1997–98 Stockport County F.C. season

During the 1997–98 English football season, Stockport County F.C. competed in the First Division.

Stockport County
1997–98 season
ManagerEngland Gary Megson
StadiumEdgeley Park
First Division8th
FA CupFourth round
League CupSecond round

Season summary

Stockport's return to the second flight after an absence of 60 years appeared to be in danger of being written off as a failure before a ball had been kicked, as manager Dave Jones, who had led County to promotion and the League Cup semi-final the previous season, left to join Southampton,[1] taking his assistant John Sainty, goalkeeper Paul Jones and defender Lee Todd with him to The Dell. Gary Megson was recruited from Blackpool as his replacement. Three points from the opening seven games left Stockport facing relegation, but four straight wins after that lifted Stockport up to eighth,[2] signalling the end of their relegation fears for the season. These fears were replaced with hopes of finally reaching the top flight, but ultimately County's poor away form saw them finish in eighth, nine points off the play-offs. Of course, this was still as success, for this was Stockport's highest-ever placing in England's footballing ladder while at the same time this season was Manchester City's worst season in their history.

Final league table
Main article: 1997–98 Football League § First Division

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Nottingham Forest (C, P) 46 28 10 8 82 42 +40 94 Promotion to the Premier League
2 Middlesbrough (P) 46 27 10 9 77 41 +36 91
3 Sunderland 46 26 12 8 86 50 +36 90 Qualification for the First Division play-offs
4 Charlton Athletic (O, 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 the 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
Source: Statto.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Results

Stockport County's scores comes first

Legend
Win Draw Loss

First Division
  • Stockport County 3–1 Manchester City (Cook, Angell, Armstrong)
  • Manchester City 4–1 Stockport County

FA Cup
Main article: 1997–98 FA Cup

League Cup
Main article: 1997–98 Football League Cup

Squad
Squad at end of season[3]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK England ENG Eric Nixon
— DF England ENG Sean Connelly
— DF England ENG Mike Flynn
— DF England ENG Jim Gannon
— DF England ENG Simon Travis
— DF England ENG Ronnie Wallwork (on loan from Manchester United)
— DF England ENG Colin Woodthorpe
— DF Wales WAL Damon Searle
— DF Scotland SCO Tom Bennett
No. Pos. Nation Player
— DF Scotland SCO Martin McIntosh
— MF England ENG Chris Byrne
— MF England ENG Paul Cook
— MF England ENG Kevin Cooper
— MF England ENG Tony Dinning
— MF Wales WAL Wayne Phillips
— FW England ENG Brett Angell
— FW England ENG Aaron Wilbraham
— FW Republic of Ireland IRL Stephen Grant

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. Pos. Nation Player
— GK Wales WAL Neil Edwards (to Rochdale)
— DF England ENG Matthew Bound (to Swansea City)
— MF England ENG Chris Marsden (to Birmingham City)
— MF England ENG Lee Richardson (on loan from Oldham Athletic)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF Republic of Ireland IRL Eddie McGoldrick (on loan from Manchester City)
— FW England ENG Alun Armstrong (to Middlesbrough)
— FW Australia AUS Vasilios Kalogeracos (to Perth Glory)

References
  1. "Dave Jones factfile".
  2. "Stockport County 1997-1998 Home - statto.com". Archived from the original on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  3. "Stockport County - Squad 1997/1998".
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