2002–03 Sheffield United F.C. season

Sheffield United

2002–03 season
Chairman	Derek Dooley
Manager	Neil Warnock
Stadium	Bramall Lane
First Division	3rd (qualified for play-offs)
Play-offs	Runners-up
FA Cup	Semi-finals
League Cup	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Brown (16) All: Brown (22)
Average home league attendance	18,113
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

During the 2002–03 English football season, Sheffield United competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

The season turned out to be one of the most successful in Sheffield United's history. United reached the semi-finals of both the FA and League Cups before being eliminated by Arsenal and Liverpool respectively; both sides went on to win the respective cups. United also managed to qualify for the play-offs for promotion to the Premiership. United reached the play-off final after beating Nottingham Forest over two legs in the semi-final, but were beaten by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Final league table

Main article: 2002–03 Football League

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

• Pld = Matches ; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
• NB: In the Football League goals scored (F) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).

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

Results

Sheffield United's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

First Division play-offs

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SF 1st leg	10 May 2003	Nottingham Forest	A	1-1	29,064	Brown (pen)
SF 2nd leg	15 May 2003	Nottingham Forest	H	4-3 (won 5-4 on agg)	30,212	Brown, Kabba, Peschisolido, Walker (own goal)
F	26 May 2003	Wolverhampton Wanderers	N	0-3	69,473

FA Cup

Main article: 2002–03 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	4 January 2003	Cheltenham Town	H	4-0	9,166	Murphy, McGovern, Kabba (2)
R4	25 January 2003	Ipswich Town	H	4-3	12,757	Brown (2), Jagielka, Peschisolido
R5	15 February 2003	Walsall	H	2-0	17,510	Mooney, Ndlovu
QF	9 March 2003	Leeds United	H	1-0	24,633	Kabba
SF	13 April 2003	Arsenal	N	0-1	59,170

League Cup

Main article: 2002–03 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	10 September 2002	York City	H	1-0	4,675	McGovern
R2	1 October 2002	Wycombe Wanderers	H	4-1	4,389	Boulding, Brown (2), Montgomery
R3	6 November 2002	Leeds United	H	2-1	26,663	Jagielka, Ndlovu
R4	3 December 2002	Sunderland	H	2-0	27,068	Murphy, Allison
R5	17 December 2002	Crystal Palace	H	3-1	22,211	Asaba, Peschisolido (2)
SF 1st leg	8 January 2003	Liverpool	H	2-1	30,095	Tonge (2)
SF 2nd leg	21 January 2003	Liverpool	A	0-2 (lost 2-3 on agg)	43,837

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Simon Tracey 2 DF Rob Kozluk 3 DF Rob Ullathorne 4 DF Steve Yates 5 DF Shaun Murphy 6 DF Rob Page (captain) 7 MF Michael Brown 8 MF Stuart McCall (assistant manager) 9 FW Carl Asaba 10 FW Paul Peschisolido 11 FW Laurens ten Heuvel 12 MF Nick Montgomery 14 FW Wayne Allison 15 DF Ben Doane 16 FW Peter Ndlovu 17 MF Phil Jagielka 18 MF Michael Tonge 19 DF Benoît Croissant

No. Position Player 20 MF Jean-Philippe Javary 21 MF Colin Cryan 22 DF Grant Smith 23 GK Paddy Kenny 24 GK Gary Kelly 25 FW Rob Nugent 26 FW Mark Rankine (on loan from Preston North End) 27 FW Lewis Killeen 28 FW Owen Morrison 29 MF Adam Baum 30 FW Tyrone Thompson 31 FW Ryan Mallon 32 FW Dean Windass 34 FW Steve Kabba 36 DF John Curtis (on loan from Blackburn Rovers) 37 DF Danny Wood 38 MF Marcel Cas 39 FW Iffy Onoura

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 13 GK Wilko de Vogt 14 DF Shane Nicholson 24 FW Tommy Mooney (on loan from Birmingham City) 24 MF Jon-Paul McGovern (on loan from Celtic) 26 DF Jon Harley (on loan from Fulham)

No. Position Player 26 DF Wayne Quinn (on loan from Newcastle United) 28 MF Lee Featherstone 35 MF Michael Boulding (on loan from Aston Villa) 36 DF Richard Edghill