2002–03 in English football

England 2002–03
Season information
FA Premier League	Manchester United
First Division	Portsmouth
Second Division	Wigan Athletic
Third Division	Rushden & Diamonds
Conference	Yeovil Town
FA Cup	Arsenal
League Cup	Liverpool
Community Shield	Arsenal
← 2001-02	2003-04 →

The 2002–03 season was the 123rd season of competitive football in England.

Overview

• Wigan Athletic marked their 25th season of Football League membership by winning the Division Two championship and reaching the league's second tier for the very first time.
• Sheffield Wednesday went down to Division Two, just 10 years after reaching the finals of both domestic cup competitions and 11 years after coming two places short of the league title.

England national team

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score	Competition	England scorers
7 September 2002	Villa Park, Birmingham	Portugal	1-1	F	Alan Smith
12 October 2002	Tehelné pole, Bratislava	Slovakia	2-1	ECQ	David Beckham, Michael Owen
16 October 2002	St Mary's Stadium, Southampton	North Macedonia	2-2	ECQ	David Beckham, Steven Gerrard
12 February 2003	Upton Park, London	Australia	1-3	F	Francis Jeffers
29 March 2003	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz	Liechtenstein	2-0	ECQ	Michael Owen, David Beckham
2 April 2003	Stadium of Light, Sunderland	Turkey	2-0	ECQ	Darius Vassell, David Beckham
22 May 2003	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	South Africa	2-1	F	Gareth Southgate, Emile Heskey
3 June 2003	Walkers Stadium, Leicester	Serbia	2-1	F	Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole
11 June 2003	Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough	Slovakia	2-1	ECQ	Michael Owen (2)

Key: ECQ = 2004 European Championship qualifiers, F = Friendly; scores are written England first

European club competitions

UEFA Champions League

• Manchester United - Quarter finals
• Arsenal - Second group phase
• Newcastle United - Second group phase
• Liverpool - First group phase (dropped into UEFA Cup)

UEFA Cup

• Liverpool - Quarter finals
• Fulham - Third round
• Leeds United - Third round
• Blackburn Rovers - First round
• Chelsea - First round
• Ipswich Town - Second Round

UEFA Intertoto Cup

• Fulham - Winners (qualified for UEFA Cup)
• Aston Villa - Semi finals

Honours

Competition	Winners
FA Premier League	Manchester United
FA Cup	Arsenal
Worthington Cup	Liverpool
Football League Division One	Portsmouth
Football League Division Two	Wigan Athletic
Football League Division Three	Rushden & Diamonds
Football League Trophy	Bristol City
FA Trophy	Burscough
FA Vase	Brigg Town
FA Youth Cup	Manchester United

Final league standings

Premier League

Main article: Premier League 2002-03

Manchester United, unbeaten in the league after 22 December, overhauled Arsenal during the final three months of the season to clinch their eighth Premiership title in 11 seasons, while the other two Champions League places went to Newcastle United and Chelsea. Going into the UEFA Cup were Liverpool (who made an excellent start to the league, going unbeaten in their first three months before a sudden collapse) and Blackburn Rovers, along with FA Cup runners-up Southampton (who also achieved their best Premiership finish of 8th place) and Fair Play award winners Manchester City (who finished an impressive ninth on their Premiership comeback). Southampton had not played in European competitions for nearly 20 years, while Manchester City's last European campaign was a quarter of a century ago.

Everton finished seventh in their first full season under the management of David Moyes, the club's highest finish for seven years, in a campaign where the club was the centre of national media and public attention following the performances of 17-year-old striker Wayne Rooney, who became the youngest full England international after the season's end.

Compensation for Arsenal after their spectacular failure to retain the league title came in the form of retaining the FA Cup - the first side to do so for 21 years.

Leeds United's season was plagued by a loss of form and mounting debts, and having to sell several key players, as they slipped to 15th place - their lowest finish for 10 years and a stark contrast to the previous five campaigns, where they had never finished outside the top five. Manager Terry Venables was axed towards the end of March after eight months in charge, with Peter Reid taking over for the final weeks of the season to secure survival and earn himself a permanent contract. Aston Villa's 16th-place finish was their lowest for eight years, although their strong home form ensured their survival in the Premier League.

Sunderland's season started badly and got worse as they finished with a record Premiership low of 4 wins, 19 points and 21 goals, losing their final 15 league games in the process. The Wearside club went through three managers, with Peter Reid (one of the league's longest-serving managers) leaving in early October to be replaced by Howard Wilkinson, who lasted just five months before Mick McCarthy was appointed. They were joined by West Bromwich Albion, who attained just 26 points in their first top flight season for nearly 20 years and won just three times in the league after September. Last to go down were West Ham United, who went down with 42 points - the highest points tally of any club to be relegated from the Premiership under the 20-club format.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Manchester United  (C)	38	25	8	5	74	34	+40	83	2003–04 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2	Arsenal	38	23	9	6	85	42	+43	78
3	Newcastle United	38	21	6	11	63	48	+15	69	2003–04 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round
4	Chelsea	38	19	10	9	68	38	+30	67
5	Liverpool	38	18	10	10	61	41	+20	64	2003–04 UEFA Cup First round 1
6	Blackburn Rovers	38	16	12	10	52	43	+9	60
7	Everton	38	17	8	13	48	49	−1	59
8	Southampton	38	13	13	12	43	46	−3	52	2003–04 UEFA Cup First round 2
9	Manchester City	38	15	6	17	47	54	−7	51	2003–04 UEFA Cup Qualifying round 3
10	Tottenham Hotspur	38	14	8	16	51	62	−11	50
11	Middlesbrough	38	13	10	15	48	44	+4	49
12	Charlton Athletic	38	14	7	17	45	56	−11	49
13	Birmingham City	38	13	9	16	41	49	−8	48
14	Fulham	38	13	9	16	41	50	−9	48
15	Leeds United	38	14	5	19	58	57	+1	47
16	Aston Villa	38	12	9	17	42	47	−5	45
17	Bolton Wanderers	38	10	14	14	41	51	−10	44
18	West Ham United  (R)	38	10	12	16	42	59	−17	42	Relegation to 2003–04 Football League First Division
19	West Bromwich Albion  (R)	38	6	8	24	29	65	−36	26
20	Sunderland  (R)	38	4	7	27	21	65	−44	19

Updated to games played on 11 May 2003
Source: FA Premier League
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Leading goalscorer: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United), 25

Division One

Main article: Football League First Division (1992-2004) 2002-03

Portsmouth won the Division One title by some distance, passing manager Harry Redknapp's old club, West Ham, on the way down and ending their own 15-year exile from the top flight. They were rarely outside the top two at any point of the season.

Leicester City earned a somewhat controversial promotion, as administration and a Creditor's Voluntary Agreement wrote off much of their £30million debt. Partly as a result of this, the League would introduce a 10-point subtraction for any teams entering administration from the next season onwards. The play-offs were won by Wolves, returning to the top flight after nearly 20 years and finally allowing owner Sir Jack Hayward to see the return he wanted on his years of investment. Their opponents, Sheffield United, were semi-finalists in both domestic cups.

Gillingham enjoyed their most successful season to date, finishing a club record eleventh place in the division, the highest in their history. Despite having some of the lowest attendances in senior football after the relocation to Milton Keynes was announced, Wimbledon managed a 10th-place finish in the league, but then went into administration - putting the future of the club under yet more doubt.

Grimsby were relegated, after struggling in the division for five years on extremely limited resources. Both Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday suffered awful starts to the season (Brighton managing only a single win from their first sixteen matches), and despite good runs of form late in the season, neither were able to survive, although Brighton at least had the satisfaction of staying in the hunt for survival up the last game.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Portsmouth (C, P)	46	29	11	6	97	45	+52	98
2	Leicester City (P)	46	26	14	6	73	40	+33	92
3	Sheffield United	46	23	11	12	72	52	+20	80
4	Reading	46	25	4	17	61	46	+15	79
5	Wolverhampton Wanderers (P)	46	20	16	10	81	44	+37	76
6	Nottingham Forest	46	20	14	12	82	50	+32	74
7	Ipswich Town	46	19	13	14	80	64	+16	70
8	Norwich City	46	19	12	15	60	49	+11	69
9	Millwall	46	19	9	18	59	69	–10	66
10	Wimbledon	46	18	11	17	76	73	+3	65
11	Gillingham	46	16	14	16	56	65	–9	62
12	Preston North End	46	16	13	17	68	70	–2	61
13	Watford	46	17	9	20	54	70	–16	60
14	Crystal Palace	46	14	17	15	59	52	+7	59
15	Rotherham United	46	15	14	17	62	62	0	59
16	Burnley	46	15	10	21	65	89	–24	55
17	Walsall	46	15	9	22	57	69	–12	54
18	Derby County	46	15	7	24	55	74	–19	52
19	Bradford City	46	14	10	22	51	73	–22	52
20	Coventry City	46	12	14	20	46	62	–16	50
21	Stoke City	46	12	14	20	45	69	–24	50
22	Sheffield Wednesday (R)	46	10	16	20	56	73	–17	46
23	Brighton & Hove Albion (R)	46	11	12	23	49	67	–18	45
24	Grimsby Town (R)	46	9	12	25	48	85	–37	39

Leading goalscorer: Svetoslav Todorov (Portsmouth), 26

Division Two

Main article: Football League Second Division (1992-2004) 2002-03

Wigan won their first-ever promotion beyond the Second Division. Crewe managed a promotion on the back of their famed youth policy while play-off winners Cardiff were another big-spending team that were able to earn promotion, beating QPR in the final.

Tranmere Rovers had to settle for seventh place - not even enough for a playoff place - despite collecting 80 points, a tally which at times had been enough for some teams to win automatic promotion. Plymouth Argyle and Luton Town both achieved top half finishes a season after promotion.

An ill-advised managerial change mid-season helped send Northampton down. Mansfield Town's first season out of the bottom division in over a decade ended as their previous spell had; with immediate relegation in a season awash with over 160 goals where they had no problems scoring goals but unfortunately leaked goals at an alarming rate. Huddersfield started badly, and a financial crisis later in the season helped condemn them to relegation, only three years after they looked Premiership-bound. Cheltenham came close to survival, but a defeat on the final day of the season saw them return to Division Three.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Wigan Athletic (C, P)	46	29	13	4	68	25	+43	100
2	Crewe Alexandra (P)	46	25	11	10	76	40	+36	86
3	Bristol City	46	24	11	11	79	48	+31	83
4	Queens Park Rangers	46	24	11	11	69	35	+24	83
5	Oldham Athletic	46	22	16	8	68	38	+30	82
6	Cardiff City (P)	46	23	12	11	68	43	+25	81
7	Tranmere Rovers	46	23	11	12	66	57	+9	80
8	Plymouth Argyle	46	17	14	15	63	52	+11	65
9	Luton Town	46	17	14	15	67	62	+5	65
10	Swindon Town	46	16	12	18	59	63	–4	60
11	Peterborough United	46	14	16	16	51	54	–3	58
12	Colchester United	46	14	16	16	52	56	–4	58
13	Blackpool	46	15	13	18	56	64	–8	58
14	Stockport County	46	15	10	21	65	70	–5	55
15	Notts County	46	13	16	17	62	70	–8	55
16	Brentford	46	14	12	20	47	56	–9	54
17	Port Vale	46	14	11	21	54	70	–16	53
18	Wycombe Wanderers	46	13	13	20	59	66	–7	52
19	Barnsley	46	13	13	20	51	64	–13	52
20	Chesterfield	46	14	8	24	43	73	–30	50
21	Cheltenham Town (R)	46	10	18	18	53	68	–15	48
22	Huddersfield Town (R)	46	11	12	23	39	61	–22	45
23	Mansfield Town (R)	46	12	8	26	66	97	–31	44
24	Northampton Town (R)	46	10	9	27	40	79	–39	39

Leading goalscorer: Robert Earnshaw (Cardiff City), 31

Division Three

Main article: Football League Third Division (1992-2004) 2002-03

Rushden & Diamonds continued their meteoric rise, winning the divisional title. They were helped in no small part by runners-up Hartlepool suffering a shocking late-season collapse, which cost them the title and manager Mike Newell his job. Wrexham took the last automatic promotion spot and bounced back from the previous season's relegation, as did play-off winners Bournemouth, who beat Lincoln City in the final.

Oxford United were promotion contenders a season after finishing fourth from bottom, but in the end just missed out on the playoffs. Despite almost going out of business, York City managed to finish 10th - their highest finish since relegation to Division Three in 1999. Hull City finished 13th under new manager Peter Taylor, who took over from Jan Molby just before the club completed its relocation from Boothferry Park to the new KC Stadium, which gave the club the highest crowds at this level, although the upturn in form was not enough to get them anywhere near the top of the table. Boston United managed a 15th-place finish in their first season as a league club, despite having four points deducted for financial irregularities.

A shock FA Cup victory over Everton did little to help Shrewsbury, and they finished bottom of the League. Exeter City were bought out pre-season in a high-profile takeover spearheaded by Uri Geller; unfortunately, Geller's associates proceeded to asset-strip the club, and despite a late-season run of form, Exeter fell victim to the first-ever dual relegation from the League.

Yeovil Town, who had spent decades making the headlines by defeating league opposition in the FA Cup, finally reached the Football League as Conference champions. The first Conference playoffs were won by Doncaster Rovers, who returned to the league after a five-year exile with the financial backing of John Ryan, who now had a new all-seater stadium in the pipeline.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Rushden & Diamonds (C, P)	46	24	15	7	73	47	+26	87
2	Hartlepool United (P)	46	24	13	9	71	51	+20	85
3	Wrexham (P)	46	23	15	8	84	50	+34	84
4	Bournemouth (P)	46	20	14	12	60	48	+12	74
5	Scunthorpe United	46	19	15	12	68	49	+19	72
6	Lincoln City	46	18	16	12	46	37	+9	70
7	Bury	46	18	16	12	57	56	+1	70
8	Oxford United	46	19	12	15	57	47	+10	69
9	Torquay United	46	16	18	12	71	71	0	66
10	York City	46	17	15	14	52	53	–1	66
11	Kidderminster Harriers	46	16	15	15	62	63	–1	63
12	Cambridge United	46	16	13	17	67	70	–3	61
13	Hull City	46	14	17	15	58	53	+5	59
14	Darlington	46	12	18	16	58	59	–1	54
15	Boston United	46	15	13	18	55	56	–1	54‡
16	Macclesfield Town	46	14	12	20	57	63	–6	54
17	Southend United	46	17	3	26	47	59	–12	54
18	Leyton Orient	46	14	11	21	51	61	–10	53
19	Rochdale	46	12	16	18	63	70	–7	52
20	Bristol Rovers	46	12	15	19	50	57	–7	51
21	Swansea City	46	12	13	21	48	65	–17	49
22	Carlisle United	46	13	10	23	52	78	–26	49
23	Exeter City (R)	46	11	15	20	50	64	–14	48
24	Shrewsbury Town (R)	46	9	14	23	62	92	–30	41

^‡ - Boston United deducted four points due to financial irregularities

Leading goalscorer: Andy Morrell (Wrexham), 34

Conference National

Main article: Conference National 2002-03

• Champions:
  • Yeovil Town
• Also promoted to Third Division:
  • Doncaster Rovers (playoff winners)
• Relegated:
  • Nuneaton Borough (to Southern League)
  • Southport (to Northern Premier League)
  • Kettering Town (to Isthmian League)

National League System

	League	Champions
Step 2 Leagues	Northern Premier League	Accrington Stanley
	Southern League	Tamworth
	Isthmian League	Aldershot Town
Step 3 Leagues	Northern Premier League Division One	Alfreton Town
	Southern League Midland/West Division	Merthyr Tydfil
	Southern League South/East Division	Dorchester Town
	Isthmian League Division One North	Northwood
	Isthmian League Division One South	Carshalton Athletic
Step 4 Leagues	Northern League	Brandon United
	Northern Counties East League	Bridlington Town
	North West Counties League	Prescot Cables
	Midland Alliance	Stourbridge
	United Counties League	Holbeach United
	Eastern Counties League	A.F.C. Sudbury
	Hellenic League	North Leigh
	Western League	Team Bath
	Isthmian League Division Two	Cheshunt
	Essex Senior League	Enfield Town
	Spartan South Midlands League	Dunstable Town
	Combined Counties League	Withdean 2000
	Wessex League	Eastleigh
	Sussex County League	Burgess Hill Town
	Kent League	Cray Wanderers

Cup finals

FA Cup

Main article: FA Cup 2002-03

Football League Cup

Main article: Football League Cup 2002-03

FA Community Shield

Main article: 2002 FA Community Shield

Football League Trophy

Main article: Football League Trophy 2002-03

FA Trophy

Main article: FA Trophy 2002-03

FA Vase

Main article: FA Vase 2002-03

Transfer deals

Summer transfer window

Main article: List of English football transfers summer 2002

The summer transfer window ran from the end of the previous season until 31 August.

2 May 2002

• Franck Queudrue from Lens to Middlesbrough, £2.5m

14 August 2002

• Juninho Paulista from Atlético Madrid to Middlesbrough, £6m

30 August 2002

• Tore André Flo from Rangers to Sunderland, £8m

31 August 2002

January transfer window

The mid-season transfer window ran from 1 to 31 January 2003.

31 January 2003

• Jonathan Woodgate from Leeds United to Newcastle United, £9m

For subsequent transfer deals see 2003-04 in English football.

Famous Debutants

• Wayne Rooney, 16-year-old striker, makes his debut for Everton in a 2-2 home draw with Tottenham Hotspur on 17 August 2002.
• James Milner, 16-year-old winger, makes his debut for Leeds United in a 4-3 away win over West Ham United on 10 November 2002.
• Milan Baroš, 20-year-old Czech striker, scores twice on his Liverpool debut as they beat Bolton Wanderers 3-2 at the Reebok Stadium on 14 September 2002.
• Leon Osman, 21-year-old midfielder, makes his debut for Everton in their 4-3 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on 12 January 2003.

Retirements

11 August 2002: Tony Adams, 35, retires after spending his entire 19-year career at Arsenal, and was team Captain for 14 seasons.

11 May 2003: Peter Schmeichel, 39, retires from playing after spending 10 of the last 12 seasons in England, the final of which was spent at Manchester City, though he is best remembered for his eight-year spell at Manchester United during which he established himself as a world class goalkeeper.

Events

Chelsea are fined ₤5,000 for the state of the pitch at Stamford Bridge for their Premier League match against Charlton Athletic on 11 January. Chelsea were going to relay their pitch immediately after the match and had removed the old grass surface, leaving only the sand base on which the new pitch would be laid. Chelsea did not inform Charlton of the poor state of the pitch prior to the game, which Chelsea won 4-1.