The 2007–08 season was Aston Villa's 20th consecutive season in the top flight of English football and 16th consecutive season in the Premier League. The season saw Martin O'Neill continue as manager as the club impressed in league competition, but struggled in both domestic cup competitions – being knocked out in the third round of both.
The 2007–08 season saw the unveiling of Nike as the club's kit producer, taking over from Danish firm Hummel. The deal – worth £25 million over 5 seasons – was announced on 7 February 2007, with all home, away and goalkeeper kits being unveiled on 17 July 2007. The home shirt was made available to purchase on 8 August 2007, and the away on 4 October 2007. A charcoal and white third shirt was unveiled and released in November 2007. The home shirt followed the club's usual template of a claret body and blue arms, with a white "AVFC" banner and printed lion featured on the hem and back of the collar respectively. The away shirt featured a white body, with blue pinstripes – in a similar style to that of the 1982 European Cup winners’ jersey. The third shirt was charcoal with white piping. The home goalkeeper shirt featured horizontal stripes, with different alternating shades of grey. The away replicated this style, with different shades of yellow. Gibraltar-based betting firm 32Red continued their sponsorship of the club, however with the contract in its last year, Villa are expected to announce another deal for the forthcoming 2008–09 season.
Crest
A new crest was revealed on 2 May 2007 to be introduced for the 2007–08 season. The new crest included a star to represent the European Cup win in 1982, and has a light blue background behind Villa's "lion rampant." The traditional motto "Prepared" remained in the crest, and the name "Aston Villa" was shortened to AVFC, FC having been omitted from the previous crest. Randy Lerner petitioned fans to help with the design of the new crest.
After failing to find a suitor in the summer, Gary Cahill was allowed to leave on a loan deal to Sheffield United in September; however, he joined Bolton on a permanent deal on 30 January for an undisclosed fee. Youngsters Chris Herd, Tobias Mikaelsson, Stephen O'Halloran and Zoltán Stieber were all farmed out on loan. The biggest news, however, was that Swedish international defender Olof Mellberg, was to join Italian giants Juventus on a free transfer at the end of the season. Unlike the summer transfer window, Aston Villa were extremely quiet in the winter equivalent, purchasing just one senior player in Wayne Routledge from Tottenham Hotspur. He was also followed by youngsters Thomas Dau and Lance Heslop.
Summary
In
Out
Pre-season results
Players of the year
At the end of season awards dinner, Martin Laursen was announced as the Supporters' Player of the Year, whilst Gabriel Agbonlahor was the Supporter's and Player's Young Player of the Year.
