Retro Fantasy Football

1996/97 Premier League fantasy football

Replay the 1996/97 Premier League as an old school fantasy football manager. Build a £100m squad from that season's 345 real players across 20 clubs, then play all 38 gameweeks and see how many points your 1996/97 XI can rack up. Alan Shearer is the season's most expensive pick at £11.5m.

Draft a squad from 1996/97

The 1996/97 title race

Manchester United won the 1996/97 title with 75 points, 7 points clear of Newcastle. They won 21, drew 12 and lost 5 of their 38 games, scoring 76 and conceding 44. Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest were relegated. Alan Shearer took the scoring honours with 25 league goals.

  • Manchester United's 75 points are the lowest champions' total of any season from 1995/96 to 2024/25.

1996/97 Premier League final table

#ClubPWDLGFGAGDPts
1Manchester United38211257644+3275
2Newcastle38191187340+3368
3Arsenal38191186232+3068
4Liverpool38191186237+2568
5Aston Villa381710114734+1361
6Chelsea381611115855+359
7Sheffield Wednesday38141595051-157
8Wimbledon381511124946+356
9Leicester381211154654-847
10Tottenham Hotspur38137184451-746
11Leeds381113142838-1046
12Derby381113144558-1346
13Blackburn38915144243-142
14West Ham381012163948-942
15Everton381012164457-1342
16Southampton381011175056-641
17Coventry38914153854-1641
18Sunderland381010183553-1840
19Middlesbrough381012165160-939
20Nottingham Forest38616163159-2834

The bottom three were relegated. In the game, every result behind this table plays out as it really happened.

1996/97 top scorers

PlayerGoalsAssistsOur price
Alan ShearerNewcastle257£11.5m
Ian WrightArsenal234£10.0m
Ole Gunnar SolskjærManchester United184£9.0m
Robbie FowlerLiverpool184£8.5m
Dwight YorkeAston Villa176£8.5m
Les FerdinandNewcastle168£10.0m
Fabrizio RavanelliMiddlesbrough164£8.0m
Matt Le TissierSouthampton130£9.5m
Dion DublinCoventry132£7.0m
Stan CollymoreLiverpool124£7.5m

1996/97 assist leaders

PlayerAssistsGoalsOur price
Eric CantonaManchester United1211£9.0m
Neal ArdleyWimbledon112£7.5m
Andy HinchcliffeEverton91£5.5m
Gianfranco ZolaChelsea98£7.5m
Dennis BergkampArsenal912£8.0m
Gary McAllisterCoventry96£8.0m
Les FerdinandNewcastle816£10.0m
Rob LeeNewcastle85£8.5m
Nick BarmbyEverton85£7.5m
Mark PembridgeSheffield Wednesday86£9.0m

League goals and assists only. Players who moved clubs mid-season are listed under the club they played most for.

1996/97 best-value XI

A 5-3-2 that costs £62.0m at our prices, leaving room on a £100m budget for four substitutes.

PlayerPriceest. ptsPer £1m
Steve OgrizovicGoalkeeper · Coventry£5.0m11422.8
Jim MagiltonDefender · Southampton£5.0m13827.6
Sol CampbellDefender · Tottenham Hotspur£4.5m11726.0
Stuart PearceDefender · Nottingham Forest£5.0m12925.8
Ugo EhioguDefender · Aston Villa£5.5m14125.6
Alf-Inge HaalandDefender · Nottingham Forest£5.5m14125.6
Paul BracewellMidfielder · Sunderland£5.5m12322.4
Tim SherwoodMidfielder · Blackburn£6.5m14121.7
Graham StuartMidfielder · Everton£6.5m13921.4
Duncan FergusonForward · Everton£6.5m15423.7
Marcus GayleForward · Wimbledon£6.5m15223.4

The best return on our prices, using an estimate of fantasy points per £1m from real league stats and our scoring: 3 points per appearance, plus goals (10 for goalkeepers, 6 for defenders, 5 for midfielders, 4 for forwards) and 3 per assist. Clean sheets were not recorded per player in this era, so defenders and goalkeepers are ranked mostly on appearances. Players need at least 1,710 league minutes (half a season), and no more than three come from one club.

Most expensive players by position

The premium picks a £100m budget forces you to choose between in 1996/97.

Goalkeepers

  1. Peter SchmeichelManchester United · 0 goals, 1 assist£6.0m
  2. David SeamanArsenal · 0 goals, 1 assist£6.0m
  3. David JamesLiverpool · 0 goals, 0 assists£6.0m

Defenders

  1. John BarnesLiverpool · 4 goals, 6 assists£6.5m
  2. Robbie ElliottNewcastle · 7 goals, 1 assist£6.5m
  3. Dan PetrescuChelsea · 3 goals, 8 assists£6.0m

Midfielders

  1. David BeckhamManchester United · 8 goals, 8 assists£11.5m
  2. Juninho PaulistaMiddlesbrough · 12 goals, 8 assists£10.5m
  3. Steve McManamanLiverpool · 7 goals, 7 assists£10.0m

Forwards

  1. Alan ShearerNewcastle · 25 goals, 7 assists£11.5m
  2. Ian WrightArsenal · 23 goals, 4 assists£10.0m
  3. Les FerdinandNewcastle · 16 goals, 8 assists£10.0m

1996/97 on Retro Fantasy Football

28 managers have finished a 1996/97 season on our leaderboard (as of October 2026). The best scores so far:

  1. 2,066 pts
  2. 2,028 pts
  3. 2,026 pts
  4. 1,973 pts
  5. 1,924 pts

Points follow our scoring rules. Think you can beat them?

Draft a squad from 1996/97