Talk:1998–99 Manchester United F.C. season

Merge text

Text from Manchester United 1986-1999 to be merged in if necessary:

The treble

The season started poorly with a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Charity Shield, but United improved as the season went on. They were unbeaten in any competition from December 1998 until the end of the season. In April 1999, they met Arsenal in what was the last ever, and is commonly regarded as the greatest ever, FA Cup semi-final replay. With United playing with only ten men after captain Roy Keane was sent off, Peter Schmeichel brilliantly saved a 90th minute penalty kick. Ryan Giggs scored the winning goal in extra time with a breathtaking run followed by a spectacular goal. United followed this victory up with a legendary comeback victory against Juventus, inspired by captain Roy Keane, to book their place in the UEFA Champions League final. The League was then clinched at home to Tottenham in United's final match of the competition. They then won the FA Cup with a 2-0 win over Newcastle, before the trip to Barcelona's Nou Camp to face Bayern Munich in the final of the UEFA Champions League, on the day which would have been Sir Matt Busby's 90th birthday.

Bayern Munich scored from an early Mario Basler free-kick and United fought the rest of the game to no avail, in fact Bayern should have scored again, hitting the woodwork twice. At 90 minutes, with the fourth official signalling 4 minutes of injury time, United won a corner and pulled out all the stops, even sending up goalie Peter Schmeichel, who, with Roy Keane suspended, was serving as captain in his last ever appearance for the club. Bayern Munich were in shock as Teddy Sheringham squeezed in the equaliser. Less than a minute later, United won another corner and Ole Gunnar Solskjær won it all with a goal to send the United fans into delirium and cap off an incredible comeback. Manchester United became the first English team to win the Premiership/FA Cup/Champions League treble. That summer, Alex Ferguson was awarded a knighthood for his contribution to United's success.

Their achievement in the Champions League final was ranked 4th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments in 2002. Ryan Giggs' goal in the FA Cup Semi Final replay was ranked 23rd.

File:Yemen flag large.png CTOAGN (talk) 00:40, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

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Tone

The treble season is unique by its own name; three the magic number.

An introductory sentence like that sets the tone for this article - fanboyish, not encyclopaedic. Should be rewritten to a less gushing, more NPOV style. Qwghlm 11:56, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

I'd be the first to admit my view on the subject is far from neutral, but I removed part of the sentence "A crowd reported to be over three-quarters of a million people lined the streets,including fans from bitter rivals Manchester City and Liverpool F.C , to cheer them on.". No self-respecting City or Liverpool fan would do so, and I would not accept the claim without a non-partisan source. Oldelpaso 19:01, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, Oldelpaso, but I'm going to have to argue that point. My wife is a Manchester City fan (I was trying to convert the family from the inside - unsurprisingly, I failed!) and she accompanied me to the hill, just outside Manchester Cathedral, as the bus went past. Whilst there was (admittedly) a distinct lack of cheering from her, I find it highly unlikely that, in a crowd of 700,000+ people, she was the only Manchester City fan there. As for Liverpool fans, naturally, I can't comment - but I would agree they are far less likely. Thus, I have re-instated part of the line.DAAdshead 17:06, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

As I'm well known for my neutrality on this subject I thought I might be able to help. I don't think there's any doubt that a few scouse, city, Bolton etc fans were there watching, given the size of the crowd. I'm not at all convinced that they were cheering United on though. I don't think the fact that some of the crowd were fans of other clubs needs mentioning at all, so I've taken it out. If there had been an exceptionally large number of them then it would be different, but the fact that a few blues went along with reds they knew doesn't seem notable to.

Got a couple of messages while I'm here: OEP, thanks for the support vote. DAA:if you're interested in finding out more about FCUM, have a look at Channel M's website. They've done a brilliant 30 minute programme on the club, and being Channel M they're repeating it all the time. It's well worth a look if you can pick Channel M up. CTOAGN (talk) 09:21, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

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Merge

I've merged the text of Manchester United treble into this article. For the edit history of the text I've merged, see that article's edit history. File:Yemen flag large.png CTOAGN (talk) 04:19, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

CTOAGN - Good job with the basic merge of the document, but it this article remains poorly written (as I noted on the earlier page.) As such, I would have added a request for this page to be better presented in the THINGS TO DO box at the top of this Discussion Page, but don't know how to! Also, I think we need to add the WIKI standard "Cleanup" and/or "NPOV" box(es) at the top of the main Article page. Please can this be done? (Advice on how to do this would be most helpful!)DAAdshead 14:43, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

I just looked this up at Wikipedia:Cleanup and Wikipedia:NPOV and added an NPOV template at the top (just typed {{Long NPOV}} into the edit box). We could add it to the list on Wikipedia:Cleanup but I'm not sure it's worth bothering as few of the people who read that are likely to be interested in football. I don't think it will take too long to tidy up the writing ourselves so I'd rather just do that. I'll do some more work on it when I get time and if you get a chance to tidy it up please do.

The todo box has got a link with 'edit' on it at the top-right, you can just click on that to edit it.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed working on this article. Happy days :-) File:Yemen flag large.png CTOAGN (talk) 15:44, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Other competition?

What about the other thing United won that season, the European/South American Cup against Palmeiras, as that was this season, so it was really a "quadruple".--GingerM 15:47, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Possibly mention should be made of the World Club Championship. However, since this was won during the 1999-2000 season, perhaps it does not really belong in the Manchester United 1998-1999 page?DAAdshead 12:26, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Name on trophy

I removed this paragraph from the article:

It has since been shown that the UEFA chairman had already set up Bayern Munich colour ribbons on the trophy as the game went into injury time, and the engraver had been readying himself to carve Bayern's name into the trophy. Indeed, the cup was part way down to the touchline when the equaliser was scored. A few moments later, the cup was taken back up into the stands and the Manchester United ribbons were tied around the trophy. In addition, the majority of the Barcelona team had been in the stands (actually sat near to Teddy Sheringham's son) but left when the injury-time was indicated, believing the game to be over. They missed the comeback by United, only returning to their seats as the game ended.

I'm not saying that it's definately false, but due to a lack of a credible source on a topic so well sourced, I have to conclude that it's probably false. Feel free to re-add if you can find a reference. BeL1EveR (talk) 13:23, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Sources

Looking at the season articles that have been promoted, and comparing to ours... there's a LOT of sourcing to do. Here's a good place to start I suppose: <url>http://www.sportinglife.com/football/premiership/manu/reports/manu_1998.html</url> BeL1EveR (talk) 14:11, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

"You can't win anything with kids"

How about including this quote at the start of the season?--EchetusXe (talk) 17:27, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Would be a bit inappropriate, since that quote was made back in 1995. – PeeJay 17:54, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

I also find it a bit offensive. 110.145.230.234 (talk) 00:31, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

In what respect? – PeeJay 08:25, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

Depth of coverage

I've added a month by month summary of United's Premier League season but it's clear more work needs to be done to help this page reach it's desirable target. Fact is, this was the club's most successful period and should fittingly be a featured article.

I'm for adding something regarding the whole BSkyB takeover and the formation of Shareholders United but would that work under a seperate heading? And what about changes backroom: Brian Kidd, Steve McClaren and the legacy of the team? Lemonade51 (talk) 20:29, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Btw, great work on the summary, and about the takeover, I am for the seperate heading, maybe add it above the Pre-season info.

But go for it, and than we might change few stuff after we see the final article.
  – HonorTheKing (talk) 21:13, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Barring minor rewriting on the merger talk, FA Cup and Champions League, I think this is now ready for a article assessment. Good amount of references which helps and the article seems to flow well.

Should it come to that, how should the colour key be presented underneath the scoretables?

Colour Key:

Win

Lose

Draw

or

Colours: Green = Manchester United win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win. (which I used for the 97-98 article)— Lemonade51 (talk) 23:17, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

The second one looks better and less distraction. I liked how the 97-98 looks.

On a note, well done mate, you did a fantastic work on the article. Hope it will get a GA.
  – HonorTheKing (talk) 02:16, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Bibliography

Is this section meant to be a joke? I can't see how any of the sources could be useful in writing the article. doomgaze (talk) 12:43, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Those sources are used to reference facts in the section about the BSkyB takeover. There must be better ones around - perhaps ones more suited to a football viewpoint, such as "For Love or Money" by Alex Fynn and Lynton Guest, or "Manchester Disunited" by Mihir Bose - but these seem pretty good for now. – PeeJay 23:20, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

-facepalm- my bad! doomgaze (talk) 00:23, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

Charity shield table

I really don't see the point in general with using a table with only one entry, that can never be expanded. --John (talk) 18:43, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Even tho it only list one game, in my opinion as its widely used in many articles. and even tho it can be added to the body (the number of attendance and the date that which it took place at). I think people eyes will be more focus at the table as they might not bother reading the section.
  – HonorTheKing (talk) 19:04, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

I'd be inclined to remove it from other articles rather than restoring it to this one. It's not like the Charity Shield is a major tournament or anything; why do we need to emphasize it in this way? --John (talk) 20:39, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

It might not be the most important cup in England, but its still a trophy and a medal to add to the club total. unlike the pre-season sponsored cups (Audi Cup, Emirates Cup and so on). The issue is that yes it might only list one, but will we remove the League Cup or the FA Cup if they lose the first game and be eliminated?. I think we should include them in all articles even if it might only end up listing one game.
  – HonorTheKing (talk) 21:05, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

It's about utility versus consistency. I would argue that as the Charity Shield can only ever be one game, it should never be presented in this way. --John (talk) 21:32, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

I'm inclined to agree with that. The table format works for competitions, but not for one-off matches. Malleus Fatuorum 22:15, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Recent Edits

• Aftermath should strictly deal with tournaments that United were granted entry to as a result of their Champions League win, such as the UEFA Supercup and Intercontinental Cup.
• Clarify Manchester United's FA Cup withdrawal to mention the fixture congestion excuse.
• Add a new section for Legacy which deals with polls of "greatest". The goal.com poll and the Premier League 20 awards put the 1998-99 treble-winning team in perspective with other recent great teams.

MonkeyKingBar (talk) 21:16, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Look, I have no problem with an aftermath section, but for balance there has to be a background section -- how the team fared the previous season. Your second point "stated that entering both tournaments would overload their fixture schedule and make it more difficult to defend their Champions League and Premiership titles, and claimed that they did not want to devalue the FA Cup by fielding a weaker side", is unsourced and for all the reader knows, hogswash. As I've said before, the goal.com poll is meaningless. You say they were included in the Premier League 20 awards yet fail to mention their ranking. I'd advise you to take a look at Wikipedia:Peer review/1998–99 Manchester United F.C. season/archive2 for suggestions on how to improve the article, and take it up here on the talkpage, rather than making hash changes. -- Lemonade51 (talk) 21:34, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

The goal.com poll is utter tripe, as is everything else that comes from that website. I would further add that the perpetually re-hashed newspaper polls are a dime a dozen and shouldn't be given the time of day. No teams ever seem to remain in any particular position, so the positions are hardly definitive. The only rankings I believe have any merit are ones done by experts resulting in actual awards, such as the Premier League 20 Seasons Awards or the World Soccer magazine's "Team of the Year" award. I realise this means removing a lot of the content that was there already, but it is my opinion. – PeeJay 22:49, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

"stated that entering both tournaments would overload their fixture schedule and make it more difficult to defend their Champions League and Premiership titles, and claimed that they did not want to devalue the FA Cup by fielding a weaker side" is a paraphrase of The FA's press release. This provides a bit more insight into the controversy.

If the Goal.com poll had ranked the 1999 Champions League Final first, would you have included it?

MonkeyKingBar (talk) 14:47, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

No, I would not have included it because I place ZERO value on anything that comes out of that website. The people who work there are hack journalists who do nothing but rehash stories already reported by others in the reliable media and create pointless polls as their only form of original content. – PeeJay 18:06, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

Can you stop making hash changes? As PeeJay has stated, Goal.com is tripe. Their poll holds zero significance. I don't care if they said first, third or 15th, the website's writers are more likely to have done their research on Wikipedia first and added bogus information to beef up their articles, which might have been unsourced. This is a good article as of now -- I'd rather keep it like this then add unsourced information ruin it with bad poor prose. -- Lemonade51 (talk) 14:57, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

How are more details from the The FA's press release ruining the article in any way? MonkeyKingBar (talk) 15:43, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

Per WP:OFFTOPIC -- that is more suited to 1999–2000 Manchester United F.C. season. The FA press release has not much relevance to this article; by saying "Ferguson has since admitted his regrets in how they handled the situation" is a better way of putting a closure on the subject. -- Lemonade51 (talk) 15:56, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

Article review

It has been a while since this article has been reviewed, so I took a look at it and saw that there were uncited statements in the article, including entire paragraphs. Should this article go to WP:GAR? Z1720 (talk) 02:22, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

GA Reassessment

1998–99 Manchester United F.C. season

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch • Watch article reassessment page • Most recent review

Result: Delisted. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 11:12, 3 June 2025 (UTC)

Uncited statements, including entire paragraphs. Z1720 (talk) 05:35, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

Comment Took me a little while, but I've just read through the article, looked at a good few citations, but it seems fine to me. My qualm would be incomplete match information in the results table. I am not sure what your problem with the article exactly is, you didn't exactly state any direct problem. Govvy (talk) 08:30, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

@Govvy: The good article criteria requires that text be cited no later than at the end of the paragraph. There is a lot of text in this article that is not cited. I went through and added "citation needed" templates to the places which need a citation. Z1720 (talk) 15:56, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

• Delist. Citation concerns remain. Z1720 (talk) 22:20, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

GA review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:1998–99 Manchester United F.C. season/GA2. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: Alpha Beta Delta Lambda (talk · contribs) 08:41, 11 August 2025 (UTC)

Reviewer: SignedInteger (talk · contribs) 20:44, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello! I'll be doing this one. Now, to mention something that's probably humorous, I'm a Liverpool supporter, so I guess I might be betraying my own fandom by reviewing this one! (:P) Regardless, I'll be setting up the two tables real quick and clearing the basics (5, 6, copyvio bot, citation bot, etc) before going into the review proper. _{S.G. (They/Them) (Talk) (Edits)} 20:44, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

Copyvio check: 42.2%, violation possible. The main thing it is most similar to (according to the bot) is this Manchester Evening News article (archive link). However, this isn't an indication of any wrongdoing, I'd say. _{S.G. (They/Them) (Talk) (Edits)} 20:48, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

@Alpha Beta Delta Lambda: It took a little while, but congratulations, this is your first GA! Also, good job on getting this back to GA status. _{S.G. (They/Them) (Talk) (Edits)} 22:16, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

Source spot check table

This table checks 42 passages from throughout the article (24.9% of 169 total passages). These passages contain 58 inline citations (30.4% of 191 in the article). Generated with the Veracity user script. _{S.G. (They/Them) (Talk) (Edits)} 20:44, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

Reference #	Letter	Source	Archive	Status	Notes
Fans and writers regard the Treble as manager Alex Ferguson's greatest achievement. In recognition of his success, Ferguson was awarded a knighthood, and handed the Freedom of the City of Glasgow in November 1999. David Beckham was named UEFA Club Footballer of the Year for the 1998–99 season, and was runner-up to Rivaldo for 1999's Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards. As of 2025,[update] the Treble has only been matched once by an English club: by local rivals Manchester City in the 2022–23 season.
6		metro.co.uk	web.archive.org
United exited both the FA Cup in the Fifth Round to Barnsley 3–2 in a replay,
9		news.bbc.co.uk	web.archive.org
Manchester United's first departure of the 1998–99 season was Ben Thornley, who joined Huddersfield Town for £175,000 on 3 July 1998.
13	a	transferleague.co.uk	web.archive.org
in the Scottish Premier League; he had played at Fir Park in the early 1980s. Pallister agreed to return to Middlesbrough in a £2.5 million deal, nine years after he had left them for a £2.3 million transfer to Old Trafford.
14	b	mg.co.za	web.archive.org
Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert, who impressed during the World Cup, was on the verge of finalising a £9 million move from Milan, only for talks to fall through.
19		pqasb.pqarchiver.com	archive.today
United's only winter arrival was Bojan Djordjic, who signed for an undisclosed fee on 17 February.
13	b	transferleague.co.uk	web.archive.org
Roy Keane made his comeback after almost a year out injured
39		manutd.com	web.archive.org
After the game, Ferguson, his players, and the Manchester United staff refused to be interviewed by the press or television.
45		independent.co.uk	ghostarchive.org
Chants were directed at chairman Martin Edwards, who had given his support to the merger.
46	b	independent.co.uk	ghostarchive.org
48		theguardian.com	web.archive.org
After the match, Alex Ferguson admitted that his team was inferior to Arsenal, and later called their performance "depressing".
52		theguardian.com	web.archive.org
53		Ferguson & Meek 2000, p. 30: "Our performance was so disappointing, even depressing[.]"
Upon their return, Raimond van der Gouw, who deputised for injured goalkeeper and captain Peter Schmeichel at Southampton, featured again at home to Wimbledon, a match that Manchester United won 5–1, the biggest win of the season at Old Trafford. Ryan Giggs, Beckham, Yorke and Cole all scored, with Cole scoring twice; Ferguson in particular hailed the contribution of 19-year-old defender Wes Brown.
58		independent.co.uk	ghostarchive.org
and beat Everton 4–1 at Goodison Park on 31 October to cut the gap at the top to just a point.
60		sportinglife.com	web.archive.org
were on show away to Sheffield Wednesday as the team missed the chance to go top of the table, losing 3–1. A brace from winger Niclas Alexandersson and a debut goal scored by Wim Jonk consigned Ferguson to his second defeat in the league and extended a barren run at Hillsborough: United had won only a single game in their last eight league visits.
64		independent.ie	web.archive.org
United were fortunate to pick up a point given their opponents' dominance in the second half. At the match against Tottenham Hotspur, United surrendering a 2–0 lead: Solskjær put United two goals ahead, but in the 39th minute Gary Neville received a red card for a second bookable offence, tugging on David Ginola's shirt. Spurs captain Sol Campbell brought his team back into the match with 20 minutes remaining and powered a header in the top left-hand corner just before full-time. Ferguson refused to comment after the match. Despite losing the lead, the result put United top of the league on goal difference ahead of Aston Villa, before they faced Arsenal the following day.
67		news.google.com
A power failure at Old Trafford, caused by "unprecedented demand for electricity," delayed the match against West Ham on 10 January by 45 minutes, a match that ended 4–1 to Manchester United.
73		theguardian.com	web.archive.org
In February, the winning streak was extended to five matches, with a 1–0 victory at home to Derby County on 3 February to move four points ahead of Chelsea,
77		sportinglife.com	web.archive.org
During the home match against Arsenal on 17 February, the Gunners were without Dennis Bergkamp, Emmanuel Petit and Martin Keown.
82		arseweb.com	web.archive.org
Cup duties were the main priority in March as United played only two league fixtures: away to Newcastle and at home to Everton. United won both games, including two goals by Cole against his former club Newcastle,
87		theguardian.com
and drew against Leeds to earn a point at Elland Road after the midweek tie at Juventus.
91		independent.ie
Against Liverpool at Anfield, Ferguson restored the Cole–Yorke strike partnership, the latter scored the opener from a Beckham cross. In the second half, United were awarded a penalty for a challenge on Jesper Blomqvist by Jamie Carragher, which Denis Irwin successfully converted; however, Irwin was sent off in the 75th minute for a second bookable offence, after Jamie Redknapp scored through a controversial penalty to give Liverpool hope. Former United midfielder Paul Ince scrambled the equaliser in the 88th minute. The United manager did not hide his discomfort, adding that he thought "the referee handed it to them".
94		independent.co.uk	ghostarchive.org
With three games remaining, Yorke scored the only goal of the game away at Middlesbrough, helping his team return to the top of the table.
96		news.bbc.co.uk	web.archive.org
Despite receiving a home draw in each of their first four rounds, United were paired against difficult opponents throughout the competition. En route to the final they defeated four Premier League teams: Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. The only team from outside the top flight that United played in the competition was Fulham, who at the time played in the Second Division, the third tier of English football, although they claimed wins over Premier League sides Southampton and Aston Villa in the previous rounds.
103		theguardian.com	web.archive.org
United faced Liverpool at home in the following round, where the visitors took the lead from a Michael Owen header inside three minutes. In spite of creating plenty of goalscoring chances, the team failed to equalise until the 86th minute, when Yorke scored after a Beckham free kick was headed into his path by Cole inside the six-yard box. In the second minute of stoppage time, Solskjær hit a shot through the legs of Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher that beat goalkeeper David James at his near post to give United the win.
105		independent.co.uk	ghostarchive.org
Giggs scored partway through the second half of extra time. Picking up possession on the halfway line after a loose pass from Patrick Vieira, he dribbled past the entire Arsenal back line before shooting just under goalkeeper David Seaman's bar. Giggs ran celebrating towards the United fans, and United held on to beat the Gunners 2–1.
111		sportinglife.com	web.archive.org
The Football League Cup is a cup knockout competition open to clubs in the Premier League and the Football League; clubs participating in European competitions are given a bye to the Third Round, while other Premier League clubs are given a bye to the Second Round. In previous seasons, Ferguson used the League Cup as an opportunity provide first team experience to their younger players and reserves, while resting many of their first-team players.
113		theguardian.com	web.archive.org
The UEFA Champions league is the primary continental tournament organised by UEFA. It consists of two qualifying rounds, a group stage, and a knockout round. This was the second season that runners-up of a national league can enter the competition; prior to the 1997–98 season, only champions from previous year's national leagues can enter the competition.
119		nytimes.com	web.archive.org
The group stage of the Champions League consists of six groups of four teams. Teams play against each other twice in each group, once home and once away. At the end of the group stage, the winners of each group, as well as the two best runners-up, advanced to the knockout phase. United were drawn in Group D, labelled the competition's "group of death", along with Spanish champions Barcelona, German champions Bayern Munich, and Danish champions Brøndby.
122		news.bbc.co.uk	web.archive.org
and 5–0 at Old Trafford.
127		sportinglife.com	web.archive.org
At the San Siro, substitute Scholes scored a late away goal to level the game at 1–1, following a Nicola Ventola goal, as United advanced 3–1 on aggregate.
132		sportinglife.com	web.archive.org
The draw meant that United needed to score at least a goal in Italy to qualify for the final.
134		news.bbc.co.uk	web.archive.org
Manchester United were without first-choice central midfielders Keane and Scholes, as both were suspended after receiving a second yellow card in the competition. Ferguson reorganised the team, with Blomqvist and Butt replacing Keane and Scholes, Beckham moving from right-wing to centre-midfield and Giggs moving from the left to the right wing; United lined up in their normal 4–4–2 formation. This was the final match for Peter Schmeichel, who captained the team.
137	a	news.bbc.co.uk	web.archive.org
Substituted Bayern legend Lothar Matthäus removed his runner-up medal as soon as he received it, and later remarked that United were "lucky" to win the final.
143		news.bbc.co.uk	web.archive.org
Beckham was also voted as the runner-up for the 1999 Ballon d'Or and the 1999 FIFA World Player of the Year awards.
146		rsssf.org	web.archive.org
147		rsssf.org	web.archive.org
In recognition of the team's success, Ferguson was made a Knight Bachelor and also received the Freedom of his home city of Glasgow.
153		news.bbc.co.uk	web.archive.org
154		sunnygovan.com	web.archive.org
As champions of Europe, Manchester United played against 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winners Lazio in the 1999 UEFA Super Cup, but lost the match 1–0. Manchester United were also invited to play in the Intercontinental Cup against the winners of the 1999 Copa Libertadores, Brazilian side Palmeiras, in Tokyo. Roy Keane scored the winner, making the team the first and last British side to win the trophy before it was abolished in 2004.
155		theguardian.com
156		news.bbc.co.uk	web.archive.org
On 26 May 2019, Manchester United and Bayern Munich legends sides played each other in a charity match at Old Trafford to commemorate the 20th anniversary of United completing the Treble. Manchester United won the match 5–0, with goals from Solskjær, Yorke, Butt and Beckham, as well as Louis Saha, who played for the club from 2004 to 2008.
161		manutd.com	web.archive.org
The satellite group's original bid of £575 million – initially thought to be their final offer – was deemed too low by two members of United's board (chairman Martin Edwards and Professor Sir Roland Smith), who pressed for a higher figure. On 9 September, Manchester United accepted a bid of £623.4 million;
165	b	cdnedge.bbc.co.uk	web.archive.org
The report, finalised in April 1999, found that BSkyB acted selfishly and blocked the broadcaster's bid.
170		news.bbc.co.uk
171		news.bbc.co.uk	web.archive.org
Manchester United thus was the unanimous choice of Murdoch and board members. The club was the most valuable in English football,
176		Harris 2000, p. 38.
As a means of capitalising on this growing market, MUTV, a television station operated by the club was launched in August 1998. In co-operation with Granada Media Group and BSkyB, it was the world's first channel dedicated to a football club,
178		news.bbc.co.uk	web.archive.org
Murdoch's bid led the formation of Shareholders United Against Murdoch, more commonly known as Manchester United Supporters' Trust today.
182		imust.org.uk	web.archive.org
No text found: citation may be in an infobox or table
13	c	transferleague.co.uk	web.archive.org
13	d	transferleague.co.uk	web.archive.org
13	e	transferleague.co.uk	web.archive.org
13	f	transferleague.co.uk	web.archive.org
13	g	transferleague.co.uk	web.archive.org
13	h	transferleague.co.uk	web.archive.org
13	i	transferleague.co.uk	web.archive.org
13	j	transferleague.co.uk	web.archive.org
16	b	independent.ie
17	b	news.google.com	web.archive.org
18	b	independent.co.uk	ghostarchive.org

GA Criteria Table

Rate	Attribute	Review Comment
1. Well-written:
	1a. the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct.	Well, it took forever to do CE for this one, but I did it! Aside from that, nothing else to say here.
	1b. it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation.	To compare it, I used the 2003-04 Arsenal F.C. season, as they are of similar sizes, lengths, and layouts.
2. Verifiable with no original research, as shown by a source spot-check:
	2a. it contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline.	Aside from the "References" section, there is also a "Bibliography" subsection for books cited in the article.
	2b. reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose).	See source spot check table above for more information.
	2c. it contains no original research.	See source spot check table above for more information
	2d. it contains no copyright violations or plagiarism.	Copyvio bot gave 42.2%, I'll assume good faith on this one.
3. Broad in its coverage:
	3a. it addresses the main aspects of the topic.	Indisputably so.
	3b. it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style).	It does go into detail that's more akin to an FA, for example 2003-04 Arsenal F.C. season
	4. Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each.	Nothing more for me to add.
	5. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute.	No edits since November 2025, not much more for me to say here.
6. Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio:
	6a. media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content.	There are 11 free images with CC licences used here.
	6b. media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions.	Pretty much everything here is relevant, the infobox collage is lovely (even if it makes me cringe inside as a Liverpool fan but that's besides the point!), and the other images used and their captions fit in perfectly.
	7. Overall assessment.	It took a bit to review and spot check, but congratulations!

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.