1997–98 Stockport County F.C. season

Stockport County

1997–98 season
Manager	Gary Megson
Stadium	Edgeley Park
First Division	8th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Second round
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

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

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

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts
1	Nottingham Forest	46		18	2	3	52	20		10	8	5	30	22		82	42	+40		94
2	Middlesbrough	46		17	4	2	51	12		10	6	7	26	29		77	41	+36		91
3	Sunderland	46		14	7	2	49	22		12	5	6	37	28		86	50	+36		90
4	Charlton Athletic	46		17	5	1	48	17		9	5	9	32	32		80	49	+31		88
5	Ipswich Town	46		14	5	4	47	20		9	9	5	30	23		77	43	+34		83
6	Sheffield United	46		16	5	2	44	20		3	12	8	25	34		69	54	+15		74
7	Birmingham City	46		10	8	5	27	15		9	9	5	33	20		60	35	+25		74
8	Stockport County	46		14	6	3	46	21		5	2	16	25	48		71	69	+2		65
9	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46		13	6	4	42	25		5	5	13	15	28		57	53	+4		65
10	West Bromwich Albion	46		9	8	6	27	26		7	5	11	23	30		50	56	–6		61
11	Crewe Alexandra	46		10	2	11	30	34		8	3	12	28	31		58	65	–7		59
12	Oxford United	46		12	6	5	36	20		4	4	15	24	44		60	64	–4		58
13	Bradford City	46		10	9	4	26	23		4	6	13	20	36		46	59	–13		57
14	Tranmere Rovers	46		9	8	6	34	26		5	6	12	20	31		54	57	–3		56
15	Norwich City	46		9	8	6	32	27		5	5	13	20	42		52	69	–17		55
16	Huddersfield Town	46		9	5	9	28	28		5	6	12	22	44		50	72	–22		53
17	Bury	46		7	10	6	22	22		4	9	10	20	36		42	58	–16		52
18	Swindon Town	46		9	6	8	28	25		5	4	14	14	48		42	73	–31		52
19	Port Vale	46		7	6	10	25	24		6	4	13	31	42		56	66	–10		49
20	Portsmouth	46		8	6	9	28	30		5	4	14	23	33		51	63	–12		49
21	Queens Park Rangers	46		8	9	6	28	21		2	10	11	23	42		51	63	–12		49
22	Manchester City	46		6	6	11	28	26		6	6	11	28	31		56	57	–1		48
23	Stoke City	46		8	5	10	30	40		3	8	12	14	34		44	74	–30		46
24	Reading	46		8	4	11	27	31		3	5	15	12	47		39	78	–39		42

• 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
	Football League Champions, promoted to FA Premier League
	Promoted to FA Premier League
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted to Premier League through play-offs
	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

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. Position Player GK Eric Nixon DF Sean Connelly DF Mike Flynn DF Jim Gannon DF Simon Travis DF Ronnie Wallwork (on loan from Manchester United) DF Colin Woodthorpe DF Damon Searle DF Tom Bennett

No. Position Player DF Martin McIntosh MF Chris Byrne MF Paul Cook MF Kevin Cooper MF Tony Dinning MF Wayne Phillips FW Brett Angell FW Aaron Wilbraham FW 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. Position Player GK Neil Edwards (to Rochdale) DF Matthew Bound (to Swansea City) MF Chris Marsden (to Birmingham City) MF Lee Richardson (on loan from Oldham Athletic)

No. Position Player MF Eddie McGoldrick (on loan from Manchester City) FW Alun Armstrong (to Middlesbrough) FW Vasilios Kalogeracos (to Perth Glory)

References

1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2995736/Dave-Jones-factfile.html
2. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/stockport-county/1997-1998
3. http://www.worldfootball.net/teams/stockport-county/1998/2/