The 2007–08 Football League Championship (known as the Coca-Cola Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the sixteenth season under its current league division format and its fourth with its current sponsorship. The leagues started in August 2007 and concluded in May 2008, with the promotion play-off finals.
Season | 2007–08 |
---|---|
Champions | West Bromwich Albion 1st Championship title 3rd 2nd tier title |
Promoted | West Bromwich Albion Stoke City Hull City |
Relegated | Leicester City Colchester United Scunthorpe United |
Goals scored | 1,394 |
Average goals/game | 2.53 |
Top goalscorer | Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (23) |
Biggest home win | Ipswich Town 6–0 Bristol City (2007-11-10) |
Highest attendance | 36,208 Sheffield Wednesday v Norwich City |
Average attendance | 17,067[1] |
← 2006–07 2008–09 → |
The Football League is contested through three Divisions. The top divisions of these is the League Championship. The winner and the runner up of the League Championship will be automatically promoted to the Premiership and they will be joined by the winner of the League Championship play-off. The bottom three teams in the Championship will be relegated to the second division, League One.
West Bromwich Albion finished top of the league with 81 points, closely followed by Stoke City who had 79 points. Hull City were promoted through the play-offs. Colchester and Scunthorpe United were both relegated several weeks before the end of the season. However, in a very tight league, with a gap of only 29 points between top and 22nd place, the final team to be relegated, Leicester City, went down on the final day while six other teams were within three points of them, despite the fact that only Crystal Palace had conceded less goals.
Changes from last season
editFrom Championship
editPromoted to Premier League
Relegated to League One
To Championship
editRelegated from Premier League
Promoted from League One
Teams
editStadiums and locations
editTeam | Stadium | Capacity |
---|---|---|
Barnsley | Oakwell | 23,009 |
Blackpool | Bloomfield Road | 9,788 |
Bristol City | Ashton Gate | 21,497 |
Burnley | Turf Moor | 22,546 |
Cardiff City | Ninian Park | 22,008 |
Charlton Athletic | The Valley | 27,111 |
Colchester United | Layer Road | 6,320 |
Coventry City | Ricoh Arena | 32,609 |
Crystal Palace | Selhurst Park | 26,309 |
Hull City | KC Stadium | 25,586 |
Ipswich Town | Portman Road | 30,311 |
Leicester City | Walkers Stadium | 32,261 |
Norwich City | Carrow Road | 26,034 |
Plymouth Argyle | Home Park | 19,500 |
Preston North End | Deepdale | 24,500 |
Queens Park Rangers | Loftus Road | 19,128 |
Scunthorpe United | Glanford Park | 9,088 |
Sheffield United | Bramall Lane | 32,609 |
Sheffield Wednesday | Hillsborough | 39,814 |
Southampton | St Mary's Stadium | 32,689 |
Stoke City | Brittania Stadium | 27,500 |
Watford | Vicarage Road | 19,920 |
West Bromwich Albion | The Hawthorns | 26,688 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers | Molineux | 28,525 |
Personnel and sponsoring
editLeague table
editPos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | West Bromwich Albion (C, P) | 46 | 23 | 12 | 11 | 88 | 55 | +33 | 81 | Promotion to the Premier League |
2 | Stoke City (P) | 46 | 21 | 16 | 9 | 69 | 55 | +14 | 79 | |
3 | Hull City (O, P) | 46 | 21 | 12 | 13 | 65 | 47 | +18 | 75 | Qualification for Championship play-offs |
4 | Bristol City | 46 | 20 | 14 | 12 | 54 | 53 | +1 | 74 | |
5 | Crystal Palace | 46 | 18 | 17 | 11 | 58 | 42 | +16 | 71 | |
6 | Watford | 46 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 62 | 56 | +6 | 70 | |
7 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 46 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 53 | 48 | +5 | 70 | |
8 | Ipswich Town | 46 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 65 | 56 | +9 | 69 | |
9 | Sheffield United | 46 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 56 | 51 | +5 | 66 | |
10 | Plymouth Argyle | 46 | 17 | 13 | 16 | 60 | 50 | +10 | 64 | |
11 | Charlton Athletic | 46 | 17 | 13 | 16 | 63 | 58 | +5 | 64 | |
12 | Cardiff City | 46 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 59 | 55 | +4 | 64 | |
13 | Burnley | 46 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 60 | 67 | −7 | 62 | |
14 | Queens Park Rangers | 46 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 60 | 66 | −6 | 58 | |
15 | Preston North End | 46 | 15 | 11 | 20 | 50 | 56 | −6 | 56 | |
16 | Sheffield Wednesday | 46 | 14 | 13 | 19 | 54 | 55 | −1 | 55 | |
17 | Norwich City | 46 | 15 | 10 | 21 | 49 | 59 | −10 | 55 | |
18 | Barnsley | 46 | 14 | 13 | 19 | 52 | 65 | −13 | 55 | |
19 | Blackpool | 46 | 12 | 18 | 16 | 59 | 64 | −5 | 54 | |
20 | Southampton | 46 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 56 | 72 | −16 | 54 | |
21 | Coventry City | 46 | 14 | 11 | 21 | 52 | 64 | −12 | 53 | |
22 | Leicester City (R) | 46 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 42 | 45 | −3 | 52 | Relegation to Football League One |
23 | Scunthorpe United (R) | 46 | 11 | 13 | 22 | 46 | 69 | −23 | 46 | |
24 | Colchester United (R) | 46 | 7 | 17 | 22 | 62 | 86 | −24 | 38 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Play-offs
editThe Football League Championship Playoffs took place at the end of May 2008. They involved the teams that finished third to sixth in the table. Hull (3rd) and Bristol City (4th) qualified from their semi-finals against Watford (6th) and Crystal Palace (5th) respectively over two legs. Hull City won the final with a single Dean Windass goal to win promotion to the Premier League.
Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||
3 | Hull City | 2 | 4 | 6 | |||||||
6 | Watford | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
3 | Hull City | 1 | |||||||||
4 | Bristol City | 0 | |||||||||
4 | Bristol City | 2 | 2 | 4 | |||||||
5 | Crystal Palace | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Results
editTop scorers
editPos | Player | Team | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Sylvan Ebanks-Blake | Plymouth Argyle Wolverhampton Wanderers |
23 |
2 | James Beattie | Sheffield United | 22 |
Kevin Phillips | West Bromwich Albion | 22 | |
4 | Stern John | Southampton | 19 |
5 | Kevin Lisbie | Colchester United | 17 |
6 | Clinton Morrison | Crystal Palace | 16 |
7 | Fraizer Campbell | Hull City | 15 |
Ricardo Fuller | Stoke City | 15 | |
9 | Liam Lawrence | Stoke City | 14 |
Team of the Year
editStadia
editTeam | Stadium | Capacity |
---|---|---|
Sheffield Wednesday | Hillsborough Stadium | 39,814 |
Southampton | St Mary's Stadium | 32,689 |
Coventry City | Ricoh Arena | 32,609 |
Sheffield United | Bramall Lane | 32,609 |
Leicester City | Walkers Stadium | 32,500 |
Ipswich Town | Portman Road | 30,311 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers | Molineux Stadium | 28,525 |
Stoke City | Britannia Stadium | 28,383 |
West Brom | The Hawthorns | 28,003 |
Charlton Athletic | The Valley | 27,111 |
Crystal Palace | Selhurst Park | 26,309 |
Norwich City | Carrow Road | 26,034 |
Hull City | KC Stadium | 25,404 |
Preston North End | Deepdale | 24,500 |
Barnsley | Oakwell | 23,009 |
Burnley | Turf Moor | 22,546 |
Cardiff City | Ninian Park | 22,008 |
Bristol City | Ashton Gate | 21,497 |
Watford | Vicarage Road | 19,920 |
Plymouth Argyle | Home Park | 19,500 |
Queens Park Rangers | Loftus Road | 19,128 |
Blackpool | Bloomfield Road | 9,788 |
Scunthorpe United | Glanford Park | 9,183 |
Colchester United | Layer Road | 6,320 |
Managerial changes
editTeam | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sheffield United | Neil Warnock | Resigned | 16 May 2007[2] | Bryan Robson | 16 May 2007[3] | Pre-season |
Crystal Palace | Peter Taylor | Sacked | 8 October 2007[4] | Neil Warnock | 11 October 2007[5] | 19th |
Leicester City | Martin Allen | Mutual consent | 29 August 2007[6] | Gary Megson | 13 September 2007[7] | 9th |
Queens Park Rangers | John Gregory | Sacked | 1 October 2007[8] | Luigi De Canio | 29 October 2007[9] | 24th |
Norwich City | Peter Grant | Mutual consent | 8 October 2007[10] | Glenn Roeder | 30 October 2007[11] | 22nd |
Leicester City | Gary Megson | Signed by Bolton Wanderers | 24 October 2007[12] | Ian Holloway | 22 November 2007[13] | 19th |
Burnley | Steve Cotterill | Mutual consent | 8 November 2007[14] | Owen Coyle | 22 November 2007[15] | 15th |
Preston North End | Paul Simpson | Sacked | 13 November 2007[16] | Alan Irvine | 20 November 2007[17] | 21st |
Plymouth Argyle | Ian Holloway | Signed by Leicester City | 21 November 2007[18] | Paul Sturrock | 27 November 2007[19] | 7th |
Coventry City | Iain Dowie | Sacked | 11 February 2008[20] | Chris Coleman | 19 February 2008[21] | 19th |
Sheffield United | Bryan Robson | Mutual consent | 14 February 2008[22] | Kevin Blackwell | 14 February 2008[22] | 16th |
Queens Park Rangers | Luigi De Canio | Mutual consent | 8 May 2008[23] | Iain Dowie | 14 May 2008[24] | 14th |
Notes
edit- ^ "Football League Attendance Report" (PDF). The Football League. 25 July 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2012.
- ^ "Warnock resigns as Blades manager". BBC Sport. 16 May 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
- ^ "Robson unveiled as Sheff Utd boss". BBC Sport. 16 May 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
- ^ "Crystal Palace boss Taylor sacked". BBC Sport. 8 October 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Warnock appointed new Palace boss". BBC Sport. 11 October 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Allen ends brief Leicester reign". BBC Sport. 29 August 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Megson excited by Leicester job". BBC Sport. 13 September 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Gregory sacked as manager of QPR". BBC Sport. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Former Napoli boss takes QPR role". BBC Sport. 29 October 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Grant parts company with Canaries". BBC Sport. 8 October 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Norwich name Roeder as new boss". BBC Sport. 30 October 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Bolton target Megson leaves Foxes". BBC Sport. 24 October 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Holloway appointed Leicester boss". BBC Sport. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Burnley manager Cotterill departs". BBC Sport. 8 November 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Coyle named new Burnley manager". BBC Sport. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Struggling Preston sack Simpson". BBC Sport. 13 November 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Preston unveil Irvine as new boss". BBC Sport. 20 November 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Holloway resigns as Plymouth boss". BBC Sport. 21 November 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Sturrock returns as Plymouth boss". BBC Sport. 27 November 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Dowie sacked as Coventry manager". BBC Sport. 11 February 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Coleman unveiled as Coventry boss". BBC Sport. 19 February 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ a b "Blackwell in for Robson at Blades". BBC Sport. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "De Canio parts company with QPR". BBC Sport. 8 May 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "QPR bring in Dowie as new coach". BBC Sport. 14 May 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.