2007–08 Football League Championship

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.

Football League Championship

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

From Championship

Promoted to Premier League

• Derby County
• Birmingham City
• Sunderland

Relegated to League One

• Leeds United
• Luton Town
• Southend United

To Championship

Relegated from Premier League

• Charlton Athletic
• Sheffield United
• Watford

Promoted from League One

• Blackpool
• Bristol City
• Scunthorpe United

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Team	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

Team	Manager	Kit maker	Sponsor
Barnsley	Simon Davey	Surridge	Wake Smith Solicitors
Blackpool	Simon Grayson	Carlotti	Floors 2 Go
Bristol City	Gary Johnson	Puma	Bristol Trade Centre
Burnley	Owen Coyle	Erreà	Holland's Pies
Cardiff City	Dave Jones	Joma	Communications Direct
Charlton Athletic	Alan Pardew	Joma	Llanera
Colchester United	Geraint Williams	Diadora	Haart Estate Agents (H)/Smart Energy (A)
Coventry City	Chris Coleman	Puma	Cassidy Group
Crystal Palace	Neil Warnock	Erreà	GAC Logistics
Hull City	Phil Brown	Umbro	Karoo (H)/Kingston Communications (A)
Ipswich Town	Jim Magilton	Mitre (H)/Punch (A & T)	E.ON
Leicester City	Ian Holloway	Jako	Topps Tiles
Norwich City	Glenn Roeder	Xara	Flybe
Plymouth Argyle	Paul Sturrock	Puma	Ginsters
Preston North End	Alan Irvine	Diadora	Enterprise plc
Queens Park Rangers	Luigi De Canio	Le Coq Sportif	Cargiant
Scunthorpe United	Nigel Adkins	Carlotti	Rainham Steel
Sheffield United	Kevin Blackwell	Le Coq Sportif	Capital One
Sheffield Wednesday	Brian Laws	Lotto	PlusNet
Southampton	Nigel Pearson	Saints	Flybe
Stoke City	Tony Pulis	Le Coq Sportif	Britannia Building Society
Watford	Aidy Boothroyd	Diadora	Beko
West Bromwich Albion	Tony Mowbray	Umbro	T-Mobile
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Mick McCarthy	Le Coq Sportif	Chaucer Consulting

League table

Pos	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

Updated to match(es) played on 4 May 2008. Source: The Football League
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

The 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

Home \ Away	BAR	BLP	BRI	BUR	CAR	CHA	COL	COV	CRY	HUL	IPS	LEI	NWC	PLY	PNE	QPR	SCU	SHU	SHW	SOU	STK	WAT	WBA	WOL
Barnsley		2–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–0	1–4	0–0	1–3	4–1	0–1	1–3	3–2	1–0	0–0	2–0	0–1	0–0	2–2	3–3	3–2	2–1	1–0
Blackpool	1–1		1–1	3–0	0–1	5–3	2–2	4–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–3	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–2	2–1	2–2	2–3	1–1	1–3	0–0
Bristol City	3–2	1–0		2–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	0–2	2–1	1–2	3–0	2–2	2–1	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–0
Burnley	2–1	2–2	0–1		3–3	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–3	0–2	2–0	1–2	1–1	2–3	0–0	2–2	2–1	1–3
Cardiff City	3–0	3–1	2–1	2–1		0–2	4–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–2	1–0	2–2	3–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–0	2–3
Charlton Athletic	1–1	4–1	1–1	1–3	3–0		1–2	4–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	2–0	2–0	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–1	0–3	3–2	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	2–3
Colchester United	2–2	0–2	1–2	2–3	1–1	2–2		1–5	1–2	1–3	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	4–2	0–1	2–2	1–2	1–1	0–1	2–3	3–2	0–1
Coventry City	4–0	3–1	0–3	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–0		0–2	1–1	2–1	2–0	1–0	3–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–3	0–4	1–1
Crystal Palace	2–0	0–0	2–0	5–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–1		1–1	0–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	3–2	2–1	1–1	1–3	0–2	1–1	0–2
Hull City	3–0	2–2	0–0	2–0	2–2	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–1		3–1	2–0	2–1	2–3	3–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	5–0	1–1	3–0	1–3	2–0
Ipswich Town	0–0	2–1	6–0	0–0	1–1	2–0	3–1	4–1	1–0	1–0		3–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	0–0	3–2	1–1	4–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	2–0	3–0
Leicester City	2–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–2	2–0		4–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–3	1–2	1–1	4–1	1–2	0–0
Norwich City	1–0	1–2	1–3	2–0	1–2	1–1	5–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–2	0–0		2–1	1–0	3–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–3	1–2	1–1
Plymouth Argyle	3–0	3–0	1–1	3–1	2–2	1–2	4–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	3–0		2–2	2–1	3–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–2	1–1
Preston North End	1–2	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	0–2	0–3	1–0	0–1	3–0	2–2	1–1	0–0	2–0		0–0	0–1	3–1	1–0	5–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–1
Queens Park Rangers	2–0	3–2	3–0	2–4	0–2	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–2	2–0	1–1	3–1	1–0	0–2	2–2		3–1	1–1	0–0	0–3	3–0	1–1	0–2	0–0
Scunthorpe United	2–2	1–1	0–1	2–0	3–2	1–0	3–3	2–1	0–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–2		3–2	1–1	1–1	2–3	1–3	2–3	0–2
Sheffield United	1–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	3–3	0–2	2–2	2–1	0–1	2–0	3–1	3–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–0		2–2	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–0	3–1
Sheffield Wednesday	1–0	2–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–0	1–2	1–1	2–2	1–0	1–2	0–2	4–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–2	2–0		5–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–3
Southampton	2–3	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–4	4–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	2–3	1–0	3–2	0–0		3–2	0–3	3–2	0–0
Stoke City	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–3	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	3–2	3–1	3–1	3–2	0–1	2–4	3–2		0–0	3–1	0–0
Watford	1–3	1–1	1–2	1–2	2–2	1–1	2–2	2–1	0–2	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–4	0–1	1–0	2–1	3–2	0–0		0–3	3–0
West Brom	2–0	2–1	4–1	2–1	3–3	4–2	4–3	2–4	1–1	1–2	4–0	1–4	2–0	3–0	2–0	5–1	5–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1		0–0
Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–3	3–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	0–3	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	3–3	2–1	0–0	2–1	2–2	2–4	1–2	0–1

Source: The Football League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Pos	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

Pos.	Player	Club
GK	Wayne Hennessey	Wolverhampton Wanderers
DF	Bradley Orr	Bristol City
DF	Danny Shittu	Watford
DF	Paul Robinson	West Bromwich Albion
DF	Ryan Shawcross	Stoke City
MF	Brian Howard	Barnsley
MF	Marvin Elliott	Bristol City
MF	Liam Lawrence	Stoke City
MF	Jonathan Greening	West Bromwich Albion
ST	Ricardo Fuller	Stoke City
ST	Kevin Phillips	West Bromwich Albion

Stadia

Team	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

Team	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