2006–07 FA Premier League


The 2006–07 FA Premier League was the 15th season of the FA Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 19 August 2006 and concluded on 13 May 2007. On 12 February 2007, the FA Premier League renamed itself simply the Premier League, complete with new logo, sleeve patches and typeface. The sponsored name remains the Barclays Premier League.
Manchester United ended the season as Premiership champions for the ninth time in fifteen years, after Chelsea failed to win against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on 6 May 2007. This left them seven points behind United, with two games to go, confirming the Manchester club as champions once more.
The three relegation spots were occupied by Watford and Sheffield United who each lasted one season in the league, along with Charlton Athletic who went down after seven seasons.

Teams

Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Championship. The promoted teams were Reading, Sheffield United and Watford. They replaced Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland, ending their top flight spells of four, two and one year respectively.

Stadiums and locations

TeamLocationStadiumCapacity
ArsenalLondon Emirates Stadium60,600
Aston VillaBirminghamVilla Park42,553
Blackburn RoversBlackburnEwood Park31,367
Bolton WanderersBoltonReebok Stadium28,723
Charlton AthleticLondon The Valley27,111
ChelseaLondon Stamford Bridge42,360
EvertonLiverpool Goodison Park40,569
FulhamLondon Craven Cottage24,600
LiverpoolLiverpool Anfield48,677
Manchester CityManchesterCity of Manchester Stadium48,000
Manchester UnitedOld TraffordOld Trafford76,212
MiddlesbroughMiddlesbroughRiverside Stadium35,049
Newcastle UnitedNewcastle upon TyneSt James' Park52,387
PortsmouthPortsmouthFratton Park20,220
ReadingReadingMadejski Stadium24,250
Sheffield UnitedSheffieldBramall Lane32,609
Tottenham HotspurLondon White Hart Lane36,240
WatfordWatfordVicarage Road19,920
West Ham UnitedLondon Boleyn Ground35,146
Wigan AthleticWiganJJB Stadium25,138

Personnel and kits

TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerShirt sponsor
Arsenal Arsène Wenger Thierry HenryNikeFly Emirates
Aston Villa Martin O'Neill Gareth BarryHummel32red.com
Blackburn Rovers Mark Hughes Ryan NelsenLonsdalebet24.com
Bolton Wanderers Sammy Lee Kevin NolanReebokReebok
Charlton Athletic Alan Pardew Luke YoungJomaLlanera
Chelsea José Mourinho John TerryAdidasSamsung Mobile
Everton David Moyes Phil NevilleUmbroChang
Fulham Lawrie Sanchez Brian McBrideAirnessPipex
Liverpool Rafael Benítez Steven GerrardAdidasCarlsberg
Manchester City Stuart Pearce Richard DunneReebokThomas Cook
Manchester United Sir Alex Ferguson Gary NevilleNikeAIG
Middlesbrough Gareth Southgate George BoatengErreà888.com
Newcastle United Nigel Pearson Scott ParkerAdidasNorthern Rock
Portsmouth Harry Redknapp Dejan StefanovićJakoOki
Reading Steve Coppell Graeme MurtyPumaKyocera
Sheffield United Neil Warnock Chris MorganLe Coq SportifCapital One
Tottenham Hotspur Martin Jol Ledley KingPumaMansion.com
Watford Aidy Boothroyd Gavin MahonDiadoraloans.co.uk
West Ham United Alan Curbishley Nigel Reo-CokerReebokJobserve
Wigan Athletic Paul Jewell Arjan De ZeeuwJJBJJB

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Season statistics

Scoring

Goals

Historic goals

15,000th goal

The Premier League expected to have the league's 15,000th goal scored at some point in the period between Christmas and New Year. The target was reached on 30 December when Moritz Volz scored for Fulham against Chelsea. Barclays, the Premiership's sponsor, donated £15,000 to the Fulham Community Sports Trust in Volz' name. Additionally, a fan who correctly predicted that Volz would score the historic goal in a contest presented the player with a special award prior to Fulham's game against Watford at Craven Cottage on 1 January. The honour of scoring the 15,000th goal led to Volz being nicknamed "15,000 Volz".

Goalkeeper scores

On 17 March 2007, Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Paul Robinson scored against Watford from an 83-yard free kick, which bounced over his England teammate Ben Foster, who was in goal for the Hornets, leading Spurs to a 3–1 win at White Hart Lane. This was the third goal scored by a goalkeeper in Premiership history. The other two were scored by Peter Schmeichel, for Aston Villa against Everton on 21 October 2001, and Brad Friedel, for Blackburn Rovers against Charlton Athletic on 21 February 2004. In those two cases, the teams they played for lost. Robinson became the first keeper to score for the winning team in a Premiership match.

Relegation controversy

escaped relegation on the final day of the season with a 1–0 win over Manchester United, with Carlos Tevez scoring the winner. Sheffield United were relegated, along with Charlton and Watford. Tevez was subsequently found to have been ineligible to play, as he was not owned by West Ham, but by a third party. Sheffield United sued to keep their Premier League status and, when that failed, went to an FA arbitration panel seeking up to £30m compensation. The arbitration panel found in favour of Sheffield. The two clubs subsequently settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Monthly awards

Annual awards

This season's awards were dominated by Manchester United, who, as a team, picked up a total of eight individual awards, five of which went to Cristiano Ronaldo. They also had eight players in the Team of the Year.

PFA Players' Player of the Year

The PFA Players' Player of the Year award for 2007 was won by Cristiano Ronaldo. He had won the PFA Young Player of the Year award earlier on in the awards ceremony, making him the first player to win both awards in the same year since Andy Gray managed the same feat in 1977. Didier Drogba came second, while Paul Scholes was third.
The shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, in alphabetical order, is as follows:
The PFA Young Player of the Year award was also won by Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United. Cesc Fàbregas came in second place, and Aaron Lennon was third. Wayne Rooney was going for a hat-trick of Young Player of the Year awards, having won this award for both of the two preceding seasons, but didn't even feature in the top three for the 2006–07 season.
The shortlist for the award was as follows:
Goalkeeper: Edwin van der Sar

Defence: Gary Neville, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić

Midfield: Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo

Attack: Didier Drogba, Dimitar Berbatov

PFA Merit Award

The PFA Merit Award was awarded to Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, for his commitment to the club, the Premiership, and as recognition of the nineteen major trophies he has won in his time in England.

PFA Fans' Player of the Year

This award was voted for in an online poll run by the PFA on their website. With four days of voting left before the closing date of midnight on 15 April, the five players with the most votes in the poll were Cristiano Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard, Dimitar Berbatov, Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard, but it was Ronaldo who managed to fend off the challenges of the other four.

FWA Footballer of the Year

The FWA Footballer of the Year award for 2007 was also won by Cristiano Ronaldo. The award is presented by the Football Writers' Association and voted for by its members. This year, Didier Drogba came second and Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes came third and fourth respectively.

Premier League Manager of the Season

The Premier League Manager of the Season award was presented to Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson before the club's final game of the season against West Ham United.

Premier League Player of the Season

The Premier League Player of the Season award was also presented before Manchester United's game with West Ham United on the last day of the season, and was awarded to Cristiano Ronaldo, granting him the sextuple of PFA Players' Player, Young Player, Fans' Player of the Year, Barclays Premiership Player of the Season, Football Writers' Association Player of the Year and a place in the Team of the Year.

Premier League Merit Award

was presented with this special award at the same time as the Manager and Player of the Season Awards were given out, in recognition of his record of nine Premier League titles.

Premier League Golden Glove

The Premier League Golden Glove award was presented to Liverpool's Pepe Reina for the second successive season after keeping 19 clean sheets, ahead of Tim Howard of Everton and Marcus Hahnemann of Reading.