The 1996–97 season was

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

's fifth season in the

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 Fo ...

, and their 22nd consecutive season in the top division of

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

. United clinched the Premier League title with 75 points – placing them seven points ahead of the three teams below them;

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

. They also reached the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

semi-finals, bowing out to eventual winners

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

of Germany, after losing both legs 1–0. Earlier in the competition, they had lost at home in Europe for the first time, with a 1–0 defeat to Fenerbahçe of Turkey in the group stage. Their defence of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

ended in the Fourth Round replay with a 1–0 defeat to Wimbledon, while their bid for success in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

was short-lived as they bowed out to eventual winners

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in the Fourth Round. New signing

Ole Gunnar Solskjær Ole Gunnar Solskjær (; born 26 February 1973) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who played as a forward who last managed Premier League club Manchester United. As a player, Solskjær spent the majority of his car ...

was one of the biggest breakthrough stars in the 1996–97 Premier League season, with 19 goals in all competitions, making him the club's top goalscorer. Twenty-two-year-old midfielder

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending ...

clinched the

PFA Young Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Young Player of the Year (often called the PFA Young Player of the Year, or simply the Young Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the young player who is adjudged to have been the best of the s ...

award in the same season he won his first England cap. Solskjær's fellow Norwegian,

Ronny Johnsen Jean Ronny Johnsen (born 10 June 1969) is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder. Johnsen played club football in Norway, Turkey, and England for Sem, Stokke, Eik-Tønsberg, Lyn, Lillestrøm, Beşikt ...

, proved himself as a fine successor to

Steve Bruce Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He most recently managed West Bromwich Albion. Born in Corbridge, Northumberland, he was a promising scho ...

in central defence, but £3.5 million Czech winger

Karel Poborský Karel Poborský (; born 30 March 1972) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a right winger. He was most noted for his technical ability and pace. He began and finished his club career at Dynamo České Budějovice, where his ...

failed to win a regular first team place and was one of the Premier League's biggest disappointments that season. Jordi Cruyff, son of Dutch legend

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a p ...

, was similarly disappointing, failing to win a regular first team place despite being able to play in midfield, attack or on the left wing. Just before the start of the season, winger

Lee Sharpe Lee Stuart Sharpe (born 27 May 1971) is an English professional golfer, former professional footballer, sports television pundit and reality television personality. As a player was predominantly a left winger from 1988 to 2004, he notably play ...

left the club after eight years to sign for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

in a £4.5 million deal. Earlier in the summer, captain Steve Bruce had departed to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

on a free transfer after almost a decade at Old Trafford, while Paul Parker left on a free transfer after his final two seasons at the club had been plagued by injury and the loss of his place in the team to

Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...

. The season ended with a major shock as

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Cantona is credited as having made Manchester United a d ...

announced his retirement from playing, prompting manager Alex Ferguson to search for a new striker. The search ended with the £3.5 million capture of

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

and England 31-year-old

Teddy Sheringham Edward Paul "Teddy" Sheringham, MBE (born 2 April 1966) is an English football manager and former player. He played as a forward, mostly as a second striker, in a 24-year professional career. Sheringham began his career at Millwall, where ...

Pre-season and friendlies

FA Charity Shield

FA Premier League

FA Cup

United beat

2–0 to reach the Fourth Round, where they faced Wimbledon, who they had beaten easily 3–0 on the first day of the season; the game ended 1–1. The replay was played at Wimbledon's

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international fo ...

, with the game ending 1–0 to Wimbledon, knocking United out of the competition at a very early stage. In between these two FA Cup games, United and Wimbledon faced each other again in the league, with United coming out on top at home, with a 2–1 win, making it all the more shocking that Wimbledon managed to defeat them five days later in the cup.

League Cup

As in the previous two seasons, United rested many of their first-team players in the

, instead using the competition to provide first team experience to the club's younger players and reserves. This proved to be a bad move, as the Red Devils just managed to squeeze past

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

to get into the Fourth Round, but they were then defeated by

2–0.

UEFA Champions League

Group stage

In the group stage, United were drawn together with defending champions

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

of Italy, Turkish champions Fenerbahçe and Austrian champions

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

Knockout phase

United were drawn against Portuguese champions

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

in the quarter-finals, and sealed their place in the semi-finals with a 4–0 win in the first leg, followed by a goalless second leg. They were then drawn against the eventual winners, German champions

, who beat them 1–0 in each leg, eliminated ''the Red Devils'' from the competition 2–0 on aggregate.

Squad statistics

Transfers

United's first departure of the 1996–97 season was

Hasney Aljofree Hasney Aljofree (born 11 July 1978) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. He began his career with Manchester United, during which time he earned one cap for the England U18 side. He joined Bolton Wanderers in 1996 and mad ...

, who signed for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

on a free transfer on 2 July. Four days later, Heath Maxon was released. Tony Coton joined

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

on 12 July, while a month later,

joined

after eight years at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembl ...

. Arriving in the summer were Norwegian defender

, Czech winger

, Norwegian forward

, and Dutch midfielder Jordi Cruyff. United's only winter departure was American forward

Jovan Kirovski Jovan Kirovski ( mk, Јован Кировски; born March 18, 1976) is an American former soccer player who is the Technical Director for the Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer. Kirovski is the first American to win the UEFA Champions Le ...

, who joined

on a free transfer on 8 December. David Fish joined

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

on 1 May, while a day later, David Hilton was released. Just under a fortnight later, Colin Murdock joined

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

, while on 18 May,

retired. Robert Trees was released on 30 June. On 27 June,

was acquired from

to replace the retired Cantona.

In

Out

Loan out

References

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

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...