1997 Football League Second Division play-off final

The 1997 Football League Second Division play-off final was an association football match which was played on 25 May 1997 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Crewe Alexandra and Brentford. The top two teams of the 1996–97 Football League Second Division league, Bury and Stockport County, gained automatic promotion to the First Division, while the teams placed from third to sixth place in the table took part in play-offs. The winners of the play-off semi-finals competed for the final place for the 1997–98 season in the First Division. The losing semi-finalists were Luton Town and Bristol City who had been defeated by Crewe and Brentford respectively.

1997 Football League Second Division play-off final
The match took place at Wembley Stadium.
Date25 May 1997
VenueWembley Stadium, London
RefereeUriah Rennie (Sheffield)
Attendance34,149
1996
1998

The referee for the match, played in front of 34,149 spectators, was Uriah Rennie from Sheffield. Crewe dominated the early stages of the match and in the 34th minute, Steve Macauley passed Murphy's cross to Shaun Smith who struck from close range to make it 1–0 to Crewe. Within two minutes, McCauley headed a corner from Rivers against the Brentford crossbar. Midway through the second half, Bob Taylor thought he had scored the equaliser for Brentford but his shot was saved by Crewe goalkeeper Jason Kearton. In the 74th minute, Brentford were reduced to ten men after Brian Statham was sent off having been shown a second yellow card. Dele Adebola's shot hit the crossbar of the Brentford goal and two attempts from Colin Little were stopped on the Crewe goal-line by Carl Hutchings. The match ended 1–0 and Crewe were promoted to the First Division.

Brentford's following season saw their manager David Webb resign in August to be replaced by Eddie May. May himself left the club three months later, and was replaced by Micky Adams, who led them to a 21st place in the Second Division and relegation to the Third Division. Crewe ended their next season in eleventh position in the First Division, five places and fifteen points below the play-offs.

Route to the final

edit
Football League Second Division final table, leading positions[1]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Bury 46 24 12 10 62 38 +24 84
2 Stockport County 46 23 13 10 59 41 +18 82
3 Luton Town 46 21 15 10 71 45 +26 78
4 Brentford 46 20 14 12 56 43 +13 74
5 Bristol City 46 21 10 15 69 51 +18 73
6 Crewe Alexandra 46 22 7 17 56 47 +9 73

Brentford finished the regular 1996–97 season in fourth place in the Second Division, the third tier of the English football league system, two places ahead of Crewe Alexandra. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the First Division and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Brentford finished eight points behind Stockport County (who were promoted in second place) and ten behind league winners Bury. Crewe ended the season one point behind Brentford.[1]

Crewe's opposition for their play-off semi-final were Luton Town with the first match of the two-legged tie taking place at Gresty Road in Crewe on 11 May 1997. The visitors went ahead on three minutes through David Oldfield but Mark Rivers equalised for Crewe eight minutes into the second half. Luton were reduced to ten men in the 58th minute when Julian James was shown his second yellow card; ten minutes later, Colin Little struck for Crewe to secure a 2–1 win.[2] The second leg of the semi-final took place at Kenilworth Road in Luton three days later. Oldfield scored twice in an 11-minute spell: on 20 minutes he levelled the aggregate score after a mistake from Lee Unsworth, then took advantage of a lapse of concentration from Ashley Westwood to double his and Luton's tally. Little scored for Crewe within a minute with a header after a failed clearance from Luton goalkeeper Ian Feuer. Smith then scored midway through the second half to make it 2–2 on the evening, and ensure Crewe's progression to the final with a 4–3 aggregate victory.[3]

Brentford faced Bristol City in the other semi-final; the first leg was held at Ashton Gate in Bristol on 11 May 1997. The away side took the lead in the 13th minute through Paul Smith but Bristol City equalised two minutes later with a header from Gary Owers. Bob Taylor gave Brentford the advantage once again on 30 minutes with a header. Late in the second half, Brentford's Carl Asaba was sent off for a second yellow card and the match ended 2–1.[2] The second leg of the tie took place at Griffin Park three days later. After a goalless first half, Darren Barnard scored for Bristol City in the 49th minute. Taylor scored midway through the half, however, and with eleven minutes remaining, Marcus Bent added a second to make it 2–1 to the visitors, who won the tie 4–2 on aggregate.[3]

Match

edit

Background

edit

Brentford had appeared in the play-offs on two previous occasions, in 1991 and 1995, but had lost in the semi-finals. They had played in the Second Division since suffering relegation from the First Division in the 1992–93 season.[4] This was Crewe Alexandra's fifth play-off appearance, and their third in a row. It was their second final, having lost to York City in a penalty shootout at Wembley Stadium in the 1993 Football League Third Division play-off final. They had played in the Second Division since gaining promotion in the 1993–94 season and had last played in the second tier of English football 101 years before, in the 1895–96 Football League season, after which they were not re-elected.[5] During the regular 1996–97 season, Crewe won both games between the side, with 2–0 victories at Gresty Road in October 1996 and at Griffin Park the following April.[6]

The Brentford manager David Webb suggested that should his side win the final, the club would consider a flotation on the stock market in order to "organise the club so that if we do go up, it can cope".[7] His counterpart, Dario Gradi, who had managed Crewe for 14 years,[8] was waiting on the fitness of Danny Murphy who had a thigh injury, noting that his side's "plans will revolve around his fitness".[9]

The referee for the match was Uriah Rennie from Sheffield.[10] Brentford adopted a 4–4–2 formation while Crewe played as a 4–3–3.[11] The match was broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports.[12]

Summary

edit

The match kicked off around 3 p.m. on 25 May 1997 at Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 34,149.[10] Crewe dominated the early stages of the match. In the 32nd minute, Murphy played a one-two with Gareth Whalley but his shot hit the Brentford goalpost. Three minutes later, Steve Macauley passed Murphy's cross to Shaun Smith who struck from close range to make it 1–0 to Crewe. Within two minutes, McCauley headed a corner from Rivers against the Brentford crossbar.[11][13][14]

Brentford made their first substitution at half-time when Bent was replaced by Scott Canham. Midway through the second half, Taylor thought he had scored the equaliser for Brentford with a low strike and began to celebrate only to see his shot saved by Crewe goalkeeper Jason Kearton. Dele Adebola's shot hit the crossbar of the Brentford goal in the 73rd minute and a minute later Brentford were reduced to ten men after Brian Statham was sent off having been shown a second yellow card. Two attempts from Little, including one in the last minute of the match, were stopped on the Crewe goal-line by Carl Hutchings.[11][13][14]

Details

edit
Crewe Alexandra1–0Brentford
Smith   34' Report
Attendance: 34,149
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Crewe
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Brentford
GK 1 Jason Kearton
RB 2 Lee Unsworth
LB 3 Shaun Smith
CB 4 Ashley Westwood
CB 5 Steve Macauley
CM 6 Phil Charnock   88'
CM 7 Gareth Whalley  
RW 8 Colin Little
CF 9 Dele Adebola
AM 10 Danny Murphy   86'
LW 11 Mark Rivers   69'
Substitutes:
DF Chris Lightfoot   88'
MF Steve Garvey   69'
MF Seth Johnson   86'
Manager:
Dario Gradi
GK 1 Kevin Dearden
RB 2 Gus Hurdle   75'  
LB 3 Ijah Anderson  
CM 4 Carl Hutchings
CB 5 Jamie Bates  
CB 6 David McGhee
CF 7 Carl Asaba
CM 8 Paul Smith
CF 9 Marcus Bent   46'
CM 10 Brian Statham     73'
CF 11 Robert Taylor
Substitutes:
GK Tamer Fernandes
DF Barry Ashby   75'
MF Scott Canham   46'  
Manager:
David Webb

Post-match

edit

Writing in The Times, Brian Glanville described the match as "almost embarrassingly one-sided".[11] Webb conceded that his team could have suffered a heavier defeat: "Our game went backwards and their game went forwards ... They looked much better equipped than us today to go up to be a first division team."[11] Gradi looked to the next season: "We can look forward now to Manchester City and Middlesbrough ... we really haven't dared think about it until now".[8] He accepted that certain players in his squad were likely to be playing for other teams by then,[13] and opined "If they get a chance to go, well, good luck to them".[11] Murphy moved to Liverpool for a deal reportedly worth up to £3 million six weeks later.[15]

Webb resigned before the start of Brentford's following season to become chief executive of the club.[16] He was replaced by Eddie May whose reign lasted until November 1997, when both he and Webb left the club after they had dropped from third in the league to bottom. Micky Adams was appointed as the new manager, and led them to 21st place in the Second Division and relegation to the Third Division, one place from safety.[17][18] Crewe ended their next season in eleventh position in the First Division, five places and fifteen points below the play-offs.[19]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "League One – 1996/1997 – Regular season". Soccerway. Perform Group. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Taylor-made for Brentford". The Guardian. 12 May 1997. p. 24. Retrieved 28 February 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b Haylett, Trevor (15 May 1997). "Crewe hand out gifts at Kenilworth Road but recover to be present at Wembley". The Guardian. p. 26. Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Brentford". Football Club History Database. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Crewe Alexandra". Football Club History Database. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Crewe Alexandra football club: record v Brentford". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  7. ^ Kempson, Russell (24 May 1997). "Palace fortified by Wembley ordeal". The Times. p. 49. Retrieved 1 March 2021 – via Gale.
  8. ^ a b "Gradi dreams on no more". The Independent. 26 May 1997. p. S7. Retrieved 1 March 2021 – via Gale.
  9. ^ Hodgson, Guy (24 May 1997). "Ready for the agony and the ecstasy". The Independent. p. 31. Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021 – via Gale.
  10. ^ a b "Brentford v Crewe Alexandra, 25 May 1997". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Glanville, Brian (26 May 1997). "Play-off success fuels Gradi's fears of change at Crewe". The Times. p. 33. Retrieved 1 March 2021 – via Gale.
  12. ^ "French connection points to Wimbledon approach". Liverpool Echo. 24 May 1997. p. 44. Retrieved 2 March 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ a b c Haylett, Trevor (26 May 1997). "Crewe pass final test with style". The Guardian. p. 2. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ a b "Wembley joy for Dario's young stars". Liverpool Echo. 26 May 2007. p. 35. Retrieved 2 March 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ Ross, Ian; Thorpe, Martin (8 July 1997). "Murphy and Juninho add to Tottenham tale of woe". The Guardian. p. 26. Retrieved 2 March 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Brentford look for new manager after Webb moves upstairs". The Guardian. 5 August 1997. p. 20. Retrieved 1 March 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Thomas, Russell (6 November 1997). "Adams goes to Brentford as shake-up claims Webb". The Guardian. p. 29. Retrieved 1 March 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "League One – 1997/1998 – Regular season". Soccerway. Perform Group. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  19. ^ "Championship – 1997/1998 – Regular season". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 1 March 2021.