1996–97 Football Conference

The Vauxhall Conference season of 1996–97 was the eighteenth season of the Conference National.

Overview

Macclesfield Town won their second Conference title in three years, and this time earned a promotion to the Football League – thanks to their upgraded stadium – at the expense of Hereford United.

New teams in the league this season

• Hayes (promoted 1995–96)
• Rushden & Diamonds (promoted 1995–96)

Final league table^[1]

Football Conference

Season	1996–97[1]
Champions	Macclesfield Town (2nd Football Conference title)
Promoted to the Football League	Macclesfield Town
Conference League Cup winners	Kidderminster Harriers
FA Trophy winners	Woking (3rd FA Trophy title
Relegated to Level 6	Altrincham, Bath City, Bromsgrove Rovers
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1306 (2.83 per match)
Top goalscorer	Lee Hughes (Kidderminster Harriers), 30
Biggest home win	Woking – Altrincham 7–1 (30 November 1996); Kidderminster Harriers – Bath City 6–0 (28 December 1996); Slough Town – Telford United 6–0 (19 October 1996); Stevenage Borough – Halifax Town 6–0 (17 August 1996)
Biggest away win	Slough Town – Stevenage Borough 1–6 (1 January 1997); Bromsgrove Rovers – Northwich Victoria 0–5 (1 March 1997); Dover Athletic – Kidderminster Harriers 0–5 (24 August 1996); Telford United – Rushden & Diamonds 0–5 (7 December 1996)
Highest scoring	Halifax Town – Bath City 4–5 (15 February 1997)
Longest winning run	Macclesfield Town, 8 matches
Longest unbeaten run	Morecambe, 12 matches
Longest losing run	Bromsgrove Rovers, 7 matches
Highest attendance	Stevenage Borough v Kidderminster Harriers, 6,489 (25 January 1997)
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	1,258
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

Altrincham

Bath City

Bromsgrove

Farnborough

Gateshead

Halifax Town

Hednesford

Hayes

Kettering Town

Kidderminster Harriers

Macclesfield

Morecambe

Northwich Victoria

Rushden & Diamonds

Slough Town

Southport

Stalybridge

Stevenage

Telford

Welling

Woking

Dover

Locations of the Football Conference 1996–1997 teams

Hayes

Welling

Locations of the Football Conference teams 1996–1997

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts	Notes
1	Macclesfield Town	42		15	4	2	41	11		12	5	4	39	19		80	30	+ 50		90
2	Kidderminster Harriers	42		14	4	3	48	18		12	3	6	36	24		84	42	+ 42		85
3	Stevenage Borough	42		15	4	2	53	23		9	6	6	34	30		87	53	+ 34		82
4	Morecambe	42		10	5	6	34	23		9	4	8	35	33		69	56	+ 13		66
5	Woking	42		10	5	6	41	29		8	5	8	30	34		71	63	+ 8		64
6	Northwich Victoria	42		11	5	5	31	20		6	7	8	30	34		61	54	+ 7		63
7	Farnborough Town	42		9	6	6	35	29		7	7	7	23	24		58	53	+ 5		61
8	Hednesford Town	42		10	7	4	28	17		6	5	10	24	33		52	50	+ 2		60
9	Telford United	42		6	7	8	21	30		10	3	8	25	26		46	56	– 10		58
10	Gateshead	42		8	6	7	32	27		7	5	9	27	36		59	63	– 4		56
11	Southport	42		8	5	8	27	28		7	5	9	24	33		51	61	– 10		55
12	Rushden & Diamonds	42		8	8	5	30	25		6	3	12	31	38		61	63	– 2		53
13	Stalybridge Celtic	42		9	5	7	35	29		5	5	11	18	29		53	58	– 5		52
14	Kettering Town	42		9	4	8	30	28		5	5	11	23	34		53	62	– 9		51
15	Hayes	42		7	7	7	27	21		5	7	9	27	34		54	55	– 1		50
16	Slough Town	42		7	7	7	42	32		5	7	9	20	33		62	65	– 3		50
17	Dover Athletic	42		7	9	5	32	30		5	5	11	25	38		57	68	– 11		50
18	Welling United	42		9	2	10	24	26		4	7	10	26	34		50	60	– 10		48
19	Halifax Town	42		9	5	7	39	37		3	7	11	16	37		55	74	– 19		48
20	Bath City	42		9	5	7	27	28		3	6	12	26	52		53	80	– 27		47	Relegated to the Southern League
21	Bromsgrove Rovers	42		8	4	9	29	30		4	1	16	12	37		41	67	– 26		41	Relegated to the Southern League
22	Altrincham	42		6	3	12	25	34		3	9	9	24	39		49	73	– 24		39	Relegated to the Northern Premier League

• Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
• Points scored: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw.

Key
	Football Conference Champions, promoted to Football League Third Division
	FA Trophy winners
	Conference League Cup winners
	New club in the Conference
	Relegated to Level 6

Results^[1]

Home ╲ Away

ALT

BAT

BRO

DOV

FAR

GAT

HAL

HAY

HED

KET

KID

MAC

MOR

NOR

R&D

SLO

SOU

STL

STB

TEL

WEL

WOK

Altrincham

1–3

3–1

1–2

0–3

0–1

2–1

0–2

1–1

4–3

0–1

0–1

0–1

2–3

4–3

0–1

1–0

1–0

1–2

2–3

1–1

1–1

Bath City

1–2

1–0

2–1

1–1

3–0

0–0

3–1

2–1

0–2

0–3

0–3

2–1

3–2

3–2

0–0

0–2

0–2

0–0

2–3

3–1

3–1

Bromsgrove Rovers

4–0

2–1

3–1

1–1

2–2

3–0

2–2

1–0

1–2

0–1

0–3

2–3

0–5

0–1

4–1

0–1

0–1

1–1

2–1

1–0

0–3

Dover Athletic

2–2

2–2

2–0

0–0

0–1

2–2

1–0

2–2

0–1

0–5

2–1

3–0

2–2

1–1

0–0

0–1

2–1

3–3

1–4

2–1

5–1

Farnborough Town

1–1

4–1

2–1

2–3

1–2

3–0

1–1

1–0

0–2

2–1

0–1

2–2

2–2

2–2

2–1

3–3

1–0

3–1

0–2

2–1

1–2

Gateshead

1–1

5–0

1–0

1–3

1–0

0–1

1–1

0–1

1–1

3–1

0–0

0–3

5–1

1–0

2–1

2–2

0–2

2–2

2–3

1–2

3–2

Halifax Town

1–1

4–5

1–0

1–3

3–0

2–0

2–2

1–0

2–1

2–3

3–3

1–1

0–3

1–3

4–1

2–0

4–1

4–2

0–3

1–1

0–4

Hayes

3–1

0–1

1–0

2–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

4–0

2–1

0–1

0–2

2–3

1–1

1–1

5–0

1–1

0–2

1–3

0–1

1–1

3–2

Hednesford Town

2–2

2–0

3–0

1–1

0–1

0–0

1–1

2–0

0–0

1–4

4–1

2–1

3–0

1–0

2–1

0–1

2–1

0–0

0–0

0–3

2–0

Kettering Town

3–1

1–0

2–0

1–1

3–1

4–1

4–1

2–2

0–2

3–1

1–4

0–2

1–0

1–5

0–0

0–1

1–0

1–2

0–1

2–3

0–0

Kidderminster Harriers

1–1

6–0

1–2

4–1

2–3

3–2

3–0

5–1

2–1

4–0

0–0

2–2

1–0

1–0

1–2

3–0

1–1

3–0

1–0

3–2

1–0

Macclesfield Town

1–1

2–2

4–0

1–0

3–0

3–0

1–0

1–0

4–0

2–0

0–1

0–0

0–1

2–1

2–0

3–2

2–0

2–1

2–1

1–1

5–0

Morecambe

2–1

1–1

1–0

3–1

1–1

4–0

1–0

2–4

2–2

5–2

2–3

1–0

2–0

2–0

0–0

2–1

0–0

1–2

0–1

1–2

1–2

Northwich Victoria

2–2

1–0

1–0

2–0

1–1

4–2

2–2

2–1

2–1

2–1

1–1

2–1

1–0

1–2

0–1

5–1

0–1

0–1

1–0

0–0

1–2

Rushden & Diamonds

3–2

4–1

1–2

1–1

0–2

0–4

1–0

2–2

0–2

1–0

1–1

1–1

2–1

1–1

2–2

3–0

1–1

0–1

2–0

3–0

1–1

Slough Town

0–1

5–2

2–0

2–2

1–1

0–1

1–0

1–3

2–2

1–1

0–2

0–0

1–2

3–4

5–0

1–1

4–1

1–6

6–0

3–3

3–0

Southport

1–3

3–1

0–0

0–1

0–3

1–1

2–1

0–2

1–2

2–2

1–0

1–5

3–1

0–0

2–1

0–1

3–0

0–0

0–1

3–2

4–1

Stalybridge Celtic

1–0

2–2

3–0

4–2

2–0

2–5

2–3

3–1

1–2

3–1

4–1

0–1

2–1

0–1

2–0

2–2

2–2

0–3

0–0

0–0

0–2

Stevenage Borough

2–1

2–1

3–0

4–1

3–1

4–1

6–0

2–0

3–2

0–0

2–2

2–3

4–2

2–0

4–1

2–2

2–1

1–1

3–0

2–1

0–3

Telford United

0–0

1–1

3–1

1–0

2–0

0–3

1–1

0–0

1–1

1–0

0–2

0–3

2–3

2–2

0–5

0–2

1–0

1–1

2–3

2–0

1–2

Welling United

1–0

2–0

1–2

1–0

0–2

2–0

0–1

1–0

1–2

1–2

0–1

0–3

1–4

1–1

0–1

3–2

2–3

2–0

2–0

2–1

1–1

Woking

7–1

2–2

1–3

1–1

0–2

1–1

2–2

1–2

2–0

2–1

2–1

2–3

1–2

3–1

4–2

2–0

0–1

3–2

3–1

0–0

2–1

Source: Glenda Rollin (ed.), Jack Rollin (exec. ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1997–98. Headline, 1997.
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

• Macclesfield Town (to the Football League Third Division)
• Cheltenham Town (from the Southern Premier League)
• Leek Town (from the Northern Premier League)
• Yeovil Town (from the Isthmian League)

Relegated

• Hereford United (from the Football League Third Division)
• Altrincham (to the Northern Premier League)
• Bath City (to the Southern Premier League)
• Bromsgrove Rovers (to the Southern Premier League)

Top scorers in order of league goals^[1]

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	Total
1	Lee Hughes	Kidderminster Harriers	30	1	2	1	34
2	Lennie Dennis	Welling United	21	1	1	2	25
3	Andy Whittaker	Southport	19	6	2	0	27
4	Gary Abbott	Slough Town	18	0	0	0	18
5	Justin Jackson	Woking	17	4	2	0	23
6	Barry Hayles	Stevenage Borough	16	3	2	0	21
=	David Leworthy	Rushden & Diamonds	16	4	0	0	20
=	Lee Steele	Northwich Victoria	16	0	0	0	16
9	Joe O'Connor	Hednesford	15	9	0	0	24
=	Paul Thompson	Gateshead	15	6	1	1	23
=	Clive Walker	Woking	15	3	1	0	19
=	Steve Wood	Macclesfield Town	15	0	0	1	16
13	Mike Davis	Bath City	14	7	0	0	21
=	Neil Doherty	Kidderminster Harriers	14	1	1	0	16
=	Niell Hardy	Altrincham	14	3	1	0	18
=	Mickey Norbury	Halifax Town	14	0	0	0	14
17	Carl Alford	Rushden & Diamonds	13	2	0	0	15
=	Ian Arnold	Stalybridge Celtic	13	0	0	0	13
=	Chris Boothe	Farnborough Town	13	9	0	3	25
=	Martin Randall	Hayes	13	0	4	0	17
=	Phil Wingfield	Farnborough Town	13	2	1	0	16

References

1. Glenda Rollin (ed.), Jack Rollin (exec. ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1997–98. Headline, 1997.

External links

• 1996–97 Conference National Results