2002–03 Sheffield United F.C. season

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

Sheffield United
2002–03 season
ChairmanDerek Dooley
ManagerNeil Warnock
StadiumBramall Lane
First Division3rd (qualified for play-offs)
Play-offsRunners-up
FA CupSemi-finals
League CupSemi-finals
Top goalscorerLeague: Brown (16)
All: Brown (22)[1]
Average home league attendance18,113

Season summary

edit

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

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Portsmouth (C, P) 46 29 11 6 97 45 +52 98 Promotion to 2003–04 FA Premier League
2 Leicester City (P) 46 26 14 6 73 40 +33 92
3 Sheffield United 46 23 11 12 72 52 +20 80 Qualification for First Division Playoffs
4 Reading 46 25 4 17 61 46 +15 79
5 Wolverhampton Wanderers (O, P) 46 20 16 10 81 44 +37 76
Updated to match(es) played on 11 May 2003. Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Results

edit

First Division

edit
10 August 2002 1 Coventry City 2–1 Sheffield United Highfield Road
15:00 Bothroyd   16'
McSheffrey   40'
Asaba   13' Attendance: 18,839
13 August 2002 2 Sheffield United 1–1 Portsmouth Bramall Lane
19:45 Ndlovu   12' Burton   25' Attendance: 16,093
17 August 2002 3 Sheffield United 1–1 Walsall Bramall Lane
15:00 McGovern   40' Corica   23' Attendance: 14,011
24 August 2002 4 Burnley 0–1 Sheffield United Turf Moor
15:00 Onuora   35' Attendance: 12,868
27 August 2002 5 Sheffield United 3–1 Millwall Bramall Lane
19:45 Asaba   77'
Tonge   82'
Ndlovu   90'
Ifill   89' Attendance: 13,024
1 September 2002 6 Sheffield Wednesday 2–0 Sheffield United Hillsborough
12:00 Owusu   73'
Kuqi   82'
Attendance: 27,075
7 September 2002 7 Norwich City 2–3 Sheffield United Carrow Road
15:00 McVeigh   85'
Mackay   90'
Brown   1'
Tonge   6'
Asaba   31'
Attendance: 20,074
14 September 2002 8 Sheffield United 1–0 Rotherham United Bramall Lane
15:00 Ndlovu   74' Attendance: 19,948
17 September 2002 9 Sheffield United 2–1 Grimsby Town Bramall Lane
19:45 Allison   82'
Tonge   89'
Robinson   8' Attendance: 14,208
21 September 2002 10 Gillingham 1–1 Sheffield United Priestfield Stadium
15:00 Shaw   16' Allison   60' Attendance: 7,497

First Division play-offs

edit
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

edit
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

edit
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

Players

edit

First-team squad

edit

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   ENG Simon Tracey
2 DF   ENG Rob Kozluk
3 DF   ENG Rob Ullathorne
4 DF   ENG Steve Yates
5 DF   AUS Shaun Murphy
6 DF   WAL Rob Page (captain)
7 MF   ENG Michael Brown
8 MF   SCO Stuart McCall[notes 1] (assistant manager)
9 FW   ENG Carl Asaba
10 FW   CAN Paul Peschisolido
11 FW   NED Laurens ten Heuvel
12 MF   SCO Nick Montgomery[notes 2]
14 FW   ENG Wayne Allison
15 DF   ENG Ben Doane
16 FW   ZIM Peter Ndlovu
17 MF   ENG Phil Jagielka
18 MF   ENG Michael Tonge
19 DF   FRA Benoît Croissant
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 MF   FRA Jean-Philippe Javary
21 MF   IRL Colin Cryan
22 DF   SCO Grant Smith
23 GK   ENG Paddy Kenny[notes 3]
24 GK   IRL Gary Kelly[notes 4]
25 FW   ENG Rob Nugent
26 FW   ENG Mark Rankine (on loan from Preston North End)
27 FW   ENG Lewis Killeen
28 FW   NIR Owen Morrison
29 MF   ENG Adam Baum
30 FW   ENG Tyrone Thompson
31 FW   ENG Ryan Mallon
32 FW   ENG Dean Windass
34 FW   ENG Steve Kabba
36 DF   ENG John Curtis (on loan from Blackburn Rovers)
37 DF   ENG Danny Wood
38 MF   NED Marcel Cas
39 FW   SCO Iffy Onuora

Left club during season

edit

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
13 GK   NED Wilko de Vogt (to RBC Roosendaal)
14 DF   ENG Shane Nicholson (to Tranmere Rovers)
24 FW   ENG Tommy Mooney (on loan from Birmingham City)
24 MF   SCO Jon-Paul McGovern (on loan from Celtic)
26 DF   ENG Jon Harley (on loan from Fulham)
No. Pos. Nation Player
26 DF   ENG Wayne Quinn (on loan from Newcastle United)
28 MF   ENG Lee Featherstone (to Scunthorpe United)
35 MF   ENG Michael Boulding (on loan from Aston Villa)
36 DF   ENG Richard Edghill (released)

References

edit
  1. ^ "All Sheffield United players: 2003". www.11v11.com.

Notes

edit
  1. ^ McCall was born in Leeds, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally through his parents and represented them at U-21 level before making his international debut for Scotland in March 1990.
  2. ^ Montgomery was born in Leeds, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally and represented them at U-21 level.
  3. ^ Kenny was born in Halifax, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his parents and would make his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in June 2004.
  4. ^ Kelly was born in Preston, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his father and represented them at U-19, U-21, U-23, and B level.