The 1998–99 Southampton F.C. season was the club's 98th season of competitive football, their 29th (and 21st consecutive) in the top flight of English football, and their seventh in the FA Premier League. After a decent first season with Dave Jones in charge which saw the club finish 12th in the league table, the Saints had a disappointing second campaign with their new manager as they avoided relegation by just five points, finishing one place above the drop zone. The team's form outside the league was similarly poor, as they were eliminated at the first hurdle of both the FA Cup and the League Cup.
After losing striker Kevin Davies in a club record £7.5 million deal in the summer, Jones signed two replacements – James Beattie and Mark Hughes – as well as bringing in experienced winger Stuart Ripley. Squad changes continued throughout the season, with the likes of Hassan Kachloul, Chris Marsden and Marians Pahars taking the places of players including Kevin Richardson, Stig Johansen and Carlton Palmer. The Saints spent almost all of the season in the relegation places of the FA Premier League table, thanks in part to a dreadful start in which they picked up just one point in their opening eight games. After picking up just eight wins all season, they saved their top-flight status with three crucial consecutive victories in their final three games.
Outside the league, Southampton's performance was equally woeful. In both the FA Cup and the League Cup, they were drawn in their opening round against Fulham, who had recently won promotion to the Second Division. In the League Cup, the FA Premier League side were held to a 1–1 draw in the opening second round first leg tie, before suffering a 0–1 defeat at home after playing most of the game a man down due to dismissal. The story was almost identical in the FA Cup, as the ten-man top-flight side scraped through a third round home tie 1–1 with a late goal, before being eliminated by a 1–0 Fulham victory in the replay. This marked the first time Southampton had been eliminated at the first hurdle of both competitions since the 1993–94 season.
Southampton used 31 players during the 1998–99 season and had 13 different goalscorers. Norwegian striker Egil Østenstad finished as the club's top goalscorer for the first time, scoring just eight goals in all competitions (including seven in the league) – the lowest of any Saints top scorer since they started playing league football. Beattie, in his debut season at the club, made the most appearances for the team (39), finished third on goals (6) just behind second-placed Matt Le Tissier (7), and won the Southampton F.C. Player of the Season award at the end of the year. The average league attendance at The Dell in 1998–99 was 15,140. The highest attendance was 5,255 against Arsenal in April and the lowest was 11,645 against Fulham in the League Cup in September.
Background and transfers
At the beginning of the summer, Southampton sold striker Kevin Davies for a club record fee of £7.5 million to Blackburn Rovers – ten times the amount they had paid for him just over a year earlier. In order to try and replace him up front, they signed James Beattie in return for £1 million, as well as adding experienced striker Mark Hughes for £650,000 from Chelsea. Other arrivals in the summer included another Blackburn purchase, £1.5 million winger Stuart Ripley, as well as free signings David Howells from Tottenham Hotspur, Scott Marshall from Arsenal, and Mark Paul from King's Lynn. Leaving the club during pre-season were full-back Lee Todd (£250,000 to Bradford City), midfielder Kevin Richardson (£75,000 to Barnsley), and winger Duncan Spedding (£75,000 to Northampton Town), all of whom had only debuted the previous season.
Shortly after the start of the league season, the Saints signed full-back Scott Hiley on a free transfer from Manchester City, as backup for Jason Dodd and Francis Benali on either flank. They also sold Norwegian striker Stig Johansen, who had failed to make an impact in his one season in England, to Swedish club Helsingborg for £200,000 – a loss of £400,000 on his signing a year earlier. With the team struggling to make it out of the relegation zone in the league, Southampton continued adding to their squad throughout the first half of the season. In October, they brought in Moroccan midfielder Hassan Kachloul from French side Metz for £250,000, following a short trial earlier in the month. They looked to the French leagues again in December, when full-back Patrick Colleter was signed from Marseille for £300,000, again after a short trial. The same month, Danish goalkeeper Michael Stensgaard was signed from Copenhagen as backup for Paul Jones, while striker Steve Basham was loaned out to Preston North End (he later joined permanently).
In the new year, Southampton sold Carlton Palmer to Nottingham Forest for £1.1 million, after the midfielder reportedly fell out with some of his teammates. He was effectively replaced by Chris Marsden, who signed from Birmingham City for £800,000 a few weeks later. Also released in February was Italian striker Cosimo Sarli, who had joined the previous March but failed to make the step up from reserves to the first team. Later that month, the club signed Portuguese winger Dani Rodrigues for £170,000 from Feirense, having seen him play during a short loan spell at nearby Bournemouth. The Saints' final signing of 1998–99 came on transfer deadline day, 26 March, when Latvian striker Marians Pahars signed following months of negotiations related to his work permit, with the club paying Skonto £800,000 for his services to help in their battle against relegation.
Players transferred in NameNationalityClubDateFeeRef.David Howells Tottenham Hotspur14 June 1998FreeStuart Ripley Blackburn Rovers6 July 1998£1,500,000Mark Paul King's Lynn9 July 1998£75,000James Beattie Blackburn Rovers10 July 1998£1,000,000Mark Hughes Chelsea11 July 1998£650,000Scott Marshall Arsenal14 July 1998FreeAlan Blayney GlentoranJuly 1998FreeScott Hiley Manchester City21 August 1998FreeStephen Jenkinsnone (free agent)August 1998FreeHassan Kachloul Metz16 October 1998£250,000Michael Stensgaard Copenhagen2 December 1998FreePatrick Colleter Marseille24 December 1998£300,000Chris Marsden Birmingham City1 February 1999£800,000Dani Rodrigues Feirense23 February 1999£170,000Marians Pahars Skonto26 March 1999£800,000
Players transferred out NameNationalityClubDateFeeRef.Kevin Davies Blackburn Rovers1 June 1998£7,500,000Duncan Spedding Northampton1 July 1998£75,000Kevin Richardson Barnsley15 July 1998£75,000Lee Todd Bradford City1 August 1998£250,000Stig Johansen Helsingborg24 August 1998£200,000Carlton Palmer Nottingham Forest19 January 1999£1,100,000Cosimo Sarli Eendracht Aalst8 February 1999Free
Players loaned in NameNationalityClubDate fromDate toRef.Scott Hiley Manchester City1 August 199820 August 1998
Players loaned out NameNationalityClubDate fromDate toRef.Steve Basham Preston North End4 December 199818 December 19984 February 19999 May 1999Scott Marshall Celtic19 March 1999End of season
Notes
Pre-season friendlies Ahead of the 1998–99 season, Southampton played five pre-season friendlies. The club's pre-season period started with a 0–2 defeat at local Second Division side Bournemouth, which was followed by 1–1 draws at recently-promoted First Division side Bristol City and Third Division side Barnet. The Saints' first pre-season win came against Southern League side Bashley, who they beat 3–0, before a short trip to Belgium saw the FA Premier League side draw 2–2 with Lierse (new strikers James Beattie and Mark Hughes scoring for the visitors).
FA Premier League
Southampton had their worst start to a league season ever in 1998–99, losing all five of their opening matches and dropping immediately to the bottom of the FA Premier League table. They hosted Liverpool on the opening day, who had finished third the previous season, losing 1–2 when Michael Owen scored a second-half winner after a first half that saw the hosts hold the visitors level at 1–1. This was followed the next week by a "hammering" at newly promoted side Charlton Athletic, who thrashed the Saints 5-0, with Clive Mendonca scoring a second-half hat-trick. The game also saw Southampton goalkeeper Paul Jones sent off shortly after the hour mark, which forced David Howells to go in goal as his side had already used all three permitted substitutions. Further defeats against Nottingham Forest (another promoted side) and Leeds United were followed by another away thrashing in which the Saints went down to ten men – they lost 0–4 at Newcastle United and saw Jason Dodd sent off just before half-time for a deliberate handball.
The club finally picked up their first point in mid-September at home to Tottenham Hotspur, when they salvaged a 1–1 draw in the second half through Matt Le Tissier's first goal of the campaign from open play. They remained bottom, however, with further defeats against West Ham United and Manchester United leaving them four points adrift of Coventry City in 19th and seven points away from safety, after just eight games. After another 1–1 draw, with Arsenal, the Saints picked up their first win of the season when they beat Coventry 2–1 at The Dell – goals coming in the first half from Le Tissier and Egil Østenstad. A goalless draw with Sheffield Wednesday was followed by a dramatic 3–3 stalemeate hosting Middlesbrough. After an uneventful first half, Middlesbrough found themselves 2–1 up just after the hour mark, despite losing Robbie Mustoe to a red card; 20 minutes later, the Saints had reversed the advantage to 3–2, before Phil Stamp's dismissal saw the visitors go from ten to nine men. Despite this, Southampton were unable to hold on for the final few minutes, conceding a final goal from Gianluca Festa. The club remained bottom with another home loss, 1–4 to Aston Villa, in which new signing Dion Dublin netted a hat-trick.
Southampton finally made it off the foot of the league table with a 2–0 win over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park in late November (goals scored by Matt Oakley and Steve Basham – his only goal for the Saints), leapfrogging the Lancashire side into 19th. They remained there only briefly, however, and returned to 20th place after three more straight losses: 0–1 at home to Derby County, 0–2 at Leicester City and 0–1 at Everton. The week before Christmas, the club picked up their third win of the campaign when they beat Wimbledon 3–1 at home, with further goals prevented by the woodwork three times and goalkeeper Neil Sullivan. 1998 ended with a 0–2 loss at home to league leaders Chelsea and a 1–1 draw with Nottingham Forest, the only side below them in the table.
The new year started with a 3–1 win over Charlton Athletic, who were just a few points above the relegation zone, in which new signings Hassan Kachloul, Patrick Colleter and James Beattie all scored. The win saw Southampton move up to 18th in the table for the first time since their second game. It was followed, however, by the club's second six-goal defeat in three seasons, as they lost 1–7 to opening day opposition Liverpool at Anfield. The hosts were 3–0 up by half-time and were 5–1 up within an hour, after Robbie Fowler completed a hat-trick and Østenstad scored the visitors' sole consolation; goals from Michael Owen and David Thompson later on completed the thrashing, which manager Dave Jones described as his "lowest point as a manager" to date. Despite this setback, the Saints beat 5th-place Leeds United 3–0 in their next game a couple of weeks later, with goals from Kachloul, Oakley and Østenstad helping them keep hold of 18th place over Charlton. Chelsea won again the next week as they continued to head the table.