1998–99 Crewe Alexandra F.C. season

Crewe Alexandra

1998–99 season
Chairman	John Bowler
Manager	Dario Gradi
Stadium	Gresty Road
First Division	18th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Little (10) All: Little (12)
Average home league attendance	5,269
← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

During the 1998–99 English football season, Crewe Alexandra F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

In the 1998–99 season, Crewe had a disastrous first half of the campaign which saw them almost midway point at the bottom of the table with just 2 wins from 22 league games and 11 points from safety. Even though they managed to get another couple of wins together; by 20 February, Crewe were still bottom and 11 points from safety with 14 league matches remaining and their First Division status was in severe danger of being lost. From then on against the odds, Crewe went on a superb run of just 3 defeats from their remaining 14 league games, winning 7 of them on their way to completing the great escape, the key result being a 3-1 win against Portsmouth which saved them from the drop.

Final league table

Main article: 1998–99 Football League

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1.	Sunderland	46	31	12	3	91	28	105
2.	Bradford City	46	26	9	11	82	47	87
3.	Ipswich Town	46	26	8	12	69	32	86
4.	Birmingham City	46	23	12	11	66	37	81
5.	Watford	46	21	14	11	65	56	77
6.	Bolton Wanderers	46	20	16	10	78	59	76
7.	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	19	16	11	64	43	73
8.	Sheffield United	46	18	13	15	71	66	67
9.	Norwich City	46	15	17	14	62	61	62
10.	Huddersfield Town	46	15	16	15	62	71	61
11.	Grimsby Town	46	17	10	19	40	52	61
12.	West Bromwich Albion	46	16	11	19	69	76	59
13.	Barnsley	46	14	17	15	59	56	59
14.	Crystal Palace	46	14	16	16	58	71	58
15.	Tranmere Rovers	46	12	20	14	63	61	56
16.	Stockport County	46	12	17	17	49	60	53
17.	Swindon Town	46	13	11	22	59	81	50
18.	Crewe Alexandra	46	12	12	22	54	78	48
19.	Portsmouth	46	11	14	21	57	73	47
20.	Queens Park Rangers	46	12	11	23	52	61	47
21.	Port Vale	46	13	8	25	45	75	47
22.	Bury	46	10	17	19	35	60	47
23.	Oxford United	46	10	14	22	48	71	44
24.	Bristol City	46	9	15	22	57	80	42

Key
Promoted to the Premier League
Qualified for the promotion playoff
Relegated to Division 2

NB In the Football League goals scored (F) takes precedence over goal difference

Results

Crewe Alexandra's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
8 August 1998	Norwich City	A	1-2	15,016	Rivers
15 August 1998	Barnsley	H	3-1	5,289	Smith (pen), Lightfoot (2)
22 August 1998	Bury	A	0-1	5,073
28 August 1998	Bradford City	H	2-1	5,759	Lunt, Collins
31 August 1998	Sheffield United	A	1-3	15,922	Jack
8 September 1998	Crystal Palace	H	0-1	4,977
12 September 1998	Stockport County	A	1-1	7,302	J Wright
19 September 1998	Bolton Wanderers	H	4-4	5,744	Little, Charnock, Rivers, Smith
26 September 1998	Bristol City	A	2-5	9,810	Anthrobus (2)
29 September 1998	Grimsby Town	A	1-1	5,024	Rivers
3 October 1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0-0	5,759
17 October 1998	Birmingham City	A	1-3	20,087	Johnson
20 October 1998	Port Vale	A	0-1	8,205
24 October 1998	Tranmere Rovers	H	1-4	5,080	Little
31 October 1998	Oxford United	A	1-1	5,607	Little
3 November 1998	Sunderland	H	1-4	5,361	Little
7 November 1998	Swindon Town	H	0-2	4,489
14 November 1998	Queens Park Rangers	H	0-2	5,001
21 November 1998	Watford	A	2-4	9,405	Jack, Little
28 November 1998	Ipswich Town	H	0-3	5,165
5 December 1998	Portsmouth	A	0-2	9,800
8 December 1998	West Bromwich Albion	H	1-1	5,007	Anthrobus
12 December 1998	Queens Park Rangers	A	1-0	11,296	J Wright
19 December 1998	Huddersfield Town	H	1-2	5,102	Jack
26 December 1998	Bury	H	3-1	5,333	Little, Rivers, J Wright
28 December 1998	Sunderland	A	0-2	41,433
9 January 1999	Norwich City	H	3-2	4,782	Street (2), Rivers
16 January 1999	Bradford City	A	1-4	12,595	Little
30 January 1999	Sheffield United	H	1-2	5,243	Jack
6 February 1999	Barnsley	A	2-2	15,377	Jack (2)
13 February 1999	Crystal Palace	A	1-1	14,823	Walton
20 February 1999	Stockport County	H	0-2	5,473
27 February 1999	Bolton Wanderers	A	3-1	19,437	Johnson, Jack (2)
13 March 1999	Swindon Town	A	2-1	7,434	Jack, Charnock
16 March 1999	Grimsby Town	H	0-0	4,855
20 March 1999	Oxford United	H	3-1	4,791	Murphy, Little, Smith (pen)
26 March 1999	Tranmere Rovers	A	0-3	9,359
30 March 1999	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0-3	24,197
2 April 1999	Birmingham City	H	0-0	5,582
5 April 1999	West Bromwich Albion	A	5-1	12,308	D Wright, J Wright (2), Johnson, Rivers
10 April 1999	Port Vale	H	0-0	5,606
17 April 1999	Watford	H	0-1	5,461
24 April 1999	Ipswich Town	A	2-1	20,845	Rivers, Macauley
27 April 1999	Bristol City	H	1-0	5,579	Johnson
1 May 1999	Portsmouth	H	3-1	5,759	Little (2), Smith
9 May 1999	Huddersfield Town	A	0-0	15,105

FA Cup

Main article: 1998–99 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	2 January 1999	Oxford United	H	1-3	4,207	Johnson

League Cup

Main article: 1998–99 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	11 August 1998	Oldham Athletic	A	2-3	3,766	Little (2)
R1 2nd Leg	18 August 1998	Oldham Athletic	H	2-0 (won 4-3 on agg)	3,428	Jack (2)
R2 1st Leg	16 September 1998	Bristol City	A	1-1	3,082	Rivers
R2 2nd Leg	22 September 1998	Bristol City	H	2-0 (won 4-1 on agg)	3,089	Rivers (2)
R3	28 October 1998	Blackburn Rovers	H	0-1	5,403

Squad

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

No. Position Player - GK Jason Kearton - DF Shaun Smith - DF Dave Walton - DF Marcus Bignot - DF David Wright - MF Jermaine Wright - MF Phil Charnock - MF Mark Rivers - FW Rodney Jack - FW Colin Little - FW Steve Anthrobus - DF Chris Lightfoot - MF Danny Murphy (on loan from Liverpool)

No. Position Player - GK Kevin Welsby - DF Lee Unsworth - DF Steve Macauley - MF Kenny Lunt - MF Kevin Street - MF Jamie Collins - DF Mark Foran - FW Mike Newell - FW Peter Smith - DF Stephen Foster - FW Rob Hulse - DF John Pemberton - FW Andy Lovelock

Left club during the season

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

No. Position Player - DF Matt Wicks (to Peterborough United)

No. Position Player - MF Seth Johnson (to Derby County)