1999–2000 FA Premier League
The 1999–2000 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the FA Premier League, and Manchester United secured their sixth Premiership title. Like the previous season, they lost only three league games all season. Unlike in 1998–99 season, they won by a comfortable margin – 18 points as opposed to a single point.
| Season | 1999–2000 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 7 August 1999 – 14 May 2000 |
| Champions | Manchester United 6th Premier League title 13th English title |
| Relegated | Wimbledon Sheffield Wednesday Watford |
| Champions League | Manchester United Arsenal Leeds United |
| UEFA Cup | Liverpool Chelsea Leicester City |
| Intertoto Cup | Aston Villa Bradford City |
| Matches played | 380 |
| Goals scored | 1,060 (2.79 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Kevin Phillips (30 goals) |
| Best goalkeeper | Ed de Goey (16 clean sheets) |
| Biggest home win | Newcastle United 8–0 Sheffield Wednesday (19 September 1999) |
| Biggest away win | Derby County 0–5 Sunderland (18 September 1999) |
| Highest scoring | West Ham United 5–4 Bradford City (12 February 2000) Tottenham Hotspur 7–2 Southampton (11 March 2000) |
| Longest winning run | 11 games Manchester United |
| Longest unbeaten run | 16 games Chelsea |
| Longest winless run | 11 games Sunderland Watford |
| Longest losing run | 8 games Wimbledon |
| Highest attendance | 61,619 Manchester United 3–1 Derby County (11 March 2000) |
| Lowest attendance | 8,248 Wimbledon 0–2 Sheffield Wednesday (12 April 2000) |
| Total attendance | 11,677,585 |
| Average attendance | 30,730 |
← 1998–99 2000–01 → | |
Manchester United lost their defence of the European Cup following a 3–2 defeat against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. The club had withdrawn from the 1999–2000 FA Cup to participate in the FIFA World Club Championship at the request of the FA who wanted Manchester United to compete to support England's bid to host the World Cup. Chelsea won the last FA Cup held at Wembley Stadium before its redevelopment. The League Cup final was won by Leicester City, for the second time in four seasons. In Europe, Leeds United reached the UEFA Cup semi-final and Arsenal were on the losing side to Galatasaray in the UEFA Cup final.
Only one newly promoted team suffered relegation: Watford, who finished in last place, and achieved a record Premiership low of just 24 points (a record since broken by Sunderland (twice), Derby County, Aston Villa, Huddersfield Town, Norwich City (twice), Sheffield United and themselves), despite a decent start to their campaign which saw them beat both Liverpool (at Anfield) and Chelsea. The most successful promoted team was Sunderland, who finished seventh in the final table and spent much of the season pushing for a place in European competition. Bradford City, back in the top division for the first time since 1922, secured their Premiership survival on the last day of the season with a 1–0 win over Liverpool. The result meant that Liverpool lost out on a Champions League place, and Wimbledon were relegated after 14 years of top-division football. Second-from-bottom Sheffield Wednesday were relegated in their penultimate game of the season, having spent 15 of the previous 16 seasons in the top division. Wednesday's season included an 8–0 defeat at Newcastle. Amazingly Coventry City went all season without an away win but still managed to secure 14th place due to an impressive home record which saw them win 12 out of their 19 matches.
As well as Premiership champions Manchester United and runners-up Arsenal, third placed Leeds United qualified for the 2000–01 Champions League. UEFA Cup places went to fourth placed Liverpool, F.A Cup winners Chelsea, and League Cup winners Leicester City.
Promoted to the Premiership for 2000–01 were First Division champions Charlton Athletic, runners-up Manchester City and playoff winners Ipswich Town. For the first time since the formation of the Premiership, all of the promoted teams had been members of the Premiership before.