Looking back | 1998/99 season

The season THAT INFLUENCED our latest programme COVER IS THE 1998/99 CAMPAIGN!

Tuesday evening's @Carabao_Cup programme cover takes inspiration from the 1998/99 season! 💙

Programmes will be available both in print around CCS and digital format! 📖#CityAsOne pic.twitter.com/vg9zliL1Qr

— The Bluebird (@TheBluebirdProg) August 12, 2024

The previous season had ended in relief for the Bluebirds, as Frank Burrows, who was appointed as manager in February of 1998, guided City away from the Division Three relegation zone and kept his side up. Now with a full season to look forward to, Burrows added to the squad well. Jason Bowen, Mark Delaney, Andy Legg and Mark Bonner were just some of the names now calling Ninian Park their new home.

The first month of the season felt like more of the same from the season prior. Five games and four points left City in 18th, with their only victory coming away to Shrewsbury Town. However, what fans maybe weren’t aware of was that the Bluebirds were about to fly high.

Narrow 1-0 home wins over Plymouth Argyle and Barnet were then followed up by a run of eleven wins out of their next 18 games, a run which also only included three defeats. There were many notable goals and games during that glorious run. Jason Fowler and Dai Thomas scored two late goals to beat Halifax Town away from home, Thomas’ brace at Hull’s Boothferry Park, while John Williams and Kevin Nugent scored two each in a 4-2 home win against Mansfield Town.

Having spent the early part of the season at the wrong end of the table, Burrows’ men would end the year in top spot. A remarkable turnaround in such a short amount of time, but the question was, could City keep this good run going?

Well, if the first game of 1999 was anything to go by, then City would absolutely keep their good run going. Hartlepool United were the visitors to Ninian Park, but they were swept aside with ease. Nugent, Wayne O’Sullivan, Jeff Eckhardt, and Craig Middleton all on the scoresheet in a 4-1 win.

20 games remained after that, and the main theme of those fixtures were draws. City drew a staggering ten of those 20, however, and more importantly, they were picking up those all-important wins to keep them inside the top three. Middleton’s 81st minute winner at home to Darlington, a 4-1 hammering of fellow promotion chasing Brentford, and yet another Nugent brace away to Exeter City kept the Bluebirds dreaming of promotion. The forward would end as the season’s top scorer, with 22 goals in all competitions.

Those promotion dreams would be realised on April 24th, as a win away to Scarborough sealed a return to Division Two for the first time since 1995. Eckhardt got proceedings going in the first half, before Bowen scored the winner in the second half. City would only pick up one point in their final two games, but it need not matter, as they secured a third-place finish, and automatic promotion, alongside Brentford and Cambridge United.

After a season which ended in relief after staying up, City responded in stunning fashion, as they sealed promotion back to the third tier.