The Story of a Premiership Season

Close Season 2000

Steve McManaman becomes the first Englishman to score for a foreign club, in a European Final, when he nets Real Madrid’s second goal as they beat Valencia in the All-Spanish Champions’ League Final, in Paris.

Fabian Barthez joins Manchester United in a new British record fee for a goalkeeper, £7.8 million.

Chelsea pay £15 million to Atletico Madrid for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Next season Premiership referees will have their match-fee doubled to £1,200, more than six times that of Nationwide referees, who pick up £195.

Sunderland’s 30-goal striker Kevin Phillips is named Carling Player of the Year.
It’s the end of an era as the BBC is outbid, by ITV, for Premier League highlights and Match of the Day, a football fixture on Saturday nights for 35 years, is no more.

Chelsea buy Bolton’s Icelandic striker, Eidur Gudjohnsen for £4 million.

Nigel Winterburn leaves Arsenal, after 13 years, on a free transfer, for West Ham.

Mario Stanic moves from Parma to Chelsea for £5.6 million and Alessandro Pistone signs for Everton, from Newcastle, for £3 million.

Robert Pires snubs Real Madrid in favour of Arsenal and moves from Marseilles to Highbury for £6 million. Newcastle pay £1 million more to sign Wimbledon’s Carl Cort. The Dons also bank £5 million when Ben Thatcher joins Tottenham.

Chris Sutton completes a Scottish record transfer when he leaves Chelsea for Celtic in a £6 million deal. The same amount is paid by Arsenal for Edu but the player is deported, on arrival at Heathrow, to Brazil, when he is found to have a forged passport.

Paul Gascoigne completes a shock move from Middlesbrough for Everton, where he teams up with Walter Smith, who was his manager at Rangers. Nicky Barmby becomes the first Everton player to sign for Liverpool for 40 years when he completes a £6 million move.

Inter Milan pay £13 million for Coventry’s Robbie Keane, less than a year after Sir Alex Ferguson says the player was only worth £500,000.

Arsenal pair ‘Manu’ Petit and Mark Overmars join Barcelona for £30 million. Three million pounds is what Aston Villa pay Spurs for David Ginola.

Chelsea win the Charity Shield against Manchester United, who have Roy Keane sent off, for a seventh time.