2007–08 Premier League
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Wigan Athletic Paul Jewell Resigned 14 May 2007 Pre-season Chris Hutchings 14 May 2007
Newcastle United Nigel Pearson ( caretaker ) End of caretaker period 14 May 2007 Pre-season Sam Allardyce 15 May 2007
Manchester City Stuart Pearce Sacked 14 May 2007 Pre-season Sven-Göran Eriksson 6 July 2007
Chelsea José Mourinho Mutual consent 20 September 2007 5th Avram Grant 20 September 2007
Bolton Wanderers Sammy Lee Mutual consent 17 October 2007 19th Gary Megson 25 October 2007
Tottenham Hotspur Martin Jol Sacked 25 October 2007 18th Juande Ramos 27 October 2007
Wigan Athletic Chris Hutchings Sacked 5 November 2007 18th Steve Bruce 26 November 2007
Birmingham City Steve Bruce Wigan purchased rights for £3m 19 November 2007 15th Alex McLeish 28 November 2007
Derby County Billy Davies Mutual consent 26 November 2007 20th Paul Jewell 28 November 2007
Fulham Lawrie Sanchez Sacked 21 December 2007 18th Roy Hodgson 30 December 2007
Newcastle United Sam Allardyce Mutual consent 9 January 2008 11th Kevin Keegan 16 January 2008
Teams -- Managerial changes
The 2007-08 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) season was the 16th since its establishment. The first matches of the season were played on 11 August 2007, and the season ended on 11 May 2008. Manchester United went into the 2007-08 season as the Premier League's defending champions, having won their ninth Premier League title and sixteenth league championship overall the previous season. This season was also the third consecutive season to see the Big Four continue their stranglehold on the top four spots and places in the UEFA Champions League. The first goal of the season was scored by Michael Chopra, who scored a 94th-minute winner for Sunderland against Tottenham in the early kick-off. The first red card of the season was given to Reading's Dave Kitson after a challenge on Patrice Evra in their opening game against Manchester United. The first hat-trick was scored by Emmanuel Adebayor in the match between Arsenal and Derby County. On 29 September 2007, Portsmouth beat Reading 7-4 in the highest-scoring match in Premier League history. On 15 December 2007, both Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn Rovers) and Marcus Bent (Wigan Athletic) scored hat-tricks during Wigan's 5-3 home win over Blackburn. This was the first occasion in Premier League history that two players on opposing teams had scored hat-tricks during the same match. On 29 March 2008, Derby County drew 2-2 with Fulham while Birmingham City, who were 17th in the table at the time, beat Manchester City 3-1, to make Derby County the first team in Premier League history to be relegated in March, ending the season with an all-time top flight record low points tally of just 11. On 11 May 2008, the final day of the season, Manchester United beat Wigan Athletic 2-0 while Chelsea drew 1-1 with Bolton Wanderers, thus crowning Manchester United with their tenth Premier League title, and 17th championship overall, just one behind Liverpool's total of 18.