During the 1996–97 English football season, West Ham United competed in the

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Season summary

The season began with much excitement at Upton Park, as a whole host of foreign signings arrived. However, most of the acquisitions were short-lived and unsuccessful. Romanian striker

Florin Răducioiu Florin Valeriu Răducioiu (born 17 March 1970) is a Romanian former football striker, who played for Dinamo București, A.C. Milan, Brescia Calcio, West Ham United, RCD Espanyol, VfB Stuttgart and AS Monaco. He played for Romania at the 1990 FI ...

walked out in mid-season after scoring just two goals and Portuguese winger Paulo Futre played just nine games for the club before giving in to a knee injury and announcing his retirement in November. It was a season of struggle for

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

's team, but in the end a new wave of players helped to keep West Ham in the Premiership. Exciting young defender Rio Ferdinand broke into the side, while newly signed strikers

Paul Kitson Paul Kitson (born 9 January 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He notably played in the Premier League for Newcastle United and West Ham United, as well as in the Football League with Leicester City, ...

and

John Hartson John Hartson (born 5 April 1975) is a Welsh former professional footballer, coach and sports television pundit for S4C, Sky Sports, Premier Sports TV and BT Sport. As a player he was a striker, notably for Scottish club Celtic where his time ...

gave the attack the boost that Răducioiu and Futre had failed to deliver. With survival confirmed by the final day of the season, there was now talk of pushing for a UEFA Cup place in the following campaign.

Final league table

;Results summary ;Results by matchday

Results

''West Ham United's score comes first''

Legend

FA Premier League

FA Cup

League Cup

First-team squad

Left club during season

Statistics

Appearances and goals

, - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Goalkeepers'' , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Defenders'' , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Midfielders'' , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Forwards'' , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Players who left the club permanently or on loan during the season , -

Starting 11

:''Considering starts in all competitions'' * GK:

Luděk Mikloško Luděk Mikloško (born 9 December 1961) is a Czech football coach and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a goalkeeper who notably played in the Premier League for West Ham United where he played over 300 games. He also played in ...

* RB:

Tim Breacker Timothy Sean Breacker (born 2 July 1965) is an English football coach and former player, who is chief scout at Bolton Wanderers. As a player, he was a right-back who notably played in the Premier League for West Ham United, where he made 240 ...

* CB:

Marc Rieper Marc Jensen Rieper (born 5 June 1968) is a Danish former professional association football, footballer who played as a centre-back for Aarhus Gymnastikforening, AGF and Brøndby IF, Brøndby in Denmark, West Ham United F.C., West Ham United in E ...

* CB: Slaven Bilić * CB: Julian Dicks * LB: Mark Bowen * CM: Michael Hughes * CM: Ian Bishop * CM:

John Moncur John Frederick Moncur (born 22 September 1966) is an English football chairman and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a midfielder notably playing top flight football for Tottenham Hotspur, Swindon Town and West Ham United, with ...

* CF: Iain Dowie * CF:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 West Ham United F.C. season West Ham United F.C. seasons West Ham United West Ham United West Ham United