1998–99 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

Nottingham Forest

1998–99 season
Manager	Dave Bassett (until October) Ron Atkinson (from October)
Stadium	City Ground
FA Premier League	20th (relegated)
FA Cup	Third round proper
Worthington Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	Dougie Freedman (9)
← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

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

Season summary

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 beating at home to Manchester United. A win at Goodison Park was the highlight of Atkinson's ill-fated tenure.

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.

Squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Dave Beasant 2 DF Matthieu Louis-Jean (on loan from Le Havre) 3 DF Alan Rogers 4 MF Nigel Quashie 5 DF Steve Chettle 6 DF Jon Olav Hjelde 9 FW Neil Shipperley 10 MF Andy Johnson 11 DF Chris Bart-Williams 12 DF Chris Doig 13 GK Mark Crossley 14 FW Dougie Freedman 15 DF Richard Gough (on loan from San Jose Clash) 16 MF Geoff Thomas 17 DF Thierry Bonalair 18 MF Ian Woan 19 FW Jean-Claude Darcheville

No. Position Player 20 MF Carlton Palmer 21 FW Steve Guinan 22 DF Des Lyttle 23 FW Bernard Allou 24 DF Christian Edwards 25 DF Jesper Mattsson 26 MF Steve Melton 27 FW Andy Gray 28 MF Gareth Williams 29 FW Marlon Harewood 30 MF John Harkes (on loan from DC United) 31 MF Hugo Porfírio (on loan from Benfica) 32 DF Ståle Stensaas (on loan from Rangers) 33 GK Marco Pascolo 39 GK Mark Goodlad 40 FW Pierre van Hooijdonk DF Nikola Jerkan

Left club during season

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

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

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

Starting 11

Only considering Premiership starts

• GK: #1, Dave Beasant, 26
• RB: #17, Thierry Bonalair, 24
• CB: #15, Craig Armstrong, 20
• CB: #5, Steve Chettle, 32
• LB: #3, Alan Rogers, 34
• RM: #7, Steve Stone, 26
• CM: #11, Chris Bart-Williams, 20
• CM: #10, Andy Johnson, 25
• LM: #8, Scot Gemmill, 18
• CF: #14, Dougie Freedman, 20
• CF: #40, Pierre van Hooijdonk, 19

Premier League

Matches

• Arsenal-Nottingham 2-1
• 1-0 Emmanuel Petit  58'
• 1-1 Geoff Thomas  76'
• 2-1 Marc Overmars  79'

• Nottingham-Coventry 1-0
• 1-0 Steve Stone  51'

• Southampton-Nottingham 1-2
• 0-1 Jean-Claude Darcheville  52'
• 0-2 Steve Stone  68'
• 1-2 Matthew Le Tissier  89' (pen.)

• Nottingham-Everton 0-2
• 0-1 Duncan Ferguson  73'
• 0-2 Duncan Ferguson  83'

• Chelsea-Nottingham 2-1
• 1-0 Gianfranco Zola  1'
• 2-0 Gustavo Poyet  35'
• 2-1 Jean-Claude Darcheville  69'

• Nottingham-West Ham 0-0

• Newcastle-Nottingham 2-0
• 1-0 Alan Shearer  11'
• 2-0 Alan Shearer  89' (pen.)

• Nottingham-Charlton 0-1
• 0-1 Eddie Youds  5'

• Nottingham-Leeds 1-1
• 0-1 Gunnar Halle  53'
• 1-1 Steve Stone  85'

• Liverpool-Nottingham 5-1
• 1-0 Michael Owen  10'
• 1-1 Dougie Freedman  18'
• 2-1 Steve McManaman  23'
• 3-1 Michael Owen  38'
• 4-1 Michael Owen  71' (pen.)
• 5-1 Michael Owen  77'

• Middlesbrough-Nottingham 1-1
• 1-0 Brian Deane  22'
• 1-1 Marlon Harewood  88'

• Nottingham-Wimbledon 0-1
• 0-1 Marcus Gayle  23'

• Nottingham-Derby 2-2
• 0-1 Tony Dorigo  56' (pen.)
• 1-1 Dougie Freedman  57'
• 2-1 Pierre van Hooijdonk  62'
• 2-2 Horacio Carbonari  72'

• Tottenham-Nottingham 2-0
• 1-0 Chris Armstrong  59'
• 2-0 Allan Nielsen  69'

• Nottingham-Aston Villa 2-2
• 1-0 Chris Bart-Williams  32'
• 2-0 Dougie Freedman  44'
• 2-1 Julian Joachim  58'
• 2-2 Julian Joachim  63'

• Sheffield Wednesday-Nottingham 3-2
• 1-0 Niclas Alexandersson  22'
• 2-0 Benito Carbone  53'
• 2-1 Thierry Bonalair  55'
• 3-1 Benito Carbone  58'
• 3-2 Pierre van Hooijdonk  70'

• Leicester-Nottingham 3-1
• 0-1 Pierre van Hooijdonk  14'
• 1-1 Emile Heskey  43'
• 2-1 Matthew Elliott  55' (pen.)
• 3-1 Steve Guppy  75'

• Nottingham-Blackburn 2-2
• 1-0 Steve Chettle  22' (pen.)
• 2-0 Dougie Freedman  30'
• 2-1 Nathan Blake  49'
• 2-2 Nathan Blake  90'

• Manchester United-Nottingham 3-0
• 1-0 Ronny Johnsen  28'
• 2-0 Ronny Johnsen  59'
• 3-0 Ryan Giggs  62'

• Nottingham-Southampton 1-1
• 0-1 Hassan Kachloul  48'
• 1-1 Steve Chettle  55' (pen.)

• Coventry-Nottingham 4-0
• 1-0 Darren Huckerby  45'
• 2-0 Darren Huckerby  46'
• 3-0 Paul Telfer  54'
• 4-0 Darren Huckerby  75'

• Nottingham-Arsenal 0-1
• 0-1 Martin Keown  34'

• Everton-Nottingham 0-1
• 0-1 Pierre van Hooijdonk  51'

• Nottingham-Manchester United 1-8
• 0-1 Dwight Yorke  2'
• 1-1 Alan Rogers  6'
• 1-2 Andy Cole  7'
• 1-3 Andy Cole  49'
• 1-4 Dwight Yorke  66'
• 1-5 Ole Gunnar Solskjær  80'
• 1-6 Ole Gunnar Solskjær  87'
• 1-7 Ole Gunnar Solskjær  90'
• 1-8 Ole Gunnar Solskjær  90'

• West Ham-Nottingham 2-1
• 1-0 Ian Pearce  35'
• 2-0 Frank Lampard  39'
• 2-1 Jon-Olav Hjelde  84'

• Nottingham-Chelsea 1-3
• 0-1 Mikael Forssell  6'
• 0-2 Bjarne Goldbæk  25'
• 1-2 Pierre van Hooijdonk  39'
• 1-3 Bjarne Goldbæk  83'

• Charlton-Nottingham 0-0

• Nottingham-Newcastle 1-2
• 1-0 Dougie Freedman  45'
• 1-1 Alan Shearer  45' (pen.)
• 1-2 Dietmar Hamann  72'

• Wimbledon-Nottingham 1-3
• 0-1 Alan Rogers  21'
• 0-2 Dougie Freedman  59'
• 1-2 Marcus Gayle  79'
• 1-3 Neil Shipperley  84'

• Nottingham-Middlesbrough 1-2
• 0-1 Hamilton Ricard  30'
• 1-1 Dougie Freedman  37'
• 1-2 Brian Deane  87'

• Leeds-Nottingham 3-1
• 1-0 Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink  43'
• 1-1 Alan Rogers  53'
• 2-1 Ian Harte  60'
• 3-1 Alan Smith  84'

• Nottingham-Liverpool 2-2
• 0-1 Jamie Redknapp  15'
• 1-1 Dougie Freedman  60'
• 1-2 Michael Owen  72'
• 2-2 Pierre van Hooijdonk  90'

• Derby-Nottingham 1-0
• 1-0 Horacio Carbonari  85'

• Nottingham-Tottenham 0-1
• 0-1 Steffen Iversen  62'

• Aston Villa-Nottingham 2-0
• 1-0 Mark Draper  45'
• 2-0 Gareth Barry  57'

• Nottingham-Sheffield Wednesday 2-0
• 1-0 Hugo Porfirio  14'
• 2-0 Alan Rogers  16'

• Blackburn-Nottingham 1-2
• 0-1 Dougie Freedman  12'
• 1-1 Kevin Gallacher  45'
• 1-2 Chris Bart-Williams  56'

• Nottingham-Leicester 1-0
• 1-0 Chris Bart-Williams  76'

Topscorers

• Dougie Freedman 9
• Pierre van Hooijdonk 6
• Steve Stone 3
• Chris Bart-Williams 3