# 1998–99 Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. season

The 1998–99 season was the 100th season of competitive league football in the history of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. During that season, they played in the second tier of the English football system, the Football League First Division.
The season began with Mark McGhee as manager but he left "by mutual agreement" on 5 November after a run of two victories from fourteen games; the team having begun with four consecutive league wins. Upon McGhee's departure his assistant Colin Lee was placed in charge of the team and, after taking ten points from a possible twelve, he was handed the post for the remainder of the season.
The team finished in seventh place, one position short of the play-offs. Results on the final day, including their own, failed to go in their favour and so they missed out on a chance of promotion to the Premier League. Nonetheless, following the final match, the Wolves board announced that Colin Lee was to be given a permanent contract as manager.

## Results
### Football League First Division

A total of 24 teams competed in the Football League First Division in the 1998–99 season. Each team played every other team twice: once at their stadium, and once at the opposition's. Three points were awarded to teams for each win, one point per draw, and none for defeats. Teams finishing level on points were firstly divided by the number of goals scored rather than goal difference.
The provisional fixture list was released on 15 June 1998, but was subject to change in the event of matches being selected for television coverage or police concerns.
Final table
Source: Statto.com
Results summary
| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Statto.com
Results by round
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| Result | W | W | W | W | D | L | D | L | W | L | D | L | L | W | D | L | W | W | D | W | L | D | D | L | L | W | W | D | W | D | W | L | D | W | W | D | W | W | W | D | D | W | D | D | D | L |
| Position | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 |

### League Cup
## Players

Key: ‡ On loan from another club * First appearance(s) for the club
* # = Squad number
* Pos = Playing position
* P = Number of games played 10
* G = Number of goals scored
* GK = Goalkeeper
* DF = Defender
* MF = Midfielder
* FW = Forward
* = Yellow cards
* = Red cards
* † Permanent player left club during the season
* ¤ Loaned to another club for part or all of season
Correct as of end of season. Starting appearances are listed first, followed by substitute appearances in parentheses where applicable.
| Pos | Name | P | G | P | G | P | G | P | G | | |
| Pos | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline | Notes |
| GK | Justin Bray | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | Matt Murray | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | Jørgen Nielsen ‡ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | Mike Stowell | 46 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 52 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Keith Curle (c) | 44 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 49 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| DF | Ryan Green | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Kevin Muscat | 17(6) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 23(6) | 4 | 12 | 0 |
| DF | Lee Naylor | 24(6) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 28(6) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Dean Richards | 40(1) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 45(1) | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| DF | Gordon Simms | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Ady Williams | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Mark Atkins | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 17(1) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| MF | Steve Corica | 18(5) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 20(6) | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Neil Emblen | 30(3) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2(1) | 0 | 34(4) | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | Darren Ferguson ¤ | 2(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(2) | 1 | 2(4) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Steve Froggatt † | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2(1) | 0 | 10(1) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| MF | Michael Gilkes | 25(4) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 27(5) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | Fernando Gómez | 18(1) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 21(1) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Darren Middleton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Robert Niestroj | 2(2) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3(2) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Simon Osborn | 35(2) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 40(2) | 3 | 9 | 0 |
| MF | Carl Robinson | 19(5) | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 22(5) | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| MF | Steve Sedgley | 41(3) | 3 | 0(1) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 44(4) | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| MF | Paul Simpson ¤ | 8(3) | 2 | 0(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9(4) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Andy Turner | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Steve Bull | 11(4) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 13(4) | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Steve Claridge † | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | David Connolly ‡ | 18(14) | 6 | 0(1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20(15) | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Glen Crowe ¤† | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Håvard Flo | 18(1) | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19(1) | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Dominic Foley ¤ | 2(3) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2(3) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Mark Jones | 0(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(2) | 0 | 0(4) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Robbie Keane | 30(3) | 11 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 36(3) | 16 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Colin Larkin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Mixu Paatelainen † | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Adam Proudlock | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Guy Whittingham ‡ | 9(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 |

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Player | From | Fee |
| 5 August 1998 | Fernando Gómez | Valencia | Free |
| 13 November 1998 | Robert Niestroj | Fortuna Düsseldorf | £500,000 |
| 13 January 1999 | Håvard Flo | Werder Bremen | £700,000 |
| 25 March 1999 | Darren Middleton | Aston Villa | Free |
| 25 March 1999 | Andy Turner | Crystal Palace | Free |

### Out

| Date | Player | To | Fee |
| June 1998 | Tony Daley | Released | Free |
| June 1998 | Don Goodman | Released | Free |
| June 1998 | Dariusz Kubicki | Released | Free |
| June 1998 | Richard Leadbeater | Released | Free |
| June 1998 | Hans Segers | Released | Free |
| June 1998 | Robbie Slater | Released | Free |
| June 1998 | Chris Westwood | Released | Free |
| 6 August 1998 | Dougie Freedman | Nottingham Forest | £950,000 |
| 6 August 1998 | Jason Roberts | Bristol Rovers | £250,000 |
| 10 August 1998 | Steve Claridge | Portsmouth | £200,000 |
| 11 September 1998 | Mixu Paatelainen | Hibernian | £75,000 |
| 1 October 1998 | Steve Froggatt | Coventry City | £1.9 million |
| 27 January 1999 | Glen Crowe | Plymouth Argyle | Free |

### Loans in

| Start date | Player | From | End date |
| 20 August 1998 | David Connolly | Feyenoord | End of season |
| 2 November 1998 | Guy Whittingham | Sheffield Wednesday | 28 December 1998 |
| 25 March 1999 | Jørgen Nielsen | Liverpool | End of season |

### Loans out

| Start date | Player | To | End date |
| 1 August 1998 | Glen Crowe | Exeter City | 26 September 1998 |
| 18 September 1998 | Paul Simpson | Walsall | 5 October 1998 |
| 8 December 1998 | Dominic Foley | Notts County | 31 December 1998 |
| 11 December 1998 | Paul Simpson | Walsall | 11 January 1999 |
| 26 January 1999 | Darren Ferguson | Sparta Rotterdam | 26 April 1999 |
| 4 February 1999 | Dominic Foley | Ethnikos Piraeus | 24 March 1999 |

## Kit

The season brought a new home kit as the design returned to a plain gold shirt with black collar. The away kit, a white away shirt with a dark green collar and dark green shorts, was retained from the previous season. Both were manufactured by Puma and sponsored by Goodyear.