1995–96 Wimbledon F.C. season

During the 1995–96 English football season, Wimbledon F.C. competed in the FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons). It was their tenth successive season in the top flight of English football and although they finished 14th, lower than on any of the previous nine occasions, they finished high enough to maintain their top flight membership.

Wimbledon
1995–96 season
ChairmanSam Hammam
ManagerJoe Kinnear
StadiumSelhurst Park
Premiership14th
FA CupQuarter finals
League CupSecond round
UEFA Intertoto CupGroup stage
Top goalscorerLeague: Earle (11)
All: Ekoku/Holdsworth (16)
Highest home attendance25,380 vs Manchester United
(3 Feb 1996, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance3,717 vs Charlton Athletic
(19 Sep 1995, League Cup)
Average home league attendance13,246

Season summary

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With the Premiership's lowest crowds and transfer budget, Wimbledon had begun most of their top division seasons since promotion in 1986 as pre-season relegation favourites, but the "Crazy Gang" spirit kept Wimbledon going once again, although their 14th-place finish was their lowest since joining the top flight 10 seasons earlier.

Dean Holdsworth and Efan Ekoku were once again a formidable strikerforce, while Vinnie Jones was as combative as ever and Oyvind Leonhardsen's performances attracted attention from several bigger clubs. Manager Joe Kinnear managed to hold on to all his key assets, as well as adding a few more, over the close season as he grew ever more determined to defy the odds once again.

It was the last season at Wimbledon for long-serving goalkeeper Hans Segers, who lost his place early in the season to Paul Heald and was transferred to Wolves soon afterwards. Within a few months however, Kinnear had decided on Neil Sullivan as his regular goalkeeper.

The season saw Wimbledon play in European competition for the first (and the only) time in their history, in the Intertoto Cup. However, as Selhurst Park was unavailable the club were forced to play the matches at Brighton & Hove Albion's Goldstone Ground. The lack of home support affected Wimbledon's performances, and they finished fourth in their group of five after a 4–0 home defeat to Turkish club Bursaspor, a 1–1 draw at Slovakian side Košice, a 0–0 draw with Israelis Beitar Jerusalem at home and a 3–0 away defeat at Belgian team Charleroi.

Core became Wimbledon's kit manufacturers for the season. Birmingham-based electronics company Elonex remained the kit sponsors.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
12 Middlesbrough 38 11 10 17 35 50 −15 43
13 Leeds United 38 12 7 19 40 57 −17 43
14 Wimbledon 38 10 11 17 55 70 −15 41
15 Sheffield Wednesday 38 10 10 18 48 61 −13 40
16 Coventry City 38 8 14 16 42 60 −18 38
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.


Results summary
Overall Home Away
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts W D L GF GA GD W D L GF GA GD
38 10 11 17 55 70  −15 41 5 6 8 27 33  −6 5 5 9 28 37  −9

Source: Statto

Results by round
Round1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738
GroundHAAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAAHA
ResultWWLDWLLLLLLLDLDDDLDWWLLWLLDDDLWWDWWLLD
Position423636911121415171617161717181816151515141616161515171515151514141414
Source: Statto.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Results

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Wimbledon's score comes first[2]

Legend

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Win Draw Loss

FA Premier League

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Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
19 August 1995 Bolton Wanderers H 3–2 9,317 Ekoku, Earle, Holdsworth
23 August 1995 Queens Park Rangers A 3–0 11,837 Leonhardsen, Holdsworth, Goodman
26 August 1995 Manchester United A 1–3 32,226 Earle
30 August 1995 Sheffield Wednesday H 2–2 6,352 Goodman, Holdsworth (pen)
9 September 1995 Liverpool H 1–0 19,530 Harford
16 September 1995 Aston Villa A 0–2 26,928
23 September 1995 Leeds United H 2–4 13,307 Holdsworth, Reeves
30 September 1995 Tottenham Hotspur A 1–3 25,321 Earle
16 October 1995 West Ham United H 0–1 9,411
21 October 1995 Newcastle United A 1–6 36,434 Gayle
28 October 1995 Southampton H 1–2 7,982 Euell
6 November 1995 Nottingham Forest A 1–4 20,810 Jones
18 November 1995 Middlesbrough H 0–0 13,780
22 November 1995 Manchester City A 0–1 23,617
25 November 1995 Coventry City A 3–3 12,523 Jones (pen), Goodman, Leonhardsen
3 December 1995 Newcastle United H 3–3 18,002 Holdsworth (2), Ekoku
9 December 1995 Leeds United A 1–1 27,984 Leonhardsen
16 December 1995 Tottenham Hotspur H 0–1 16,193
23 December 1995 Blackburn Rovers H 1–1 7,105 Earle
26 December 1995 Chelsea A 2–1 21,906 Earle, Ekoku
30 December 1995 Arsenal A 3–1 37,640 Earle (2), Holdsworth
1 January 1996 Everton H 2–3 11,121 Holdsworth, Ekoku
13 January 1996 Bolton Wanderers A 0–1 16,216
20 January 1996 Queens Park Rangers H 2–1 9,123 Leonhardsen, Clarke
3 February 1996 Manchester United H 2–4 25,380 Gayle, Euell
10 February 1996 Sheffield Wednesday A 1–2 19,085 Gayle
24 February 1996 Aston Villa H 3–3 12,193 Goodman (2), Harford
2 March 1996 Chelsea H 1–1 17,048 S. Clarke (own goal)
13 March 1996 Liverpool A 2–2 34,063 Ekoku, Holdsworth
16 March 1996 Arsenal H 0–3 18,335
23 March 1996 Everton A 4–2 31,382 Gayle, Castledine, Clarke, Goodman
30 March 1996 Nottingham Forest H 1–0 9,807 Holdsworth
6 April 1996 West Ham United A 1–1 20,402 Jones
8 April 1996 Manchester City H 3–0 11,844 Earle (2), Ekoku
13 April 1996 Middlesbrough A 2–1 29,192 Earle, Ekoku
17 April 1996 Blackburn Rovers A 2–3 24,174 Earle, Gayle
27 April 1996 Coventry City H 0–2 15,540
5 May 1996 Southampton A 0–0 15,172

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
R3 6 January 1996 Watford A 1–1 11,187 Leonhardsen
R3R 17 January 1996 Watford H 1–0 5,142 Clarke
R4 7 February 1996 Middlesbrough A 0–0 28,915
R4R 13 February 1996 Middlesbrough H 1–0 5,520 Holdsworth
R5 17 February 1996 Huddersfield Town A 2–2 17,307 Ekoku (2)
R5R 28 February 1996 Huddersfield Town H 3–1 7,015 Ekoku, Goodman (2)
QF 9 March 1996 Chelsea A 2–2 30,805 Holdsworth, Earle
QFR 20 March 1996 Chelsea H 1–3 21,380 Goodman

League Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg 19 September 1995 Charlton Athletic H 4–5 3,717 Holdsworth (2), Earle, Clarke
R2 2nd Leg 3 October 1995 Charlton Athletic A 3–3 (lost 7–8 on agg) 9,823 Earle, Holdsworth (2, 1 pen)

UEFA Intertoto Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
Group 10 24 June 1995 Bursaspor H 0–4 1,879
2 July 1995 Košice A 1–1 4,023 Piper
15 July 1995 Beitar Jerusalem H 0–0 702
22 July 1995 Charleroi A 0–3 2,014

Note: Home games in the Intertoto Cup were played at the Goldstone Ground due to unavailability of White Hart Lane

Players

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First-team squad

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Squad at end of season[3] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   NED Hans Segers
2 DF   IRL Kenny Cunningham
3 DF   ENG Alan Kimble
4 MF   WAL Vinnie Jones[notes 1]
5 DF   ENG Dean Blackwell
6 DF   IRL Scott Fitzgerald[notes 2]
7 MF   NOR Øyvind Leonhardsen
8 MF   ENG Robbie Earle[notes 3]
9 FW   NGA Efan Ekoku[notes 4]
10 FW   ENG Dean Holdsworth
11 FW   ENG Marcus Gayle[notes 5]
12 DF   ENG Gary Elkins
13 GK   ENG Paul Heald
14 FW   ENG Jon Goodman[notes 6]
15 DF   ENG Alan Reeves
16 DF   ENG Andy Thorn
17 DF   SCO Brian McAllister
18 MF   ENG Neal Ardley
No. Pos. Nation Player
19 MF   ENG Stewart Castledine
20 FW   ENG Mick Harford
21 DF   ENG Chris Perry
22 FW   ENG Andy Clarke
23 GK   ENG Neil Sullivan[notes 7]
24 MF   ENG Peter Fear
25 FW   ENG Gary Blissett
26 MF   ENG Aidan Newhouse
27 FW   ENG Grant Payne
28 MF   ENG Steve Talboys
29 DF   ENG Gerald Dobbs
30 DF   ENG Roger Joseph
31 MF   ENG Mark Thomas
32 DF   ENG Justin Skinner
33 GK   IRL Brendan Murphy
34 MF   ENG Jason Euell[notes 8]
35 DF   ENG Andy Pearce

Left club during the season

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
35 GK   ENG Simon Tracey (on loan from Sheffield United)

Others

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Iain Laidlaw (born 10 December 1976) is a defender who had represented the club in the 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup,[4] signed for the club that summer, but was released in 1997 without making a league appearance.[5]

Transfers

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Date Pos Name From Fee
25 July 1995 GK Paul Heald Leyton Orient £125,000
Date Pos Name From Fee
5 June 1995 DF Warren Barton Newcastle United £4,000,000
8 August 1995 FW Steve Anthrobus Shrewsbury Town £25,000
Transfers in:   £125,000
Transfers out:   £4,025,000
Total spending:   £3,900,000

References

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  1. ^ "Wimbledon - Historical Football Kits".
  2. ^ "Wimbledon results for the 1995-1996 season - Statto.com". Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  3. ^ "FootballSquads - Wimbledon - 1995/96".
  4. ^ Phil Shaw (26 June 1995). "No picnic for English clubs by the sea". The Independent. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
  5. ^ Jack Rollin (1997). Playfair Football Who's Who 1998. Headline Publishing. p. 214. ISBN 0-7472-5810-4.

Notes

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  1. ^ Jones was born in Watford, England, but also qualified to represent Wales through his maternal grandfather and made his international debut for Wales in December 1994.
  2. ^ Fitzgerald was born in Westminster, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and represented them at U-21 and B level.
  3. ^ Earle was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England, and was called up for England without playing, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and would make his international debut for Jamaica in 1997.
  4. ^ Ekoku was born in Cheetham, England, but also qualified to represent Nigeria internationally and made his international debut for Nigeria in 1994.
  5. ^ Gayle was born in Hammersmith, London, and represented them at U-18 level, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally through his father and would make his international debut for Jamaica in 1998.
  6. ^ Goodman was born in Waltham Forest, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and would make his debut for the Republic of Ireland in 1997.
  7. ^ Sullivan was born in Sutton, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally and made his international debut for Scotland in 1997.
  8. ^ Euell was born in Lambeth, England, and represented them at U-21 level, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally through his father and would make his international debut for Jamaica in November 2004.