The 2006–07 FA Premier League (known as the FA
Barclays
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season of the
FA Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
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
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
ended the season as Premiership champions for the ninth time in fifteen years, after
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
failed to win against
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
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
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
and
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
who each lasted one season in the league, along with
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...
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
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
. The promoted teams were
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
(playing in the top flight for the first time ever),
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
(playing top flight football for the first time in twelve years) and
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
(returning after a six-year absence). They replaced
Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...
,
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
and
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
, ending their top flight spells of four, two and one year respectively.
Stadiums and locations
Personnel and kits
(as of 13 May 2007)
Managerial changes
League table
Results
Season statistics
Scoring
*Biggest win: 6 goals – Reading 6–0 West Ham United (
''1 January 2007'')
*Highest scoring match: 8 goals – Arsenal 6–2 Blackburn Rovers
*First goal:
Rob Hulse
Robert William Hulse (born 25 October 1979) is an English former footballer who played as a striker.
He had primarily spent his career at second tier level, playing there with Crewe Alexandra, West Bromwich Albion, Leeds United, Sheffield Un ...
for Sheffield United against Liverpool (
''19 August 2006'')
*Last goal:
Harry Kewell
Harry Kewell (born 22 September 1978) is an Australian association football coach, manager and former player. His most recent role as a club manager was at English National League side Barnet, and he is currently a first team coach at Celtic F ...
(
pen.) for Liverpool against Charlton Athletic (
''13 May 2007'')
Overall
*Most wins: 28 – Manchester United
*Fewest wins: 5 – Watford
*Most losses: 21 – West Ham United
*Fewest losses: 3 – Chelsea
*Most goals scored: 83 – Manchester United
*Fewest goals scored: 29 – Manchester City and Watford
*Most goals conceded: 60 – Fulham and Charlton Athletic
*Fewest goals conceded: 24 – Chelsea
Home
*Most wins: 15 – Manchester United
*Fewest wins: 3 – Watford
*Most losses: 10 – Wigan Athletic
*Fewest losses: 0 – Chelsea
*Most goals scored: 46 – Manchester United
*Fewest goals scored: 10 – Manchester City
*Most goals conceded: 30 – Wigan Athletic
*Fewest goals conceded: 7 – Liverpool
Away
*Most wins: 13 – Manchester United
*Fewest wins: 1 – Fulham and Charlton Athletic
*Most losses: 14 – Sheffield United
*Fewest losses: 3 – Manchester United and Chelsea
*Most goals scored: 37 – Manchester United
*Fewest goals scored: 8 – Sheffield United
*Most goals conceded: 42 – Fulham
*Fewest goals conceded: 13 – Chelsea
Statistics
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
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
, 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
Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...
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
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
Paul Robinson scored against Watford from an 83-yard free kick, which bounced over his
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
teammate
Ben Foster Ben Foster may refer to:
*Ben Foster (actor) (born 1980), American actor
*Ben Foster (footballer) (born 1983), English goalkeeper
*Ben Foster (composer) (born 1977), British composer, orchestrator and conductor
* Ben Foster (director) (born 1984), ...
, who was in goal for the Hornets, leading Spurs to a 3–1 win at
White Hart Lane
White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...
. This was the third goal scored by a goalkeeper in Premiership history. The other two were scored by
Peter Schmeichel
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
, 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
West Ham
West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham.
The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...
escaped relegation on the final day of the season with a 1–0 win over
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
, with
Carlos Tevez
Carlos Alberto Tevez (; born 5 February 1984) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. A quick, tenacious, powerful, hard-working and dynamic forward in his prime, Tevez was capable of playing as a striker, as a winger ...
scoring the winner.
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
were relegated, along with
Charlton and
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
. 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 United. 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
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
. They also had eight players in the Team of the Year.
PFA Players' Player of the Year
The
PFA Players' Player of the Year
The Professional Footballers' Association Men's Players' Player of the Year (often called the PFA Men's Players' Player of the Year, the Players' Player of the Year, or simply the Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is ...
award for 2007 was won by
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
. 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:
*
Didier Drogba (Chelsea)
*
Cesc Fàbregas
Francesc "Cesc" Fàbregas Soler (; ; born 4 May 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Italian Serie B club Como.
Fàbregas came through ''La Masia'', Barcelona's youth academy, leaving at 16 when ...
(Arsenal)
*
Steven Gerrard
Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...
(Liverpool)
*
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his List of one-club men in association football, entir ...
(Manchester United)
*
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
(Manchester United)
*
Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football coach, pundit, former player, and co-owner of Salford City. He spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom he scored over 150 goals in more than 700 ...
(Manchester United)
PFA Young Player of the Year
The
PFA Young Player of the Year
The Professional Footballers' Association Young Player of the Year (often called the PFA Young Player of the Year, or simply the Young Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the young player who is adjudged to have been the best of the s ...
award was also won by
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
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:
*
Kevin Doyle
Kevin Edward Doyle (born 18 September 1983) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a forward.
He played for Wexford F.C. (formerly Wexford Youths), St Patrick's Athletic, and Cork City in his homeland before he moved to Eng ...
(Reading)
*
Cesc Fàbregas
Francesc "Cesc" Fàbregas Soler (; ; born 4 May 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Italian Serie B club Como.
Fàbregas came through ''La Masia'', Barcelona's youth academy, leaving at 16 when ...
(Arsenal)
*
Aaron Lennon
Aaron Justin Lennon (; born 16 April 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger.
Lennon began his career at hometown club Leeds United, making his first-team debut in 2003 and becoming the youngest player to play ...
(Tottenham Hotspur)
*
Micah Richards
Micah Lincoln Richards (born 24 June 1988) is an English former professional footballer, sports pundit for Sky Sports and BBC Sport, and as an ambassador of Manchester City.
As a player, he was a right back who played in the Premier League and ...
(
Man City)
*
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
(Manchester United)
*
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while ...
(Manchester United)
PFA Team of the Year
Goalkeeper:
Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who is currently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a m ...
(Manchester United)
Defence:
Gary Neville
Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...
,
Patrice Evra
Patrice Latyr Evra (; born 15 May 1981) is a French football coach and former professional player. Originally a forward, he primarily played as a left-back. Evra served as captain for both Manchester United and the France national team. His ...
,
Rio Ferdinand
Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and w ...
,
Nemanja Vidić
Nemanja Vidić ( sr-Cyrl, Немања Видић, ; born 21 October 1981) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He is best known for his time at Manchester United, was part of the Serbia national team, and ...
(all Manchester United)
Midfield:
Steven Gerrard
Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...
(Liverpool),
Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football coach, pundit, former player, and co-owner of Salford City. He spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom he scored over 150 goals in more than 700 ...
,
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his List of one-club men in association football, entir ...
,
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
(all Manchester United)
Attack:
Didier Drogba (Chelsea),
Dimitar Berbatov
Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov ( bg, Димитър Иванов Бербатов; born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer. A striker, he captained the Bulgaria national team from 2006 to 2010, and is the country's all-ti ...
(Tottenham Hotspur)
PFA Merit Award
The PFA Merit Award was awarded to
Sir Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all tim ...
, 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
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
,
Steven Gerrard
Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...
,
Dimitar Berbatov
Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov ( bg, Димитър Иванов Бербатов; born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer. A striker, he captained the Bulgaria national team from 2006 to 2010, and is the country's all-ti ...
,
Thierry Henry
Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player who is an assistant coach for the Belgium national team. Considered one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best player ...
and
Frank Lampard
Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...
, 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
The Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year (often called the FWA Footballer of the Year, or in England simply the Footballer of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in ...
award for 2007 was also won by Cristiano Ronaldo. The award is presented by the
Football Writers' Association
The Football Writers' Association (FWA) is an association of football journalists and correspondents writing for English newspapers and agencies. It presents the Footballer of the Year Award, the oldest and most distinguished award given in the d ...
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
The Premier League Manager of the Season is an annual association football award presented to managers in England. It recognises the most outstanding manager in the Premier League each season. The recipient is chosen by a panel assembled by the l ...
award was presented to Manchester United's
Sir Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all tim ...
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
The Premier League Player of the Season is an annual association football award presented to players in England, which recognises the most outstanding player in the Premier League each season. The recipient is chosen by a panel assembled by the ...
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
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
, 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
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his List of one-club men in association football, entir ...
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
The Premier League Golden Glove is an annual association football award presented to the goalkeeper who has kept the most clean sheets in the Premier League. In football a team's defense or goalkeeper may be said to "keep a clean sheet" if the ...
award was presented to Liverpool's
Pepe Reina
José Manuel "Pepe" Reina Páez (; born 31 August 1982) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Villarreal.
The son of famed Barcelona and Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Miguel Reina, Pepe Reina began his ...
for the second successive season after keeping 19 clean sheets, ahead of
Tim Howard of Everton (14) and
Marcus Hahnemann
Marcus Stephen Hahnemann (born June 15, 1972) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper.
Graduating out of Seattle Pacific University, he played for the Seattle Sounders between 1994 and 1996. Between 1997 and ...
of Reading (13).
See also
*
2006–07 in English football
The 2006–07 season was the 127th season of competitive association football in England.
Overview
* Manchester United regain the league title for the first time in four years, overcoming a stiff challenge from defending champions Chelsea to ...
*
2006–07 Football League
Notes
External links
2006–07 Premier League Season at RSSSF* Premier League 2006–07 on BBC Sport:
News
Recent results
Upcoming fixtures
Live Scores
Current standings
Official Premier League site
{{DEFAULTSORT:2006-07 FA Premier League
Premier League seasons
Eng
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