During the 1996–97 English football season, West Ham United competed in the FA Premier League .
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 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 '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 and John Hartson 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.[by whom?
Source:
Premier League Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Results summary
Overall
Home
Away
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts W D L GF GA GD W D L GF GA GD
38
10
12
16
39
48
−9
42
7
6
6
27
25
+2
3
6
10
12
23
−11
Results by matchday Match 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Ground A H H A A H A H A H H A A H A H H A H H A H H A A H A H A A A H A H A H H A Result L D W L D L W L L W W L D D D L D L W L D L L L L W L W D D W D L D W W D L Position 16 17 11 15 16 17 13 15 16 13 10 12 12 13 12 15 14 15 16 16 17 18 18 18 18 17 18 17 17 16 15 16 17 18 16 15 12 14
Source:
Statto.com A = Away;
H = Home;
W = Win;
D = Draw;
L = Loss
West Ham United's score comes first [ 1]
Date
Opponent
Venue
Result
Attendance
Scorers
17 August 1996
Arsenal A
0–2
38,056
21 August 1996
Coventry City H
1–1
21,580
Rieper
24 August 1996
Southampton H
2–1
21,227
M Hughes , Dicks (pen)
4 September 1996
Middlesbrough A
1–4
30,060
M Hughes
8 September 1996
Sunderland A
0–0
18,642
15 September 1996
Wimbledon H
0–2
21,294
21 September 1996
Nottingham Forest A
2–0
23,352
Bowen , M Hughes
29 September 1996
Liverpool H
1–2
25,064
Bilić
12 October 1996
Everton A
1–2
36,571
Dicks (pen)
19 October 1996
Leicester City H
1–0
22,285
Moncur
26 October 1996
Blackburn Rovers H
2–1
23,947
Berg (own goal), Porfírio
2 November 1996
Tottenham Hotspur A
0–1
32,999
16 November 1996
Newcastle United A
1–1
36,552
Rowland
23 November 1996
Derby County H
1–1
24,576
Bishop
30 November 1996
Sheffield Wednesday A
0–0
22,321
4 December 1996
Aston Villa H
0–2
19,105
8 December 1996
Manchester United H
2–2
25,045
Răducioiu , Dicks (pen)
21 December 1996
Chelsea A
1–3
28,315
Porfírio
28 December 1996
Sunderland H
2–0
24,077
Bilić , Răducioiu
1 January 1997
Nottingham Forest H
0–1
22,358
11 January 1997
Liverpool A
0–0
40,102
20 January 1997
Leeds United H
0–2
19,441
29 January 1997
Arsenal H
1–2
24,382
Rose (own goal)
1 February 1997
Blackburn Rovers A
1–2
21,994
Ferdinand
15 February 1997
Derby County A
0–1
18,057
24 February 1997
Tottenham Hotspur H
4–3
23,998
Dicks (2, 1 pen), Kitson , Hartson
1 March 1997
Leeds United A
0–1
30,575
12 March 1997
Chelsea H
3–2
24,502
Dicks , Kitson (2)
15 March 1997
Aston Villa A
0–0
35,992
18 March 1997
Wimbledon A
1–1
15,771
Lazaridis
22 March 1997
Coventry City A
3–1
22,291
Hartson (2), Ferdinand
9 April 1997
Middlesbrough H
0–0
23,988
12 April 1997
Southampton A
0–2
15,244
19 April 1997
Everton H
2–2
24,525
Kitson (2)
23 April 1997
Leicester City A
1–0
20,327
Moncur
3 May 1997
Sheffield Wednesday H
5–1
24,960
Kitson (3), Hartson (2)
6 May 1997
Newcastle United H
0–0
24,617
11 May 1997
Manchester United A
0–2
55,249
Round
Date
Opponent
Venue
Result
Attendance
Goalscorers
R3
4 January 1997
Wrexham A
1–1
9,747
Porfírio
R3R
25 January 1997
Wrexham H
0–1
16,763
[ 2] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Left club during season
edit
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Appearances and goals
edit
Considering starts in all competitions 
CZE
ENG
DEN
NIR
CRO
POR
AUS
WAL
NGA
IRL
ROU