As 2007 draws to a close skysports.com takes a look back at the last 12 months in football.
As 2007 draws to a close
skysports.com takes a look back at the last 12 months in football.
Again there have been highs and lows on the domestic and international front for fans of the beautiful game.
You can cast your eye over an action-packed 12 months with our in-depth review of the year.
Some of the highlights of 2007 saw the return of Manchester United to the summit of English football, the shock departure of the 'special one' at Chelsea, the demise of Steve McClaren as England manager and the subsequent appointment of Fabio Capello.
January
The year swung into action with the departure of Paul Le Guen from Rangers just seven months after his arrival, with Walter Smith quitting his role with Scotland to return to Ibrox.
Alex McLeish was confirmed as Smith's replacement as Scotland boss, while Stuart Pearce succeeded Peter Taylor as England Under 21 manager.
The transfer window reopened as the usual scramble for signings ensued, but the biggest news was David Beckham's confirmed switch to Major League Soccer outfit LA Galaxy from Real Madrid.
West Ham were the biggest spenders in the transfer window as they snapped up Luis Boa Morte, Lucas Neill and Matthew Upson.
On the field, Arsenal dumped Liverpool out of the FA Cup and Carling Cup and set up a final meeting with Chelsea in the latter competition.
February
Italian football was in the headlines again for all the wrong reasons, with all football suspended indefinitely after a police officer was killed during trouble at the Sicilian derby between Catania and Palermo.
Liverpool announced they had agreed terms to sell the club to American duo George Gillett and Tom Hicks.
Reds duo Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise were involved an infamous bust-up during a training camp in Spain, but it did not affect the players' performance, as the duo scored in Liverpool's famous UEFA Champions League win over Barcelona at Camp Nou.
In a stormy Carling Cup final, Chelsea came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 thanks to two Didier Drogba goals as they lifted the first piece of silverware of the season.
An action-packed game saw John Terry carried off in the second half after being kicked in the head, before John Obi Mikel, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor were all sent off in injury-time.
March
West Ham were charged with a breach of Premier League rules in relation to the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano - which could have led to them being deducted points.
Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea all booked their places in the quarter-finals of the Champions League but Arsenal crashed out to PSV Eindhoven. The game turned out to be Thierry Henry's last appearance in an Arsenal shirt after he was ruled out for the rest of the season with groin and muscle injuries.
England's stuttering Euro 2008 campaign continued as they were held to a goalless draw in Israel before labouring to a 3-0 victory over minnows Andorra thanks to a brace from Steven Gerrard and a strike from debutant David Nugent.
The Football Association confirmed the FA Cup final would take place at the new Wembley, with Cardiff having hosted the previous six finals.
In the title race, Manchester United ended the month six points ahead of Chelsea following vital victories over Liverpool and Blackburn.
April
Manchester United's Champions League quarter-final first leg clash with Roma was marred by violent clashes at the Stadio Olimpico between fans of both sides and police.
In the second leg United produced a masterclass to thump Roma 7-1 and set up a semi-final meeting with Milan. Liverpool and Chelsea overcame PSV Eindhoven and Valencia respectively to set up an all-English semi-final for the second time in two years.
Tottenham crashed out of the Uefa Cup at the quarter-final stage after losing 4-3 on aggregate to Sevilla.
Manchester United and Chelsea maintained their hopes of the treble as they booked their spots in the FA Cup final with semi-finals wins over Watford and Blackburn respectively.
On the domestic front Fulham sacked Chris Coleman and Northern Ireland boss Lawrie Sanchez replaced him on a caretaker basis for the remainder of the season.
Sam Allardyce resigned as Bolton manager after eight years in charge with Sammy Lee being installed as his replacement.
Watford were the first side to be relegated from the Premier League after drawing with Manchester City.
Birmingham and Sunderland confirmed their promotion from the Championship to the Premier League.
In Scotland, Celtic clinched the SPL title with a dramatic 2-1 win at Kilmarnock.
West Ham were fined £5.5 million for their conduct in the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, but escaped a points deduction much to the fury of their relegation rivals.
Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo completed a remarkable season by winning both PFA Player and Young Player of the Year awards, becoming the first man to win both prizes in the same season since Andy Gray 30 years earlier.
On a sad note, World Cup winner Alan Ball died aged 61 after suffering a heart attack.
May
Liverpool reached the Champions League final after a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea, while in the other semi-final Milan overcame Manchester United to set up a repeat of the 2005 final.
Glenn Roeder resigned as Newcastle manager after a 2-0 home defeat to Blackburn.
On 6th May Manchester United were confirmed as Premier League champions after Chelsea could only muster a 1-1 draw with Arsenal.
A day later, Charlton's relegation from the top flight was confirmed after a 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham.
On a dramatic final day of the season, Sheffield United were relegated after losing 2-1 to Wigan in their winner-takes-all clash at Bramall Lane.
24 hours after Wigan's dramatic win at Sheffield United, Paul Jewell announced his resignation as manager with Chris Hutchings being named as his replacement. On the same day, Manchester City parted company with Stuart Pearce.To continue the managerial merry go-round Sam Allardyce was installed as Newcastle manager and Neil Warnock left Sheffield United following their relegation, with Bryan Robson replacing him.
In the FA Cup final Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0 at the new Wembley thanks to an extra-time winner from Didier Drogba.
Liverpool failed to repeat their 2005 Champions League final success against Milan as they went down 2-1 to the Italians in Athens.
In the play-offs Derby won promotion to the Premier League with victory over West Brom, Bristol Rovers overcame Shrewsbury to be promoted to League One and Blackpool beat Yeovil to book their spot in the Championship.
Mike Ashley launched a takeover bid for Newcastle after buying a £41.6 per cent stake in the St James' Park outfit.
On the international scene, David Beckham was recalled to the England side by Steve McClaren after ten months in the wilderness.
June
England marked their first game at the new Wembley with a 1-1 draw with Brazil and then concluded the international season with a 3-0 win over Estonia thanks to goals from Joe Cole, Peter Crouch and Michael Owen.
In the European Under 21 Championship England suffered more penalty heartache after losing their semi-final clash with hosts Holland 13-12 on penalties.
On the transfer front, the biggest news was Thierry Henry's move to Barcelona in a £16million deal.
Tottenham also paid a club record fee of £16.5million to sign Darren Bent from Charlton.
It was all-change at Manchester City as Thaksin Shinawatra gained control at Eastlands and Sven Goran Eriksson agreed a three-year deal to succeed Stuart Pearce as manager.
City were not the only club to be the subject of a takeover bid, as Birmingham agreeing to sell 29.9 per cent of their shares to Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung.
July
At the start of July, Manchester United announced the signing of England international Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich.
United also made a move for Carlos Tevez, which led to a transfer dispute between the Old Trafford outfit, West Ham and the player's representative.
Liverpool pulled off the biggest signing of the month by breaking their transfer record with the signing of Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid and they also brought in the likes of Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun.
On the managerial front Sven Goran Eriksson was confirmed as Manchester City's new manager.
David Beckham was unveiled as an LA Galaxy player amidst a fanfare in America and made his debut against Chelsea in a friendly.
August
In the traditional curtain-raiser to the new season, Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties in the Community Shield.
Carlos Tevez finally completed his protracted move to Manchester United from West Ham on an initial two-year deal.
In another transfer saga Gabriel Heinze failed in his bid to win a move from Manchester United to Liverpool, with the Argentine finally joining Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Heinze would be joined at Real by Chelsea winger Arjen Robben.
Sunderland signed Scotland international Craig Gordon in a British record fee for a goalkeeper.
The Black Cats opened the Premier League with a last-gasp victory over Tottenham and Sam Allardyce marked his return to Bolton with victory as Newcastle ran-out 3-0 winners.
Manchester United began the defence of their league title with a goalless draw against Reading with Wayne Rooney suffering a broken foot, while Chelsea set a new club record of 64 games unbeaten at home after beating Birmingham 3-2.
England suffered their first defeat at the new Wembley after going down 2-1 to old foes Germany.
Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was forced to announce his retirement after failing to shake off a knee injury.
Tragedy struck in Spain as Sevilla's Antonio Puerta died three days after suffering a heart attack and collapsing on the field during a game against Getafe.
September
Liverpool moved to the top of the Premier League for the first time under Rafa Benitez at the start of the month after a 6-0 thumping of Derby.
Arsene Wenger handed Arsenal a boost by finally signing a new deal to keep him at Emirates Stadium until 2011.
England got their Euro 2008 campaign back on track with a 3-0 win over Israel and four days later Steve McClaren's men repeated the dose with a 3-0 success against Russia.
On the same night Scotland stole the headlines as they beat France 1-0 in Paris courtesy of James McFadden's stunning goal.
On 20th March Chelsea announced the shock departure of Jose Mourinho in a move which shocked the football world. Avram Grant was installed as the Portuguese's successor.
Grant began his Chelsea tenure with a 2-0 defeat at Manchester United with John Obi Mikel being sent-off.
Coventry caused a major shock in the Carling Cup with a 2-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.
October
England's Euro 2008 hopes took a nosedive in October after they threw away a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 to Russia in Moscow to take their fate out of their own hands.
Sammy Lee was the first Premier League manager to lose his job after Bolton's disastrous start to the season, with Gary Megson leaving Leicester to replace him at the Reebok Stadium.
Martin Jol was the next top flight boss to go after months of speculation over his future at Tottenham.
Juande Ramos quit Sevilla to take the vacant post at White Hart Lane, bringing in Gus Poyet from Leeds as his assistant.
One manager who was staying in his job was Harry Redknapp, who signed a new deal at Portsmouth.
The managerial merry go-round continued in the Championship as Peter Taylor lost his job at Crystal Palace, John Gregory was axed at QPR and Peter Grant left Norwich with Glenn Roeder taking over at Carrow Road.
November
England's hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008 were resurrected after Israel's shock win over Russia, but Steve McClaren's men could not take their advantage of their second chance by losing to Croatia to see them miss out on Euro 2008.
24 hours after England's failure, McClaren was sacked by the FA after a review of the qualification campaign.
Chris Hutchings became the third Premier League manager to lose his job after being sacked by Wigan. Steve Bruce left Birmingham to return to the Latics for a second spell in charge.
Alex McLeish resigned as Scotland boss to pave the way for a move to Birmingham.
Billy Davies departed Derby with the Rams rooted to the bottom of the table after a difficult start to life back in the Premier League.
The Rams turned to former Wigan boss Paul Jewell to take over at Pride Park.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp and Leicester chairman Milan Mandaric were among five men arrested by City of London Police investigating alleged corruption in football.
On the field Liverpool, set a new Champions League record with their 8-0 thumping of Besiktas at Anfield.
Italian football again saw itself in the headlines for the wrong reasons after a Lazio fan was shot accidentally by a police officer, sparking riots across the country.
December
December was dominated by England's hunt for a new manager. Fabio Capello finally being confirmed as Steve McClaren's successor, after Jose Mourinho reportedly turned down the job.
Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo lost out to Milan ace Kaka in the European and World Player of the Year awards.
Milan became the first European club to win the revamped World Club Championship with victory over Boca Juniors.
Birmingham ended takeover talks with Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung after months of haggling over the deal.
Manchester City signaled their intentions to be pro-active in the transfer market by agreeing a loan deal with Mexico striker Nery Castillo from Shakhtar Donetsk.
Fulham's turbulent year drew to a close with the dismissal of Lawrie Sanchez. John Collins, who resigned as Hibernian manager, is favourite to take over at Craven Cottage.
