During the 1996–97 English football season,

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

competed in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

Season summary

George Burley George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player, making 628 league appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came whi ...

's second season in charge of Ipswich, the club reached the play-offs as they looked for a return to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

at the second attempt. Ipswich were in the bottom half of the table for most of the first half of the season but their form in the new year saw Town go 10 games unbeaten and move into the play-off places.

Jason Cundy Jason Victor Cundy (born 12 November 1969) is an English former professional footballer and radio broadcaster for talkSPORT. As a player, he was a centre-back, who notably played in the Premier League for Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. He also ...

was signed on loan in October to bolster the team and became permanent a month later but was diagnosed with

testicular cancer Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. Symptoms may include a lump in the testicle or swelling or pain in the scrotum. Treatment may result in infertility. Risk factors include an c ...

in February and stopped playing. In January, Adam Tanner failed a drug test and was withdrawn from the squad and later suspended for three months. In the play-offs, Ipswich faced

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

in the semi-final. The first leg played at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

finished 1–1. In the return leg, Niklas Gudmundsson gave Ipswich a 2–1 lead in the 73rd minute but their advantage lasted just four minutes until Andy Walker made it 2–2. With the aggregate scores level at 3–3, the game went into

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

but no further goals were scored, and Sheffield United advanced to the final as they had scored more

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

than Ipswich. Ipswich also reached the quarter-finals of the Coca-Cola Cup, losing to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

Season summary

First-team squad

Left club during season

Competitions

Football League First Division

League table

Legend

Matches

First Division play-offs

FA Cup

League Cup

Transfers

Transfers in

Loans in

Transfers out

Loans out

Awards

Player awards

References