# 1997–98 Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. season

The 1997–98 season was the 99th season of competitive league football in the history of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. They played the season in the second tier of the English football system, the Football League First Division.
The team finished in ninth position in the league, failing to mount a serious promotion challenge after having finished third in the previous campaign. They did, however, reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in nineteen years, where they lost to eventual double winners Arsenal.

## Results
### Football League First Division

A total of 24 teams competed in the Football League First Division in the 1997–98 season. Each team played every other team twice: once at their stadium, and once at the opposition's. Three points were awarded to teams for each win, one point per draw, and none for defeats. Teams finishing level on points were firstly divided by the number of goals scored rather than goal difference.
The provisional fixture list was released on 16 June 1997, but was subject to change in the event of matches being selected for television coverage or police concerns.
Final table
Source: Statto.com
Results summary
| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Statto.com
Results by round
| Round | 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 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| Result | W | D | L | W | D | L | W | D | D | L | L | W | W | L | W | W | L | D | W | W | L | W | D | W | W | W | L | W | L | L | W | L | L | D | W | D | L | W | D | L | D | L | W | L | D | L |
| Position | 1 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 |

### League Cup
## Players

Key: ‡ On loan from another club * First appearance(s) for the club
* # = Squad number
* Pos = Playing position
* P = Number of games played 10
* G = Number of goals scored
* GK = Goalkeeper
* DF = Defender
* MF = Midfielder
* FW = Forward
* = Yellow cards
* = Red cards
* † Permanent player left club during the season
* ¤ Loaned to another club for part or all of season
Correct as of end of season. Starting appearances are listed first, followed by substitute appearances in parentheses where applicable.
| Pos | Name | P | G | P | G | P | G | P | G | | |
| Pos | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline | Notes |
| GK | Justin Bray | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | Matt Murray | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | Hans Segers | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | Mike Stowell | 35 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Simon Coleman ‡ | 3(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Keith Curle (c) | 40 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Ryan Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Dariusz Kubicki ¤ | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | Kevin Muscat | 22(2) | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27(2) | 3 | 9 | 0 |
| DF | Lee Naylor | 14(2) | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 19(2) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Dean Richards | 13 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Jamie Smith † | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Chris Westwood | 3(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 4(2) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Ady Williams | 20 | 0 | 2(2) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24(2) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | Stephen Wright ‡ | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Mark Atkins | 30(4) | 2 | 4(1) | 0 | 5 | 0 | 39(5) | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | Steve Corica | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Tony Daley | 0(2) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Isidro Díaz † | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Neil Emblen † | 6(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Darren Ferguson | 22(4) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 29(4) | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| MF | Steve Froggatt | 31(2) | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 37(2) | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| MF | Michael Gilkes | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Simon Osborn | 23(1) | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26(1) | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| MF | Carl Robinson | 27(5) | 3 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 38(5) | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| MF | Steve Sedgley | 18(1) | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 26(1) | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| MF | Jesús García Sanjuán ‡ | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2(1) | 1 | 6(1) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Paul Simpson | 23(5) | 4 | 2(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25(7) | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| MF | Robbie Slater | 4(2) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Jermaine Wright † | 0(4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(4) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Steve Bull | 24(7) | 7 | 1(2) | 0 | 5 | 2 | 30(9) | 9 | 2 | 1 |
| FW | Steve Claridge | 4(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Glen Crowe ¤ | 0(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Dominic Foley ¤ | 1(4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(2) | 0 | 1(6) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Dougie Freedman | 25(4) | 10 | 5(1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 30(5) | 12 | 8 | 0 |
| FW | Don Goodman | 29(1) | 8 | 6 | 1 | 2(1) | 1 | 37(2) | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| FW | Mark Jones | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Robbie Keane | 34(4) | 11 | 1(2) | 0 | 3(1) | 0 | 38(7) | 11 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Richard Leadbeater | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Mixu Paatelainen | 10(13) | 0 | 4(1) | 4 | 4(1) | 1 | 18(15) | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| FW | Jason Roberts ¤ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Player | From | Fee |
| 11 July 1997 | Steve Sedgley | Ipswich Town | £350,000 |
| 6 August 1997 | Dariusz Kubicki | Sunderland | Free |
| 6 August 1997 | Mixu Paatelainen | Bolton Wanderers | £250,000 |
| 1 September 1997 | Isidro Díaz | Unattached | Free |
| 5 September 1997 | Hans Segers | Unattached | Free |
| 12 September 1997 | Jason Roberts | Hayes | £250,000 |
| 21 October 1997 | Dougie Freedman | Crystal Palace | £800,000 |
| 21 October 1997 | Kevin Muscat | Crystal Palace | £200,000 |
| 11 November 1997 | Paul Simpson | Derby County | £75,000 |
| 25 March 1998 | Neil Emblen | Crystal Palace | Undisclosed |
| 25 March 1998 | Robbie Slater | Southampton | £50,000 |
| 26 March 1998 | Steve Claridge | Leicester City | £350,000 |

### Out

| Date | Player | To | Fee |
| June 1997 | Robbie Dennison | Released | Free |
| June 1997 | Brian Law | Released | Free |
| June 1997 | Dennis Pearce | Released | Free |
| June 1997 | Serge Romano | Released | Free |
| June 1997 | Geoff Thomas | Released | Free |
| June 1997 | Andy Thompson | Released | Free |
| June 1997 | Eric Young | Released | Free |
| 7 July 1997 | Iwan Roberts | Norwich City | £850,000 |
| 11 July 1997 | Mark Venus | Ipswich Town | £150,000 |
| 13 August 1997 | Neil Emblen | Crystal Palace | £1.8 million |
| 30 September 1997 | Isidro Díaz | Released | Free |
| 21 October 1997 | Jamie Smith | Crystal Palace | £1 million |
| 19 February 1998 | Jermaine Wright | Crewe Alexandra | £25,000 |

### Loans in

| Start date | Player | From | End date |
| 2 September 1997 | Simon Coleman | Bolton Wanderers | 2 October 1997 |
| 15 September 1997 | Jesús García Sanjuán | Real Zaragoza | 15 December 1997 |
| 10 October 1997 | Paul Simpson | Derby County | 10 November 1997 |
| 17 October 1997 | Dougie Freedman | Crystal Palace | 20 October 1997 |
| 19 March 1998 | Stephen Wright | Rangers | End of season |

### Loans out

| Start date | Player | To | End date |
| 24 October 1997 | Glen Crowe | Cardiff City | 9 December 1997 |
| December 1997 | Jason Roberts | Torquay United | 5 March 1998 |
| 24 February 1998 | Dominic Foley | Watford | End of season |
| 4 March 1998 | Dariusz Kubicki | Tranmere Rovers | End of season |
| 25 March 1998 | Jason Roberts | Bristol City | End of season |

## Kit

The season retained the home kit of the previous year: a "wolf head" design created using their traditional gold and black colours. A new away kit comprising a white away shirt with a dark green collar and dark green shorts was introduced. Both were manufactured by Puma and sponsored by Goodyear.