2007–08 Wigan Athletic F.C. season

The 2007–08 Wigan Athletic F.C. season was the club's 30th season in the Football League and their third season in the Premier League.

Wigan Athletic

2007–08 season
Chairman	Dave Whelan
Manager	Chris Hutchings (until 5 November) Frank Barlow (caretaker) Steve Bruce (from 19 November)
Premier League	14th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Marcus Bent (7) All: Marcus Bent (7)
Highest home attendance	25,133 (vs. Manchester United, Premier League, 11 May 2008)
Lowest home attendance	5,440 (vs. Hull City, League Cup, 28 August 2007)
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

Season summary

Under new manager Chris Hutchings, the team started the season well, winning two of their opening three games and briefly leading the Premier League table for the first time in the club's history. However, after going the next ten games without a win, Wigan found themselves in the bottom three.^[1] Hutchings was sacked and Birmingham City's Steve Bruce was appointed as the new manager a couple of weeks later. Results began to improve, and the club steadily pulled away from relegation before finally securing their survival in their penultimate game in a 2–0 away win against Aston Villa.^[2] The club finished in 14th place at the end of the season.

Wigan had little success in the cups, and were knocked out of the League Cup in their first game against Hull City. The club also made it to the fourth round of the FA Cup before losing 2–1 to Chelsea. Marcus Bent, on loan from Charlton Athletic, finished the season as the club's top goalscorer with a total of seven goals, and Paul Scharner was voted as the club's Player of the Year.

Transfers In:

Date	Position	Name	Club From	Transfer Fee
19 June 2007[3]	Defender	Andreas Granqvist	Helsingborgs	Undisclosed
27 June 2007[4]	Goalkeeper	Carlo Nash	Preston North End	£300,000
1 July 2007[5]	Defender	Mario Melchiot	Stade Rennais	Free Transfer
1 July 2007[6]	Defender	Titus Bramble	Newcastle United	Free Transfer
1 July 2007[6]	Forward	Antoine Sibierski	Newcastle United	Free Transfer
10 July 2007[7]	Midfielder	Jason Koumas	West Bromwich Albion	£5,300,000
31 July 2007[8]	Midfielder	Michael Brown	Fulham	Undisclosed
30 August 2007[9]	Forward	Rachid Bouaouzan	Sparta Rotterdam	Undisclosed
18 January 2008[10]	Midfielder	Antonio Valencia[a]	Villarreal	Undisclosed
18 January 2008[11]	Defender	Erik Edman	Stade Rennais	Undisclosed
25 January 2008[12]	Forward	Marlon King	Watford	Undisclosed

1. Valencia had been on loan at the club since August 2006

Transfers Out:

Date	Position	Name	Club To	Transfer Fee
24 May 2007[13]	Defender	Matt Jackson	Watford	Free Transfer
1 July 2007[14]	Goalkeeper	John Filan	Free Agency	Released
1 July 2007[15]	Defender	David Unsworth	Free Agency	Released
1 July 2007[15]	Defender	Arjan de Zeeuw	Free Agency	Released
11 July 2007[16]	Midfielder	Lee McCulloch	Rangers	£2,250,000
7 August 2007[17]	Defender	Leighton Baines	Everton	£6,000,000
31 August 2007[18]	Forward	Caleb Folan	Hull City	£1,000,000
25 January 2008[19]	Forward	Denny Landzaat	Feyenoord	£1,000,000

Loans In:

Date	Position	Name	Club From	Length
31 August 2007[20]	Forward	Marcus Bent	Charlton Athletic	Full Season
17 January 2008[21]	Defender	Maynor Figueroa	Olimpia	Until end of season
31 January 2008[22]	Defender	Erik Hagen	Zenit St. Petersburg	Until end of season

Loans Out:

Date	Position	Name	Club From	Length
31 August 2007[23]	Forward	Henri Camara	West Ham United	Full Season

Results

Premier League

Main article: 2007–08 Premier League

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	10	10	18	34	51	−17	40	8	5	6	21	17	+4	2	5	12	13	34	−21

Last updated: 24 January 2019.
Source: 11v11

Results per matchday

Matchday	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H
Result	L	W	W	D	L	D	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	D	L	W	D	W	L	D	W	L	L	W	L	W	D	D	W	L	L	W	D	D	D	W	L
Position	17	10	1	3	7	10	10	12	14	16	16	18	19	19	19	19	19	19	17	18	17	17	17	18	15	16	14	14	13	12	14	16	14	15	13	14	13	14

Updated to match(es) played on 11 May 2008. Source: Statto.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers	Report
1	11 August 2007	Everton	A	1–2	39,220	Sibierski 80'	Report
2	15 August 2007	Middlesbrough	H	1–0	14,007	Sibierski 55'	Report
3	18 August 2007	Sunderland	H	3–0	18,639	Heskey 19', Landzaat 62' (pen), Sibierski 69' (pen)	Report
4	25 August 2007	West Ham United	A	1–1	33,793	Scharner 78'	Report
5	1 September 2007	Newcastle United	A	0–1	50,461		Report
6	15 September 2007	Fulham	H	1–1	16,973	Koumas 80' (pen)	Report
7	22 September 2007	Reading	A	1–2	21,379	Bent 50'	Report
8	29 September 2007	Liverpool	H	0–1	24,311		Report
9	6 October 2007	Manchester United	A	0–4	75,300		Report
10	20 October 2007	Portsmouth	H	0–2	17,695		Report
11	27 October 2007	Birmingham City	A	2–3	27,661	Bent (2) 23', 59'	Report
12	3 November 2007	Chelsea	H	0–2	19,011		Report
13	11 November 2007	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–4	35,504		Report
14	24 November 2007	Arsenal	A	0–2	60,126		Report
15	1 December 2007	Manchester City	H	1–1	18,614	Scharner 25'	Report
16	9 December 2007	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–4	20,309	Landzaat 14'	Report
17	15 December 2007	Blackburn Rovers	H	5–3	16,489	Landzaat 10', Bent (3) 12', 66', 81', Scharner 37'	Report
18	22 December 2007	Fulham	A	1–1	20,820	Bent 70'	Report
19	26 December 2007	Newcastle United	H	1–0	20,304	Taylor 40'	Report
20	29 December 2007	Aston Villa	H	1–2	18,806	Bramble 28'	Report
21	2 January 2008	Liverpool	A	1–1	42,302	Bramble 80'	Report
22	12 January 2008	Derby County	A	1–0	31,652	Sibierski 82'	Report
23	20 January 2008	Everton	H	1–2	18,820	Jagielka 53' (o.g.)	Report
24	29 January 2008	Middlesbrough	A	0–1	22,963		Report
25	2 February 2008	West Ham United	H	1–0	20,525	Kilbane 45'	Report
26	9 February 2008	Sunderland	A	0–2	43,600		Report
27	23 February 2008	Derby County	H	2–0	20,176	Scharner 60', Valencia 84'	Report
28	1 March 2008	Manchester City	A	0–0	38,261		Report
29	9 March 2008	Arsenal	H	0–0	19,676		Report
30	16 March 2008	Bolton Wanderers	H	1–0	17,055	Heskey 33'	Report
31	22 March 2008	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–3	23,541	King 17' (pen)	Report
32	29 March 2008	Portsmouth	A	0–2	18,623		Report
33	5 April 2008	Birmingham City	H	2–0	17,926	Taylor (2) 15', 55'	Report
34	14 April 2008	Chelsea	A	1–1	40,487	Heskey 90'	Report
35	19 April 2008	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–1	18,673	Heskey 12'	Report
36	26 April 2008	Reading	H	0–0	19,043		Report
37	3 May 2008	Aston Villa	A	2–0	42,640	Valencia (2) 52', 63'	Report
38	11 May 2008	Manchester United	H	0–2	25,133		Report

Final league table

Main article: 2007–08 Premier League

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
12	Newcastle United	38	11	10	17	45	65	−20	43
13	Middlesbrough	38	10	12	16	43	53	−10	42
14	Wigan Athletic	38	10	10	18	34	51	−17	40
15	Sunderland	38	11	6	21	36	59	−23	39
16	Bolton Wanderers	38	9	10	19	36	54	−18	37

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

FA Cup

Main article: 2007–08 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers	Report
R3	5 January 2008	Sunderland	A	3–0	20,821	Scharner, Cotterill, McShane (o.g.)	Report
R4	26 January 2008	Chelsea	H	1–2	14,166	Sibierski	Report

League Cup

Main article: 2007–08 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers	Report
R2	28 August 2007	Hull City	H	0–1	5,440		Report

Squad

First-team squad

(Sources)^[24] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Chris Kirkland 2 DF  ENG Ryan Taylor 3 DF  SWE Erik Edman 5 MF  HON Wilson Palacios 6 FW  FRA Antoine Sibierski 8 MF  IRL Kevin Kilbane[25] 9 FW  ENG Emile Heskey 10 MF  WAL Jason Koumas 11 MF  ENG Michael Brown 12 GK  ENG Mike Pollitt 14 FW  JAM Marlon King[26] 15 FW  NGA Julius Aghahowa 16 MF  ECU Antonio Valencia

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 DF  BRB Emmerson Boyce[27] 18 DF  AUT Paul Scharner 19 DF  ENG Titus Bramble 20 DF  CMR Salomon Olembé 21 MF  POL Tomasz Cywka 23 FW  ENG Marcus Bent (on loan from Charlton Athletic) 24 MF  AUS Josip Skoko 25 DF  NED Mario Melchiot (captain) 26 MF  NED Rachid Bouaouzan 27 MF  POL Tomasz Kupisz 31 DF  HON Maynor Figueroa (on loan from Olimpia) 32 DF  NOR Erik Hagen (on loan from Zenit St. Petersburg)

On loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 4 DF  SWE Andreas Granqvist (at Helsingborg) 7 FW  SEN Henri Camara (at West Ham United) 13 GK  ENG Carlo Nash (at Stoke City)

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 MF  WAL David Cotterill (at Sheffield United) — DF  SCO Andy Webster (at Rangers)

See also

• List of Wigan Athletic F.C. seasons
• 2007–08 in English football