2007–08 Irish Premier League Explained

Competition:Irish Premier League
Season:2007–08
Winners:Linfield
48th Irish title
Relegated:Armagh City
Donegal Celtic
Larne
Limavady United
Portadown
Continentalcup1:UEFA Champions League
Continentalcup1 Qualifiers:Linfield
Continentalcup2:UEFA Cup
Continentalcup2 Qualifiers:Cliftonville
Glentoran
Continentalcup3:UEFA Intertoto Cup
Continentalcup3 Qualifiers:Lisburn Distillery
League Topscorer:Peter Thompson
(29 goals)
Biggest Home Win:Glenavon 5–0 Armagh City
Linfield 5–0 Crusaders
Linfield 5–0 Newry City
Lisburn Distillery 5–0 Limavady United
Biggest Away Win:Armagh City 0–5 Glentoran
Highest Scoring:Dungannon Swifts 4–6 Newry City
Matches:240
Total Goals:698
Prevseason:2006–07
Nextseason:2008–09

The 2007–08 Irish Premier League was the 107th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football, and the 5th and final edition in its current format (as the Irish Premier League) since its inception in 2003.

Linfield won the league for the 48th time and 3rd consecutive season.

Summary

This was the last season of the competition before the league system in Northern Ireland was restructured. The 2008–09 competition onwards would be re-branded as the IFA Premiership, with stricter rules governing the eligibility of clubs wishing to take part. The top tier of the Northern Irish league system would also be reduced in size from sixteen clubs, to twelve.

The season began on 22 September 2007, and ended on 26 April 2008. Linfield were the defending champions, and successfully defended their title, winning their 48th title by 3 points. Five teams were relegated to the newly introduced IFA Championship for the following season.

Results

Each team played every other team twice (home and away) for a total of 30 games.

League restructuring

From the 2008–09 season onwards, the league system in Northern Ireland was re-structured. It would be renamed as the IFA Premiership, and reduced to twelve teams, included on the basis not only of their performance in the 2007–08 season, but in the previous two seasons, and other off-the-field criteria as follows. Each applicant club was assessed by an independent panel and awarded points against the following criteria:

Five of this season's sixteen Premier League teams failed to gain a place in the new twelve-team Premiership and were relegated to the newly introduced IFA Championship. Of the five teams that missed out, two of them - Armagh City and Limavady United failed to obtain the necessary domestic licence, while Larne did not apply. Donegal Celtic obtained a licence, but were ranked thirteenth in the entry list, and thus missed out by one place. Finally, Portadown also obtained a licence, but were relegated to the IFA Championship as a result of submitting their application for the IFA Premiership 29 minutes past the deadline for consideration.[1] That left thirteen clubs to be ranked - twelve from this season's Premier League plus Bangor, who had finished fourth in the First Division.

Rankings

RankClubPointsDivisionNotes
1Linfield13392008–09 IFA Premiership
2Ballymena United1054
3Glentoran1016
4Coleraine965
5Cliftonville945
6Dungannon Swifts855
7Glenavon828
8Crusaders826
9Lisburn Distillery815
10Newry City796
11Bangor641Only club from outside this season's Premier League to apply.
12Institute632
13Donegal Celtic5432008–09 IFA ChampionshipMissed out on the Premiership by one place.
PortadownGained Domestic Licence, but Premiership application received past deadline.
Armagh CityApplied, but failed to gain Domestic Licence.
Limavady UnitedApplied, but failed to gain Domestic Licence.
LarneDid not apply.
Source: BBC Sport

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Portadown out of Premier League . BBC News . 2008-05-13.