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

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.

Season summary

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.

Kit

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

Final league table

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
OverallHomeAway
PldWDLGFGAGDPtsWDLGFGAGDWDLGFGAGD
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

Wimbledon's score comes first[2]

Legend

Win Draw Loss

FA Premier League

DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
19 August 1995Bolton WanderersH3–29,317Ekoku, Earle, Holdsworth
23 August 1995Queens Park RangersA3–011,837Leonhardsen, Holdsworth, Goodman
26 August 1995Manchester UnitedA1–332,226Earle
30 August 1995Sheffield WednesdayH2–26,352Goodman, Holdsworth (pen)
9 September 1995LiverpoolH1–019,530Harford
16 September 1995Aston VillaA0–226,928
23 September 1995Leeds UnitedH2–413,307Holdsworth, Reeves
30 September 1995Tottenham HotspurA1–325,321Earle
16 October 1995West Ham UnitedH0–19,411
21 October 1995Newcastle UnitedA1–636,434Gayle
28 October 1995SouthamptonH1–27,982Euell
6 November 1995Nottingham ForestA1–420,810Jones
18 November 1995MiddlesbroughH0–013,780
22 November 1995Manchester CityA0–123,617
25 November 1995Coventry CityA3–312,523Jones (pen), Goodman, Leonhardsen
3 December 1995Newcastle UnitedH3–318,002Holdsworth (2), Ekoku
9 December 1995Leeds UnitedA1–127,984Leonhardsen
16 December 1995Tottenham HotspurH0–116,193
23 December 1995Blackburn RoversH1–17,105Earle
26 December 1995ChelseaA2–121,906Earle, Ekoku
30 December 1995ArsenalA3–137,640Earle (2), Holdsworth
1 January 1996EvertonH2–311,121Holdsworth, Ekoku
13 January 1996Bolton WanderersA0–116,216
20 January 1996Queens Park RangersH2–19,123Leonhardsen, Clarke
3 February 1996Manchester UnitedH2–425,380Gayle, Euell
10 February 1996Sheffield WednesdayA1–219,085Gayle
24 February 1996Aston VillaH3–312,193Goodman (2), Harford
2 March 1996ChelseaH1–117,048S. Clarke (own goal)
13 March 1996LiverpoolA2–234,063Ekoku, Holdsworth
16 March 1996ArsenalH0–318,335
23 March 1996EvertonA4–231,382Gayle, Castledine, Clarke, Goodman
30 March 1996Nottingham ForestH1–09,807Holdsworth
6 April 1996West Ham UnitedA1–120,402Jones
8 April 1996Manchester CityH3–011,844Earle (2), Ekoku
13 April 1996MiddlesbroughA2–129,192Earle, Ekoku
17 April 1996Blackburn RoversA2–324,174Earle, Gayle
27 April 1996Coventry CityH0–215,540
5 May 1996SouthamptonA0–015,172

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R36 January 1996WatfordA1–111,187Leonhardsen
R3R17 January 1996WatfordH1–05,142Clarke
R47 February 1996MiddlesbroughA0–028,915
R4R13 February 1996MiddlesbroughH1–05,520Holdsworth
R517 February 1996Huddersfield TownA2–217,307Ekoku (2)
R5R28 February 1996Huddersfield TownH3–17,015Ekoku, Goodman (2)
QF9 March 1996ChelseaA2–230,805Holdsworth, Earle
QFR20 March 1996ChelseaH1–321,380Goodman

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R2 1st Leg19 September 1995Charlton AthleticH4–53,717Holdsworth (2), Earle, Clarke
R2 2nd Leg3 October 1995Charlton AthleticA3–3 (lost 7–8 on agg)9,823Earle, Holdsworth (2, 1 pen)

UEFA Intertoto Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
Group 1024 June 1995BursasporH0–41,879
2 July 1995KošiceA1–14,023Piper
15 July 1995Beitar JerusalemH0–0702
22 July 1995CharleroiA0–32,014

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

Players

First-team squad

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

Left club during the season

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 England ENG Simon Tracey (on loan from Sheffield United)

Others

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

In

Date Pos Name From Fee
25 July 1995 GK Paul Heald Leyton Orient £125,000

Out

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: Decrease £125,000
Transfers out: Increase £4,025,000
Total spending: Increase £3,900,000

References

  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

  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.
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