Almost 14 years ago, the Premier League published their Team of the Season for the 2007-2008 campaign, in which Manchester United won their 10th Premier League title, and 17th English league title. Alongside Ferguson’s incredible United side, Chelsea finished just 2 points behind their rivals, with Arsenal and Liverpool claiming the 3rd and 4th spots respectively. On the flip side, Reading, Birmingham City and an abysmal Derby County were all relegated to the Championship. It is a season that has stuck in my head and one that I look back fondly upon, and with that in mind, it’s the perfect place to start our new series of posts ‘Where Are They?’.

The series will take specific teams, or eras or TOTS as we have in this case, and look at where the starting XI currently are in 2022. Are they still playing? Are they now managing? Are they a boring TV pundit? Some are still very much at the top of their game, even after 14 years, while others dropped off significantly after entering this team of the season.

If you have a specific team you’d like to find out more about, or have any additional information regarding the players we are talking about in this piece, let us know on Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog). Also why not let us know who was your favourite player in this team and why.

Enjoy.

Goalkeeper

David James (Portsmouth) – Finishing 3rd in the FWA Award for the season, James was flying high in 2007-2008, as his shot-stopping brought the FA Cup to Fratton Park under the guidance of Harry Redknapp. Additionally, their 8th placed league finish earnt them qualification into the following seasons UEFA Cup. It was a whole team success for Portsmouth and a long way from where the side are now, while James had his best season of his whole career in this time. It was the season which took him over the 500 game threshold, and followed up a debut season which saw him break the clean sheet record in the Premier League. Following this season, he stayed at Portsmouth for another 2 seasons until his contract expired, at which point he expressed interest in becoming the manager of the club, as they underwent the beginning of their turmoil of which they are yet to fully recover. It wasn’t to be however and since that time, he had spells at Bristol City and Bournemouth where he made another 103 appearances in England, before departing for Iceland where he spent a year at ÍBV Vestmannaeyjar as a player/coach role. At the end of the season, he announced his retirement from playing, however he returned in 2014 to make 12 appearances in the Indian Super League where his side Kerala Blasters finished as runners up. At this point, his playing career officially ended and this was the last on-field appearances made by James. Off-field, his career has been varied and expansive, ranging from coaching Kerala Blasters in recent years, assistant coaching another Icelandic side in 2020 and his media career in which he has appeared on several shows from life drawing to punditry on the BBC, BT Sport and Eurosport. He has appeared on several TV shows such as Strictly Come Dancing to his most recent appearance on television, entering celebrity mastermind where his specialist subject was pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.

Defenders

Bacary Sagna (Arsenal) – Sagna finished his debut season at Arsenal by entering the TOTS, a truly brilliant start to his spell at the Emirates. Playing in 29 games out of a possible 38, he was consistent when called upon, and helped Arsenal secure a comfortable 3rd place finish. Although only netting once, it’s his obvious defensive contributions that earnt the Frenchman his place in the side, as his club only conceded 31 goals across the whole campaign. Since this great season, the defender continued at Arsenal for another 6 years, winning an FA Cup and a runners up League Cup in return for his 284 total appearances. Following this, he joined the money-men of Manchester City as his Arsenal contract expired. He spent a further 3 years at the club, playing a total of 86 games for the side, although only won a League Cup in this time. Following his 10 year spell in England, he moved onto Benevento for a 6 month spell before finishing his career at Montreal Impact where he spent the years 2018-2019 in Canada, winning the Canadian Championship in 2019. Following this, he appears to have finished with football, and now age 38 has no further accolades or recognition for his career. Admittedly, I believe he is a very unfortunate player not to have won more championships or trophies in this time, but nevertheless a great career and a big part of the development from full-backs to wing-backs.

Gaël Clichy (Arsenal) – Sagna’s fellow Arsenal and French teammate Clichy also made the TOTS in 2007-2008, and his career path followed a very similar trajectory. The 07-08 season was his 5th at the club, and his first as an ever-present in the side, playing in all 38 games of the season. Again another huge factor in the defensive efforts of Arsenal’s season, which kept them to the low 31 goals against number. Following this season, he remained in London for another 3 years, adding a League Cup runners up medal to his previous collection from the early 00s era. He moved to Manchester City in 2011, ending his 8 year spell at Arsenal after making 264 appearances for the club. After his move, he managed 203 appearances for City, and won 2 Premier League’s, 2 League Cup’s, a Community Shield and a FA Cup runners up medal. In 2017 he moved to İstanbul Başakşehir where he was a big part of their 2020 league winning side as they claimed their first title in the clubs history. From here, in December 2020 he made a move over to Switzerland, signing an 18 month deal with Servette where he has made 31 appearances including 5 in the current season.

Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United) – The 2007-2008 season was hugely successful for Ferdinand, as he won a league and Champions League double, playing in 35/38 league games and making a total of 51 appearances for United, and formed a formidable partnership alongside Vidić (who we will get onto shortly). After this season, he continued at Manchester United for another 6 seasons and won several more league titles and trophies, before making his final move to QPR for the 2014-2015 season in which he made 12 appearances before retiring from football. Ferdinand ended his playing career with 6 Premier League medals, 1 Champions League, 2 League Cup, 4 Community Shields, 1 Club World Cup and 1 Intertoto Cup (at West Ham). Since hanging up his boots, he has done many TV bits and pieces, including starting and ending a boxing career (without ever fighting), launching his own magazine/clothing brand, making several documentaries for the BBC and working regularly for BT Sport as a pundit.

Nemanja Vidić (Manchester United) – Ferdinand’s CB teammate, the Serbian Vidić had an additionally impressive campaign in 2007-2008, making 45 appearances across the season and was a huge part of the double winning side. His work was crucial as his club only conceded 22 goals across the 38 game league season. From here, many more trophies were added to his collection, as he ended his 9 year spell at Old Trafford in 2014 with 5 Premier League’s, 3 League Cup’s, 1 Champions League, 5 Community Shield’s, 1 Club World Cup as well as several individual accolades. From his lucrative spell in England, he moved to Inter Milan for 2 seasons, although only made 28 appearances in this time, before both player and club ended their contract by mutual consent and the Serbian announced his retirement. From here, the no-nonsense defender has made occasional appearances on TV here in England, working as a pundit on a few games since his retirement. Primarily since his retirement, he has secured a legacy and respect of fans and even rival supporters for his efforts, and is often looked back as a player that Manchester United could do with even now. I wonder if he could still do a job at 40 years old?

Midfielders

Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) – Making 51 appearances and scoring 21 goals, Gerrard was on fire in the 2007-2008 season, and was crucial in securing Champions League qualification for his club. He was a leader in the impressive Liverpool side as they impressed many, despite failing to claim any silverware in the campaign. From this point, he continued at Liverpool for another 7 years at the club, before moving on in 2015, where he ended his 17 years at the club with a total of 710 appearances and 185 goals. Additionally, he left the club as a true legend and several pieces of silverware in his cabinet. He did make the move to LA Galaxy before retiring, where he spent 2 season at the club and made 39 appearances before retiring from football in 2016. Following his retirement from playing, he began work as Liverpool youth coach before being offered a big job at Rangers in Scotland. In his 3 years, he had a win % of 64.8 and most importantly won the league to end what would have been the 10 year run for rivals Celtic. Although only there for a short spell, he revitalised one of Scotland’s biggest clubs and for that will be remembered fondly. He has recently taken the plunge into English football management, taking charge at Aston Villa in late 2021, and has made an impressive start, and appears to be building on a strong project at the club.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) – What can we say here that’s not blatantly obvious. Cristiano Ronaldo had a stunning 2007-2008 season, winning the double with his side and claiming the Premier League player of the season award. Making 49 appearances and netting 42 goals, it was his most lucrative season at Old Trafford, and led to his first ever Balon d’Or in 2008. After spending another season at Manchester, he made the £80million move to Madrid where his career further flourished, making 438 appearances and netting 450 goals for Real Madrid, winning 4 Champions League and 2 La Liga titles in the process. From this point, he moved to Juventus where he again couldn’t stop scoring, netting 101 from 134 games, and winning 2 Serie A titles and 3 cups. It was in 2021 however where his most surprising move occurred, and at 36 years old, returned to Old Trafford where he has scored 14 from 24 (at time of writing). His off-field work has also had major success, with the man becoming a billionaire and breaking several social media records. There have been off-field controversies, and also he has turned his name into essentially a huge brand. However, back on the pitch, he is still going at 37 years old and shows no sign of slowing down, as he looks to add to his 921 club appearances, and 688 club goals.

Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal) – Making 45 appearances and netting 13 goals, Fabregas had a great year in 2007-2008, and it was the middle of his spell at Arsenal. He continued from here to play another 3 seasons for the club, before moving onto Barcelona (or back to Barcelona should I say) after making 303 appearances for the North London side. After 3 years at Barcelona, he did return to England, but this time for Arsenal’s close rivals Chelsea where he stayed for 5 years and won several pieces of silverware. In 2019, he left England for Monaco, where he has stayed since, playing 68 games for the French side, and 5 appearances in the current season. His trophy cabinet is bulging from his time across England and Spain, but he is yet to claim silverware in France. Outside of football, he has made several tv appearances and done a fair few bits of punditry work in England.

Ashley Young (Aston Villa) – Another player who I could write similar then and now pieces about, Ashley Young has gone from strength to strength since his 2007-2008 season. Since making it into the TOTS, he spent 3 more seasons at Villa, before moving to Old Trafford as he spent a further 9 years at Manchester United, making 261 appearances for the club before a move to Italy as Inter Milan snapped him up. In Italy, he was a part of the side that broke Juventus’ dominance of the league, as they won the Serie A title in 2020-2021. After this season, he made a return to Aston Villa, where he has played 12 games but is yet to score on his return.

Attackers

Fernando Torres (Liverpool) – Not many players have had a better debut season in the Premier League than Fernando Torres in 2007-2008, as he netted 33 goals in 46 appearances across the campaign. From this point, things never reached the same level, but he still impressed in the 2 seasons that followed at Liverpool, before making a £50million move across to Chelsea. This move never really worked for the player, and he left on loan moves to AC Milan and Atletico Madrid before permanently moving back to him boyhood club in 2016. He spent 2 more seasons at the club before leaving in 2018 to make a move to Japan for J1 League side Sagan Tosu. He played a total of 40 appearances for the side and netted 7 goals before announcing his retirement from football in 2019. Ending with a bulging trophy cabinet, he is a Champions League, 2xEuropa League, FA Cup, 2xEuropean Championship and World Cup winner, and in my opinion still truly underrated in England due to the disappointment of his spell at Chelsea. In 2019 he was named coach of Atletico Madrid’s U-19 side, and most recently has popped up on social media with many football fans amazed at his ‘bulked up’ body transformation as he appears to have swapped scoring goals for lifting weights.

Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal) – Finally, and a player who divides opinion, Adebayor had a great year in 2007-2008, scoring 30 goals in 48 games, the best return of his whole career. From this point, he spent another season at Arsenal before moving across to Manchester City (I’m seeing a pattern here). Spending 2 years at City, he produced the infamous celebration against the Arsenal supporters, and netted 19 in 45 for the blue side of Manchester. Loans at Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur (just to annoy Arsenal fans more) followed, before he made the move to Spurs permanent. 3 more years at White Heart Lane followed before a year at Crystal Palace (this guy just loves London), but after netting just once in 15 appearances, he left for Turkey, joining İstanbul Başakşehir for 2 years and Kayserispor for 1 season before leaving in 2019. He joined Paraguayan side Olimpia in 2019 where he played 4 games and failed to score any goals, and COVID disruption meant he hasn’t played since after the club didn’t continue his contract. Since this point not much has been heard of from the striker, as he occasionally pops up with a comment or two about the big topic of the moment, including recently about former Arsenal striker Aubameyang who left the club in quite similar circumstances. With only 1 piece of silverware from his career, it’s a shame that he never settled long-term at a club, and got his head down, but when he was in-form in the 2007-2008 season he was truly terrific for Arsenal, and whatever followed, fans will surely look back fondly on this year.