1998–99 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

Nottingham Forest
1998–99 season
Manager Dave Bassett (until October)
Ron Atkinson (from October)
Stadium City Ground
FA Premier League 20th (relegated)
FA Cup Third round proper
Worthington Cup Fourth round
Top goalscorer Dougie Freedman (9)

During the 1998–99 English football season, Nottingham Forest F.C. competed in the FA Premier League.

Contents

Season summary

Nottingham Forest's campaign back in the Premiership got off to a fairly good start in the first three games in the season, losing narrowly 2-1 at Arsenal and winning the other two against Coventry City and at Southampton; however, it would be 19 games until their next victory and they went on a very poor run of only one win in 25 league games - in addition to two wins in 32 games - and winning their final three games did not matter as they were already relegated. Pierre Van Hooijdonk, top scorer in Forest's promotion-winning 1997-98 campaign, went AWOL before the start of the season following the sale of strike partner Kevin Campbell and it appeared that he would never play for the club again. He returned in October, but Forest were already deep in relegation trouble and it was too late to save manager Dave Bassett's job. Ron Atkinson made what appeared to be his final return to management, but was unable to save Forest from relegation in bottom place - the third time in seven years that they had endured this fate. With just 7 wins and 30 points all season, they had never really looked like beating the drop, due to embarrassing results like the 1-8 beating at home to Manchester United. A win at Goodison Park was the highlight of Atkinson's ill-fated tenure.

When Atkinson's contract was not renewed, Brian Little, Glenn Hoddle and Roy Evans were just some of the many high profile names linked with the manager's job, but in the end it was 33-year-old former England captain David Platt who took on the role as player-manager.

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 GK Dave Beasant
2 DF Matthieu Louis-Jean (on loan from Le Havre)
3 DF Alan Rogers
4 MF Nigel Quashie
5 DF Steve Chettle
6 DF Jon Olav Hjelde
9 FW Neil Shipperley
10 MF Andy Johnson
11 DF Chris Bart-Williams
12 DF Chris Doig
13 GK Mark Crossley
14 FW Dougie Freedman
15 DF Richard Gough (on loan from San Jose Clash)
16 MF Geoff Thomas
17 DF Thierry Bonalair
18 MF Ian Woan
19 FW Jean-Claude Darcheville
No. Position Player
20 MF Carlton Palmer
21 FW Steve Guinan
22 DF Des Lyttle
23 FW Bernard Allou
24 DF Christian Edwards
25 DF Jesper Mattsson
26 MF Steve Melton
27 FW Andy Gray
28 MF Gareth Williams
29 FW Marlon Harewood
30 MF John Harkes (on loan from DC United)
31 MF Hugo Porfírio (on loan from Benfica)
32 DF Ståle Stensaas (on loan from Rangers)
33 GK Marco Pascolo
39 GK Mark Goodlad
40 FW Pierre van Hooijdonk
DF Nikola Jerkan

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
7 MF Steve Stone (to Aston Villa)
8 MF Scot Gemmill (to Everton)
15 DF Craig Armstrong (to Huddersfield Town)
20 MF Glyn Hodges (to Scarborough)
No. Position Player
23 DF Andy Dawson (to Scunthorpe United)
DF Stuart Thom (to Oldham Athletic)
MF Chris Allen (to Port Vale)
FW Paul McGregor (to Preston North End)

Starting 11

Only considering Premiership starts

Premier League

Matches

Topscorers