From the Jubilee Programme

Kings moved up a league to the British National League for the 1999/2000 season, along with rivals Solihull Blaze.

The team saw many changes over the summer, with Paddy Scott now in retirement and Jesse Hammill moving to Peterborough. Rob Coutts and Derek Higdon arrived from Slough and Nick Poole joined from Superleague team London Knights. Top British player Greg Randall joined from Guildford. Although only 20 Greg was very experienced at this level, having played at Guildford and Peterborough when he scored 22+2 points. After Brad Kirkwood decided to hang up his pads and join the police force back in Canada, Chad MacLeod joined the team as netminder, although he was soon released and replaced by Gavin Armstrong, after the demise of the Telford Timberwolves. Defenceman Justin Bekkering joined from Fife, where he had been very popular with the fans. Michael Wales split his time between the Kings U19s and the Kings, making an impressive debut to his senior career.

Again, as in previous seasons, Kings suffered as a result of the jump up a Division and they started their league campaign with 13 straight losses. However, in several games they were ahead until late in the match when they surrendered goals.

In October after a "don't panic" message to the fans from Mike Darnell, the team made changes releasing Brian Mason and Michael Knights. Marc Twaite rejoined and young defenceman James Morgan was bought in. Mark Hazlehurst who had been playing for the team on loan was also confirmed as a permanent signing. Just before Christmas Gary Clarke also joined from Guildford Flames.

Their first win came against fellow new boys Solihull Blaze. This was followed with two more defeats before a win against Edinburgh Capitals and a close 4-3 loss to Guildford after that. The League campaign then took a break and Kings reached the semi-finals of the Christmas Cup competition with wins over Solihull and Slough but lost out to Fife in the semis.

Back in the League Kings poor run of form continued and eventually the results turned fans against the coach and Mark Mackie left the club. Rob Coutts, who had been Mark's assistant stepped up to fill the Coach's role.

His first weekend in charge saw a close loss away at Basingstoke and a win at home against Paisley. Already the mood amongst players and fans was becoming more positive, as often happens after a change at the top in any sport.

As the season drew to a close Kings suffered with a long list of injuries. In an away match at Solihull, already missing 5 players, Dean Campbell and Dan Markham were injured during the game, prompting Rob to ask the Kings fans behind the bench to don their skates and help out. Kings had to resort to two-line hockey, which often left them with tired legs towards the end of a match. However, it also showed the character of the team, particularly the British players such as Greg, Dean and Dan who with the increased ice time came into their own and showed their true potential.

The best weekend was the last as Kings had two victories over Blaze and the Capitals. This achieved both the aims Rob had set out when he became Coach - to beat Blaze and not to finish bottom. With Slough beating Paisley this allowed Kings to jump over the Scottish side. Also Kings 10-4 win over Edinburgh was the first time they had achieved double figures all season.

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