1996–97 Football Conference

The Football Conference season of 1996–97 was the eighteenth season of the Football Conference, also known as the Vauxhall Conference for sponsorship reasons.

Football Conference

Season	1996–97
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	1,306 (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 →

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

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Macclesfield Town	42	15	4	2	41	11	12	5	4	39	19	+50	90	Football Conference Champions, promoted to Football League Third Division
2	Kidderminster Harriers	42	14	4	3	48	18	12	3	6	36	24	+42	85	Conference League Cup winners
3	Stevenage Borough	42	15	4	2	53	23	9	6	6	34	30	+34	82
4	Morecambe	42	10	5	6	34	23	9	4	8	35	33	+13	66
5	Woking	42	10	5	6	41	29	8	5	8	30	34	+8	64	FA Trophy winners
6	Northwich Victoria	42	11	5	5	31	20	6	7	8	30	34	+7	63
7	Farnborough Town	42	9	6	6	35	29	7	7	7	23	24	+5	61
8	Hednesford Town	42	10	7	4	28	17	6	5	10	24	33	+2	60
9	Telford United	42	6	7	8	21	30	10	3	8	25	26	−10	58
10	Gateshead	42	8	6	7	32	27	7	5	9	27	36	−4	56
11	Southport	42	8	5	8	27	28	7	5	9	24	33	−10	55
12	Rushden & Diamonds	42	8	8	5	30	25	6	3	12	31	38	−2	53
13	Stalybridge Celtic	42	9	5	7	35	29	5	5	11	18	29	−5	52
14	Kettering Town	42	9	4	8	30	28	5	5	11	23	34	−9	51
15	Hayes	42	7	7	7	27	21	5	7	9	27	34	−1	50
16	Slough Town	42	7	7	7	42	32	5	7	9	20	33	−3	50
17	Dover Athletic	42	7	9	5	32	30	5	5	11	25	38	−11	50
18	Welling United	42	9	2	10	24	26	4	7	10	26	34	−10	48
19	Halifax Town	42	9	5	7	39	37	3	7	11	16	37	−19	48
20	Bath City	42	9	5	7	27	28	3	6	12	26	52	−27	47	Relegated to the Southern League
21	Bromsgrove Rovers	42	8	4	9	29	30	4	1	16	12	37	−26	41
22	Altrincham	42	6	3	12	25	34	3	9	9	24	39	−24	39	Relegated to the Northern Premier League

Source:
Notes:

Results

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

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Glenda Rollin (ed.), Jack Rollin (exec. ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1997–98. Headline, 1997.
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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

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Locations of the Football Conference 1996–1997 teams

Hayes

Welling

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Locations of the Football Conference teams 1996–1997

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

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

External links

• 1996–97 Conference National Results