The 2000–01 season was the 121st season of competitive football in England.
Overview Manchester United secured their third Premiership title in succession and their seventh title in just nine seasons. Liverpool became only the second English side to win the League Cup and FA Cup in the same season, also adding the UEFA Cup to make it a unique treble.
Fulham reached the Premiership as Division One champions to secure their five-season rise from Division Three. They also became the first club to have played in all four divisions of the English league since the creation of the Premiership.
Luton Town – who had been League Cup winners 13 years prior and top division members until nine years prior – and Oxford United – who had been League Cup winners 15 years earlier and top division members until 13 years prior – were relegated to Division Three.
Mid-table Division Two side Wycombe Wanderers beat all odds by reaching the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool, beating Division One sides Millwall, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Wimbledon, as well as Premier League side Leicester City en route to the semis. Wycombe were defeated 2–1 at Villa Park.
Honours CompetitionWinnerFA Premier LeagueManchester UnitedFA CupLiverpoolFootball League CupLiverpoolFootball League TrophyPort ValeFootball League First DivisionFulhamFootball League Second DivisionMillwallFootball League Third DivisionBrighton & Hove AlbionFA Community ShieldChelsea
England national team
League tables
FA Premier League
Manchester United became the fourth team in history to win a third consecutive English league title; in one of the least eventful title races in Premier League history, they went top after seven games and never relinquished their lead, nor looked to be in any danger of doing so. Arsenal likewise never dropped below second place after mid-October, leaving the real drama as who being who would take third spot, and thereby the final Champions League place.
Ultimately, Liverpool finished third and won both domestic cup competitions as well as the UEFA Cup, becoming the first-ever club to win this treble of cups. Leeds United finished fourth, being left to rue a terrible first half of the season that saw them look in danger of being sucked into the relegation fight, but somewhat made up for this with much better form after Christmas and more significantly, a run to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
The biggest surprise of the season came with Ipswich Town, who were newly promoted to the Premiership after five years away and most people's favourites for the drop. Ipswich surprised all the observers by challenging for a place in the top-three and eventually winding up in fifth place, enough to merit UEFA Cup qualification. It was the Suffolk club's highest league finish since 1982. Chelsea took sixth place and thereby the final UEFA Cup spot, as despite the controversial early-season sacking of Gianluca Vialli, the most successful manager in the club's history at that point, they eventually regrouped under new manager Claudio Ranieri.
Newly promoted Charlton Athletic finished an impressive ninth, while Leicester City started the season as unlikely title contenders, but lost nine of their final ten Premiership matches to finish 13th.
Bradford City were the first team to be relegated, having won just five Premiership games all season in their second season after promotion, as an extensive investment in players failed to pay off and would lead to financial troubles in the years ahead. Joining them were Coventry City, whose luck finally ran out after 34 years in the top flight; a late upturn in form seemed to herald another of the Sky Blues' dramatic escapes from relegation, but a run of only one point from their last games proved fatal. Manchester City occupied the final relegation spot; while they started the season respectably well, they only won four matches after the start of November, making this the fifth time in six seasons that they were either promoted or relegated.
Leading goalscorer: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Chelsea) – 23
Football League First Division
Under the management of Jean Tigana, but with only two changes to the previous season's first team, Fulham won the division easily. Blackburn Rovers managed to edge close rivals Bolton Wanderers to the automatic promotion spot, though their rivalry would continue the following season as Bolton defeated Preston North End (another set of close rivals) in the playoffs.
Burnley's seventh-place finish put them just one place short of the playoffs and the chance of ending their 25-year absence from the top flight. Wimbledon finished eighth in their first season outside the top flight for 15 years. Watford faltered to finish ninth after a strong start to the season suggested that they would win promotion back to the Premier League, prompting the resignation of Graham Taylor as manager and the appointment of Gianluca Vialli in his place.
Tranmere's recent cup successes failed to translate into league form, and they finished bottom, just behind Queens Park Rangers, who fell into the third tier for the first time since the 1960s. An unlikely series of results in the final few weeks sent Huddersfield down to Division Two, when they had looked safe at the start of April. Narrowly avoiding relegation were Crystal Palace, whose dramatic last day victory over Stockport ensured survival for a club who spent the previous two seasons struggling with a financial crisis.
Leading goalscorer: Louis Saha (Fulham) – 27
Football League Second Division
Millwall, who had failed to impress since relegation from the First Division in 1996, finally secured promotion as divisional champions. Making perhaps bigger headlines were unfashionable Rotherham United, who instead of struggling as the pundits predicted, took the second automatic promotion spot, pushing Millwall perilously close for the title. Walsall recovered from the previous year's last-day relegation and won the playoffs.
Oxford finished bottom of the table by some distance, never looking as if they would survive and setting a number of unwanted records for the division. Swansea – who had beaten Rotherham to the Division Three title the previous season – proved almost as bad as Oxford, with their survival hopes being little better. Much was expected of Luton following massive pre-season overhauls both on and off the pitch; unfortunately their season ended in crushing disappointment, and relegation. Bristol Rovers occupied the final relegation spot, entering the League's bottom tier for the first time in their history. Swindon narrowly avoided a second successive relegation.
Leading goalscorer: Jamie Cureton (Reading) and Neil Harris (Millwall), 27
Football League Third Division
After their financial nightmares and near-relegations of the previous years, Brighton finally started making serious progress, as they won the title. Chesterfield would have taken the runners-up spot; however, financial irregularities resulted in a nine-point deduction, handing second place to Cardiff instead, though Chesterfield still took the final automatic promotion spot. Blackpool sneaked into the playoffs near the end of the season, then proceeded to win them, ensuring that their spell in Division Three was a short one.
A number of teams were threatened with relegation during the course of the season. However, in the end, Barnet – who moved long-serving manager John Still upstairs to make way for the higher-profile appointment of Tony Cottee early in the season – suffered a stunning collapse after a bright start, leading to a "winner takes all, loser stands small" match with Torquay on the final day of the season. Torquay won the match and ensured League survival, while Barnet returned to the Conference after a decade in the league. Carlisle endured a third successive relegation battle and were successful once again.
Leading goalscorer: Bobby Zamora (Brighton & Hove Albion), 28
Note: Cardiff City left administration and made arrangements before promotion as runner up and Chesterfield deducted 9 points for beginning financial irregularities.
European qualifiers
UEFA Champions League
Group phase Manchester United Arsenal
Qualifying round Liverpool
UEFA Cup Leeds United Ipswich Town Chelsea
Promoted teams From Division One to the Premier League: Fulham Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers
From Division Two to Division One: Millwall Rotherham United Walsall
From Division Three to Division Two: Brighton & Hove Albion Cardiff City Chesterfield Blackpool
From The Football Conference to Division Three: Rushden & Diamonds
Relegated teams From the Premier League to Division One: Manchester City Coventry City Bradford City
From Division One to Division Two: Huddersfield Town Queens Park Rangers Tranmere Rovers
From Division Two to Division Three: Bristol Rovers Luton Town Swansea City Oxford United
From Division Three to The Football Conference: Barnet
Women's football
Women's Premier League
National Division
Northern Division
Southern Division
FA Women's Cup
Final
FA Women's Premier League Cup
Major transfer deals
2000 3 July – Robert Pires from Marseille to Arsenal, £6m 3 July – Carlo Cudicini from Castel di Sangro to Chelsea 17 July – Paul Gascoigne from Middlesbrough to Everton, free 18 July – Nick Barmby from Everton to Liverpool, £6m 21 July – Mark Viduka from Celtic to Leeds United, £6m 25 July – Julio Arca from Argentinos Juniors to Sunderland, £3.5m 28 July – Alpay Özalan from Fenerbahçe to Aston Villa, £5.6m 17 August – Craig Bellamy from Norwich City to Coventry City, £6.5m 25 August – Christian Ziege from Middlesbrough to Liverpool, £5.5m 26 August – Sylvain Wiltord from Bordeaux to Arsenal, £13m 20 September – Ugo Ehiogu from Aston Villa to Middlesbrough, £8m 26 October – Rio Ferdinand from West Ham United to Leeds United, £18m 7 December – Igor Bišćan from Dinamo Zagreb to Liverpool, £5.5m 29 December – Jesper Grønkjær from Ajax to Chelsea, £7.8m
2001 13 January – Juan Pablo Ángel from River Plate to Aston Villa, £9.5m 16 January – Edu from Corinthians to Arsenal, £6m 21 May – Robbie Keane from Inter Milan to Leeds United, £12m 14 June – Frank Lampard from West Ham United to Chelsea, £11m 17 June – Corrado Grabbi from Ternana to Blackburn Rovers, £6.75m
Famous debutants After failing to break into the Tottenham Hotspur side, Peter Crouch, 19, makes his league debut for new club Queens Park Rangers in a goalless draw with Birmingham City on the opening day of the season. The same weekend sees future England teammate Joleon Lescott, play for Wolverhampton Wanderers in their draw with Sheffield Wednesday shortly before his 18th birthday. Seventeen-year-old Jermain Defoe scores the only goal of the game as West Ham United win 1–0 at Walsall in the League Cup in August 2000.
Retirements
3 August 2000: Pierluigi Casiraghi, 31-year-old Italian striker, retires nearly two years after he broke his leg in a Premier League match for Chelsea and failed to make a full recovery.
28 September 2000: Steve Bould, 37-year-old central defender, retires after just over a year at Sunderland, having joined them after 11 years at Arsenal where he formed part of one of the most successful defence line-ups of modern times.
8 November 2000: Robbie Earle, 35-year-old Wimbledon and Jamaica midfielder, retires due to a stomach injury.
24 January 2001: Luc Nilis, 33-year-old Belgian striker, retires on medical advice four months after suffering a badly broken leg while playing for Aston Villa against Ipswich Town.
4 May 2001: Dave Watson, 39-year-old central defender, finally retires from playing after 15 years with Everton after accepting an offer to manage Tranmere Rovers.
9 May 2001: Tony Cottee, 35-year-old striker, retires after a brief spell at Millwall during their Division Two promotion run-in.