The 2007–08 Irish Premier League was the 107th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football, and the 5th and final edition in its current format (as the Irish Premier League) since its inception in 2003.
| Season | 2007–08 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Linfield 48th Irish title |
| Relegated | Armagh City Donegal Celtic Larne Limavady United Portadown |
| UEFA Champions League | Linfield |
| UEFA Cup | Cliftonville Glentoran |
| UEFA Intertoto Cup | Lisburn Distillery |
| Matches played | 240 |
| Goals scored | 698 (2.91 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Peter Thompson (29 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Glenavon 5–0 Armagh City Linfield 5–0 Crusaders Linfield 5–0 Newry City Lisburn Distillery 5–0 Limavady United |
| Biggest away win | Armagh City 0–5 Glentoran |
| Highest scoring | Dungannon Swifts 4–6 Newry City |
← 2006–07 2008–09 → | |
Linfield won the league for the 48th time and 3rd consecutive season.
Summary
editThis was the last season of the competition before the league system in Northern Ireland was restructured. The 2008–09 competition onwards would be re-branded as the IFA Premiership, with stricter rules governing the eligibility of clubs wishing to take part. The top tier of the Northern Irish league system would also be reduced in size from sixteen clubs, to twelve.
The season began on 22 September 2007, and ended on 26 April 2008. Linfield were the defending champions, and successfully defended their title, winning their 48th title by 3 points. Five teams were relegated to the newly introduced IFA Championship for the following season.
League table
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linfield (C) | 30 | 23 | 5 | 2 | 71 | 18 | +53 | 74 | Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Glentoran | 30 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 69 | 24 | +45 | 71 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Cliftonville | 30 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 55 | 32 | +23 | 60 | |
| 4 | Lisburn Distillery | 30 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 50 | 28 | +22 | 58 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round |
| 5 | Portadown (R) | 30 | 15 | 2 | 13 | 44 | 39 | +5 | 47 | Relegation to IFA Championship |
| 6 | Ballymena United | 30 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 42 | 41 | +1 | 44 | |
| 7 | Crusaders | 30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 45 | 47 | −2 | 43 | |
| 8 | Newry City | 30 | 13 | 4 | 13 | 45 | 52 | −7 | 43 | |
| 9 | Coleraine | 30 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 41 | 50 | −9 | 40 | |
| 10 | Dungannon Swifts | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 38 | 44 | −6 | 36 | |
| 11 | Donegal Celtic (R) | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 39 | 47 | −8 | 35 | Relegation to IFA Championship |
| 12 | Glenavon | 30 | 9 | 3 | 18 | 37 | 51 | −14 | 30 | |
| 13 | Larne (R) | 30 | 7 | 4 | 19 | 44 | 71 | −27 | 25 | Relegation to IFA Championship |
| 14 | Institute | 30 | 5 | 8 | 17 | 23 | 41 | −18 | 23 | |
| 15 | Limavady United (R) | 30 | 6 | 5 | 19 | 26 | 57 | −31 | 23 | Relegation to IFA Championship |
| 16 | Armagh City (R) | 30 | 5 | 6 | 19 | 29 | 56 | −27 | 21 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Results
editEach team played every other team twice (home and away) for a total of 30 games.
League restructuring
editFrom the 2008–09 season onwards, the league system in Northern Ireland was re-structured. It would be renamed as the IFA Premiership, and reduced to twelve teams, included on the basis not only of their performance in the 2007–08 season, but in the previous two seasons, and other off-the-field criteria as follows. Each applicant club was assessed by an independent panel and awarded points against the following criteria:
- Sporting – based on league placings, Irish Cup, League Cup and European performances in 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08; with points also awarded for running youth teams, women's teams and community development programmes.
- Finance – based on solvency, debt management and cash-flow projection.
- Infrastructure – based on stadium capacity, changing provisions, sanitary facilities, field of play, floodlighting, existence and standard of control room, first aid room, drug testing room and media facilities.
- Personnel – based on qualification and experience of staff
- Business planning
- Attendances
Five of this season's sixteen Premier League teams failed to gain a place in the new twelve-team Premiership and were relegated to the newly introduced IFA Championship. Of the five teams that missed out, two of them - Armagh City and Limavady United failed to obtain the necessary domestic licence, while Larne did not apply. Donegal Celtic obtained a licence, but were ranked thirteenth in the entry list, and thus missed out by one place. Finally, Portadown also obtained a licence, but were relegated to the IFA Championship as a result of submitting their application for the IFA Premiership 29 minutes past the deadline for consideration.[1] That left thirteen clubs to be ranked - twelve from this season's Premier League plus Bangor, who had finished fourth in the First Division.
Rankings
edit| Rank | Club | Points | Division | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linfield | 1339 | 2008–09 IFA Premiership | |
| 2 | Ballymena United | 1054 | ||
| 3 | Glentoran | 1016 | ||
| 4 | Coleraine | 965 | ||
| 5 | Cliftonville | 945 | ||
| 6 | Dungannon Swifts | 855 | ||
| 7 | Glenavon | 828 | ||
| 8 | Crusaders | 826 | ||
| 9 | Lisburn Distillery | 815 | ||
| 10 | Newry City | 796 | ||
| 11 | Bangor | 641 | Only club from outside this season's Premier League to apply. | |
| 12 | Institute | 632 | ||
| 13 | Donegal Celtic | 543 | 2008–09 IFA Championship | Missed out on the Premiership by one place. |
| – | Portadown | – | Gained Domestic Licence, but Premiership application received past deadline. | |
| – | Armagh City | – | Applied, but failed to gain Domestic Licence. | |
| – | Limavady United | – | Applied, but failed to gain Domestic Licence. | |
| – | Larne | – | Did not apply. |
Source: BBC Sport
References
edit- ^ "Portadown out of Premier League". BBC News. 2008-05-13.
