Unofficial Champions of England: Crewe Alexandra 2-0 Crystal Palace, 04/12/1999

Paul Tait chips Crewe Alexandra into the lead.

Crystal Palace's reign as English Champions began with a nice win over Nottingham Forest. Game two would bring them to Gresty Road to face fellow strugglers Crewe Alexandra.

Crewe have been in the football league since 1921 but have never been in the top flight, spending most of their time in the lower divisions. Indeed, they hold the record for finishing bottom of the league (eight times). So, this was a relative golden period for the Railwaymen under their legendary manager Dario Gradi (whom in two spells managed Crewe for a combined 26 seasons).

Crewe's first came early in the first half, a delightful chip by Paul Tait from outside the box. The second was a more straight forward affair, Steve Macauley left unmarked in the box to volley in from a free-kick.

The trophy cabinet may not be bulging at Gresty Road but at least Crewe fans can say they were once Champions of England.

Unofficial Champions of England: Crystal Palace 1-0 Norwich City, 23/11/1999

Mathias Svensson scores the winning goal

Norwich City, under manager Bruce Rioch, enjoyed a relatively lengthy run as champions defending their title five times, They saw off challenges from Stockport County, Fulham, Nottingham Forest, Swindon Town and Ipswich Town.

Game six brought them to Selhurst Park to face a struggling Crystal Palace side, back under former manager Steve Coppell, who hadn't been able to get their season started.

It took until the last minute before Swedish striker Mathias Svensson was the first to react to Terry Phelan's cross to win the game and the English Championship for Crystal Palace. The Eagle's second championship and first since 1994.

Unofficial Champions of England: Norwich City 2-1 Bolton Wanderers, 24/10/1999

The Allardyce reign as English Champion was short lived.

Bolton retained their title in a 2-2 draw with Crewe Alexandra before visiting Norwich City for a Division One game.

The Canaries had been stuck in the second tier for four years with yearnings for a return to the top. Two goals from midfielder Darel Russell (with one in reply from Ricardo Gardner) were enough for Norwich to claim their first ever English Championship.

Unofficial Champions of England: Bolton Wanderers 1-0 Huddersfield Town, 16/10/1999

After the elation of beating high flying Chelsea to become English Champions, it was back to league action in Division One for Huddersfield Town.

Just three days on, the Terriers were defending their title at the Reebok Stadium against Bolton Wanderers. Bolton were looking to make a return to the Premier League (as well as claim their second Unofficial Championship) but a poor start to the season had cost manager Colin Todd his job, with Phil Brown taking charge in a caretaker role. Watching from the stands was Bolton's next full-time manager, Samuel 'Big Sam' Allardyce.

One goal was all that was required on the day, coming from Jamaican Ricardo Gardner. Big Sam's dream had come true, he was taking over a championship winning side.

Unofficial Champions of England: Chelsea 0-1 Huddersfield Town, 13/10/1999

Imagine the scene: you've just beaten the League and European Champions 5-0 whilst barely breaking a sweat.

Next up is a League Cup tie at home against a second-tier side. Piece of cake, right.
Football is never that simple.

Huddersfield weren't doing too badly in Division One at the time but not many really thought they would beat Chelsea in this tie.

Sure, Chelsea rested a lot of players but that shouldn't take away from a determined Huddersfield outfit.
The winning goal came on 77 minutes, Kenny Irons writing himself into Terriers folklore with a 30 yard effort into the top corner.

A memorable night for Huddersfield Town as they claimed their maiden Unofficial English Championship.

Match report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/474278.stm

Unofficial Champions of England: Chelsea 5-0 Manchester United, 03/10/1999

Jody Morris scores Chelsea's fifth goal

Manchester United are the treble winners and Unofficial Champions. They haven't lost a league game in ten months. They look unstoppable.
All except one thing and his name is Massimo Taibi. To be fair, it was a big ask for any keeper to fill the gloves of United's legendary keeper Peter Schmeichel. Taibi's time in Manchester was short but the stuff of legends.

Chelsea took the lead after just 27 seconds. Dan Petrescu played the ball forward for Gus Poyet to head past a stranded Taibi.
Chris Sutton, who didn't score many in his time at Stamford Bridge, made it 2-0 with a looping header from Albert Ferrer's cross.
It got worse for United when Nicky Butt was red carded for lashing out at Chelsea skipper Dennis Wise.

United survived conceding anymore until the second half when Gus Poyet got his second goal, scoring on the rebound after Taibi had saved Frank Leboeuf's low effort.
The fourth goal, despite Sutton's best efforts to claim it for himself, was an own goal from Henning Berg, sliding in to turn in Gianfranco Zola's low cross.
The final goal came from Jody Morris, completing Taibi's miserable day by shooting between his legs.

The Treble winners were well and truly humbled.

Unofficial Champions of England: Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United, 22/08/1999

Roy Keane equalises for Manchester United

The final part of the Arsenal-Manchester United trilogy, the 'Return of the King' if you will.
Much like the Gunners and United were sharing all the trophies between themselves in this period, now they were sharing the Unofficial Championship as well.

Arsenal-United games were always hotly contested at this time (particularly the Highbury encounters) and this was no different.
Both teams had good chances to take the lead but on forty minutes it was Arsenal who took first blood. Nwankwo Kanu linked up with Dennis Bergkamp, who set Freddie Ljungberg free in the box to give the Gunners the lead.

United levelled things up 13 minutes after half-time. Captain Roy Keane played a one-two with Andy (sorry, Andrew) Cole before scoring with a finish not too dissimilar from Ljungberg's.

From that point, the game went back and forth with chances for both sides, Keane and Patrick Vieira argued with each other, players needed to be pulled apart. As was standard in these fixtures.

The game seemed to be heading for a draw until two minutes from time. Ryan Giggs saw his effort blocked but it deflected into the path of Keane who scored to win the game and a fifth Unofficial Championship for Manchester United.