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1997–98 Sheffield United F.C. season

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Sheffield United
1997–98 season
ChairmanMike McDonald
ManagerNigel Spackman (until 2 March)
Russell Slade (caretaker from 2–9 March)
Steve Thompson (caretaker from 3 March)
StadiumBramall Lane
First Division6th
FA CupSemi-finals
League CupThird round
Top goalscorerLeague: Deane (10)
All: Deane (12)
Fjørtoft (12)
Average home league attendance17,942

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

Season summary

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On 5 August 1997, Nigel Spackman was appointed as permanent manager of Sheffield United and his side had a good start to the season but huge losses and high wages from the previous season's promotion failure led to enforced sales of key personnel. The final straw being the sale of both of the club's top scoring strikers (Brian Deane – 11 league goals – went to S.L. Benfica & Jan Åge Fjørtoft – 9 league goals – to Barnsley) on the same day. Even though leaving midseason, Deane would go on to become the team's top scorer that year, such was the lack of replacements. Spackman was unhappy over this and resigned in March 1998, leaving Thompson and Slade in caretaker charge until the end of the season. The Blades finished in the playoffs but came up short in the playoff semi-finals against Sunderland, losing 3–2 on aggregate.

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
4 Charlton Athletic (O, P) 46 26 10 10 80 49 +31 88 Qualification for the First Division play-offs
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
Source: Statto.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference
(O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Results

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Sheffield United's score comes first[1]

Legend

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Win Draw Loss

Football League First Division

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Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
10 August 1997 Sunderland H 2–0 17,324 Fjørtoft, Borbokis
16 August 1997 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 0–0 23,102
23 August 1997 Portsmouth H 2–1 15,895 Fjørtoft (2)
30 August 1997 Huddersfield Town A 0–0 14,268
13 September 1997 Nottingham Forest H 1–0 24,536 Taylor
20 September 1997 Oxford United A 4–2 7,514 Deane, Fjørtoft (pen), Holdsworth, Whitehouse
27 September 1997 Birmingham City H 0–0 20,553
5 October 1997 Middlesbrough A 2–1 30,000 Deane, Whitehouse
18 October 1997 Queens Park Rangers H 2–2 18,006 Borbokis, Marcelo
21 October 1997 Stockport County H 5–1 16,241 Whitehouse, Fjørtoft (3), Deane
25 October 1997 West Bromwich Albion A 0–2 17,311
1 November 1997 Tranmere Rovers H 2–1 16,578 Tiler, Taylor
4 November 1997 Reading A 1–0 8,132 Patterson
9 November 1997 Ipswich Town A 2–2 9,695 Taylor, Ward
15 November 1997 Manchester City H 1–1 23,850 Deane
18 November 1997 Bradford City A 1–1 16,127 Deane
22 November 1997 Port Vale A 0–0 8,017
29 November 1997 Crewe Alexandra H 1–0 16,973 Fjørtoft
2 December 1997 Stoke City H 3–2 14,347 Taylor, Fjørtoft, Deane
6 December 1997 Norwich City A 1–2 11,745 Deane
9 December 1997 Charlton Athletic A 1–2 9,868 Marker
13 December 1997 Swindon Town H 2–1 18,115 Holdsworth, Saunders
20 December 1997 Bury A 1–1 6,012 Deane
26 December 1997 Stoke City A 2–2 19,723 Taylor, Deane
28 December 1997 Charlton Athletic H 4–1 18,677 Taylor, Saunders, Deane, Marker
10 January 1998 Sunderland A 2–4 36,391 Saunders, Taylor
17 January 1998 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 1–0 22,144 Marcelo
27 January 1998 Huddersfield Town H 1–1 16,535 Saunders
31 January 1998 Portsmouth A 1–1 12,003 Knight (own goal)
7 February 1998 Oxford United H 1–0 16,881 Ford
22 February 1998 Birmingham City A 0–2 17,965
25 February 1998 Queens Park Rangers A 2–2 9,560 Saunders, Stuart
28 February 1998 Bradford City H 2–1 17,848 Taylor (2)
3 March 1998 Ipswich Town H 0–1 14,120
14 March 1998 Reading H 4–0 15,473 Stuart, Marcelo, Taylor, Quinn
21 March 1998 Manchester City A 0–0 28,496
28 March 1998 Port Vale H 2–1 15,860 Marcelo, Saunders
1 April 1998 Nottingham Forest A 0–3 21,512
7 April 1998 Middlesbrough H 1–0 18,421 Saunders
11 April 1998 Norwich City H 2–2 16,915 Stuart, Borbokis
13 April 1998 Swindon Town A 1–1 5,956 Marcelo
18 April 1998 Bury H 3–0 16,056 Stuart (pen), Saunders (2)
25 April 1998 West Bromwich Albion H 2–4 21,248 Stuart (pen), Marcelo
28 April 1998 Tranmere Rovers A 3–3 7,526 Quinn, Saunders, Devlin
30 April 1998 Crewe Alexandra A 1–2 5,759 Hamilton
3 May 1998 Stockport County A 0–1 9,683

First Division play-offs

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
SF First Leg 10 May 1998 Sunderland H 2–1 23,800 Marcelo, Borbokis
SF Second Leg 13 May 1998 Sunderland A 0–2 (lost 2–3 on agg) 40,092

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
R3 3 January 1998 Bury H 1–1 14,009 Fjørtoft
R3R 13 January 1998 Bury A 2–1 4,920 Saunders, Fjørtoft
R4 24 January 1998 Ipswich Town A 1–1 14,654 Saunders
R4R 3 February 1998 Ipswich Town H 1–0 14,144 Hutchison (pen)
R5 13 February 1998 Reading H 1–0 17,845 Sandford
QF 7 March 1998 Coventry City A 1–1 23,084 Marcelo
QFR 17 March 1998 Coventry City H 1–1 (won 3–1 on pens) 29,034 Holdsworth
SF 5 April 1998 Newcastle United N 0–1 53,452

League Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
R1 First Leg 12 August 1997 Wrexham A 1–1 3,644 Borbokis
R1 Second Leg 26 August 1997 Wrexham H 3–1 (won 4–2 on agg) 7,181 Deane, Whitehouse, Fjørtoft
R2 First Leg 16 September 1997 Watford A 1–1 7,154 Scott
R2 Second Leg 23 September 1997 Watford H 4–0 (won 5–1 on agg) 7,511 Day (own goal), Whitehouse (2), Deane
R3 14 October 1997 Walsall A 1–2 8,239 Borbokis

Players

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First-team squad

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Squad at end of season[2]

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 Matthew George
GK England ENG Simon Tracey
GK Wales WAL Andy Dibble
GK Republic of Ireland IRL Alan Kelly[notes 1]
DF England ENG Earl Barrett
DF England ENG Ian Hamilton
DF England ENG David Holdsworth
DF England ENG David Lee (on loan from Chelsea)
DF England ENG Nicky Marker
DF England ENG Jon O'Connor (on loan from Everton)
DF England ENG Wayne Quinn
DF England ENG Lee Sandford
DF England ENG Chris Short[notes 2]
DF England ENG Carl Tiler
DF England ENG Chris Wilder
DF Republic of Ireland IRL Paul McGrath[notes 3]
DF Netherlands NED Michel Vonk
DF Norway NOR Roger Nilsen
DF Greece GRE Vasilios Borbokis
DF Greece GRE Traianos Dellas
MF England ENG Mark Beard
MF England ENG Adam Burley
MF England ENG Jon Cullen
MF England ENG Kevin Davies
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF England ENG Shaun Derry
MF England ENG Paul Devlin[notes 4]
MF England ENG Bobby Ford
MF England ENG Steve Hawes
MF England ENG Nick Henry
MF England ENG Ryan Ludlam
MF England ENG Graham Stuart
MF England ENG Mitch Ward
MF England ENG David White
MF England ENG Dane Whitehouse
MF England ENG Curtis Woodhouse
MF Scotland SCO Don Hutchison[notes 5]
FW England ENG Brian Deane
FW England ENG Lee Morris
FW England ENG Mark Patterson
FW England ENG Andy Scott
FW Wales WAL Ian Rush (on loan from Newcastle United)
FW Wales WAL Dean Saunders
FW Wales WAL Gareth Taylor[notes 6]
FW Scotland SCO Andy Walker
FW Norway NOR Jan Åge Fjørtoft
FW Finland FIN Ville Lehtinen
FW Belarus BLR Pyotr Kachura
FW Brazil BRA Marcelo

Notes

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  1. ^ Kelly was born in Preston, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his father and represented them at U-23 level before making his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in 1993.
  2. ^ Short was born in Münster, West Germany (now Germany), but was raised in England.
  3. ^ McGrath was born in Ealing, England, but was raised in the Republic of Ireland and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in 1985.
  4. ^ Devlin was born in Birmingham, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally through his father and would make his international debut for Scotland in October 2002.
  5. ^ Hutchison was born in Gateshead, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally through his father and would make his international debut for Scotland in March 1999, having previously represented them at B level.
  6. ^ Taylor was born in Weston-super-Mare, England, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally through his father and made his international debut for Wales in 1995.

References

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  1. ^ "Sheffield United results for the 1997-1998 season – Statto.com". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  2. ^ "All Sheffield United players: 1998". 11v11.com.