2007–08 Manchester City F.C. season

Manchester City
2007-08 season
Owner &
chairman		 Thaksin Shinawatra
Manager Sven-Göran Eriksson
Stadium City of Manchester Stadium
Premier League 9th
FA Cup Fourth round
League Cup Fifth round
Top goalscorer League: Elano (8)
All: Elano (10)
Highest home attendance 47,321
(vs. Liverpool, 30 December 2007)
Lowest home attendance 20,938
(vs. Norwich City, 25 September 2007)
Average home league attendance 42,126
Home colours
Away colours
Third colours

The 2007–08 season was Manchester City Football Club's sixth consecutive season playing in the Premier League, the top division of English football, and its 11th season since the Premier League was first created, with Manchester City as one of the its original 22 founding member clubs. Overall, it was the team's 116th season playing in a division of English football, most of which have been spent in the top flight.

Season review

The season started with a new owner in Thaksin Shinawatra and his newly appointed manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson. After spending three of the four previous Premier League seasons finishing in low mid-table positions (i.e., two to four places above the relegation zone), the Manchester City team was badly in need of an influx of new blood if it was to avoid a similar fate, or worse, in the upcoming season. Consequently, the newly infused funds from the club's wealthy Thai owner came at quite a fortuitous time for the team, and Eriksson was very active in the summer transfer market as he spent approximately £30 million adding eight relatively high-profile players to the City first team squad.

As a consequence of this mini spending spree Manchester City started the new season strongly and spent a large portion of it occupying one of the top five positions in the Premier League table. Unfortunately, the strong results of the first two thirds of the season were not sustained in the final third and the team ultimately slipped down the rankings to finish the season in ninth place. This loss of form in the final months also led to Shinawatra summarily sacking Eriksson, a decision that was received with mixed emotions by the Manchester City supporters since both characters had achieved the status of "white knights" in their eyes for their respective financial and managerial contributions to the transformation of the club.[1] Two days after his end-of-season dismissal, on 2 June 2008 Eriksson was replaced by Mark Hughes.[2]

This season also saw Manchester City gain entry into the next season's UEFA Cup competition by finishing sixth in the English "Fair Play" rankings (with the five teams ranked above City having already qualified for European competition).

Team kit

Supplier: Le Coq Sportif / Sponsor: Thomas Cook

Home
Home alt
Memorial
Away
Away alt.
Third
Third alt.
Third alt. 2


Goalkeeper 1
Goalkeeper 2
Goalkeeper 3

Kit description

The start of the 2007–08 Premier League campaign saw a number of changes for Manchester City, the most notable being the hiring of former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, while a somewhat less prominent change for the club saw the termination of Reebok as the team's kit supplier (for the four previous seasons) with the French sportswear manufacturer, Le Coq Sportif, now resuming this role once again. The shirt sponsor continued to be Thomas Cook, although the travel company had undergone a name change during the close season after its announced merger with MyTravel Group in June 2007, with the newly merged company now being called Thomas Cook Group.

The switch to a new kit supplier resulted in three new team kits for this season. The new home kit consisted of a return to a full sky blue shirt, but now with vertical white pin stripes on the body (but not the sleeves and shoulders) together with matching solid sky blue socks and the traditional all white shorts. The shirt sported a Le Coq Sportif logo on the upper portion of both sleeves with the Manchester City crest in the centre of the chest above the Thomas Cook logo, while the City crest was also repeated at the base of the right leg on the shorts.

The new away kit — a striking solid purple colour but sporting the same vertical white pin stripes on the body of the shirt as the home kit plus all the same kit supplier, sponsorship and club crest logos - was possibly a throwback to the classic maroon and thin white striped shirts that had been the club's one-time strip created for its appearance at Wembley in the 1956 FA Cup Final against Birmingham City. In comparison to the new home and away kits, the new third kit consisted of a relatively conservative all white shirt and socks with solid sky blue shorts, with the white shirt sporting a thin sky blue diagonal sash across the front of the left shoulder.

New goalkeeper strips — a two-tone green (solid light green shirt plus solid dark green shorts and socks), an all-grey change and a yellow third with purple shorts and socks, were introduced for this season.

On 10 February 2008, during the club's local derby game against Manchester United, the City team played in a one-off special kit to mark the 50-year memorial of the Munich air disaster. This kit was devoid of the pinstripes, contained no kit supplier or sponsorship logos and had a black ribbon on the right shoulder bearing "1958–2008", with "Manchester remembers" written underneath.[3]

Historical league performance

Prior to this season, the history of Manchester City's performance in the English football league hierarchy since the creation of the Premier League in 1992 is summarised by the following timeline chart – which commences with the last season (1991–92) of the old Football League First Division (from which the Premier League was formed).

Friendly games

Pre-season

Thomas Cook Trophy

Post-season

Competitive games

Premier League

Position in final standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
7 Blackburn Rovers 38 15 13 10 50 48 +2 58
8 Portsmouth 38 16 9 13 48 40 +8 57 2008–09 UEFA Cup First round[lower-alpha 1]
9 Manchester City 38 15 10 13 45 53 −8 55 2008–09 UEFA Cup First qualifying round[lower-alpha 2]
10 West Ham United 38 13 10 15 42 50 −8 49
11 Tottenham Hotspur 38 11 13 14 66 61 +5 46 2008–09 UEFA Cup First round[lower-alpha 3]
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
For further information on European qualification see Premier League – Competition
Notes:
  1. ↑ As FA Cup winners
  2. ↑ Via UEFA Fair Play ranking (0.8 of a point ahead of Fulham)
  3. ↑ As League Cup winners

Results summary

OverallHomeAway
PldWDLGFGAGDPtsWDLGFGAGDWDLGFGAGD
38 15 10 13 45 53  −8 55 11 4 4 28 20  +8 4 6 9 17 33  −16

Last updated: 11 May 2008 (end of season).
Source: Premier League results 2007-08

Results by round

Round1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738
GroundAHHAAHAHHHAHAHAAHAHHAAHAHAHHAHAAHAHHAA
ResultWWWLLWDWWWLWDWDLWDDDWLDDLWLDLWDLLWWLLL

Updated to match(es) played on 11 May 2008. Source: 2007–08 Premier League results
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Individual match reports

League Cup

FA Cup

Playing statistics

Starting XI

No.
 Pos.
 Nat.
 Name
 MS Notes
25 GK England Joe Hart 32
16 RB Croatia Vedran Ćorluka 43
2 CB England Micah Richards 29
22 CB Republic of Ireland Richard Dunne 42
3 LB England Michael Ball 35 Javier Garrido had 29 starts
7 RM Republic of Ireland Stephen Ireland 50
19 CM Switzerland Gélson Fernandes 32
21 CM Germany Dietmar Hamann 45
15 LM Bulgaria Martin Petrov 38
11 AM Brazil Elano 37
12 CF England Darius Vassell 32

Appearances (Apps.) numbers are for appearances in competitive games only
Apps. numbers denote: Total no. of games played (No. of games subbed on, when applicable)
Red card numbers denote: No. of second yellow cards / No. of straight red cards

No. Pos. Player League FA Cup League Cup Total Discipline
Apps. Goals Apps. Goals Apps. Goals Apps. Goals
1GKSweden Andreas Isaksson 516
2DFEngland Micah Richards (vc) 2522294
3DFEngland Michael Ball 28 (9)34 (1)35 (10)2
4DFEngland Nedum Onuoha 16 (3)123 (1)21 (4)1
SoldMFFrance Ousmane Dabo 1 (1)1 (1)
6MFEngland Michael Johnson 23222524
7MFRepublic of Ireland Stephen Ireland 33 (1)43 (1)339 (2)42- / 1
8MFBrazil Geovanni 19 (17)31 (1)3 (1)23 (19)34
9FWBelgium Émile Mpenza 15 (7)212 (1)118 (8)3
10FWItaly Rolando Bianchi 19 (12)42 (2)3124 (14)5
11MFBrazil Elano 34 (5)8212138 (5)105
12FWEngland Darius Vassell 27 (6)632 (1)32 (7)63
14FWScotland Paul Dickov 1 (1)1 (1)
15MFBulgaria Martin Petrov 345313852- / 1
16DFCroatia Vedran Ćorluka 37 (1)3343 (1)5
17DFChina Sun Jihai 14 (7)216 (7)2
19GKDenmark Kasper Schmeichel 77
20FWGreece Georgios Samaras 5 (3)217 (3)1
21MFGermany Dietmar Hamann 29 (3)3234 (3)10
22DFRepublic of Ireland Richard Dunne (c) 3633424- / 2
24DFSpain Javier Garrido 27 (5)229 (5)4
25GKEngland Joe Hart 263332
27FWZimbabwe Benjani 13 (1)313 (1)3
28MFSwitzerland Gélson Fernandes 26 (5)23 (2)3 (1)32 (8)26
29FWBulgaria Valeri Bojinov 3 (2)3 (2)
30MFMexico Nery Castillo 10 (8)212 (8)
33FWWales Ched Evans 1 (1)1 (1)
34DFEngland Sam Williamson 1 (1)1 (1)1
36FWEngland Daniel Sturridge 3 (1)11 (1)14 (2)2
37MFNigeria Kelvin Etuhu 6 (4)11 (1)1 (1)8 (6)11
38DFEngland Shaleum Logan 22
20FWEcuador Felipe Caicedo 7 (7)7 (7)1
TOTALS 42 2 4 4860- / 4

Information current as of 11 May 2008 (end of season)

Last updated: 16 January 2011.
Source: (for players and positions) Season 2007-08 First Team Squad 00(for squad numbers) Season 2007-08 Squad Numbers 00(for actual stats.) All match Reports in Competitive games section above

Goal scorers

Information current as of 11 May 2008 (end of season)

Awards

Premier League awards

Awarded monthly to the player and manager that were chosen by a panel assembled by the Premier League's sponsor

Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month
August 2007[4] Sweden Sven-Göran Eriksson England Micah Richards

Thomas Cook Player of the Month awards

Awarded to the player in each category that receives the most votes in a poll conducted each month on the MCFC OWS

Month First Team Reserve Team Academy
August/September[5] Germany Dietmar Hamann England Richard Martin England Scott Kay
October[6] Brazil Elano England Ashley Grimes England Ben Mee
November[7] Croatia Vedran Ćorluka England Javan Vidal England Kieran Trippier
December[8] Republic of Ireland Richard Dunne Republic of Ireland Karl Moore England David Ball
January[9] England Michael Ball not announced Slovakia Vladimír Weiss
February[9] England Joe Hart Republic of Ireland Paul Marshall England Greg Hartley
March[10] Switzerland Gélson Fernandes England Adam Clayton England Andrew Tutte
April[10] England Darius Vassell England Sam Williamson Slovakia Vladimír Weiss

Football Association of Ireland awards

Player Year 2007 awards[11]
Republic of Ireland Richard Dunne International Player of the Year
Republic of Ireland Stephen Ireland Young International Player of the Year

Official Supporters Club awards

Player Season 2007–08 awards[12]
Republic of Ireland Richard Dunne Player of the Year
England Joe Hart Young Player of the Year
England Ben Mee Most Promising Player of the Year

Transfers and loans

Transfers in

Transfers out

Loans in

Loans out

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Sven-Goran Eriksson admits Shinawatra strain at Man City". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2011-01-06. Archived from the original on 26 January 2011. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
  2. ↑ "Hughes becomes Man City manager". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2010-11-17.
  3. ↑ "Special shirt design for derby unveiled". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-02-05. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  4. ↑ "Manchester City do the double". premierleague.com. (FA Premier League). 2007-09-19. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  5. ↑ "Didi named Thomas Cook Player of the Month". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2009-04-01. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  6. ↑ "Elano is Player of Month". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2007-11-02. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  7. ↑ "Corluka is Player of the Month". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2007-11-29. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  8. ↑ "Dunnie is City's Player of the Month for December". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-01-10. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  9. 1 2 "Hart is Player of the Month". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-03-13. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  10. 1 2 "Darius is Player of Month for April". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-05-07. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  11. ↑ "Blues skipper wins FAI award". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  12. ↑ "Fourth successive Player of the Year win for Dunne". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-05-06. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  13. ↑ "Man City seal £8.8m Bianchi deal". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-07-13. Archived from the original on 28 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  14. ↑ "Man City seal Fernandes transfer". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-07-14. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  15. ↑ "Man City sign Brazilian Geovanni". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  16. ↑ "Man City swoop for winger Petrov". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  17. 1 2 3 "Elano heads Man City triple swoop". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-08-02. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  18. ↑ "Bojinov seals switch to Man City". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  19. ↑ "Bojinov joins Man City". fifa.com. (International Federation of Association Football). 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
  20. 1 2 "Man City complete Caicedo signing". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-01-31. Archived from the original on 2 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
  21. ↑ "Caicedo signs for City". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-02-01. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  22. ↑ Signing completed on 31 January, ratified on 5 February.
  23. ↑ "Benjani completes Man City move". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-02-05. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
  24. ↑ "Eriksson signs goalkeeper Martin". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-08-10. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  25. ↑ "Months trial for Richard Martin". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2007-08-10. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  26. 1 2 3 "I've joined City because of my talent not politics, says Thai star". dailymail.co.uk. Associated Newspapers Ltd. 2007-11-19. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  27. 1 2 3 "Three more clubs join City alliance". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  28. 1 2 3 4 "Man City release winger Beasley". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-05-15. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  29. ↑ "Trabelsi agrees to join Al Hilal". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-10-05. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
  30. 1 2 3 "Man City to decide Barton future". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-05-11. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  31. ↑ "Distin signs Portsmouth contract". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-05-23. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  32. ↑ "Barton completes move to Magpies". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-06-14. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  33. ↑ "Charlton sign Todorov and Weaver". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-07-04. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  34. ↑ "Sinclair to end Man City career". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-05-10. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  35. ↑ "Sinclair wings his way to Cardiff". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-07-10. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  36. ↑ "Burnley recruit defender Jordan". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-07-16. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  37. ↑ "Dabo deal done". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-01-31. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  38. ↑ "Baggies complete double signing". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-01-31. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
  39. ↑ "Miller makes permanent move to West Brom". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-01-31. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  40. ↑ "Rochdale sign Muirhead & Kennedy". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-07-04. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
  41. ↑ "Laird transfers to Millwall". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-01-09. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  42. ↑ "Man City agree Castillo loan deal". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-12-18. Archived from the original on 20 December 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  43. ↑ "West Brom sign Man City striker". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  44. ↑ "Doncaster sign Man City's Mills". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-08-21. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  45. ↑ "Mills has to end Doncaster loan". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-08-21. Archived from the original on 23 November 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  46. ↑ "Striker Corradi moves to Parma". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-08-31. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  47. ↑ "Dickov secures Palace loan deal". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-08-31. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  48. ↑ "Charlton sign duo on loan deals". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-08-31. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  49. ↑ "Grimsby recruit Man City defender". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  50. ↑ "Cardiff seal Schmeichel loan deal". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  51. ↑ "Scunthorpe sign Man City defender". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  52. ↑ "Norwich recruit Man City striker". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-11-21. Archived from the original on 24 November 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  53. ↑ "Derby sign defender Mills on loan". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-01-04. Archived from the original on 7 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
  54. ↑ "Evans joins Norwich as duo leave". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-01-11. Archived from the original on 15 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
  55. ↑ "Matt Mills makes Rovers return". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-01-11. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  56. ↑ "Bianchi joins Lazio on loan". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-01-23. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  57. ↑ "Georgios delighted to be one of the Bhoys". celticfc.net. (Celtic Football Club). 2008-01-29. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  58. ↑ "Dickov goes to Blackpool on loan". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-02-01. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  59. ↑ "Stockport sign Logan on loan". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-02-22. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
  60. ↑ "Logan Sent Back To Man City!". vitalfootball.co.uk. (Vital Football). 2008-03-14. Archived from the original on 16 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
  61. ↑ "Foxes complete Etuhu loan signing". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-03-05. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  62. ↑ "Etuhu loaned to Leicester". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-03-04. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  63. ↑ "Kasper loaned to Coventry". mcfc.co.uk. (Manchester City Football Club). 2008-03-13. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  64. ↑ "Loan Duo Extend Deals". footymad.net. Digital Sports Group. 2008-03-20. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  65. ↑ "Sinnott makes first Vale signing". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-11-08. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  66. 1 2 3 "Hard times for Asia's Premier League dreamers". chinadaily.com.cn. China Daily Information Co. 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  67. 1 2 3 "No permit". timesofmalta.com. Times of Malta. 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
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