1997–98 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

Nottingham Forest
1997–98 season
Chairman	Nigel Wray
Manager	Dave Bassett
Stadium	City Ground
First Division	1st (champions)
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: van Hooijdonk (29); All: van Hooijdonk (34)
Average home league attendance	20,584
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

During the 1997–98 English football season, Nottingham Forest F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

Nottingham Forest were re-promoted to the Premier League, much thanks to the striking partnership of Pierre van Hooijdonk and Kevin Campbell. In the end, Forest had a four-point margin down to the 3rd positioned-team Sunderland, prompting an immediate return to the top flight.

Final league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Nottingham Forest (C, P)	46	28	10	8	82	42	+40	94	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Middlesbrough (P)	46	27	10	9	77	41	+36	91	Promotion to the Premier League
3	Sunderland	46	26	12	8	86	50	+36	90	Qualification for the First Division play-offs
4	Charlton Athletic (O, P)	46	26	10	10	80	49	+31	88
5	Ipswich Town	46	23	14	9	77	43	+34	83

Source: Statto.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Results

Nottingham Forest's score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	Port Vale	A	1–0	12,533	Campbell
15 August 1997	Norwich City	H	4–1	16,524	van Hooijdonk, Thomas (2), Campbell
23 August 1997	Oxford United	A	1–0	9,486	Bart-Williams
30 August 1997	Queens Park Rangers	H	4–0	18,804	van Hooijdonk (3), Saunders
3 September 1997	Manchester City	H	1–3	23,681	Campbell
7 September 1997	Swindon Town	A	0–0	13,051
13 September 1997	Sheffield United	A	0–1	24,536
20 September 1997	Portsmouth	H	1–0	17,292	van Hooijdonk
27 September 1997	Stoke City	H	1–0	19,018	Campbell
3 October 1997	Huddersfield Town	A	2–0	11,258	Cooper, Saunders
18 October 1997	Tranmere Rovers	H	2–2	17,009	van Hooijdonk, Gemmill
21 October 1997	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–0	19,243	Campbell
24 October 1997	Reading	A	3–3	12,610	van Hooijdonk (2, 1 pen), Campbell
1 November 1997	Crewe Alexandra	H	3–1	18,268	Campbell, van Hooijdonk (2)
4 November 1997	Bury	A	0–2	6,137
8 November 1997	Sunderland	A	1–1	33,160	Hjelde
15 November 1997	Birmingham City	H	1–0	19,610	Campbell
22 November 1997	Charlton Athletic	H	5–2	18,532	van Hooijdonk (3), Woan, Campbell
26 November 1997	Middlesbrough	A	0–0	30,143
29 November 1997	Ipswich Town	A	1–0	17,580	Campbell
6 December 1997	Bradford City	H	2–2	17,943	Cooper, Bonalair
14 December 1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–2	24,635	A Johnson
20 December 1997	Stockport County	H	2–1	16,701	van Hooijdonk (pen), Stone
26 December 1997	Swindon Town	H	3–0	26,500	Campbell (2), A Johnson
28 December 1997	Manchester City	A	3–2	31,839	van Hooijdonk (2 pens), Campbell
10 January 1998	Port Vale	H	2–1	17,639	van Hooijdonk (2)
17 January 1998	Norwich City	A	0–1	17,059
24 January 1998	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–0	13,220	Cooper
31 January 1998	Oxford United	H	1–3	18,392	van Hooijdonk (pen)
7 February 1998	Portsmouth	A	1–0	15,033	Chettle
17 February 1998	Huddersfield Town	H	3–0	18,231	van Hooijdonk (2), Bonalair
21 February 1998	Stoke City	A	1–1	16,899	Thomas-Moore
24 February 1998	Tranmere Rovers	A	0–0	7,377
1 March 1998	Middlesbrough	H	4–0	25,286	van Hooijdonk (2, 1 pen), Campbell, Cooper
4 March 1998	Sunderland	H	0–3	29,009
7 March 1998	Crewe Alexandra	A	4–1	5,759	Bart-Williams, Campbell (3)
14 March 1998	Bury	H	3–0	18,846	Lucketti (own goal), van Hooijdonk, Rogers
21 March 1998	Birmingham City	A	2–1	24,663	van Hooijdonk (2)
28 March 1998	Charlton Athletic	A	2–4	15,815	Campbell (2)
1 April 1998	Sheffield United	H	3–0	21,512	Thomas, Campbell (2)
5 April 1998	Ipswich Town	H	2–1	22,292	Cooper, van Hooijdonk
11 April 1998	Bradford City	A	3–0	17,248	Campbell, Gemmill, Bart-Williams
13 April 1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	3–0	22,863	Johnson, van Hooijdonk, Campbell
18 April 1998	Stockport County	A	2–2	9,892	van Hooijdonk, Johnson
26 April 1998	Reading	H	1–0	29,302	Bart-Williams
3 May 1998	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–1	23,013	Stone

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	3 January 1998	Charlton Athletic	A	1–4	13,827	van Hooijdonk

League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 First Leg	11 August 1997	Doncaster Rovers	A	8–0	4,547	Thomas, Saunders (2), Hjelde (2), van Hooijdonk (2), Allen
R1 Second Leg	27 August 1997	Doncaster Rovers	H	2–1 (won 10–1 on agg)	9,908	Guinan, van Hooijdonk
R2 First Leg	17 September 1997	Walsall	H	0–1	7,841
R2 Second Leg	24 September 1997	Walsall	A	2–2 (lost 2–3 on agg)	6,037	van Hooijdonk, Armstrong

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
—	GK	ENG	Dave Beasant
—	GK	ENG	Mark Goodlad
—	GK	WAL	Mark Crossley
—	GK	SUI	Marco Pascolo
—	DF	ENG	Steve Chettle
—	DF	ENG	Colin Cooper
—	DF	ENG	Andy Dawson
—	DF	ENG	Des Lyttle
—	DF	ENG	Alan Rogers
—	DF	ENG	Stuart Thom
—	DF	SCO	Chris Doig
—	DF	FRA	Thierry Bonalair
—	DF	NOR	Jon-Olav Hjelde
—	MF	ENG	Chris Allen
—	MF	ENG	Craig Armstrong
—	MF	ENG	Chris Bart-Williams
—	MF	ENG	Richard Cooper
—	MF	ENG	John Finnigan
—	MF	ENG	Richard Hodgson
—	MF	ENG	Bobby Howe


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Steve Melton
—	MF	ENG	Steve Stone
—	MF	ENG	Geoff Thomas
—	MF	ENG	Andy Todd
—	MF	ENG	Ian Woan
—	MF	WAL	Christian Edwards
—	MF	WAL	Glyn Hodges
—	MF	WAL	Andy Johnson
—	MF	SCO	Scot Gemmill
—	MF	IRL	John Burns
—	MF	AUS	Gareth Edds
—	FW	ENG	Kevin Campbell
—	FW	ENG	Steve Guinan
—	FW	ENG	Marlon Harewood
—	FW	ENG	Paul McGregor
—	FW	ENG	Ian Thomas-Moore
—	FW	IRL	David Freeman
—	FW	NED	Pierre van Hooijdonk
—	FW	ESP	Carlos Merino

Left club permanently 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
—	GK	NIR	Alan Fettis (to Blackburn Rovers)
—	DF	ENG	Vance Warner (to Rotherham United)
—	MF	ENG	Paul Smith (to Lincoln City)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	WAL	David Phillips (to Huddersfield Town)
—	MF	NIR	Damien Johnson (on loan from Blackburn Rovers)
—	FW	WAL	Dean Saunders (to Sheffield United)

Left club on loan 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.