27 July: English striker Peter Crouch, who began his career with Tottenham Hotspur as an apprentice but left without playing for them, returned to White Hart Lane in a £9 million move from Portsmouth.
23 August: The highlight of the second weekend of the Premier League season came when Burnley achieves another shocking 1–0 win, this time over Everton after French striker Louis Saha missed a penalty.
25 August: Some of the worst scenes of football hooliganism in years are witnessed in West Ham United's 3–1 home win over Millwall in the League Cup second round.
Portsmouth are bottom of the table after starting the season with a record seven consecutive defeats, joined in the relegation zone by West Ham United and Hull City.
[89] 2 October: Sheffield United striker Jordan Robertson is jailed for 32 months on a charge of causing death by dangerous driving in relation to a fatal car crash on the M1 motorway in December 2008.
[108] 6 January: Darren Ferguson is appointed manager of Preston North End and declares his ambition to take them into the Premier League and play against his father Sir Alex's Manchester United side.
[112] 13 January: Another shock in the FA Cup third round takes place at Anfield, where Liverpool lose 2–1 to Championship strugglers Reading in the replay, casting further doubt on the position of manager Rafael Benítez, whose job has reportedly been on the line for weeks due to sub-standard form by his team.
[114] 18 January: Championship leaders Newcastle United announce a new four-year sponsorship deal with Northern Rock, the bank which has been nationalized for two years after almost collapsing due to the credit crunch which brought on the current recession.
Alexander had been manager of the Cheshire club since February 2008 and also been in charge of Lincoln City (twice), Peterborough United and non-league sides Ilkeston Town and Northwich Victoria in a managerial career which began in 1993.
[123] 14 March: England captain David Beckham suffers an Achilles tendon injury during a Serie A match for Milan (where he is on loan from the LA Galaxy) and is expected to miss this summer's World Cup.
[125] 17 March: Portsmouth's nine-point deduction for going into administration is confirmed, making relegation from the Premier League almost certain as they remain bottom of the table but are now 17 points adrift of safety with nine matches left to play.
[136] Manchester United's hopes of a unique fourth successive top division title are dealt a major blow when mid-table Blackburn Rovers hold them to a goalless draw at Ewood Park.
[137] 13 April: Chelsea establish a four-point lead at the top of the Premier League by defeating Bolton 1–0 at Stamford Bridge with a Nicolas Anelka penalty against his former club being the only goal of the match.
Meanwhile, a 1–0 home defeat to Sunderland by Hull City means that the East Yorkshire club will need to record two comprehensive victories from their final two league matches and hope that West Ham United are heavily beaten in both of theirs to achieve survival.
[145] In the Championship, Watford's survival is confirmed, and it is now down to Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday to fight it out and try to avoid joining Plymouth Argyle and Peterborough United in the drop to League One.
[146] 25 April: Chelsea return to the top of the Premier League with a 7–0 win over mid table Stoke City, giving themselves a one-point advantage over Manchester United as well as a considerably greater goal difference.
[183] 14 May: Wayne Brown, the Leicester City defender, is forced to apologize to his teammates after revealing to them that he voted for the far-right British National Party in last week's general election.
[186] 22 May: Blackpool defeated Cardiff City 3–2 in the Championship playoff final at Wembley Stadium to seal promotion to the Premier League, ending their 39-year exile from the top division of English football.
[188] 26 May: Following promotion to the Premier League, Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston announces that a new stand will be built at the Bloomfield Road stadium in order to achieve a 16,000 all-seated capacity.
[citation needed] 11 December 2009: Dean Ashton, 26-year-old West Ham United striker, after failing to make a full recovery from an ankle injury suffered when training with the England team in August 2006.
[210] 6 January 2010: Neil Clement, 31-year-old West Bromwich Albion defender and club's longest serving player after 10 years there, after failing to make a full recovery from a knee injury suffered in August 2008.
[220] In one of the most closely fought title races in recent history, Chelsea were crowned Premier League Champions for the second time in five years, breaking the goal-scoring record with 103 goals.
The £80 million departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in the summer meant Manchester United narrowly missed out on the title, though they managed to retain the League Cup.
Taking fifth place were Manchester City, whose controversial gamble of sacking Mark Hughes at Christmas and replacing him with Roberto Mancini paid off as they finished in their best position in years.
Taking seventh place were Liverpool, who were runners-up the year before, but suffered from losing key players, such as Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, Sami Hyypiä to Bayer Leverkusen and Fernando Torres several times to injury throughout the season; these factors resulted in indifferent form in all of their competitions, meaning they only took a Europa League spot after the FA Cup finalists were refused a UEFA licence and finished in their lowest position for eleven years.
Fulham built on last season's finish of seventh place as they came close to Europa League glory in Hamburg, losing 2–1 in extra time to Atlético Madrid with ex-Manchester United striker Diego Forlán scoring the winning goal.
After the departure of promotion-winning manager Owen Coyle at the turn of the year, Burnley's league form under Brian Laws declined rapidly and they were relegated to the Championship after just one season.
Roberto Di Matteo's first season in charge of West Bromwich Albion brought success as the Midlands club enjoyed automatic promotion to the top flight for the third time in eight years.
Crystal Palace, who had been on the brink of the playoffs before being deducted ten points for entering administration, faced Sheffield Wednesday in the final match of the season as they both fought for survival.
Darlington were unable to recover from losing many of their players during their spell in administration at the end of the previous season and finished bottom of the league, becoming the third club (after Halifax Town and Chester City) to be relegated to the Football Conference on two separate occasions.