# 1995–96 Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. season

The 1995–96 season was the 97th 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.
Although the season began with Graham Taylor as manager, he resigned sixteen games into their league campaign under fan pressure due to the team's poor results. Despite being tipped by many to be one of the promotion favourites - following on from having reached the play-offs in the previous season - the side sat in 18th place at the time of Taylor's exit.
After a period under caretaker manager Bobby Downes, Mark McGhee resigned from Leicester City to become Wolves' new manager in December. Despite a slow upturn in results under McGhee that put the team within three points of a play-off place at the start of April, their form again collapsed and they took just four points from the final 24 available.
The club eventually finished the season in 20th place, only confirming their safety from relegation in their final home game. This represented their lowest finish in the football pyramid since returning to the second level in 1989–90.

## Results
### Football League First Division

A total of 24 teams competed in the Football League First Division in the 1995–96 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 20 June 1995, 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 | D | D | L | W | L | W | L | L | D | D | W | L | D | W | L | D | L | L | L | D | W | L | D | D | D | W | W | D | W | L | W | W | L | D | L | W | W | W | L | L | D | D | L | D | L | D |
| Position | 9 | 19 | 21 | 12 | 15 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 15 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 20 |

### 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 | Andy De Bont | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | Paul Jones | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | Mike Stowell | 38 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | John de Wolf | 14(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Brian Law | 5(2) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 7(3) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| DF | Neil Masters | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Dennis Pearce | 3(2) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Dean Richards | 36(1) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 43(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Peter Shirtliff † | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Jamie Smith | 10(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Andy Thompson | 45 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 55 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Mark Venus | 19(3) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 24(3) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Eric Young | 30 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 39 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Mark Atkins | 26(6) | 3 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 35(6) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Paul Birch ¤ | 5(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2(1) | 0 | 7(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Steve Corica | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Gordon Cowans † | 10(6) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12(6) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Tony Daley | 16(2) | 3 | 0(1) | 0 | 4 | 1 | 20(3) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Robbie Dennison ¤ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Neil Emblen | 30(3) | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1(1) | 1 | 34(4) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Darren Ferguson | 26(7) | 1 | 3(1) | 1 | 4 | 1 | 33(8) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Richard Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Steve Froggatt | 13(5) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13(5) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Simon Osborn | 21 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Mark Rankine | 27(5) | 0 | 3(1) | 0 | 6 | 0 | 36(6) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| MF | Carl Robinson ¤ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Vinny Samways ‡ | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Geoff Thomas | 0(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(2) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| MF | Jermaine Wright | 4(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1(1) | 1 | 5(4) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Steve Bull | 42(2) | 15 | 4 | 2 | 4(1) | 0 | 50(3) | 17 | 0 | 1 |
| FW | Glen Crowe | 1(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Dominic Foley | 1(4) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 1(6) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Don Goodman | 43(1) | 16 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 53(1) | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | David Kelly † | 3(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Mark Williams | 5(7) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2(1) | 1 | 8(8) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Source: Wolverhampton Wanderers: The Complete Record

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Player | From | Fee |
| 30 May 1995 | Dean Richards | Bradford City | £1.85 million |
| 13 September 1995 | Eric Young | Crystal Palace | Free |
| 20 September 1995 | Mark Williams | RWD Molenbeek | £300,000 |
| 21 September 1995 | Mark Atkins | Blackburn Rovers | £1 million |
| 22 September 1995 | Richard Flash | Manchester United | Free |
| 22 December 1995 | Simon Osborn | Queens Park Rangers | £1 million |
| 16 February 1996 | Steve Corica | Leicester City | £1.1 million |
| 16 February 1996 | Željko Kalac | Leicester City | £650,000 |

### Out

| Date | Player | To | Fee |
| 23 June 1995 | Tom Bennett | Stockport County | £75,000 |
| 18 July 1995 | Paul Blades | Rotherham United | £110,000 |
| 25 August 1995 | Peter Shirtliff | Barnsley | £125,000 |
| 18 September 1995 | David Kelly | Sunderland | £1 million |
| 29 December 1995 | Gordon Cowans | Sheffield United | Free |

### Loans in

| Start date | Player | From | End date |
| 21 December 1995 | Vinny Samways | Everton | 21 January 1996 |

### Loans out

| Start date | Player | To | End date |
| 5 October 1995 | Robbie Dennison | Swansea City | End of season |
| 7 March 1996 | Paul Birch | Preston North End | End of season |
| 28 March 1996 | Carl Robinson | Shrewsbury Town | End of season |

## Management and coaching staff

| Position | Name |
| Manager | Graham Taylor (until 13 November), then Mark McGhee (from 13 December onward) |
| Assistant manager | Bobby Downes, then Colin Lee (from 13 December onward) |
| First Team coach | Mike Hickman |
| Youth Development Officer | Chris Evans |
| Youth Team coach | Chris Turner |
| Club doctors | Dr Peter Ackroyd and Dr Peter Bekenn |
| Club Physio | Barry Holmes |

## Kit

The season saw a new home shirt introduced featuring an embroidered crest and new collar design. The all-white away kit of the previous season was retained. Both were manufactured by Nutmeg Clothing and featured sponsor name of Goodyear.