Season 1997-1998 Details

In the latter part of the previous season George Graham had let Paul Beesley depart to Manchester City for £500,000 and Mark Tinker to York City for £85,000 and given frees to John McClelland and Rob Bowman. He now started to get rid of Wilko signings in earnest. There were free transfers for Tony Dorigo to AC Torino, Ian Rush to Newcastle United and John Pemberton to Crewe Alexandra. Mark Ford left for Burnley for £250,000, Andy Couzens went to Carlisle United for £100,000, while Brian Deane returned to Sheffield United for £1.5 million and Carlton Palmer left for Southampton for £1 million. He was able to offload Tony Yeboah to Hamburg for £900,000, while Tomas Brolin was encouraged to leave on loan to FC Zurich, Parma and then Crystal Palace. He also let his own signing, Pierre Laurent, return to Bastia in March for a tidy profit at £500,000.

Read more about the 1997-1998 season in the European Adventures section of our Leeds United history timeline. For player appearances, goals, red cards and transfers for the 1997-1998 season click here.

	Season Record	GP	W	D	L	F	A	GD	P	Pos
Premier League		38	17	8	13	57	46	11	56	5
FA Cup		4	3	0	1	9	3	6	-	QF
League Cup		4	2	0	2	9	8	1	-	R4
TOTAL		46	22	8	16	75	57	18	-	-

	Managers	First Game	P	W	D	L	Win%
	George Graham	Arsenal (H) - 09/08/1997	09/08/1997	46	22	8	16	47.83%

	Premier League		Venue	Date		Score
	Arsenal	H	Elland Road	09/08/1997		1 : 1	D
	Sheffield Wednesday	A	Hillsborough	13/08/1997		3 : 1	W
	Crystal Palace	H	Elland Road	23/08/1997		0 : 2	L
	Liverpool	H	Elland Road	26/08/1997		0 : 2	L
	Aston Villa	A	Villa Park	30/08/1997		0 : 1	L
	Blackburn Rovers	A	Ewood Park	14/09/1997		4 : 3	W
	Leicester City	H	Elland Road	20/09/1997		0 : 1	L
	Southampton	A	The Dell	24/09/1997		2 : 0	W
	Manchester United	H	Elland Road	27/09/1997		1 : 0	W
	Coventry City	A	Highfield Road	04/10/1997		0 : 0	D
	Newcastle United	H	Elland Road	18/10/1997		4 : 1	W
	Wimbledon	A	Selhurst Park	25/10/1997		0 : 1	L
	Tottenham Hotspur	A	White Hart Lane	01/11/1997		1 : 0	W
	Derby County	H	Elland Road	08/11/1997		4 : 3	W
	West Ham United	H	Elland Road	23/11/1997		3 : 1	W
	Barnsley	A	Oakwell	29/11/1997		3 : 2	W
	Everton	H	Elland Road	06/12/1997		0 : 0	D
	Chelsea	A	Stamford Bridge	13/12/1997		0 : 0	D
	Bolton Wanderers	H	Elland Road	20/12/1997		2 : 0	W
	Liverpool	A	Anfield	26/12/1997		1 : 3	L
	Aston Villa	H	Elland Road	28/12/1997		1 : 1	D
	Arsenal	A	Highbury	10/01/1998		1 : 2	L
	Sheffield Wednesday	H	Elland Road	17/01/1998		1 : 2	L
	Crystal Palace	A	Selhurst Park	31/01/1998		2 : 0	W
	Leicester City	A	Filbert Street	07/02/1998		0 : 1	L
	Newcastle United	A	St James Park	22/02/1998		1 : 1	D
	Southampton	H	Elland Road	28/02/1998		0 : 1	L
	Tottenham Hotspur	H	Elland Road	04/03/1998		1 : 0	W
	Blackburn Rovers	H	Elland Road	11/03/1998		4 : 0	W
	Derby County	A	Pride Park	15/03/1998		5 : 0	W
	West Ham United	A	Upton Park	30/03/1998		0 : 3	L
	Barnsley	H	Elland Road	04/04/1998		2 : 1	W
	Chelsea	H	Elland Road	08/04/1998		3 : 1	W
	Everton	A	Goodison Park	11/04/1998		0 : 2	L
	Bolton Wanderers	A	Reebok Stadium	18/04/1998		3 : 2	W
	Coventry City	H	Elland Road	25/04/1998		3 : 3	D
	Manchester United	A	Old Trafford	04/05/1998		0 : 3	L
	Wimbledon	H	Elland Road	09/05/1998		1 : 1	D

	FA Cup		Venue	Date		Score
	Oxford United FA Cup 3rd Round	H	Elland Road	03/01/1998		4 : 0	W
	Grimsby Town FA Cup 4th Round	H	Elland Road	24/01/1998		2 : 0	W
	Birmingham City FA Cup 5th Round	H	Elland Road	14/02/1998		3 : 2	W
	Wolverhampton Wanderers FA Cup Quarter Finals	H	Elland Road	07/03/1998		0 : 1	L

	League Cup		Venue	Date		Score
	Bristol City Coca Cola Cup 2nd Round 1st Leg	H	Elland Road	17/09/1997		3 : 1	W
	Bristol City Coca Cola Cup 2nd Round 2nd Leg	A	Ashton Gate	30/09/1997		1 : 3	L
	Stoke City Coca Cola Cup 3rd Round	A	Britannia Stadium	15/10/1997		3 : 1	W
	Reading Coca Cola Cup 4th Round	H	Elland Road	18/11/1997		2 : 3	L

	Premier League Table		Pld	Pts	GD	W	D	L	F	A
1		Arsenal	38	78	35	23	9	6	68	33
2		Manchester United	38	77	47	23	8	7	73	26
3		Liverpool	38	65	26	18	11	9	68	42
4		Chelsea	38	63	28	20	3	15	71	43
5		Leeds United	38	59	11	17	8	13	57	46
6		Blackburn Rovers	38	58	5	16	10	12	57	52
7		Aston Villa	38	57	1	17	6	15	49	48
8		West Ham United	38	56	-1	16	8	14	56	57
9		Derby County	38	55	3	16	7	15	52	49
10		Leicester City	38	53	10	13	14	11	51	41
11		Coventry City	38	52	2	12	16	10	46	44
12		Southampton	38	48	-5	14	6	18	50	55
13		Newcastle United	38	44	-9	11	11	16	35	44
14		Tottenham Hotspur	38	44	-12	11	11	16	44	56
15		Wimbledon	38	44	-12	10	14	14	34	46
16		Sheffield Wednesday	38	44	-15	12	8	18	52	67
17		Everton	38	40	-15	9	13	16	41	56
18		Bolton Wanderers	38	40	-20	9	13	16	41	61
19		Barnsley	38	35	-45	10	5	23	37	82
20		Crystal Palace	38	33	-34	8	9	21	37	71

	References
	Sheridan Dictates: Season Statistics 1997-98
	OzWhite: Leeds United Season Statistics and Teamsheets 1997-98
	Leeds United Programme Guide: Season 1997/98
	Leeds-Fans.org.uk: Season 1997 - 1998