2007–08 West Bromwich Albion F.C. season
During the 2007–08 English football season, West Bromwich Albion competed in the Football League Championship. They finished the season in first place, thus earning promotion to the Premier League the following season.
Season summary
After the previous season's play-off final heartbreak, Tony Mowbray set about restructuring his squad, moving out several players for multimillion-pound fees after press reports of dressing room division. High-profile players such as Jason Koumas, Diomansy Kamara and Curtis Davies were sold to Premier League clubs for large fees, joining Paul McShane, Nathan Ellington, Darren Carter and Steve Watson in leaving the Hawthorns. Mowbray replaced them by signing a total of 14 permanent and loan players in the summer transfer window, making an overall profit in the process.Despite the large changes in his squad, Mowbray won the Championship Manager of the Month award in September, after Albion gained 13 out of the maximum 15 points and climbed to second. At the start of 2008, Mowbray's young Albion team topped the table, receiving growing plaudits from the media and supporters alike for their attractive brand of attacking one touch passing football, a reflection of Mowbray's staunch footballing philosophy.
Mowbray guided Albion to the Football League Championship title and promotion to the Premier League, and also reached the FA Cup semi-final. The semi-final, the first to be played at the new Wembley Stadium, pitted Albion against Portsmouth, the only remaining Premier League team left in the FA Cup. Portsmouth won the match 1–0 with the only goal of the game coming from former Albion striker Nwankwo Kanu. Mowbray won the Championship manager of the month award for April, as well as the League Managers Association manager of the year award.
Kit
English company Umbro remained West Bromwich's kit manufacturers. T-Mobile remained the kit sponsors.Final league table
Results
West Bromwich Albion's score comes firstLegend
Football League Championship
FA Cup
Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
R3 | 5 January 2008 | Charlton Athletic | A | 1-1 | 12,682 | Miller |
R3R | 15 January 2008 | Charlton Athletic | H | 2-2 | 12,691 | Bednář, Morrison |
R4 | 26 January 2008 | Peterborough United | A | 3-0 | 12,701 | Bednář, Koren, Phillips |
R5 | 16 February 2008 | Coventry City | A | 5-0 | 28,163 | Brunt, Bednář, Miller, Gera |
QF | 9 March 2008 | Bristol Rovers | A | 5-1 | 12,011 | Morrison, Miller, Phillips |
SF | 5 April 2008 | Portsmouth | N | 0-1 | 83,584 |
League Cup
Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
R1 | 14 August 2007 | Bournemouth | H | 1-0 | 10,250 | Beattie |
R2 | 28 August 2007 | Peterborough United | A | 2-0 | 4,917 | Gera, Ellington |
R3 | 25 September 2007 | Cardiff City | H | 2-4 | 14,085 | Miller |
Players
First-team squad
Left club during season
Transfers
Out
- Chris Perry – released, 1 June 2007
- Diomansy Kamara – Fulham, £6,000,000, 9 July 2007
- Steve Watson – Sheffield Wednesday, free, 10 July 2007
- Jason Koumas – Wigan Athletic, £5,300,000, 10 July 2007
- Paul McShane – Sunderland, £1,500,000, 26 July 2007
- Darren Carter – Preston North End, £750,000, 9 August 2007
- Nathan Ellington – Watford, £3,250,000, 29 August 2007
- Curtis Davies – Aston Villa, season loan, 31 August 2007
In
- Shelton Martis – Hibernian, £50,000, 2 July 2007.
- Craig Beattie – Celtic, £1,250,000, 3 July 2007
- Filipe Teixeira – Académica, £600,000, 17 July 2007
- Leon Barnett – Luton Town, £2,500,000, 26 July 2007
- Tininho – Beira-Mar, £230,000, 31 July 2007
- Boštjan Cesar – Marseille, season loan, 7 August 2007
- Carl Hoefkens – Stoke City, £750,000, 7 August 2007
- James Morrison – Middlesbrough, £1,500,000, 7 August 2007
- Pelé – Southampton, £1,000,000, 9 August 2007
- Chris Brunt – Sheffield Wednesday, £3,000,000,15 August 2007
- Bartosz Ślusarski – Dyskobolia Grodzisk
- Michal Daněk – Viktoria Plzeň, loan
- Roman Bednář – Hearts, loan
- Ishmael Miller – Manchester City