Football: That was the season that was

Money well

spent

The six best buys of the season

Tore Andre Flo (Brann Bergen-Chelsea) pounds 300,000

Kevin Davies (Chesterfield-Southampton) pounds 750,000

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Boavista-Leeds) pounds 2m

Paolo Di Canio (Celtic-Sheffield Wed) pounds 3m

Emmanuel Petit (Monaco- Arsenal) pounds 3.5m

Marc Overmars (Ajax-Arsenal) pounds 5m

We want our

money back

The six worst buys of the season

Stan Collymore (Liverpool-Aston Villa) pounds 7m

Dean Holdsworth (Wimbledon-Bolton) pounds 3.5m

Viorel Moldovan (Grasshoppers-Coventry) pounds 3.25m

Jon Dahl Tomasson (Heerenveen-Newcastle) pounds 1.7m

Michele Padovano (Juventus-Crystal Palace) pounds 1.7m

Jose Dominguez (Sporting Lisbon-Tottenham) pounds 1.6m

Crocks

united

Eleven players whom fate sidelined

Lee Sharpe (Leeds) last played 11 May 1997

Julian Dicks (West Ham) 22 March 97

Liam Daish (Coventry) 11 January 97

Scott Taylor (Leicester) 12 April 97

Robbie Elliott (Bolton) 1 September 97

Gary McAllister (Coventry) 13 December 97

Roy Keane (Manchester Utd) 27 September 97

Niclas Alexandersson (Sheffield Wed) 31 January 98

Steffen Iversen (Tottenham) 28 December 97

Robbie Fowler (Liverpool) 23 February 98

Joe Parkinson (Everton)

9 April 97

Flowering

youth

Eleven bright young things

John Curtis (Manchester Utd) age 19

Nicolas Anelka (Arsenal) 19

John Oster (Everton) 20

Damian Duff (Blackburn) 19

Lee Hendrie (Aston Villa) 20

Kieron Dyer (Ipswich) 19

Michael Ball (Everton) 18

Harry Kewell (Leeds) 19

Danny Cadamarteri

(Everton) 18

Jamie Carragher (Liverpool) 20

Paolo Vernazza (Arsenal) 18

Richard Wright (Ipswich) 20

Foreign

exchange

Eleven imports whose future may now lie beyond these shores

Savo Milosevic (Aston Villa)

Georgi Hristov (Barnsley)

Per Pedersen (Blackburn)

Viorel Moldovan (Coventry)

Fernando Nelson (Aston Villa)

Michele Padovano (Crystal Palace)

Jurgen Klinsmann (Tottenham)

Temur Ketsbaia (Newcastle)

Tomas Brolin (Crystal Palace)

Patrik Berger (Liverpool)

Jordi Cruyff (Manchester

United)

Fayed's

Fulham

Kevin Keegan's pounds 7.5m Craven Cottage

spending spree

Chris Coleman pounds 2.1m (Blackburn)

Paul Peschisolido pounds 1.2m (WBA)

Tony Thorpe pounds 800,000 (Luton)

Ian Selley pounds 750,000 (Arsenal)

Maik Taylor pounds 700,000 (Southampton)

Paul Trollope pounds 600,000 (Derby)

Wayne Collins pounds 400,000 (Sheffield Wed)

Rufus Brevett pounds 400,000 (QPR)

Alan Neilson pounds 250,000 (Southampton)

Steve McAnespie pounds 100,000 (Bolton)

Paul Bracewell pounds 75,000

(Sunderland)

The bad boys

Eleven players with nine cards or more

Lucas Radebe (Leeds)

Dennis Wise (Chelsea)

David Batty (Newcastle)

Paul Williams (Coventry)

Gudni Bergsson (Bolton)

Jamie Fullarton (Crystal Palace)

John Moncur (West Ham)

Dean Sturridge (Derby)

Steve Bould (Arsenal)

Stefano Eranio (Derby)

Slaven Bilic (Everton)

Card sharps

Eleven referees who have shown 60 cards or more

Graham Barber (Pyrford)

Graham Poll (Tring)

Mike Reed (Birmingham)

Uriah Rennie (Sheffield)

Gary Willard (Worthing)

Jeff Winter (Stockton)

Mike Riley (Leeds)

Paul Alcock (Redhill)

Alan Wilkie (Chester-le-Street)

David Elleray (Harrow)

Neale Barry (Scunthorpe)

What a

cracker

Ten classic matches

Celtic 2 Liverpool 2 (Uefa Cup)

Italy 0 England 0 (World Cup)

Manchester Utd 3 Juventus 2 (Champions' League)

Newcastle 3 Barcelona 2 (Champions' League)

Arsenal 3 Manchester Utd 2 (Premiership)

Chelsea 3 Arsenal 1 (Coca-Cola Cup)

Chelsea 3 Manchester Utd 5 (FA Cup)

Middlesbrough 2 Liverpool 0 (Coca-Cola Cup)

Arsenal 4 Everton 0 (Premiership)

Barnsley 3 Manchester Utd 2 (FA Cup)

What a

let-down

Ten major

disappointments

Arsenal in Europe (again)

Stan Collymore

Blackburn Rovers

Kenny Dalglish

Wolves

Gianfranco Zola

Manchester City (naturally)

Andreas Andersson

Duncan Ferguson

France's lack of appreciation for David Ginola.

Same old

story

More European

nightmares

Newcastle 0 PSV Eindhoven 2

Strasbourg 3 Liverpool 0

Manchester Utd 1 Monaco 1

Arsenal 1 PAOK Salonika 1

PAOK Salonika 1 Arsenal 0

Manchester Utd 3 Juventus 2

Newcastle 3 Barcelona 2

Real Betis 1 Chelsea 2

Chelsea 3 Vicenza 1

Stuttgart v Chelsea ?

Old-style

Arsenal

Newcastle 0 Arsenal 1

Arsenal 1 Crystal Palace 0

Wimbledon 0 Arsenal 1

Arsenal 1 Manchester Utd 0

Arsenal 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0

Bolton 0 Arsenal 1

Arsenal 1 Derby 0

New-style

Arsenal

Arsenal 4 Bolton 1

Arsenal 4 West Ham 0

Arsenal 5 Barnsley 0

Blackburn 1 Arsenal 4

Arsenal 5 Wimbledon 0

Arsenal 4 Everton 0

Wenger's

shopping list

How Arsenal

dominated the

rumour mill

August: George Weah (Milan) pounds 10m

September: David Ginola (Tottenham) pounds 5m

October: Patrick Kluivert (Milan) pounds 8m

November: Dwight Yorke (Aston Villa) pounds 10m

December: Moreno Torricelli (Juventus) pounds 4m

January: Jaap Stam (Ajax) pounds 12m

February: Robert Pires (Metz) pounds 5m

March: Marcelo Delgado (River Plate) pounds 10m

April: Ronald de Boer (Ajax) pounds 6m

May: Nwankwo Kanu (Internazionale) pounds 5m

The desk

clearers

Six departed managers

Brian Little (Aston Villa, resigned)

Ruud Gullit (Chelsea, sacked)

Steve Coppell (Crystal Palace, resigned)

David Pleat (Sheffield Wednesday, sacked)

Gerry Francis (Tottenham, resigned)

Attilio Lombardo (Crystal Palace, resigned)

Did I really

say that?

"He has no experience of English football. He's come from Japan. And now he's telling everyone how to organise our football. Unless you have been in the situation and had the experience, he should keep his mouth shut."

Alex Ferguson on Arsene Wenger, April 1997

PREMIERSHIP TEAM OF THE SEASON

PETER SCHMEICHEL

MAN UTD

FRANCK LEBOUEF

CHELSEA

MATT ELLIOTT

LEICESTER CITY

TONY ADAMS

ARSENAL

GARY NEVILLE

MAN UTD

EMMANUEL PETIT

ARSENAL

PATRICK VIEIRA

ARSENAL

NEIL REDFEARN

BARNSLEY

DAVID GINOLA

TOTTENHAM

DENNIS BERGKAMP

ARSENAL

MICHAEL OWEN

LIVERPOOL