1998–99 Manchester City F.C. season

English football club season March 2015 March 2015 February 2022 Manchester City F.C. 1998–99 Joe Royle Second Division 3rd (promoted via playoffs) FA Cup Third round League Cup Second round Play-offs Winners Shaun Goater (17) Shaun Goater (20) 32,471 vs York City 8 May 1999 Division 2 8,595 vs Darlington 15 December 1998 FA Cup 2nd round 28,261 1997–98 1999–2000 The 1998–99 season was Manchester City's first season in the third tier of English football. The club made an immediate return to Division One, after a play-off final 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.Moore Nick 2019-04-17 When Manchester City were rubbish: how the 1998/99 season changed a football club’s destiny https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/when-manchester-city-were-rubbish-how-199899-season-changed-a-football-clubs-destiny 2022-03-22 fourfourtwo.com en Team kit The team kit was produced by Kappa and the shirt sponsor was Brother. The home shirt for the season was a darker shade of blue than the traditional City blue known as 'Laser Blue', but was still generally well received. However, the away kit was quite peculiar with bright yellow and navy blue stripes, and had never been worn by City previously. After this away kit was worn for the 1999 Football League Second Division play-off final, it took on a special significance for fans. Although this game technically marked the lowest ever league finish in Manchester City's history, conceding the first two goals of the game in the last ten minutes of normal time, followed by two goals by City in injury time and winning a penalty shoot-out, created an incredible win for City and became 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 a symbol 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. However, the 2024–25 away kit that is designed by Puma had brought back the yellow and navy blue stripes kit based on that season's away kit to commemorate 25 years since the Play-off final victory. auto none center _mcfc_home_97-99 _mcfc_home_97-99 _mcfc_home_97-99 _mcfc_home_97-99 _mcfc_home_97-99 FFFFFF 0B0066 Home none center _mcfc_away_98-99 _mcfc_away_98-99 _mcfc_away_98-99 _mcfc_away_98-99 _mcfc_away_98-99 D8FF3C D8FF3C D8FF3C Away 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 12th in the table and led to fans calling for Royle's sacking.Marshall Tyrone 2018-12-19 The day Man City hit an all-time low by those who were there https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-city-york-highlights-1998-15560976 2022-03-22 Manchester Evening News en 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 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 in a replay with an extra time winner, before losing to Wimbledon 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 1998–99 Football League Second Division League table Second Division y MCI Results summary 13 6 4 38 14 9 10 4 31 19 March 2022 Matches 1 8 August 1998 Manchester City 3–0 Blackpool Goater 26Bradbury 62Tskhadadze 76 Manchester Maine Road Graham Frankland W 2 14 August 1998 Fulham 3–0 Manchester City Beardsley 21Lehmann 32 38 London Craven Cottage Mick Fletcher L 3 22 August 1998 Manchester City 0–0 Wrexham Manchester Maine Road Graham Laws D 4 29 August 1998 Notts County 1–1 Manchester City Hendon 71 pen. Goater 90 Nottingham Meadow Lane Terry Heilbron D 5 2 September 1998 Manchester City 3–1 Walsall Goater 30 71Dickov 74 Rammell 79 Manchester Maine Road David Laws W 6 8 September 1998 Manchester City 2–1 Bournemouth Allsopp 25Dickov 64 Fletcher 48 Manchester Maine Road Trevor Jones W 7 12 September 1998 Macclesfield Town 0–1 Manchester City Goater 86 Macclesfield Moss Rose Ken Leach W 8 19 September 1998 Manchester City 1–1 Chesterfield Bradbury 36 Reeves 28 Manchester Maine Road John Brandwood D 9 26 September 1998 Northampton Town 2–2 Manchester City Peer 30Corazzin 64 Dickov 54Goater 88 Northampton Sixfields Stadium Clive Wilkes D 10 29 September 1998 Millwall 1–1 Manchester City Harris 46 Bradbury 90 London The Den Matt Messias D 11 3 October 1998 Manchester City 2–2 Burnley Goater 8Allsopp 85 Payton 34Cooke 54 Manchester Maine Road Roger Furnandiz D 12 12 October 1998 Manchester City 0–1 Preston North End Parkinson 71 pen. Manchester Maine Road Mick Fletcher L 13 17 October 1998 Wigan Athletic 0–1 Manchester City Goater 56 Wigan Springfield Park David Pugh W 14 20 October 1998 Lincoln City 2–1 Manchester City Battersby 4Austin 33 Holmes 83 o.g. Lincoln Sincil Bank Paul Rejer L 15 24 October 1998 Manchester City 0–1 Reading Williams 56 Manchester Maine Road Phil Richards L 16 31 October 1998 Manchester City 2–1 Colchester United Horlock 49 pen.Morrison 53 Dozzell 58 Manchester Maine Road Michael Pike W 17 7 November 1998 Oldham Athletic 0–3 Manchester City Horlock 17 31Morrison 69 Oldham Boundary Park Scott Mathieson W 18 10 November 1998 Wycombe Wanderers 1–0 Manchester City Simpson 34 pen. High Wycombe Adams Park Paul Taylor L 19 21 November 1998 Manchester City 0–0 Gillingham Manchester Maine Road Gurnam Singh D 20 28 November 1998 Luton Town 1–1 Manchester City Doherty 76 Morrison 29 Luton Kenilworth Road Anthony Bates D 21 12 December 1998 Manchester City 0–0 Bristol Rovers Manchester Maine Road Roy Pearson D 22 19 December 1998 York City 2–1 Manchester City Connelly 2Dawson 86 Russell 33 York Bootham Crescent Bill Burns L 23 26 December 1998 Wrexham 0–1 Manchester City Wiekens 56 Wrexham Racecourse Ground Trevor Jones W 24 28 December 1998 Manchester City 2–1 Stoke City Dickov 67Taylor 85 Sigurðsson 31 Manchester Maine Road Alan Butler W 25 9 January 1999 Blackpool 0–0 Manchester City Blackpool Bloomfield Road David Laws D 26 16 January 1999 Manchester City 3–0 Fulham Goater 24Taylor 32Horlock 54 Manchester Maine Road Andy Hall W 27 23 January 1999 Walsall 1–1 Manchester City Watson 67 Pollock 74 Walsall Bescot Stadium Mick Pierce D 28 29 January 1999 Stoke City 0–1 Manchester City Wiekens 20 Stoke-on-Trent Britannia Stadium Clive Wilkes W 29 6 February 1999 Manchester City 3–0 Millwall Dickov 61Cooke 71Horlock 75 Manchester Maine Road Terry Heilbron W 30 13 February 1999 Bournemouth 0–0 Manchester City Bournemouth Dean Court Brian Coddington D 31 20 February 1999 Manchester City 2–0 Macclesfield Town Goater 14Taylor 67 Manchester Maine Road Alan Wiley W 32 27 February 1999 Chesterfield 1–1 Manchester City Reeves 32 Crooks 51 Chesterfield Saltergate Graham Frankland D 33 6 March 1999 Manchester City 0–0 Northampton Town Manchester Maine Road Matt Messias D 34 9 March 1999 Burnley 0–6 Manchester City Horlock 17Morrison 41Goater 50 59 65Allsopp 82 Burnley Turf Moor John Kirkby W 35 13 March 1999 Manchester City 1–2 Oldham Athletic Taylor 79 Reid 27 pen.Duxbury 56 Manchester Maine Road John Brandwood L 36 16 March 1999 Manchester City 2–1 Notts County Brown 16Cooke 40 Stallard 72 Manchester Maine Road Mike Dean W 37 20 March 1999 Colchester United 0–1 Manchester City Goater 55 Colchester Layer Road Rob Styles W 38 27 March 1999 Reading 1–3 Manchester City Scott 90 Cooke 31 62Goater 54 Reading Madejski Stadium Paul Rejer W 39 3 April 1999 Manchester City 1–0 Wigan Athletic Cooke 52 Manchester Maine Road Steve Baines W 40 5 April 1999 Preston North End 1–1 Manchester City Basham 1 Brown 22 Preston Deepdale Kevin Lynch D 41 10 April 1999 Manchester City 4–0 Lincoln City Dickov 34 45 48Horlock 63 Manchester Maine Road Mark Warren W 42 14 April 1999 Manchester City 2–0 Luton Town Dickov 4Vaughan 10 Manchester Maine Road Phil Richards W 43 17 April 1999 Gillingham 0–2 Manchester City Cooke 31Horlock 64 Gillingham Priestfield Stadium Rob Styles W 44 24 April 1999 Manchester City 1–2 Wycombe Wanderers Goater 45 Baird 15Devine 30 Manchester Maine Road Mark Cowburn L 45 1 May 1999 Bristol Rovers 2–2 Manchester City Roberts 83Cureton 88 pen. Goater 27Cooke 42 Bristol Memorial Stadium Steve Bennett D 46 8 May 1999 Manchester City 4–0 York City Dickov 23Horlock 76Jeff Whitley 84Allsopp 88 Manchester Maine Road Andy D'Urso W Playoffs 1999 Football League play-offs#Second Division Semi-finals First leg 15 May 1999 Wigan Athletic 1–1 Manchester City Barlow 1 Dickov 76 Wigan Springfield Park Alan Wiley D Second leg 19 May 1999 Manchester City 1–0 Wigan Athletic Goater 27 Manchester Maine Road Terry Heilbron W Final Final 30 May 1999 15:00 Manchester City 2–2 Gillingham Horlock 90Dickov 90+5 Asaba 82R. Taylor 87 London Wembley 76,935 Mark Halsey 3–1 W FA Cup 1998–99 FA Cup Matches 13 November 1998 First Round 3–0 Manchester City Halifax Town Maine Road Manchester W4 December 1998 Second Round 1–1 Darlington Manchester City Darlington D15 December 1998 Second Round replay 1–0 Manchester City Darlington yes Manchester W2 January 1999 Third Round 1–0 Wimbledon Manchester City Wimbledon L League Cup 1998–99 Football League Cup First round 11 August 1998 First Leg 0–2 Notts County Manchester City Nottingham W19 August 1998 Second Leg 7–1 Manchester City Notts County Maine Road Manchester 9–1 W Second round 16 September 1998 First leg 1–1 Derby County Manchester City Derby D23 September 1998 Second leg 0–1 Manchester City Derby County Maine Road Manchester 1–2 L Squad Goalkeepers ENG Nicky Weaver NIR Tommy Wright Defenders ENG Lee Crooks ENG Richard Edghill ENG Nick Fenton ENG Richard Jobson SCO Andy Morrison GEO 1990 Murtaz Shelia AUS Danny Tiatto GEO 1990 Kakhaber Tskhadadze ENG Tony Vaughan NED Gerard Wiekens Midfielders ENG Ian Bishop ENG Michael Brown ENG Terry Cooke ENG Neil Heaney SCO Gary Mason SCO Jamie Pollock NIR Jeff Whitley NIR Jim Whitley NIR Kevin Horlock Attackers AUS Daniel Allsopp ENG Lee Bradbury ENG Michael Branch SCO Paul Dickov BER Shaun Goater ENG Chris Greenacre ENG Mark Robins ENG Craig Russell References External links https://www.mancity.com Category:Manchester City F.C. seasons Manchester City