1998–99 West Ham United F.C. season

West Ham United

1998–99 season
Chairman	Terry Brown
Manager	Harry Redknapp
Stadium	Upton Park
Premiership	5th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	Ian Wright (9)
Highest home attendance	26,044 (vs. Tottenham Hotspur, 28 November)
Lowest home attendance	23,153 (vs. Southampton, 28 September)
Average home league attendance	25,639

During the 1998–99 English football season, West Ham United F.C. competed in the FA Premier League (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 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, unsettled striker John Hartson and winger Andy Impey. 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

Main article: 1998–99 FA Premier League

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
3	Chelsea	38	20	15	3	57	30	+27	75	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
4	Leeds United	38	18	13	7	62	34	+28	67	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
5	West Ham United	38	16	9	13	46	53	−7	57	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup third round
6	Aston Villa	38	15	10	13	51	46	+5	55
7	Liverpool	38	15	9	14	68	49	+19	54

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

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	16	9	13	46	53	−7	57	11	3	5	32	26	+6	5	6	8	14	27	−13

Source: 1998-99 FA Premier League table

Results

West Ham United's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
15 August 1998	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–0	30,236	Wright
22 August 1998	Manchester United	H	0–0	26,039
29 August 1998	Coventry City	A	0–0	20,818
9 September 1998	Wimbledon	H	3–4	25,311	Hartson, Wright (2)
12 September 1998	Liverpool	H	2–1	26,029	Hartson, Berkovic
19 September 1998	Nottingham Forest	A	0–0	26,463
28 September 1998	Southampton	H	1–0	23,153	Wright
3 October 1998	Blackburn Rovers	A	0–3	25,213
17 October 1998	Aston Villa	H	0–0	26,002
24 October 1998	Charlton Athletic	A	2–4	20,043	Rufus (own goal), Berkovic
31 October 1998	Newcastle United	A	3–0	36,744	Wright (2), Sinclair
8 November 1998	Chelsea	H	1–1	26,023	Ruddock
14 November 1998	Leicester City	H	3–2	25,642	Kitson, Lomas, Lampard
22 November 1998	Derby County	A	2–0	31,366	Hartson, Keller
28 November 1998	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–1	26,044	Sinclair (2)
5 December 1998	Leeds United	A	0–4	36,320
12 December 1998	Middlesbrough	A	0–1	34,623
19 December 1998	Everton	H	2–1	25,998	Keller, Sinclair
26 December 1998	Arsenal	A	0–1	38,098
28 December 1998	Coventry City	H	2–0	25,662	Wright, Hartson
10 January 1999	Manchester United	A	1–4	55,180	Lampard
16 January 1999	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0–4	25,642
30 January 1999	Wimbledon	A	0–0	23,035
6 February 1999	Arsenal	H	0–4	26,042
13 February 1999	Nottingham Forest	H	2–1	25,458	Pearce, Lampard
20 February 1999	Liverpool	A	2–2	44,511	Lampard (pen), Keller
27 February 1999	Blackburn Rovers	H	2–0	25,529	Pearce, Di Canio
6 March 1999	Southampton	A	0–1	15,240
13 March 1999	Chelsea	A	1–0	34,765	Kitson
20 March 1999	Newcastle United	H	2–0	25,997	Di Canio, Kitson
2 April 1999	Aston Villa	A	0–0	36,813
5 April 1999	Charlton Athletic	H	0–1	26,041
10 April 1999	Leicester City	A	0–0	20,402
17 April 1999	Derby County	H	5–1	25,485	Di Canio, Berkovic, Wright, Ruddock, Sinclair
24 April 1999	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2–1	36,089	Wright, Keller
1 May 1999	Leeds United	H	1–5	25,997	Di Canio
8 May 1999	Everton	A	0–6	40,049
16 May 1999	Middlesbrough	H	4–0	25,902	Lampard, Keller, Sinclair, Di Canio

FA Cup

Main article: 1998–99 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	2 January 1999	Swansea City	H	1–1	26,039	Dicks
R3R	13 January 1999	Swansea City	A	0–1	10,116

League Cup

Main article: 1998–99 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	15 September 1998	Northampton Town	A	0–2	7,254
R2 2nd Leg	22 September 1998	Northampton Town	H	1–0 (1–2 on agg)	25,435	Lampard

Squad

No.		Player	Position	Lge apps	Lge Gls	FAC apps	FAC Gls	LC apps	LC Gls	Date signed	Previous club
West Ham United XI 1998–1999
12		Shaka Hislop (Hammer of the Year)	GK	37	0	2	0	2	0	July 1998	Newcastle United
15		Rio Ferdinand	CB	31	0	1	0	1	0	November 1995	Academy
19		Ian Pearce	CB	33	0	1	0	2	0	September 1997	Blackburn Rovers
6		Neil Ruddock	CB	27	0	2	0	1	0	July 1998	Liverpool
8		Trevor Sinclair	RM	36	7	2		2		January 1998	Queens Park Rangers
11		Steve Lomas (captain)	CM	30		2				March 1997	Manchester City
18		Frank Lampard	CM	38	5	1	1	2		July 1995	Academy
7		Marc Keller	LM	17+4	5	0	0	1	0	July 1998	Karlsruher SC
29		Eyal Berkovic	AM	28+2	3	1+1		1		June 1997	Southampton
10		John Hartson	CF	16+1	4	2		1		February 1997	Arsenal
14		Ian Wright	CF	20+2	9	1		2		August 1998	Arsenal
Important players
10		Paolo Di Canio	CF	12+1	4					January 1999	Sheffield Wednesday
20		Scott Minto	LWB	14+1						January 1999	Benfica
9		Paul Kitson	CF	13+4	3					February 1997	Newcastle United
13		Marc-Vivien Foé	CM	13						January 1999	Lens
4		Steve Potts	CB	11+8		1		2		May 1984	Academy
17		Stan Lazaridis	LWB	11+4		2		1		September 1995	West Adelaide
3		Julian Dicks	D	9		2		1	1	October 1994	Liverpool
16		John Moncur	CM	6+8				1		June 1994	Swindon Town
Other players
20		Andy Impey	RWB	6+2				1		September 1997	Queens Park Rangers
30		Javier Margas	CB	3						July 1998	Universidad Católica
26		Joe Cole	M	2+6		0+1				July 1997	Academy
2		Tim Breacker	RB	2+1		1		0+1		October 1990	Luton Town
24		Samassi Abou	CF	2+1		0+1		1		October 1997	Cannes
22		Craig Forrest	GK	1+1						July 1995	Ipswich Town
27		Emmanuel Omoyinmi	F	0+3		1+1		0+1		May 1995	Academy
28		Chris Coyne	CB	0+1						January 1996	Perth SC
25		Lee Hodges	M	0+1						March 1995	Academy
40		Gavin Holligan	F	0+1						January 1999	Kingstonian
5		Richard Hall	CB			0+1				July 1996	Southampton

Transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
13 July 1998	FW	Ian Wright	Arsenal	£500,000
30 July 1998	DF	Neil Ruddock	Liverpool	£100,000
30 July 1998	DF	Javier Margas	Universidad Católica	£1,800,000
25 November 1998	FW	Gavin Holligan	Kingstonian	£100,000
14 January 1999	DF	Scott Minto	Benfica	£1,000,000
27 January 1999	FW	Paolo Di Canio	Sheffield Wednesday	£1,750,000
27 January 1999	MF	Marc-Vivien Foé	Lens	£4,000,000
9 February 1999	MF	Jimmy Bullard	Ebbsfleet United	£30,000

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
1 August 1998	DF	Lee Goodwin	Dagenham & Redbridge	Free transfer
24 November 1998	MF	Andy Impey	Leicester City	£1,600,000
25 December 1998	GK	Luděk Mikloško	Queens Park Rangers	Nominal
14 January 1999	FW	John Hartson	Wimbledon	£7,500,000
10 February 1999	DF	Tim Breacker	Queens Park Rangers	Free transfer
12 March 1999	DF	David Partridge	Dundee United	£40,000
24 May 1999	MF	Joe Keith	Colchester United	Free transfer

Transfers in: £9,280,000

Transfers out: £9,140,000

Total spending: £140,000