1999 FA Cup Final: Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United
The second leg of the treble

The footage

The match report

The 118th FA Cup final was played on Saturday 22 May 1999 at Wembley, in sunshine, in front of 79,101 spectators. Manchester United had clinched the Premiership at Old Trafford the previous Sunday, were unbeaten in 31 matches, and would play Bayern Munich in the European Cup final in Barcelona four days later. Newcastle United had not won a league game since April and were back at Wembley a year after losing the 1998 final to Arsenal by the same score they would lose this one.[23][22][7][3][21]

Alex Ferguson's selection was shaped by Barcelona. Roy Keane and Paul Scholes were suspended for that match, so this was their own final and both started; Nicky Butt, who would replace Keane in Spain, was left out altogether; Jaap Stam, nursing an Achilles injury, was on the bench with Dwight Yorke; and Phil Neville came in at left back for the suspended Denis Irwin. A flu bug had gone through the squad in the week, and Scholes, David Beckham and Gary Neville all played through it. Ruud Gullit kept his own team from his players until the day: Steve Harper was preferred to Shay Given in goal, the 20-year-old Andy Griffin was given Ryan Giggs to mark, and Temuri Ketsbaia was chosen ahead of Duncan Ferguson to partner Alan Shearer.[3][2][24][21]

Newcastle began the brighter. Inside three minutes Shearer nodded down for Nolberto Solano to volley, and Peter Schmeichel needed two attempts to hold it. Dietmar Hamann was booked for a late challenge on Phil Neville. Then came the moment that decided the shape of the afternoon: Keane hurt his ankle in a fair tackle by Gary Speed and could not continue. Ferguson replaced his captain, a midfielder, with a striker, Teddy Sheringham, pushing Beckham into the centre and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer out to the right.[1][2][4][24]

Sheringham had been on the pitch for less than two minutes when he scored. From a free-kick inside United's half the ball went through Scholes and David May to Andy Cole, who turned away from two defenders and aimed a pass towards Giggs; it found Sheringham instead, who played it past Robert Lee, through Speed's legs to Scholes, took the return and put his shot through Harper's legs. The BBC noted it was the 250th goal of his club career. Newcastle, who had been the better side, were now chasing the game, and although Hamann forced Schmeichel into a near-post save, Sheringham went close twice more from Gary Neville's crosses and Laurent Charvet had to kick Cole's lob off the line.[1][24][22]

Hamann, who had taken a dead leg in an early challenge, could barely walk by half-time and told Gullit he could not go on; Duncan Ferguson replaced him. Eight minutes into the second half Nikos Dabizas's mistake let Solskjaer run at the area and feed Sheringham, who rolled the ball back into Scholes's path with his back to goal. Scholes hit it under Harper from 20 yards, and said afterwards that he had not struck it well. A minute later Ketsbaia hit Schmeichel's post, but from then on, in the BBC's phrase, United were able to play exhibition football.[1][2][24][22]

Yorke replaced Cole on the hour and headed Giggs's cross over; Scholes had a shot deflected wide at the end of a move of nearly twenty passes; Giggs volleyed the corner a yard wide; Sheringham's lob bounced over the bar. Stam came on for Scholes, a fitness test in public that he passed, and Silvio Maric, on for Solano, screwed Newcastle's best chance wide from ten yards after good work by Ferguson. Griffin forced a last-minute save from Schmeichel. It finished 2-0, the same score by which Newcastle had lost to Arsenal the year before.[1][22][3]

Keane, substituted after nine minutes, still led the team up to receive the cup from the Prince of Wales. Ferguson called the win three doubles in five years and said Sheringham had been marvellous; Sheringham, the consensus man of the match, said one minute you are down and the next you are up; Giggs, collecting a third winner's medal at 25, said the early goal had let United relax and hit Newcastle on the break. Gullit said his players had been punished for their mistakes and had to be thankful United did not score three, four or five. In Newcastle that evening police made more than 50 arrests after a crowd of about 500 in the Bigg Market turned on telephone boxes and saplings.[2][5][24][1]

Four days later two injury-time goals from substitutes, Sheringham and Solskjaer, beat Bayern Munich in Barcelona and completed a treble no English club had achieved. The cup's aftermath was less glorious. In June the Football Association, chasing the 2006 World Cup, invited the holders to skip the next season's FA Cup and play in FIFA's new club championship in Brazil; chairman Martin Edwards called it a no-win situation, United accepted, and the following December a lucky loser, Darlington, was drawn to fill their place. This was also the first final that could not have gone to a replay, and the semi-final replay against Arsenal was the last the competition ever staged.[6][18][19][20]

How the match unfolded

1. 3'Newcastle, attacking from east to west after kicking off, create the first chance: Alan Shearer nods down and Nolberto Solano's volley is held by Peter Schmeichel at the second attempt.[1]
2. 5'Dietmar Hamann is booked for a late challenge on Phil Neville. He has already taken a dead leg himself in an early tackle.[1][24]
3. 9'Roy Keane cannot continue after a legitimate challenge from Gary Speed has damaged his left ankle. Alex Ferguson replaces a midfielder with a striker, Teddy Sheringham: David Beckham moves into the centre and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to the right. The BBC gives the minute as eight and as ten in different pieces.[1][2][4][22]
4. 11'Goal. Sheringham, on the pitch for less than two minutes, plays a one-two with Paul Scholes and slots the ball past Steve Harper. It is the 250th goal of his club career. Manchester United 1-0 Newcastle United.[1][22][2]
5. First halfA Solano free-kick whistles over. Sheringham glances Beckham's free-kick wide, then heads a Gary Neville cross a foot wide of the near post, and Laurent Charvet kicks Andy Cole's weak lob off the line.[1]
6. First halfNewcastle's best moment: Temuri Ketsbaia's fine play sets up Hamann, whose shot is well saved by Schmeichel at his near post.[1][24]
7. 45'Half-time, 1-0. Hamann, barely able to walk on his dead leg, tells Ruud Gullit he cannot continue; Duncan Ferguson replaces him for the second half.[1][24][22]
8. 53'Goal. Nikos Dabizas's mistake lets Solskjaer advance and feed Sheringham on the edge of the area; with his back to goal he lays the ball into Scholes's path and the shot goes under Harper from 20 yards. Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United.[1][22][4][24]
9. 54'Ketsbaia's shot hits the post with Schmeichel stranded.[1]
10. 60'Dwight Yorke replaces Cole, whom the BBC calls disappointing. RSSSF logs the change at 61.[1][22]
11. After the hourYorke heads Ryan Giggs's cross over the bar. A move of nearly twenty passes ends with Scholes's shot deflected past the post, and Giggs volleys the corner a yard wide.[1]
12. 68'Silvio Maric replaces Solano.[22][1]
13. 78'Jaap Stam replaces Scholes, a fitness test in public before Barcelona. RSSSF logs it at 77; the BBC says under 15 minutes remained.[1][22]
14. 79'Stephen Glass replaces Ketsbaia.[22]
15. Closing minutesSheringham's lob over Harper bounces over the bar. Maric, set up by Ferguson, fails to hit the target from ten yards in what the BBC calls Newcastle's best chance of the day.[1]
16. 90'Andy Griffin's shot forces a last-minute save from Schmeichel. Full-time: Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United.[1][22]

Match facts

Date

Saturday 22 May 1999

Venue

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance

79,101The figure in the RSSSF archive and the standard reference work. None of the BBC's day-of pages prints an attendance, and no FA or club document for this final could be fetched.[22][24]

Referee

Peter Jones[24]

Scorers

Teddy Sheringham 11'
Paul Scholes 53'[1][22][2][24]

Half-time

1-0

Competition

1998-99 FA Cup

Where they played

Both sides as they lined up. Choose any player to read what they did in this final.

Select a shirt for that player's note.

Route to the final

Line-ups

Trivia and detail

• This was the first FA Cup final that could not have been replayed: had it been drawn, extra time and penalties would have settled it on the day. Final replays had been abandoned in 1999 after a single replay had been allowed since 1991.[20][24]
• United's semi-final replay against Arsenal, won by Giggs's solo goal in extra time after Schmeichel had saved a Bergkamp penalty and Keane had been sent off, was the last semi-final replay in the competition's history.[8][24]
• Newcastle reached Wembley after referee Paul Durkin missed a handball by Nikos Dabizas in the semi-final against Tottenham; Shearer then scored a penalty and a late drive in extra time.[9][21]
• Gullit had his players wear white socks with black trim rather than Newcastle's usual black, citing the luck of former teams of his that wore white socks.[24]
• Dabizas said before the final that Manchester United had three plates of food to eat and Newcastle only one, so they had to eat something or starve.[3]
• The Guardian's preview quoted Gullit saying the FA Cup had been getting in the way and his players had been saving themselves unconsciously; the BBC quoted him demanding a team that went for 200 per cent.[21][3]
• William Hill cut United's odds on the treble from 5-4 to 4-7 within seconds of the final whistle.[4]
• Because United had qualified for the Champions League as champions, the UEFA Cup place reserved for the cup winners went to Newcastle as runners-up, and the Charity Shield place went to Arsenal as league runners-up.[24]
• Newcastle's third-round tie had begun with goalkeeper Shay Given sent off after fourteen minutes for handling outside his area; his replacement that day, Steve Harper, kept goal in the final.[25][22]
• Sheringham had scored in only three of the season's ties before the final, but it was his through ball that set up Beckham's goal in the semi-final replay, and four days after Wembley his injury-time equaliser in Barcelona began the comeback that won the European Cup.[8][6]

How well do you know the 1999 final?

Five questions. Every answer is sourced from the material on this page.

1. Who replaced the injured Roy Keane in the ninth minute of the 1999 FA Cup final?

   Teddy SheringhamNicky ButtDwight YorkeJaap Stam
   Answer

   Teddy Sheringham. Ferguson replaced a midfielder with a striker. Sheringham scored within two minutes and later set up Scholes's goal.[1][2]

2. Which Newcastle defender kicked Andy Cole's first-half lob off the line?

   Laurent CharvetNikos DabizasDidier DomiAndy Griffin
   Answer

   Laurent Charvet. The BBC's match report records Charvet clearing Cole's weak lob off the line during United's first-half pressure.[1]

3. Which honour did the 1999 FA Cup complete for Manchester United?

   A third league and cup double, four days before the trebleThe treble itselfA first FA Cup under Alex FergusonA fourth consecutive FA Cup
   Answer

   A third league and cup double, four days before the treble. United had won the Premiership the previous weekend; the FA Cup made it a third double, and the European Cup in Barcelona four days later completed the treble.[2][6]

4. Why did Manchester United not defend the FA Cup the following season?

   They withdrew to play in FIFA's new club championship in BrazilThey were banned after crowd troubleThey fielded an ineligible player in the finalThey declined because of fixture congestion in Europe
   Answer

   They withdrew to play in FIFA's new club championship in Brazil. The FA, pursuing the 2006 World Cup bid, invited the holders to miss the competition and play in Brazil; United accepted, and Darlington were drawn as a lucky loser to fill their place.[18][19]

5. Whose mistake let Solskjaer in to create Paul Scholes's goal?

   Nikos DabizasSteve HarperGary SpeedDietmar Hamann
   Answer

   Nikos Dabizas. The BBC's report says a mistake by Dabizas allowed Solskjaer to advance to the area and pass to Sheringham, who laid the ball into Scholes's path.[1]

What is not settled

Honesty matters more than tidiness. These details are contested or unrecorded, and we have not guessed at them:

• Keane's substitution is timed at eight minutes by the BBC's reaction piece, ten by its Sunday report, and nine by RSSSF and the standard reference work. The record uses nine. See the feature.
• Substitution minutes differ: Yorke on the hour (BBC), 60 (standard reference work) or 61 (RSSSF); Stam with under 15 minutes remaining (BBC), 78 (standard reference work) or 77 (RSSSF). The record uses the standard reference work's minute where RSSSF is one out and the BBC is vague.
• Hamann's booking is given as the fifth minute by the standard reference work only; the BBC's report records the booking without a minute.
• No BBC page from the day prints the attendance; 79,101 rests on the RSSSF archive and the standard reference work, which agree.
• The referee is named as Peter Jones of Leicestershire only by the standard reference work among the sources we could fetch; no contemporary BBC page names the officials.
• Wikipedia places Rob Lee on the right of midfield and Solano on the left; RSSSF lists the midfield as Solano, Speed, Hamann, Lee without positions, and the BBC gives no positions. The pitch follows the standard reference work.
• Shearer's captaincy is stated by the standard reference work; the BBC's preview calls him England captain and does not name Newcastle's captain on the day.
• The account of Hamann's half-time argument with Gullit rests on the standard reference work's citation of a later Telegraph interview that this project cannot fetch; the BBC records only that Ferguson replaced Hamann at the break.
• Ferguson's 'three Doubles in five years' and the BBC's 'three times in six years' describe the same three seasons; see the computed item.
• The FA's own match page for this final could not be found on the Internet Archive, so no official-report source is cited; the two BBC day-of pages and the Guardian preview are the contemporary sources.
• No footage from a rightsholder has been found for this final, so the television shows no signal.

How we know

Every claim on this page is tied to a numbered source below. These are the contemporary records behind it, each one fetched and matched word for word before publication rather than taken on trust:

• BBC match report published at 17:48 on 22 May 1999: the Keane injury, both goals, chances, substitutions and Sheringham's 250th club goal · BBC News
• BBC post-match reaction, 22 May 1999: Ferguson, Sheringham, Scholes, Giggs and Gullit quoted; the flu bug; man of the match · BBC News
• Michael Walker, 17 May 1999: Newcastle's run without a league win, Harper and Griffin expected to play, Gullit's warning · The Guardian

Where a primary record and a modern account disagree, we show both rather than choosing the tidier number.

Sources

1. Double joy for Man United · BBC News
2. Delight for Fergie · BBC News
3. Two teams, one trophy · BBC News
4. Treble beckons for the Reds · BBC News
5. Newcastle arrests follow FA Cup match · BBC News
6. United crowned kings of Europe · BBC News
7. Glorious United crowned champions · BBC News
8. Giggs magic sinks Gunners · BBC News
9. Shearer puts Newcastle in final · BBC News
10. Deadly Dwight beats the Blues · BBC News
11. Two off in FA Cup stalemate · BBC News
12. George and Georgian are Geordie heroes · BBC News
13. Cole leaves Fulham cold · BBC News
14. Saha makes it simple for Ruud · BBC News
15. United pull off Cup smash-and-grab · BBC News
16. Brave Bradford overcome by Newcastle · BBC News
17. United set up clash of the giants · BBC News
18. Edwards derides 'no win' situation · BBC News
19. Lucky Darlington land Villa trip · BBC News
20. FA Cup in danger of losing lustre · BBC Sport
21. Gullit left appealing to Newcastle's subconscious · The Guardian
22. England FA Challenge Cup 1998-99 · RSSSF
23. England FA Challenge Cup Finals · RSSSF
24. 1999 FA Cup final · Wikipedia
25. FA Cup highlights · BBC News

Elsewhere in the encyclopedia

Other finals involving these clubs

• 1979 Manchester United: Arsenal 3-2 Manchester United
• 1998 Newcastle United: Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle United
• 2004 Manchester United: Manchester United 3-0 Millwall
• 2005 Manchester United: Arsenal 0-0 Manchester United
• 2007 Manchester United: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United
• 2016 Manchester United: Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester United

Other finals at Wembley Stadium

• 1923 Bolton Wanderers 2-0 West Ham United
• 1953 Blackpool 4-3 Bolton Wanderers
• 1971 Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool
• 1973 Sunderland 1-0 Leeds United
• 1979 Arsenal 3-2 Manchester United
• 1987 Coventry City 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Elsewhere on WhatChan