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2006–07 in English football


The 2006–07 season was the 127th season of competitive association football in England.

England began their qualifying campaign for Euro 2008 in September, beating Andorra 5–0.Steve McClaren began his reign as head coach against Greece.

After 3 seasons of missing out, Manchester United fought off the challenge of Chelsea and regained the Premier League title for the 9th time in 15 years. Despite finishing second, the Blues claimed a League Cup and FA Cup double, and Didier Drogba was the top flight's leading goalscorer with 20 in the league. The final two Champions League places went to Liverpool (who nearly won the competition for the 2nd time in 3 seasons only to lose out to A.C. Milan, the same opponents from the final 2 years previous) and Arsenal, while Tottenham and Everton all qualified for the UEFA Cup, as did Bolton, despite the departure of long-serving manager Sam Allardyce shortly before the end of the season. Blackburn qualified for the InterToto cup thanks to the 18 goals of striker Benni McCarthy as well as the impressive efforts of manager Mark Hughes.

Newly promoted Reading, tipped by many critics for relegation, defied the odds by finishing 8th on their first ever season in the top flight. Portsmouth put last season's managerial debacle behind them to finish 9th, finishing just a point short of European qualification. Aston Villa's campaign, their first under former Celtic manager Martin O'Neill, marked an improvement on the previous campaign which saw them go undefeated in their first nine and last nine matches, although a staggering 17 draws prevented a top-half finish.

Watford finished bottom, managing only 5 wins all season as they made a swift return to the Championship. The loss of Alan Curbishley and 3 managerial changes in Iain Dowie, Les Reed and then Alan Pardew ended Charlton's 7-year stay in the top flight. Ironically, Curbishley took charge at West Ham, another London club who looked certain for the drop after a poor season. However, a run of seven wins from their final nine matches was enough to secure their Premiership status, with a goal from Carlos Tevez giving the Hammers victory over champions Manchester United at Old Trafford, while sending Sheffield United down and beginning speculation from the Yorkshire club over whether Tevez was eligible to play. The matter was eventually settled out of court, with West Ham fined £5.5 million by the Premier League and ordered to pay the Blades compensation over five years. Wigan Athletic, in their second year in the top flight, narrowly avoided relegation on goal difference.


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