1998–99 Wimbledon F.C. season

During the 1998–99 English football season, Wimbledon F.C. competed in the FA Premier League.

Wimbledon

1998–99 season
Chairman	Sam Hammam
Manager	Joe Kinnear
Stadium	Selhurst Park
Premiership	16th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Euell/Gayle (10) All: Gayle (11)
Highest home attendance	26,121 (vs. Manchester United, 3 April)
Lowest home attendance	3,756 (vs. Portsmouth, 22 September)
Average home league attendance	18,207
← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

Season Summary

Wimbledon started the season well, reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup for the second time in their history, and as March arrived Wimbledon was sixth in the table with 11 matches to go. The signing of striker John Hartson from top-five rivals West Ham United for a club record £7.5 million in January looked to be crucial signing the South London club needed for European qualification, but after his arrival the club suffered a slump in form, winning only one more game all season and taking only 2 points from their last 11 games to fall to 16th in the final table, their lowest finish in 13 seasons of top flight football.

Manager Joe Kinnear resigned at the end of the season on health grounds after seven years in charge, having suffered heart problems before a match at Sheffield Wednesday in March. He was succeeded by former Norwegian national coach Egil Olsen, who had frequently spoken of his admiration of Wimbledon and had transformed Norway into a leading international side with long-ball tactics similar to those employed by Kinnear.^[1]

Final League Table

Main article: 1998–99 FA Premier League

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
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 Football League First Division

Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	10	12	16	40	63	−23	42	7	7	5	22	21	+1	3	5	11	18	42	−24

Source: 1998-99 FA Premier League table

Results by round

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	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A
Result	W	D	D	W	L	W	D	L	L	D	D	W	L	W	L	W	W	L	W	D	W	D	D	L	D	D	W	L	L	L	D	L	L	L	D	L	L	L
Position	1	3	4	4	6	4	3	5	11	12	12	7	10	8	9	8	8	8	8	9	6	7	7	8	9	9	6	6	8	8	10	11	11	12	13	13	15	16

Source: Soccerbase: 1998-99 Wimbledon results
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Results

Wimbledon's score comes first^[2]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
15 August 1998	Tottenham Hotspur	H	3–1	23,031	Earle, Ekoku (2)
22 August 1998	Derby County	A	0–0	25,747
29 August 1998	Leeds United	H	1–1	16,437	Hughes
9 September 1998	West Ham United	A	4–3	25,311	Gayle (2), Euell, Ekoku
12 September 1998	Aston Villa	A	0–2	32,959
19 September 1998	Sheffield Wednesday	H	2–1	13,163	Euell (2)
27 September 1998	Leicester City	A	1–1	17,725	Earle
3 October 1998	Everton	H	1–2	16,054	Roberts
17 October 1998	Manchester United	A	1–5	55,265	Euell
24 October 1998	Middlesbrough	H	2–2	14,114	Gayle (2)
31 October 1998	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–1	12,526	Earle
7 November 1998	Nottingham Forest	A	1–0	21,362	Gayle
14 November 1998	Chelsea	A	0–3	34,757
21 November 1998	Arsenal	H	1–0	26,003	Ekoku
28 November 1998	Newcastle United	A	1–3	36,623	Gayle
5 December 1998	Coventry City	H	2–1	11,717	Euell (2)
13 December 1998	Liverpool	H	1–0	26,080	Earle
19 December 1998	Southampton	A	1–3	14,354	Gayle
26 December 1998	Charlton Athletic	H	2–1	19,106	Euell, Hughes
29 December 1998	Leeds United	A	2–2	39,816	Earle, Cort
9 January 1999	Derby County	H	2–1	12,732	Euell, Roberts
16 January 1999	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–0	32,422
30 January 1999	West Ham United	H	0–0	23,035
8 February 1999	Charlton Athletic	A	0–2	20,002
21 February 1999	Aston Villa	H	0–0	15,582
27 February 1999	Everton	A	1–1	32,574	Ekoku
3 March 1999	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2–1	24,116	Ekoku, Gayle
6 March 1999	Leicester City	H	0–1	11,801
13 March 1999	Nottingham Forest	H	1–3	12,149	Gayle
20 March 1999	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–3	21,754	Euell
3 April 1999	Manchester United	H	1–1	26,121	Euell
5 April 1999	Middlesbrough	A	1–3	33,999	Cort
11 April 1999	Chelsea	H	1–2	21,577	Gayle
19 April 1999	Arsenal	A	1–5	37,982	Cort
24 April 1999	Newcastle United	H	1–1	21,172	Hartson
1 May 1999	Coventry City	A	1–2	21,200	Hartson
8 May 1999	Southampton	H	0–2	24,068
16 May 1999	Liverpool	A	0–3	41,902

FA Cup

Main article: 1998–99 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	2 January 1999	Manchester City	H	1–0	11,226	Cort
R4	23 January 1999	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–1	22,229	Earle
R4R	2 February 1999	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–3	24,049

League Cup

Main article: 1998–99 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	15 September 1998	Portsmouth	A	1–2	7,010	Ekoku
R2 2nd Leg	22 September 1998	Portsmouth	H	4–1 (won 5–3 on agg)	3,756	Ardley, Ekoku (2), Leaburn
R3	28 October 1998	Birmingham City	A	2–1	11,845	Ardley (2)
R4	10 November 1998	Bolton Wanderers	A	2–1	7,868	Gayle, Kennedy
QF	1 December 1998	Chelsea	H	2–1	19,286	Earle, Hughes (pen)
SF 1st Leg	27 January 1999	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–0	35,997
SF 2nd Leg	16 February 1999	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0–1 (lost 0–1 on agg)	25,204

Players

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[3]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  SCO Neil Sullivan[notes 1] 2 DF  IRL Kenny Cunningham 3 DF  ENG Alan Kimble 4 DF  ENG Chris Perry 5 DF  ENG Dean Blackwell 6 DF  ENG Ben Thatcher[notes 2] 7 MF  WAL Ceri Hughes 8 MF  JAM Robbie Earle[notes 3] 9 FW  NGA Efan Ekoku[notes 4] 10 MF  ENG Andy Roberts 11 FW  JAM Marcus Gayle[notes 5] 12 MF  ENG Neal Ardley 13 GK  ENG Paul Heald 14 FW  IRL Jon Goodman[notes 6] 15 FW  ENG Carl Leaburn 16 MF  NIR Michael Hughes 17 DF  SCO Brian McAllister

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 MF  IRL Mark Kennedy 19 MF  ENG Stewart Castledine 20 FW  ENG Jason Euell[notes 7] 21 DF  SCO Duncan Jupp[notes 8] 22 FW  ENG Andy Clarke 23 FW  ENG Carl Cort[notes 9] 24 MF  ENG Peter Fear 25 DF  ENG Andy Pearce 26 MF  ENG Gareth Ainsworth 27 MF  ENG Damien Francis[notes 10] 28 FW  ENG Richard O'Connor[notes 11] 29 FW  WAL John Hartson 30 DF  ENG Peter Hawkins 31 DF  ENG Danny Hodges 33 GK  IRL Brendan Murphy 35 FW  ENG Patrick Agyemang[notes 12]

Left club during season

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 32 GK  NOR Morten Bakke (on loan from Molde)

No. Pos. Nation Player 34 GK  ENG Brian Parkin (to Brighton & Hove Albion)

Reserve squad

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Shane Gore — GK  ENG Bryn Halliwell — DF  ENG Rob Gier[notes 13] — DF  ENG Samuel Okikiolu — MF  ENG Mikele Leigertwood[notes 14]

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Ansah Owusu — FW  ENG Wayne Gray — FW  ENG Leigh Hinds — FW  IRL Stephen O'Flynn

Transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
29 October 1998	MF	Gareth Ainsworth	Port Vale	£2,000,000
14 January 1999	FW	John Hartson	West Ham United	£7,500,000

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
15 June 1998	DF	Alan Reeves	Swindon Town	Free transfer
1 August 1998	MF	Ståle Solbakken	Aalborg BK	Undisclosed

Transfers in: £9,500,000

Transfers out: £0

Total spending: £9,500,000

Appearances and goals

Source:

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute.

Players with names struck through and marked † left the club during the playing season.

Players with names in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Burnley.

Players listed with no appearances have been in the matchday squad but only as unused substitutes.

Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; DF – Defender; MF – Midfielder; FW – Forward

Players contracted for the 1998–99 season

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	SCO	Neil Sullivan	38	0	3	0	5	0	46	0
2	DF	IRL	Kenny Cunningham	35	0	2	0	6 (1)	0	43 (1)	0
3	DF	ENG	Alan Kimble	22 (4)	0	2	0	1 (2)	0	25 (6)	0
4	DF	ENG	Chris Perry	34	0	2	0	7	0	43	0
5	DF	ENG	Dean Blackwell	27 (1)	0	2	0	4	0	33 (1)	0
6	DF	ENG	Ben Thatcher	31	0	2	0	7	0	40	0
7	MF	WAL	Ceri Hughes	8 (6)	0	0 (3)	0	0 (1)	0	8 (10)	0
8	MF	JAM	Robbie Earle	35	5	3	1	5	1	43	7
9	FW	NGA	Efan Ekoku	11 (11)	6	0	0	4 (1)	3	15 (12)	9
10	MF	ENG	Andy Roberts	23 (5)	2	2 (1)	0	3 (1)	0	28 (7)	2
11	FW	JAM	Marcus Gayle	31 (4)	10	1	0	4	1	36 (4)	11
12	MF	ENG	Neal Ardley	16 (7)	0	3	0	5	3	24 (7)	3
13	GK	ENG	Paul Heald	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
14	FW	IRL	Jon Goodman	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0
15	FW	ENG	Carl Leaburn	14 (8)	0	3	0	3 (4)	1	20 (12)	1
16	MF	NIR	Michael Hughes	28 (2)	2	2	0	4	1	34 (2)	1
17	DF	SCO	Brian McAllister	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
18	MF	IRL	Mark Kennedy	7 (10)	0	2	0	4 (1)	1	13 (11)	1
19	MF	ENG	Stewart Castledine	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
20	FW	ENG	Jason Euell	31 (2)	10	3	0	5 (2)	0	39 (4)	10
21	DF	SCO	Duncan Jupp	3 (3)	0	1	0	2	0	6 (3)	0
22	FW	ENG	Andy Clarke	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	FW	ENG	Carl Cort	6 (10)	3	0 (3)	1	2 (1)	0	8 (14)	4
24	MF	ENG	Peter Fear	0 (2)	0	0	0	1	0	1 (2)	0
25	DF	ENG	Andy Pearce	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
26	MF	ENG	Gareth Ainsworth	5 (3)	0	0	0	0	0	5 (3)	0
27	MF	ENG	Damien Francis	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
28	FW	ENG	Richard O'Connor	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	FW	WAL	John Hartson	12 (2)	2	0	0	0	0	12 (2)	2
30	DF	ENG	Peter Hawkins	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
31	DF	ENG	Danny Hodges	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
32	GK	NOR	Morten Bakke * †	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
33	GK	IRL	Brendan Murphy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	GK	ENG	Brian Parkin †	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
35	FW	ENG	Patrick Agyemang	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

References

1. Brodkin, Jon (3 June 1999). "Wimbledon set for Scandinavian invasion". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 October 2008.
2. "Wimbledon 1998-1999 Home - statto.com". Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
3. "FootballSquads - Wimbledon - 1998/99". www.footballsquads.co.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2020.

Notes

1. Sullivan was born in Sutton, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally and made his international debut for Scotland in 1997.
2. Thatcher was born in Swindon, England and represented them at U-21 level, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally through his grandmother and made his international debut for Wales in March 2004.
3. Earle was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England, and was called up for England without playing, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for Jamaica in 1997.
4. Ekoku was born in Cheetham, England, but also qualified to represent Nigeria internationally and made his international debut for Nigeria in 1994.
5. Gayle was born in Hammersmith, London, and represented them at U-18 level, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally through his father and made his international debut for Jamaica in 1998.
6. Goodman was born in Waltham Forest, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and made his debut for the Republic of Ireland in 1997.
7. Euell was born in Lambeth, England, and represented them at U-21 level, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally through his father and would make his international debut for Jamaica in November 2004.
8. Jupp was born in Haslemere, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally and represented them at U-21 level.
9. Cort was born in Southwark, England, but also qualified to represent Guyana internationally and would make his international debut for Guyana in 2011.
10. Francis was born in Wandsworth, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and would make his international debut for Jamaica in 2003.
11. O'Connor was born in Wandsworth, England, but also qualified to represent Anguilla internationally and would make his international debut for Anguilla in 2000.
12. Agyemang was born in Waltham Forest, England, but also qualified to represent Ghana internationally and would make his international debut for Ghana in May 2003.
13. Gier was born in Ascot, England, but also qualified to represent the Philippines internationally through his mother and would make his international debut for the Philippines in April 2009.
14. Leigertwood was born in Enfield, England, but also qualified to represent Antigua and Barbuda internationally and would make his international debut for Antigua and Barbuda in November 2008.