2007–08 Sheffield United F.C. season

Sheffield United

2007–08 season
Chairman	Terry Robinson
Manager	Bryan Robson (until 14 February) Kevin Blackwell (from 14 February)
Stadium	Bramall Lane
Championship	9th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	Beattie (22)
Average home league attendance	25,605
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

Sheffield United competed in the Football League Championship during the 2007–08 football season, after being relegated from the Premier League during 2006–07.

Season summary

Manager Bryan Robson was dismissed in February with Sheffield United nowhere near a position good enough for an immediate return to the Premier League. His replacement, Kevin Blackwell, was unable to improve United's form sufficiently to qualify for the play-offs and United finished in a relatively disappointing 9th position.

Kit

Sheffield United maintained both their kit manufacturing agreement with French company Le Coq Sportif, who produced a new home kit for the season, and their kit sponsorship agreement with American bank Capital One. A new away strip with fluorescent green shirts and black shirts and socks with fluorescent green trim was also introduced.

Final league table

Main article: 2007–08 Football League

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.

Results

Sheffield United's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Championship

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
11 August 2007	Colchester United	H	2-2	26,202	Beattie, Tonge
18 August 2007	Watford	A	0-1	16,414
25 August 2007	West Bromwich Albion	H	1-0	23,491	Beattie
1 September 2007	Scunthorpe United	A	2-3	8,801	Webber (2)
15 September 2007	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	3-1	26,003	Beattie (2, 1 pen), Stead
18 September 2007	Blackpool	A	2-2	9,512	Beattie (2)
22 September 2007	Crystal Palace	A	2-3	14,131	Hudson (own goal), Beattie
29 September 2007	Southampton	H	1-2	24,561	Gillespie
2 October 2007	Cardiff City	H	3-3	26,186	Beattie, Armstrong, Morgan
6 October 2007	Bristol City	A	0-2	13,071
20 October 2007	Preston North End	H	1-1	23,661	Beattie (pen)
23 October 2007	Leicester City	A	1-0	21,146	Webber
27 October 2007	Hull City	A	1-1	20,185	Stead
3 November 2007	Burnley	H	0-0	25,306
6 November 2007	Ipswich Town	H	3-1	25,033	Beattie (2, 1 pen), Gillespie
10 November 2007	Stoke City	A	1-0	12,158	Cahill
24 November 2007	Plymouth Argyle	H	0-1	23,811
27 November 2007	Charlton Athletic	A	3-0	20,737	Beattie, Cahill, Armstrong
1 December 2007	Coventry City	A	1-0	20,355	Armstrong
4 December 2007	Stoke City	H	0-3	23,378
8 December 2007	Norwich City	A	0-1	24,493
15 December 2007	Barnsley	H	1-0	26,629	Kilgallon
22 December 2007	Cardiff City	A	0-1	12,869
26 December 2007	Blackpool	H	1-1	26,409	Beattie
29 December 2007	Crystal Palace	H	0-1	23,982
1 January 2008	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0-0	24,791
12 January 2008	Queens Park Rangers	H	2-1	28,894	Stewart (own goal), Hendrie
19 January 2008	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0-2	30,486
29 January 2008	Watford	H	1-1	23,161	Carney
2 February 2008	Colchester United	A	2-2	5,695	Shelton, Carney
9 February 2008	Scunthorpe United	H	0-0	25,668
12 February 2008	West Bromwich Albion	A	0-0	22,643
23 February 2008	Queens Park Rangers	A	1-1	15,383	Morgan
1 March 2008	Charlton Athletic	H	0-2	23,180
4 March 2008	Ipswich Town	A	1-1	20,190	Beattie
8 March 2008	Plymouth Argyle	A	1-0	13,669	Beattie
11 March 2008	Coventry City	H	2-1	23,864	Sharp, Speed
15 March 2008	Norwich City	H	2-0	25,536	Sharp, Kilgallon
22 March 2008	Barnsley	A	1-0	15,798	Sharp
29 March 2008	Preston North End	A	1-3	14,647	Beattie (pen)
5 April 2008	Leicester City	H	3-0	24,818	Beattie (3)
8 April 2008	Sheffield Wednesday	H	2-2	31,760	Wood (own goal), Beattie
12 April 2008	Burnley	A	2-1	11,693	Beattie, Sharp
19 April 2008	Hull City	H	2-0	28,188	Quinn, Beattie (pen)
26 April 2008	Bristol City	H	2-1	29,787	Speed (2, 1 pen)
4 May 2008	Southampton	A	2-3	31,957	Quinn, Stead

FA Cup

Main article: 2007–08 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	5 January 2008	Bolton Wanderers	A	1-0	15,286	Carney
R4	27 January 2008	Manchester City	H	2-1	20,800	Shelton, Stead
R5	17 February 2008	Middlesbrough	H	0-0	22,210
R5R	27 February 2008	Middlesbrough	A	0-1	28,108

League Cup

Main article: 2007–08 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	14 August 2007	Chesterfield	H	3-1	11,170	Stead (2), Webber
R2	28 August 2007	Milton Keynes Dons	A	3-2 (a.e.t.)	7,943	Lucketti, Law, Horsfield
R3	25 September 2007	Morecambe	H	5-0	8,854	Sharp (2), Shelton (2), Hendrie
R4	31 October 2007	Arsenal	H	0-3	16,971

Squad

[1] 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 Paddy Kenny 3 DF Gary Naysmith 5 DF Chris Morgan 6 FW James Beattie 7 FW Luton Shelton 8 FW Jon Stead 9 FW Rob Hulse 10 FW Danny Webber 11 MF Lee Hendrie 12 FW David Cotterill (on loan from Wigan Athletic) 13 GK Ian Bennett 14 DF David Carney 15 MF Gary Speed 16 DF Matthew Kilgallon 17 MF Nick Montgomery 18 MF Michael Tonge

No. Position Player 19 MF Keith Gillespie 20 DF Chris Armstrong 21 DF John Halls (on loan from Reading) 22 DF Chris Lucketti 23 MF Lee Martin (on loan from Manchester United) 24 FW Billy Sharp 25 GK Paul Gerrard 26 DF Derek Geary 28 MF Stephen Quinn 29 FW Geoff Horsfield 31 MF Nicky Law 33 DF Ugo Ehiogu 35 MF James Ashmore 40 GK Jamie Annerson — FW Goran Slavkovski (on loan from Inter Milan)

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 Leigh Bromby 4 DF Phil Bardsley (on loan from Manchester United) 12 MF Alan Quinn 21 MF Mikele Leigertwood 21 DF Gary Cahill (on loan from Aston Villa)

No. Position Player 23 MF Ahmed Fathy 27 FW Christian Nadé 30 MF Li Tie 32 DF Evan Horwood 36 MF Ian Ross