Black Country Bugle

Keane breaks teenage transfer record and Maresca joins Italian giants

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Season 19992000 Part Two

Brian ‘The Beast’ Jensen was signed by Albion from Dutch club Alkmaar

IN the two domestic knockout competitio­ns, Albion lost to Fulham in the third round of the League Cup after eliminatin­g Halifax Town and Wycombe Wanderers, the latter having knocked Wolves out in the opening round.

Walsall beat Portsmouth in the first round before crashing out 8-2 on aggregate to Sunderland in the next round.

In the FA Cup, Albion crashed out in the third round – beaten by Blackburn Rovers in a replay after extra-time. Wolves ousted Wigan Athletic in the third round before losing in a replay to Sheffield Wednesday, while Walsall waved goodbye in round one, beaten in a replay by Gillingham.

Club round up … Albion sold Enzo Maresca to Juventus for a club record fee of £4.5 million in January; Larus Sigurdsson w a s recruited from Stoke City for £325,000; full-backs Neil Clement and Des Lyttle arrived from Chelsea and Watford respective­ly and goalkeepr Brian ‘The Beast’ Jensen was signed from the

Dutch club Alkmaar.

Moving out of The Hawthorns went winger Kevin Kilbane, sold to Sunderland for £2.5 million. Defender Paul Raven switched to Grimsby Town and goalkeeper Alan Miller signed for Blackburn Rovers.

Sadly, Alan is no longer with us – passing away in June of last year at the age of just 51.

Albion’s disciplina­ry record was bad in 1999-20. Players’ received 35 yellow cards between them, while six reds were also handed out, two each for defenders Daryl Burgess and Matt Carbon.

Wolves signed Darren Bazeley from Watford and he was the only ever-present during the season. Other recruits included Michael Branch from Everton, George Ndah from Swindon, Michael Oakes from Aston Villa, Ludivic Pollet from Le Havre, Andy Sinton from Spurs and Scott Taylor from Leicester.

Meanwhile centre-back Dean Richards was transferre­d to Southampto­n and striker Robbie Keane became the most expensive teenager in British football when he left Molineux for Coventry in a deal worth £6 million.

Walsall manager Ray Graydon used 34 players during the course of this season.

 ?? ?? Robbie Keane in his last season for Wolves, before departing for Coventry for a record fee. (Mark Thompson / Allsport)
Robbie Keane in his last season for Wolves, before departing for Coventry for a record fee. (Mark Thompson / Allsport)
 ?? ?? Wolves’ Ludovic Pollet wins the aerial ball from Iwan Roberts, against Norwich City at Molinuex (Sam Bagnall)
Wolves’ Ludovic Pollet wins the aerial ball from Iwan Roberts, against Norwich City at Molinuex (Sam Bagnall)
 ?? ?? Enzo Maresca at Birmingham Airport, flying out for talks with Juventus (Neil Pugh)
Enzo Maresca at Birmingham Airport, flying out for talks with Juventus (Neil Pugh)

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