1998–99 West Ham United F.C. season

Fifth in the FA Premier League, the 1998-1999 season was West Ham United's second best placing ever in the top-flight, securing UEFA Cup qualification to mark a return to European competitions after 19 years in the wilderness (though the Hammers would have qualified for the UEFA Cup through their third place finish in 1986 had it not been for the ban on English clubs in European competitions).

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 (who signed for struggling Wimbledon after being linked with a move to a Manchester United side who won the league title, FA Cup and European Cup that season) 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.

1998-99 saw the emergence of highly promising midfielder Joe Cole, who played his first eight league games that campaign and made a further appearance in the FA Cup, though he failed to score.

No.		Player	Position	Lge apps	Lge Gls	FAC apps	FAC Gls	LC apps	LC Gls	Date signed	Previous lub
West Ham United XI 1998-1999
12		Shaka Hislop (Hammer of the Year)	GK	37		2		2		July 1998	Newcastle United
6		Neil Ruddock	CB	27		2		1		July 1998	Liverpool
15		Rio Ferdinand	CB	31		1		1		November 1995	Academy
19		Ian Pearce	CB	33		1		2		September 1997	Blackburn Rovers
7		Marc Keller	LWB	17+4	5			1		July 1998	Karlsruher
8		Trevor Sinclair	RWB	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
29		Eyal Berkovic	ACM	28+2	3	1+1		1		June 1997	Southampton F.C.
10		Paolo Di Canio	CF	12+1	4					January 1999	Sheffield Wednesday
14		Ian Wright	CF	20+2	9	1		2		August 1998	Arsenal
Important Players
10		John Hartson	CF	16+1	4	2		1		February 1997	Arsenal
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
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
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

Matches

Premier League

• Sheffield Wednesday-West Ham 0-1
• 0-1 Ian Wright (84)

2	West Ham United	0–0	Manchester United	London
				Stadium: Boleyn Ground

3	Coventry City	0–0	West Ham United	Coventry
				Stadium: Highfield Road

• West Ham-Wimbledon 3-4
• 1-0 John Hartson (7)
• 2-0 Ian Wright (14)
• 3-0 Ian Wright (27)
• 3-1 Marcus Gayle (30)
• 3-2 Jason Euell (64)
• 3-3 Marcus Gayle (77)
• 3-4 Efan Ekoku (81)

6	Nottingham Forest	0–0	West Ham United	Nottingham
				Stadium: City Ground

• West Ham-Southampton 1-0
• 1-0 Ian Wright (61)

• Blackburn-West Ham 3-0
• 1-0 Garry Flitcroft (10)
• 2-0 Garry Flitcroft (47)
• 3-0 Callum Davidson (68)

9	West Ham United	0–0	Aston Villa	London
				Stadium: Boleyn Ground

• Charlton-West Ham 4-2
• 0-1 Richard Rufus (17 og)
• 1-1 Carl Tiler (29)
• 1-2 Eyal Berkovic (40)
• 2-2 Danny Mills (73)
• 3-2 Andy Hunt (87)
• 4-2 Neil Redfearn (90 pen)

11 31 October 1998	Newcastle United	0–3	West Ham United	Newcastle upon Tyne
	Dabizas  48'		Wright  56', 90' Sinclair  76'	Stadium: St James' Park Attendance: 36,744 Referee: Graham Poll

• West Ham-Chelsea 1-1
• 1-0 Neil Ruddock (4)
• 1-1 Celestine Babayaro (76)

• West Ham-Leicester 3-2
• 0-1 Muzzy Izzet (28)
• 1-1 Paul Kitson (37)
• 2-1 Steve Lomas (56)
• 3-1 Frank Lampard (76)
• 3-2 Frank Lampard (87 og)

• Derby-West Ham 0-2
• 0-1 John Hartson (7)
• 0-2 Marc Keller (72)

• West Ham-Tottenham 2-1
• 1-0 Trevor Sinclair (39)
• 2-0 Trevor Sinclair (46)
• 2-1 Chris Armstrong (72)

• Leeds-West Ham 4-0
• 1-0 Lee Bowyer (8)
• 2-0 Lee Bowyer (61)
• 3-0 Robert Molenaar (68)
• 4-0 Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (79)

• Middlesbrough-West Ham 1-0
• 1-0 Brian Deane (40)

• West Ham-Everton 2-1
• 1-0 Marc Keller (19)
• 1-1 Danny Cadamarteri (71)
• 2-1 Trevor Sinclair (75)

19 26 December 1998	Arsenal	1–0	West Ham United	London
15:00 GMT	Overmars  7'	Report		Stadium: Highbury Attendance: 38,098 Referee: Peter Jones

• West Ham-Coventry 2-0
• 1-0 Ian Wright (7)
• 2-0 John Hartson (68)

• Manchester United-West Ham 4-1
• 1-0 Dwight Yorke (10)
• 2-0 Andy Cole (40)
• 3-0 Andy Cole (67)
• 4-0 Ole Gunnar Solskjær (80)
• 4-1 Frank Lampard (89)

• West Ham-Sheffield Wednesday 0-4
• 0-1 Andy Hinchcliffe (26)
• 0-2 Petter Rudi (31)
• 0-3 Ritchie Humphreys (68)
• 0-4 Benito Carbone (72 pen)

23	Wimbledon	0–0	West Ham United	London
				Stadium: Selhurst Park

24 6 February 1999	West Ham United	0 – 4	Arsenal	London
15:00 GMT		Report	35' Bergkamp  45' Overmars  83' Anelka  87' Parlour	Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 26,042 Referee: Jeff Winter

• West Ham-Nottingham 2-1
• 1-0 Ian Pearce (35)
• 2-0 Frank Lampard (39)
• 2-1 Jon-Olav Hjelde (84)

26	Liverpool	2–2	West Ham
	Fowler  22' Owen  45'		Lampard  24' (pen.) Keller  74'

• West Ham-Blackburn 2-0
• 1-0 Ian Pearce (28)
• 2-0 Paolo Di Canio (31)

• Southampton-West Ham 1-0
• 1-0 Hassan Kachloul (10)

• Chelsea-West Ham 0-1
• 0-1 Paul Kitson (75)

30 20 March 1999	West Ham United	2–0	Newcastle United	London
	Di Canio  17' Kitson  82'			Stadium: Upton Park Attendance: 25,997 Referee: Paul Durkin

31	Aston Villa	0–0	West Ham United	Birmingham
				Stadium: Villa Park

• West Ham-Charlton 0-1
• 0-1 Graham Stuart (75)

33	Leicester City	0–0	West Ham United	Leicester
				Stadium: Filbert Street

• West Ham-Derby 5-1
• 1-0 Paolo Di Canio (19)
• 2-0 Eyal Berkovic (28)
• 3-0 Ian Wright (55)
• 4-0 Neil Ruddock (64)
• 5-0 Trevor Sinclair (69)
• 5-1 Paulo Wanchope (79)

• Tottenham-West Ham 1-2
• 0-1 Ian Wright (5)
• 0-2 Marc Keller (66)
• 1-2 David Ginola (73)

• West Ham-Leeds 1-5
• 0-1 Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (1)
• 0-2 Alan Smith (45)
• 1-2 Paolo Di Canio (48)
• 1-3 Ian Harte (62 pen)
• 1-4 Lee Bowyer (78)
• 1-5 Alf-Inge Haaland (79)

• Everton-West Ham 6-0
• 1-0 Kevin Campbell (14)
• 2-0 Michael Ball (25 pen)
• 3-0 Don Hutchison (38)
• 4-0 Kevin Campbell (52)
• 5-0 Kevin Campbell (77)
• 6-0 Francis Jeffers (87)

• West Ham-Middlesbrough 4-0
• 1-0 Frank Lampard (4)
• 2-0 Marc Keller (26)
• 3-0 Trevor Sinclair (75)
• 4-0 Paolo Di Canio (78)