1999–2000 Wimbledon F.C. season

Wimbledon

1999–2000 season
Chairman	Sam Hammam, Lebanon Bjørn Rune Gjelsten, Norway
Manager	Egil Olsen (until 1 May)[1] Terry Burton, England (caretaker)
Stadium	Selhurst Park
Premier League	18th (relegated)
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Carl Cort and John Hartson (9) All: Carl Cort (15)
Highest home attendance	26,129 (vs. Manchester United, 26 February)
Lowest home attendance	2,772 (vs. Cardiff City, 21 September)
Average home league attendance	17,156
← 1998–99 2000–01 →

During the 1999–2000 English football season, Wimbledon competed in the Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

The season began with a new manager, Norway's Egil Olsen, after the close season resignation of long-serving Joe Kinnear, but Olsen was ousted with two weeks of the season remaining and replaced by coach Terry Burton, who was unable to save Wimbledon from relegation after 14 successive seasons of top division football.

Season summary

The close-season resignation of former Joe Kinnear because of health problems (he would suffer from them again as manager of Newcastle United) after seven years as manager led to the appointment of former Norwegian national coach Egil Olsen as Wimbledon's new manager, giving Dons fans hope of beating the drop once again. The mid-season collapse of star striker John Hartson's move to Tottenham Hotspur was further good news to the cause, but a run of eight straight defeats during the final weeks of the season dragged Wimbledon into the depth of the relegation mire. Olsen was sacked after a 3–0 defeat away to Bradford City, to be replaced by former coach and assistant manager Terry Burton for the final two games of the season. A 2–2 draw at home to Aston Villa gave them hope going into their last game, away to Southampton. They were one place above the relegation zone on goal difference, but a 2–0 defeat at the Dell – combined with Bradford's 1–0 win over Liverpool – condemned Wimbledon to relegation and ended their 14-year stay in the top flight.^[2] The transition coincided with the end of one of the most remarkable rags-to-riches stories in football, which had started with Wimbledon's election to the Football League in 1977 and seen them reach the top flight nine years later, before peaking as 1988 FA Cup Final winners. Their relegation was confirmed 12 years to the day that Wimbledon achieved their famous victory over Liverpool at Wembley.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United (C)	38	28	7	3	97	45	+52	91	2000–01 UEFA Champions League First group stage
2	Arsenal	38	22	7	9	73	43	+30	73
3	Leeds United	38	21	6	11	58	43	+15	69	2000–01 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round
4	Liverpool	38	19	10	9	51	30	+21	67	2000–01 UEFA Cup First round ^1
5	Chelsea	38	18	11	9	53	34	+19	65
6	Aston Villa	38	15	13	10	46	35	+11	58	2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup Third round
7	Sunderland	38	16	10	12	57	56	+1	58
8	Leicester City	38	16	7	15	55	55	0	55	2000–01 UEFA Cup First round ^2
9	West Ham United	38	15	10	13	52	53	−1	55
10	Tottenham Hotspur	38	15	8	15	57	49	+8	53
11	Newcastle United	38	14	10	14	63	54	+9	52
12	Middlesbrough	38	14	10	14	46	52	−6	52
13	Everton	38	12	14	12	59	49	+10	50
14	Coventry City	38	12	8	18	47	54	−7	44
15	Southampton	38	12	8	18	45	62	−17	44
16	Derby County	38	9	11	18	44	57	−13	38
17	Bradford City	38	9	9	20	38	68	−30	36	2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup Second round
18	Wimbledon (R)	38	7	12	19	46	74	−28	33	Relegation to 2000–01 Football League First Division
19	Sheffield Wednesday (R)	38	8	7	23	38	70	−32	31
20	Watford (R)	38	6	6	26	35	77	−42	24

Updated to games played on 14 May 2000.
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹ Chelsea qualified for the UEFA Cup as FA Cup winners

² Leicester City qualified for the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results Summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	7	12	19	46	74	−28	33	6	7	6	30	28	+2	1	5	13	16	46	−30

Source: 1999-2000 FA Premier League table

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A
Result	W	L	D	D	L	L	D	D	D	L	W	D	D	W	L	D	W	D	D	L	W	L	W	L	L	D	L	W	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	D	L
Position	8	10	9	11	15	16	16	16	17	18	15	15	15	15	15	14	13	14	14	15	13	14	13	14	16	15	16	15	16	16	16	17	17	17	17	18	17	18

Source: Soccerbase: 1999-2000 Wimbledon results
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Results

Wimbledon's score comes first^[3]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
7 August 1999	Watford	A	3–2	15,511	Cort, Gayle, Johnson (own goal)
10 August 1999	Middlesbrough	H	2–3	11,036	Cort, Hartson
14 August 1999	Coventry City	H	1–1	10,635	Cort
21 August 1999	Newcastle United	A	3–3	35,809	Hughes, Ainsworth (2)
25 August 1999	Everton	A	0–4	32,818
28 August 1999	Chelsea	H	0–1	22,167
11 September 1999	Derby County	H	2–2	12,282	Hartson, Euell
18 September 1999	Manchester United	A	1–1	55,189	Badir
26 September 1999	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–1	17,368	Hartson
2 October 1999	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–5	18,077	Hartson
16 October 1999	Bradford City	H	3–2	10,029	Hartson (2), Cort
23 October 1999	Aston Villa	A	1–1	27,160	Earle
30 October 1999	Southampton	H	1–1	15,754	Gayle
7 November 1999	Leeds United	H	2–0	18,747	Hartson, Gayle
20 November 1999	Leicester City	A	1–2	18,255	Gayle
27 November 1999	Middlesbrough	A	0–0	31,400
4 December 1999	Watford	H	5–0	14,021	Cort, Earle, Hartson, Euell, Gayle
18 December 1999	Arsenal	A	1–1	38,052	Cort
26 December 1999	West Ham United	H	2–2	21,180	Hreidarsson, Ardley
28 December 1999	Liverpool	A	1–3	44,107	Gayle
3 January 2000	Sunderland	H	1–0	17,621	Cort
15 January 2000	Coventry City	A	0–2	19,012
22 January 2000	Newcastle United	H	2–0	22,118	Earle, Gayle
6 February 2000	Everton	H	0–3	13,172
12 February 2000	Chelsea	A	1–3	34,826	Lund
26 February 2000	Manchester United	H	2–2	26,129	Euell, Cort
4 March 2000	Derby County	A	0–4	28,384
11 March 2000	Leicester City	H	2–1	14,319	Ardley (pen), Euell
19 March 2000	Leeds United	A	1–4	39,256	Euell
26 March 2000	West Ham United	A	1–2	22,438	Hughes
1 April 2000	Arsenal	H	1–3	25,858	Lund
8 April 2000	Sunderland	A	1–2	41,592	Roy (own goal)
12 April 2000	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0–2	8,248
16 April 2000	Liverpool	H	1–2	26,102	Andresen
22 April 2000	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–2	33,086
30 April 2000	Bradford City	A	0–3	18,276
6 May 2000	Aston Villa	H	2–2	19,188	Ehiogu (own goal), Hartson
14 May 2000	Southampton	A	0–2	15,249

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	11 December 1999	Barnsley	H	1–0	4,505	Cort
R4	8 January 2000	Fulham	A	0–3	16,877

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	14 September 1999	Cardiff City	A	1–1	7,613	Hughes
R2 2nd Leg	21 September 1999	Cardiff City	H	3–1 (4–2 on agg)	2,772	Cort, Earle (2)
R3	12 October 1999	Sunderland	H	3–2	4,790	Cort (3)
R4	30 November 1999	Huddersfield Town	A	2–1	13,312	Kimble, Euell
QF	14 December 1999	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–2	9,463	Cort

Squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Neil Sullivan[4] 2 DF Kenny Cunningham 3 DF Alan Kimble 4 MF Andy Roberts 5 DF Dean Blackwell 6 DF Ben Thatcher[5] 7 FW Carl Cort[6] 8 MF Robbie Earle[7] 9 FW John Hartson 10 MF Jason Euell[8] 11 FW Marcus Gayle[9] 12 MF Neal Ardley 13 GK Paul Heald 14 DF Tore Pedersen 15 FW Carl Leaburn 16 MF Michael Hughes

No. Position Player 17 DF Brian McAllister 18 MF Gareth Ainsworth 19 DF Walid Badir 20 MF Martin Andresen Wayne Malthouse 21 DF Duncan Jupp 22 DF Chris Willmott 23 GK Kelvin Davis 24 MF Damien Francis 27 MF Stewart Castledine 28 DF Peter Hawkins 29 MF Trond Andersen 30 DF Hermann Hreiðarsson 31 MF Kjetil Wæhler 32 FW Wayne Gray 33 GK Brendan Murphy 34 FW Andreas Lund

Left club during season

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

No. Position Player 20 FW Efan Ekoku[10] (to Grasshoppers) 25 FW Jon Goodman[11] (retired) 26 MF Ceri Hughes (to Portsmouth)

No. Position Player 31 DF Danny Hodges (released) DF Andy Pearce (to Aldershot Town) FW Patrick Agyemang (on loan to Brentford)

Transfers

In

• Tore Pedersen – Eintracht Frankfurt, 1999, free^[12]
• Walid Badir – Hapoel Petah Tikva, 1999, £1,000,000
• Martin Andresen – Stabæk Fotball, £1,800,000
• Chris Willmott – Luton Town, 1999, £650,000
• Kelvin Davis – Luton Town, July 1999, £650,000
• Trond Andersen – Molde, £2,500,000
• Hermann Hreiðarsson – Brentford, October 1999, £2,500,000
• Kjetil Wæhler – Lyn
• Andreas Lund – Molde, £2,500,000

Out

• Andy Clarke – Peterborough United, June 1999, free
• Chris Perry – Tottenham Hotspur, July 1999, £4,000,000
• Mark Kennedy – Manchester City, 1999, £1,000,000
• Peter Fear – Oxford United, 13 July 1999, free
• Andy Pearce – Aldershot Town
• Efan Ekoku – Grasshoppers
• Jon Goodman – retired
• Ceri Hughes – Portsmouth
• Danny Hodges – released

Loaned out

• Patrick Agyemang – Brentford

Statistics

Starting 11

Only considering Premiership starts

Considering a 4–3–3 formation^[13]

• GK: #1, Neil Sullivan, 37
• RB: #6, Ben Thatcher, 19
• CB: #2, Kenny Cunningham, 37
• CB: #30, Hermann Hreiðarsson, 24
• LB: #3, Alan Kimble, 24
• RCM: #8, Robbie Earle, 23
• CM: #29, Trond Andersen, 35
• LCM: #10, Jason Euell, 32
• RW: #7, Carl Cort, 32
• CF: #11, Marcus Gayle, 35
• LW: #9, John Hartson, 15 (#5, Dean Blackwell, made 16 starts as a central defender)

References

1. Olsen axed by Wimbledon, BBC News, 1 May 2000
2. "Dons sent down at the Dell". BBC News. 14 May 2000. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
3. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/wimbledon/1999-2000/results
4. Sullivan was born in Sutton, England, but qualified to represent Scotland internationally and made his debut for Scotland in 1997.
5. Thatcher was born in Swindon, England, and debuted for the England U21 side in 1996, but also qualified to represent Wales through his grandmother and would make his international debut for Wales in March 2004.
6. Cort was born in Southwark, England, but qualified to represent Guyana and would make his international debut for Guyana in 2011.
7. Earle was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England, but qualified to represent Jamaica internationally. He made his international debut for Jamaica in 1997, having previously being called up for England once without playing.
8. Euell was born in Lambeth, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and would make his international debut for Jamaica in 2004.
9. Gayle was born in Hammersmith, London, but qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for Jamaica in 1998.
10. Ekoku was born in Manchester, England, but qualified to represent Nigeria internationally and made his international debut for Nigeria in 1994.
11. Goodman was born in Walthamstow, England, but qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and made his debut for Ireland in 1997.
12. Wimbledon: Hammam's new man, BBC News
13. http://www.football-lineups.com/team/Wimbledon_FC/FA_Premier_League_1999-2000/fixture