1998–99 FA Premier League

Premier League
Season 1998–99
Champions Manchester United
5th Premier League title
12th English title
Relegated Charlton Athletic
Nottingham Forest
Blackburn Rovers
Champions League Manchester United
Arsenal
Chelsea
UEFA Cup Leeds United
Newcastle United
Tottenham Hotspur
Intertoto Cup West Ham United
Matches played 380
Goals scored 963 (2.53 per match)
Top goalscorer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Michael Owen
Dwight Yorke
(18 goals each)
Biggest home win Liverpool 7–1 Southampton
(16 January 1999)
Everton 6–0 West Ham United
(8 May 1999)
Biggest away win Nottingham Forest 1–8 Manchester United
(6 February 1999)
Highest scoring Nottingham Forest 1–8 Manchester United
(6 February 1999)
Longest winning run 7 games[1]
Leeds United
Longest unbeaten run 21 games[1]
Chelsea
Longest winless run 19 games[1]
Nottingham Forest
Longest losing run 8 games[1]
Charlton Athletic
Highest attendance 55,316
Manchester United v Southampton
(27 February 1999)
Lowest attendance 11,717
Wimbledon v Coventry City
(5 December 1998)
Average attendance 30,591

The 1998–99 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh season of the Premier League, the top division of English football, since its establishment in 1992. The season will always be remembered as the one in which Manchester United won a unique treble of the league title, the FA Cup and the European Cup. They secured their fifth league championship in seven seasons after losing just three league games all season.

The season was also the 100th season of top flight football in England, not counting years lost to the two World Wars. Of the original clubs in the first Football League season, only Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Derby County and Everton were present for this season.

Arsenal failed to regain their title, despite having the same points tally as last season 78 points, but had at one point looked as though they were on the brink of winning the title, after beating fellow rivals Tottenham Hotspur, while Manchester United had drawn against Liverpool, 2–2. However, Manchester United pushed on and took advantage of Arsenal's 1–0 defeat at Leeds United in the penultimate match of the season and despite going 1–0 down against Tottenham on the final day, came back to win 2–1 and clinch the title. Should they have failed to win, Arsenal would have been crowned champions once more.

To achieve their success, the Manchester United playing squad had been altered substantially during the close season. A total of more than £28 million had been spent on Dwight Yorke, Jaap Stam and Jesper Blomqvist, while several older players left the club; Gary Pallister returned to Middlesbrough after nine years for £2.5 million, while Brian McClair returned to Motherwell on a free transfer. In December, however, McClair was back in the Premier League as Brian Kidd's assistant at Blackburn Rovers.

European qualifiers

At the end of 1998–99, the Premiership would have three Champions League places. As well as Manchester United, runners-up Arsenal and third placed Chelsea would be playing in the following season's Champions League. There would only be one automatic UEFA Cup place from the league – taken by fourth-placed Leeds United. Fifth-placed West Ham United qualified for the UEFA Cup via the Intertoto Cup. Also qualifying were Newcastle United via the FA Cup final, and Tottenham Hotspur via the League Cup.

Relegation Battle

Bottom of the Premiership in the final table came Nottingham Forest, who suffered their third relegation in seven seasons. One notable low for Forest this season was an 8–1 drubbing at home, by Manchester United. Second from bottom came Blackburn Rovers, who just four seasons earlier had been Premiership champions. The final relegation place went to Charlton Athletic, who went down at the end of their first spell in the top flight for nine seasons. The only newly promoted club to survive was Middlesbrough, who finished in a respectable ninth place.

None of the teams relegated from the Premiership the previous season regained their top division status in 1999, although First Division champions Sunderland regained their Premiership place after a two-year exile. The other two relegation places went to long-term absentees from the top division. Playoff winners Watford regained their top division place after an absence of 11 years, but runners-up Bradford had been outside of the top division for 77 years. These two promotion winners surprised the observers more than any other Division One side during 1998–99.

Personnel and kits

(as of 16 May 1999)

Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Arsenal Arsène Wenger Tony Adams Nike JVC
Aston Villa John Gregory Gareth Southgate Reebok LDV Vans
Blackburn Rovers Brian Kidd Garry Flitcroft Uhlsport CIS
Charlton Athletic Alan Curbishley Mark Kinsella Le Coq Sportif Mesh Computers
Chelsea Gianluca Vialli Dennis Wise Umbro Autoglass
Coventry City Gordon Strachan Gary McAllister Le Coq Sportif Subaru
Derby County Jim Smith Igor Štimac Puma EDS
Everton Walter Smith Dave Watson Umbro One2One
Leeds United David O'Leary Lucas Radebe Puma Packard Bell
Leicester City Martin O'Neill Steve Walsh Fox Leisure Walkers
Liverpool Gérard Houllier Paul Ince Reebok Carlsberg
Manchester United Alex Ferguson Roy Keane Umbro Sharp
Middlesbrough Bryan Robson Andy Townsend Erreà Cellnet
Newcastle United Ruud Gullit Alan Shearer Adidas Newcastle Brown Ale
Nottingham Forest Ron Atkinson Steve Chettle Umbro Pinnacle Insurance
Sheffield Wednesday Danny Wilson Peter Atherton Puma Sanderson
Southampton Dave Jones Matt Le Tissier Pony Sanderson
Tottenham Hotspur George Graham Sol Campbell Pony Hewlett-Packard
West Ham United Harry Redknapp Steve Lomas Pony Dr. Martens
Wimbledon Terry Burton
Mick Harford (caretakers)
Robbie Earle Lotto Elonex

Managerial changes

Liverpool brought in former French national coach Gérard Houllier to work alongside manager Roy Evans at the start of the season, but Evans resigned in November to leave Houllier in sole charge.

Tottenham Hotspur sacked Christian Gross in September after less than a year in charge. His replacement was George Graham of Leeds United, who was himself replaced by former assistant David O'Leary.

Newcastle United sacked Kenny Dalglish just after the start of the season and replaced him with Ruud Gullit.

Everton appointed Walter Smith as Howard Kendall's successor.

Blackburn Rovers sacked Roy Hodgson in November, with the club bottom of the table. Manchester United assistant Brian Kidd replaced him. Ironically relegation was confirmed in the penultimate game of the season against Kidd's former club.

Nottingham Forest sacked Dave Bassett in January and put Ron Atkinson in charge until the end of the season. Atkinson retired after failing to save Forest from relegation and former England captain David Platt, 33, was named as player-manager.

Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear was effectively forced to step down due to health problems in March, and did not return to the club. Coaches Mick Harford and Terry Burton took charge until the end of the season, when Norwegian coach Egil Olsen was appointed manager.

Final league table

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Manchester United (C) 38 22 13 3 80 37 +43 79 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2 Arsenal 38 22 12 4 59 17 +42 78
3 Chelsea 38 20 15 3 57 30 +27 75 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round
4 Leeds United 38 18 13 7 62 34 +28 67 1999–2000 UEFA Cup First round
5 West Ham United 38 16 9 13 46 53 7 57 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup Third round
6 Aston Villa 38 15 10 13 51 46 +5 55
7 Liverpool 38 15 9 14 68 49 +19 54
8 Derby County 38 13 13 12 40 45 5 52
9 Middlesbrough 38 12 15 11 48 54 6 51
10 Leicester City 38 12 13 13 40 46 6 49
11 Tottenham Hotspur 38 11 14 13 47 50 3 47 1999–2000 UEFA Cup First round 1
12 Sheffield Wednesday 38 13 7 18 41 42 1 46
13 Newcastle United 38 11 13 14 48 54 6 46 1999–2000 UEFA Cup First round 2
14 Everton 38 11 10 17 42 47 5 43
15 Coventry City 38 11 9 18 39 51 12 42
16 Wimbledon 38 10 12 16 40 63 23 42
17 Southampton 38 11 8 19 37 64 27 41
18 Charlton Athletic (R) 38 8 12 18 41 56 15 36 Relegation to 1999–2000 Football League First Division
19 Blackburn Rovers (R) 38 7 14 17 38 52 14 35
20 Nottingham Forest (R) 38 7 9 22 35 69 34 30

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
1 Tottenham Hotspur qualified for the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners.
2 As Manchester United qualified for the Champions League, their UEFA Cup place as FA Cup winners defaulted to Newcastle United, the losing finalists.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Season statistics

Total goals: 963
Average goals per game: 2.53

Results

Home ╲ Away ARS AST BLBCHACHECOVDEREVELEELEILIVMUNMIDNEWNOTSHWSOUTOTWHUWDN
Arsenal 10 10 00 10 20 10 10 31 50 00 30 11 30 21 30 11 00 10 51
Aston Villa 32 13 34 03 14 10 30 12 11 24 11 31 10 20 21 30 32 00 20
Blackburn Rovers 12 21 10 34 12 00 12 10 10 13 00 00 00 12 14 02 11 30 31
Charlton Athletic 01 01 00 01 11 12 12 11 00 10 01 11 22 00 01 50 14 42 20
Chelsea 00 21 11 21 21 21 31 10 22 21 00 20 11 21 11 10 20 01 30
Coventry City 01 12 11 21 21 11 30 22 11 21 01 12 15 40 10 10 11 00 21
Derby County 00 21 10 02 22 00 21 22 20 32 11 21 34 10 10 00 01 02 00
Everton 02 00 00 41 00 20 00 00 00 00 14 50 10 01 12 10 01 60 11
Leeds United 10 00 10 41 00 20 41 10 01 00 11 20 01 31 21 30 20 40 22
Leicester City 11 22 11 11 24 10 12 20 12 10 26 01 20 31 02 20 21 00 11
Liverpool 00 01 20 33 11 20 12 32 13 01 22 31 42 51 20 71 32 22 30
Manchester United 11 21 32 41 11 20 10 31 32 22 20 23 00 30 30 21 21 41 51
Middlesbrough 16 00 21 20 00 20 11 22 00 00 13 01 22 11 40 30 00 10 31
Newcastle United 11 21 11 00 01 41 21 13 03 10 14 12 11 20 11 40 11 03 31
Nottingham Forest 01 22 22 01 13 10 22 02 11 10 22 18 12 12 20 11 01 00 01
Sheffield Wednesday 10 01 30 30 00 12 01 00 02 01 10 31 31 11 32 00 00 01 12
Southampton 00 14 33 31 02 21 01 20 30 21 12 03 33 21 12 10 11 10 31
Tottenham Hotspur 13 10 21 22 22 00 11 41 33 02 21 22 03 20 20 03 30 12 00
West Ham United 04 00 20 01 11 20 51 21 15 32 21 00 40 20 21 04 10 21 34
Wimbledon 10 00 11 21 12 21 21 12 11 01 10 11 22 11 13 21 02 31 00

Source:
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank Scorer Club Goals
1 Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Leeds United 18
Michael Owen Liverpool 18
Dwight Yorke Manchester United 18
4 Nicolas Anelka Arsenal 17
Andy Cole Manchester United 17
6 Hamilton Ricard Middlesbrough 15
7 Dion Dublin Aston Villa 14
Robbie Fowler Liverpool 14
Julian Joachim Aston Villa 14
Alan Shearer Newcastle United 14

Overall

Awards

Monthly awards

MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the Month
August Alan Curbishley (Charlton Athletic) Michael Owen (Liverpool)
September John Gregory (Aston Villa) Alan Shearer (Newcastle United)
October Martin O'Neill (Leicester City) Roy Keane (Manchester United)
November Harry Redknapp (West Ham United) Dion Dublin (Aston Villa)
December George Graham (Tottenham Hotspur) David Ginola (Tottenham Hotspur)
January Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) Dwight Yorke (Manchester United)
February Alan Curbishley (Charlton Athletic) Nicolas Anelka (Arsenal)
March David O'Leary (Leeds United) Ray Parlour (Arsenal)
April Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) Kevin Campbell (Everton)

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 "English Premier League 1998–99". statto.com. Retrieved 13 March 2015.

External links

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