2006–07 West Ham United F.C. season

West Ham United

2006–07 season
Chairman	Eggert Magnússon
Manager	Alan Pardew (until 11 December) Alan Curbishley (from 13 December)
Stadium	Boleyn Ground
FA Premier League	15th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Third round
UEFA Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	Zamora (11)
Average home league attendance	34,719
← 2005–06 2007–08 →

During the 2006–07 English football season, West Ham United competed in the FA Premier League. They finished the season in 15th place.

Season summary

The team started the 2006-2007 campaign brightly, but slipped down the table due to off-field distractions. West Ham were knocked out from UEFA Cup by Italian Serie A side Palermo (0–1 and 0–3) and saw themselves dragged into the relegation zone.

Eventually an Icelandic consortium, led by Eggert Magnússon, bought the club on 26 November 2006.^[1] Following a poor run of form leaving the club in 17th position (despite the signing of big name players like Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez, who both failed to perform to expectation for much of the season), the new owners sacked Alan Pardew,^[2] replacing him with former West Ham player Alan Curbishley^[3] who had recently ended a 15-year spell in charge of Charlton. Curbishley's first game was at home against Manchester United; West Ham won 1–0, but went on to draw at fellow relegation strugglers Fulham, get crushed 6–0 at newly promoted Reading and get knocked out of the FA Cup by rock bottom Premiership team Watford. An end-to-end thriller at home to Tottenham Hotspur ended with West Ham losing 4–3 after having been 3–2 in front with minutes to play, but the bright performance signified a change in form.

Former West Ham player Carlos Tevez

At the same time the signings of Mascherano and Tevez were being investigated by the Premier League, who were concerned that details regarding the transfers had been omitted from official records and whether or not the influence of MSI (led by Kia Joorabchian) breached Premier League rules regarding third party ownership of players (rules U.18 and B.13^[4]) came into question. The media at this time touted the idea Tevez's contract could be terminated, possibly resulting in a deduction of points for playing an "ineligible" player (despite Premier League statements to the contrary).^[5] On 27 April 2007, West Ham pleaded guilty and were handed a record £5.5 million fine by the Premier League, but avoided a points deduction. Liverpool's signing of Mascherano was investigated and he was cleared to play after a two-week delay.

Following the verdict, Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan threatened legal action, supported by other relegation threatened sides including Fulham and Sheffield United: "This is a very serious offence West Ham committed...They broke the law, told blatant lies and should have got a 10-point penalty. If we can sue West Ham or the Premier League, I am sure that will happen."^[6] Wigan manager Paul Jewell suggested League officials had intimated they wished to see them relegated.

West Ham ultimately escaped relegation by winning seven of their last nine games, including a 1–0 win over Arsenal, and on the last day of the season, defeating newly crowned Premiership champions Manchester United 1–0 to finish outside the relegation zone in 15th.

Final league table

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

Results

West Ham United's score comes first^[8]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
19 August 2006	Charlton Athletic	H	3-1	34,937	Zamora (2), Cole
22 August 2006	Watford	A	1-1	18,344	Zamora
26 August 2006	Liverpool	A	1-2	43,965	Zamora
10 September 2006	Aston Villa	H	1-1	34,576	Zamora
17 September 2006	Newcastle United	H	0-2	34,938
23 September 2006	Manchester City	A	0-2	41,073
1 October 2006	Reading	H	0-1	34,872
14 October 2006	Portsmouth	A	0-2	20,142
22 October 2006	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0-1	36,162
29 October 2006	Blackburn Rovers	H	2-1	33,833	Sheringham, Mullins
5 November 2006	Arsenal	H	1-0	34,969	Harewood
11 November 2006	Middlesbrough	A	0-1	25,898
18 November 2006	Chelsea	A	0-1	41,916
25 November 2006	Sheffield United	H	1-0	34,454	Mullins
3 December 2006	Everton	A	0-2	32,968
6 December 2006	Wigan Athletic	H	0-2	33,805
9 December 2006	Bolton Wanderers	A	0-4	22,283
17 December 2006	Manchester United	H	1-0	34,966	Reo-Coker
23 December 2006	Fulham	A	0-0	22,452
26 December 2006	Portsmouth	H	1-2	34,913	Sheringham
30 December 2006	Manchester City	H	0-1	34,574
1 January 2007	Reading	A	0-6	24,073
13 January 2007	Fulham	H	3-3	34,977	Zamora, Benayoun (2)
20 January 2007	Newcastle United	A	2-2	52,095	Cole, Harewood
30 January 2007	Liverpool	H	1-2	34,966	Kepa
3 February 2007	Aston Villa	A	0-1	41,202
10 February 2007	Watford	H	0-1	34,625
24 February 2007	Charlton Athletic	A	0-4	27,111
4 March 2007	Tottenham Hotspur	H	3-4	34,966	Noble, Tevez, Zamora
17 March 2007	Blackburn Rovers	A	2-1	18,591	Tevez (pen), Zamora
31 March 2007	Middlesbrough	H	2-0	34,977	Zamora, Tevez
7 April 2007	Arsenal	A	1-0	60,098	Zamora
14 April 2007	Sheffield United	A	0-3	31,593
18 April 2007	Chelsea	H	1-4	34,966	Tevez
21 April 2007	Everton	H	1-0	34,945	Zamora
28 April 2007	Wigan Athletic	A	3-0	24,726	Boa Morte, Benayoun, Harewood
5 May 2007	Bolton Wanderers	H	3-1	34,404	Tevez (2), Noble
13 May 2007	Manchester United	A	1-0	75,927	Tevez

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	6 January 2007	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	3-0	32,874	Noble, Cole, Mullins
R4	27 January 2007	Watford	H	0-1	31,168

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	24 October 2006	Chesterfield	A	1-2	7,787	Harewood

UEFA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 First Leg	14 September 2006	Palermo	H	0–1	32,222
R1 Second Leg	28 September 2006	Palermo	A	0–3 (lost 0–4 on agg)	19,284

Squad

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 Roy Carroll 2 DF Lucas Neill 3 DF Paul Konchesky 4 DF Danny Gabbidon 5 DF Anton Ferdinand 6 DF George McCartney 7 MF Christian Dailly 8 FW Teddy Sheringham 9 FW Dean Ashton 10 FW Marlon Harewood 11 MF Matthew Etherington 12 FW Carlton Cole 13 MF Luís Boa Morte 14 DF John Paintsil 15 MF Yossi Benayoun 17 MF Hayden Mullins 18 DF Jonathan Spector

No. Position Player 19 DF James Collins 20 MF Nigel Reo-Coker (captain) 21 GK Robert Green 22 MF Tony Stokes 23 GK Jimmy Walker 24 MF Mark Noble 25 FW Bobby Zamora 26 MF Shaun Newton 27 DF Calum Davenport 28 MF Kyel Reid 29 MF Lee Bowyer 30 DF James Tomkins 31 GK Marek Štěch 32 FW Carlos Tevez 33 MF Nigel Quashie[9] 35 DF Matthew Upson 37 FW Kepa (on loan from Sevilla)

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 2 DF Tyrone Mears[10] (on loan to Derby County) 13 GK Stephen Bywater (to Derby County) 13 GK Gábor Király (on loan from Crystal Palace)

No. Position Player 16 MF Javier Mascherano (to Liverpool) 27 FW Hogan Ephraim (on loan to Colchester United)

References

1. "West Ham accept £85m takeover bid", BBC news report, 21 November 2006. Retrieved 11 June 2007.
2. "Pardew sacked as West Ham manager", BBC news report, 11 December 2006. Retrieved 11 June 2007.
3. "Curbishley named West Ham manager", BBC news report, 13 December 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2007.
4. Daily Mail article on fine.
5. West Ham handed record £5.5m fine
6. Whelan on Warpath
7. Spurs win may harm Rovers' Intertoto chances
8. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/west-ham-united/2006-2007/results
9. Quashie was born in Southwark, London, England, and has represented England at U-21 and B-level, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally through his grandfather and made his international debut for Scotland in May 2004.
10. Mears was born in Chadderton, England, but would represent Jamaica in an international friendly game in 2009 despite not being eligible to do so.