The 1998–99 season was

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

's first season in the third tier of English football. The club was able to make an immediate return to

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

, thanks to a

play-off final The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

victory over Gillingham in a penalty shootout, having scored two goals in added time to turn around a 2–0 scoreline with 89 minutes of normal time played. The dramatic victory ensured that City's first season in English football's third tier ended in promotion, bringing some success to the club after two relegations in three seasons.

Team kit

The team kit was produced by

Kappa Kappa (uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or cursive ; el, κάππα, ''káppa'') is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless velar plosive sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, has a value o ...

and the shirt sponsor was Brother. The home shirt for the season was a slightly darker shade of blue than the traditional City sky blue known as 'Laser Blue'. While the home shirt was generally well received, it was the away kit that would take on a special significance to Manchester City fans. While the luminous yellow and navy blue stripes were peculiar, with the yellow in particular somewhat garish and never having even been worn before by City, the shirt took on a whole new meaning when it was worn for the 1999 Football League Second Division play-off final. Although this game technically marked the lowest ever league finish in Manchester City's history, instead the incredible circumstances by which City were able to win - having conceded the first two goals of the game in the last ten minutes of normal time, before getting two goals of their own in injury time, and then winning a penalty shoot-out - in fact mark this game as one of the proudest moments of the club's history. As a result, the kit instantly went from being an average if slightly unusual shirt to being one of the most iconic symbols of the club's history. There have been frequent if uncoordinated calls for the shirt to be brought back as an away kit in future seasons, though as yet the design has largely been forgotten by the club's successive kit manufacturers.

Season summary

City's first-ever season in the third tier got off to a bright start, with the team losing only one of their first six matches and topping the table after a victory over fellow third tier newcomers Macclesfield Town. After that, however, City would only win three more league matches before Christmas, as the heavily overhauled squad struggled to come together, with injuries only compounding the situation. The club would hit its lowest ebb after an embarrassing 2–1 loss to York City in their final pre-Christmas fixture, a result which left them 13th in the table and led to fans calling for Royle's sacking. The board kept faith with Royle, however, and were rewarded with only two more losses all season, with the highlights of the season's second half being a 3–0 win against league leaders Fulham, a 6–0 away win over Burnley, and a 4–0 win over Lincoln City, who had beaten City earlier in the season. City's poor first half of the season, combined with the form of runaway leaders Fulham and second-placed Walsall meant that an automatic promotion challenge was never seriously on the cards, but they secured third place on the final day of the season, and also exacted revenge on York City for their earlier humiliation by thrashing the Minstermen 4–0, condemning them to relegation. City faced off against Lancashire rivals

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

in the first round of the play-offs, and a pair of tense matches ended with a 1–1 draw in the last competitive fixture at Wigan's Springfield Park ground, followed by a 1–0 victory at Maine Road, setting the stage for a Wembley Stadium showdown with Gillingham. The play-off final was goalless for 82 minutes, before the Gills struck a pair of late goals that looked to have ensured that City would be spending a second successive season in Division Two. However, City themselves then scored a dramatic pair of injury-time goals (the second of which came in the 95th minute) to take the match to extra time. No further goals resulted in the next half-hour, leading to a penalty shoot-out. The Gills were able to convert only one of their penalties, while City scored three, ensuring that they returned to Division One at the first time of asking. In the FA Cup, City beat Halifax Town first, then

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

in a replay with an extra time winner, before losing to

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

by a single goal. In the League Cup, City played very well against Notts County and won the second leg 7–1, but in the next round Derby County eliminated City by a single goal at Maine Road after a draw in the first leg.

Competitions

Second Division

League table

Results summary

Matches

Playoffs

=Semi-finals

=Final

FA Cup

Matches

League Cup

First round

Second round

Squad

Goalkeepers

Nicky Weaver Nicholas James Weaver (born 2 March 1979) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is head of academy goalkeeping at EFL League One side Sheffield Wednesday. As as a player he was a goalkeeper who began his career wi ...

* Tommy Wright

Defenders

Lee Crooks Lee Crooks (born 14 January 1978) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender As a combative defensive midfielder, Crooks made 282 competitive appearances in his ...

Richard Edghill Richard Arlon Edghill (born 23 September 1974) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. He played as a defender from 1993 to 2008, spending the majority of his career with his home town club, Manchester City. He spent ...

Nick Fenton Nicholas Leonard Fenton (born 23 November 1979) is an English former professional footballer and head physiotherapist of EFL League One side Burton Albion. As a player, he was as a defender who played between 1996 and 2014. He played for Manch ...

* Richard Jobson *

Andy Morrison Andrew Charles Morrison (born 30 July 1970) is a Scottish football manager and former footballer who is currently head coach of the Sri Lanka national team. As a player he was a central defender who played in the Premier League with Blackburn R ...

Murtaz Shelia Murtaz Shelia (born 25 March 1969) is a Georgian former professional footballer who played as a defender. He was capped 29 times for the Georgia national team between 1994 and 1998. His clubs included Dinamo Tbilisi, 1. FC Saarbrücken, Spart ...

* Danny Tiatto *

Kakhaber Tskhadadze Kakhaber Tskhadadze ( ka, კახაბერ ცხადაძე; born 7 September 1968) is a Georgian football manager and former player. He is the manager of Kazakhstani club Caspiy. As a player he was defender who notably played in t ...

Tony Vaughan Anthony John Vaughan (born 11 October 1975) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender/midfielder from 1994 until 2006. He played Premier League football for Ipswich Town before moving into the Football League with M ...

Gerard Wiekens Gerard Wiekens (born 25 February 1973) is a Dutch football manager footballer and former professional footballer. He usually played as a defender, but could also play in midfield or as a sweeper, he notably played for Manchester City between 19 ...

Midfielders

* Ian Bishop * Michael Brown *

Terry Cooke Terence John Cooke (born 5 August 1976) is an English former professional association football, footballer and youth team coach of the Denver Kickers. As a player he was a midfielder from 1994 to 2011. Born in Marston Green, he began his car ...

Neil Heaney Neil Andrew Heaney (born 3 November 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. Heaney began his career with top-flight club Arsenal before making 61 appearances in the Premier League for Southampton. He played ...

* Gary Mason * Jamie Pollock *

Jeff Whitley Jeffrey Whitley (born 28 January 1979) is a former professional footballer who now works for the Professional Footballers Association as a player wellbeing executive. As a player he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for ...

* Jim Whitley *

Kevin Horlock Kevin Horlock (born 1 November 1972) is a football manager and former professional footballer. He is the manager of Needham Market and assistant manager of the Northern Ireland under-21 team. As a player he was a midfielder who notably played ...

Attackers

Daniel Allsopp Daniel Lee Allsopp (born 10 August 1978) is an Australian former soccer player who played as a striker. As a player he notably played for Manchester City for several seasons and was part of their team that earned promotion back to the Premi ...

* Lee Bradbury * Michael Branch *

Paul Dickov Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

Shaun Goater Leonard Shaun Goater, Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 25 February 1970) is a Bermuda, Bermudian former professional Association football, footballer, coach and pundit, he currently works as a youth coach at Manchester City F.C., Manchest ...

Chris Greenacre Christopher Mark Greenacre (born 23 December 1977) is an English football manager and former footballer, he is the head coach of the Wellington Phoenix FC Reserves. Greenacre began his career with Manchester City in 1996. Whilst at Maine Ro ...

Mark Robins Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969) is an English football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Coventry City in the EFL Championship. As a player, he was a striker and is best known for his time in the Premier League ...

* Craig Russell

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1998-99 Manchester City F.C. season Manchester City F.C. seasons