2002–03 Football League

Football League, Second Division
Season	2002–03
Champions	Wigan Athletic (2nd third tier title)
Direct promotion	Wigan Athletic,; Crewe Alexandra
Promoted through play-offs	Cardiff City
Relegated	Cheltenham Town,; Huddersfield Town,; Mansfield Town,; Northampton Town
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1421 (2.57 per match)
Top goalscorer	Robert Earnshaw (Cardiff City), 31
	← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Football League, First Division
Season	2002–03
Champions	Portsmouth (1st second tier title)
Direct promotion to FA Premier League	Portsmouth,; Leicester City
Promoted to FA Premier League through play-offs	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Relegated	Brighton & Hove Albion,; Grimsby Town,; Sheffield Wednesday
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1512 (2.74 per match)
Top goalscorer	Svetoslav Todorov (Portsmouth), 26
	← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The Football League
Season	2002–03
Champions	Portsmouth
Promoted	Portsmouth; Leicester City; Wolverhampton Wanderers
Relegated	Shrewsbury Town; Exeter City
	← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The 2002–03 Football League (known as the Nationwide Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 104th completed season of The Football League.

Portsmouth won the First Division by some distance, passing manager Harry Redknapp’s old club, West Ham on the way down. Leicester City earned a somewhat controversial promotion, as administration and a Creditor’s Voluntary Agreement wrote off much of their debt. Partly as a result of this, the League would introduce a ten point deduction for any teams going into 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.

Grimsby Town 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.

Wigan won their first-ever promotion beyond the Second Division, helped by considerable investment in the team. Crewe Alexandra managed a promotion on considerably less resources, while play-off winners Cardiff City were another big-spending team that were able to earn 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. 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 the Third Division.

Rushden & Diamonds continued their meteoric rise, winning the Third Division 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.

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.

Final league tables and results

The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website,^[1] with home and away statistics separated. Play-off results are from the same website.

Season	2002–03
Champions	Portsmouth (1st second tier title)
Direct promotion to FA Premier League	Portsmouth, Leicester City
Promoted to FA Premier League through play-offs	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Relegated	Brighton & Hove Albion, Grimsby Town, Sheffield Wednesday
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1512 (2.74 per match)
Top goalscorer	Svetoslav Todorov (Portsmouth), 26 ^[2]
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Portsmouth	46	17	3	3	52	22	12	8	3	45	23	97	45	+52	98
2	Leicester City	46	16	5	2	40	12	10	9	4	33	28	73	40	+33	92
3	Sheffield United	46	13	7	3	38	23	10	4	9	34	29	72	52	+20	80
4	Reading	46	13	3	7	33	21	12	1	10	28	25	61	46	+15	79
5	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	9	10	4	40	19	11	6	6	41	25	81	44	+37	76
6	Nottingham Forest	46	14	7	2	57	23	6	7	10	25	27	82	50	+32	74
7	Ipswich Town	46	10	5	8	49	39	9	8	6	31	25	80	64	+16	70
8	Norwich City	46	14	4	5	36	17	5	8	10	24	32	60	49	+11	69
9	Millwall	46	11	6	6	34	32	8	3	12	25	37	59	69	–10	66
10	Wimbledon	46	12	5	6	39	28	6	6	11	37	45	76	73	+3	65
11	Gillingham	46	10	6	7	33	31	6	8	9	23	34	56	65	–9	62
12	Preston North End	46	11	7	5	44	29	5	6	12	24	41	68	70	–2	61
13	Watford	46	11	5	7	33	26	6	4	13	21	44	54	70	–16	60
14	Crystal Palace	46	8	10	5	29	17	6	7	10	30	35	59	52	+7	59
15	Rotherham United	46	8	9	6	27	25	7	5	11	35	37	62	62	±0	59
16	Burnley	46	10	4	9	35	44	5	6	12	30	45	65	89	–24	55
17	Walsall	46	10	3	10	34	34	5	6	12	23	35	57	69	–12	54
18	Derby County	46	9	5	9	33	32	6	2	15	22	42	55	74	–19	52
19	Bradford City	46	7	8	8	27	35	7	2	14	24	38	51	73	–22	52
20	Coventry City	46	6	6	11	23	31	6	8	9	23	31	46	62	–16	50
21	Stoke City	46	9	6	8	25	25	3	8	12	20	44	45	69	–24	50
22	Sheffield Wednesday	46	7	7	9	29	32	3	9	11	27	41	56	73	–17	46
23	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	7	6	10	29	31	4	6	13	20	36	49	67	–18	45
24	Grimsby Town	46	5	6	12	26	39	4	6	13	22	46	48	85	–37	39

Key
	Football League Champions, promoted to FA Premier League
	Promoted to FA Premier League
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted to Premier League through play-offs
	Relegated

Semifinals 1st leg – 10 May; 2nd leg – 14/15 May 2003					Final at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 26 May 2003

3rd	Sheffield United	1	4	5
6th	Nottingham Forest	1	3	4
					3rd	Sheffield United	0
					5th	Wolverhampton Wanderers	3
4th	Reading	1	0	1
5th	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2	1	3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Wigan Athletic	46	14	7	2	37	16	15	6	2	31	9	68	25	+43	100
2	Crewe Alexandra	46	11	5	7	29	19	14	6	3	47	21	76	40	+36	86
3	Bristol City	46	15	5	3	43	15	9	6	8	36	33	79	48	+31	83
4	Queens Park Rangers	46	14	4	5	38	19	10	7	6	31	26	69	45	+24	83
5	Oldham Athletic	46	11	6	6	39	18	11	10	2	29	20	68	38	+30	82
6	Cardiff City	46	12	6	5	33	20	11	6	6	35	23	68	43	+25	81
7	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	5	4	38	23	9	6	8	28	34	66	57	+9	80
8	Plymouth Argyle	46	11	6	6	39	24	6	8	9	24	28	63	52	+11	65
9	Luton Town	46	8	8	7	32	28	9	6	8	35	34	67	62	+5	65
10	Swindon Town	46	10	5	8	34	27	6	7	10	25	36	59	63	–4	60
11	Peterborough United	46	8	7	8	25	20	6	9	8	26	34	51	54	–3	58
12	Colchester United	46	8	7	8	24	24	6	9	8	28	32	52	56	–4	58
13	Blackpool	46	10	8	5	35	25	5	5	13	21	39	56	64	–8	58
14	Stockport County	46	8	8	7	39	38	7	2	14	26	32	65	70	–5	55
15	Notts County	46	10	7	6	37	32	3	9	11	25	38	62	70	–8	55
16	Brentford	46	8	8	7	28	21	6	4	13	19	35	47	56	–9	54
17	Port Vale	46	9	5	9	34	31	5	6	12	20	39	54	70	–16	53
18	Wycombe Wanderers	46	8	7	8	39	38	5	6	12	20	28	59	66	–7	52
19	Barnsley	46	7	8	8	27	31	6	5	12	24	33	51	64	–13	52
20	Chesterfield	46	11	4	8	29	28	3	4	16	14	45	43	73	–30	50
21	Cheltenham Town	46	6	9	8	26	31	4	9	10	27	37	53	68	–15	48
22	Huddersfield Town	46	7	9	7	27	24	4	3	16	12	37	39	61	–22	45
23	Mansfield Town	46	9	2	12	38	45	3	6	14	28	52	66	97	–31	44
24	Northampton Town	46	7	4	12	23	31	3	5	15	17	48	40	79	–39	39

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted through play-offs
	Relegated

Semifinals 1st leg – 10 May; 2nd leg – 13/14 May 2003					Final at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 28 May 2003

3rd	Bristol City	0	0	0
6th	Cardiff City	1	0	1
					4th	Queens Park Rangers	0
					6th	Cardiff City (a.e.t.)	1
4th	Queens Park Rangers	1	1	2
5th	Oldham Athletic	1	0	1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Rushden & Diamonds	46	16	5	2	48	19	8	10	5	25	28	73	47	+26	87
2	Hartlepool United	46	16	5	2	49	21	8	8	7	22	30	71	51	+20	85
3	Wrexham	46	12	7	4	48	26	11	8	4	36	24	84	50	+34	84
4	Bournemouth	46	14	7	2	38	18	6	7	10	22	30	60	48	+12	74
5	Scunthorpe United	46	11	8	4	40	20	8	7	8	28	29	68	49	+19	72
6	Lincoln City	46	10	9	4	29	18	8	7	8	17	19	46	37	+9	70
7	Bury	46	8	8	7	25	26	10	8	5	32	30	57	56	+1	70
8	Oxford United	46	9	7	7	26	20	10	5	8	31	27	57	47	+10	69
9	Torquay United	46	9	11	3	41	31	7	7	9	30	40	71	71	±0	66
10	York City	46	11	9	3	34	24	6	6	11	18	29	52	53	–1	66
11	Kidderminster Harriers	46	8	8	7	30	33	8	7	8	32	30	62	63	–1	63
12	Cambridge United	46	10	7	6	38	25	6	6	11	29	45	67	70	–3	61
13	Hull City	46	9	10	4	34	19	5	7	11	24	34	58	53	+5	59
14	Darlington	46	8	10	5	36	27	4	8	11	22	32	58	59	–1	54
15	Boston United ^{[notes 1]}	46	11	6	6	34	22	4	7	12	21	34	55	56	–1	54
16	Macclesfield Town	46	8	6	9	29	28	6	6	11	28	35	57	63	–6	54
17	Southend United	46	12	1	10	29	23	5	2	16	18	36	47	59	–12	54
18	Leyton Orient	46	9	6	8	28	24	5	5	13	23	37	51	61	–10	53
19	Rochdale	46	7	6	10	30	30	5	10	8	33	40	63	70	–7	52
20	Bristol Rovers	46	7	7	9	25	27	5	8	10	25	30	50	57	–7	51
21	Swansea City	46	9	6	8	28	25	3	7	13	20	40	48	65	–17	49
22	Carlisle United	46	5	5	13	26	40	8	5	10	26	38	52	78	–26	49
23	Exeter City	46	7	7	9	24	31	4	8	11	26	33	50	64	–14	48
24	Shrewsbury Town	46	5	6	12	34	39	4	8	11	28	53	62	92	–30	41

Semifinals 1st leg –10 May; 2nd leg –13/14 May 2003					Final at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 24 May 2003

4th	Bournemouth	0	3	3
7th	Bury	0	1	1
					4th	Bournemouth	5
					6th	Lincoln City	2
5th	Scunthorpe United	3	0	3
6th	Lincoln City	5	1	6

v t e 2002–03 in European men's football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia '02 '03 Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '02 '03 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '02 '03 Faroe Islands '02 '03 Finland '02 '03 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '02 '03 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '02 '03 Latvia '02 '03 Lithuania '02 '03 Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '02 '03 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia '02 '03 San Marino Scotland Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '02 '03 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '02 '03 Finland '02 '03 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '02 '03 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '02 '03 Latvia '02 '03 Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '02 '03 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '02 '03 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
League cups	England Finland '02 '03 France Germany Iceland '02 '03 Israel Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
UEFA competitions	Champions League (Qualifying phase, Group stage, 2nd Group stage, knockout stage, Final) UEFA Cup (Qualifying round, First round, Second round, Final phase, Final) Intertoto Cup Super Cup

2002–03 Football League

Contents

Final league tables and results

First Division

First Division play-offs

First Division maps

Second Division

Second Division play-offs

Second Division maps

Third Division

Third Division play-offs

Third Division maps

See also

References

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