In the 1998–99 season, Newcastle United competed in the FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons). Newcastle's season was an almost carbon copy of the one before. They finished 13th in the Premiership and lost in the

FA Cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

to enter Europe because the winning side had already qualified for the Champions League. Just after the season started, Kenny Dalglish paid for Newcastle's sub-standard league performances with his job. The task was given to

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all ...

to turn things round, but he could not improve on the club's previous league finish of 13th. A dismal league position put them below local rivals

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

as well as other unfancied sides including

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

Season summary

A poor start to the 1998–99 season led to Kenny Dalglish being sacked.

, a trophy winning manager with Chelsea a few years previously, was put in charge. The team again started promisingly, but was knocked out of the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

in the first round. Gullit made some high-profile mistakes in the transfer market (notably, Spanish defender Marcelino and forward Silvio Maric bore the brunt of supporters frustrations). Less forgivably, he also fell out with several senior players, including the club captain

Rob Lee Robert Martin Lee (born 1 February 1966) is an English former professional footballer and sports co-commentator. As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Newcastle United and West Ham United. His time at ...

, who had been the heartbeat of the team for the previous half decade, and was initially not given a squad number. Newcastle made it to the

1998–99 FA Cup The 1998–99 FA Cup (known as The AXA sponsored FA Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 118th season of the FA Cup. It was won by Manchester United, who beat Newcastle United 2–0 in the final at the old Wembley Stadium. The goals were scored by ...

final, their second final in successive seasons. This time around they were to lose to Manchester United 2–0. Because the FA Cup winners had already won European qualification, this meant Newcastle reached Europe for the fourth season running: this time the

1999–2000 UEFA Cup The 1999–2000 UEFA Cup season was the 29th edition of the UEFA Cup competition. The final took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen and was won by Galatasaray, who defeated Arsenal in the final. The game was scoreless through the first nin ...

, due to the discontinuation of the

. Gullit resigned shortly after the start of the 1999–2000 season. Off the pitch, controversy was caused when former chairman

Freddy Shepherd Freddy Shepherd (29 October 1941 – 25 September 2017) was an English businessman and the chairman of Newcastle United football club from 1997 until 2007. During his time at Newcastle, both as an active assistant to and later replacement of ...

, who had been forced to resign due to controversy over remarks made in the press the previous season, successfully manoeuvred to reinstate himself to the position within less than a year.

Transfers

In

* Total spending: £28.55m

Out

* Total spending: £2.6m

Players

First-team squad

Left club during season

Reserve squad

Trialists

Statistics

Appearances, goals and cards

:''(Starts + substitute appearances)''

Starting 11

* GK: #1,

Shay Given Séamus John James Given (born 20 April 1976) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. With 134 caps, he is the second-highest capped Republic of Ireland player. Given started his career at Celtic, however he neve ...

, 41 * RB: #2, Warren Barton, 24 * CB: #6, Steve Howey, 18 (#38, Andy Griffin, has 18 starts as a RB) * CB: #34,

Nikos Dabizas Nikos Dabizas ( el, Νίκος Νταμπίζας, born 3 August 1973) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defender for Newcastle United, Leicester City, Olympiacos and AEL. He was also in Greece's 2004 European Football ...

, 35 * LB: #16,

Laurent Charvet Laurent Jean Charvet (born 8 May 1973) is a French former footballer who played as a right back. Charvet played for Cannes having come through their youth academy in 1991, he went on to play in the Premier League for Chelsea, Newcastle United, ...

, 38 * RM: #24,

Nolberto Solano Nolberto Albino "Ñol" Solano Todco (born 12 December 1974), commonly known as Nobby Solano, is a retired Peruvian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the assistant manager of the Peru national football team, as w ...

, 33 * CM: #7,

, 24 (#17,

Stephen Glass Stephen Randall Glass (born September 15, 1972) is an American paralegal who previously worked as a journalist for ''The New Republic'' from 1995 to 1998, until it was revealed that many of his published articles were fabrications. An internal i ...

, has 24 starts as a LM) * CM: #12,

Dietmar Hamann Dietmar Johann Wolfgang "Didi" Hamann (; born 27 August 1973) is a German professional football coach, former player and media personality. Throughout his career, he has played for Bayern Munich, Newcastle United, Liverpool and Manchester City ...

, 30 * LM: #11,

Gary Speed Gary Andrew Speed (8 September 1969 – 27 November 2011) was a Welsh professional footballer and manager. As manager of Wales, Speed is often credited as being the catalyst for the change in fortunes of the national team and as setting t ...

, 43 * CF: #9, Alan Shearer, 39 * CF: #14, Temuri Ketsbaia, 22

Coaching staff

Results

Pre-season

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

Results by matchday

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

References

External links

FootballSquads – Newcastle United – 1998/99Season Details – 1998–99 – toon1892
{{DEFAULTSORT:1998-99 Newcastle United F.C. Season 1998-99 Newcastle United