| Club: | Newcastle United |
| Season: | 1896–97 |
| Manager: | Selection committee (overseen by Frank Watt) |
| Stadium: | St James' Park |
| League: | Football League Second Division |
| League Result: | 5th |
| Cup1: | FA Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | First Round |
| League Topscorer: | Richard Smellie (15) |
| Season Topscorer: | Richard Smellie (15) |
| Highest Attendance: | 17,000 (vs. Notts County) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 4,000 (vs. Burton Swifts) |
| Average Attendance: | 8,399 |
| Pattern La1: | _black_stripes |
| Pattern B1: | _blackstripes3 |
| Pattern Ra1: | _black_stripes |
| Leftarm1: | FFFFFF |
| Body1: | FFFFFF |
| Rightarm1: | FFFFFF |
| Shorts1: | 585050 |
| Socks1: | 000000 |
| Pattern B2: | _collar |
| Leftarm2: | 00b8fb |
| Body2: | 00b8fb |
| Rightarm2: | 00b8fb |
| Shorts2: | 000066 |
| Socks2: | 000000 |
| Prevseason: | 1895–96 |
| Nextseason: | 1897–98 |
The 1896–97 season was Newcastle United's fourth season in the Football League Second Division.
| Pos. | Name | League | FA Cup | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| GK | Charlie Watts | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 0 | |
| DF | Robert Foyers | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| DF | Robert McDermid | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| DF | Thomas Stewart | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 | |
| DF | John White | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 0 | |
| MF | George Adams | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 | |
| MF | Andy Aitken | 30 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 11 | |
| MF | John Auld | 14 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 3 | |
| MF | Jack Carr | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| MF | William Graham | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| MF | William Miller | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 1 | |
| MF | Jack Ostler | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 1 | |
| FW | Thomas Blyth | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| FW | James Collins | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 1 | |
| FW | John Connell | 24 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 3 | |
| FW | J Kinsella | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| FW | Malcolm Lennox | 19 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 4 | |
| FW | David Smellie | 26 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 15 | |
| FW | James Stott | 29 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 3 | |
| FW | Willie Thompson | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | |
| FW | Willie Wardrope | 29 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 11 | |
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | 1–3 | 4–3 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 5–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–5 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 1–5 | |
| Position | 12th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 11th | 10th | 7th | 5th | 8th | 5th | 5th | 4th | 4th | 5th | 5th | 4th | 4th | 5th | 4th | 3rd | 3rd | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 5th |