League Cup Finale 1998 1999 Tottenham Leicester City

21 Mars 1999

Wembley Stadium, London

 

 

Leicester ( 3-5-2):- Keller; Taggart, Elliott, Walsh; Ullathorne, Savage ( sub, Zagorakis, 90 ), Izzett, Lennon, Guppy; Cottee, Heskey ( sub, Marshall, 74 )

Spurs ( 4-4-2 ):- Walker; Carr, Vega, Campbell, Edinburgh; Anderton, Freund, Nielsen, Ginola ( sub Sinton, 90 ); Ferdinand, Iversen

 

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Tottenham were managed by George Graham. He had left Leeds United six months earlier to return to London to manage Spurs. This move had led to Leeds wanting Martin O’Neill as their new manager. O’Neill had been upset when he was refused permission to talk to Leeds. Whilst all this drama was unfolding, George Graham, with his new Spurs side, came to Filbert Street for a night match. Thousands of home fans held up ‘Don’t Go Martin’ placards in an amazing display of support for Martin O’Neill. This was a big factor in persuading O’Neill to stay with Leicester City.

 

 

Two weeks later, Leeds turned up at Filbert Street for League Cup tie. Two late Leicester City goals turned a near certain defeat into an unexpected victory. The City had already defeated Chesterfield (after a replay) and Charlton Athletic in this competition. The victory over Leeds led to further victories on the road to Wembley. These were against Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland. The Black Cats were defeated in a two legged semi-final. A revitalised Tony Cottee scored all three of Leicester’s goals across the two legs in the semi-final.

Martin O’Neill’s Leicester City were in their third season in the Premier League. In the weeks leading up to the final, they suffered a dip in league form which saw then drop from 10th to 14th in the table. They were defeated 6-2 at Filbert Street by that season’s league champions Manchester United and lost 5-0 at Arsenal in a sequence which saw four defeats and a draw in five games. Tottenham were definite favourites to win at Wembley. O’Neill conceded this when he said that just getting to the final as a major achievement. The Spurs danger man was David Ginola, a talented and exciting Frenchman who had genuine star quality and who was playing the best football of his career.

The press speculated that if Leicester lost the final, this could see the break up of O’Neill’s talented squad. It was felt that the Club would find it difficult to resist summer bids for the likes of Lennon, Heskey and Izzet.