1998–99 Derby County F.C. season


The 1998–99 English football season was Derby County F.C.'s third consecutive season in the Premier League.

Season summary

Derby's second tilt at European football was made in the 1998–99 season, the Rams peaking in 2nd place after 6 games with a 2–0 home win over Leicester City, eventually finishing one place better off in 8th. They reached the FA Cup Quarter finals for the third time in seven years, losing out only to late Nwankwo Kanu goal in a 0–1 away defeat to Arsenal, and recorded some memorable victories, including a league double over Liverpool 2–1 at Anfield and 3–2 at Pride Park and a 1–0 win over Nottingham Forest in the teams' first ever meeting at Pride Park. Derby County were a club on the up; Pride Park's capacity was expanded and Derby's players were getting noticed – five had represented their countries at the 1998 World Cup, and Christian Dailly was sold to Blackburn Rovers for £5.35m, comfortably the highest fee Derby had ever received. The key departure, however, was Steve McClaren – Smith's number two since he had taken the Derby managerial position 3 years earlier – who departed in February 1999 to become Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant at Manchester United, winning the treble in his first 3 months at Old Trafford. The 1998–99 season was Jim Smith's Derby County peak, as the financial demands of Premier League football began to catch up with them.

Final league table

;Results summary
;Results by round

Results

Derby County's score comes first

Legend

FA Premier League

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R32 January 1999Plymouth ArgyleA3–016,730Burton, Eranio
R423 January 1999Swansea CityA1–011,383Harper
R513 February 1999Huddersfield TownA2–222,129Burton, Dorigo
R5R24 February 1999Huddersfield TownH3–128,704Dorigo, Baiano
QF6 March 1999ArsenalA0–138,046

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R2 1st Leg16 September 1998Manchester CityH1–122,986Delap
R2 2nd Leg23 September 1998Manchester CityA1–0 19,622Wanchope
R328 October 1998ArsenalH1–225,621Sturridge

Players

First-team squad

Left club during season

Reserve squad

Transfers

In

Out

Statistics

Appearances, goals and cards

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