Unique treble for magical United

After securing their third league and cup double in an incredible short period of five years (previous feats in 1994 and 1996), Manchester United rounded up a perfect season by winning the European Cup, beating Bayern Munich in a dramatic final in Barcelona.

The showdown at the Nou Camp was the 62nd match of the season for Alex Ferguson's team. In the close season, Ferguson spent about £30 million to sign Dwight Yorke, Jaap Stam and Jesper Blomqvist.

A fifth Premiership crown in seven years was indeed a great achievement for the Red Devils as they continued to show that they were the best team around at the time.

The depth of the squad and the rapid progress of their talented youngsters were key to their dominance. This was further underlined when United saw off Newcastle to lift the FA Cup after a comfortable 2-0 win, becoming the only English league side to claim the double on three occasions. It was also a record 10th FA Cup success for United.

The Mancunians lost only three league matches in 1998-99, the same as Chelsea. Arsenal had come so close to defending the title but their upset at Leeds in the penultimate match of the campaign did all the damage as the Gunners finished one point behind the champions.

The title outcome was decided on the final day of the season with United crowned champions after beating Tottenham 2-1 at Old Trafford.

Top scorers

18 goals − Hasselbaink (Leeds), Owen (Liverpool), Yorke (Man. United).

17 goals − Anelka (Arsenal), Cole (Man. United).

15 goals − Ricard (Middlesbrough).

14 goals − Fowler (Liverpool), Joachim (Aston Villa), Shearer (Newcastle).

Transfers

Arsenal: Fredrik Ljungberg from Halmstadt, Nkwankwo Kanu from Inter; Ian Wright to West Ham.

Aston Villa: Paul Merson from Middlesbrough, Dion Dublin from Coventry; Savo Milosevic to Real Zaragoza.

Blackburn: Christian Dailly from Derby, Ashley Ward from Barnsley; Colin Hendry to Rangers.

Charlton: Graham Stuart from Sheffield United, Neil Redfearn from Barnsley; Paul Emblen to Wycombe.

Chelsea: Pierluigi Casiraghi from Lazio, Marcel Desailly from Milan; Brian Laudrup to FC Copenhagen.

Coventry: Steve Froggatt from Wolves, Muhamad Konjic from Monaco; Viorel Moldovan to Fenerbahce.

Derby: Horacio Carbone from Rosario Central, Kevin Harper from Hibernian; Lee Carsley to Blackburn.

Everton: Olivier Dacourt from Strasbourg, Marco Materazzi from Perugia; Duncan Ferguson to Newcastle.

Leeds: David Batty from Newcastle, Clyde Wijnhard from Willem II; Andy Gray to Nottingham Forest.

Leicester: Frank Sinclair from Chelsea, Andrew Impey from West Ham; Spencer Prior to Derby.

Liverpool: Sean Dundee from Karlsruhe, Vegard Heggem from Rosenborg; Jason McAteer to Blackburn.

Manchester United: Stam, Blomqvist and Yorke (from PSV, Parma and Aston Villa already mentioned); Gary Pallister to Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough: Colin Cooper from Middlesbrough, Brian Deane from Benfica; Mikkel Beck to Derby.

Newcastle: Stephane Guivarc'h from Auxerre, Nolberto Solano from Boca Juniors; Jon Dahl Tomasson to Feyenoord.

Nottingham Forest: Nigel Quashie from QPR, Carlton Palmer from Southampton; Kevin Campbell to Trabzonspor.

Sheffield Wednesday: Wim Jonk from PSV, Richard Cresswell from York; Paolo di Canio to West Ham.

Southampton: Stuart Ripley from Blackburn, Hassan Kachloul from St Etienne; Kevin Davies to Blackburn.

Tottenham: Tim Sherwood from Blackburn, Paolo Tramezzani from Piacenza; Gary Brady to Newcastle.

West Ham: Scott Minto from Benfica, Marc Vivien Foe from Lens; David Unsworth to Aston Villa.

Wimbledon: John Hartson from West Ham, Gareth Ainsworth from Port Vale; Alan Reeves to Swindon.

Other statistics

• Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Liverpool's Michael Owen both scored four goals in one match − Solskjaer in United's 8-1 hiding of N. Forest at the City Ground, and Owen against the same Forest 5-1 at Anfield. Liverpool went on to finish as the club with the most trebles, four in all, as Fowler, twice, and Owen added to his previous feat. The Red Devils had another hat-trick scorer in Yorke in the 6-2 trimming of Leicester away.

• After they played 35 games, Nottingham Forest were relegated and were later joined by Blackburn and Charlton.

• United boss Alex Ferguson and Alan Curbishley, of Charlton, won the managerial award twice each throughout the campaign.

• Three clubs had two players claiming the monthly award:

Arsenal − Nicolas Anelka, Ray Parlour.

Aston Villa − Gareth Southgate (present Middlesbrough boss), Dion Dublin.

Manchester United − Stam, Yorke.

• Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United registered five doubles apiece with whipping boys Nottingham Forest among their victims, home and away. Forest were the only team not to attain a home and away win against the same club.

• It was a busy season for sendings-off in league action. Blackburn collected eight red cards, while Arsenal had seven.

None of the Premiership clubs had a clean sheet in so far as red cards were concerned in 1998-99. The main culprit was Dennis Wise with three dismissals. Yet, the Chelsea player was sent off only once in the league as his two other red cards came in the domestic cups.

• Five managers were given the sack: Kenny Dalglish (Newcastle), Christian Gross (Tottenham), George Graham (Leeds), Roy Hodgson (Blackburn) and Dave Bassett (Nottingham Forest).

Individual awards

PFA Player of the Year: David Ginola (Tottenham).

PFA Young Player of the Year: Nicolas Anelka (Arsenal).

Football Writers' Footballer of the Year: Ginola.

Manager of the Year: Alex Ferguson (Man. United).

Premier League Player of the Year: Dwight Yorke (Man. United).