1998–99 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

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

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 defeat at home to Manchester United. A win at Goodison Park was the highlight of Atkinson's ill-fated tenure, along with a three-match running win at the end of the season (albeit after they had already been relegated) that at least saw them avoid going down with the lowest points total since the formation of the Premier League. This marked the first instance since the 1927-28 season that the winner of England's second tier finished bottom in their subsequent season in the top-flight.

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.

Results summary

Results by round

Nottingham Forest's score comes first^[1]

Squad at end of season^[2]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Dave Beasant (vice-captain) 2 DF  FRA Matthieu Louis-Jean (on loan from Le Havre) 3 DF  ENG Alan Rogers 4 MF  ENG Nigel Quashie[3] 5 DF  ENG Steve Chettle (captain) 6 DF  NOR Jon Olav Hjelde 9 FW  ENG Neil Shipperley 10 MF  WAL Andy Johnson[4] 11 DF  ENG Chris Bart-Williams 12 DF  SCO Chris Doig 13 GK  WAL Mark Crossley 14 FW  SCO Dougie Freedman 15 DF  SCO Richard Gough (on loan from San Jose Clash) 16 MF  ENG Geoff Thomas 17 DF  FRA Thierry Bonalair

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 MF  ENG Ian Woan 19 FW  FRA Jean-Claude Darcheville (on loan from Rennes) 20 MF  ENG Carlton Palmer 22 DF  ENG Des Lyttle 23 FW  FRA Bernard Allou 24 DF  WAL Christian Edwards 25 DF  SWE Jesper Mattsson 26 MF  ENG Steve Melton 27 FW  SCO Andy Gray 29 FW  ENG Marlon Harewood 30 MF  USA John Harkes (on loan from D.C. United) 31 MF  POR Hugo Porfírio (on loan from Benfica) 32 DF  NOR Ståle Stensaas (on loan from Rangers) 40 FW  NED Pierre van Hooijdonk - MF  IRL John Burns

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 7 MF  ENG Steve Stone (to Aston Villa) 8 MF  SCO Scot Gemmill (to Everton) 15 DF  ENG Craig Armstrong (to Huddersfield Town) 20 MF  WAL Glyn Hodges (to Scarborough)

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 DF  ENG Andy Dawson (to Scunthorpe United) — DF  ENG Stuart Thom (to Oldham Athletic) — MF  ENG Chris Allen (to Port Vale) — FW  ENG Paul McGregor (to Preston North End)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 FW  ENG Steve Guinan 28 MF  SCO Gareth Williams 33 GK  SUI Marco Pascolo 39 GK  ENG Mark Goodlad — DF  ENG Lee Cowling — DF  ENG Kevin Dawson — DF  CRO Nikola Jerkan — DF  AUS Gareth Edds

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Richard Cooper — MF  ENG Richard Hodgson — MF  ENG David Prutton — MF  ENG Andy Todd — MF  IRL Keith Foy — MF  ESP Carlos Merino — FW  ENG Robert Gill — FW  IRL David Freeman

(Starting appearances + substitute appearances)

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Dave Beasant	26	0	1	0	3	0	30	0	1	0
2	DF	Matthieu Louis-Jean	15+1	0	1	0	2+1	0	18+2	0	4	1
3	DF	Alan Rogers	34	4	0	0	4	0	38	4	9	0
4	MF	Nigel Quashie	12+4	0	0+1	0	2	0	14+5	0	4	0
5	DF	Steve Chettle	32+2	2	1	0	3	0	36+2	2	8	1
6	DF	Jon-Olav Hjelde	16+1	1	1	0	2	0	19+1	1	4	0
7	MF	Steve Stone	26	3	1	0	3	2	30	5	5	0
8	MF	Scot Gemmill	18+2	0	1	0	2	0	21+2	2	3	0
9	FW	Neil Shipperley	12+8	1	1	0	0	0	13+8	1	1	0
10	MF	Andy Johnson	25+3	0	1	0	2	1	28+3	1	7	0
11	MF	Chris Bart-Williams	20+4	3	1	0	2	0	23+4	3	3	0
12	DF	Chris Doig	1+1	0	0	0	0	0	1+1	3	0	0
13	GK	Mark Crossley	12	0	2	0	1+1	0	13+1	0	0	0
14	FW	Dougie Freedman	20+11	9	1	0	4	3	25+11	12	2	0
15	DF	Craig Armstrong	20+2	0	0	0	4	1	24+2	1	3	0
15	DF	Richard Gough	7	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	3	1
16	MF	Geoff Thomas	5	1	0	0	0	0	5	1	1	0
17	MF	Thierry Bonalair	24+4	1	0	0	0	0	27+4	1	5	1
18	MF	Ian Woan	0+2	0	0	0	0	0	0+2	0	1	0
19	FW	Jean-Claude Darcheville	14+2	2	0	0	1+2	0	15+4	2	4	0
20	MF	Glyn Hodges	3+2	0	0	0	0	0	3+2	1	1	0
20	MF	Carlton Palmer	13	0	0	0	0	0	13	0	3	1
22	DF	Des Lyttle	5+5	0	1	0	1+1	0	7+6	0	1	0
23	DF	Andy Dawson	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
23	FW	Bernard Allou	0+2	0	0	0	0	0	0+2	0	0	0
24	DF	Christian Edwards	7+5	0	0	0	0	0	7+5	0	1	0
25	DF	Jesper Mattsson	5+1	0	0	0	0	0	5+1	0	1	0
26	DF	Steve Melton	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
27	FW	Andy Gray	3+5	0	0+1	0	2+1	0	5+7	0	0	0
29	FW	Marlon Harewood	11+12	1	0+1	0	2+2	2	13+15	3	6	0
30	MF	John Harkes	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	1	0
31	MF	Hugo Porfirio	3+6	1	0	0	0	0	3+6	1	4	0
32	DF	Ståle Stensaas	6+1	0	0	0	0	0	6+1	0	1	0
40	FW	Pierre Van Hooijdonk	19+2	6	0	0	0+1	0	19+3	6	5	1

Considering starts in all competitions^[5]

• GK: #1, Dave Beasant, 30
• RB: #17, Thierry Bonalair, 27
• CB: #15, Craig Armstrong, 24
• CB: #5, Steve Chettle, 36
• LB: #3, Alan Rogers, 38
• RM: #7, Steve Stone, 30
• CM: #11, Chris Bart-Williams, 23
• CM: #10, Andy Johnson, 28
• LM: #8, Scot Gemmill, 21
• CF: #14, Dougie Freedman, 25
• CF: #40, Pierre van Hooijdonk, 19

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
1 August 1998	FW	Dougie Freedman	Wolverhampton Wanderers	£950,000
21 August 1998	MF	Nigel Quashie	Queens Park Rangers	£2,500,000
29 August 1998	FW	Andy Gray	Leeds United	£200,000
21 September 1998	FW	Neil Shipperley	Crystal Palace	£1,500,000
10 December 1998	DF	Jesper Mattsson	Halmstad	£300,000
19 January 1999	MF	Carlton Palmer	Southampton	£1,100,000

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
6 June 1998	MF	John Finnigan	Lincoln City	Free transfer
29 July 1998	FW	Kevin Campbell	Trabzonspor	£2,500,000
1 August 1998	FW	Ian Thomas-Moore	Stockport County	£800,000
18 August 1998	DF	Colin Cooper	Middlesbrough	£2,500,000
16 October 1998	DF	Stuart Thom	Oldham Athletic	£45,000
20 February 1999	DF	Craig Armstrong	Huddersfield Town	£750,000
5 March 1999	MF	Chris Allen	Port Vale	Free transfer
11 March 1999	MF	Steve Stone	Aston Villa	£5,500,000
19 March 1999	DF	Andy Dawson	Scunthorpe United	£50,000
25 March 1999	MF	Scot Gemmill	Everton	Nominal

Transfers in: £6,550,000

Transfers out: £12,145,000

Total spending: £5,595,000

Position	Staff
Chairman	Nigel Wray (until 13 April)
	Eric Barnes (from 13 April)
Chief executive	Philip Soar
Director	Irving Scholar
First-team managers	Dave Bassett (until 5 January)
	Ron Atkinson (from 11 January)
Assistant managers	Micky Adams (until 11 January)
	Peter Shreeves (from 11 January)
First-team Coach	Liam O'Kane
Goalkeeping coach	Mike Kelly
Reserve Team Coach	Ian McParland
Head Academy Coach	Nick Marshall
Physiotherapists	John Haselden
	Gary Fleming