1999–2000 Birmingham City F.C. season explained

Club:	Birmingham City F.C.
Season:	1999–2000
Manager:	Trevor Francis
Chairman:	David Gold
Stdtitle:	Ground
Stadium:	St Andrew's
League:	Football League First Division
League Result:	5th
Cup1:	Play-offs
Cup1 Result:	Semi-final (eliminated by Barnsley)
Cup2:	FA Cup
Cup2 Result:	Fourth round (eliminated by Everton)
Cup3:	League Cup
Cup3 Result:	Fourth round (eliminated by West Ham United)
League Topscorer:	Paul Furlong (11)
Season Topscorer:	Paul Furlong (11)
Highest Attendance:	29,050 vs Wolverhampton Wanderers, 1 April 2000
Lowest Attendance:	17,150 vs Stockport County, 29 January 2000
Average Attendance:	21,895^[1]
Pattern La1:	_whiteborder
Pattern B1:	_thinwhitestripes2
Pattern Ra1:	_whiteborder
Pattern Sh1:	_whitesides
Pattern So1:	_whitetop
Leftarm1:	0000ff
Body1:	0000ff
Rightarm1:	0000ff
Shorts1:	0000ff
Socks1:	0000ff
Prevseason:	1998–99
Nextseason:	2000–01

The 1999–2000 season was Birmingham City Football Club's 97th in the Football League. They finished in fifth place in the Football League First Division, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, but lost the first leg of the semifinal 4–0 at home to Barnsley. Although they won the away leg, they were eliminated 5–2 on aggregate. Birmingham entered the 1999–2000 FA Cup at the third round and lost to Everton in the fourth, and after entering the League Cup in the first round and defeating Newcastle United in the third, lost to West Ham United in the fourth round.

Paul Furlong was top scorer with 11 goals, all scored in league competition.

Football League First Division

See main article: 1999–2000 Football League.

Match details

Date	League position	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Report
7 August 1999	6th	Fulham	H	D	2–2	Hughes 62', Lazaridis 85'	24,042	^[2]
14 August 1999	4th	Norwich City	A	W	1–0	McCarthy 11'	15,261
21 August 1999	3rd	Port Vale	H	W	4–2	Hughes (2) 8', 51', Furlong (2) 18', 34'	18,089
27 August 1999	4th	Stockport County	A	L	0–2		6,115
30 August 1999	3rd	Crewe Alexandra	H	W	5–1	M. Johnson 12', McCarthy 20', Furlong 30', Holdsworth 52', Ndlovu 77'	24,085
5 September 1999	2nd	Bolton Wanderers	A	D	3–3	Holdsworth 26', Furlong (2) 37', 45'	11,668
11 September 1999	3rd	West Bromwich Albion	H	D	1–1	A. Johnson 43'	25,945
18 September 1999	2nd	Ipswich Town	A	W	1–0	Furlong 10' pen.	19,758
25 September 1999	1st	Queens Park Rangers	H	W	2–0	Furlong (2) 44' pen., 64' pen.	18,748
2 October 1999	4th	Charlton Athletic	A	L	0–1		19,753
8 October 1999	4th	Walsall	A	L	0–1		7,164
16 October 1999	3rd	Crystal Palace	H	W	2–0	Purse 10', McCarthy 48'	21,582
19 October 1999	4th	Manchester City	H	L	0–1		22,126
23 October 1999	5th	Grimsby Town	A	D	1–1	Wreh 37'	6,266
27 October 1999	5th	Queens Park Rangers	A	D	2–2	Marcelo (2) 74', 76'	11,196
30 October 1999	4th	Charlton Athletic	H	W	1–0	Hughes 25'	19,172
6 November 1999	6th	Portsmouth	A	D	2–2	Lazaridis 59', M. Johnson 62'	12,756
20 November 1999	10th	Barnsley	A	L	1–2	McCarthy 70'	14,520
23 November 1999	5th	Tranmere Rovers	H	W	3–1	Grainger 2' pen., Marcelo 27', Hyde 45'	21,132
27 November 1999	7th	Swindon Town	H	D	1–1	Grainger 26'	22,620
4 December 1999	7th	Fulham	A	D	0–0		12,290
17 December 1999	8th	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	L	1–2	Hughes 15'	19,724
26 December 1999	11th	Sheffield United	H	L	0–2		22,874
28 December 1999	13th	Nottingham Forest	A	L	0–1		20,821
3 January 2000	12th	Huddersfield Town	H	W	1–0	Hughes 1'	19,558
15 January 2000	11th	Norwich City	H	W	2–0	Grainger 16', 30'	21,007
22 January 2000	11th	Port Vale	A	L	1–3	Hughes 48'	7,702
29 January 2000	8th	Stockport County	H	W	2–1	Holdsworth 62', Hughes 72'	17,150
5 February 2000	7th	Crewe Alexandra	A	W	3–2	O'Connor 45' pen., Hughes 54', Adebola 70'	6,289
12 February 2000	6th	Bolton Wanderers	H	W	2–1	Rankin 50', Adebola 66'	18,426
15 February 2000	6th	Blackburn Rovers	H	W	1–0	O'Connor 33'	20,719
19 February 2000	5th	Swindon Town	A	W	4–1	Purse 11', Rankin 21', Adebola 26', Grainger 74'	7,591
27 February 2000	5th	Ipswich Town	H	D	1–1	Mowbray 17' o.g.	20,493
4 March 2000	5th	West Bromwich Albion	A	W	3–0	Adebola 6', 8', Marcelo 86'	17,029
7 March 2000	5th	Portsmouth	H	W	1–0	Marcelo 49'	19,573
11 March 2000	5th	Tranmere Rovers	A	L	1–2	Rowett 45'	9,232
18 March 2000	5th	Barnsley	H	W	3–1	Rankin 25', 63', Holdsworth 45'	25,108
22 March 2000	5th	Blackburn Rovers	A	L	0–1		18,096
25 March 2000	6th	Sheffield United	A	W	2–1	Kozluk 52' o.g., Hughes 54'	15,486
1 April 2000	5th	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	W	1–0	Holdsworth 53'	29,050
8 April 2000	5th	Huddersfield Town	A	D	0–0		16,961
15 April 2000	6th	Nottingham Forest	H	L	0–1		23,006
22 April 2000	5th	Crystal Palace	A	W	2–0	Austin 45' o.g., Furlong 61'	17,144
24 April 2000	5th	Walsall	H	W	2–0	Furlong (2) 70', 90' pen.	24,268
28 April 2000	5th	Manchester City	A	L	0–1		32,062
7 May 2000	5th	Grimsby Town	H	D	0–0		25,263

League table (part)

Pos!scope="col"
Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
3rd	Ipswich Town	46	25	12	9	71	42	+31	87
4th	Barnsley	46	24	10	12	88	67	+21	82
5th	Birmingham City	46	22	11	13	65	44	+21	77
6th	Bolton Wanderers	46	21	13	12	69	50	+19	76
7th	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	21	11	14	64	48	+16	74
Key	Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
Source	^[3]

Play-offs

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Report
Semifinal 1st leg	13 May 2000	Barnsley	H	L	0–4		26,492
Semifinal 2nd leg	18 May 2000	Barnsley	A	W	2–1 2–5 agg.	Rowett 33', Marcelo 75'	19,050

FA Cup

See main article: 1999–2000 FA Cup.

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Report
Third round	11 December 1999	Watford	A	W	1–0	Rowett 66'	8,144
Fourth round	8 January 2000	Everton	A	L	0–2		25,405

League Cup

See main article: 1999–2000 Football League Cup.

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Report
First round 1st leg	10 August 1999	Exeter City	H	W	3–0	A. Johnson 17', Richardson 42' o.g., Adebola 75'	18,976	^[4]
First round 2nd leg	24 August 1999	Exeter City	A	W	2–1 5–1 agg.	Richardson 22' o.g., O'Connor 50'	2,338	^[5]
Second round 1st leg	14 September 1999	Bristol Rovers	H	W	2–0	O'Connor 51' pen., Holdsworth 67'	17,457	^[6]
Second round 2nd leg	21 September 1999	Bristol Rovers	A	W	1–0 3–0 agg.	Rowett 48'	5,456	^[7]
Third round	12 October 1999	Newcastle United	H	W	2–0	O'Connor 45' pen., Purse 60'	19,795
Fourth round	30 November 1999	West Ham United	H	L	2–3	Hyde 8', Grainger 44'	17,728

Transfers

In

Date	Club	Fee	Ref
6 July 1999	(Chelsea)	Free	^[8]
16 July 1999		Free
16 July 1999		Free
28 July 1999		£2m	^[9]
25 October 1999		£500,000	^[10]

Brackets round club names indicate the player's contract with that club had expired before he joined Birmingham.

Out

Date	Fee	Joined	Ref
7 July 1999	Free	Peterborough United
23 September 1999	£250,000	Peterborough United
2 November 1999	Free	Peterborough United
31 December 1999	Released	(Blackpool)	^[11]
3 February 2000	£100,000	Huddersfield Town	^[12]
22 March 2000	Released	(Oxford United)	^[13]
30 June 2000	Released	(Bolton Wanderers)	^[14]
30 June 2000	Released	(Burton Albion)

Brackets round a club denote the player joined that club after his Birmingham City contract expired.

Loan in

Date	Return	Ref
4 August 1999	Two months
7 October 1999	One month	^[15]
15 October 1999	Two months	^[16]
21 October 1999	14 December 1999	^[17]
19 January 2000	7 April 2000	^[18]
23 February 2000	14 March 2000	^[19]
23 March 2000	28 April 2000	^[20]
31 March 2000	End of season	^[21]

Loan out

Date	Return	Ref
24 August 1999	Made permanent
2 December 1999	One month
23 March 2000	12 May 2000	^[22]

Appearances and goals

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances made as a substitute.

Players marked left the club during the playing season.

Players with names in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Birmingham.

Players listed with no appearances have been in the matchday squad but only as unused substitutes.

Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; DF – Defender; MF – Midfielder; FW – Forward

Players' appearances and goals by competition
		Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Play-offs		Total		Discipline
		Name		Goals		Goals		Goals		Goals		Goals
1	GK	Kevin Poole	18	0	1	0	5	0	0	0	24	0	0	0
2	DF	Gary Rowett	45	1	2	1	5	1	2	1	54	4	4	0
3	DF	Martin Grainger	34	5	2	0	2	1	1	0	39	6	6	0
4	MF	Bryan Hughes	41 (4)	10	2	0	3 (1)	0	2	0	48 (5)	10	4	1
5	DF	Graham Hyde	20 (10)	1	2	0	2 (1)	1	0	0	24 (11)	2	4	1
6	DF	David Holdsworth	43 (1)	5	1	0	5	1	2	0	51 (1)	6	8	0
7	MF	Jon McCarthy	21	4	0	0	3 (1)	0	0	0	27 (1)	4	4	0
8	MF	Martyn O'Connor	38 (1)	2	1	0	6	3	2	0	47 (1)	5	7	1
9	FW	Paul Furlong	17 (2)	11	0	0	2	0	2	0	21 (2)	11	6	0
10	FW	Dele Adebola	21 (21)	5	0 (1)	0	3 (2)	1	0 (1)	0	24 (25)	6	1	0
11	FW	Peter Ndlovu	2 (11)	1	0	0	3 (1)	0	1 (1)	0	6 (13)	1	0	0
12	DF	Simon Charlton	19 (1)	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	21 (1)	0	1	0
13	GK	Ian Bennett	21	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	23	0	0	0
14	MF		2 (2)	0	0 (1)	0	2 (2)	0	0	0	4 (5)	0	1	0
15	DF	Darren Purse	33 (5)	2	1	0	5	1	2	0	41 (5)	3	6	1
16	FW	Isaiah Rankin *	11 (2)	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	11 (2)	4	6	1
17	DF	Michael Johnson	29 (5)	2	2	0	3	0	2	0	36 (5)	2	7	0
18	MF	Steve Robinson	5 (1)	0	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	6 (2)	0	1	0
19	DF	Darren Wassall	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
20	DF	Jon Bass	5 (3)	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	8 (3)	0	1	0
21	DF	Simon Marsh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	MF		2 (12)	0	1	0	3 (1)	0	0	0	6 (13)	0	0	0
22	MF	Michael Carrick *	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1 (1)	0	0	0
23	DF	Jerry Gill	2 (9)	0	1	0	1 (1)	0	1	0	5 (10)	0	1	0
24	FW		0 (1)	0	0	0	1 (2)	0	0	0	1 (3)	0	0	0
24	MF	Stuart Campbell *	0 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (2)	0	0	0
25	DF	James Dyson	0 (2)	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0	0 (3)	0	1	0
26	FW	Andrew Johnson	15 (8)	1	0	0	4 (1)	1	1 (1)	0	20 (10)	2	2	0
28	MF	Stan Lazaridis	26 (5)	2	1	0	5 (2)	0	1 (1)	0	33 (8)	2	0	0
29	GK	Richard Knight *	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
29	DF	John Beresford *	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
29	GK	Thomas Myhre *	7	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	9	0	0	0
30	MF	Allan Johnston *	7 (1)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	8 (1)	0	1	0
31	MF	Jimmy Haarhoff	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
32	MF	Christopher Wreh *	6 (1)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	6 (1)	1	2	0
33	FW	Marcelo	14 (10)	5	1	0	0	0	1 (1)	1	16 (11)	6	3	0
34	MF	Trésor Luntala	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Players not included in matchday squads
		Name
16	DF
27	DF
35	MF	Jacques Williams

References

General

Book: Matthews, Tony . Birmingham City: A Complete Record . 1995 . Breedon Books . Derby . 978-1-85983-010-9.
Book: Matthews, Tony . Birmingham City: The Complete Record . 2010 . DB Publishing . Derby . 978-1-85983-853-2.
Source for match dates, league positions and results: Web site: Birmingham City 1999–2000: Results . Statto Organisation . 14 June 2013.
Source for lineups, appearances, goalscorers and attendances: Matthews (2010), Complete Record, pp. 434–35.
Source for goal times: Web site: Birmingham Results 1999/00 . Soccerbase . Centurycomm . 14 June 2013.
Sources for transfers:
- Book: Playfair Football Annual 2000–2001 . Glenda . Rollin . Jack . Rollin . amp. Headline . 2000 . 978-0-7472-6620-4 . 141–162.
- Web site: Birmingham Transfers 1999/00 . Soccerbase . Centurycomm . 13 June 2013.
Source for discipline: individual player pages linked from Web site: Birmingham Squad details 1999/00 . Soccerbase . Centurycomm . 13 June 2013.

Specific

Notes and References

Rollin & Rollin, Playfair Football Annual 2000–2001, p. 139.
News: https://web.archive.org/web/20120523002050/http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_championship/birmingham/reports/birmingham_1999.html . Birmingham City Reports – 1999–2000 . sportinglife.com . 365 Media Group . 23 May 2012. Individual match reports are linked from this page.
Web site: Birmingham City 1999–2000 : English Division One Table . Statto Organisation . 4 October 2011.
News: Magic new Blues star is born . Tattum, Colin . Evening Mail . Birmingham . 11 August 1999 . 14 June 2013.
News: Blues 'reserves' are first class . Tattum, Colin . Evening Mail . Birmingham . 25 August 1999 . 14 June 2013.
News: We can still win it – Ollie . Parkinson, Simon . Western Daily Press . Bristol . 15 September 1999 . 14 June 2013.
News: We need Jones to be strong . Parkinson, Simon . Western Daily Press . Bristol . 22 September 1999 . 14 June 2013.
Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20010217061202/http://www.bcfc.com/99_00/news/990706b.htm . New boy Eddie speaks . Dunn, Paul . Birmingham City F.C . 6 July 1999 . 17 February 2001.
News: Francis may have to sell . Willars, Ian . Evening Mail . Birmingham . 29 July 1999 . 14 June 2013.
News: Premiership ambition finally clinches Marcelo deal for Blues . Bishop, Rob . Birmingham Post . 26 October 1999 . 14 June 2013.
News: Birmingham City: Sour note on which Gary Ablett's Blues' career ended saddens Trevor Francis . Tattum, Colin . Birmingham Mail . 4 January 2012 . 14 June 2013.
News: Queen's Park peril clouds Hampden future . Tallentire, Mark . 11 January 2000 . 14 June 2013 . London . The Guardian.
News: Holland had to go says Francis . Tattum, Colin . Evening Mail . Birmingham . 4 February 2000 . 14 June 2013.
News: One in, one out for City . 22 March 2000 . Adam . Marshall . Sky Sports . 26 September 2011.
News: No new deal for Simon . Tattum, Colin . Evening Mail . Birmingham . 10 May 2000 . 5 November 2013.
News: Sport: Football: News In Brief . BBC News . 7 October 1999 . 14 June 2013.
News: Bolton swoop to tie up Magic loan . Bridlington Free Press . 26 January 2000 . 14 June 2013.
News: Sport: Football: News In Brief . BBC News . 21 October 1999 . 14 June 2013.
News: Wreh returns . Marshall, Adam . Sky Sports . 14 December 1999 . 14 June 2013.
News: Bantams recall Rankin . Baynes, Ciaran . Sky Sports . 7 April 2000 . 14 June 2013.
Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20010216083504/http://www.bcfc.com/99_00/news/000223a.htm . Carrick on move . 16 February 2001 . 23 February 2000 . Birmingham City F.C.
News: Carrick's spell over at Blues . Tattum, Colin . Evening Mail . Birmingham . 14 March 2000 . 18 June 2013.
News: Windass move talk is no more than just hot air claims O'Neill . Leicester Mercury . 28 April 2000 . 14 June 2013.
News: Myhre's route to Wembley all clear . Halford, Brian . Birmingham Post . 4 May 2000 . 14 June 2013.
News: Grainger sounds a Wembley battlecry . Tattum, Colin . Birmingham Evening Mail . 12 May 2000 . 14 June 2013.