Middle row (l-r); Garry Pendrey (Coach), Jim Blyth (Goalkeeping Coach), Willie Boland, Roland Nilsson, Marcus Hall, Jean-Guy Wallemme, Simon Haworth, Richard Shaw, Trevor Peake (Coach), Stuart Collie (Coach)
Front row (l-r); Ian Brightwell, Paul Telfer, Gavin Strachan, Trond Soltvedt, Gary McAllister, Gordon Strachan (Manager), Dion Dublin, George Boateng, David Burrows, Noel Whelan, Darren Huckerby
The 13 away defeats equalled the worst in a 38 match season in 1990-91.
The 7 clean sheets was the worst since 1983-84 (7).
The 39 goals scored was the lowest since 1991-92 when they scored only 35.
Average attendance – Home:
20,774 (1997-98 19,718) The highest average since 1978-79 season.
Average attendance – Away
30,398 (1997-98 28,929)
Highest home attendance:
23,091 v Tottenham 26 December
Lowest home attendance:
16,003 v Sheffield Wed 18 October
Highest away attendance:
55,193 v Manchester U. 12 September
Lowest away attendance:
11,717 v Wimbledon 5 December
Double wins:
(1) Sheffield Wed.
Double losses:
(3) Manchester U., Arsenal, Newcastle.
Won from behind:
(1) Charlton (h).
Lost from in front:
(4) Newcastle (h), Wimbledon (a), Chelsea (a), Newcastle (a).
Player of the year:
Richard Shaw.
Ever presents:
None.
Leading scorer:
13 Noel Whelan (10 league, 2 FA Cup, 1 Worthington Cup)
Hat-tricks:
Darren Huckerby (2) v Macclesfield (FA Cup) (h) & Nottingham Forest (h).
Opposing hat-tricks:
None
Players used:
28 (League) plus three in the Worthington Cup.
Man of the Match awards:
Noel Whelan 9, Gary McAllister 6, Richard Shaw 5, Magnus Hedman 4, Steve Froggatt 3, Darren Huckerby 3, Trond Soltvedt 2, Jean-Guy Wallemme 2, Gary Breen 2, George Boateng 2, David Burrows 1, Paul Hall 1, Barry Quinn 1, Paul Williams 1, John Aloisi 1, Roland Nilsson 1.
Red cards:
(2) Aloisi (Charlton h), Boateng (Leicester (FA Cup) a).
Yellow cards:
(85) Telfer 12, Boateng 11, Whelan 11, Burrows 9, Huckerby 7, McAllister 5, Williams 5, Breen 4, Edworthy 4, Soltvedt 2, Wallemme 2, Froggatt 2, Shaw 2, Hedman 2, Konjic 2, Dublin 1, Brightwell 1, M Hall 1, Clement 1, Quinn 1.
Opposing red cards:
(1) Sinclair (Leicester h)
High spots:
Opening day win over Chelsea.
Huckerby’s back to back hat-tricks.
FA Cup win at Filbert Street.
First ever league win at Villa Park.
Low spots:
1-5 hammering by Newcastle.
Ignominious defeat at Luton in Worthington Cup.
Dublin’s messy departure to Villa Park.
FA Cup exit at Everton.
By Jim Brown
After the comparative success of the previous season, 1998-99 was a major let-down. It started well enough with a thrilling win over the overseas all-stars of Chelsea, but four defeats in the next five games dumped them into the relegation zone. The rest of the season was spent trying to keep heads above water.
An already sizable squad was enhanced by four new signings. French central defender Jean-Guy Wallemme, 29, arrived from Lens for £700,000, and Belgium’s ‘Player of World Cup 98’, Philippe Clement, a strong tackling midfielder, cost £625,000 from Genk. Jamaican international striker Paul Hall arrived from Portsmouth for £300,000, while Ian Brightwell came on a free transfer from Manchester City. None of the four could be called a success. Wallemme made only six starts before, in December, his son’s schooling forced him back to France. Clement’s injury problems restricted him to eight starts and he signed for FC Bruges in the summer of 1999. Hall and Brightwell barely featured. The only significant summer departure was Viorel Moldovan, whose value had risen after scoring for Romania against England in the World Cup. He joined Fenerbahce of Turkey for £4 million, netting City a £750,000 profit in five months.
The most bizarre close season event was the Robert Jarni saga, which saw the wing-back sign for City for £2.6 million. Within days Real Madrid, desperate to sign one of Croatia’s World Cup heroes, paid City £3.35 million for a player who never played in a City shirt.
The fans, meanwhile, were captivated by Dion Dublin’s ‘would he stay or would he go’ contract talks. The club captain, unluckily omitted from Glen Hoddle’s World Cup squad, boasted the Golden Boot as the Premiership’s leading marksman. With only a year left on his contract and City fearing a walkout on a Bosman transfer, they agreed a £1 million per annum deal. But in October Dublin began attracting interest from struggling Blackburn. His advisers had inserted a clause that allowed him to talk to any club who offered a fee of £5 million.
With Dublin’s form patchy, City accepted Blackburn’s bid of £6.75 million, seen by many to be excessive for a 30-year-old striker. But, once the clause became public, other clubs joined the hunt. Dublin snubbed Blackburn and after a week of impasse and legal threats he was given permission to talk to Aston Villa, who paid £5.75 million to get their man. The scars inflicted by the episode soured relations between the two clubs for years.
On the pitch, lack of goals was the main problem, and in late September Strachan signed the man he thought could provide the service to hot-shots Dublin and Huckerby – Stephen Froggatt from Wolves for £1.9 million. Froggatt played only three games with the big striker before Dublin’s move to Villa but he enjoyed a promising season with his positive wing play and teasing crosses.
Strachan, the subject of speculation linking him with the vacant Leeds and Blackburn manager’s jobs, steadied the ship. Whelan and Huckerby did their best to convince the manager that they were the solution to Dublin’s departure. Fine wins over lowly Blackburn and Everton eased the pressure, but the team earned just three points from the next seven games and did not win again until a new striker, John Aloisi, a bargain £650,000 from penurious Portsmouth, arrived at Christmas.
January’s form lifted everyone’s spirits. McAllister and Boateng, previously unimpressive in midfield, looked world-beaters. McAllister had been the target of City’s boo-boys at West Ham at Christmas and he responded with a superb spell where he was at the heart of all City’s moves. Seven goals were fired past Macclesfield in the FA Cup and four more past Forest a week later. Huckerby hit two successive hat-tricks, and he scored again at Chelsea where the Sky Blues lost in stoppage time. That game was marred by a touchline fracas involving up to twenty officials of the two clubs, as a result of which Strachan was banished to the stands and fined £1,000.
A 3-0 FA Cup win at Leicester was followed a week later by a grinding home win over Liverpool, and 8,000 City fans travelled to Goodison Park for the FA Cup fifth-round tie with hopes high. The defence however played like strangers and a feeble Everton side beat City.
A run of six games with only one defeat effectively banished the relegation fears. The run included the club’s first ever League win at Aston Villa, a thumping 4-1 victory that gave City and their fans even more pleasure in the light of the Dublin transfer wranglings.
An emotional final game saw visitors Leeds play their part in a four-goal thriller. Roland Nilsson, who had fractured two ribs and suffered a punctured lung at Arsenal in March, returned for his final game before retiring from English football, and earned a tumultuous ovation from the fans.
The season ended with chairman Bryan Richardson spelling out that players who were not dedicated to the Sky Blues cause could leave. Speculation had linked Huckerby, Whelan and Breen to possible moves, whilst Boateng had been the subject of rumours linking him to Aston Villa ever since his outstanding performance at Villa Park in February. The Dutch player’s form, which had been inconsistent all season, took another dip after this and the fans accepted that he would be on his way out of Highfield Road.
On a brighter note plans for a new stadium and retail complex at Foleshill were given approval by all the necessary parties, including the Government, and was expected to be ready for August 2001 at a cost of £135 million.
