)

Reserve squad

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

No. Position Player - MF Kevin Dixon - DF Gareth Evans - DF Kevin Evans - FW Warren Feeney

No. Position Player - DF Sean Hessey - MF Tommy Knarvik - FW Alan Smith - DF Jonathan Woodgate

Transfers

In

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee
12 June 1997	FW	Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink	Boavista	£2,000,000
12 June 1997	DF	Alf-Inge Håland	Nottingham Forest	£1,600,000
18 June 1997	MF	Bruno Ribeiro	Vitória	£500,000
21 July 1997	MF	David Hopkin	Crystal Palace	£3,250,000
25 February 1998	DF	Martin Hiden	Rapid Vienna	£1,300,000
16 May 1998	FW	Clyde Wijnhard	Willem II	£1,500,000

Out

Date	Pos	Name	To	Fee
1 August 1997	MF	Mark Ford	Burnley	£250,000
1 August 1997	FW	Brian Deane	Sheffield United	£1,500,000
1 August 1997	MF	Andy Couzens	Carlisle United	£100,000
18 August 1997	FW	Ian Rush	Newcastle United	Free transfer
20 August 1997	DF	Tony Dorigo	Torino	Free transfer
23 September 1997	DF	Carlton Palmer	Southampton	£1,000,000
24 September 1997	FW	Tony Yeboah	Hamburger SV	£1,000,000
5 January 1998	FW	Pierre Laurent	Bastia	£500,000
10 March 1998	DF	Richard Jobson	Manchester City	Free transfer

Transfers in: £10,150,000

Transfers out: £4,350,000

Total spending: £5,800,000

Loaned out

• Andy Gray - Bury, 11 December 1997
• Richard Jobson - Southend United, 21 January 1998
• Jason Blunt - Raith Rovers, 31 March 1998

References

1. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/leeds-united/1997-1998/results
2. http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/1997-1998/faprem/leeds.htm
3. Gray was born in Harrogate, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally and would make his international debut for Scotland in April 2003.
4. McPhail was born in Westminster, England, but was raised in Dublin and would make his international debut for Ireland in May 2000.