1997–98 Wigan Athletic F.C. season

Wigan Athletic

1997–98 season
Chairman	Dave Whelan
Manager	John Deehan
Stadium	Springfield Park
Second Division	11th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	First round
Auto Windscreens Shield	Quarter finals
Top goalscorer	League: Lowe (16) All: Lowe (18)
Average home league attendance	3,968
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

During the 1997–98 English football season, Wigan Athletic F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Season summary

In the 1997–98 season, Wigan didn't start the campaign very well and by the end of November, sat in the bottom four and were favourites to go down before the season started and it seemed a possibility at that stage. By 21 February, their fortunes didn't really improve and were still in the relegation battle in 17th and two points clear of the relegation zone. From then onwards, Wigan went on a great run of form to end the season with seven wins from their final 15 league games and finished in a satisfying 11th place.

Final league table

Main article: 1997-98 Football League

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts
1	Watford	46		13	7	3	36	22		11	9	3	31	19		67	41	+26		88
2	Bristol City	46		16	5	2	41	17		9	5	9	28	22		69	39	+30		85
3	Grimsby Town	46		11	7	5	30	14		8	8	7	25	23		55	37	+18		72
4	Northampton Town	46		14	5	4	33	17		4	12	7	19	20		52	37	+15		71
5	Bristol Rovers	46		13	2	8	43	33		7	8	8	27	31		70	64	+6		70
6	Fulham	46		12	7	4	31	14		8	3	12	29	29		60	43	+17		70
7	Wrexham	46		10	10	3	31	23		8	6	9	24	28		55	51	+4		70
8	Gillingham	46		13	7	3	30	18		6	6	11	22	29		52	47	+5		70
9	Bournemouth	46		11	8	4	28	15		7	4	12	29	37		57	52	+5		66
10	Chesterfield	46		13	7	3	31	19		3	10	10	15	25		46	44	+2		65
11	Wigan Athletic	46		12	5	6	41	31		5	6	12	23	35		64	66	–2		62
12	Blackpool	46		13	6	4	35	24		4	5	14	24	43		59	67	–8		62
13	Oldham Athletic	46		13	7	3	43	23		2	9	12	19	31		62	54	+8		61
14	Wycombe Wanderers	46		10	10	3	32	20		4	8	11	19	33		51	53	–2		60
15	Preston North End	46		10	6	7	29	26		5	8	10	27	30		56	56	±0		59
16	York City	46		9	7	7	26	21		5	10	8	26	37		52	58	–6		59
17	Luton Town	46		7	7	9	35	38		7	8	8	25	26		60	64	–4		57
18	Millwall	46		7	8	8	23	23		7	5	11	20	31		43	54	–11		55
19	Walsall	46		10	8	5	26	16		4	4	15	17	36		43	52	–9		54
20	Burnley	46		10	9	4	34	23		3	4	16	21	42		55	65	–10		52
21	Brentford	46		9	7	7	33	29		2	10	11	17	42		50	71	–21		50
22	Plymouth Argyle	46		10	5	8	36	30		2	8	13	19	40		55	70	–15		49
23	Carlisle United	46		8	5	10	27	28		4	3	16	30	45		57	73	–16		44
24	Southend United	46		8	7	8	29	30		3	3	17	18	49		47	79	–32		43

• 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
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted through play-offs
	Relegated

Results

Wigan Athletic's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	Wycombe Wanderers	H	5–2	4,706	O'Connell (3), Green, Kilford
16 August 1997	Bournemouth	A	0–1	3,799
23 August 1997	Plymouth Argyle	H	1–1	3,761	Lowe
30 August 1997	Bristol City	A	0–3	9,255
2 September 1997	Carlisle United	A	0–1	5,352
8 September 1997	Wrexham	H	3–2	3,872	O'Connell, Lowe, Jones (pen)
13 September 1997	Blackpool	H	3–0	5,517	Johnson, Lowe (2)
20 September 1997	Northampton Town	A	0–1	6,570
27 September 1997	Fulham	H	2–1	4,951	Johnson, Greenall
4 October 1997	Grimsby Town	A	1–2	4,623	Lowe
11 October 1997	Chesterfield	A	3–2	4,673	O'Connell, Greenall, Lowe
18 October 1997	Luton Town	H	1–1	4,466	Jones (pen)
21 October 1997	Gillingham	H	1–4	3,214	Lee
25 October 1997	Millwall	A	1–1	7,986	Jones
1 November 1997	York City	H	1–1	3,701	Greenall
4 November 1997	Oldham Athletic	A	1–3	5,446	Lowe
8 November 1997	Southend United	A	0–1	2,716
22 November 1997	Preston North End	H	1–4	5,649	Kilford
29 November 1997	Watford	A	1–2	9,455	Jones
2 December 1997	Bristol Rovers	H	3–0	2,738	Kilford, Lowe (2)
13 December 1997	Burnley	A	2–0	9,520	Lee, Jones
20 December 1997	Brentford	H	4–0	3,301	Lowe, Smeets (2), Kilford
26 December 1997	Wrexham	A	2–2	4,577	Smeets, Kilford
28 December 1997	Carlisle United	H	0–2	4,511
10 January 1998	Wycombe Wanderers	A	2–1	5,549	Martínez, Lee
17 January 1998	Bristol City	H	0–3	5,078
24 January 1998	Plymouth Argyle	A	2–3	4,345	Kilford, Lee
31 January 1998	Blackpool	A	2–0	5,288	Warne, Lydiate (own goal)
7 February 1998	Northampton Town	H	1–1	3,579	Morgan
14 February 1998	Grimsby Town	H	0–2	3,548
21 February 1998	Fulham	A	0–2	7,791
24 February 1998	Luton Town	A	1–1	4,403	Jones
28 February 1998	Chesterfield	H	2–1	3,017	Lowe, Jones (pen)
7 March 1998	York City	A	2–2	3,536	Greenall, Jones
14 March 1998	Oldham Athletic	H	1–0	4,277	Kilford
17 March 1998	Southend United	H	1–3	2,616	Lowe
21 March 1998	Walsall	A	0–1	3,169
28 March 1998	Preston North End	A	1–1	10,171	Lowe
4 April 1998	Watford	H	3–2	4,262	Barlow, Lowe, Kilford
7 April 1998	Bournemouth	H	1–0	2,798	Lee
10 April 1998	Bristol Rovers	A	0–5	6,038
13 April 1998	Burnley	H	5–1	4,926	Barlow, Lowe (2), Warne, Kilford
18 April 1998	Brentford	A	2–0	4,480	Bradshaw (pen), Kilford
21 April 1998	Walsall	H	2–0	2,725	Barlow, Jones
24 April 1998	Millwall	H	0–0	4,045
2 May 1998	Gillingham	A	0–0	10,361

FA Cup

Main article: 1997–98 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	15 November 1997	Carlisle United	A	1–0	5,182	Jones
R2	6 December 1997	York City	H	2–1	4,021	Martínez, Lee
R3	3 January 1998	Blackburn Rovers	A	2–4	22,402	Lee, Lowe

League Cup

Main article: 1997–98 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	12 August 1997	Chesterfield	H	1–2	3,413	Lee
R1 2nd Leg	26 August 1997	Chesterfield	A	0–1 (lost 1-3 on agg)	4,076

Football League Trophy

Main article: 1997–98 Football League Trophy

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
NR1	9 December 1997	Lincoln City	H	2–0	1,467	Jones (2, 1 pen)
NR2	20 January 1998	Rotherham United	H	3–0	1,495	Jones (2), Lowe
NQF	27 January 1998	Blackpool	A	0–1	1,687

Squad

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

No. Position Player - GK Lee Butler - GK Roy Carroll - DF Charlie Bishop - DF Carl Bradshaw - DF Graham Branch - DF Pasquale Bruno - DF Neil Fitzhenry - DF Scott Green - DF Colin Greenall - DF Sean Hessey - DF Pat McGibbon - DF Rob Newman (on loan from Norwich City) - DF Steve Morgan - DF Kevin Sharp - DF Neil Whitworth (on loan from Kilmarnock) - MF Tony Black - MF Isidro Díaz - MF Darren Garner

No. Position Player - MF Gavin Johnson - MF Ian Kilford - MF Roberto Martínez - MF Neil Mustoe - MF Brendan O'Connell - MF Paul Rogers - MF Jorg Smeets - FW Stuart Barlow - FW Drewe Broughton (on loan from Norwich City) - FW Graeme Jones - FW Graham Lancashire - FW David Lee - FW David Lowe - FW Andy Saville - FW Paul Warne - FW Neil Woods (on loan from Grimsby Town)