During the 1998–99 English football season,
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, h ...
competed in the
FA 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 Foo ...
(known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons).
Season summary
In the 1998–99 season, the Hammers finished fifth in the Premier League, their second-best placing ever in the top-flight, securing
UEFA Cup qualification to mark a return to European competitions after 19 years away.
New additions to the side for the season were goalkeeper
Shaka Hislop, defender
Neil Ruddock,
Marc Keller and
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
goalscoring legend
Ian Wright, while mid-season arrivals came in the shape of midfielder
Marc-Vivien Foé, defender
Scott Minto and striker
Paolo Di Canio. During the course of the season, several key players left the club, including veteran defender
Tim Breacker
Timothy Sean Breacker (born 2 July 1965) is an English football coach and former player, who is chief scout at Bolton Wanderers.
As a player, he was a right-back who notably played in the Premier League for West Ham United, where he made 240 ...
, unsettled striker
John Hartson
John Hartson (born 5 April 1975) is a Welsh former professional footballer, coach and sports television pundit for S4C, Sky Sports, Premier Sports TV and BT Sport.
As a player he was a striker, notably for Scottish club Celtic where his time ...
and winger
Andy Impey
Andrew Rodney Impey (born 30 September 1971) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is an academy coach at Queens Park Rangers.
As a player, he was a full-back or winger who notably played in the Premier League fo ...
. April saw the retirement of defender
Richard Hall, who had struggled with injuries since his arrival from
Southampton in July 1996.
The season also saw the emergence of highly promising midfielder
Joe Cole, who played his first eight league games and made a further appearance in the
FA Cup.
Final league table
;Results summary
Results
''West Ham United's score comes first''
Legend
FA Premier League
FA Cup
League Cup
Squad
Transfers
In
Out
:Transfers in: £9,280,000
:Transfers out: £9,140,000
:Total spending: £140,000
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1998-99 West Ham United F.C. season
West Ham United F.C. seasons
West Ham United
1998 sports events in London
1999 sports events in London