They had started the season terribly after manager Dave Bassett was sacked and Dutch striker Pierre van Hooijdonk refused to play after a dispute with the club.

Oxford's dismal season was mainly down to debts of £10 million which were putting the club in real danger of closure and had also resulted in the suspension of construction of their new stadium near the Blackbird Leys estate.

The referee then allowed four minutes of stoppage time and with just seconds to go, goalkeeper Jimmy Glass came upfield and scored from a rebounded corner to preserve his club's place in the league, which had been held since 1928.

United's treble aspirations seemed to have been thwarted in the European Cup final at Barcelona's Nou Camp stadium, with Bayern Munich leading 1–0 at the end of normal time.

Sheringham's goal looked to have forced extra time, but with the last kick of the game Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored a winner and United fans and players went wild.

On 2 February, the FA terminated Glenn Hoddle's contract as England manager after he appeared in The Times and suggested that disabled people were being "punished for sins in previous lives".

A year after their playoff final defeat to Charlton Athletic in a penalty shoot-out, Peter Reid's Sunderland returned to the Premiership after winning the Division One championship with a record 105 points.

Ten seconds before the end of stoppage time, Jimmy Glass ran upfield after a corner was given and slammed the ball into the back of the net to keep Carlisle in the league and send Scarborough down to the Conference.

Tottenham Hotspur finished 11th under new manager George Graham but won the League Cup to end their eight-year wait for a major trophy and a place in Europe.

Blackburn Rovers, league champions just four years earlier, were the next team to go down; the appointment of long-serving Manchester United assistant Brian Kidd as manager appeared to have turned the corner after a terrible start to the season, but a failure to win any of their final eight matches saw them relegated.

Wolverhampton Wanderers just missed out on the playoffs after the dismissal of Mark McGhee in November paved the way for his assistant Colin Lee to take over and oversee a strong run of form which lifted the side into the top half of the table to finish seventh.

Bristol City finished bottom and suffered immediate relegation back to Division Two, as the club's decision to replace promotion-winning manager John Ward with Benny Lennartsson just a few weeks into the season failed to pay off.

Manchester City, who had suffered a spectacular fall from grace over the last few years, immediately won promotion during their first ever season at this level, defeating Gillingham in a dramatic play-off final.

Leading goalscorer: Jamie Cureton (Bristol Rovers) – 25 Brentford chairman Ron Noades' unorthodox decision to appoint himself as manager paid off in surprising fashion, and they won promotion back to Division Two as champions.

Carlisle United, who had been below them prior to the final match of the season, earned a shock injury time winner through goalkeeper Jimmy Glass, saving their League status and sending Scarborough down.

Leading goalscorer: Marco Gabbiadini (Darlington) – 24 16 July 1998 – Former French national coach Gérard Houllier is appointed joint manager of Liverpool to work alongside Roy Evans.

9 September 1998 – An inquest records a verdict of suicide on former Norwich City and Nottingham Forest striker Justin Fashanu, who was found hanged at a lock-up garage in London four months ago.

A wide gap is beginning to open up between the top three and the rest of the division, with Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Chelsea, Leicester City and West Ham United putting up the nearest competition.

[11] 14 November 1998 – Colchester United fall victim to arguably the biggest upset of the FA Cup fourth round when they are defeated 4–1 by non-league Bedlington Terriers.

[21] 13 January 1999 – Leeds United avoid what would have been one of the biggest FA Cup upsets of modern times and beat Rushden and Diamonds 3–1 in the third round replay at Elland Road.

18 January 1999 – Bryan Kidd boosts his Blackburn Rovers side in their battle against relegation by signing Crystal Palace striker Matt Jansen for £4.1 million.

27 January 1999 – Two midfielders change clubs for £4 million – Marc-Vivien Foé from Lens to West Ham United and Jason McAteer from Liverpool to Blackburn Rovers.

[25] 3 February 1999 – Oxford United's luck in the FA Cup runs out: 17-year-old Mikael Forssell bags a brace on his first start for 4–2 victors Chelsea in the fourth round replay at Stamford Bridge.

[31] 5 March 1999 – Former Doncaster Rovers chairman Ken Richardson is sentenced to four years in prison for paying a friend to start a fire at the club's Belle Vue ground in 1995.

21 March 1999 – Tottenham Hotspur end their eight-year wait for a major trophy (and European qualification) thanks to a 1–0 win over Leicester City in the League Cup final.

In other semi-final, at Old Trafford, two goals in extra time from Alan Shearer send Newcastle United through to the final for the second year running and spell an end to Tottenham's hopes of a cup double.

[36] 24 April 1999 – Nottingham Forest's Premier League relegation is confirmed with a 2–0 defeat to Aston Villa, after which manager Ron Atkinson announces that he will retire at the end of this season.

Nottingham Forest's inevitable relegation has now been confirmed, with Southampton, Charlton Athletic, Blackburn Rovers, Coventry City, Everton and Sheffield Wednesday all in the battle of avoid going down as well.

8 May 1999 – On-loan goalkeeper Jimmy Glass scored an injury-time winner for Carlisle United on the final day of the season to save their Football League status, and relegate Scarborough to the Conference.

26 May 1999 – Two late goals (the equaliser from Teddy Sheringham and the winner from Ole Gunnar Solskjær) save Manchester United from the jaws of defeat and they beat Bayern Munich 2–1 in the Champions League final at the Camp Nou to complete a unique treble.