1995–96 West Ham United F.C. season

West Ham United

1995–96 season
Chairman	Terry Brown
Manager	Harry Redknapp
Stadium	Upton Park
Premiership	10th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Cottee/Dicks (10) All: Cottee (12)
Highest home attendance	24,324 vs Liverpool (22 Nov 1995, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance	15,375 vs Bristol Rovers (4 Oct 1995, League Cup)
Average home league attendance	22,340
Home colours

During the 1995–96 English football season, West Ham United competed in the FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary

West Ham progressed further following the previous season's 14th-place finish (and last-minute scramble away from relegation danger) and climbed to 10th place in the final table – their best finish since they came third in 1986. They were never in any danger of going down, but they never looked like challenging for a UEFA Cup spot. Nor did they make much of an impact in the cup competitions, though striker Tony Cottee showed little sign of his advancing years, coming joint top scorer with penalty taking left-back Julian Dicks.

Manager Harry Redknapp spent heavily over the summer, mostly on foreign players, in hope of building a West Ham side capable of chasing European qualification and major trophies.

The season also brought the debut of two teenage players - defender Rio Ferdinand and midfielder Frank Lampard.

Final league table

Main article: 1995–96 FA Premier League

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
8	Tottenham Hotspur	38	16	13	9	50	38	+12	61
9	Nottingham Forest	38	15	13	10	50	54	−4	58
10	West Ham United	38	14	9	15	43	52	−9	51
11	Chelsea	38	12	14	12	46	44	+2	50
12	Middlesbrough	38	11	10	17	35	50	−15	43

Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

West Ham United's score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
19 August 1995	Leeds United	H	1–2	22,901	Williamson
23 August 1995	Manchester United	A	1–2	31,966	Bruce (own goal)
26 August 1995	Nottingham Forest	A	1–1	26,645	Allen
30 August 1995	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–1	23,516	Hutchison
11 September 1995	Chelsea	H	1–3	19,228	Hutchison
16 September 1995	Arsenal	A	0–1	38,065
23 September 1995	Everton	H	2–1	21,085	Dicks (2 pens)
2 October 1995	Southampton	A	0–0	13,568
16 October 1995	Wimbledon	A	1–0	9,411	Cottee
21 October 1995	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–1	21,776	Dowie
28 October 1995	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–0	23,917	Dowie
4 November 1995	Aston Villa	H	1–4	23,637	Dicks (pen)
18 November 1995	Bolton Wanderers	A	3–0	19,047	Bishop, Cottee, Williamson
22 November 1995	Liverpool	H	0–0	24,324
25 November 1995	Queens Park Rangers	H	1–0	21,504	Cottee
2 December 1995	Blackburn Rovers	A	2–4	26,638	Dicks (pen), Slater
11 December 1995	Everton	A	0–3	31,778
16 December 1995	Southampton	H	2–1	18,501	Cottee, Dowie
23 December 1995	Middlesbrough	A	2–4	28,640	Cottee, Dicks
1 January 1996	Manchester City	A	1–2	26,024	Dowie
13 January 1996	Leeds United	A	0–2	30,658
22 January 1996	Manchester United	H	0–1	24,197
31 January 1996	Coventry City	H	3–2	18,884	Cottee, Rieper, Dowie
3 February 1996	Nottingham Forest	H	1–0	21,257	Slater
12 February 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–0	29,781	Dani
17 February 1996	Chelsea	A	2–1	25,252	Dicks, Williamson
21 February 1996	Newcastle United	H	2–0	23,843	Williamson, Cottee
24 February 1996	Arsenal	H	0–1	24,217
2 March 1996	Coventry City	A	2–2	17,459	Cottee, Rieper
9 March 1996	Middlesbrough	H	2–0	23,850	Dowie, Dicks (pen)
18 March 1996	Newcastle United	A	0–3	36,331
23 March 1996	Manchester City	H	4–2	24,017	Dowie (2), Dicks, Dani
6 April 1996	Wimbledon	H	1–1	20,402	Dicks
8 April 1996	Liverpool	A	0–2	40,326
13 April 1996	Bolton Wanderers	H	1–0	23,086	Cottee
17 April 1996	Aston Villa	A	1–1	26,768	Cottee
27 April 1996	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–3	18,828
5 May 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–1	23,790	Dicks

FA Cup

Main article: 1995–96 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	6 January 1996	Southend United	H	2–0	23,284	Moncur, Hughes
R4	7 February 1996	Grimsby Town	H	1–1	22,030	Dowie
R4R	14 February 1996	Grimsby Town	A	0–3	8,382

League Cup

Main article: 1995–96 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	20 September 1995	Bristol Rovers	A	1–0	7,103	Moncur
R2 2nd Leg	4 October 1995	Bristol Rovers	H	3–0 (won 4–0 on agg)	15,375	Dicks (pen), Bishop, Cottee
R3	25 October 1995	Southampton	A	1–2	11,059	Cottee

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[2]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  CZE Luděk Mikloško 2 DF  ENG Tim Breacker 3 DF  ENG Julian Dicks 4 DF  ENG Steve Potts 5 DF  ENG Alvin Martin 7 MF  ENG Ian Bishop 8 DF  DEN Marc Rieper 9 FW  ENG Tony Cottee 10 MF  ENG John Moncur 11 FW  NED Marco Boogers 12 DF  NIR Keith Rowland 14 FW  NIR Iain Dowie[3] 15 DF  ENG Kenny Brown 16 FW  POR Dani (on loan from Sporting CP)

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF  AUS Stan Lazaridis 18 MF  ROU Ilie Dumitrescu 19 MF  AUS Robbie Slater 20 MF  ENG Danny Williamson 21 GK  ENG Peter Shilton 22 DF  ENG Adrian Whitbread 23 MF  ENG Dale Gordon 24 MF  NIR Michael Hughes (on loan from RC Strasbourg) 26 MF  ENG Frank Lampard 28 DF  CRO Slaven Bilić 29 FW  ENG Mark Watson 30 GK  ENG Les Sealey 31 GK  ENG Neil Finn 32 DF  ENG Rio Ferdinand

Left club during season

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 6 MF  ENG Martin Allen (to Portsmouth) 14 MF  ENG Matthew Rush (to Norwich City) 16 MF  SCO Don Hutchison (to Sheffield United) 18 MF  ENG Simon Webster (retired) 21 GK  USA Ian Feuer (to Luton Town)

No. Pos. Nation Player 24 MF  ENG Paul Mitchell (to Bournemouth) 25 FW  NED Jeroen Boere (to Crystal Palace) 25 MF  USA John Harkes (on loan from Derby County) 27 DF  ENG Chris Whyte (on loan from Birmingham City)

Reserve squad

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  AUS Steve Mautone — DF  AUS Chris Coyne — MF  ENG Scott Canham

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Darren Currie — MF  ENG Emmanuel Omoyinmi

Transfers

In

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee
1 July 1995	FW	Marco Boogers	Sparta Rotterdam	£1,000,000
14 August 1995	MF	Robbie Slater	Blackburn Rovers	£600,000
8 September 1995	FW	Iain Dowie	Crystal Palace	£500,000
8 September 1995	MF	Stan Lazaridis	West Adelaide	£300,000
11 January 1996	GK	Peter Shilton	Coventry City	Free transfer
29 March 1996	GK	Steve Mautone	Canberra Cosmos	£30,000

Out

Date	Pos	Name	To	Fee
1 July 1995	DF	Jamie Victory	Bournemouth	Free transfer
15 August 1995	MF	Matty Holmes	Blackburn Rovers	£1,200,000
18 August 1995	MF	Matthew Rush	Norwich City	£330,000
7 September 1995	FW	Jeroen Boere	Crystal Palace	£375,000
3 November 1995	FW	Chris Moors	Torquay United	Free transfer
16 December 1995	GK	Ian Feuer	Luton Town	£580,000
10 January 1996	MF	Don Hutchison	Sheffield United	£1,200,000
7 February 1996	MF	Darren Currie	Shrewsbury Town	£70,000
22 February 1996	MF	Martin Allen	Portsmouth	£500,000
28 March 1996	MF	Paul Mitchell	Bournemouth	Free transfer

Transfers in: £2,430,000

Transfers out: £4,255,000

Total spending: £1,825,000

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premier League		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK	CZE	Luděk Mikloško	42	0	36	0	3	0	3	0
30	GK	ENG	Les Sealey	2	0	1+1	0	0	0	0	0
31	GK	ENG	Neil Finn	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
2	DF	ENG	Tim Breacker	24	0	19+3	0	0	0	2	0
3	DF	ENG	Julian Dicks	40	11	34	10	3	0	3	1
4	DF	ENG	Steve Potts	40	0	34	0	3	0	3	0
5	DF	ENG	Alvin Martin	17	0	10+4	0	1	0	2	0
8	DF	DEN	Marc Rieper	42	2	35+1	2	3	0	2+1	0
12	DF	NIR	Keith Rowland	25	0	19+4	0	1+1	0	0	0
15	DF	ENG	Kenny Brown	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
22	DF	ENG	Adrian Whitbread	3	0	0+2	0	1	0	0	0
28	DF	CRO	Slaven Bilić	13	0	13	0	0	0	0	0
32	DF	ENG	Rio Ferdinand	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
7	MF	ENG	Ian Bishop	41	2	35	1	3	0	3	1
10	MF	ENG	John Moncur	24	2	19+1	0	1	1	3	1
17	MF	AUS	Stan Lazaridis	6	0	2+2	0	0+1	0	1	0
18	MF	ROU	Ilie Dumitrescu	3	0	2+1	0	0	0	0	0
19	MF	AUS	Robbie Slater	26	2	16+6	2	1	0	3	0
20	MF	ENG	Danny Williamson	33	4	28+1	4	3	0	0+1	0
23	MF	ENG	Dale Gordon	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0
24	MF	NIR	Michael Hughes	33	1	28	0	3	1	2	0
26	MF	ENG	Frank Lampard	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0
Forwards
9	FW	ENG	Tony Cottee	39	12	30+3	10	3	0	3	2
11	FW	NED	Marco Boogers	4	0	0+4	0	0	0	0	0
14	FW	NIR	Iain Dowie	39	9	33	8	3	1	3	0
16	FW	POR	Dani	9	2	3+6	2	0	0	0	0
29	FW	ENG	Mark Watson	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
Players who left the club permanently or on loan during the season
6	MF	ENG	Martin Allen	3	1	3	1	0	0	0	0
16	MF	SCO	Don Hutchison	12	2	8+4	2	0	0	0	0
25	FW	NED	Jeroen Boere	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
25	MF	USA	John Harkes	13	0	6+6	0	1	0	0	0

Starting 11

Considering starts in all competitions^[4]

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	MS	Notes
1	GK		Luděk Mikloško	42
2	RB		Tim Breacker	21
8	CB		Marc Rieper	40
4	CB		Steve Potts	40
3	LB		Julian Dicks	40
20	RM		Danny Williamson	31
7	CM		Ian Bishop	41
24	CM		Michael Hughes	33
10	LM		John Moncur	23
14	CF		Iain Dowie	39
9	CF		Tony Cottee	36

References

1. "West Ham United results for the 1995-1996 season - Statto.com". Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
2. "FootballSquads - West Ham United - 1995/96".
3. Dowie was born in Hatfield, England.
4. "All West Ham United players: 1996".