1998–99 Bristol City F.C. season

During the 1998–99 English football season, Bristol City F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Bristol City

1998–99 season
Chairman	Scott Davidson
Manager	John Ward (until 28 October) Benny Lennartsson (from 28 October)
Stadium	Ashton Gate
Football League First Division	24th (relegated)
FA Cup	Third round
Worthington Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Akinbiyi (19) All: Akinbiyi (23)
Average home league attendance	12,840
← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

Season summary

The Robins struggled back in Division One, and manager John Ward stepped down in October 1998 after chairman Davidson appointed Benny Lennartsson as a coach for the rest of the season, which infuriated the supporters.^[1] They were relegated by finishing at the bottom of the league, where Lennartsson was sacked and replaced by Gillingham's Tony Pulis.^[2]

Final league table

Main article: 1998–99 Football League

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sunderland (C, P)	46	31	12	3	91	28	+63	105	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Bradford City (P)	46	26	9	11	82	47	+35	87
3	Ipswich Town	46	26	8	12	69	32	+37	86	Qualification for the First Division play-offs
4	Birmingham City	46	23	12	11	66	37	+29	81
5	Watford (O, P)	46	21	14	11	65	56	+9	77
6	Bolton Wanderers	46	20	16	10	78	59	+19	76
7	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	19	16	11	64	43	+21	73
8	Sheffield United	46	18	13	15	71	66	+5	67
9	Norwich City	46	15	17	14	62	61	+1	62
10	Huddersfield Town	46	15	16	15	62	71	−9	61
11	Grimsby Town	46	17	10	19	40	52	−12	61
12	West Bromwich Albion	46	16	11	19	69	76	−7	59
13	Barnsley	46	14	17	15	59	56	+3	59
14	Crystal Palace	46	14	16	16	58	71	−13	58
15	Tranmere Rovers	46	12	20	14	63	61	+2	56
16	Stockport County	46	12	17	17	49	60	−11	53
17	Swindon Town	46	13	11	22	59	81	−22	50
18	Crewe Alexandra	46	12	12	22	54	78	−24	48
19	Portsmouth	46	11	14	21	57	73	−16	47
20	Queens Park Rangers	46	12	11	23	52	61	−9	47
21	Port Vale	46	13	8	25	45	75	−30	47
22	Bury (R)	46	10	17	19	35	60	−25	47	Relegation to the Second Division
23	Oxford United (R)	46	10	14	22	48	71	−23	44
24	Bristol City (R)	46	9	15	22	57	80	−23	42

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Results

Bristol City's score comes first^[3]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1998	Oxford United	H	2–2	13,729	S Andersen (2)
15 August 1998	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–1	13,337	Hewlett
22 August 1998	Watford	H	1–4	13,063	S Andersen
29 August 1998	Tranmere Rovers	A	1–1	5,960	Akinbiyi
31 August 1998	Huddersfield Town	H	1–2	11,801	Goodridge
5 September 1998	Swindon Town	A	2–3	8,537	Akinbiyi, Bell (pen)
8 September 1998	Sunderland	A	1–1	34,111	S Andersen
13 September 1998	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–3	13,761	Watts
19 September 1998	Ipswich Town	A	1–3	13,657	Akinbiyi
26 September 1998	Crewe Alexandra	H	5–2	9,810	Doherty, Goodridge, Murray, Akinbiyi, Hutchings
29 September 1998	Barnsley	H	1–1	12,005	Bell
3 October 1998	Bury	A	1–0	4,794	Bell (pen)
10 October 1998	Portsmouth	H	2–2	13,056	Murray, S Andersen
17 October 1998	Port Vale	A	2–3	6,691	Murray, Akinbiyi
20 October 1998	Grimsby Town	A	1–2	5,082	S Andersen
23 October 1998	Bolton Wanderers	H	2–1	12,026	Akinbiyi, Bell (pen)
31 October 1998	Bradford City	A	0–5	14,468
7 November 1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–6	15,432	Hutchings
14 November 1998	Crystal Palace	A	1–2	17,821	S Andersen
21 November 1998	Stockport County	H	1–1	11,032	Thorpe
28 November 1998	Birmingham City	A	2–4	17,577	Thorpe, S Andersen
5 December 1998	Sheffield United	H	2–0	11,134	Bell (pen), Akinbiyi
12 December 1998	Crystal Palace	H	1–1	13,014	Akinbiyi
19 December 1998	Norwich City	A	1–2	17,022	Akinbiyi
26 December 1998	Watford	A	0–1	15,081
28 December 1998	Swindon Town	H	3–1	16,257	Torpey (2), Akinbiyi
9 January 1999	Oxford United	A	0–0	9,434
16 January 1999	Tranmere Rovers	H	1–1	13,217	Locke
30 January 1999	Huddersfield Town	A	2–2	14,034	Akinbiyi, Locke
5 February 1999	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–0	13,841
13 February 1999	Sunderland	H	0–1	15,736
20 February 1999	West Bromwich Albion	A	2–2	16,490	Akinbiyi (2)
27 February 1999	Ipswich Town	H	0–1	14,065
9 March 1999	Bury	H	1–1	11,606	S Andersen
13 March 1999	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–3	25,237
20 March 1999	Bradford City	H	2–3	10,870	Akinbiyi, S Andersen
23 March 1999	Barnsley	A	0–2	14,733
3 April 1999	Port Vale	H	2–0	11,039	Akinbiyi, Howells
5 April 1999	Portsmouth	A	1–0	13,026	Locke
10 April 1999	Grimsby Town	H	4–1	11,616	Torpey, Akinbiyi (2), Tinnion
13 April 1999	Bolton Wanderers	A	0–1	14,459
17 April 1999	Stockport County	A	2–2	7,602	Brennan, Torpey
24 April 1999	Birmingham City	H	1–2	15,845	Akinbiyi
27 April 1999	Crewe Alexandra	A	0–1	5,579
1 May 1999	Sheffield United	A	1–3	17,310	Akinbiyi
9 May 1999	Norwich City	H	1–0	11,362	Pinamonte

FA Cup

Main article: 1998–99 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	2 January 1999	Everton	H	0–2	19,608

League Cup

Main article: 1998–99 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	11 August 1998	Shrewsbury Town	H	4–0	3,585	Hutchings, Akinbiyi (2), S Andersen
R1 2nd Leg	18 August 1998	Shrewsbury Town	A	3–4 (won 7–4 on agg)	1,011	Thorpe, Akinbiyi, Doherty
R2 1st Leg	16 September 1998	Crewe Alexandra	H	1–1	3,082	Akinbiyi
R2 2nd Leg	22 September 1998	Crewe Alexandra	A	0–2 (lost 1–3 on agg)	3,089

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player - GK  ENG Keith Welch - DF  ENG Adam Locke - DF  ENG Louis Carey - DF  ENG Michael Bell - DF  CAN Jim Brennan - MF  ENG Brian Tinnion - MF  SCO Scott Murray - FW  NGA Ade Akinbiyi - FW  BRB Gregory Goodridge - MF  NIR Tommy Doherty - FW  DEN Søren Andersen - DF  SWE Mark Shail (captain) - GK  ENG Steve Phillips - DF  WAL Robert Edwards - FW  ENG Steve Torpey - MF  ENG Carl Hutchings - DF  ENG Julian Watts - DF  ENG Aaron Brown - DF  HUN Vilmos Sebők

No. Pos. Nation Player - FW  ENG Tony Thorpe - MF  ENG Matthew Hewlett - DF  MDA Ion Testemitanu - MF  ENG David Howells (on loan from Southampton) - DF  ENG Shaun Taylor - FW  SCO Colin Cramb - DF  ENG Sean Dyche - DF  WAL Christian Edwards (on loan from Nottingham Forest) - MF  ENG Neil Heaney (on loan from Manchester City) - GK  DEN Bo Andersen - DF  NED Clemens Zwijnenberg - DF  ENG Kevin Langan - FW  ITA Lorenzo Pinamonte - DF  SCO Andy Jordan - DF  ENG Matt Hill - FW  ENG Alex Meechan - MF  ENG Joe Burnell - GK  ENG Stuart Naylor

References

1. "Football: Ward fires fans fury". The Free Library. The Mirror. 29 October 1998. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
2. "FOOTBALL: GILLS SNAP UP TAYLOR". The Free Library. The Mirror. 8 July 1999. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
3. "Bristol City 1998-1999 Home - statto.com". Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012.