Where are the stars of West Ham’s 1999 FA Youth Cup team TODAY?

West Ham are just one game away from making the FA Youth Cup final for the first time in 24 years as they prepare to host Southampton on Thursday night.

Arsenal await the winners after seeing off Manchester City in dramatic fashion on Tuesday, and West Ham will be hoping to join them in next month’s final at the Emirates Stadium.

The last time the Hammers made it all the way to the final they dispatched Coventry City 9-0 across two legs in 1999.

That team contained future international stars Michael Carrick and Joe Cole, but there are also some lesser-known names that tasted glory in the last final of the 20th century.

With West Ham’s current crop of youngsters looking to emulate that 1999 side, Sportsmail takes a look at where those players are now almost a quarter of a century after their dominant victory. 

West Ham thrashed Coventry City 9-0 on aggregate in the FA Youth Cup final in 1999

Goalkeeper – Stephen Bywater

Bywater remained on West Ham’s books until 2006, but struggled to force his way into the first team and had six separate loan spells before joining Derby County permanently.

He helped the Rams to promotion the following year, but they were relegated in their first season back in the Premier League after winning just one game.

The shot-stopper would go on to spend the majority of his career in the Championship, making over 250 appearances in the second tier of English football.

Bywater had a brief spell at Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters in 2015, before spending the last four years of his career at Burton Albion where he retired in 2020.

At international level, Bywater earned six caps for England Under-21s but never played for the senior side.

Defender – Adam Newton

Just four months after winning the FA Youth Cup – and scoring in both legs of the final – Newton was handed his Premier League debut when he came on as a substitute against Coventry.

But he was unable to establish himself in the first team and after loan spells at Portsmouth, Notts County and Leyton Orient, Newton moved to Peterborough in 2002.

Newton spent six years at Peterborough, and switched allegiances to Saint Kitts and Nevis during this period after making a single appearance for England Under-21s in 2000.

Adam Newton (pictured) is now a London taxi driver after hanging up his boots

The full back would go on to play seven times for Saint Kitts and Nevis, scoring once. 

After a single season at Brentford, and two years at Luton, Newton ended his career with a five-year spell at non-league outfit Woking between 2011 and 2016.

Following his retirement, Newton moved away from football and is now a London taxi driver.

Defender – Sam Taylor

Taylor departed West Ham just a year after winning the FA Youth Cup, and would go on to spend the majority of his playing career in non-league football.

But his story with West Ham was not over and he returned to the club in May 2012 as a coach after previously assisting with the running of a soccer school set up by former Chelsea, Liverpool and West Ham defender Glen Johnson.

Having worked with the academy for a year, Taylor started a role with the West Ham United Foundation. 

He has explained that his main task is managing the post-16s education football programme at the club.

Over a decade after rejoining West Ham, Taylor is still loving life in east London as the foundation’s Integration Development Manager.

Sam Taylor (above) works for West Ham United Foundation after returning to the club in 2012

Defender – Terrell Forbes

Forbes failed to make the step up to the senior team at West Ham, and following a loan spell at Bournemouth he moved to QPR in 2001.

After narrowly missing out on promotion in 2003 with the Hoops, Forbes played his part in QPR’s promotion from Division Two the year after.

His next significant career move came in 2006 when he joined Yeovil Town, and in his first season they were beaten in the League One play-off final.

That proved to be as good as it got for Forbes at Yeovil, and he moved into non-league football for the final years of his career, eventually hanging up his boots at Whyteleafe in 2018. 

He has since moved into coaching, working with young players.

Defender – Izzy Iriekpen

West Ham’s emphatic second-leg win in 1999 came on Iriekpen’s 17th birthday, and the future looked very bright for the defender who captained the side.

However, his progress was hampered by a knee injury and after loan spells at Leyton Orient and Cambridge United he was released by West Ham in 2003 and joined Swansea City on a free transfer.

Injuries proved to be an issue for Iriekpen once more in Wales, but he did help the club to promotion from League Two in 2005.

Izzy Iriekpen (pictured) was jailed in 2016 for glassing a bouncer at a Notting Hill night club

Iriekpen went on to play for Scunthorpe, Bristol City and Hamilton Academical, but left the Scottish outfit for family reasons in 2009, calling time on his career at the age of 27.

Iriekpen came back into the public spotlight in 2015 when he went on trial after glassing a bouncer at a Notting Hill night club, which left the victim requiring 61 stitches.

He was found guilty of wounding in March 2016 and sentenced to three years and three months in jail. 

Defender – Stevland Angus

Angus is another player from the 1999 squad that did not make the cut at senior level, despite scoring in the first leg of the final, and he moved to League One side Cambridge United in 2001.

He spent four years at Cambridge but was loaned out to Hull City and Scunthorpe towards the end of his time at the club after losing his place in the team under Herve Renard, who has gone on to manage Ivory Coast, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Renard recently took up the post of France women’s head coach ahead of this year’s World Cup.

Angus struggled for game time in the latter stages of his playing days, making just one appearance for Barnet across two spells, and getting sent off in that match.

He finished his career at Bishop’s Stortford in 2008, but has remained involved in sport in the years since. 

Angus is now in charge of the sports department at Brooke House Sixth Form College in London.

Midfielder – Michael Ferrante

Ferrante was one of two Australians in West Ham’s 1999 side, but he failed to play a senior game in England.

He returned to his homeland in 2004 to join Fawkner Blues after a spell in Italy with Comprensorio Stabia and Benevento.

He remained in Australia for the rest of his career, winning the A-League Championship with Melbourne Victory in 2006-07.

Ferrante continued playing until 2021 – the year of his 40th birthday – before departing Essendon Royals.

Midfielder – Michael Carrick

Arguably the most successful of that all-conquering team. It did not take Carrick long to establish himself in the West Ham first team, and after a few years at the highest level some of the biggest clubs in the country wanted a piece of the midfielder.

He opted to join Tottenham in 2004, and then got his career-defining switch to Manchester United two years later.

Under Sir Alex Ferguson, Carrick won the Premier League five times and the Champions League.

He stayed at the club in the post-Ferguson era, adding the FA Cup and the Europa League to his trophy cabinet.

Michael Carrick enjoyed a hugely successful career at Manchester United and also starred for Tottenham

Carrick is now impressing in the dugout at Championship club Middlesbrough

The 34-cap international stayed at Old Trafford after retiring in 2018, working as an assistant coach under Jose Mourinho before continuing in the role when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took charge of the team.

He was handed his first taste of management when Solskjaer was sacked, winning two of his three matches as interim boss before United turned to Ralf Rangnick.

Carrick landed his first permanent managerial role in October 2022 when he joined Championship side Middlesbrough. After taking over the team when they were hovering just above the relegation zone, he has led them into the play-off positions and they are hunting down Sheffield United for the second automatic promotion spot. 

Midfielder – Joe Cole  

As he made his way through the ranks at West Ham, it quickly became public knowledge that Cole was one of the brightest prospects in the country.

Cole made his professional debut prior to the 1999 final, and made over 100 appearances for his boyhood club before being snapped up by Chelsea in 2003 after the Irons were relegated from the Premier League.

The creative midfielder enjoyed the best period of his career at Stamford Bridge, winning three Premier League titles and the FA Cup and League Cup on multiple occasions.

Joe Cole won the Premier League three times during his time at Chelsea

Cole has remained in football and now works as a pundit for BT Sport

Cole earned 56 international caps and made three World Cup squads, but his career rather fizzled out after he left the Blues in 2010.

He struggled to find his best form at Liverpool and West Ham, either side of a return to West Ham that proved to be short-lived.

Cole moved over to the US for the final stage of his career, retiring in 2018 after a two-year spell at Tampa Bay Rowdies.

The 41-year-old now works in the media as a regular pundit for BT Sport. 

Forward – Bertie Brayley

Brayley netted three of West Ham’s nine goals in the 1999 final, but surprisingly never played for the senior team.

He joined non-league side Canvey Island in 2002 and went on to spend the best part of two decades in the lower divisions.

His time in non-league football included two player-manager roles at Basildon United and Burnham Ramblers.

Brayley also has interests away from the pitch, and worked as a full-time car salesman during his playing career, selling high-end cars to footballers.

Now he has moved into coaching, setting up his own company Teklab 121, and West Ham have used some of his equipment during training this season.

Forward – Richard Garcia

Garcia scored in every round of the Youth Cup in 1999, netting twice in the second leg of the final.

He had to wait until September 2001 for his first team debut, but was unable to win a regular place in the team and left to join Colchester United in 2004.

After three years at Colchester, he moved to Hull City where he helped the Tigers gain promotion to the Premier League for the first time in their history.

Richard Garcia (pictured) scored in every round of the Youth Cup in 1999 and went on to break into the first-team before leaving West Ham in 2004

He departed Hull in 2012 to move back to his homeland of Australia, and he finished his career by playing for Melbourne City, Sydney FC and Perth Glory, while also having a brief spell at US side Minnesota United.

Garcia, who won 17 international caps for Australia, has moved into coaching since retiring in 2017.

He worked as an assistant coach at Perth Glory prior to getting the manager’s role which he held between 2020 and 2022. He is now an assistant coach for the Australia Under-23s.

Garcia has remained close friends with Michael Carrick since their days at West Ham, and the two men were ushers at each other’s weddings.