1998–99 Watford F.C. season

Watford
1998–99 season
Chairman	Elton John
Manager	Graham Taylor
Stadium	Vicarage Road
Football League First Division	5th (promoted)
Play-offs	Winners
FA Cup	Third round
Worthington Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	Noel-Williams (10)
Average home league attendance	11,822
← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

During the 1998–99 English football season, Watford F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

In the 1998–99 season, Watford's second successive promotion came true thanks to a 2-0 victory over Bolton in the playoff final which secured the club's promotion to the top flight for the first time since 1988.^[1]^[2]

Final league table

Main article: 1998–99 Football League

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

Key
Promoted to the Premier League
Qualified for the promotion playoff
Relegated to Division 2

NB In the Football League goals scored (F) takes precedence over goal difference

Results

Watford's score comes first^[3]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
8 August 1998	Portsmouth	A	2-1	15,275	Thomson (own goal), Lee
15 August 1998	Bradford City	H	1-0	10,731	Ngonge
22 August 1998	Bristol City	A	4-1	13,063	Johnson (2), Yates, Hazan
25 August 1998	Sunderland	A	1-4	36,587	Smart
28 August 1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0-2	12,016
8 September 1998	Huddersfield Town	A	0-2	9,811
12 September 1998	Queens Park Rangers	H	2-1	14,251	Millen, Smart
19 September 1998	Swindon Town	A	4-1	8,781	Smart (2), Wright, Hazan
26 September 1998	Ipswich Town	H	1-0	13,109	Kennedy (pen)
29 September 1998	Sheffield United	H	1-1	9,090	Noel-Williams
4 October 1998	West Bromwich Albion	A	1-4	11,840	Kennedy (pen)
10 October 1998	Birmingham City	H	1-1	10,096	Rowett (own goal)
17 October 1998	Tranmere Rovers	A	2-3	6,753	Smart, Noel-Williams
20 October 1998	Bolton Wanderers	A	2-1	15,921	Noel-Williams, Kennedy (pen)
24 October 1998	Port Vale	H	2-2	8,750	Guðmundsson (2)
31 October 1998	Bury	A	3-1	4,342	Bazeley, Ngonge, Smart
3 November 1998	Norwich City	H	1-1	10,011	Jackson (own goal)
7 November 1998	Oxford United	H	2-0	10,137	Palmer, Noel-Williams
14 November 1998	Stockport County	A	1-1	8,019	Johnson
21 November 1998	Crewe Alexandra	H	4-2	9,405	Noel-Williams (2), Bazeley, Wright
28 November 1998	Crystal Palace	A	2-2	19,521	Wright, Kennedy
5 December 1998	Barnsley	H	0-0	10,165
12 December 1998	Stockport County	H	4-2	9,250	Johnson, Wright, Noel-Williams (2)
19 December 1998	Grimsby Town	A	1-2	6,679	Noel-Williams
26 December 1998	Bristol City	H	1-0	15,081	Smart
29 December 1998	Norwich City	A	1-1	19,255	Palmer
9 January 1999	Portsmouth	H	0-0	12,057
16 January 1999	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0-0	23,408
23 January 1999	West Bromwich Albion	H	0-2	11,664
30 January 1999	Sunderland	H	2-1	20,188	Wright, Noel-Williams
6 February 1999	Bradford City	A	0-2	14,142
16 February 1999	Huddersfield Town	H	1-1	10,303	Mooney
20 February 1999	Queens Park Rangers	A	2-1	14,918	Wright, Smith
26 February 1999	Swindon Town	H	0-1	8,692
2 March 1999	Ipswich Town	A	2-3	18,818	Smith, Mooney
6 March 1999	Sheffield United	A	0-3	15,943
13 March 1999	Oxford United	A	0-0	8,137
20 March 1999	Bury	H	0-0	9,336
3 April 1999	Tranmere Rovers	H	2-1	8,682	Kennedy, Ngonge
5 April 1999	Birmingham City	A	2-1	24,877	Mooney, Daley
10 April 1999	Bolton Wanderers	H	2-0	13,001	Hyde, Mooney
17 April 1999	Crewe Alexandra	A	1-0	5,461	Mooney
24 April 1999	Crystal Palace	H	2-1	15,590	Hyde, Mooney
27 April 1999	Port Vale	A	2-1	7,126	Mooney (2)
1 May 1999	Barnsley	A	2-2	17,098	Ngonge, Mooney
9 May 1999	Grimsby Town	H	1-0	20,303	Kennedy

First Division play-offs


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SF 1st Leg	16 May 1999	Birmingham City	H	1-0	18,535	Ngonge
SF 2nd Leg	20 May 1999	Birmingham City	A	0-1 (won 7-6 on pens)	29,100
F	31 May 1999	Bolton Wanderers	N	2-0	70,343	Wright, Smart

FA Cup

Main article: 1998–99 FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	2 January 1999	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2-5	36,022	Johnson, Kennedy

League Cup

Main article: 1998–99 Football League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	11 August 1998	Cambridge United	A	0-1	3,073
R1 2nd Leg	18 August 1998	Cambridge United	H	1-1 (lost 1-2 on agg)	6,817	Ngonge

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[4]

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

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Alec Chamberlain
		GK	Chris Day
		DF	Darren Bazeley
		DF	Clint Easton
		DF	Nigel Gibbs
		DF	Colin Miles
		DF	Keith Millen
		DF	Steve Palmer
		DF	David Perpetuini
		DF	Paul Robinson
		DF	Darren Ward
		DF	Dean Yates
		DF	Rob Page (captain)
		DF	Benedict Iroha
		MF	Tony Daley
		MF	Micah Hyde^[5]

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Gifton Noel-Williams
		MF	Tommy Smith
		MF	Peter Kennedy
		MF	Alexandre Bonnot (on loan from Angers)
		MF	Jóhann Guðmundsson
		MF	Alon Hazan
		MF	Ronny Rosenthal
		MF	Richard Johnson
		FW	Jason Lee
		FW	Tommy Mooney
		FW	Stuart Slater
		FW	Guy Whittingham
		FW	Nick Wright
		FW	Allan Smart
		FW	Michel Ngonge^[6]

References

↑ "Watford back in the big time". BBC Sport. 31 May 1999. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
↑ McGuinness, Mark (1 June 1999). "Football: You've Got Wat It Takes, Taylor: First Division Play-Off Special; Bolton 0 Watford 2 Graham back on a high with return to the top flight.". The Free Library. The Mirror. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
↑ http://www.statto.com/football/teams/watford/1998-1999
↑ http://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=2741&teamTabs=stats&season_id=128
↑ Hyde was born in Newham, England, but qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and would make his international debut for Jamaica in 2001.
↑ Ngonge was born in Huy, Belgium, but qualified to represent the Democratic Republic of the Congo (and its predecessor, Zaire) internationally.

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1998–99 in English football

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FA competitions

Premier League and
Football League

Premier League
Football League (First Division
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League Cup (Final)
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Play-offs (First Division Final
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Related to national team

UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying (Qualification Group 5)
Glenn Hoddle
Howard Wilkinson (caretaker)
Kevin Keegan

Club seasons

Premier League	Arsenal Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Charlton Athletic Chelsea Coventry City Derby County Everton Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester United Middlesbrough Newcastle United Nottingham Forest Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United Wimbledon

First Division	Barnsley Birmingham City Bolton Wanderers Bradford City Bristol City Bury Crewe Alexandra Crystal Palace Grimsby Town Huddersfield Town Ipswich Town Norwich City Oxford United Port Vale Portsmouth Queens Park Rangers Sheffield United Stockport County Sunderland Swindon Town Tranmere Rovers Watford West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division	Bournemouth Blackpool Bristol Rovers Burnley Chesterfield Colchester United Fulham Gillingham Lincoln City Luton Town Macclesfield Town Manchester City Millwall Northampton Town Notts County Oldham Athletic Preston North End Reading Stoke City Walsall Wigan Athletic Wrexham Wycombe Wanderers York City

Third Division	Barnet Brentford Brighton & Hove Albion Cambridge United Cardiff City Carlisle United Chester City Darlington Exeter City Halifax Town Hartlepool United Hull City Leyton Orient Mansfield Town Peterborough United Plymouth Argyle Rochdale Rotherham United Scarborough Scunthorpe United Shrewsbury Town Southend United Swansea City Torquay United

Football Conference	Barrow Cheltenham Town Doncaster Rovers Dover Athletic Farnborough Town Forest Green Rovers Hayes Hednesford Town Hereford United Kettering Town Kidderminster Harriers Kingstonian Leek Town Morecambe Northwich Victoria Rushden & Diamonds Southport Stevenage Borough Telford United Welling United Woking Yeovil Town

Others	Newport

List of transfers