1997–98 Oxford United F.C. season

Oxford United

1997–98 season
Manager	Denis Smith (until 24 December) Malcolm Crosby (caretaker from 24 December - 24 January) Malcolm Shotton (from 24 January)
Stadium	Manor Ground
First Division	12th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	League: Beauchamp (13) All: Beauchamp (19)
Average home league attendance	7,512
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

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

Season summary

In the 1997–98 season, Denis Smith resigned in December^[1] with the club £10 million in debt and was replaced in January by Malcolm Shotton. His appointment was popular and initially successful, as he led the team out of relegation danger to a creditable 12th-place finish in Division One.

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 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

Oxford United's score comes first^[2]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	Huddersfield Town	H	2–0	7,085	Jemson (pen), Aldridge
16 August 1997	Charlton Athletic	A	2–3	10,230	Purse, Jemson (pen)
23 August 1997	Nottingham Forest	H	0–1	9,486
30 August 1997	Portsmouth	A	1–2	10,209	B Ford
2 September 1997	Sunderland	A	1–3	27,643	Angel
7 September 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	3–0	6,921	Beauchamp (2), B Ford
13 September 1997	Reading	A	1–2	9,003	Jemson
20 September 1997	Sheffield United	H	2–4	7,514	Jemson (2)
27 September 1997	Bradford City	H	0–0	6,468
4 October 1997	West Bromwich Albion	A	2–1	15,819	Banger, Purse
11 October 1997	Stockport County	A	2–3	7,333	Purse, Aldridge
18 October 1997	Ipswich Town	H	1–0	7,594	Smith
21 October 1997	Middlesbrough	H	1–4	8,306	Purse
25 October 1997	Birmingham City	A	0–0	16,352
1 November 1997	Manchester City	H	0–0	8,592
4 November 1997	Stoke City	A	0–0	10,132
8 November 1997	Crewe Alexandra	A	1–2	4,524	M Ford
15 November 1997	Bury	H	1–1	5,811	Banger
22 November 1997	Norwich City	A	1–2	11,241	Powell
29 November 1997	Port Vale	H	2–0	5,762	Beauchamp, Jemson
6 December 1997	Swindon Town	A	1–4	10,902	M Ford
12 December 1997	Queens Park Rangers	H	3–1	6,664	Jemson, Beauchamp (2)
20 December 1997	Tranmere Rovers	A	2–0	5,181	Massey, Robinson
26 December 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–1	26,238
28 December 1997	Sunderland	H	1–1	8,659	Jemson (pen)
10 January 1998	Huddersfield Town	A	1–5	10,378	Gray
17 January 1998	Charlton Athletic	H	1–2	7,234	Jemson
24 January 1998	Portsmouth	H	1–0	7,402	Beauchamp
31 January 1998	Nottingham Forest	A	3–1	18,392	Beauchamp (2), Weatherstone
7 February 1998	Sheffield United	A	0–1	16,881
17 February 1998	West Bromwich Albion	H	2–1	9,412	Gilchrist, Francis
21 February 1998	Bradford City	A	0–0	14,190
24 February 1998	Ipswich Town	A	2–5	11,824	Francis, Donaldson (pen)
28 February 1998	Stockport County	H	3–0	6,650	Davis, Donaldson, Francis
3 March 1998	Crewe Alexandra	H	0–0	6,069
7 March 1998	Manchester City	A	2–0	28,720	Beauchamp, Cook
14 March 1998	Stoke City	H	5–1	7,300	Murphy (2), Francis (2), Beauchamp
17 March 1998	Reading	H	3–0	8,103	Beauchamp (2), Gray
21 March 1998	Bury	A	0–1	5,159
28 March 1998	Norwich City	H	2–0	7,869	Francis, Beauchamp (pen)
4 April 1998	Port Vale	A	0–3	6,524
11 April 1998	Swindon Town	H	2–1	8,005	Francis, Gilchrist
14 April 1998	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–1	12,859	Davis
18 April 1998	Tranmere Rovers	H	1–1	6,489	Cook
25 April 1998	Birmingham City	H	0–2	8,818
3 May 1998	Middlesbrough	A	1–4	30,228	Banger

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	3 January 1998	Leeds United	A	0–4	20,568

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 First Leg	12 August 1997	Plymouth Argyle	H	2–0	5,083	Purse, Logan (own goal)
R1 Second Leg	26 August 1997	Plymouth Argyle	A	5–3 (won 7-3 on agg)	3,037	Beauchamp (2), Jemson, Purse, Murphy
R2 First Leg	16 September 1997	York City	H	4–1	2,923	Robinson, Aldridge, Beauchamp (2)
R2 Second Leg	23 September 1997	York City	A	2–1 (won 6-2 on agg)	1,555	Aldridge, Banger
R3	14 October 1997	Tranmere Rovers	H	1–1 (won 6-5 on pens)	3,878	Beauchamp
R4	18 November 1997	Ipswich Town	H	1–2 (a.e.t.)	5,723	Beauchamp

Squad

^[3] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Phil Whitehead DF Les Robinson DF Phil Gilchrist DF Darren Purse DF Mike Ford MF Joey Beauchamp MF David Smith MF Martin Gray FW Nigel Jemson FW Nicky Banger FW Matt Murphy MF Bobby Ford DF Steve Davis FW Kevin Francis DF Brian Wilsterman GK Arjan van Heusden MF Stuart Massey

No. Position Player FW Martin Aldridge DF Christophe Rémy DF Simon Marsh MF Paul Powell FW Mark Angel FW Jamie Cook DF Phil Whelan FW O'Neill Donaldson GK Elliot Jackson MF Simon Weatherstone FW Rob Folland DF Andrew Rose DF Mark Stevens MF Tony Wright MF Wayne Dyer MF Mickey Lewis

References

1. "Crosby: I should have stayed". Oxford Mail. 19 February 2000. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
2. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/oxford-united/1997-1998/results
3. http://www.11v11.com/teams/oxford-united/tab/players/season/1998