United's dominance persists at dawn of new millennium

Reuters

Sir Alex Ferguson has been at the forefront of Manchester United's success in the past two decades.

Manchester United dominated the Premier League scene in 1999-2000, practically from start to finish. You only have to look at the 18-point lead the Red Devils had over second-placed Arsenal at the end of the season to confirm that.

In the previous campaign, Alex Ferguson's team only managed to pip the Gunners by a mere point.

United won their first six Premier League crowns by the following point difference:

1992-93: 10 points over Aston Villa.

1993-94: eight points over Blackburn.

1995-96: four points over Newcastle.

1996-97: seven points over Newcastle.

1998-99: one point over Arsenal.

1999-2000: 18 points over Arsenal.

In season 1999-2000, United opted to withdraw from the FA Cup to take part in the first FIFA World Club Championship.

At the time, the English FA also thought that the move would boost England's chances of hosting the 2006 World Cup which was eventually awarded to Germany.

As in 1998-99, United only lost three matches but their biggest upset arrived in the Champions League when they were knocked out by eventual winners Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

United were defending the silverware they had won so dramatically against Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp.

The championship crown was clinched on April 22 after a 3-1 win at Southampton with four matches still to play.

Chelsea made up for a disappointing fifth place in the league by winning the FA Cup in the last final at the old Wembley before the re-development of the famous stadium. Leeds qualified for the Champions League along with United and Arsenal.

Transfers

Arsenal: Sylvinho from Corinthians, Thierry Henry from Juventus: Nicolas Anelka to Real Madrid.

Aston Villa: David James from Liverpool, Benito Carbone from Sheffield Wednesday; Ricardo Scimeca to Nottm Forest.

Bradford: David Weatherall from Leeds, Lee Sharpe from Leeds; Darren Moore to Portsmouth.

Chelsea: Gabriele Ambrosetti from Vicenza, Didier Deschamps from Juventus; Michael Duberry to Leeds.

Coventry: Musthapha Hadji from Deportivo, Robbie Keane from Wolves; George Boateng to Aston Villa.

Derby: Seth Johnson from Crewe, Branko Strupar from Racing Genk; Paolo Wanchope to West Ham.

Everton: Stephen Hughes from Arsenal, Kevin Campbell from Trabzonspor; Olivier Dacourt to Lens.

Leeds: Danny Mills from Charlton; Michael Bridges from Sunderland; Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to Atletico Madrid.

Leicester: Darren Eadie from Norwich, Tim Flowers from Blackburn; Emile Heskey to Liverpool.

Liverpool: Sami Hyypia from Willem II, Dietmar Hamman from Newcastle; Sean Dundee to Stuttgart.

Manchester United: Massimo Taibi from Venezia, Mikael Silvestre from Inter; Peter Schmeichel to Sporting Lisbon.

Middlesbrough: Christian Ziege from Milan, Arturo Marinelli from Boca Juniors; Andy Townsend to West Brom.

Newcastle: Kieron Dyer from Ipswich, Alain Goma from PSG; George Georgidis to PAOK.

Sheffield Wednesday: Gilles de Bilde from PSV Eindhoven, Gerald Sibon from Ajax; Emerson Thome to Chelsea.

Southampton: Kevin Davies from Blackburn − £2m, Dean Richards from Wolves; Mark Hughes to Everton.

Sunderland: Stefan Schwarz from Valencia, Kevin Kilbane from West Brom; Lee Clarke to Fulham.

Tottenham: Chris Perry from Wimbledon, Anthony Gardner from Port Vale; Andy Sinton to Wolves.

Watford: Neil Cox from Bolton, Heidar Helguson from Lillestrom; Tony Daley to Walsall.

West Ham: Stuart Pearce from Newcastle, Igor Stimac from Derby; Eyal Berkovic to Celtic.

Wimbledon: Andreas Lund from Molde, Hermann Hreidarsson from Brentford; Mark Kennedy to Manchester City.

Other statistics

• In his first season at Arsenal, Thierry Henry scored 25 goals − 16 in the Premier League, seven in the UEFA Cup and one in the League Cup and the Champions League.

• Alan Shearer netted a nap-hand for Newcastle in the 8-0 trimming of Sheffield Wed. in a league match at St James' Park. Andy Cole and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, of Man. United, each scored four goals in a league match, against Newcastle (home) and Everton (home), respectively. United went on to score two more trebles that season through Dwight Yorke and Paul Scholes.

• In addition to being named Manager of the Year, Ferguson also won twice the monthly award for August and March. United also dominated the players' monthly prize, having three on the winning list - Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs and Yorke.

• The champions chalked up a staggering 10 doubles, winning home and away against the same team in the league.

• West Ham had the highest number of sendings-off after eight players saw red.

• Four Premier League managers were shown the backdoor during season 1999-2000: Ruud Gullit (Newcastle), Dave Jones (on leave for a year due to a court case, replaced by Glenn Hoddle), Danny Wilson (Sheffield Wed.) and Egil Olsen (Wimbledon).