2006–07 FA Premier League

FA Premier League

Season	2006–07
Champions	Manchester United 9th Premier League title 16th English title
Relegated	Sheffield United Charlton Athletic Watford
Champions League	Manchester United Chelsea Liverpool Arsenal
UEFA Cup	Tottenham Hotspur Everton Bolton Wanderers
Intertoto Cup	Blackburn Rovers
Matches played	380
Goals scored	931 (2.45 per match)
Top goalscorer	Didier Drogba (20 goals)
Biggest home win	Reading 6–0 West Ham United (1 January 2007)
Biggest away win	Middlesbrough 0–4 Portsmouth (28 August 2006) Reading 0–4 Arsenal (22 October 2006) Bolton Wanderers 0–4 Manchester United (28 October 2006) Wigan Athletic 0–4 Liverpool (2 December 2006) Tottenham Hotspur 0–4 Manchester United (4 February 2007)
Highest scoring	Arsenal 6–2 Blackburn Rovers (23 December 2006)
Longest winning run	9 games[1] Chelsea
Longest unbeaten run	14 games[1] Chelsea
Longest winless run	11 games[1] Aston Villa Watford West Ham United
Longest losing run	8 games[1] Wigan Athletic
Highest attendance	76,098 Manchester United vs. Blackburn Rovers
Lowest attendance	13,760 Watford vs. Blackburn Rovers
Average attendance	34,402
← 2005–06 2007–08 →

The 2006–07 FA Premier League (known as the FA Barclays Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season of the FA Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 19 August 2006 and concluded on 13 May 2007.

Manchester United ended the season as Premiership champions for the ninth time in fifteen years, after Chelsea failed to win against Arsenal 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 and Sheffield United who each lasted one season in the league, along with Charlton Athletic who went down after seven seasons.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United !Manchester United (C)	38	28	5	5	83	27	+56	89	2007–08 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2	Chelsea !Chelsea	38	24	11	3	64	24	+40	83
3	Liverpool !Liverpool	38	20	8	10	57	27	+30	68	2007–08 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round
4	Arsenal !Arsenal	38	19	11	8	63	35	+28	68
5	Tottenham Hotspur !Tottenham Hotspur	38	17	9	12	57	54	+3	60	2007–08 UEFA Cup First round 1
6	Everton !Everton	38	15	13	10	52	36	+16	58
7	Bolton Wanderers !Bolton Wanderers	38	16	8	14	47	52	−5	56
8	Reading !Reading	38	16	7	15	52	47	+5	55
9	Portsmouth !Portsmouth	38	14	12	12	45	42	+3	54
10	Blackburn Rovers !Blackburn Rovers	38	15	7	16	52	54	−2	52	2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup Third round 2
11	Aston Villa !Aston Villa	38	11	17	10	43	41	+2	50
12	Middlesbrough !Middlesbrough	38	12	10	16	44	49	−5	46
13	Newcastle United !Newcastle United	38	11	10	17	38	47	−9	43
14	Manchester City !Manchester City	38	11	9	18	29	44	−15	42
15	West Ham United !West Ham United	38	12	5	21	35	59	−24	41
16	Fulham !Fulham	38	8	15	15	38	60	−22	39
17	Wigan Athletic !Wigan Athletic	38	10	8	20	37	59	−22	38
18	Sheffield United !Sheffield United (R)	38	10	8	20	32	55	−23	38	Relegation to League Championship
19	Charlton Athletic !Charlton Athletic (R)	38	8	10	20	34	60	−26	34
20	Watford !Watford (R)	38	5	13	20	29	59	−30	28

Source: Barclays Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
For further information on European qualification see Premier League – Qualification for European competitions.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

^1. Since the finalists of the 2006–07 FA Cup (Manchester United and Chelsea) and the League Cup winners (Chelsea) had already qualified for the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League through their Premier League positions, their 2007–08 UEFA Cup places were given to the 6th- and 7th-placed Premier League teams.

^2.The highest-placed team who applied for the Intertoto Cup and not in an automatic UEFA Cup spot was awarded with a place in that competition. Blackburn Rovers occupied the Intertoto place, because Portsmouth and Reading did not apply.^[2] A further place in the UEFA Cup was up for grabs via the Premiership Fair Play League. The winner is placed into a draw with the winners of Fair Play leagues in other countries. The representatives from the two countries that come out of the hat first are given a place in the UEFA Cup first qualifying round. Since the winners of the Premiership Fair Play League, Tottenham Hotspur, had already qualified for the UEFA Cup by virtue of their league position, their place in the Fair Play draw was given to Aston Villa. However, the places in the UEFA Cup were awarded to the representatives from Finland and Norway.

For further information on European qualification see Premier League – Competition.

FA Premier League 2006–07 winners
Manchester United 9th Title

Personnel and kits

(as of 13 May 2007)

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Arsenal	Arsène Wenger	Thierry Henry	Nike	Fly Emirates
Aston Villa	Martin O'Neill	Gareth Barry	Hummel	32red.com
Blackburn Rovers	Mark Hughes	Ryan Nelsen	Lonsdale	bet24.com
Bolton Wanderers	Sammy Lee	Kevin Nolan	Reebok	Reebok
Charlton Athletic	Alan Pardew	Luke Young	Joma	Llanera
Chelsea	José Mourinho	John Terry	Adidas	Samsung Mobile
Everton	David Moyes	Phil Neville	Umbro	Chang
Fulham	Lawrie Sanchez	Brian McBride	Airness	Pipex
Liverpool	Rafael Benítez	Steven Gerrard	Adidas	Carlsberg
Manchester City	Stuart Pearce	Richard Dunne	Reebok	Thomas Cook
Manchester United	Sir Alex Ferguson	Gary Neville	Nike	AIG
Middlesbrough	Gareth Southgate	George Boateng	Erreà	888.com
Newcastle United	Nigel Pearson (caretaker)	Scott Parker	Adidas	Northern Rock
Portsmouth	Harry Redknapp	Dejan Stefanović	Jako	Oki
Reading	Steve Coppell	Graeme Murty	Puma	Kyocera
Sheffield United	Neil Warnock	Chris Morgan	Le Coq Sportif	Capital One
Tottenham Hotspur	Martin Jol	Ledley King	Puma	Mansion.com
Watford	Aidy Boothroyd	Gavin Mahon	Diadora	loans.co.uk
West Ham United	Alan Curbishley	Nigel Reo-Coker	Reebok	Jobserve
Wigan Athletic	Paul Jewell	Arjan De Zeeuw	JJB	JJB

Results

Home ╲ Away

Arsenal !ARS

Aston Villa !AST

Blackburn Rovers !BLB

Bolton Wanderers !BOL

Charlton Athletic !CHA

Chelsea !CHE

Everton !EVE

Fulham !FUL

Liverpool !LIV

Manchester City !MCI

Manchester United !MUN

Middlesbrough !MID

Newcastle United !NEW

Portsmouth !POR

Reading !REA

Sheffield United !SHU

Tottenham Hotspur !TOT

Watford !WAT

West Ham United !WHU

Wigan Athletic !WIG

Arsenal !Arsenal

1–1

6–2

2–1

4–0

1–1

1–1

3–1

3–0

3–1

2–1

1–1

1–1

2–2

2–1

3–0

3–0

3–0

0–1

2–1

Aston Villa !Aston Villa

0–1

2–0

0–1

2–0

0–0

1–1

1–1

0–0

1–3

0–3

1–1

2–0

0–0

2–1

3–0

1–1

2–0

1–0

1–1

Blackburn Rovers !Blackburn Rovers

0–2

1–2

0–1

4–1

0–2

1–1

2–0

1–0

4–2

0–1

2–1

1–3

3–0

3–3

2–1

1–1

3–1

1–2

2–1

Bolton Wanderers !Bolton Wanderers

3–1

2–2

1–2

1–1

0–1

1–1

2–1

2–0

0–0

0–4

0–0

2–1

3–2

1–3

1–0

2–0

1–0

4–0

0–1

Charlton Athletic !Charlton Athletic

1–2

2–1

1–0

2–0

0–1

1–1

2–2

0–3

1–0

0–3

1–3

2–0

0–1

0–0

1–1

0–2

0–0

4–0

1–0

Chelsea !Chelsea

1–1

1–1

3–0

2–2

2–1

1–1

2–2

1–0

3–0

0–0

3–0

1–0

2–1

2–2

3–0

1–0

4–0

1–0

4–0

Everton !Everton

1–0

0–1

1–0

1–0

2–1

2–3

4–1

3–0

1–1

2–4

0–0

3–0

3–0

1–1

2–0

1–2

2–1

2–0

2–2

Fulham !Fulham

2–1

1–1

1–1

1–1

2–1

0–2

1–0

1–0

1–3

1–2

2–1

2–1

1–1

0–1

1–0

1–1

0–0

0–0

0–1

Liverpool !Liverpool

4–1

3–1

1–1

3–0

2–2

2–0

0–0

4–0

1–0

0–1

2–0

2–0

0–0

2–0

4–0

3–0

2–0

2–1

2–0

Manchester City !Manchester City

1–0

0–2

0–3

0–2

0–0

0–1

2–1

3–1

0–0

0–1

1–0

0–0

0–0

0–2

0–0

1–2

0–0

2–0

0–1

Manchester United !Manchester United

0–1

3–1

4–1

4–1

2–0

1–1

3–0

5–1

2–0

3–1

1–1

2–0

3–0

3–2

2–0

1–0

4–0

0–1

3–1

Middlesbrough !Middlesbrough

1–1

1–3

0–1

5–1

2–0

2–1

2–1

3–1

0–0

0–2

1–2

1–0

0–4

2–1

3–1

2–3

4–1

1–0

1–1

Newcastle United !Newcastle United

0–0

3–1

0–2

1–2

0–0

0–0

1–1

1–2

2–1

0–1

2–2

0–0

1–0

3–2

0–1

3–1

2–1

2–2

2–1

Portsmouth !Portsmouth

0–0

2–2

3–0

0–1

0–1

0–2

2–0

1–1

2–1

2–1

2–1

0–0

2–1

3–1

3–1

1–1

2–1

2–0

1–0

Reading !Reading

0–4

2–0

1–2

1–0

2–0

0–1

0–2

1–0

1–2

1–0

1–1

3–2

1–0

0–0

3–1

3–1

0–2

6–0

3–2

Sheffield United !Sheffield United

1–0

2–2

0–0

2–2

2–1

0–2

1–1

2–0

1–1

0–1

1–2

2–1

1–2

1–1

1–2

2–1

1–0

3–0

1–2

Tottenham Hotspur !Tottenham Hotspur

2–2

2–1

1–1

4–1

5–1

2–1

0–2

0–0

0–1

2–1

0–4

2–1

2–3

2–1

1–0

2–0

3–1

1–0

3–1

Watford !Watford

1–2

0–0

2–1

0–1

2–2

0–1

0–3

3–3

0–3

1–1

1–2

2–0

1–1

4–2

0–0

0–1

0–0

1–1

1–1

West Ham United !West Ham United

1–0

1–1

2–1

3–1

3–1

1–4

1–0

3–3

1–2

0–1

1–0

2–0

0–2

1–2

0–1

1–0

3–4

0–1

0–2

Wigan Athletic !Wigan Athletic

0–1

0–0

0–3

1–3

3–2

2–3

0–2

0–0

0–4

4–0

1–3

0–1

1–0

1–0

1–0

0–1

3–3

1–1

0–3

Source: Barclays Premier League
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

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 for Sheffield United against Liverpool (19 August 2006)
• Last goal: Harry Kewell (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

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Didier Drogba	Chelsea	20
2	Benni McCarthy	Blackburn Rovers	18
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	17
4	Wayne Rooney	Manchester United	14
	Mark Viduka	Middlesbrough	14
6	Darren Bent	Charlton Athletic	13
	Kevin Doyle	Reading	13
8	Dimitar Berbatov	Tottenham Hotspur	12
	Dirk Kuyt	Liverpool	12
	Yakubu Aiyegbeni	Middlesbrough	12

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, 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 on 1 January.^[3] The honour of scoring the 15,000th goal has led to Volz being nicknamed "15,000 Volz" (his name is often pronounced in English as "Volts", although the proper German pronunciation would be "Folts").

Goalkeeper scores

On 17 March 2007, Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Paul Robinson scored against Watford from an 83-yard free kick, which bounced over his England team-mate Ben Foster, who was in goal for the Hornets, leading Spurs to a 3–1 win at White Hart Lane.^[4] This was the third goal scored by a goalkeeper in Premiership history. The other two were scored by Peter Schmeichel, for Aston Villa against Everton on 21 October 2001,^[5] and Brad Friedel, for Blackburn Rovers against Charlton Athletic on 21 February 2004.^[6] 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.

Monthly awards

Month	Manager	Player
August 2006	Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)	Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)
September 2006	Steve Coppell (Reading)	Andrew Johnson (Everton)
October 2006	Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)	Paul Scholes (Manchester United)
November 2006	Steve Coppell (Reading)	Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
December 2006	Sam Allardyce (Bolton)	Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
January 2007	Rafael Benítez (Liverpool)	Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal)
February 2007	Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)	Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)
March 2007	José Mourinho (Chelsea)	Petr Čech (Chelsea)
April 2007	Martin O'Neill (Aston Villa)	Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur) Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham Hotspur)1

^1. Keane and Berbatov became the first joint winners of the Player of the Month award since Arsenal's Dennis Bergkamp and Edu in February 2004^[7]

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. They also had eight players in the Team of the Year.

PFA Players' Player of the Year

The PFA Players' Player of the Year award for 2007 was won by Cristiano Ronaldo. 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 (Arsenal)
• Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
• Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)
• Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
• Paul Scholes (Manchester United)

PFA Young Player of the Year

The PFA Young Player of the Year award was also won by Cristiano Ronaldo 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 (Reading)
• Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal)
• Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur)
• Micah Richards (Man City)
• Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
• Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

PFA Team of the Year

Goalkeeper: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United)
Defence: Gary Neville, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić (all Manchester United)
Midfield: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo (all Manchester United)
Attack: Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham Hotspur)

PFA Merit Award

The PFA Merit Award was awarded to Sir Alex Ferguson, 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, Steven Gerrard, Dimitar Berbatov, Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard, but it was Ronaldo who managed to fend off the challenges of the other four.

Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year

The Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award for 2007 was also won by Cristiano Ronaldo. The award is presented by the Football Writers' Association and voted for by its members. This year, Didier Drogba came second and Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes came third and fourth respectively.

Barclays Manager of the season

This award was presented to Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson before the club's final game of the season against West Ham United.

Barclays Player of the season

This 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, 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.

Barclays Premiership Merit Award

Ryan Giggs 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.

Barclays Golden Glove Award

This award was presented to Liverpool's Pepe Reina for the second successive season after keeping 19 clean sheets, ahead of Tim Howard of Everton (14) and Marcus Hahnemann of Reading (13).^[8][9]

Notable changes

Managers

• Aston Villa – Manager David O'Leary was sacked during the pre-season campaign. He was replaced by former Leicester City and Celtic manager Martin O'Neill.
• Bolton Wanderers – After eight years in charge, Sam Allardyce resigned as manager of Bolton in April. Assistant Sammy Lee and first team coach Ricky Sbragia took over for the remaining three games.
• Charlton Athletic – Former Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie was appointed to follow Alan Curbishley's 15-year reign. After a string of poor results, Dowie was sacked in November and replaced by assistant Les Reed. Reed only lasted a month before being replaced by Alan Pardew, who had departed West Ham two weeks earlier.
• Fulham – On 10 April 2007, manager Chris Coleman was sacked after four years managing the club. They subsequently named Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez as caretaker manager for the remaining five games of the season. On 11 May, Sanchez quit his job as Northern Ireland manager to take on full-time duties at Fulham.^[10]
• Manchester City – Stuart Pearce was sacked on 14 May after two years in charge, the poor discipline at the club being cited as one of the reasons behind his being let go.^[11]
• Middlesbrough – Club captain Gareth Southgate was appointed as the new manager, after Steve McClaren had left to become England Head Coach.
• Newcastle United – On 6 May, Glenn Roeder resigned as manager with immediate effect. Sam Allardyce took over as manager on 15 May, having signed a three-year contract with the Tyneside club.
• Sheffield United – Neil Warnock resigned on 16 May, three days after the Blades were relegated from the Premier League.^[12] He was replaced by Bryan Robson.
• West Ham United – Manager Alan Pardew was sacked on 11 December,^[13] shortly after the club was taken over by Eggert Magnusson as the new chairman. The club replaced him with former Charlton boss Alan Curbishley.
• Wigan Athletic – On 14 May, Paul Jewell resigned less than 24 hours after guiding his team to safety following a 2–1 victory over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. Chris Hutchings was appointed as the new boss for the 2007–08 season.^[14]

Sponsors

Online gambling sites have joined the traditional industries of automakers, breweries, electronics and financial institutions as team sponsors. For the 2006–07 season, there are no fewer than three Internet betting sites as new kit sponsors, joining Middlesbrough with 888.com. Here are the current lists (as of 12 June 2006) of changes:

• Arsenal reverted to their traditional red and white home kit, but with gold side striping on the shirt, and with Dubai-based Emirates (who are sponsoring their new stadium) as their new shirt sponsor replacing mobile phone service provider O₂.
• Aston Villa have a new shirt sponsor, Internet betting site 32Red replacing DWS Investments of Germany. Many Internet posters and fans thought that the company logo for DWS actually said "COWS" because of the hexagon's placement in front of the initials.^[15] Also, white has replaced yellow as the colour of the new alternate kit.
• Blackburn Rovers will also have a new shirt sponsor, with Internet betting site Bet24 taking over on the front of the shirt while Lonsdale, who served as the shirt sponsor in 2005–06, remains their kit provider.
• Bolton Wanderers stick with last season's home strip, but will wear an all-claret away kit.
• Charlton Athletic are currently into their first full season of shirt sponsorship with the Spanish construction firm Llanera, who came on board mid-season in 2005–06 after previous sponsors all:sports went into administration. The home shirt features a white shoulder panel and the away kit is all black.
• Chelsea have switched from Britain's Umbro to German company adidas after they made an eleventh-hour bid that was higher than Nike's. Electronics maker Samsung will retain sponsorship on the front of the shirt. The former Champions have also reverted to their traditional away colours: a white shirt with blue lining. Their third choice kit is all black with silver pinstripes.
• Everton have a new home kit made by Umbro featuring the classic diamonds down one shoulder, and will retain their sponsor, the Thai-based brewer Chang.
• Fulham have a new home kit, with Germany's PUMA being replaced by French-based Airness, and their long-sleeve shirts will feature thumb holes. British Internet provider Pipex will stay as the team's shirt sponsor with their new insignia.
• Liverpool have changed from Reebok to adidas as a result of the merger of the two companies, as Danish brewers Carlsberg stays on the front of the shirts.
• Manchester City are wearing a new all sky blue strip.
• Manchester United also have a new Nike home and away kit as US-based AIG, a secondary sponsor last season, becomes the new shirt sponsor after mobile phone providers Vodafone stepped down, due to their sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League. The new home kit commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Busby Babes' 1956 league title and first foray into European competition.
• Middlesbrough have a new away strip of white shirts with royal blue shorts.
• Newcastle United retain the same home strip but have new away and 3rd strips, claret shirts with royal blue sleeves as an away kit and black & sky blue as the alternate colours.
• Portsmouth have a new design for their home strip by German-based Jako despite last seasons stating on the label its expiry date was 2007, the away shirt is white and a new third kit is all black.
• Reading are in PUMA kits with blue and white hoops at home and sponsorship on the front of the shirt from copying titan Kyocera. They will wear a maroon and amber alternate kit.
• Sheffield United are wearing Le Coq Sportif kits with the famous red and white stripes on the shirt, and US-based credit card bankers Capital One as sponsor in the front. The alternate is black and white stripes.
• Tottenham Hotspur have switched their kit provider from Kappa to PUMA and features a new shirt sponsor, Internet-based betting site Mansion Casinos replacing Thomson Holidays. They will also have a light blue alternate and a chocolate and gold third kit this season as part of their 125th anniversary celebrations.
• Watford are in yellow with Diadora kits and Internet financiers Loans.co.uk as the team's shirt sponsors. They have an all black away strip.
• West Ham United have a new away strip in navy blue replacing the white and claret shirt. The new strip includes the new Reebok logo (RBK). The club are sticking with the job-search website JobServe.
• Wigan Athletic now have an all-royal blue primary and an all-black secondary for the 2006–07 campaign, made and sponsored by JJB Sports.

Stadia

• Arsenal moved to the larger 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium after 93 years at Highbury. The first game was a testimonial match for Dennis Bergkamp, who retired following the 2005–06 season as Arsenal took on Ajax (Arsenal won 2–1), the club where Bergkamp began his career, on 22 July. Highbury will be converted to luxury apartments as both the East and West stands are being retro-fitted and the newer North and South (Clock) ends have been razed to build apartments from the ground up, while the pitch will become a communal garden. The clock from South end has been placed in the Southwest end in the new facility. The first Premiership match at the Emirates Stadium was held on 19 August against Aston Villa, and the match finished in a 1–1 draw.
• Manchester United's Old Trafford is now a fully completed 76,000-seater stadium, making it the largest club stadium in the UK, and its first match in this configuration was a friendly against La Liga team Sevilla in August. Fulham served as the first Premiership visitors on 20 August, losing 5–1 in front of a Premiership-record 75,511 fans.
• Reading's Madejski Stadium was a new Premiership ground for this season, Reading's first in the competition. In the stadium's first Premiership match, Reading came from a two-goal deficit after twenty minutes to clinch a 3–2 victory over Middlesbrough.

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Manchester United	Old Trafford	76,212
Arsenal	Emirates Stadium	60,355
Newcastle United	St James' Park	52,387
Manchester City	City of Manchester Stadium	48,000
Liverpool	Anfield	45,276[16]
Aston Villa	Villa Park	42,553
Chelsea	Stamford Bridge	42,360
Everton	Goodison Park	40,569
Tottenham Hotspur	White Hart Lane	36,240
West Ham United	Boleyn Ground	35,146
Middlesbrough	Riverside Stadium	35,049
Sheffield United	Bramall Lane	32,609
Blackburn Rovers	Ewood Park	31,367
Bolton Wanderers	Reebok Stadium	28,723
Charlton Athletic	The Valley	27,111
Wigan Athletic	JJB Stadium	25,138
Fulham	Craven Cottage	24,600
Reading	Madejski Stadium	24,250
Portsmouth	Fratton Park	20,220
Watford	Vicarage Road	19,920

Ownership

• American entrepreneur and the owner of the NFL's Cleveland Browns Randy Lerner completed the purchase of Aston Villa from Doug Ellis in August, to the delight of Villa's fans.
• Rumours of a possible takeover of West Ham abounded following the unexpected acquisition of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano shortly before the closure of the summer transfer window. On 21 November, West Ham agreed an £85 million takeover of the club from Icelandic businessman Eggert Magnússon.^[17] In April, West Ham were fined a record £5.5 million by the League for irregularities in the ownership of Tevez and Mascherano – West Ham's guilty plea, and the fact that the irregularities had taken place under the previous ownership were cited as reasons for the club avoiding a points deduction as part of their punishment.^[18]
• Liverpool announced on 6 February that chairman David Moores accepted a £219 million takeover bid from American businessmen George N. Gillett Jr. and Tom Hicks.^[19] Gillett, the owner of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team, and Hicks, the owner of the Dallas Stars hockey team and Texas Rangers baseball team, will be co-chairmen, while Moores remains an honorary life president. Previously, the club had entered into takeover talks with Dubai International Capital (DIC),^[20] but that takeover bid collapsed in late January.
• Stan Kroenke, who owns the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Colorado Rapids, bought a 10% share in Arsenal from ITV.^[21] The Rapids and Arsenal already had an agreement in place to exchange ideas.

Rebranding

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.

See also

• 2006–07 in English football
• 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