Premier League Season 2007-2008

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season
review
premier league
2007/08
Every possible care has been taken
to ensure that the information given
in this publication is accurate and
whilst the Premier League would
be grateful to learn of any errors,
we regret we cannot accept any
responsibility for loss thereby
caused. Photos courtesy of Action
Images, Getty Images, Ben Duffy at
SW Pix and Barclays Photographer
of the Season award. Cover image:
Action Images/Jason Cairnduff .
Designed and produced by
Addison Corporate Marketing
www.addison.co.uk
The Football Association
Premier League Limited 2008
Registered Ofce
30 Gloucester Place
London W1U 8PL
T +44 (0)20 7864 9000
F +44 (0)20 7864 9001
Sir D G Richards
Chairman
R C Scudamore
Chief Executive
J Purdon
Secretary
Bankers
Barclays Bank PLC
50 Pall Mall
London SW1A 1QB
Auditors
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Chartered Accountants
Hill House
1 Little New Street
London EC4A 3TR
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36,144
The average attendance;
a new Premier League record
and the highest in the top
ight for over 50 years

92.8%
How full Premier League
grounds were during the
season, the highest in Europe

31
The goals scored by
Golden Boot winner
Cristiano Ronaldo

4.77 billion
The cumulative global TV
audience for Barclays
Premier League matches

+58
Manchester Uniteds end
of season goal difference.
The greatest ever attained
in the Premier League.

7-4
Portsmouths home victory
over Reading, the highest
scoring game in Premier
League history

1
sT
Where England nished in
UEFAs Fair Play League
The 2007/08 season in numbers
01 welcome p02
Foreword from Sir Alex Ferguson p04
The Premier League Model p06
Chairmans Report p08
02 on The piTch p10
The Season p12
Getting On With The Game p16
Chris Foy: My Ofcial Line p17
You Are The Ref p18
03 aT The grounD p20
Our Fans, Their Premier League p22
Sponsors And Partners p26
The Premier Leagues Biggest Supporter p28
The Ball Is Round p30
conTenTs
Cover photo_A snapshot in history: with the
ball in the net, Ryan Giggs celebrates securing
his and Manchester Uniteds landmark tenth
Premier League title. The midelder, who
also equalled Sir Bobby Charltons all-time
appearance record for Manchester United that
afternoon, scored the Champions second goal
in a 2-0 victory over Wigan Athletic on the nal
day of the season.

1,002
The total goals scored during
the season

122 million
The amount invested
during the season by the
Premier League and its
clubs in community
initiatives

200
The number of Creating
Chances player appearances
04 ACROSS THE WORLD p32
The Bigger Picture p34
African Free To Air: Why & How p36
How Much Piracy Have We Had? Zero p37
In A Fantasy Premier League Of His Own p38
Premier League World: From The Inside p39
05 INVESTING IN THE FUTURE p40
Raising Stars, Raising The Game p42
Creating Chances, Changing Lives p50
International Overview p58
Protecting Our Model p61
06 THE NUMBERS p62
Financial Overview p64
02 | SEASON REVIEW 2007/08 01 WELCOME
01
SIR ALEX FERGUSON REFLECTS ON THE
2007/08 SEASON; CHIEF EXECUTIVE
RICHARD SCUDAMORE EXPLAINS THE
RATIONALE THAT UNDERPINS THE SUCCESS
OF THE PREMIER LEAGUE; AND CHAIRMAN,
SIR DAVID RICHARDS, REPORTS ON THE
LEAGUES ACTIVITIES.
WELCOME
| 03
SIR ALEX
FERGUSON
FOREWORD
The race for the title went to
the last kick of the season and
it was only when we received
news of Boltons last gasp
equaliser at Stamford Bridge
that we could truly relax at
Wigan. But even that proved
an earlier point than our next
game in Moscow, when the
club secured its third
European Cup on penalties
against Chelsea.
To win 10 of the 16 Premier
League championships is a
great honour. It reects well
on all those who have played
for me in those years and
stands testament to their
hard work, talent and will to
win. It is also an indication of
the strength right through the
club of its staff off the pitch
at backroom, commercial and
administrative level
without whose world-class
contribution our success
would not have been possible.
I have had the pleasure of
working with some great
players in that time, but the
Wigan game was signicant
not just for Manchester
Uniteds tenth Premier League
triumph and 17th title in all,
but also for Ryan Giggs
equalling Sir Bobby Charltons
all-time appearance record
for the club and claiming his
own tenth championship.
Neither record will be broken
and I am delighted that it is
Ryan who holds them. He
denes what a professional is.
He is honest, diligent and has
so much talent that in the
early years, the hardest job
was teaching him how to
harness it to destroy teams.
But he was a good student
and has developed into a ne
example for young players
everywhere. For someone
with his gift to devote the
whole of his career to one club
is a magnicent achievement.
And to see his career progress
alongside another of the
Clubs stalwarts, Paul Scholes,
has been a pleasure.
There has been some
criticism in the media of the
Premier League this year, with
a call for quotas to guarantee
English players starting places
in teams. I did not start the
nal of the UEFA Champions
League with six Englishmen
because I was making a
political statement. I did it
because theyre good enough
to win the European Cup.
There are some areas
which I would argue should
change and the over-
restrictive Academy system is
one but it is nonsense to say
that England does not have
players capable of competing
on the international stage.
The hysteria surrounding
Englands non-qualication
for Euro 2008 does not create
the right atmosphere for good
decision-making. But it is vital
that the game takes a step
back and concentrates on
making the right choices. We
have the strongest and the
most entertaining league in
the world; we should celebrate
that, not denigrate it.
And so the new season
is upon us already, last year
counts for nothing and
everyone starts with the
same points. At the time of
writing, transfer activity has
been relatively slow, probably
because the focus of many
has been on the European
Championships. But I am sure
by the time the window closes
at the end of August, there
will be some exciting new
additions to make our job of
retaining the title even harder.
That constant desire to
improve is the great strength
of the Premier League and, I
hope, of Manchester United.
It will be gripping, controversial,
and memorable. Enjoy
the season.
Sir Alex Ferguson CBE
Welcome to the Premier Leagues Season Review.
The 2007/08 season proved once again that, as
well as being the hardest league in the world to
win, its also the best.
TO WIN 10 OF THE 16 PREMIER LEAGUE

CHAMPIONSHIPS IS A GREAT HONOUR.
IT REFLECTS WELL ON ALL THOSE WHO
HAVE PLAYED FOR ME IN THOSE YEARS
AND STANDS TESTAMENT TO THEIR
HARD WORK, TALENT AND WILL TO WIN.
01_Sir Alex Ferguson
celebrates
Manchester United
winning their tenth
Premier League crown
02_Mr Dependable:
Paul Scholes has been
a Ferguson stalwart
03_Wayne Rooney
lifts aloft the UEFA
Champions League
trophy in Moscow
after Manchester
Uniteds victory over
Chelsea in the all-
Premier League affair
01
02 03
| 05
THE PREMIER LEAGUE
MODEL ITS ALL
ABOUT THE FOOTBALL
ST FOOTA||
Players
Stadia
Fans
MAXIMUM INTkST
Fans
Media
Commercial
kSFONSI|
DISTkIUTION
Solidarity
Governance
CSR
COMMkCIA| SUCCSS
Sponsors
Broadcast
New markets
INVST IN
C
O
NVkT T
O
THE PREMIER LEAGUE VIRTUOUS CIRCLE
On top of that we had an all-
English UEFA Champions
League nal for the rst time
ever testament to the
strength of the Barclays
Premier League and the
standards being set week-in
week-out.
It is no accident that
Premier League clubs nd
themselves in this position
nancially strong and
performing well on the pitch
the collective selling of our
media rights and the equitable
distribution of broadcast
revenue throughout the League
provides the stability to invest,
whilst rewarding success.
Perhaps our biggest
challenge has been defending
this collective structure. The
European Commission has
adopted a constructive
approach; accepting this
model has benets within a
legal framework, as well as
identifying that football is
best run at the national level.
There are others who are now
seeking unwarranted layers of
bureaucracy, unfortunately
more for powers sake rather
than considering policies that
will actually benet football.
Reconciling the interests
of all 20 clubs is not easy.
There is a signicant
differential in income across
the League as a result of the
size of individual clubs the
matchday revenue alone of
some clubs dwarfs the entire
earnings of others. This is
exacerbated at the very top by
the distorting impact of the
Champions League revenue
something that must have an
even greater impact in other
European leagues. That is why
the distribution model
operated by the Premier
League is so important to
competitive balance every
pound earned centrally has a
redistributive effect. This
makes it imperative that when
we explore potential new
opportunities that we do so
on a league-wide basis.
Sometimes the short-term
factors that are inherent in
football mean individual clubs,
or a small group, seek to alter
the dynamic of the League,
however we are blessed with a
The Premier League enters its 17th season after
arguably our most compelling competition yet.
The clubs put on a great show fantastic football
played in the nest set of club stadia in the world
and the highest average top-ight attendances
for over 50 years.
conservative constitution that
has helped maintain the drive
and focus of the competition
that other competitions and
sports seemed to have lost
at times.
There are other threats.
As much as new technologies
offer opportunities they also
present challenges in the form
of increased piracy, the same
goes for globalisation. Our
increased popularity is a
double-edged sword the
more people want to watch
Barclays Premier League
football the more others will
seek to circumvent rights
structures. This doesnt just
mean potentially less money
for clubs and players, but for
youth development, exible
ticket pricing and community
initiatives all of which are
critical to ensuring our
continued success, but all of
which rely on our ability to
defend each constituent part
of the virtuous circle.
The Barclays Premier
League, and English football,
are in robust health the Key
Performance Indicators in this
publication demonstrate just
how well the clubs are doing
on and off the pitch. The
Football Association and
Football League too are well
placed to take advantage of
the popularity of the
English game.
Our challenge is to
improve this position: to take
the League forward as a
whole; to take advantage of
new opportunities in a
sustainable and responsible
manner; continue investing in
the right areas and pursuing
policies that will have a
meaningful impact without
detracting from the strengths
of the game. All the while
never forgetting and
appreciating what got us to
this point in the rst place.
The Premier League clubs,
all of them, understand the
importance of this model:
investing in the acquisition and
development of playing talent;
keeping and attracting fans;
new and improved stadium
facilities as well as an increasing
amount of CSR activity.
This virtuous circle is the
rationale that underpins
everything we do. It starts
and nishes with the football;
everything else the fans, the
sponsors, the broadcasters,
even the community
programmes ow from that.
And that is exactly how it
should be.

Richard Scudamore
Chief Executive
THE DISTRIBUTION
MODEL OPERATED BY
THE PREMIER LEAGUE IS
SO IMPORTANT TO
COMPETITIVE BALANCE
EVERY POUND EARNED
CENTRALLY HAS A
REDISTRIBUTIVE EFFECT.
RICHARD SCUDAMORE
| 07
In addition to the
unprecedented quality of
play and excitement of the
competition there were
record attendances, record TV
viewing gures domestically
and internationally, and
European success.
Those achievements owe
much to the investment our
clubs continue to make in
their playing squads, through
attracting genuine world stars
whilst developing talented
home-grown youngsters, and
continually improving stadia
and facilities. On and off pitch
we are rightly heralded as
the best domestic league
competition in the world.
We understand and
appreciate that this status has
not been attained by being
complacent, but by
considering the issues at play
in the modern world of
football business and
governance. These are areas
CHAIRMANS REPORT
we must concern ourselves
with if we are to continue
to maintain and develop
the League.
COMPETITION
This seasons title race,
European qualication and
relegation battle were ercely
contested to the last day, with
the standard of football across
the League being universally
viewed as excellent.
Congratulations to
Manchester United and their
astonishing record of a tenth
Premier League title. This was
perhaps their most impressive
crown as they fought off two
compelling challenges. First
overhauling Arsenal, whose
consistency and commitment
to attacking play in the rst
half of the season confounded
many pre-season predictions.
Then came a strong second
half showing from Chelsea
that took the title race right
to the wire.
Liverpool took the
remaining UEFA Champions
League place, with Everton
capping another strong
campaign by qualifying for
the UEFA Cup. Aston Villa
performed consistently well
to qualify as the Premier
Leagues entry in the InterToto
Cup, while Manchester City
were the beneciaries of
England commendably
nishing top of the UEFAs Fair
OUR COLLECTIVE
STRENGTH HAS GOT US
WHERE WE ARE TODAY
AND IT IS THIS COMMON
SENSE OF PURPOSE THAT
WILL SEE US BUILD ON
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS,
WIN OVER CRITICS AND
DELIVER THE STRUCTURES
FOR THE PREMIER
LEAGUE TO THRIVE.
SIR DAVID RICHARDS
The 2007/08 Barclays Premier

League Season is one that will live
long in the memory. Like many,
I believe it was the nest
competition we have enjoyed
to date.
All 20 clubs attended the launch of Creating Chances Places
for Players, the Premier Leagues agship CSR initiative
Play League and gained a
place in the UEFA Cup
qualifying round.
Again, we saw the
relegation battle throw up
the usual twists and turns,
with Fulhams never-say-die
attitude particularly laudable.
We wish Derby County,
Birmingham City and
Reading all the very best in
their campaigns next season
to regain their Premier
League status.
EUROPEAN AND CUP
COMPETITIONS
There is no getting away
from the fact that the
Barclays Premier League clubs
dominated the Champions
League. Three semi-nalists
and it could have been all four
is testament to the growing
strength in depth of our
League. Arsenal and Liverpool
deserve credit for their
performances, but special
mention has to go to both
Chelsea and Manchester
United who made equal
contribution to a nal that
was compelling, dramatic
and a fantastic advertisement
for the top ight.
Tottenham Hotspur,
Everton, Bolton Wanderers
and Blackburn Rovers
produced some ne
performances in the UEFA
Cup; all ultimately unlucky
not to make it to the nal
stages of the competition.
Tottenham Hotspur took
the rst silverware of the
season with a hard-fought
extra-time Carling Cup victory
over London rivals, Chelsea.
Portsmouth ended the
season as they began it,
picking up a trophy. Harry
Redknapps side won the
Barclays Asia Trophy on
penalties from Liverpool prior
to the season and at the end
of the season a ne FA Cup
run saw them pick up the
famous old trophy ahead of
Championship side Cardiff City.
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
AND OTHER BODIES
Our relationship with
continues to be mixed,
sometimes making progress
to good effect, other times
experiencing frustration.
The Burns reforms have
still not yet been fully
implemented, though I am
sure that Lord Triesman has
highlighted this as a priority.
This remains critical to
The FA functioning properly,
as an association of
footballing interests,
including the professional
game. Our Premier League
representatives will continue
to strive to ensure that The FA
works in a way that benets
all levels of football.
Relationships with UEFA
unfortunately continue to be
strained. If we are to counter
some of their unacceptable
proposals regarding who runs
football, constant vigilance
and engagement is required.
The Premier League has
enjoyed mainly constructive
dealings with FIFA; we may
not always agree but lines of
communication are becoming
more frequent and positive.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
The political and regulatory
issues we face, in common
with most businesses, only
seem to increase. There is
barely a section of the business
that doesnt come into contact
with government both in
Westminster and Europe.
Fortunately, the strength
of the competition combined
with our ongoing
commitment to good
causes again marvellously
highlighted by Creating
Chances, the Football
Foundation and Premier
Skills have given us the
standing and good will to
engage and deploy the
arguments needed to
defend our model.
CONCLUSION
In spite of the 2007/08
season being the best
competition in our 16-year
history, we are probably
facing some of our most
erce criticism.
Our commercial and on-
eld success has attracted
jealous looks as well as
admiring ones. Other football
bodies are wary of our buying
power, global reach and
ability to take advantage of
emerging markets.
Our collective strength
has got us where we are today
and it is this common sense of
purpose that will see us build
on our achievements, win
over critics and deliver the
structures for the Premier
League to thrive.
Finally, in addition to
welcoming back West
Bromwich Albion, we
welcome the 41st and 42nd
ever members of the Premier
League in Stoke City and Hull
City. I wish all 20 Premier
League clubs the very best of
luck for season 2008/09; lets
hope we exceed even this
years standards.

Sir David Richards
Chairman
| 09
10 | SEASON REVIEW 2007/08 02 ON THE PITCH
02
THE STORY OF THE 2007/08 BARCLAYS
PREMIER LEAGUE FROM START TO FINISH,
HIGHLIGHTING THE MOMENTS THAT
DEFINED A SEASON THAT WILL LIVE LONG
IN THE MEMORY. THE MATCHES; THE
MANAGERS; THE PLAYERS; THE GOALS
WITH THE REFEREES PERSPECTIVE TOO.
ON THE PITCH
| 11
01_Manchester United captain Rio
Ferdinand and Cristiano Ronaldo
celebrate a vital victory over West
Ham in May as they close in on
their tenth Premier League title.
02_Sunderlands Michael Chopra
celebrates number one of
1,002 goals scored during
the 2007/08 season.

THE SEASON
THE DRAMA CONTINUED
ALL THE WAY TO THE
LAST MINUTES OF
THE SEASON. DANNY
MURPHYS STRIKE
WAS JUST ENOUGH
TO SAVE FULHAM
FROM RELEGATION.
There were 380 matches

played, 585 players who
appeared and 1,002 goals
scored but ultimately there
can only be one winner and
the season belonged to
Manchester United. It was
not only their tenth Premier
League crown but their 17th
top-ight title; tantalisingly
they are now just one behind
Liverpools record total of 18.
The key to Uniteds success
was straightforward: they won
more games (27), conceded
fewer goals (22) and scored
more (80) than anyone else.
Astonishingly over a third
of Uniteds goals were scored
by Cristiano Ronaldo. The
footballing sensation of the
season, the Portuguese
international hit 31 to equal
Alan Shearers 1995/96 record
The opening game of the Barclays Premier League
on 11 August 2007 set the tone of the season:
a winner in the last minute of injury time from
Michael Chopra of newly promoted Sunderland
over the much-fancied Tottenham Hotspur
heralded nine months of dramatic twists and turns.
By the nal day of the season on 11 May 2008 the
Premier League title, European qualication and
relegation were still on the line.
of most goals in a 38-game
season, a feat all the more
remarkable given Ronaldo is
a midelder. In addition to the
Golden Boot, Ronaldo picked
up the European Golden Shoe,
PFA Players Player of the Year,
PFA Fans Player of the Year,
FWA Footballer of the Year,
Barclays Player of the Season,
and the Barclays Premier
League Merit Award.
There were also some
audacious goals from Ronaldo
during the season: his cheeky
back-heel against Aston Villa,
his crucial match-winning
mazy run and shot away to
Fulham, and a goal which his
manager Sir Alex Ferguson
described as the greatest free-
kick in the history of the
01
02
| 13
ASTONISHINGLY OVER A THIRD OF UNITEDS GOALS

WERE SCORED BY CRISTIANO RONALDO. THE
FOOTBALLING SENSATION OF THE SEASON, THE
PORTUGUESE INTERNATIONAL HIT 31 TO EQUAL
ALAN SHEARERS 1995/96 RECORD OF MOST
GOALS IN A 38-GAME SEASON, A FEAT ALL THE MORE
REMARKABLE GIVEN RONALDO IS A MIDFIELDER.
The goal scoring records tumbled this season:
Portsmouth and Reading shared 11 goals;
Stewart Downings Middlesbrough hit
Manchester City for eight; Wigan Athletics
Marcus Bent scored a historic hat-trick.
Premier League, his stunning
dead-ball strike against
Portsmouth.
For many though, the goal
of the season was Emmanuel
Adebayors goal against
Tottenham Hotspur where,
with his back to goal, the Togo
striker icked the ball with his
left foot and rasped a stunning
volley into the top corner of
Paul Robinsons goal.
The Arsenal man ended up
scoring another 23 goals and
was runner-up for the Golden
Boot along with Liverpools
Fernando Torres, the latter
setting a new record by a
foreign player in their debut
season. Another impressive
debutant was Blackburn
Rovers Roque Santa Cruz
who hit the net 19 times. The
Paraguayan was also part of
Premier League history
when with Wigan Athletics
Marcus Bent they became the
rst two players on opposing
teams to score a hat-trick
in the same game.
Wigan Athletics 5-3
victory that December day
was one of many where it
rained goals.
In September, Portsmouth
beat Reading 7-4 in the
highest-scoring match in
Premier League history, while
on the last day of the season
Middlesbrough beat
Manchester City 8-1 to
record the biggest win of the
season. Like Middlesbrough,
Manchester United also
managed to score six rst-half
goals, although that was the
extent of their rout of
Newcastle United.
There were many games
that were a fantastic advert for
the Barclays Premier League:
for skill and commitment
there was a swashbuckling 1-1
draw between Liverpool and
Arsenal; for speed and
entertainment there were the
eight goals that Tottenham
Hotspur and Chelsea shared;
and for drama and importance
there was Manchester United
coming from behind to beat
Arsenal 2-1 and all but end the
Gunners season.
Sir Alex Ferguson did a
remarkable job at Manchester
United. His team reeled in an
Arsenal side that had led the
League table for much of the
campaign and then held off
Chelseas late challenge. The
opposing managers could
barely have done more: Avram
Grants Chelsea would end the
season with 85 points, a record
haul for a team not winning the
title, while the 83 points
Arsene Wengers Arsenal
recorded was the most by a
team nishing third. But the
Scotsman was to prove their
nemesis, having once more
crafted a team blessed with
the quality, guile and guts
needed to win the Barclays
Premier League.
But Sir Alex was not the
only British manager to
impress: Scotlands David
Moyes guided Everton into
Europe, as did Northern
Irelands Martin ONeill at
Aston Villa. Welshman Mark
Hughes underlined his
burgeoning talent at
Blackburn, while Harry
Redknapp continued his ne
stewardship at Portsmouth
and was the highest nishing
English manager.
Other notable managerial
achievements included
Manchester Citys early
season pace-setting under
Sven-Gran Eriksson,
Sunderlands Roy Keane
keeping Sunderland in the top
ight at the rst attempt, and
Gary Megson and Kevin
Keegan coming back to the
Barclays Premier League and
impressively guiding Bolton
Wanderers and Newcastle
United, respectively to safety.
But perhaps the best rescue
job was done by Roy
Hodgson, who guided Fulham
to four wins in their last ve
games to send Reading and
Birmingham City down with
Derby County.
So just as in the opening
game the drama continued all
the way to the last minutes.
Danny Murphys strike was
just enough to save Fulham
from relegation, Yakubu
Aiyegbenis goals red
Everton into Europe and, as if
the script was written for him,
Ryan Giggs scored the crucial
second goal against Wigan
Athletic as he and Manchester
United went on to lift the
trophy for the tenth time.
It was a tting climax to
an unforgettable season.
| 15
GETTING ON
WITH THE GAME
Referees for Barclays Premier
League matches are provided
by Professional Game Match
Ofcials Ltd (PGMOL).
PGMOL undertakes a
rigorous monitoring and
selection process to identify
the best referees from across
the country and in 2007/08
19 Select Group Referees
were chosen to ofciate
regularly at Barclays
Premier League matches.
Each Premier League
manager attends a pre-
season meeting with a
Select Group referee and
the presentations in 2007
focused on simulation,
reckless challenges, offside,
and the tness of the referees.
We saw improvements in all
these areas during the season.
Across all 380 Barclays
Premier League matches only
18 players were cautioned for
Referees are often seen as having a thankless task
but the Premier League has a great deal of pride in
the world-class standard of its ofciating. From the
tness of referees to law guidance and focus, the
season was one of progress.
simulation.
In 2007/08 we introduced
a new convention for dealing
with injured players while the
match is in progress. The
players were instructed to
play on unless the referee
stopped the play, and this
had an extremely positive
effect in reducing the
number of stoppages.
The referees work with a
team of sports scientists,
sports psychologists and
physiotherapists to ensure
that their training, approach
and tness are of the highest
standard. Their performances
are monitored constantly in
order to improve the standard
of ofciating across the game.
Every match ofcial
operates to a carefully
planned training regime
and this season the ofcials
concentrated on improving
their sprinting speeds to
meet the demands of the
ever-increasing speeds
demonstrated by players at
the top level. Referees now
perform an average number
of 40 high-intensity sprints
and cover an average of
11,561 metres in each match.
The players sprint about
42 times per match.
Martin Atkinson
Steve Bennett
Mark Clattenburg
Mike Dean
Phil Dowd
Chris Foy
Mark Halsey
Barry Knight
Andre Marriner
Lee Mason
Lee Probert
Uriah Rennie
Mike Riley
Rob Styles
Keith Stroud
Steve Tanner
Peter Walton
Howard Webb
Alan Wiley
SElECT GrOuP MATCH
OffICIAlS Of 2007/08
The Premier League has
a huge impact across the
world and to be part of the
biggest club league in the
world is amazing. My season
started on 21 July with the
Barclays Premier League Asia
Trophy in Hong Kong and
nished on the last day in
May at Chelsea. To be trusted
with such a big game live
on TV, when Chelsea were
competing with Manchester
United for the title and the
world was watching, was a
real pat on the back.
We have an excellent
relationship with the
players. At the start of every
season referees go into clubs
and speak to the staff and
players about any Law
changes for the season and
how we would like to control
the game. The players and
managers know us and I
believe we get their respect.
Premier League players
do have high standards of
behaviour. There were
a couple of high-prole
incidents that had a big
impact on the season. The
important thing is that they
were the exception rather
than the norm and everybody
thats connected with the
game knew those incidents
werent acceptable.
Next season were going
to use the captains more on
the pitch. Players wont be
kept in check by us alone, the
captains will have as much of
a responsibility as us for the
conduct of their players.
Stay calm at all times.
A referee has to be in control
of his actions and his body
language, otherwise it can
affect the players. We work
hard on our man-
management skills and this is
now recognised more than it
was in the past.
Players want to win at all
costs. Sometimes that means
we are the scapegoats.
Referees are honest and make
decisions as well and as
accurately as they can.
CHrIS fOy:
My OffICIAl lINE
Referees havent missed an
open goal or a penalty kick.
When a referee makes a
mistake it impacts on us all.
Were the 21st team in the
Premier League and it hurts.
But if we all go out and do our
best we can send a message
around the world that English
referees are the best.
Its important to admit
when youve made a mistake
and Ive done it. Its a matter
of reducing your mistakes and
if you do make one how you
get over it quickly.
You have to be super t.
Theres no way you can
referee at that level and that
intensity and not be t. At
Fulham this season I ran about
12,000 metres and I did 99
sprints. When I downloaded
my heart monitor it showed
that my heart rate was 175
bpm for 25 minutes of the
game. Its down to 52 bpm
when I am resting. That shows
you the pressure and the
intensity that referees at the
top level are under.
I get to be on the pitch
with some of the greatest
footballers in the world. As
someone who loves football,
to see them show their skills
and score fantastic goals is
just brilliant.
GETTING ON WITH THE GAME
Select Group Match Ofcial Chris Foy speaks
personally about what its like to be the man
in the middle.
| 17
For a unique feature of this years Season Review
we have enlisted the help of celebrated sports
artist Paul Trevillion. Paul is perhaps best known
for his work on You Are The Ref, the cult football
cartoon rst made famous in Shoot! Magazine
in the 1970s, and more recently in The Observer
and on the BBC Sport website.
In You Are The Ref readers
pose questions and scenarios
on laws of the game to Keith
Hackett, General Manager of
PGMOL. Keith provides the
replies, while Paul supplies the
colourful and information
packed drawings that
you are the ref
GettING oN WIth the GaMe
accompany the words. Here
Keith and Paul combine to look
at some of the most asked
about laws of the 2007/08
Premier League season and use
real-life examples from the
campaign to bring them to life.
OFFSIDE
Arsenal v Middlesbrough
Players involved: Tuncay
anli, Jrmie Aliadire,
William Gallas
Referee: Mark Halsey
Assistant Referee:
Andy Garratt
Law 11: Offside is quite
specic. It is not an offence,
in itself, to be in an offside
position. The law tries to
ensure that goals are given
wherever possible and that
players are only actually
penalised if they are:
interfering with play;
interfering with an opponent;
or, gaining an advantage by
being in that position.
This example relates to
interfering with play. When
Mark Schwarzer played the
ball down the wing, Tuncay
is not in an offside position,
although Aliadire, standing
ve yards away, was. The
judgement the Assistant
Referee had to make was who
at that point was interfering
with play. Correctly Andy
Garratt determined that the
ball was going to Tuncay; he
has the opportunity to play
the ball and was not in an
offside position. At that point
Aliadire was not interfering
with play so Tuncay was
allowed to progress. The
Assistant Referee then made
his second judgement: that
when Tuncay played the ball
across the goal Aliadire
was not in an offside position.
William Gallas appealed
but Mark Halsey checked
with his Assistant Referee
and the goal stood.
DENIAL OF A GOAL
SCORING OPPORTUNITY
Liverpool v
Blackburn Rovers
Players involved: Jason
Roberts and Martin Skrtel
Referee: Alan Wiley
There is a common
misconception that the
Denial of a Goal Scoring
Opportunity law is simply
related to a defender being
the last man between the
attacker and the goalkeeper
when committing a foul. This
isnt the case and an incident
involving Jason Roberts and
Martin Skrtel is a great example
of how the law should be
appropriately applied.
The ball was played
to Roberts who was then
fouled by Skrtel about 35
yards away from goal. The
rst thing the referee thinks
about in this scenario is the
position of the striker. How far
away from goal is he? What is
the direction of the player and
the ball? Does he have it under
total control? Was the attack
very likely to produce a goal?
Alan Wiley correctly
awarded a yellow card.
Roberts was 35 yards out, not
moving directly towards
goal and had kicked the ball
some way ahead and the
foul did not deny a clear
goal scoring opportunity.
the ball, but Johnson launches
himself off the ground with the
studs of his right boot raised.
At this point he is at high speed
and not in control of the
challenge. The intensity of the
challenge is such that Kilbane
ends up on the ground and
could be judged to be
fortunate to escape injury.
So on all counts Mike Dean was
correct in issuing a red card.
SERIOUS FOUL PLAY
Wigan Athletic v
Birmingham City
Players involved: Damien
Johnson, Kevin Kilbane
Referee: Mike Dean
There is another mistaken
belief that when a player
manages to get part of the
ball in a challenge no
matter how serious the
offence it might mean the
player just receives a yellow
card. Again, this is not the
case. There are ve key
components a referee takes
into account before issuing a
red card for an act of Serious
Foul Play: lack of control;
speed of the challenge; ability
to play the ball; intensity of
the challenge; has the
challenge endangered the
safety of an opponent.
In the case of Damien
Johnson challenging Kevin
Kilbane, both players go for
| 19
20 | SEASON REVIEW 2007/08 03 AT THE GROUND
03
THE BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE IS KNOWN
THE WORLD OVER FOR THE PASSION,
COMMITMENT AND KNOWLEDGE OF OUR
FANS HERE WE LOOK AT WHO THEY ARE
AND WHAT THEY WANT FROM THEIR
LEAGUE. OUR OTHER SUPPORTERS,
SPONSORS AND PARTNERS, GIVE AN
INSIGHT TO WHAT IT MEANS TO THEM.
AT THE GROUND
| 21
OUR fANs,
THEiR PREmiER LEAGUE
Premier League supporters contribute greatly to
the game, not just in the investment they make in
season tickets, match-day tickets or merchandise,
but in the passion they bring to the grounds. Fans
show their support with songs, chants, scarves
and ags, and bring a colour and vibrancy to the
occasion that makes Barclays Premier League
football unique. Their passion, their loyalty and
their diversity are things we celebrate.
Theyre by far the
greatest team, the world
has ever seen
There is a distinct passion
and knowledge about Premier
League fans and it is not just
on match day that they show
their commitment. There is
an insatiable desire for more
information on what their
team is up to, whether that
is reading about their clubs,
discussing their fortunes on
websites and with friends and
family. In fact 45% of the fans
responding to our National
Fan Survey (more on that
below) visit their ofcial club
website at least once a day.
This knowledgeable
supporter base is interested
not just in the football but the
wider roles that their clubs
play in the community. Those
watching Barclays Premier
League matches are not
merely spectators they are
supporters in every sense of
the word. A poignant example
of that this season was when
Manchester United played
Manchester City on the day
that they were remembering
the deaths of 23 people in the
Munich Air disaster of 1958.
Both sets of fans joined in a
minutes silence and raised
the scarves of their teams
aloft together. Their
demonstration of unity and
respect contributed greatly
to a moving occasion and was
an act admired the world over.
Who ate all the pies?
Quite a lot of people actually,
as the 2007/08 season saw
record numbers of fans
turning out to see their teams
compete in the Barclays
Premier League. Attendances
across all 380 games reached
13.7 million people, a 5%
increase on the previous
season, and the average
attendance for each match
was 36,144. Newly promoted
clubs Sunderland,
Birmingham City and Derby
County all contributed with
excellent crowds welcoming
back top ight football, with
Derby County fans in
particular showing great
commitment by continuing to
attend matches in large
numbers despite experiencing
little success on the pitch.
Premier League grounds
were, over the course of the
season, 92.8% full, a three-
year high. The clubs which
were fullest most often were
Arsenals Emirates Stadium
(99.5%) and Manchester
Uniteds Old Trafford (99.39%)
Highest attendances were
naturally found at our largest
stadium, Old Trafford, where
an average of 75,691 people
turned out each fortnight to
see the Champions.
It is also a measure of the
dedication of the supporters
of our teams that they travel
to away matches in large
THERE IS A DISTINCT
PASSION AND
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT
PREMIER LEAGUE FANS
AND IT IS NOT JUST
ON MATCH DAY THAT
THEY SHOW THEIR
COMMITMENT.
numbers, and demand for
both home and away tickets
often exceeds supply. Away
games are more commonly
attended by younger supporters.
Fans of teams playing in
European competitions
increasingly travelled abroad
to see their teams and
supporters of Chelsea and
Manchester United travelled
in large numbers to witness
the UEFA Champions League
Final in Moscow.
Do you come from
In-ger-lund?
In fact a lot of our fans dont.
As the Barclays Premier
League has grown in appeal
across the world, so its global
fan base has become ever
more passionate too. People
watch at home, with friends
and in bars across the world
and their knowledge of the
| 23
clubs and players, and their
desire to see their team win is
increasing each year. When
the Barclays Asia Trophy was
staged in Hong Kong in the
summer of 2007 over 76,000
people attended the matches.
On TV the cumulative
global audience was over
4.77 billion. This is up by over
1.6 billion from last seasons
gure, which is largely
attributed to the rise in
viewing gures in Africa.
Overall, the Barclays Premier
League has made itself
more accessible to a global
audience at the same time
as international interest has
grown signicantly.
Can we speak to you
every week?
Well perhaps not every week
but each season the Premier
League does undertake a
programme of research and
consultation with the fans of
the 20 clubs. Central to this
is our National Fan Survey,
AS FACILITIES HAVE CHANGED, SO HAVE THE
WAYS THAT CLUBS INTERACT WITH THEIR FANS.
ALONGSIDE THE TRADITIONAL SUPPORTERS
CLUBS, FOCUS GROUPS, AND FAN PANELS,
CLUBS NOW USE SMS SERVICES, SMART CARD
TECHNOLOGY, WEB FORUMS AND MESSAGE
BOARDS TO DEVELOP A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP
WITH THOSE WHO SUPPORT THEM.

GROUND sTATisTics
2007/08
13.7m
People came into our
grounds for season 2007/08.
A record high for attendance
92.8%
Stadiums full. Record
demand for season 2007/08
76,013
Highest recorded
attendance of the season
at Manchester United v
West Ham United
which this season was
conducted wholly online
for the rst time. A total
of 34,827 fans took the
opportunity to give us their
opinions on a range of
subjects from the standard
of facilities and the level of
service they receive at their
stadium, to club websites and
community programmes.
A total of 63% of supporters
say that customer service has
improved at their club over
the last ve years and it is
clear that facilities are better
too. Stewards and club staff
all played their part in ensuring
that matches are watched in a
safe and secure environment.
All Premier League grounds
are all-seater, though
naturally some fans like to
stand at times of excitement.
Who are ya, who are ya?
The National Fan Survey
found that our fans are
increasingly a more diverse
mix. For many, attending
football matches is an
important social occasion and
something that binds family
and friends together. All clubs
offer concessionary ticket
prices to children and senior
citizens and many have
special family areas of the
stands in order to encourage
families to attend together.
There are also encouraging
signs that the make-up of
the average Barclays Premier
League crowd is changing:
n There is evidence that the
game is attracting a younger
crowd. One in three new
attendees, i.e. those attending
their rst Barclays Premier
League game in this season,
were aged 24 or under. This
compares to one in ve from
the 2004/05 survey. This
survey revealed the highest
level of supporters attending
matches with their children in
the last six years.
n There is also strong
evidence that top ight
football is appealing to a
younger female fan. Nearly
one in ve of 16-24-year-old
supporters are now female
compared to the one in ten
in the 65+ category.
n The ethnic make-up of the
fan base is changing too, with
94% of fans now describing
themselves in our National
Fan Survey as white, a gure
which is slowly beginning to
reect our multicultural
society. The greatest ethnic
mix of fans can be found at
Arsenal, where 14% of fans
are non-white.
Stand up if you have an
opinion about standing up
And a lot of you did. One
interesting question we
decided to ask in the survey
was whether fans standing
persistently during the game
were a problem and this
provided us with some
interesting answers. Of the
46% of people who told us
they were aware of it
happening, 22% told us it
didnt bother them, 10% said
it lessened their enjoyment of
the game and 14% felt that it
increased their enjoyment at
the match. Clearly it is an
important issue for us to
understand and research
has now been commissioned
to establish how best to
manage supporters who
are keen to stand for some
periods of the match.
Talk on, talk on, with
hope in your heart
As facilities have changed,
so have the ways that clubs
interact with their fans.
Alongside the traditional
supporters clubs, focus
groups and fan panels,
clubs now use SMS services,
smart card technology,
web forums and message
boards to develop a closer
relationship with those
who support them. The
Premier League is at the
forefront of investigating
new ways of developing
these connections and
works closely with customer
service experts to enhance
the offering that clubs can
make, both to those who
attend matches and those
who support from afar.
| 25
sPONsORs
AND PARTNERs
The Premier League is very proud to be working
with all of its partners and sponsors for another
commercial term and, as part of its commitment to
developing each relationship, this season we held
our rst ever Commercial Partners Forum in which
partners were encouraged to share learnings and
ideas both about their own businesses and their
association with the Premier League.
continued to deliver an
increase in media values both
domestically and
internationally for Barclays,
and the rst season of the
increased broadcast platform
saw awareness levels rise
to new heights.
NIKE (Ofcial Ball)
This was the seventh season
of Nike being the Premier
Leagues Ofcial Ball Supplier,
and saw the relationship
develop increasingly as they
became an Ofcial Partner of
the Barclays Asia Trophy. The
technological excellence
BARCLAYS
The rst season of the new
sponsorship term for Barclays
began with the Barclays Asia
Trophy tournament in Hong
Kong in July 2007. This pre-
season tournament was
attended by Liverpool,
Portsmouth and Fulham who
were joined by the local Hong
Kong team, South China, who
were the winners of the Hong
Kong FA Cup. This was the
rst time that Barclays had
sponsored the tournament,
which took place in the Hong
Kong stadium in front of sell-
out crowds. It was a huge
success, and ended with
Portsmouth taking home
the trophy.
The Barclays Premier
League season saw Barclays
activating their rights which
included holding coaching
and Q&A sessions for their
staff and clients with players
and managers from all the
clubs. The Barclays Premier
League Trophy was taken
on international tours to
visit Barclays ofces and
international fans that do not
usually get the opportunity
to get close to the trophy.
The competition
U Real Football - Players make 1,000
decisions every second and can strike
the ball in an infinite number of ways.
Be A Pro - Select a player, master his
position and receive real-time feedback
and analysis of your performance.
Pro Skills - Combine tricks to recreate
signature skill moves of real-world
superstars, or define your own style.
Plus - 30 leagues, 23 real stadiums
and 15,000 players. Go online* and
Upload replays, organize tournaments
and represent your club online in
award-winning Interactive Leagues.
F
I
F
A

0
8
BLES
00132
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BRAND I MAGE s . M M
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Please check the contents of
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1. Ronaldo
2. Gerrard
3. Torres
4. Rooney
5. Fabregas
6. Tevez
7. V.Persie
8. Carragher
9. Adebayor
10. Nani
Source: Sporting iD
TOP TEN NAmEs PRiNTED ON sHiRTs
that Nike puts into the
development of the football
ensures our players play with
a ball that matches their levels
of skill, technique and ability.
BUDWEISER
(Ofcial Beer)
Part of Anheuser Buschs
global football programme,
which includes a FIFA and
World Cup partnership,
Budweiser continued as
the Premier Leagues ofcial
Beer Partner and sponsor
of the games section of
premierleague.com, as well
as adding Ofcial Partner
to the Barclays Asia Trophy
to the relationship.
Since the start of
Budweisers partnership with
the Premier League in 2002 it
has increased its international
activation dramatically, with
the 2007/08 season seeing a
notable increase of interest
worldwide but notably in the
USA and Asia.
LUCOZADE SPORT (GSK)
(Ofcial Sports Drink)
The Premier League logo has
been seen on Lucozade Sport
bottles for many seasons,
and football has become
an integral part of Lucozade
Sports brand. In a growing
market, Lucozade Sport
strives to remain at the leading
edge of the sports drink
industry, and as such it works
closely with Premier League
clubs to develop products that
will keep Barclays Premier
League players at the top
of their game.
WRIGLEY
(Ofcial Chewing Gum)
This season was the rst
complete season for Wrigleys
Extra as the Ofcial Chewing
Gum of the Premier League,
and it saw Wrigleys
embracing the partnership
wholeheartedly by rebranding
their packaging to place the
Premier League logo on every
pack of gum sold in the UK.
EA SPORTS (Ofcial
Interactive Games Partner)
EA Sports has been a partner
of the Premier League since
2003/04 and over the
seasons the quality of the
football within the games
has kept up with the standard
of that on the pitch. The
popularity of their FIFA 08
product has lead them to
exploring new platforms, so
that this season gamers could
challenge one another across
the globe via the internet.
SPORTING iD (Ofcial
Letters and Numbers)
Sporting iD has been a
partner of the Premier League
since 1993 and continues
to develop the technology
behind the ofcial players
and replica products. This
season saw the introduction
of a successful new central
letter and numbering style,
along with a new design of the
Premier League Sleeve Badge,
premierleague.com, as well as
adding Ofcial Partner to the
Barclays Asia Trophy to the
relationship.

TOPPS MERLIN
(Ofcial Sticker and
Trading Card collections)
This year has seen Topps
Merlin celebrate their 15th
Anniversary as the Ofcial
Sticker and Trading Card
collection of the Premier
League. Two current players
also celebrated a special
achievement by appearing in
all 15 additions of the Ofcial
Premier League Sticker
Collection Ryan Giggs and
Sol Campbell. Topps Merlin
also launched a new product
this season, the trading
card game Premier League
Match Attax, which has
been a phenomenal success
with children up and down
the country.
Sol Campbell and Ryan Giggs are
the only two players to have
featured in every Topps Merlin
Premier League collection from
1994 to 2008. This season they
were presented with special
awards by Topps Merlin.
THIS SEASON WE HELD
OUR FIRST EVER
COMMERCIAL PARTNERS
FORUM TO SHARE
LEARNINGS AND IDEAS
BOTH ABOUT PARTNERS
BUSINESSES AND THEIR
ASSOCIATION WITH THE
PREMIER LEAGUE.
| 27
THE PREmiER LEAGUEs
BiGGEsT sUPPORTER
Barclays have been the title
sponsor of the Premier League
since 2001, rst as Barclaycard
and since 2004 as Barclays. As
a brand with global presence
and ambition, the reach of the
Barclays Premier League is very
important to Barclays and they are very proud of
their partnership with the Premier League. We
caught up with Robert E. Diamond Jr., President
of Barclays PLC and Chief Executive of Investment
Banking and Investment Management, to nd out
how the season had been for Barclays as a business
and himself as a Chelsea fan.
Did you personally have a
favourite football moment
from this season?
It has to be when Michael
Ballack scored the penalty for
Chelsea against Manchester
United at Stamford Bridge. The
excitement in the ground that
day was unbelievable, and it
was the moment when all
Chelsea fans dared to believe
we could pip Manchester
United to the title. Of course,
Manchester United eventually
held on to the title like true
sPONsORs AND PARTNERs
champions but thats football
and for me, the climax of the
2007/08 season demonstrates
exactly why we sponsor the
Barclays Premier League.
Have there been any
moments on your travels
around the world where
youve seen Barclays
sponsorship in action and
thought this is what its
all about?
I am lucky enough to travel
around the world and
whether I am in Asia, Africa
or the Americas the rst
question anyone ever asks
me when I say I work for
Barclays is what team do you
support? I can be in a cab in
Mumbai and have the same
discussion about Frank
Lampard and Michael Ballack
that I have in the UK. The
Barclays Premier League is
a unifying force that brings
us all together.
This coming season includes
the halfway point in your
three-year major strategic
investment in the Barclays
Premier League. How is it
going so far?
The Barclays Premier League
has been a great success for
us. Our goal is to be one of
a handful of universal banks
leading the nancial services
industry across the globe.
Weve activated the
sponsorship around the world
in many different ways
to benet our brand and
our 135,000 colleagues,
to make a difference in the
communities we serve, and
also to generate commercial
return. Were delighted
with the results so far.
The season started with the
Barclays Asia Trophy how
important for Barclays is the
international presence the
Premier League has around
the world?
The international reach and
appeal of the Barclays Premier
League is one of the most
important features of the
sponsorship to Barclays,
especially given its popularity
in key markets for us across
Europe and Africa in particular.
If you look at something like
the Barclays Asia Trophy, that
was very successful for us. It
brought the League and our
brand to customers and clients
in a very important market
for Barclays.
Internationally, the
raises our brand awareness
in new and existing markets.
Were able to engage with
600 million potential and
existing customers and clients
in over 200 countries through
the sponsorship. In the UK,
it brings us closer to our
customers and clients, the
great majority of whom
identify with the excitement
and passion of the Barclays
Premier League. Clearly, it
helps our brand to be
associated with it.
How do you assess the
effectiveness of the award-
winning Barclays Spaces
for Sports?
We are very proud of our
Barclays Spaces for Sports
programme, a project that has
established sports facilities in
areas that need them most.
Over 200 sports sites have
been created across the UK
from the initial 30 million
three-year investment from
Barclays and over half a million
people have beneted so far.
But its not enough just to
provide funding, the key to the
programmes success lies
in working closely with the
local community to ensure
the long-term sustainability
of each site. Following the
success in the UK, we are
expanding the programme
globally in line with our
business strategy and
recently announced the rst
of our international sites in
South Africa.
Finally, what are your
business and personal hopes
for the new Barclays Premier
League season?
From a business perspective
we will continue to apply our
strategy to accelerate the
global expansion of Barclays.
The current market conditions
offer a host of opportunities so
its an exciting time for the
business. With respect to the
sponsorship, advancements in
technology and the choice for
fans means its never been
easier to watch the Barclays
Premier League, so we are
condent the future is looking
very healthy for the League
and our sponsorship.
Personally I just hope
for another competitive and
exciting season, and of course
that the new management
at Chelsea takes us one step
further and brings the Barclays
Premier League title back to
the Bridge!
MY MOMENT OF THE SEASON? WHEN
MICHAEL BALLACK SCORED AGAINST
MANCHESTER UNITED AT STAMFORD
BRIDGE. THE EXCITEMENT IN THE GROUND
THAT DAY WAS UNBELIEVABLE, AND IT
WAS THE MOMENT WHEN ALL CHELSEA
FANS DARED TO BELIEVE WE COULD PIP
MANCHESTER UNITED TO THE TITLE.
ROBERT E. DIAMOND JR.
PRESIDENT OF BARCLAYS PLC
Liverpools Yossi Benayoun runs

a special Barclays Asia Trophy
coaching session with local children
in Hong Kong
| 29
THE BALL is ROUND
Der ball ist rund once said legendary German
coach Sepp Herberger, meaning that the ball is
the only sure thing and that anything can happen
during a game. Now the Premier League ball is
even more of a sure thing as the Nike Total 90
Omni, which succeeds the Total Aerow II of the
past two seasons, boasts greater consistency
and accuracy. We spoke to Tom de Blasis, Nike
Football Design Director, about the process and
some bad news for goalkeepers.
Why develop a new ball
are you perfectionists
or have there just been
advancements in the
technology?
Its both: Nike introduced
Geo Technology over 11
years ago and this was the
rst breakthrough in ball
geometry as it made the
ball rounder and more
balanced for better feel.
There are two primary
differences between the
Total 90 Omni and the
Total 90 Aerow II. First, the
engineering of the Total 90
Omni casing is improved to
distribute pressure evenly
across the ball for a more
consistent and accurate
response.
The second key
advance is
in the use of a
performance
graphic for visual
acuity. That is,
when the ball is
in motion, the
graphic generates
a more powerful
visual signal for the
player so the ball
is easier to identify and
track with their
peripheral vision. We also
worked closely with the
sPONsORs AND PARTNERs
Premier League to ensure the
colours chosen are energising
for the fans while at the same
time representing the
branding image the Premier
League wishes to convey.
What you end up with is a
fantastic-looking, high-
performance football.
Have the demands on
a modern match-day
football increased during
the Premier League years?
Yes they have because the
game is faster and the players
are stronger, quicker, and
more skilled. They also put
more demands on the ball
by kicking it harder more
often and require more
precision in where the ball
travels when kicked.
What is the design and
science that goes into
developing a new ball?
Where does it start and what
tests develop it in the lab?
All Nikes performance
products start with true
player insights: what they
demand from the highest
performing products to make
their game better. In the case
of modern footballs, elite
footballers demand consistency,
accuracy, and good touch.
To bring a match ball to
the Premier League, Nike
embarks upon years of testing
and validation aligned with
each of the demands discussed
above. This includes formal
testing against FIFA
requirements in third-party
laboratories, wind-tunnel
testing to tune aerodynamic
performance, the Nike
Science & Research Lab
(NSRL) testing with athletes,
and elite athlete
testing on the
training pitches
of multiple
Premier League
clubs. The
football is not
approved for play
in the Premier
League until the
players tell us
it is ready!
The Total 90 Omni boasts a
360-Degree Sweet Spot.
Does that mean well see
more strikers keeping the
match ball at the end of
games because of more
hat-tricks?
We hope so, and our
apologies to the goalkeepers!
By engineering a more perfect
sphere, pressure is evenly
distributed across all the
panels. That means the ball is
more consistent and accurate
no matter where the ball is
struck. Therefore, footballers
will be able to more
accurately assess where the
ball is going to travel, and can
therefore have better success
hitting their intended target
the back of the net!
TO BRING A MATCH BALL TO THE PREMIER

LEAGUE, NIKE EMBARKS UPON YEARS OF
TESTING AND VALIDATION. THE FOOTBALL
IS NOT APPROVED FOR PLAY IN THE
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE UNTIL THE
PLAYERS TELL US IT IS READY!
TOM DE BLASIS
NIKE FOOTBALL DESIGN DIRECTOR
| 31
32 | SEASON REVIEW 2007/08 04 ACROSS THE WORLD
04
THE WORLD IS WATCHING THE BARCLAYS
PREMIER LEAGUE ACROSS 211 COUNTRIES
BY 4.8 BILLION PEOPLE. ON TV, THE
INTERNET AND MOBILE PHONES, FANS
FROM GHANA TO HONG KONG TUNE IN TO
FOLLOW THE SKILL AND DRAMA UNFOLD
FROM ST JAMES PARK TO FRATTON PARK.
ACROSS THE
WORLD
| 33
THE biggER piCTuRE
The quality of Premier League football has, not
unsurprisingly, stimulated interest in broadcast
markets, at home and abroad, as fans increasingly
identify Barclays Premier League matches as
destination TV.
The 2007/08 season was
important as it was the rst in
a new three-season broadcast
term. The new structure for
our domestic rights, six
packages of 23 matches,
achieved both increased
accessibility and competition.
Overseas our policy of selling
direct into markets continued
to reap rewards as we saw
increased interest in both
traditional and emerging
markets. As ever there were
winners and losers, so whilst
welcoming our new licensees
we commiserate with those
who lost out and wish them
future success.
Throughout the UK, BSkyB
and Setanta share live
matches. This has been hugely
benecial for viewers: BSkyB
have continued their usual
high standards of production
and choices, while live
matches screened by Setanta
have extended beyond the
pay-per-view model with
greater availability via digital
terrestrial and cable. Viewing
gures show that more fans
are tuning in than ever before
to follow their clubs fortunes.
Average audiences on Setanta
this season were 460,000 per
game, a near 58% increase
from the previous seasons
pay-per-view.
Similarly impressive rises
came at the BBC, who
continued their commitment
to Barclays Premier League
fans through the ever-popular
Match of the Day (including
its repeat on Sunday morning)
and MOTD2. Total viewing
gures for Match of the Day
during the 2007/08 season
rose an impressive 15% from
the 2006/07 season. Radio
continued to fantastically
convey the excitement of
Premier League football, both
on live match audio coverage
on BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Live
Sports Extra, as well as the 32
live matches broadcast on
TalkSPORT.
Our international rights
saw some countries with
completely new start-up
operations, like Hi-TV and
GTV in Africa and Eurosoccer
in China, where our partners
were starting from scratch. In
other territories, such as
Thailand and Singapore,
broadcasters have launched
new channels or re-launched
with our rights. Throughout
the world, the season kicked
off smoothly, with all matches
delivered without problems
the same high technical
standard was maintained for
all 380 matches with 662
million homes receiving nearly
90,000 hours of coverage.
We now have 39 live
broadcast licensees, 10 more
than the previous deal,
screening the Premier League
in 211 territories around the
world. The extra demand
created by our international
reach has seen the clubs add
capacity on the gantry, in
press boxes and at media
conferences for our
international partners.
In addition to live
coverage of all 380 matches
our licensees now receive
three magazine shows each
week Barclays Premier
League Preview, Barclays
Premier League Review and,
our new feature-based
programme Barclays Premier
League World, a year-round
series, providing our licensees
with more content for fans
across the globe.
The other side of
the camera:
01_Gary Lineker
prepares for Match
of the Day
02_Setantas Kelly
Dalglish presenting
from Goodison Park
03_The Sky Sports
commentary box
at Upton Park with
Richard Keys.
01
02
03
| 35
AFRiCAN FREE TO AiR:
WHY & HOW
Until the 2007/08 season
matches had only been
shown by one broadcaster
across the whole of sub-
Saharan Africa. We decided
the time was right to both
open up individual national
markets across the continent,
but also to take steps to
ensure that the huge number
of Premier League fans in
Africa who could not afford a
pay-TV subscription would
be able to watch matches. In
a stroke weve extended the
audience in Africa for live
football from two million to
in excess of 650 million.
We achieved this in a
number of ways. First we
identied the biggest
markets, both in terms of
population and interest in the
Premier League, as Nigeria
and South Africa. We then
split them out of our sub-
Saharan rights and sold those
rights separately, this meant
we could offer three live rights
packages for Nigeria, South
Africa and one for the rest of
sub-Saharan Africa.
Potential bidders were
told that, if they were to win
our rights to nine live games
a week, there would be one
live match each week sold on
a non-exclusive basis so that
match would be shown on
a free-to-air channel. The
weekly highlights were sold
on the same basis, again
providing access to a huge
number of fans all over sub-
Saharan Africa.
The strategy has been an
enormous success in enabling
massive numbers of football
One of the key strategic aims of the Premier
League is to ensure that our global markets develop
to their full potential in Africa this manifested
itself in shaping out a free-to-air package to ensure
fans across the continent can follow their heroes.
fans across Africa, previously
unable to watch Premier
League matches, to see a
live match as well as the
highlights show each week.
THE biggER piCTuRE
01 and 02_Nigerias Yakubu
Aiyegbeni and Togos Emmanuel
Adebayor both had an impressive
2007/08 season
01
02
HOW MuCH piRACY
HAVE WE HAD? ZERO
THE biggER piCTuRE
Our rst season as a
broadcast partner has been
very encouraging both
nancially and technically.
The week-in week-out drama
of the Barclays Premier
League helps, and no more
so than on the nal day of
the season when we were
the only place in the world
to broadcast all ten games
simultaneously that day. That
was a gift to someone like us.
football is now the most
watched sport in Hong Kong
and it is the central
component of our Sports
Pack. There was a reasonable
price increase in bringing in
the content and that has
had a healthy impact on our
average revenue per user,
as has the fact that weve
broadcast all 90 plus games
that have been broadcast
in HD.
It also helps that
technically we can protect the
intellectual property of the
football through another IP,
IPTV. Its advantages are huge.
With traditional satellite and
cable the signal comes
through your set-top box
either from the sky or the line
running past your house, and
if you have the right card in
your box it decodes the signal
and you see the picture. The
problem is theres no actual
relationship between those
two and there are lots of ways
you can break that code.
IPTV is built differently
because everything is point-
to-point. Its like a telephone
network in that when you
move into a new house and
theres a phone socket if its
not connected it wont work
because the on-off switch is
not in the home, you have to
speak to the supplier to make
it work from the central
exchange. Its the same with
Now TV: every TV is
connected to us and theres
no way you can break it and
you can only see the picture
if you pay us. If youre not
paying, we turn it off. It works.
How much piracy have we
had? Zero.
I think IPTV is the way we
will all be watching football in
the future, but the technology
is only half the story. What
has pleased us most is how
happy the customers are
enjoying the experience of
watching the Barclays Premier
League on Now TV.
We dont want to scare
people with technology
because its not about that,
its about the services on offer.
Thats things like great picture
quality; a mosaic screen of
four matches on at the same
time; huge in-depth statistical
information about the game;
player-of-the-match instant
voting and results; through
our Video on Demand service
being immediately able to
watch another match after
the one youve just seen has
nished.
We havent bombarded
our viewers with these
features either, we actually
rolled them out gradually
so that they had time to
experience and absorb them.
Technically the sky is the limit
in terms of how we can
improve what viewers see.
And thats our main focus
for the future, whether its
the interface on the TV or
an integrated home
entertainment system, we
want our customers enjoying
the best experience possible.
You cant steal it and the quality of product you
can give to the viewer is unrivalled. We asked
Dominic Leung, Managing Director of TV & New
Media of PCCW, provider of Now TV, to explain
why Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) is the future of
television. After a year of increased prots and
happy customers in Hong Kong he certainly
believes PCCW has the answers.
01_Dominic Leung proudly unveils
Now TVs rst generation HD
set-top box
01
| 37
iN A FANTASY pREMiER
LEAguE OF HiS OWN
Congratulations John, how
does it feel being the best
Fantasy Premier League
player in the world?
Unbelievable. I thought there
would be a lot of people who
Fantasy Premier League is the worlds most popular
online fantasy football game. This season there
were over 1.7 milllion players, an increase of 34%
on the previous season. As well as in the UK the
game was hugely popular all over the world, and
especially in the United States, Malaysia, India,
Thailand, South Africa, Singapore and Australia.
Indeed our winner, John Frisina, was an Australian.
But what 1,706,265 others want to know is how
he beat them.
would know the Barclays
Premier League better than me
but I guess spending a lot of late
nights watching a wide range of
live games on the weekend
paid off!
Now, without wishing
to spoil your chances for
next season, what was the
secret of your success?
Personally I focused on
spending the bulk of my money
on a strong starting XI and in
particular a creative mideld.
You need a well-balanced side
with not too many expensive
players that will jeopardise
other positions in the team.
What were your key
purchases of the season,
and why?
Ronaldo was obviously the key
player. He scored loads
of goals, got plenty of bonus
points and must have been my
captain for about 95% of the
season. David Bentley of
Blackburn was another great
addition: well priced, scored
regularly, plenty of assists and
bonus points. A shout out too
for Joleon Lescott he held my
defence together with a fair
share of clean sheets, goals and
bonus points.
Any mistakes?
I remember in March trading
out Frank Lampard in a week
when he scored four goals.
Id read on the internet he
was injured and there was
a strong chance hed miss the
game. Needless to say Ive
not visited that website since!
You used your substitute
Wild Card within the
opening month, why
was that?
It was out of necessity. I was
unhappy with several
members of my team who
were not performing and I had
dropped out to about 12,000th
position overall at the time.
At what stage during the
season did you rst believe
you could win the
competition?
It was the week Dimitar
Berbatov scored four goals
against Reading at Christmas.
I took a gamble on choosing
Berbatov as captain that
particular week and it paid off
as most people had Ronaldo
and he had a relatively quiet
game. As a result of that week
my team scored around 100
points for the week and I
climbed up the rankings from
about 1,200th into the top
50 for the very rst time ever.
I thought then I might have a
slight chance.
Think you can win it again?
Probably not: I think Ive more
chance of winning Lotto than
winning Fantasy Premier
League again!
THE biggER piCTuRE
The 2007/08 season
dream team from
Fantasy Premier League
pREMiER LEAguE WORLD:
FROM THE iNSiDE
Premier League World (PLW) is our weekly behind-
the-scenes view of the Barclays Premier League
and all the clubs. A magazine show, it is available
52 weeks of the year to 662 million homes
worldwide. The programme aims to keep player
proles fresh and fun. Rather than the standard
news approach to football interviews there is
every attempt to take the football player away
from the football environment to gain an insight
into the person. We got PLW editor Pete Spring to
tell us his teams personal highlights from the season.
THE biggER piCTuRE
MARCUS HAHNEMANN
We found out that Marcus
almost joined the US Marines
to be a helicopter pilot. At 18
he passed tests for ight
school but was actually too
young to take up a position
and instead took up a football
scholarship. So we took
Marcus up for a lesson and he
took the controls for a while,
although not when he was
ying over London and his old
club Fulham!
MATT TAYLOR
We love to take players away
from the training ground and
this was a terric one. Matt
Taylor is originally from
Abingdon in Oxfordshire and
a country lad at heart. In his
spare time he loves carp
shing so we took him out
with professional sherman
Matt Hayes who gave the
Bolton star a lesson in pike
shing. The interesting thing
about this article was that we
let Matt Hayes do the
interview questions and we
ended up with a really
illuminating discussion.
ALEX
This was a great story about
how football took this man on
a journey from relative
poverty to play for one of the
worlds richest clubs. Brought
up near Rio de Janeiro, he
graduated from street
football to play in the same
Santos team as Elano and
Robinho. Alex talked lucidly
about the three
championship-winning
seasons at PSV Eindhoven,
Chelsea having the rst
option on him, how he is a
very religious, family man (we
met his two daughters),
Chelsea rituals, and of course
Jos Mourinho.
FABRICE MUAMBA
In 1994, Fabrices father,
Marcel, ed the political and
social unrest of the
Democratic Republic of
Congo in fear of his life and
was kept in immigration
detention centres in England
until he was granted political
asylum. Five years later, 11-
year-old Fabrice arrived in
London not knowing any
English but with a talent for
football. He was spotted by
Arsenal at 14 and joined their
academy, before joining
Birmingham and now Bolton.
This was an enlightening
interview with both father
and son, no more so than
when they both talked about
their love of numbers and
how Fabrice revealed that hes
studying for a degree in
mathematics.
| 39
40 | SEASON REVIEW 2007/08 05 INVESTING IN THE FUTURE
05
THE GRASS ROOTS OF THE GAME ARE
HUGELY IMPORTANT TO THE PREMIER
LEAGUE THEY ARE OUR FUTURE. WE
INVEST IN THE PLAYERS OF TOMORROW
AND ARE FUNDING A NEW GENERATION
OF FACILITIES. OUR CLUBS ARE AT THE
HEART OF THEIR COMMUNITIES; AND
WE ARE HELPING TO DEVELOP THE
GAME ACROSS THE WORLD.
INvestINg IN
the future
| 41
YOuth DeveLOPMeNt
30m
invested in the
Academy system
14
U19 players made their
debut this season
long-term health of youth
development. In addition to
the 5.45 million we give
annually to the Football
League to enhance their clubs
youth programmes, we are
fully supporting the newly
formed Professional Game
Youth Development Group
which will help to deliver key
recommendations from the
recent Lewis Report.
One of Lewiss
recommendations, which
the Premier League has
already acted upon, was to
provide a more exible games
programme. This season the
Premier League introduced
a series of weekend
development days designed
to maximise the time available
with schoolboy players.
Instead of spending hours
travelling to games across the
country on these days, clubs
participated in more varied
games and training activities.
The opportunity to work with
groups of players for a whole
day proved very attractive.
The initiative has been
considered a great success
with some innovative
schemes being introduced, for
example Newcastle United
and Middlesbroughs
schoolboy players trained
together, providing a
fascinating experience for
It will also have been special
for the army of people who
had supported them, the
legion of individuals involved
in their development and that
of thousands of future
young hopefuls.
Whilst little can prepare
you for such a unique occasion,
club youth development staff
are adept at providing aspiring
young players with the
environment to succeed. This
season the likes of Freddie
Sears and James Tomkins at
West Ham United, Martyn
Waghorn at Sunderland, Jack
rAIsINg stArs,
rAIsINg the gAMe
Nine out of the 22 starting players in the UEFA
Champions League Final were developed at Premier
League club youth departments. Their football
journey to that game will have been hugely
demanding but the hours of technical and physical
training, mental preparation and lifestyle
management will have been worth it.
Rodwell at Everton and
Kazenga Lua Lua at Newcastle
United all made their Barclays
Premier League debuts. They
have been shown the way
ahead by the achievements of
Gabriel Agbonlahor at Aston
Villa, Micah Richards at
Manchester City, David
Wheater at Middlesbrough
and Mark Noble at West
Ham. All these names
demonstrate the quality of
work being done by the clubs
with young players.
The Premier League is
determined to support the
both players and coaches.
Another good example of
the collaborative approach is
the Premier Leagues inaugural
recruitment conference which
aimed to break the traditional
mould of seeing player
recruitment as a highly
secretive world by inviting
clubs to share best practice
and examine new initiatives
within this vital eld. The
important point is that by
working together the Premier
League can nd the next
generation of players to
appear in showcase nals.
The Premier Academy League is split into four groups based on region.
The winners of the Academy Groups this season were Arsenal, Aston
Villa, Manchester City, and Sunderland. Aston Villa went on to win in
the nal play-off against Manchester City.
If at rst you dont succeed:
Manchester City put aside the
disappointment of losing the
Premier Academy League by
beating Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup.
Skills and thrills: style and approach was the emphasis
of the Festival of Football rather than scoring goals.
festIvAL Of fOOtbALL
It takes an enormous amount of work, dedication
and talent to make it through the Academy ranks
and onto the Premier League stage. While some will
full that dream and others wont, all Premier
League Academies play a vital role in delivering life
skills to those that pass through them.
For younger children at Premier
League Academies the focus
is very much on creativity and
enjoyment. As part of that
there is a match programme
that exists for Premier
League and Football League
Academies to play each other
in an informal and fun way.
This season, to bring some
variety to that programme,
the Premier League organised
rAIsINg stArs, rAIsINg the gAMe
the Academy Festival of
Football at the Trafford
Soccer Dome in Manchester.
The event saw 244 Under-10
and Under-11 players from
eight Premier League and four
Football League Academies
take part. It aimed to give
Academy youngsters a
chance to show-case their
skills, with the teams playing
six 12-minute matches in an
a chance to try new skills and
focus on the style and approach
of playing rather than worrying
about the score, said Premier
League Youth Development
Manager Huw Jennings.
An initiative like this is
important because we want
talented youngsters to come
in and attempt to be the best
they can be. The Academy
structure is not just about
producing good players,
its about disciplined
individuals who eat healthily,
are organised and represent
not only themselves, but
also their family and their
Academy well. Many of them
understand that they are
not going to be professional
footballers but the
environment theyre in and
the positives they go through
mean that they can achieve
the highest level possible.
indoor tournament with no
results recorded.
Taking the winning
element out of the day was
important as it gave the players
| 43
Manchester Uniteds Wayne Rooney: a credit
to the Academy system and English football
Q+A: AcADeMY cOAches
tALkINg tALeNt
The Academy system is now ten years old. Here we
bring together three Academy managers who have
been there since the beginning in 1998 and ask
them to reect on the progress made since then.
Ten years of the Academy
system now. What have
been the biggest challenges
in that time?
TC: The biggest challenge
has been to produce players
good enough to appear in
the rst team.
DP: And thats not easy now
because there have been
changes happening at the top
end that everybody has had
to keep pace with. Im pleased
to say at Middlesbrough
weve kept the same
philosophy for ten years and
thats to give young, local
boys access to top-class
facilities and good coaching.
And what have been the
most positive benets?
JC: That there is a proper
structure in place. Its a
terric programme and
produces players.
JIM CASSELL
Manchester City
Alumni include:
Shaun Wright-Phillips,
Nedum Onouha,
Stephen Ireland, Micah
Richards, Ishmael Miller
and Michael Johnson

DAVE PARNABY
Middlesbrough
Alumni include:
Stewart Downing,
Andrew Taylor,
Adam Johnson,
James Morrison,
Lee Cattermole and
David Wheater.
TONY CARR
West Ham United
Alumni include:
Rio Ferdinand, Frank
Lampard, Joe Cole,
Michael Carrick, Jermain
Defoe, Glen Johnson,
Anton Ferdinand,
Mark Noble and, most
recently, Freddie Sears
and Jack Collison.
DP: I agree with that because
we have produced young,
locally based players and with
the nature of the transfer
market these days weve
certainly helped the business
side of the club, especially
given that Academies
themselves are nancially
accountable.
What do you think the key
to a successful Academy is?
TC: The right people
performing the necessary
jobs and creating the right
environment and developing
those young players.
JC: Thats right, consistency
and people are the key. Both
with staff and players youve
got to have people in place
over a long period. A good
example of that is that six of
our team that won the Youth
Cup this season have been
with us since they were
eight and nine.
You have all developed
successful Academies.
What do you think has
created that platform?
TC: Thats difcult to dene
that but our recruitment staff
are second to none and make
life a lot easier.
JC: We put the players and
the parents rst and it is our
job to look after them and
give them the best possible
football education that we
can. You do that by good
knowledge, good people and
good practices.
DP: Yes, the coaches and the
environment are key to the
development of young players.
Its got to be a non-threatening,
fun and enjoyable, educational
environment and the staff
should rise to that.
How much of a challenge
is it for you to have larger
numbers of Academy
players coming through
to the rst team?
JC: Theres actually a challenge
for rst team managers to be
able to use Academy players.
You have to sympathise with
the manager because he has
very little time and its not
easy for them to blood players
as they once did.
DP: Obviously the demands
of the Barclays Premier
League are now so great that
you have to produce some of
the best players in the world
because they are competing
against some of the best
players in the world. So we
have to keep on learning and
educating ourselves with
good practices from other
clubs in England and around
the world.
TC: We also need to have
realistic targets and try and
achieve them. At West Ham
we produce a steady supply
and try and produce at least
one player per season for the
rst team.
Outside of your own
Academy who do you think
has been the best talent to
come through the system
over the last ten years?
TC: Manchester City have
done well producing a steady
supply of young players,
Aston Villa and Arsenal
likewise, but if theres any
one player then for me its
Wayne Rooney.
JC: I think Rooney too. The
people at Everton should take
great credit for bringing him
all the way through. He is as
complete a footballer as this
country has produced and
everybody should be proud
of his football ability.
DP: Michael Johnson at
Manchester City and Steven
Taylor are also good examples
but I like Theo Walcott.
The character that he is and
his whole demeanour, he
projects himself very well
as a person. I think Theo is a
very good example of what
Academies are all about.
What do you think lies
ahead for Premier League
Academies in the next
decade?
JC: There are a few things
that maybe need smoothing
but the principle of the
Academy system is a great
environment for creating
the next generation of
Premier League players.
TC: The challenge is to make
sure that the next ten years of
talent can stand up to the
challenges from abroad and
be as good technically as the
foreign players brought in at
the moment. Its up to us all to
try and improve the standard,
talent and technique of the
English players.
DP: Its an ongoing process
and I think that we have to
stick to what we believe.
The Academy programme
that is in place now is a good
one, although it needs
reviewing of what has gone
right and whats gone wrong,
it needs to be tinkered with
for the better and everybody
needs to buy into what were
trying to do.
WE PUT THE PLAYERS AND
THE PARENTS FIRST AND
IT IS OUR JOB TO LOOK
AFTER THEM AND GIVE
THEM THE BEST POSSIBLE
FOOTBALL EDUCATION
THAT WE CAN.
JIM CASSELL
MANCHESTER CITY
01_Theo Walcott
02_Steven Taylor
01
02
| 45
The Premier Academy League
Representative team in Bosnia
PreMIer LeAgue reuNItes
wIth fOOtbALL frIeNDs
The Premier Academy League
Representative squad, which
included players from eight
Premier League Clubs,
competed against seven other
Back in May the Premier League Clubs, in
partnership with the Football Friends Foundation,
volunteered a squad of 18 Premier Academy League
players to compete in the FIFA endorsed Football
Friends tournament in Foca, Bosnia.
Under-17 teams from the
former Yugoslav Republics,
Greece and Poland in the
three-day charity event.
Part of FIFAs Football
for Hope project, this years
tournament was the fourth
of its kind in Bosnia but the
rst time that an English
league has volunteered a
representative squad to take
part. The rst Football Friends
tournament took place in May
2005 as part of the UNs Year
of Sport for Development and
Peace in the Balkans region
and a tournament has taken
place every year since.
In an area so badly affected
by war during the 1990s the
aim of the tournament is to
reintroduce values of fair play,
tolerance, humanity, and
friendship amongst young
people in the region.
Premier League Youth
Development Manager Huw
Jennings, who accompanied
the team to Bosnia, said:
The Premier League and
its clubs have a long-held
commitment to contributing
to charities and good causes
in this country and abroad
and the commitment to the
Football Friends tournament
furthered that.
Experience plays such a
key role in the development
of young players. It was
important to be involved in the
tournament and I thought that
our Premier Academy League
players who took part and saw
rst hand the difculties
endured by young people
growing up in the Balkans
region learnt a lot. Although
we didnt come near to
winning the tournament it was
a very valuable experience.
IT WAS IMPORTANT TO
BE INVOLVED IN THE
TOURNAMENT AND I
THOUGHT THAT OUR
PREMIER ACADEMY
LEAGUE PLAYERS WHO
TOOK PART AND SAW
FIRST HAND THE
DIFFICULTIES ENDURED
BY YOUNG PEOPLE
GROWING UP IN THE
BALKANS REGION
LEARNT A LOT.
HUW JENNINGS
PREMIER LEAGUE YOUTH
DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

LAYINg fOOtbALLs
fOuNDAtION
One organisation that
beneted this season was
Wallsend Boys Club in Tyne &
Wear, who received
1.2 million of funding from
the Football Foundation and
North Tyneside Council to
develop a new site for their
legendary club. Here Peter
Beardsley, one of many
household names to graduate
from Wallsend, talks about
the importance of the
new investment.
Wallsend Boys Club
is very important to the
community in the north-east
of England. Its been going
for over 40 years and
traditionally it has let boys
(and now girls!) play football
and enjoy sport. The history
of Wallsend is long-standing
and some of the famous
names from here that have
graced the Premier League
stage are Alan Shearer, Lee
Clark, Michael Carrick, Robbie
Elliott, Steve Watson, Alan
Thompson and Steve Bruce.
I was rst here as a player
when I was about 15 and I
absolutely loved it. I was here
ve nights a week and would
have been here seven if it had
been open. Wallsend is
respected by the community,
it has a certain code of
conduct and we would hope
that reects back on society.
Then, as now, everybody was
treated equally and thats the
way it should be in any
football club or sporting
The Premier League provides a third of the Football
Foundations annual income of 45 million along
with The FA and the Government. The Football
Foundation brings together Government and
football to benet communities and the grass roots
of the game, and a cornerstone of this is supporting
new sports facilities.
organisation. Children
need encouragement.
However, in 30-odd
years since I was here the
facilities havent really
changed. But now, thanks to
the money from the Football
Foundation and the local
council, were going to be
moving into our new facility,
which will be fantastic. The
facilities were going to have,
from the dressing rooms to
the car park, are going to be
brand new. But, perhaps most
importantly, were going to
have our own pitches and
thats a massive plus for a
boys club.
I owe Wallsend a lot
because I got the chance to be
a professional footballer here.
Its a great place, the people in
the community have all
supported it and the club
gives back to the community.
From top to bottom everyone
works together and pretty
much everybody who has
been part of this place is
remembered and taken care
of. It is easy to say youre
going to do these things but
the great thing about
Wallsend is they put it into
practice. The money from the
Football Foundation will
ensure that we continue to be
central to the community.
| 47
Scholars receive support both on and off the pitch
eDucAtINg the
PLAYers Of the future
SUPPORTING
YOUNG PLAYERS
The young players in the care
of Premier League clubs are
of course training primarily
to be top professional
footballers. But we also want
to give them the best
opportunities to ourish in
all aspects of their lives once
they leave the Academies. We
provide support for all these
young players with a
comprehensive programme
of education and training.
The Premier League
Scholarship Programme has
been developed to give
scholarship students the
greatest opportunity to develop
to their full potential as young
players. Their progress is
formally accredited and they
are able to pick up a host of
transferable skills and
qualications that will leave
them well equipped to deal
with life either inside or
outside the football world. For
example, alongside learning
about the theory behind the
practice of football with
sessions in sports science they
are taught a variety of other
skills. These include nancial
planning and lifestyle lessons
which cover drugs and alcohol
awareness and driving skills.
It is the aim of the Premier
League to equip each scholar
with the tools they need for
life as players but also to help
them to realise their places
in society as role models for
other youngsters. More than
half of the scholars achieve
their dream of a professional
contract on leaving the
Academies, but over 70% of
those who dont, nd work in
the sports sector. Many others
go on to further education in
Universities or Colleges.
Most Scholarship
Students undertake the
Apprenticeship in Sporting
Excellence (ASE) consisting
of an NVQ (Level 3), a
Technical Certicate usually
the BTEC Sport (Level 3) and
Key Skills. The ASE Programme
has been operational for the
past four seasons, and the
achievement rate of our
students has been consistently
well above the national average.
For the 2006/07 season 78%
achieved the full framework,
and results for this season
are predicted to exceed this.
TEACHING THE LAWS
OF THE GAME
Respect for match ofcials
is something increasingly
on the football agenda but
it is something that at youth
development level the Premier
League has been addressing
for some time. In 2007/08,
the Premier League, in
partnership with the FA and
the Professional Game
Match Ofcials Ltd (PGMOL),
developed and piloted
a bespoke course for
scholarship students on the
Laws of the Game. The course
provides the students with a
deeper understanding of the
Laws, which in turn will lead
to a greater respect for the
work of the match ofcials.
When the students appreciate
and fully understand why
decisions are made during
a match, this enhances their
respect for those in charge.
Through the course we can
also identify potential future
career pathways in ofciating
for players exiting the
professional game.
Specically the course enables
scholarship students to achieve:
n The A-Level 3 BTEC Unit
in Ofciating in Sport
n The Level 7 Refereeing
qualication Basic Referee
Training.
In a further development
of this work, next season
we are looking forward to
working in partnership with
PGMOL on the development
of a scholarship-specic
interactive DVD on the
Laws of the Game.
SAFEGUARDING HAS
NOW BECOME THE
FOUNDATION OF ALL
OUR CLUBS WORK
WITH CHILDREN.
chILDreNs servIces
All clubs ensure that staff are
recruited properly with full
checking procedures in place
and we provide training and
support for these staff to work
effectively with the children in
their care.
In 2007/08 the Premier
League became an umbrella
body with the Criminal
Records Bureau. This means
that the Premier League can
It is a key role of the Premier League to ensure that
every young person who comes into contact with
a club can enjoy football in a safe and secure
environment. This covers not just young players
but those taking part in community schemes or in
learning centres, mascots, supporters at the match,
and anyone else taking part in an activity organised
at the club.
check that the staff employed
at the League and at its clubs
are suitable to work with
children. This is particularly
important for those clubs
which may not employ a large
enough number of staff to
qualify them to undertake
their own CRB checks.
For season 2008/09 the
Premier League is working
with its clubs and other
football bodies to prepare for
the implementation of the
Safeguarding Vulnerable
Adults Act through the
Independent Safeguarding
Authority. Our rules have
been amended to reect the
change in requirements and
club staff are in the process of
being trained with most
having undergone the
Department for Children
Schools and Families Safer
Recruitment Training.
Safeguarding has now
become the foundation of all
our clubs work with children.
The focus of the Childrens
Services work throughout the
course of the season has been
to promote best practice
across football and to ensure
effective communication
between the clubs and the
new local safeguarding
boards; the club regional and
national networks; and the
Premier League and The FA.
LOOKING AHEAD
PREMIER PRACTICE
The work of the Premier
League Childrens Services
Department is often called
upon to demonstrate best
practice in the sports sector.
The Childrens Services
Department has therefore
developed a series of Best
Practice Guidance Documents
called Premier Practice.
The Premier Practice Series
which currently contains the
Image Guidance document
written and produced by the
Premier League and its clubs is
being expanded to include:
n Ball Assistants
n Mascots
n Unsuitable Behaviour
n Recruitment
(Scouting Context).
Premier Practice will be ready
for use by Premier League
clubs, the rest of the
professional game and the
wider family of football for
the 2008/09 season.
| 49
creAtINg chANces,
chANgINg LIves
At Hindley Prison in Wigan, Brett
Emerton, Chris Kirkland and Kevin
Davies help launch the Princes Trust
football-in-prison initiative, aimed at
tackling reoffending. The project is part
of a 2 million Princes Trust partnership
with the Premier League, the PFA and
the Football Foundation.
Under the Creating Chances umbrella brand,
the Premier League uses the power of football
to engage children and young people in
the participation of sport and in intervention
programmes which address key social issues.
Football has the ability to engage, motivate and
inspire people to achieve so the Premier League,
taking its social responsibility seriously, has
invested 122 million per annum as a commitment
to benet all sectors of the community. Our
Creating Chances work has three main pillars:
DOMESTIC GOOD CAUSES
We work in partnership with
key agencies including the
Government to deliver
programmes that are aligned
to four themes: education,
and lifelong learning, health
and wellbeing, social inclusion
and equalities.
A fantastic example of this
last season was the Premier
League and the Professional
Footballers Association (PFA)
launching a new fund which
provides clubs with the
chance to consolidate,
develop and enhance the
many programmes they now
deliver. The Premier League
and PFA Community Fund,
administered by the Football
Foundation, is investing
12.9 million into a wide
range of stimulating and
innovative club projects.
A huge drive towards
raising the governance
standards of club community
schemes has markedly
improved the quality of
community engagement
programmes with 18 clubs
now boasting a charitable
foundation. The Premier
League investment means
that clubs are now involved in
delivering activities which
meet local and national
strategies and specic
thematic objectives. They
employ qualied teachers to
help raise educational
standards, health workers to
promote positive healthy
lifestyle changes and social
workers to help young people
improve their life chances.
INTERNATIONAL
GOOD CAUSES
Central to the Premier
Leagues international good
cause strategy is Premier
Skills, a partnership with the
British Council which uses
football to develop the
coaching and community
leadership skills of young
adults. In addition, we
support specic education-
related initiatives, such as
Magic Bus in India which
provides education and
recreation for children in
Mumbai slums, and with
Sport Relief we have recently
committed three-year
funding to a project in
western Kenya which
provides education bursaries,
healthcare and self-
employment support for
hundreds of HIV orphans and
widows. The Premier League
is also involved in a 9-million
investment programme
called International
Inspiration to support
sporting projects in ve
cOMMuNItY
stAtIstIcs
1.3m
participants were involved
in Premier League clubs
community activities in
2007/08
122m
was invested by the Premier
League and its clubs
in community projects
during the 2007/08 season
developing countries around
the world.
PLACES FOR PLAYERS
Places for Players is the
agship Premier League good
cause programme. It uses
Premier League players to
highlight the diversity and
sheer quantity of good cause
activity being carried out
across the country by the
20 clubs. Player involvement
always provides the wow
factor for these initiatives and
raises awareness to ensure
community work gets the
recognition it deserves.
Alan Shearer was on Sport Relief
duty in Uganda, visiting an HIV
education project.
| 51
MCs from the MCFC Kickz project perform at the BRIT Trust event in
central London. The charitable arm of the BPI, BRIT Trust announced
a major three-year donation plan to fund community music initiatives
as part of the Kickz project.
sOcIAL INcLusION:
teeNAge kIckZ
Kickz is a project that gives young people on some
of the most disadvantaged estates in the country
something positive to do. It also helps tackle crime
and anti-social behaviour.
Two years ago at
Manchester City we started
involving music in the football
sessions. We thought it was a
natural partner for Kickz
because a lot of kids in our
local area are interested in
music as well as football. At
rst it was just three or four
kids in a room, getting them
to write lyrics for them to MC.
That caught on as a regular
Wednesday session to the
extent that we had to create
another session on Saturdays
where people could practice
DJ skills. Word spread quickly
and before we knew it, on a
Saturday we had 30 to 40
people coming to DJ and MC.
All this has had a really
positive impact on our local
community. Instead of the
possibility of kids getting
into trouble theyve been
channelling their energy at
Kickz. Weve done things that
we didnt think possible, like
last year we cut our rst CD.
What we had was the kids
lyric writing at the Wednesday
session and then the following
week wed take them to the
studio and record it.
Weve seen the people
involved in it really develop.
Theyve made mates, fed off
each other artistically and
technically, they can do things
now that they couldnt before.
A few of the MCs are now
doing their own thing and it
looks like music will be their
career path.
The Club have been
fantastic too and weve had
players like Nedum Onuoha,
Micah Richards and Dietmar
Hamann come down. Their
involvement has a terric
impact because the kids look
up to them and the chance
to speak and get the opinions
of players that they usually
only see on TV is actually
really valuable.
But I think the highlight of
this year was performing at
the BRIT Trust event in
Westminster in front of
Government Ministers, MPs
and MEPs and musicians like
Craig David, Shayne Ward and
Kasabian. The kids who took
part loved it but they werent
overawed, which was great to
see because theyd put in so
much work.
Its inspired the other kids
on the project. Theyve seen
that if their mates can make a
CD and perform in London
then so can they. Weve
another CD planned, as well
as a video and were going to
put on a night where the kids
can showcase their talents.
We now think that anything
is possible.
The Premier Leagues agship
social inclusion project, Kickz
receives funding from the
Government, the Football
Foundation and support from
the volunteering charity, v.
There are now over 90
projects delivered by 31 clubs
in the Premier League and
Football League and while
football is the mainstay of all
the Kickz programmes, several
Barclays Premier League clubs
have developed innovative
additions. One such ground-
breaking development is at
Manchester City where City in
the Community are using the
power of hip-hop music
to connect with local young
people. Here Kickz youth
worker Dan Wrigley recalls
a season where MCFC Kickz
have released a CD of their
own music and dropped beats
in the heart of Westminster.
creAtINg chANces
heALth AND weLLbeINg:
MAtch fIt fOr LIfe
Football can help young children change their
behaviour, and perhaps there is no better example
of that than in the arena of health and wellbeing. In
Newcastle the local Primary Care Trust has been
working on a project called Match Fit. They are
using Newcastle United to promote health and
tness in the deprived Walker and Byker areas of
the city where 44% of primary school children in
ten schools are obese. Dr Danny Ruta, Director
in Public Health at Newcastle PCT, explains how
football can make a difference.
Match Fit is part of Lean East
and we brought together a
whole host of partners from
the voluntary, public and
private sectors to work
together to help tackle health
and weight issues among
children. We devised Match Fit
to targets the schools, the
houses around the schools
brand and role model potential
of Newcastle United Football
Club. For a city that has a
population of only 270,000
people but sells out a stadium
every fortnight of 52,000 its
so powerful as an ambassador
we couldnt begin to put a
price on how valuable it is.
The Match Fit programme
is a pyramid with loads of kids
beneting at the bottom and
incentives to improve. All the
ten primary schools get
exposed to the roadshow,
so thats 5,000 children. Club
representatives come to the
school in assembly time with
the club mascot and present to
them how their school will
become involved. Newcastle
manager Kevin Keegan
attended the launch and it was
fantastic to see a room full of
kids singing football songs but
then being educated as well.
Further up the pyramid
we have individual classes that
are invited to take part in a six-
week programme and that is
two hours each week of
football skill, health education
and general tness sessions.
Its run by representatives
from the club and because
it is fun things like quizzes and
games the children love it. We
monitor the kids with diaries
and report cards and within
them are powerful role models
like Michael Owen who tell the
kids about his athletes diet
and says to them how they are
no different when they go out
and play, before asking them
what they eat.
That leads to the next part
of the pyramid, a fun day for
the children who have taken
part in the classroom sessions
and have shown the greatest
commitment or improvement.
That event has players from
the club, parents and other
members of the school.
Children can win the chance of
taking part in a unique match-
day experience to go to the
training ground in the morning,
meet the players and manager,
and then go and watch the
game as a VIP. So far its proved
to be very successful and such
is the power of football that
through Match Fit we remain
very hopeful its going to
have lasting impact on the
health of the children of the
Newcastle area.
and hit the community
generally with a range of
interventions to tackle obesity.
Weve tried to understand
what makes it difcult for
people to change their
behaviour and develop an
approach that makes it easier
to make those changes. We
wanted to use the incredible
NEWCASTLE MANAGER
KEVIN KEEGAN
ATTENDED THE LAUNCH
AND IT WAS FANTASTIC
TO SEE A ROOM FULL OF
KIDS SINGING FOOTBALL
SONGS BUT THEN BEING
EDUCATED AS WELL.
creAtINg chANces
| 53
Premier League Reading Stars is all about using
footballers to encourage children and adults to read.
For the last six years it has seen a player from every
Premier League club choose their favourite adult
and childrens book. Each club adopts a library in
their local community and they are given a complete
set of the chosen books and also take part in reading
sessions with local schoolchildren and parents.
Megs and the Vootball Kids,
not in any heavy-handed way
but in an entertaining football
format so that kids of 9 to 13
can appreciate some
important issues that face
us in the world today.
The rst book in the series
is semi-autobiographical
about my life growing up in
Australia as someone who
was a bit of an outsider
because of my German
descent. It also draws the
experiences of my wife who
is Australian-Spanish, my
friend Neil who is of English
and Scottish background,
and his wife who has Italian
heritage. We wanted to
explore how football is a way
to make friends and develop
acceptance, as well as develop
an understanding of what
its like to be from a
different culture.
We know we can use the
books as platforms for real
issues affecting not only kids
but the adults who will be
reading to them too. In the
third in the Megs Morrison
series weve brought a boy
from Sudan into the story.
Theres a large Sudanese
population in Australia now
and one of the heads of their
community emailed me and
said he really enjoyed Megs
and the Vootball Kids but
asked about getting one
of the kids from their
community into the storyline.
He explained that it would
be fantastic because a lot
of these kids dont speak
English and they are trying
to encourage them. It helps
greatly that they have a
character they can identify
with. What it told me was
that the power of reading
is not something to be
underestimated.
To nd out more about
Megs and the Vootball Kids go
to www.megsmorrison.com
This years programme
boasted something new, the
rst Premier League player
to have become a published
author. With his friend Neil
Montagnana Wallace,
Australian international Mark
Schwarzer co-authored a
childrens book called Megs
and the Vootball Kids. Its a
journey through football of
acceptance, perseverance and
understanding. Mark explains
why he thinks that reading is
such a vital part of education.
When I was young I
always found reading a chore.
I had great parents but,
growing up, as long as I passed
my exams and stayed out of
trouble then that was good
enough for them. But, the
older Ive become, reading has
become more of a habit and
more enjoyable. What Ive
become very conscious of
as a father is to not to make
reading a chore because if its
anything less than fun then
theres a danger kids will close
their minds to it. But, if you
can make it an enjoyable
experience then theres a
great chance they will learn
by example.
Premier League Reading
Stars is all about leading by
example and if people are
seeing footballers read
anything then its a start. It
doesnt matter what people
read: classics, thrillers,
newspapers, magazines, even
football programmes, any
form of reading is to be
encouraged. Personally I like
non-ction; I like to nd out
things about the world that
I dont already know.
Weve tried to put
education at the heart of
WE WANTED TO EXPLORE
HOW FOOTBALL IS A WAY
TO MAKE FRIENDS AND
DEVELOP ACCEPTANCE,
AS WELL AS DEVELOP AN
UNDERSTANDING OF
WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE FROM
A DIFFERENT CULTURE.
MARK SCHWARZER
eDucAtION:
bOOk MArk
creAtINg chANces
The day itself couldnt
have gone better. We won six
qualifying games and drew
one, scoring 18 goals and not
conceding any to reach the
nal. We ended up playing our
local rivals, St Julies,
who represented Liverpool.
Beating them 2-0 was not
only the realisation of a dream
but a years planning coming
to fruition.
For the girls it was a great
sense of achievement. The day
after they were on the Premier
League website alongside all
those football stars, as well as
being on the Everton website,
local radio and newspapers. It
was something never to forget,
and we wont! We have a
plasma screen at school and
theres footage of the girls
coming out of the tunnel,
photos from the day and the
girls can see it all the time.
That, and the way they were
treated by the Premier League,
makes them feel very special,
which is what football should
be all about.
eQuALItIes:
the rOAD tO MADejskI
creAtINg chANces
As a school we jump at the
chance to play in any
tournament but the Premier
League Schools Tournament
is the one the girls look
forward to all year. We had to
keep our ngers crossed that
we would rst get to
represent Everton. A lot of our
local secondary schools are
Last year Bolton, who went
through to the national nals
with us, went on to win. That
day at Old Trafford we felt
that we didnt do ourselves
justice and all we wanted was
to qualify for the next one and
show what we could achieve if
we had a t and healthy team.
We did that and a lot of it was
down to experience. Six of my
eight girls played last year at
Old Trafford so they knew
exactly what to expect.
The entire Final
experience made the girls feel
like Barclays Premier League
footballers: the school was
terric in its preparations,
collecting the kit, getting on
the coach, travelling down to
the hotel at Reading and then
working on our tactics the
night before. We said to the
girls that they stood a terric
chance and as long as
everyone tried their hardest
then it would take a good
team to beat us. We played a
board game with the girls and
the parents who had come
down to support to take their
minds off the football and the
next morning they were back
in the zone: they all had
breakfast together, pulled on
the Everton kit, travelled to
the Madejski Stadium, saw the
pitch they were going to play
on and generally felt like VIPs.
The Premier League Schools Tournament aims
to increase participation in football. Over 5,000
children from 700 schools compete for the right to
play for their local Premier League club, then come
through regional qualiers before playing in Finals
on a Barclays Premier League ground in club kit,
coming down the tunnel to the Premier League
music and having their matches ofciated by top-
ight referees. This years winning Under-13 girls
team were Everton, represented by Broughton Hall
High School, West Derby, Liverpool. Their teacher,
Kath Crummey, describes what it meant to take part.
quite strong. Liverpool is a
football-mad city; as children,
brothers and sisters are
always kicking a ball about,
our primary schools are very
strong at developing football
and a lot of our girls play in
Saturday leagues.
The standard in the
north-west is very good too.
FOR THE GIRLS IT WAS A
GREAT SENSE OF
ACHIEVEMENT. THE DAY
AFTER THEY WERE ON
THE PREMIER LEAGUE
WEBSITE ALONGSIDE ALL
THOSE FOOTBALL STARS.
| 55
fOOtbALLers IN
the cOMMuNItY
creAtINg chANces
01
Those were just some of the
highlights from the inaugural
year of Creating Chances
Places for Players. The Premier
Leagues agship good cause
programme, Places for
Players highlights the clubs
continued and increasing
commitment to their
Imagine Arsenals William Gallas as an artist,
painting with his feet in aid of autism; Owen
Hargreaves working as a tea-boy in a hospital
in Manchester; David Bentley spending the
afternoon serving customers in a charity shop
in Blackburn; and Obafemi Martins packing
customers bags at a supermarket in Newcastle.
part of a racism seminar
delivered by Dominique
Walker the sister of Anthony
Walker who was murdered
in a racially motivated attack
the day had signicance.
It was important for me
to come today because I also
suffered from racism when
I was younger so I know the
feeling. I think Liverpool did
a great job to pick me to help
with this campaign. I was
able to tell the kids about my
experiences and how to deal
with them, said the Dutch
international.
local communities.
As well as shining the
spotlight on the clubs
community and charity work,
the clubs also threw open
their doors to local not-
for prot organisations.
But by far the most valuable
commodity the clubs and
the players can give is their
time and this season the
players undertook all manner
of different roles in their
local communities, some fun,
some with a serious point.
Jonathan Woodgate
performed 25 tasks a volunteer
does at Teesside Hospice,
such as making tea, answering
the phones and even washing
an old womans hair. But the
event had pertinence too as
Woodgates grandfather had
died at the hospice.
Likewise for the Liverpool
player Ryan Babel, who was
02 03 04
05 06
08 09
07
IF IT WASNT FOR CREATING
CHANCES PLACES FOR PLAYERS
THEN A LOT OF PLAYERS, MYSELF
INCLUDED, WOULD BE OBLIVIOUS
TO IT. ITS OPENED FOOTBALLERS
EYES TO WHAT PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE
ARE GOING THROUGH.
MARK NOBLE
WEST HAM UNITED
I THINK LIVERPOOL DID A GREAT

JOB TO PICK ME TO HELP WITH THIS
CAMPAIGN. I WAS ABLE TO TELL
THE KIDS ABOUT MY EXPERIENCES
AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM.
RYAN BABEL
LIVERPOOL
01_Obafemi Martins
02_Owen Hargreaves
03_Jonathan Woodgate
04_Ryan Babel
05_David Bentley
06_William Gallas
07_Bobby Convey
08_Mark Noble
09_Michael Johnson
Certainly the players
were committed. Manchester
Citys Michael Johnson was
so determined to be an active
part of an able-bodied/
disabled basketball session at
the Royal School for the Deaf
that he learnt sign language
before he went down to the
school, while Bobby Convey
became a volunteer at a local
childrens hospital in Reading
after his Places for Players visit
and now goes down a couple
of times a week after training
to help out.
West Ham Uniteds Mark
Noble perhaps summed it
up best. Along with Anton
Ferdinand he spent the
afternoon baking cakes and
singing songs at Richard
House Childrens Hospice in
East London; the midelder
claimed the initiative was
certainly a worthwhile one.
If it wasnt for Creating
Chances Places for Players
then a lot of players myself
included would be oblivious
to it. Its opened footballers
eyes to what people in real life
are going through.
| 57
Premier Skills is the Barclays Premier Leagues agship international good
cause initiative. A joint partnership with the British Council, it takes Premier
League expertise to countries around the world in week-long workshops to
coach the coaches at grassroots level in the morning and afternoon workshops
on coaching best practice and community sport development. After very
promising pilots in Egypt and India, where former Premier League stars Robbie
Earle and Warren Barton ran the coaching sessions, the proposal is now to
deliver a 2.4 million expansion programme in nine more African countries
between 2008 and summer 2010, and also across China, South East Asia and
India. The ambition is to train 1,000 young adults with community leadership
and life skills, enabling them to enrich the lives of a further 100,000 young
people through football. Here Robbie talks about the success of Premier Skills
so far.
Its clear from my
involvement in Premier Skills
that the Premier League is a
lot more than just a provider
of live games and highlights
across the world. The Premier
League has a lot of knowledge
to pass on. This season from
our visit to Delhi and Kolkata
you could see there were a lot
of challenges to the structure
and communication of
individual clubs and leagues.
PreMIer skILLs:
DeveLOPINg the
gLObAL gAMe
INterNAtIONAL OvervIew
But with all its experience the
Premier League can be used
as a benchmark and people
can learn lessons and develop
their own local football. The
most important thing is
leaving legacy behind.
The aim of each course is
to leave some pathways and
opportunities for young
people so that they can talk
to local FAs, councils and
government bodies. Some
of the students that we rst
worked with in Cairo and
Alexandria in Egypt have
got jobs off the back of
the work that weve done.
What weve found with
Premier Skills is that theres
an insatiable desire to learn.
The students are like sponges,
the more we give them the
more they take on board. For
a week its non-stop. Were
starting at eight in the
morning and sometimes not
getting nished until seven at
night yet before and after,
people still are coming to ask
you questions. They just want
to accept as much
information as they can to
take back home.
Its all about building
condence to deliver,
certainly with their language
skills. Youve some people
who were slightly
embarrassed that their
English wasnt good enough
but actually from working
with the British Council they
found their language wasnt
as bad as they thought.
So, on the pitch, people got
more condent to stand
up and talk.
There have been lots of
individual success stories and
a couple of pertinent ones in
Egypt. We had one woman
who was an outstanding
footballer and coach and
could certainly work within
a club environment in this
country. What was interesting
was at the beginning of the
week some of the male
participants were
uncomfortable when she was
taking coaching but by the
end of the week their
attitudes had changed
towards her. There were
obviously cultural attitudes
towards her but it was nice
that within the Premier Skills
environment she became
accepted. There was another
woman who had a traditional
burkha, was quite introverted
and never really made eye
contact with the coaches. But
by the end of the week her
condence had grown so
much; if you compared her to
the beginning of the week you
could never believe it was
the same person.
Those are the things that
make it worthwhile: you
have 40-plus people at the
beginning of the week who
have never met before
and come from different
demographic backgrounds
and you see them come
through and gain condence
and build friendships. But
bigger than that theyve
started working with each
other: theyve put together
clubs, theyve created leagues,
theyre playing against each
others schools, theyre
starting to go to institutions
and get some sponsorship
behind them. So all the things
that youd like to happen are
happening naturally now; all
weve done is ignite that re.
PreMIer LeAgue MAgIc bus, INDIA
Magic Bus uses sport, mainly
football, to get the street,
slum and disadvantaged kids
of Mumbai playing and
learning just like boys and
girls are meant to. The
Premier League is supporting
a three-year expansion of
Magic Bus by underwriting all
the costs for their existing,
and the expansion of, staff for
the Sport for Development
Programme. This means
literally tens of thousands
more children in Mumbai will
benet from playing sport,
health education and
opportunities to full their
potential. This culminates in
zonal football tournaments
across the city some coaches
and participants have even
gone on to play in Magic Buss
very own Indian League team.
WITH ALL ITS EXPERIENCE THE PREMIER LEAGUE
CAN BE USED AS A BENCHMARK AND PEOPLE CAN
LEARN LESSONS AND DEVELOP THEIR OWN LOCAL
FOOTBALL. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING
IS LEAVING LEGACY BEHIND.
ROBBIE EARLE
| 59
British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown attends the launch of the
partnership between Everton In
The Community and The Shanghai
Disabled Persons Federation. In
attendance are Dame Kelly
Holmes and Steve Johnson (far
right), head of the Everton
Disabled Supporters Association
and also Everton and England
Amputee Team captain.
best PrActIce:
LeAvINg LegAcY IN AsIA
To reect the impact and global appeal of the
Barclays Premier League there is an ever-increasing
amount of good cause work undertaken by the
League and its clubs internationally. With the
emphasis on leaving legacy, many of these projects
dovetail with FIFA, Confederation and National
Association activity in relevant regions. The
increased coordination of this work will open up
future opportunities for further club involvement.
Here we look at some of the work being done by the
Premier League and its clubs this season in Asia.
EVERTON Bringing
best practice on disabled
football to Asia
Evertons disability
programme is the biggest in
the Premier League and in
June 2007 ofcials, coaches
and players from the Shanghai
Disabled Persons Sports
Association (SDSA) observed
their programme to see how it
could work in China. Everton
and SDSA have since
developed a programme and
in January 2008 Prime
Minister Gordon Brown
launched the 60,000-a -
year project between Everton
and Shanghai Disabled
Persons Federation. The
project aims to form a
grassroots disabled football
programme in Shanghai. In
addition to China, a Malaysian
delegation from FIFA has
also came over to observe
the good work at Everton
as they are looking to expand
disability programmes
throughout Asia.
PORTSMOUTH
Pompey Double
Club in Indonesia
In England the Pompey
Double Club uses a Pompey
themed literacy and
numeracy curriculum to
motivate, inspire and
encourage under-achieving
pupils. After an approach
from the British Council in
Indonesia there are now nine
schools using Double Club
resources to teach English.
This season 18 children (nine
boys and nine girls) earned
the chance to take part in a
cultural exchange to
Portsmouth by showing their
progress in covering English,
sports ability, engagement,
and soft skills such as
teamwork, fair play,
leadership. The children took
part in academic sessions,
visited Pompeys training
ground to meet players,
toured Fratton Park, met the
Indonesian ambassador and
were VIPs at Portsmouths
FA Cup victory parade.
CHELSEA Vision China
Chelsea FC are the ofcial
football development partner
of Vision China and in March
2007 the club signed a four-
year contract formalising
their support for Vision Asia.
Chelsea already has a proud
record in China: they were the
rst English club to have a
Mandarin website hosted in
China and last year Chelsea
hosted the Chinese Olympic
team at Cobham for two
weeks. As well as the
groundwork that will take
place primarily in China, the
Vision China agreement will
provide opportunities for at
least the 10 best young
players selected by the Asian
Football Confederation from
the project cities to come and
train with the relevant age
group at Chelsea.
INterNAtIONAL OvervIew
PrOtectINg
Our MODeL
This high-investment model
depends in part on income
from the sale of media rights,
enabling football to become
an increasingly signicant
part of the European, British
and local economies.
Intellectual Property Rights
(IPR) provide the crucial
framework that allows the
creative economy to succeed.
Without the protection
awarded by copyright and
other legal instruments, the
creators of books, lms,
music, broadcast sporting
events and much else besides
would not be able to generate
the returns on their work
which reward their efforts
allow further investment and
which have made the creative
economy one of the fastest-
growing components of
British GDP in recent years.
Developments in digital
technologies are putting
pressure on IPR. For example,
the theft of satellite signals of
match coverage inevitably put
pressure on the income that
sports can hope for. Many
new internet services also
weaken the traditional IPR
framework. As a result of this,
the Premier League works
hard to ensure that the
importance of the creative
economy is properly
recognised by the legislators
in Westminster and Brussels.
We are active members of the
Sports Rights Owners
Coalition, a group of nearly 40
sports from around the world,
which promotes the
importance of IPR to the
health of sport.
The Premier League also
engages with all the European
Unions initiatives that would
affect IPR. These include the
review of the Conditional
Access Directive, the
development of the Content
Online initiative, the recently
published draft Green Paper
on copyright, the package
of telecommunications
proposals, as well as
continued involvement in the
debate about the application
of competition law to the
selling of media rights.
Growth of betting on
football, especially online,
is beginning to be addressed
in discussions about the
development of IPR, but in
addition is of increasing
concern because of its impact
on the integrity of sport. The
speed in which bets can be
placed and the huge variety
of types of bet including in-
match betting on everything
from time of the rst goal to
the number of yellow cards
create new challenges. The
UK Government and the
European Union have yet to
fully recognise the potential
threat to sport integrity from
this new type of gambling,
even though the number of
alleged incidents from sports
around the world appears
to be growing.
The Premier Leagues
focus on IPR will continue
to be a high priority.
Enforcement of existing
rights, through the courts
when necessary, will run in
parallel to our public policy
work, together seeking to
ensure that the originators
of creative content get the
economic returns that their
work deserves. And, in the
Premier Leagues case, that
enables us to invest in key
areas such stadia, improved
fan facilities, community
projects, youth development
and grassroots.
The success of the Barclays Premier League is
based on a virtuous circle of an exciting sporting
competition generating buoyant attendances and
TV, radio and online audiences which in turn lead
to increased revenues that are then invested in
keeping the competition entertaining and the
facilities the best possible. As we have seen over
the previous pages they help fund key aspects of
the game from academies to community work,
both domestic and global.
THE PREMIER LEAGUES
FOCUS ON IPR WILL
CONTINUE TO BE A HIGH
PRIORITY. ENFORCEMENT
OF EXISTING RIGHTS,
THROUGH THE COURTS
WHEN NECESSARY, WILL
RUN IN PARALLEL TO OUR
PUBLIC POLICY WORK.
| 61
62 | SEASON REVIEW 2007/08 06 THE NUMBERS
06
the numbers
THIS SEASON THE PREMIER LEAGUE
RECORDED A RECORD TURNOVER.
EVERY POUND EARNED CENTRALLY
HAS A REDISTRIBUTIVE EFFECT, SO OUR
FINANCIAL SUCCESS UNDERPINS THE
QUALITY OF THE COMPETITION AND
THE COMMUNITY WORK THAT IS
CENTRAL TO MODERN FOOTBALL.
| 63
financial overview
The period under review
covers the rst year of the
new three-year broadcasting
and commercial deals cycle.
Under the new deals, turnover
increased signicantly,
particularly from overseas
broadcasting. Overall,
turnover increased from
603.5 million in the previous
year to c.947.7 million this
year. Cost of sales,
representing fee payments to
clubs for broadcasting and
commercial rights sold
centrally by the League, saw a
proportionate increase from
555.9 million to 887.8
million. Expenditure on
grassroots development of
football and developmental
support to Football League
clubs, totalled 37.9 million.
A further 17 million was
paid to the Professional
Footballers Association to
support its programmes
including educational and
benevolent grants, and
personal accident insurance
payments for professional
footballers.
The commitment to
development of grassroots
football is evidenced by the
Leagues standing as one of
three major funding partners
of the Football Foundation,
the other two being the UK
Government and the Football
Association. With the monies
raised, the Foundation utilises
the power of sport to
motivate, educate and inspire.
It invests heavily in facilities
and programmes to promote
football in all sections of the
community as well as using
the immense popularity of
football to combat social
deprivation and crime.
The Premier League is a
member and funding partner
of Professional Game Match
Ofcials Limited, the company
set up to provide match ofcials
to top-ranking football
competitions in England. Its
annual contribution to the
costs of the organisation in
2007/08 amounted to
c.2.5 million.
The League has direct
responsibility for receiving
and disbursing payments
from the Learning and
Skills Council for the
Apprenticeship in Sporting
Excellence Programme at
football academies operated
by Premier League clubs. It
also monitors and provides
technical input to the
academies and the total
This review is based on the unaudited nancial
statements for the year to 31 July 2008.
spend on this during the
nancial year was
c.2.4 million.
The costs of the
administrative and commercial
operations encompassing
staff and accommodation
costs, together with IT
(including website) and
communications, legal and
professional fees represents
less than 1.3% of turnover.
CORPORATE
GOVERNANCE
Accounting and risk
management systems
The Premier League Board is
responsible for implementing
and monitoring the Leagues
risk management, accounting
and internal control systems.
The principal features of the
system of internal controls,
operated by appropriately
qualied and experienced
staff, include:
n Budgetary control over
income and expenditure
n Regular review of nancial
management information
n Identication and
management of key business
and inherent risks.
Audit and Remuneration
Committee
In accordance with best
practice but in keeping with
the size and nature of the
organisation, the Premier
League Board has established
an independent Audit and
Remuneration Committee
with specic written terms of
reference which deal with its
authority and duties. It meets
at least twice a year with the
Chief Financial Ofcer and
the external auditors
attending by invitation. The
Committee overviews the
monitoring of the adequacy
of the Companys internal
controls, accounting policies
and nancial reporting.
It provides a forum through
which the Companys
external auditors may
report to the Board.
The Committee is
responsible for overseeing
the Leagues risk management
systems operated by
management under the
Boards supervision.
The Committee also
agrees the remuneration
and terms and conditions
of employment of senior
management. Such
remuneration consists of
a package of basic salary,
benets and bonuses which
are linked to corporate and
individual performance
achievements.
The Committee presently
comprises Messrs C M
Edwards, B Buck, P Gartside,
| 65
Profit & loss account (unaudited)
Year ended 31 July 2008 2008 2007
m m
Turnover 947.7 603.5
Cost of sales (inc. Club payments) (887.8) (555.9)
Gross prot 59.9 47.6
Other operating expenses (inc. external distributions) (72.9) (54.8)
Operating prot/ (loss) (13.0) (7.2)
Interest receivable 13.0 7.2
Prot on ordinary activities before taxation 0.0 0.0
Tax on prot on ordinary activities 0.0 0.0
Prot /(loss) for the nancial year 0.0 0.0
Retained prot brought forward 0.2 0.2
Retained prot carried forward 0.2 0.2
summary balance sheet (unaudited)
At 31 July 2008 2008 2007
m m
Fixed assets 1.5 1.4
Net current Liabilities (1.3) (1.2)
0.2 0.2
Total Shareholders funds 0.2 0.2
D A Gill and J Williams.
Members of the Committee
are not directors of the
Company.
Full Financial Statements
This summary nancial
information does not contain
sufcient information to
allow as full an understanding
of the results and state of
affairs of the Company as
would be provided by the full
annual nancial statements
and reports. A copy of the full
nancial statements prepared
under UK GAAP and audited
by Deloitte & Touche LLP will
be led with Companies
House soon after the nancial
statements have been
approved by the Board and
the Shareholders.
Profit & loss account (unaudited)
Place Live BBC N.Live Equal Share Facility Fees Merit Payment Overseas TV Total Payment
Arsenal 3 23 38 15 13,534,463 11,360,144 13,051,098 9,578,954 47,524,659
Aston Villa 6 17 38 21 13,534,463 8,730,668 10,875,915 9,578,954 42,720,000
Birmingham City 19 10 38 28 13,534,463 5,662,946 1,450,122 9,578,954 30,226,485
Blackburn Rovers 7 14 38 24 13,534,463 7,415,930 10,150,854 9,578,954 40,680,201
Bolton Wanderers 16 10 38 28 13,534,463 5,662,946 3,625,305 9,578,954 32,401,668
Chelsea 2 18 38 20 13,534,463 9,168,914 13,776,159 9,578,954 46,058,490
Derby County 20 10 38 28 13,534,463 5,662,946 725,061 9,578,954 29,501,424
Everton 5 15 38 23 13,534,463 7,854,176 11,600,976 9,578,954 42,568,569
Fulham 17 10 38 28 13,534,463 5,662,946 2,900,244 9,578,954 31,676,607
Liverpool 4 21 38 17 13,534,463 10,483,652 12,326,037 9,578,954 45,923,106
Manchester City 9 16 38 22 13,534,463 8,292,422 8,700,732 9,578,954 40,106,571
Manchester United 1 25 38 13 13,534,463 12,236,636 14,501,220 9,578,954 49,851,273
Middlesbrough 13 10 38 28 13,534,463 5,662,946 5,800,488 9,578,954 34,576,851
Newcastle United 12 20 38 18 13,534,463 10,045,406 6,525,549 9,578,954 39,684,372
Portsmouth 8 16 38 22 13,534,463 8,292,422 9,425,793 9,578,954 40,831,632
Reading 18 10 38 28 13,534,463 5,662,946 2,175,183 9,578,954 30,951,546
Sunderland 15 12 38 26 13,534,463 6,539,438 4,350,366 9,578,954 34,003,221
Tottenham Hotspur 11 11 38 27 13,534,463 6,101,192 7,250,610 9,578,954 36,465,219
West Ham United 10 11 38 27 13,534,463 6,101,192 7,975,671 9,578,954 37,190,280
Wigan Athletic 14 10 38 28 13,534,463 5,662,946 5,075,427 9,578,954 33,851,790
Sub Total 289 760 471 270,689,260 152,262,814 152,262,810 191,579,080 766,793,964
Charlton Athletic 6,767,232 4,789,477 11,556,709
Shefeld United 6,767,232 4,789,477 11,556,709
Watford 6,767,232 4,789,477 11,556,709
West Bromwich Albion 6,767,232 4,789,477 11,556,709
Football League (Part) 6,767,232 4,789,477 11,556,709
TOTAL 304,525,418 152,262,814 152,262,810 215,526,465 824,577,507
| 67
barclays Premier league table 2007/08
Home Away
Pld W D L For Agt W D L For Agt GD Pts
1 Manchester United 38 17 1 1 47 7 10 5 4 33 15 58 87
2 Chelsea 38 12 7 0 36 13 13 3 3 29 13 39 85
3 Arsenal 38 14 5 0 37 11 10 6 3 37 20 43 83
4 Liverpool 38 12 6 1 43 13 9 7 3 24 15 39 76
5 Everton 38 11 4 4 34 17 8 4 7 21 16 22 65
6 Aston Villa 38 10 3 6 34 22 6 9 4 37 29 20 60
7 Blackburn Rovers 38 8 7 4 26 19 7 6 6 24 29 2 58
8 Portsmouth 38 7 8 4 24 14 9 1 9 24 26 8 57
9 Manchester City 38 11 4 4 28 20 4 6 9 17 33 -8 55
10 West Ham United 38 7 7 5 24 24 6 3 10 18 26 -8 49
11 Tottenham Hotspur 38 8 5 6 46 34 3 8 8 20 27 5 46
12 Newcastle United 38 8 5 6 25 26 3 5 11 20 39 -20 43
13 Middlesbrough 38 7 5 7 27 23 3 7 9 16 30 -10 42
14 Wigan Athletic 38 8 5 6 21 17 2 5 12 13 34 -17 40
15 Sunderland 38 9 3 7 23 21 2 3 14 13 38 -23 39
16 Bolton Wanderers 38 7 5 7 23 18 2 5 12 13 36 -18 37
17 Fulham 38 5 5 9 22 31 3 7 9 16 29 -22 36
18 Reading 38 8 2 9 19 25 2 4 13 22 41 -25 36
19 Birmingham City 38 6 8 5 30 23 2 3 14 16 39 -16 35
20 Derby County 38 1 5 13 12 43 0 3 16 8 46 -69 11
the final score
Every possible care has been taken
to ensure that the information given
in this publication is accurate and
whilst the Premier League would
be grateful to learn of any errors,
we regret we cannot accept any
responsibility for loss thereby
caused. Photos courtesy of Action
Images, Getty Images, Ben Duffy at
SW Pix and Barclays Photographer
of the Season award. Cover image:
Action Images/Jason Cairnduff .
Designed and produced by
Addison Corporate Marketing
www.addison.co.uk
Premier League Limited 2008
Registered Ofce
30 Gloucester Place
London W1U 8PL
T +44 (0)20 7864 9000
F +44 (0)20 7864 9001
Sir D G Richards
Chairman
R C Scudamore
Chief Executive
J Purdon
Secretary
Bankers
Barclays Bank PLC
50 Pall Mall
London SW1A 1QB
Auditors
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Chartered Accountants
Hill House
1 Little New Street
London EC4A 3TR
This Review has been printed on Revive 50:50
Silk paper. This paper has been independently
certied as meeting the standards of the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and was
manufactured at a mill that is certied
ISO1400. The inks used are all vegetable oil
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ISO14001, FSC certied and CarbonNeutral.

36,144
The average attendance;
a new Premier League record
and the highest in the top
ight for over 50 years

92.8%
How full Premier League
grounds were during the
season, the highest in Europe

31
The goals scored by
Golden Boot winner
Cristiano Ronaldo

4.77 billion
The cumulative global TV
audience for Barclays
Premier League matches

+58
Manchester Uniteds end
of season goal difference.
The greatest ever attained
in the Premier League.

7-4
Portsmouths home victory
over Reading, the highest
scoring game in Premier
League history

1
sT
Where England nished in
UEFAs Fair Play League
The 2007/08 season in numbers
01 welcome p02
Foreword from Sir Alex Ferguson p04
The Premier League Model p06
Chairmans Report p08
02 on The piTch p10
The Season p12
Getting On With The Game p16
Chris Foy: My Ofcial Line p17
You Are The Ref p18
03 aT The grounD p20
Our Fans, Their Premier League p22
Sponsors And Partners p26
The Premier Leagues Biggest Supporter p28
The Ball Is Round p30
conTenTs
Cover photo_A snapshot in history: with the
ball in the net, Ryan Giggs celebrates securing
his and Manchester Uniteds landmark tenth
Premier League title. The midelder, who
also equalled Sir Bobby Charltons all-time
appearance record for Manchester United that
afternoon, scored the Champions second goal
in a 2-0 victory over Wigan Athletic on the nal
day of the season.
premierleague.com
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season
review
premier league
2007/08

Premier League Season 2007-2008

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Premier League Season 2007-2008

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premierleague.

TO WIN 10 OF THE 16 PREMIER LEAGUE

The 2007/08 Barclays Premier

There were 380 matches

ASTONISHINGLY OVER A THIRD OF UNITEDS GOALS

24 | SEASON REVIEW 2007/08 03 AT THE GROUND

Liverpools Yossi Benayoun runs

TO BRING A MATCH BALL TO THE PREMIER

rAIsINg stArs, rAIsINg the gAMe

I THINK LIVERPOOL DID A GREAT

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