2007–08 Leicester City F.C. season

Leicester City

2007–08 season
Chairman	Milan Mandarić
Manager	Martin Allen Jon Rudkin and Steve Beaglehole and Mike Stowell (caretakers) Gary Megson Frank Burrows and Gerry Taggart (caretakers) Ian Holloway
Championship	22nd (relegated)
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	Hume (10)
Highest home attendance	31,892 (vs. Sheffield Wednesday)
Lowest home attendance	19,264 (vs. Preston North End)
Average home league attendance	23,509
Home colours Away colours
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

The 2007–08 season was Leicester City's 103rd season in the English football league system and their 57th in the second tier of English football.

Season summary

Martin Allen had joined Leicester from Milton Keynes Dons in May,^[1] but his refusal to sign Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who had been invited for a medical by chairman Milan Mandarić but turned away by Allen, created friction between the two. The tension was only exacerbated when Allen refused to put in a bid for Celtic striker Derek Riordan. Eventually Martin Allen left Leicester by mutual consent on 29 August, after three months and four matches in charge, with Leicester in ninth place.^[2] Former West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest manager Gary Megson was appointed as Allen's successor on 13 September,^[3] but left 41 days later, signing as Bolton Wanderers manager on 24 October, leaving Leicester 15th after nine league matches in charge.^[4] Ian Holloway, who had stabilised Plymouth Argyle in the Championship, was named Megson's successor on 22 November,^[5] but he was unable to revitalise Leicester and a 0-0 draw at Stoke City and with Southampton (who started the day in the relegation zone) beating Sheffield United on the final day of the season sealed Leicester's relegation to the third tier. Holloway left the club by mutual consent on 23 May.^[6]

Kit and sponsorship

Leicester City's last deal with kit supplier JJB Sports came to an end on 9 May 2007.^[7] It was announced on 30 May that Topps Tiles would be the kits sponsor in a two-year agreement. On 26 June it was announced the new kit would be produced by Jako and would be an all blue kit.^[8] The last time Leicester City wore an all-blue kit was during the promotion season of 2002–03.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	West Bromwich Albion (C) (P)	46	23	12	11	88	55	+33	81	Promotion to Premier League
2	Stoke City (P)	46	21	16	9	69	55	+14	79
3	Hull City (P)	46	21	12	13	65	47	+18	75	Qualification to League Championship playoffs
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 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 games played on 4 May 2008.
Source: The Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(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.

Club standings

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
46	12	16	18	42	45	−3	52	7	7	9	23	19	+4	5	9	9	19	26	−7

Last updated: 4 May 2008.
Source: LCFC Football League Championship Results

Results

Leicester City's score comes first^[9]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Championship

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
11 August 2007	Blackpool	H	0-1	26,650
18 August 2007	Crystal Palace	A	2-2	15,607	Campbell, Kisnorbo
25 August 2007	Watford	H	4-1	21,642	Hume, Campbell, Sheehan, de Vries
1 September 2007	Plymouth Argyle	A	0-0	11,850
15 September 2007	Queens Park Rangers	H	1-1	21,893	Hume (pen)
22 September 2007	Charlton Athletic	A	0-2	21,918
29 September 2007	Stoke City	H	1-1	23,654	Fryatt
2 October 2007	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0-0	21,311
6 October 2007	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2-0	20,010	McAuley, Sodje (own goal)
20 October 2007	Scunthorpe United	A	0-0	6,006
23 October 2007	Sheffield United	H	0-1	21,146
27 October 2007	Barnsley	H	2-0	24,133	John, Kisnorbo
3 November 2007	Colchester United	A	1-1	5,661	John
6 November 2007	Preston North End	A	1-1	10,930	Campbell
10 November 2007	Burnley	H	0-1	21,334
24 November 2007	Bristol City	A	2-0	15,040	Stearman, Fryatt
26 November 2007	Cardiff City	H	0-0	27,246
1 December 2007	Southampton	H	1-2	20,070	King
4 December 2007	Burnley	A	1-1	10,688	Hume
8 December 2007	West Bromwich Albion	H	1-2	22,088	Hume
11 December 2007	Ipswich Town	A	1-3	17,938	Hume
15 December 2007	Hull City	A	0-2	16,006
22 December 2007	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1-1	23,477	Hume
26 December 2007	Ipswich Town	H	2-0	24,049	Stearman, Kisnorbo
29 December 2007	Charlton Athletic	H	1-1	23,667	Clemence
1 January 2008	Queens Park Rangers	A	1-3	13,326	Hume
12 January 2008	Coventry City	H	2-0	23,905	Howard, Hayles
19 January 2008	Norwich City	A	0-0	25,462
28 January 2008	Crystal Palace	H	1-0	21,764	Hayles
2 February 2008	Blackpool	A	1-2	9,298	Howard
9 February 2008	Plymouth Argyle	H	0-1	21,264
12 February 2008	Watford	A	0-1	15,944
16 February 2008	Norwich City	H	4-0	25,854	Hume, Howard, Campbell, Clemence
23 February 2008	Coventry City	A	0-2	23,129
1 March 2008	Cardiff City	A	1-0	13,355	Purse (own goal)
4 March 2008	Preston North End	H	0-1	19,264
8 March 2008	Bristol City	H	0-0	22,616
11 March 2008	Southampton	A	0-1	17,741
15 March 2008	West Bromwich Albion	A	4-1	22,038	McAuley, Howard (3, 1 pen)
22 March 2008	Hull City	H	0-2	30,374
29 March 2008	Scunthorpe United	H	1-0	22,165	Hendrie
5 April 2008	Sheffield United	A	0-3	24,818
12 April 2008	Colchester United	H	1-1	22,719	Hume
19 April 2008	Barnsley	A	1-0	14,644	Hume
26 April 2008	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1-3	31,892	Hume
4 May 2008	Stoke City	A	0-0	26,609

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	5 January 2008	Southampton	A	0-2	20,094

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	14 August 2007	Accrington Stanley	A	1-0	2,021	Wesolowski
R2	18 September 2007	Nottingham Forest	A	3-2	15,519	Sheehan, Stearman, Clemence
R3	26 September 2007	Aston Villa	A	1-0	25,956	Fryatt
R4	31 October 2007	Chelsea	A	3-4	40,037	McAuley, Campbell, Cort

Squad

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

No. Position Player 2 DF James Chambers 3 DF Patrick Kisnorbo 4 DF Bruno N'Gotty 5 DF Gareth McAuley 6 MF Stephen Clemence 7 FW Iain Hume 8 MF Radostin Kishishev 9 MF David Bell (on loan from Luton Town) 10 FW DJ Campbell 11 DF Jamie Clapham 12 FW Matty Fryatt 14 MF James Wesolowski 15 MF Jonny Hayes 16 DF Alan Sheehan 17 DF Richard Stearman 18 MF Sergio Hellings (transfer listed) 19 FW Elvis Hammond (transfer listed) 20 DF Harry Worley (on loan from Chelsea)

No. Position Player 21 GK Ben Alnwick (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur) 22 MF Levi Porter 23 DF Joe Mattock 24 FW Barry Hayles 26 MF Matthew Oakley 29 FW Ricky Sappleton 31 GK Paul Henderson 32 MF Zsolt Laczkó (on loan from Olympiacos) 33 DF Lathaniel Rowe-Turner 34 MF Gábor Bori (on loan from MTK Hungária) 35 MF Lee Hendrie (on loan from Sheffield United) 36 MF Kelvin Etuhu (on loan from Manchester City) 37 MF Andy King 38 FW Steve Howard 39 FW Ashley Chambers 41 GK Rab Douglas 45 DF Lee Cox 50 DF Daniel West

Left club during season

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Jimmy Nielsen (to Vejle) 9 FW Carl Cort (released) 11 MF Shaun Newton (released) 13 DF Hossein Kaebi (released) 20 FW Mark de Vries (to Dundee United) 21 GK Márton Fülöp (on loan from Sunderland) 24 MF Louis Dodds (on loan to Lincoln City)

No. Position Player 26 DF Clive Clarke (on loan from Sunderland) 27 DF Alan Maybury (on loan to Aberdeen) 28 DF Darren Kenton (to Leeds United) 30 FW Eric Odhiambo (on loan to Dundee United) 35 MF Marco Ferreira (on loan from Benfica) 36 FW Collins John (on loan from Fulham)

Appearances

All data from LCFC.com

Starting 11

Based on players with the most starts.

No. Pos Nat Name MS Notes 1 GK Fülöp 23 17 RB Stearman 36 5 CB McAuley 47 N'Gotty has 33 starts 4 CB Kisnorbo 44 23 LB Mattock 27 Sheehan has 17 starts 6 CM Clemence 32 26 CM Oakley 20 14 CM Wesolowski 18 12 RW Fryatt 24 Campbell has 19 starts 38 ST Howard 21 7 LW Hume 37 4–3–3 Formation Fülöp Stearman McAuley Kisnorbo Mattock Oakley Clemence(C) Wesolowski Fryatt Howard Hume Awards Club awards At the end of the season, Leicester's annual award ceremony, including categories voted for by the players and backroom staff, the supporters and the supporters club, saw the following players recognised for their achievements for the club throughout the 2007-08 season. Player of the Season Richard Stearman[10] Players' Player of the Season Richard Stearman[10] Supporters' Club Player of the Season N/A Academy Player of the Season Lathaniel Rowe-Turner[10] Goal of the Season Iain Hume (vs. Watford, 25 August 2007)[10] References "Allen named new Leicester manager". BBC Sport. 25 May 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2013. "Allen ends brief Leicester reign". BBC Sport. 29 August 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2013. "Megson excited by Leicester job". BBC Sport. 13 September 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2013. "Bolton target Megson leaves Foxes". BBC Sport. 24 October 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2013. "Holloway appointed Leicester boss". BBC Sport. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2013. "Leicester & Holloway part company". BBC Sport. 23 May 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2013. New shirt suppliers for Leicester City in 2007/08 football-shirts.co.uk, 9 May 2007. Leicester City new home Jako football kit 07/08 footballshirtculture.com, 26 June 2007. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/leicester-city/2007-2008/results "Double Reward For Stearman". LCFC.co.uk. 2 May 2008.