2002–03 Leeds United A.F.C. season

Leeds United

2002–03 season
Chairman	Peter Ridsdale (until 31 March)[1] Professor John McKenzie
Manager	David O'Leary (until 27 June)[2] Terry Venables (until 21 March)[3] Peter Reid
Stadium	Elland Road
Premier League	15th
FA Cup	Sixth round
League Cup	Third round
UEFA Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Mark Viduka (20) All: Mark Viduka (22)
Highest home attendance	40,205 vs Aston Villa (11 May 2003, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance	29,359 vs Gillingham (4 Feb 2003, FA Cup)
Average home league attendance	37,768
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The 2002–03 season saw Leeds United compete in the Premier League (known as the Barclaycard Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary

As Leeds United's debts began racking up, the club began selling many first-team players to raise money, most notably defender and captain Rio Ferdinand, sold to arch-rivals Manchester United for around 25 million pounds - a world record for a defender at the time. Despite this mass exodus of players (which forced many youth players like James Milner and Matthew Kilgallon into the first team) Leeds managed to remain in the Premiership after finishing a safe 15th place, with no small thanks to striker Mark Viduka. Viduka struck 20 goals in the Premiership alone, making him the fourth highest scorer in the league that season. Harry Kewell was also influential, scoring 14 on his own and setting up several of Viduka's strikes, before departing to Liverpool in the summer.

Kit

Nike remained as Leeds United's kit sponsors, and introduced a new home kit for the season.

First-team squad

^[4] Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Nigel Martyn 2 DF Gary Kelly 3 DF Ian Harte 4 MF Olivier Dacourt 5 DF Lucas Radebe 8 FW Michael Bridges 9 FW Mark Viduka 10 FW Harry Kewell 11 MF Raúl Bravo (on loan from Real Madrid) 12 MF Nick Barmby 13 GK Paul Robinson 14 MF Stephen McPhail 15 DF Teddy Lučić (on loan from AIK) 16 MF Jason Wilcox 17 FW Alan Smith

No. Position Player 18 DF Danny Mills 19 MF Eirik Bakke 20 MF Seth Johnson 21 DF Dominic Matteo (captain) 22 DF Michael Duberry 23 MF David Batty 24 MF Paul Okon 25 MF Jacob Burns 26 GK Danny Milosevic 28 MF Jamie McMaster 34 DF Frazer Richardson 36 DF Matthew Kilgallon 38 MF James Milner 39 FW Simon Johnson

Left club during season

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

No. Position Player 6 DF Jonathan Woodgate (to Newcastle United) 7 FW Robbie Keane (to Tottenham Hotspur) 11 MF Lee Bowyer (to West Ham United)

No. Position Player 27 FW Robbie Fowler (to Manchester City) GK Shaun Allaway (on loan to Grimsby Town)

Reserve squad

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

No. Position Player 32 MF Harpal Singh 35 DF Shane Cansdell-Sherriff

No. Position Player 37 MF Paul Keegan

Statistics

Starting 11

Considering starts in all competitions^[5]

• GK: #13, Paul Robinson, 50
• RB: #18, Danny Mills, 39
• CB: #6, Jonathan Woodgate, 24
• CB: #21, Dominic Matteo, 24
• LB: #3, Ian Harte, 33
• RM: #2, Gary Kelly, 34
• CM: #16, Jason Wilcox, 31
• CM: #19, Eirik Bakke, 41
• LM: #10, Harry Kewell, 41
• CF: #17, Alan Smith, 43
• CF: #9, Mark Viduka, 36

Results

Premier League

Top scorers

• Mark Viduka, 21
• Harry Kewell, 14
• Nick Barmby, 4
• Ian Harte, 4
• Alan Smith 3
• Lee Bowyer 2
• Robbie Fowler 2
• James Milner 2
• Danny Mills 1
• Jason Wilcox 1
• Jonathan Woodgate 1
• Eirik Bakke 1
• Teddy Lucic 1
• Seth Johnson 1

Transfers

In

• Nick Barmby - Liverpool, 8 August 2002, £2,750,000^[6]
• Paul Okon - Middlesbrough, 12 August 2002, free^[7]

Out

• Rio Ferdinand - Manchester United, 22 July 2002, £30,000,000^±[8]
• Robbie Keane - Tottenham Hotspur, 31 August 2002, £7,000,000^[9]
• Lee Bowyer - West Ham United, 11 January 2003, £300,000^[10]
• Jonathan Woodgate - Newcastle United, 31 January 2003, £9,000,000^[11]
• Robbie Fowler - Manchester City, 13 February 2003, £6,000,000^[12]
• Caleb Folan - Chesterfield, 14 February 2003, free^[13]

^±Current club record transfer fee received.

Transfers in: £2,750,000

Transfers out: £52,300,000

Total spending: £49,550,000

Loaned in

• Teddy Lucic - AIK Solna, 31 August 2002^[14]
• Raúl Bravo - Real Madrid, 31 January 2003^[15]

Loaned out

• Simon Johnson - Hull City, 11 August 2002^[16]
• Shaun Allaway - Grimsby Town, 20 August 2002^[16]
• Danny Milosevic - Plymouth Argyle, 5 November 2002^[17]
• Steven Ferguson - Hyde United, 5 November 2002^[17]
• Harpal Singh - Bradford City, 7 November 2002^[17]
• Shane Cansdell-Sherriff - Rochdale, 8 November 2002^[17]
• Jamie McMaster - Coventry City, 19 November 2002^[17]
• Craig Stiens - Swansea City, 13 December 2002^[18]
• Olivier Dacourt - Roma, 8 January 2003^[19]
• Frazer Richardson - Stoke City, 10 January 2003^[20]
• Danny Milosevic - Crewe Alexandra, 20 January 2003^[21]
• Tom Newey - Darlington, 29 March 2003^[22]

References