During the 2006–07 English football season, West Ham United competed in the FA Premier League. They finished the season in 15th place.

Season summary

West Ham started the 2006–07 campaign brightly, but slipped down the table due to off-field distractions. They were knocked out from

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

by the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

side

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

(4–0 on aggregate) and saw themselves dragged into the relegation zone. Eventually an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

ic consortium led by

Eggert Magnússon Eggert Magnússon (born 20 February 1947) is an Icelandic businessman and former president of the Football Association of Iceland and ex-chairman of West Ham United. Eggert is a former owner and CEO of an import/export and bread and biscuit manufa ...

bought the club on 26 November 2006. Following a poor run of form that left the club in 17th position, despite the signing of big name players

Javier Mascherano Javier Alejandro Mascherano (born 8 June 1984) is an Argentine professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Argentina national under-20 team. As a player, he played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder, most not ...

and

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 wing ...

, the new owners sacked

Alan Pardew Alan Scott Pardew (born 18 July 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club Aris. Pardew's highest achievements in the sport include reaching the FA Cup Final ...

, replacing him with former West Ham player Alan Curbishley''"Curbishley named West Ham manager"''
BBC news report, 13 December 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2007. who had recently ended a 15-year spell in charge of

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 ...

. West Ham won Curbishley's first game 1–0 at home against

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 Salford to the west. The ...

, but went on to draw at fellow relegation strugglers

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

, were crushed 6–0 at newly promoted

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

and were knocked out of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

by the bottom Premiership team,

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, and ...

. An end-to-end thriller at home to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

ended with West Ham losing 4–3 having been 3–2 in front with minutes to play, but the bright performance signified a change in form. At the same time the signings of Mascherano and Tevez were being investigated by the Premier League, who were concerned that details regarding the transfers had been omitted from official records and whether the influence of MSI, led by

Kia Joorabchian Kiavash Joorabchian ( fa, کیاوش جورابچيان) is an Iranian-born British-educated businessman largely involved in association football. In the register of directorships at Companies House in London, Joorabchian gives two nationalities ...

, breached Premier League rules regarding third party ownership of players. The media touted the idea that Tevez's contract could be terminated, possibly resulting in a deduction of points for playing an ineligible player. On 27 April 2007, West Ham pleaded guilty and were handed a record £5.5 million fine by the Premier League, but avoided a points deduction.

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

's signing of Mascherano was investigated and he was cleared to play after a two-week delay. Following the verdict,

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

's chairman Dave Whelan threatened legal action, supported by other relegation-threatened sides including Fulham 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 ...

, saying "This is a very serious offence West Ham committed...They broke the law, told blatant lies and should have got a 10-point penalty. If we can sue West Ham or the Premier League, I am sure that will happen." Wigan's manager

Paul Jewell Paul Jewell (born 28 September 1964) is an English football manager and former player, who was most recently director of football at Swindon Town. Jewell began his playing career with Liverpool, continued at Wigan Athletic and concluded in a ...

suggested League officials had intimated they wished to see them relegated. In a period that came to be known by the club's fans as "The Great Escape", West Ham avoided relegation by winning seven of their last nine games, including a 1–0 win over

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 mostl ...

, and on the last day of the season, defeating the Premiership champions Manchester United 1–0 to finish outside the relegation zone in 15th. Sheffield United, who were relegated, later sued West Ham for up to £30m, and an FA arbitration panel found in their favour. The two clubs settled out of court for an undisclosed sum in 2009.

Final league table

Squad

Left club during season

Results

Premier League

League Cup

FA Cup

UEFA Cup

Statistics

Overview

Goalscorers

League position by matchday

Appearances and goals

, - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Goalkeepers , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Defenders , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Midfielders , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Forwards

Transfers

In

Out

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2006-07 West Ham United F.C. season West Ham United F.C. seasons

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...