1999–2000 Huddersfield Town A.F.C. season

Huddersfield Town
1999-2000 season
Chairman England Ian Ayre
Manager England Steve Bruce
Division One 8th
FA Cup Third Round
Worthington Cup Fourth Round
Top goalscorer League:
Clyde Wijnhard (15)
All:
Clyde Wijnhard (16)
Highest home attendance 23,678 vs Liverpool (12 December 1999)
Lowest home attendance 4,345 vs Scunthorpe United (24 August 1999)
Home colours
Away colours
Third colours
← 1998–99
2000–01 →

Huddersfield Town's 1999–2000 campaign is widely regarded as one of Town's best seasons in recent history. Following the shock sacking of Peter Jackson at the end of the previous season, owner Barry Rubery hired the more famous Steve Bruce and Huddersfield finished 8th place that season, just 2 points outside the play-offs. This season also saw Town beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Worthington Cup. Town also got their highest attendance figures at the McAlpine Stadium when they played Liverpool in the FA Cup.

Squad at the start of the season

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

No. Position Player
1 Belgium GK Nico Vaesen
2 Wales DF Steve Jenkins
3 England DF Jamie Vincent
4 England DF Craig Armstrong
5 England DF Chris Lucketti
6 England DF Kevin Gray
7 Greece MF Giorgos Donis
8 England MF Kenny Irons
9 England FW Marcus Stewart
10 England MF Scott Sellars
11 Suriname FW Clyde Wijnhard
No. Position Player
12 England MF Ben Thornley
13 Wales GK Martyn Margetson
14 Wales MF Barry Horne
15 England DF Rob Edwards
17 England MF Simon Baldry
18 England DF Darren Edmondson
19 England MF David Beresford
20 England FW Wayne Allison
21 England DF Jon Dyson
22 England MF Chris Beech
37 England DF Steve Baker (on loan from Middlesbrough)

Review

Rubery and managing director Ian Ayre talked up the side's chances of promotion, pointing to the acquisition of the high-profile Steve Bruce as a clear indication of their ambition. More serious investment brought the likes of Clyde Wijnhard, Chris Lucketti, Giorgos Donis, Scott Sellars, Kenny Irons, Ken Monkou and Dean Gorré to the club. The Terriers tore up the Division for the first few months playing attractive attacking football in the 7–1 annihilation of Crystal Palace (their best league result for 20 years), plus notable wins over rivals Ipswich Town, recently relegated Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest. During October and November, Town won 6 games in a row, a best for 17 years. In early October, the side even scored a famous 1–0 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the League Cup and were widely considered to be 'the best Town side in 30 years'. They lost to fellow Premier League side Wimbledon in the next round.

By Christmas time, Town were top of the table, but the loss of key defenders Steve Jenkins, Chris Lucketti, Ken Monkou and David May (who only made one appearance for Town because of injury) all suffered injuries at the wrong time. At the turn of the year, with the side suffering a blip in form, manager Bruce accepted the BBC's offer to cover previous club Manchester United's involvement in the much-derided FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil. With Town's form suffering, his popularity with the club's supporters plummeted. A run of 2 wins in 13 games didn't help things much either. Also during that run star striker Marcus Stewart was surprisingly sold to fellow 1st Division side Ipswich Town for a record fee of £2.75million. Less than a month later, he scored Ipswich's winning goal in a 2-1 win between the sides at Portman Road. Town signed Sheffield United's striker Martin Smith. Following that dreadful run Town went on a run of 6 games unbeaten, which saw Town on the verge of a play-off place with 4 games left.

After losing 3-0 at home to fellow play-off contenders Bolton Wanderers, they beat relegated Port Vale, meaning Town would get a play-off spot by winning their last 2 games at home to Stockport County and away to Fulham at Craven Cottage, but instead they lost them 2-0 and 3-0 respectively. In the end, if they won either of those last 2 games they would have got a play-off place.

Squad at the end of the season

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

No. Position Player
1 Belgium GK Nico Vaesen
2 Wales DF Steve Jenkins
3 England DF Jamie Vincent
4 England DF Craig Armstrong
5 England DF Chris Lucketti
6 England DF Kevin Gray
7 Greece MF Giorgos Donis
8 England MF Kenny Irons
9 England FW Martin Smith
10 England MF Scott Sellars
11 Suriname FW Clyde Wijnhard
12 England MF Ben Thornley
13 Wales GK Martyn Margetson
No. Position Player
14 England FW Alun Armstrong (on loan from Middlesbrough)
15 England DF Rob Edwards
16 Grenada FW Delroy Facey
17 England MF Simon Baldry
18 Scotland FW Chris Hay
19 England MF David Beresford
20 Republic of Ireland DF Thomas Heary
21 England DF Jon Dyson
22 England MF Chris Beech
23 England MF Chris Holland
38 Suriname DF Ken Monkou
39 Thailand FW Kiatisuk Senamuang
40 Suriname MF Dean Gorré

Results

Division One

Date Opponents Home/

Away

Result

F - A

Scorers Attendance Position
7 August 1999 Queens Park Rangers A 1 - 3 Wijnhard [65] 13,642 21st
13 August 1999 Blackburn Rovers H 3 - 2 Grayson [26 (og)], Stewart [51], Edwards [90] 13,670 7th
21 August 1999 Tranmere Rovers A 0 - 1 6,728 18th
28 August 1999 Crystal Palace H 7 - 1 Beech [18], Wijnhard [25, 60, 64], Irons [36], Stewart [47, 74] 10,656 7th
30 August 1999 Portsmouth A 0 - 0 13,105 7th
11 September 1999 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 1 - 0 Stewart [60 (pen)] 20,385 5th
18 September 1999 Norwich City H 1 - 0 Wijnhard [51] 12,823 4th
25 September 1999 Barnsley A 2 - 4 Monkou [19], Stewart [71] 17,765 6th
2 October 1999 Sheffield United H 4 - 1 Beech [14], Wijnhard [28], Stewart [57, 90] 14,238 6th
9 October 1999 Port Vale H 2 - 2 Stewart [2 (pen)], Irons [30] 11,885 6th
16 October 1999 Bolton Wanderers A 0 - 1 16,603 7th
19 October 1999 Stockport County A 1 - 1 Sellars [89] 7,305 8th
23 October 1999 Fulham H 1 - 1 Wijnhard [75] 13,350 8th
26 October 1999 Barnsley H 2 - 1 Wijnhard [13], Baldry [89] 15,764 5th
30 October 1999 Sheffield United A 1 - 0 Dyson [51] 14,928 5th
2 November 1999 Ipswich Town H 3 - 1 Dyson [37], Beech [48], Stewart [57] 12,093 3rd
6 November 1999 Swindon Town H 4 - 0 Beech [9], Thornley [35], Gorré [57, 63] 11,891 3rd
14 November 1999 Nottingham Forest A 3 - 1 Wijnhard [22, 63], Gray [34] 15,258 3rd
20 November 1999 West Bromwich Albion H 1 - 0 Gorré [55] 14,244 2nd
23 November 1999 Walsall A 0 - 2 5,860 3rd
27 November 1999 Manchester City A 1 - 0 Beech [51] 32,936 2nd
4 December 1999 Queens Park Rangers H 1 - 0 Wijnhard [31] 13,027 1st
18 December 1999 Grimsby Town H 3 - 1 Wijnhard [6, 25], Stewart [63] 14,065 1st
26 December 1999 Crewe Alexandra A 1 - 1 Beech [47] 8,106 2nd
28 December 1999 Charlton Athletic H 1 - 2 Stewart [80] 17,415 2nd
3 January 2000 Birmingham City A 0 - 1 19,958 5th
15 January 2000 Blackburn Rovers A 0 - 2 21,420 5th
22 January 2000 Tranmere Rovers H 1 - 0 Stewart [12] 12,653 5th
29 January 2000 Crystal Palace A 2 - 2 Stewart [34, 41] 14,290 5th
5 February 2000 Portsmouth H 0 - 1 12,753 5th
12 February 2000 Ipswich Town A 1 - 2 Gorré [56] 21,233 5th
18 February 2000 Manchester City H 1 - 1 Wijnhard [32] 18,173 5th
26 February 2000 Norwich City A 1 - 1 Vincent [65] 16,464 5th
4 March 2000 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 2 - 0 Smith [20, 34] 17,214 6th
7 March 2000 Swindon Town A 0 - 2 4,701 6th
11 March 2000 Walsall H 1 - 1 Smith [78] 12,424 6th
18 March 2000 West Bromwich Albion A 1 - 0 Smith [22] 15,484 6th
21 March 2000 Nottingham Forest H 2 - 1 Beech [27], Holland [56] 12,893 6th
25 March 2000 Crewe Alexandra H 3 - 0 Gray [14], Beech [53, 79] 14,014 5th
1 April 2000 Grimsby Town A 0 - 0 6,993 6th
8 April 2000 Birmingham City H 0 - 0 16,961 6th
14 April 2000 Charlton Athletic A 1 - 0 Wijnhard [25] 19,739 5th
22 April 2000 Bolton Wanderers H 0 - 3 16,404 6th
24 April 2000 Port Vale A 2 - 1 Vincent [8], Irons [54 (pen)] 5,828 6th
29 April 2000 Stockport County H 0 - 2 14,046 6th
7 May 2000 Fulham A 0 - 3 13,728 8th

FA Cup

Date Round Opponents Home/

Away

Result

F - A

Scorers Attendance
12 December 1999 Round 3 Liverpool H 0 - 2 23,678

Worthington Cup

Date Round Opponents Home/

Away

Result

F - A

Scorers Attendance
10 August 1999 Round 1 1st Leg Scunthorpe United A 2 - 0 Lucketti [41], Beech [80] 3,398
24 August 1999 Round 1 2nd Leg Scunthorpe United H 0 - 0 4,345
  • Huddersfield won 2-0 on aggregate
14 September 1999 Round 2 1st Leg Notts County H 2 - 1 Wijnhard [17], Stewart [58] 6,900
21 September 1999 Round 2 2nd Leg Notts County A 2 - 2 Irons [19], Gorré [30] 4,414
  • Huddersfield won 4-3 on aggregate
13 October 1999 Round 3 Chelsea A 1 - 0 Irons [77] 20,008
30 November 1999 Round 4 Wimbledon H 1 - 2 (aet: 90 mins: 1 - 1) Sellars [40] 13,312

Appearances and goals

Squad No. Name Nation Position League Apps League Goals FA Cup Apps FA Cup Goals League Cup Apps League Cup Goals Total Apps Total Goals
1Nico Vaesen BelgiumGK4601060530
2Steve Jenkins WalesDF3301020360
3Jamie Vincent EnglandDF33 (3)2101 (2)035 (5)2
4Craig Armstrong EnglandMF37 (2)0105 (1)043 (3)0
5Chris Lucketti EnglandDF2600051311
6Kevin Gray EnglandDF16 (2)2102019 (2)2
7Giorgos Donis GreeceMF10 (10)00 (1)03 (1)013 (12)0
8Kenny Irons EnglandMF3931062465
9Martin Smith EnglandFW10 (2)4000010 (2)4
9Marcus Stewart EnglandFW291410613615
10Scott Sellars EnglandMF23 (11)1101 (1)125 (12)2
11Clyde Wijnhard SurinameFW451510615216
12Ben Thornley EnglandMF16 (12)1104021 (12)1
14Alun Armstrong EnglandFW4 (3)000004 (3)0
14Barry Horne WalesMF6 (8)000309 (8)0
15Rob Edwards EnglandMF1 (8)100203 (8)1
16Delroy Facey GrenadaFW0 (2)000000 (2)0
17Simon Baldry EnglandMF5 (14)1000 (2)05 (16)1
18Darren Edmondson EnglandDF2 (3)000002 (3)0
18Chris Hay ScotlandFW2 (5)000002 (5)0
19David Beresford EnglandMF00000 (1)00 (1)0
20Wayne Allison EnglandFW0 (3)0000 (1)00 (4)0
20Thomas Heary Republic of IrelandDF10000010
21Jon Dyson EnglandDF22 (6)2002 (2)024 (8)2
22Chris Beech EnglandMF34 (1)9004138 (1)10
23Chris Holland EnglandMF16 (1)1000016 (1)1
24Danny Schofield EnglandMF0 (2)00 (1)00 (1)00 (4)0
34Michael Senior EnglandMF00000 (1)00 (1)0
35David May EnglandDF10000010
36Kwami Hodouto TogoDF1 (1)000102 (1)0
36Michel Ngonge BelgiumFW0 (4)000000 (4)0
37Steve Baker EnglandDF30000030
38Ken Monkou SurinameDF1910040231
40Dean Gorré SurinameMF26 (2)4103130 (2)5

See also