1998–99 Football League

Football League, Second Division
Season	1998–99
Champions	Fulham (1st third tier title)
Direct promotion	Fulham,; Walsall
Promoted through play-offs	Manchester City
Relegated	Lincoln City,; Macclesfield Town,; Northampton,; York City
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,358 (2.46 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jamie Cureton (Bristol Rovers), 25
	← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

Football League, First Division
Season	1998–99
Champions	Sunderland (3rd second tier title)
Direct promotion to FA Premier League	Sunderland,; Bradford City
Promoted to FA Premier League through play-offs	Watford
Relegated	Bristol City,; Bury,; Oxford United
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,455 (2.64 per match)
Top goalscorer	Lee Hughes (West Bromwich Albion), 31
	← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

The Football League
Season	1998–99
Champions	Sunderland
Promoted	Bradford City; Watford
Relegated	Scarborough
	← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

The 1998–99 Football League (known as the Nationwide Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 100th completed season of The Football League.

Sunderland were crowned First Division champions with 105 points, then a record, having lost just three games all season, to prove right the many pundits who tipped them for promotion. The two other promotion places were secured by two of the division’s least fancied sides — runners-up Bradford City (back in the top division for the first time in 77 years) and playoff winners Watford (who had won their second successive promotion during Graham Taylor’s second spell as manager).

Bury, Oxford United and Bristol City occupied the three relegation places in the First Division. Oxford’s dismal season was mainly down to £10 million debts which were putting the club in real danger of closure, and had also resulted in the suspension of construction of their new stadium near the Blackbird Leys estate.

Kevin Keegan completed his spell as Fulham manager before taking the England job by guiding the Cottagers to the Second Division championship with a staggering 101 points. Following them up were runners-up Walsall and playoff winners Manchester City.

Going down were York City, Northampton Town, Lincoln City and Macclesfield Town. Narrowly avoiding the drop to the Third Division were Oldham Athletic, who just five years earlier had been a Premiership side who came within a whisker of reaching the FA Cup final.

Brentford, Cambridge United, Cardiff City and Scunthorpe United occupied the four promotion places in the Third Division.

Carlisle United kept their league status in remarkable fashion. They entered the final game of the season in bottom place, and with 90 minutes on the clock in their home game against Plymouth Argyle they were drawing 1–1 and needed a win to stay up. The referee then allowed 4 minutes of stoppage time and with just seconds to go, goalkeeper Jimmy Glass came upfield and scored from a rebounded corner to preserve his club’s place in the league which had been held since 1928. Scarborough, who had only joined the league in 1987, were relegated instead. Glass, 25, had been signed on loan from Swindon Town after the transfer line because an injury crisis had left Carlisle without a goalkeeper for the final few games of the season.

Final league tables and results

First Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Sunderland	46	19	3	1	50	10	12	9	2	41	18	91	28	+63	105
2	Bradford City	46	15	4	4	48	20	11	5	7	34	27	82	47	+35	87
3	Ipswich Town	46	16	1	6	37	15	10	7	6	32	17	69	32	+37	86
4	Birmingham City	46	12	7	4	32	15	11	5	7	34	22	66	37	+29	81
5	Watford	46	12	8	3	30	19	9	6	8	35	37	65	56	+9	77
6	Bolton Wanderers	46	13	6	4	44	25	7	10	6	34	34	78	59	+19	76
7	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	11	10	2	37	19	8	6	9	27	24	64	43	+21	73
8	Sheffield United	46	12	6	5	42	29	6	7	10	29	37	71	66	+5	67
9	Norwich City	46	7	12	4	34	28	8	5	10	28	33	62	61	+1	62
10	Huddersfield Town	46	11	9	3	38	23	4	7	12	24	48	62	71	–9	61
11	Grimsby Town	46	11	6	6	25	18	6	4	13	15	34	40	52	–12	61
12	West Bromwich Albion	46	12	4	7	43	33	4	7	12	26	43	69	76	–7	59
13	Barnsley	46	7	9	7	35	30	7	8	8	24	26	59	56	+3	59
14	Crystal Palace	46	11	10	2	43	26	3	6	14	15	45	58	71	–13	58
15	Tranmere Rovers	46	8	7	8	37	30	4	13	6	26	31	63	61	+2	56
16	Stockport County	46	7	9	7	24	21	5	8	10	25	39	49	60	–11	53
17	Swindon Town	46	7	8	8	40	44	6	3	14	19	37	59	81	–22	50
18	Crewe Alexandra	46	7	6	10	27	35	5	6	12	27	43	54	78	–24	48
19	Portsmouth	46	10	5	8	34	26	1	9	13	23	47	57	73	–16	47
20	Queens Park Rangers	46	9	7	7	34	22	3	4	16	18	39	52	61	–9	47
21	Port Vale	46	10	3	10	22	28	3	5	15	23	47	45	75	–30	47
22	Bury	46	9	7	7	24	27	1	10	12	11	33	35	60	–25	47
23	Oxford United	46	7	8	8	31	30	3	6	14	17	41	48	71	–23	44
24	Bristol City	46	7	8	8	35	36	2	7	14	22	44	57	80	–23	42

Pld = Matches ; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
NB: In the Football League goals scored (F) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).

Key
	Football League Champions, promoted to FA Premier League
	Promoted to FA Premier League
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted to Premier League through play-offs
	Relegated

Play-offs

Semifinals 1st leg – May 16th; 2nd leg – May 19th/20th, 1999			Final at Wembley May 31st, 1999

3rd	Ipswich Town	0

6th	Bolton Wanderers^{[notes 1]}	1
			5th	Watford	2

			6th	Bolton Wanderers	0
4th	Birmingham City	0

5th	Watford (pen.)	1

^[2]

^ Bolton Wanderers the first round of the play-offs against Ipswich Town on away goals after extra time.

First Division results

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Fulham	46	19	3	1	50	12	12	5	6	29	20	79	32	+47	101
2	Walsall	46	13	7	3	37	23	13	2	8	26	24	63	47	+16	87
3	Manchester City	46	13	6	4	38	14	9	10	4	31	19	69	33	+36	82
4	Gillingham	46	15	5	3	45	17	7	9	7	30	27	75	44	+31	80
5	Preston North End	46	12	6	5	46	23	10	7	6	32	27	78	50	+28	79
6	Wigan Athletic	46	14	5	4	44	17	8	5	10	31	31	75	48	+27	76
7	Bournemouth	46	14	7	2	37	11	7	6	10	26	30	63	41	+22	76
8	Stoke City	46	10	4	9	32	32	11	2	10	27	31	59	63	–4	69
9	Chesterfield	46	14	5	4	34	16	3	8	12	12	28	46	44	+2	64
10	Millwall	46	9	8	6	33	24	8	3	12	19	35	52	59	–7	62
11	Reading	46	10	6	7	29	26	6	7	10	25	37	54	63	–9	61
12	Luton Town	46	10	4	9	25	26	6	6	11	26	34	51	60	–9	58
13	Bristol Rovers	46	8	9	6	35	28	5	8	10	30	28	65	56	+9	56
14	Blackpool	46	7	8	8	24	24	7	6	10	20	30	44	54	–10	56
15	Burnley	46	8	7	8	23	33	5	9	9	31	40	54	73	–19	55
16	Notts County	46	8	6	9	29	27	6	6	11	23	34	52	61	–9	54
17	Wrexham	46	8	6	9	21	28	5	8	10	22	34	43	62	–19	53
18	Colchester United	46	9	7	7	25	30	3	9	11	27	40	52	70	–18	52
19	Wycombe Wanderers	46	8	5	10	31	26	5	7	11	21	32	52	58	–6	51
20	Oldham Athletic	46	8	4	11	26	31	6	5	12	22	35	48	66	–18	51
21	York City	46	6	8	9	28	33	7	3	13	28	47	56	80	–24	50
22	Northampton	46	4	12	7	26	31	6	6	11	17	26	43	57	–14	48
23	Lincoln City	46	9	4	10	27	27	4	3	16	15	47	42	74	–32	46
24	Macclesfield Town	46	7	4	12	24	30	4	6	13	19	33	43	63	–30	43

Semifinals 1st leg – May 15th/16th; 2nd leg – May 19th, 1999			Final at Wembley Stadium May 30th, 1999

3rd	Manchester City	1

6th	Wigan Athletic	1
			3rd	Manchester City (pen.)	2 (3)

			4th	Gillingham	2 (1)
4th	Gillingham	1

5th	Preston North End	1

Final league tables and results

First Division

Play-offs

First Division results

First Division maps

Second Division

Play-offs

Second Division maps

Third Division

Play-offs

Third Division maps

See also

References