15 managers come and go during Ellis's era at Aston Villa

Perhaps, the Aston Villa fans were glad that, as soon as Martin O'Neill took over at Villa Park last summer, Doug Ellis ended his long association with the club.

Ellis had owned Villa for almost 40 years. He first took charge in 1968 and, apart from a spell from 1979-82 when he was sacked by the board, he had been chairman ever since.

In those three years that Ellis was absent, Villa enjoyed one of the best periods ever in the club's history as they won the old First Division and then the European Cup.

Ellis has now left the club in a stable position. He was awarded a life presidency after leaving the club with minimal debt, a 42,000 capacity stadium and with one of the most respected managers in UK football.

The 15 managers to rule during the Ellis era were:
Tommy Cummings (1967-68)
Tom Docherty (1968-70)
Vic Crowe (1970-74)
Ron Saunders (1974-82)
Tony Barton (1982-84)
Graham Turner (1984-86)
Billy McNeill (1986-87)
Graham Taylor (1987-90)
Jozef Venglos (1990-91)
Ron Atkinson (1991-94)
Brian Little (1994-98)
John Gregory (1998-02)
Taylor again (2002-03)
David O'Leary (2003-06)
Martin O'Neill (2006)

Other items of note during the 2006/07 season:

Striker Andy Johnson leaves Crystal Palace for Everton for a club record fee of £8.6m.

Andriy Shevchenko, Milan's star striker, joins Chelsea for a club record fee of £30m.

Preston defender Claude Davis joins Sheffield United for a club record sum of £3m.

Other club record fees registered in the close season or at the start include:

Emile Heskey, forward for £5.5m from Birmingham to Wigan.

John Rankin, midfielder for £65,000 from Ross County to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher, of Huddersfield, scores the 500,000th goal in English League football in a home win over Rotherham. The clincher came midway through the second half and rounded up the 3-0 final scoreline.

At 17, striker Theo Walcott, of Arsenal, becomes the youngest scorer in England U-21 history. He strikes the first goal in a 2-2 draw against Moldova at Portman Road, Ipswich.

In West Ham's 3-1 win over Charlton at Upton Park, Hammers' substitute Teddy Sheringham becomes the oldest outfield player to appear in the Premiership at 40 years and 93 days.

In Manchester United's 5-1 annihilation of Fulham, the club claim another Premiership attendance record of 75,115.

At the Fraser Eagle Stadium, Accrington Stanley, latest members of the Football League, knock out twice European Cup winners Nottingham Forest in the first round of the League Cup (1-0).

Anelka returns

French striker Nicolas Anelka leaves Fenerbahce to join Bolton for a club record fee of £8m.

Dutch forward Jan Vennegoor moves to Celtic for a club record sum of £5m from PSV Eindhoven.

The 2-0 victory by Everton at Tottenham in the league is the first in 21 years since Gary Lineker sealed a 1-0 triumph at White Hart Lane.

Scotland's 6-0 win over Faroe Islands at Hampden Park is their biggest victory since the trimming of Finland at home by the same scoreline in 1976.

In England's 1-0 win in Macedonia, Liverpool's Steven Gerrard makes his 50th appearance for his country.

The 3-0 win by Everton over Liverpool is the Blues' biggest Merseyside derby win for 42 years.

The 1-0 win of Wolves at Leeds is their first at Elland Road in 25 years.

After four straight wins, Manchester United attain their best season opening in the Premiership.

Chelsea set a club record of 11 home wins in a row in all competitions following the 1-0 defeat of Liverpool.

Portsmouth equal the Premiership record of five straight clean sheets from the opening of a campaign, set by Chelsea the previous season.

In Sheffield United's 0-3 defeat at Arsenal, Blades manager Neill Warnock makes his 1,000th appearance as boss.

The 3-0 victory over Sheffield United is Arsenal's first league win at the Emirates Stadium.

At Hampden Park, Scotland topple France 1-0 to dent Les Bleus' fine record of not losing away in a World Cup or European Championship qualifier since the 0-2 upset to Bulgaria on September 9, 1992.

The 5-1 mauling of Wales by Slovakia is the Welsh side's worst defeat in 98 years.

Celtic's 3-0 thumping of Benfica at home in a group match of the Champions League is a replica of the 1969-70 score against the same Portuguese side in the second round of the European Cup at Celtic Park.

The crowd of 36,720 that watched Man. City beat Middlesbrough 1-0 is the lowest gate for the Citizens since they left Maine Road in 2003.

At White Hart Lane, Tottenham beat Chelsea 2-1 in the Premiership for their first win over their London rivals in 33 league meetings and their first at home since 1987.

Young Richards

In England's 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in Amsterdam, Manchester City's Micah Richards becomes the youngest defender to represent the English national side at 18 years of age.

Celtic move into the Champions League knock-out phase for the first time in their history following their home 1-0 win over Manchester United.

The 1-0 win by Falkirk over Rangers is their first in the league in 35 years. The previous victory came in 1971 when Alex Ferguson played for Falkirk in a 3-1 victory.

For the first time in Champions League history all four English representatives - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United finish on top of their respective groups.

Goalkeeper Pepe Reina secures a club record of clean sheets after the 4-0 win over Fulham at Anfield. No other Liverpool goalkeeper succeeded in chalking up 28 blanks in their first 50 games for the club.

Gary Speed, of Bolton, becomes the first player to amass 500 Premiership appearances.

The four British clubs involved in the UEFA Cup - Blackburn, Newcastle, Tottenham and Rangers - qualify for the knock-out stage as group winners.

At Bramall Lane, Sheffield United beat Arsenal 1-0 in the Premiership to claim their first league win over the Gunners since 1973.

Fulham defender Moritz Volz scores the Premiership's 15,000th goal since the league started in 1992-93. Volz netted the milestone goal in Fulham's 2-2 draw at Chelsea.

Stevenage despatch midfielder George Boyd to Peterborough for a Conference record transfer fee of £260,000.

The 4-1 shoot-out win over Chelsea at Anfield, gives Liverpool their second Champions League final appearance in three seasons.

Arsenal become the first side to put six goals past Liverpool - League Cup quarter-final 6-3 - at Anfield since 1930, when in a Division One match the Reds lost to Sunderland 0-6.

Man. United's Cristiano Ronaldo becomes only the third player to win the Premiership monthly award twice in a row, after Dennis Bergkamp (Arsenal - 1997) and Robbie Fowler (Liverpool - 1995-96).

The Premiership 2-1 win by Arsenal over Manchester United attracts a record crowd of 60,128 to the Emirates Stadium.