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
	← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

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

Pos	Team v t e	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^[1]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

FA Premier League

15 August 1998 1	Sheffield Wednesday	0–1	West Ham United	Sheffield
BST			Wright	Stadium: Hillsborough Attendance: 30,236

22 August 1998 2	West Ham United	0–0	Manchester United	Upton Park (East London)
BST				Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 26,039

29 August 1998 3	Coventry City	0–0	West Ham United	Coventry
BST				Stadium: Highfield Attendance: 20,818

9 September 1998 4	West Ham United	3–4	Wimbledon	Upton Park (East London)
BST	Hartson Wright ,			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 25,311

12 September 1998 5	West Ham United	2–1	Liverpool	Upton Park (East London)
	Hartson Berkovic			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 26,029

19 September 1998 6	Nottingham Forest	0–0	West Ham United	West Bridgford
BST				Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 26,463

28 September 1998 7	West Ham United	1–0	Southampton	Upton Park (East London)
BST	Wright			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 23,153

3 October 1998 8	Blackburn Rovers	3–0	West Ham United	Blackburn
				Stadium: Ewood Park Attendance: 25,213

17 October 1998 9	West Ham United	0–0	Aston Villa	Upton Park (East London)
				Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 26,002

24 October 1998 10	Charlton Athletic	4–2	West Ham United	Charlton
			0' (o.g.) Rufus Berkovic	Stadium: The Valley Attendance: 20,043

31 October 1998 11	Newcastle United	0–3	West Ham United	Newcastle-upon-Tyne
			, Wright Sinclair	Stadium: St. James' Park Attendance: 36,744

8 November 1998 12	West Ham United	1–1	Chelsea	Upton Park (East London)
	Ruddock			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 26,023

14 November 1998 13	West Ham United	3–2	Leicester City	Upton Park (East London)
	Kitson Lomas Lampard			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 25,642

22 November 1998 14	Derby County	0–2	West Ham United	Derby
			Hartson Keller	Stadium: Baseball Ground Attendance: 31,366

28 November 1998 15	West Ham United	2–1	Tottenham Hotspur	Upton Park (East London)
	Sinclair ,			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 26,044

5 December 1998 16	Leeds United	4–0	West Ham United	Leeds
				Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 36,320

12 December 1998 17	Middlesbrough	1–0	West Ham United	Middlesbrough
				Stadium: Riverside Attendance: 34,623

19 December 1998 18	West Ham United	2–1	Everton	Upton Park (East London)
	Keller Sinclair goals2=			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 25,998

26 December 1998 19	Arsenal	1–0	West Ham United	Islington (London)
				Stadium: Highbury Attendance: 38,098

28 December 1998 20	West Ham United	2–0	Coventry City	Upton Park (East London)
				Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 25,662

10 January 1999 21	Manchester United	4–1	West Ham United	Greater Manchester
			Lampard	Stadium: Old Trafford Attendance: 55,180

16 January 1999 22	West Ham United	0–4	Sheffield Wednesday	Upton Park (East London)
				Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 25,642

30 January 1999 23	Wimbledon	0–0	West Ham United	Croydon (South London)
				Stadium: Selhurst Park Attendance: 23,035

6 February 1999 24	West Ham United	0–4	Arsenal	Upton Park (East London)
				Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 26,042

13 February 1999 25	West Ham United	2–1	Nottingham Forest	Upton Park (East London)
	Pearce Lampard			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 25,458

20 February 1999 26	Liverpool	2–2	West Ham United	Liverpool
			0' (pen.) Lampard Keller	Stadium: Anfield Road Attendance: 44,511

27 February 1999 27	West Ham United	2–0	Blackburn Rovers	Upton Park (East London)
	Pearce Di Canio			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 25,529

6 March 1999 28	Southampton	1–0	West Ham United	Southampton
				Stadium: The Dell Attendance: 15,240

13 March 1999 29	Chelsea	0–1	West Ham United	Fulham (West London)
			Kitson	Stadium: Stamford Bridge Attendance: 34,765

20 March 1999 30	West Ham United	2–0	Newcastle United	Upton Park (East London)
	Di Canio Kitson			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 25,997

2 April 1999 31	Aston Villa	0–0	West Ham United	Birmingham
				Stadium: Villa Park Attendance: 36,813

5 April 1999 32	West Ham United	0–1	Charlton Athletic	Upton Park (East London)
				Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 26,041

10 April 1999 33	Leicester City	0–0	West Ham United	Leicester
				Stadium: Filbert Street Attendance: 20,402

17 April 1999 34	West Ham United	5–1	Derby County	Upton Park (East London)
	Di Canio Berkovic Wright Ruddock Sinclair			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 25,485

24 April 1999 35	Tottenham Hotspur	1–2	West Ham United	Tottenham (North London)
			Wright Keller	Stadium: White Hart Lane Attendance: 36,089

1 May 1999 36	West Ham United	1–5	Leeds United	Upton Park (East London)
	Di Canio			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 25,997

8 May 1999 37	Everton	6–0	West Ham United	Walton
				Stadium: Goodison Park Attendance: 40,049

16 May 1999 38	West Ham United	4–0	Middlesbrough	Upton Park (East London)
	Lampard Keller Sinclair Di Canio			Stadium: Boleyn Ground Attendance: 25,902

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


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

^[2]

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