2002–03 Crystal Palace F.C. season

Crystal Palace

2002–03 season
Chairman	Simon Jordan
Manager	Trevor Francis (until 18 April) Steve Kember (caretaker from 18 April)
Stadium	Selhurst Park
First Division	14th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Fifth round
Top goalscorer	League: Johnson (11) All: Johnson (14)
Average home league attendance	16,867
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

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

Season summary

Under Francis, Palace were unable to mount a serious promotion challenge and they finished mid-table in Division One. The main highlight of the season was in February 2003 when Palace knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup in a fourth round replay at Anfield. Having drawn the first match 0-0 at Selhurst Park, Palace went to Anfield as the clear underdogs. A goal from Julian Gray and an own goal from Liverpool's Stephen Henchoz meant that Palace progressed to a 5th round where they played at home against Leeds United. They lost 2-1 in controversial circumstances, as Palace were denied a first half goal despite the ball clearly crossing the line. Francis resigned on 18 April after another difficult season, and was replaced by long-serving coach Steve Kember.

The end of Francis' tenure, however, saw the beginning of a remarkable, two-year-long transfer saga. Clinton Morrison, a youth team product who had been one of the team's most reliable goalscorers, headed to Birmingham for a £4 million fee in a part-exchange deal which saw Andrew Johnson come to Selhurst Park for £750,000, having been deemed surplus to requirements by Blues boss Steve Bruce. Johnson went on to become an even bigger success at Palace than Morrison, and helped take the club into the Premier League before eventually moving on to Everton for a fee of £8.6million in 2006; Morrison's return to Selhurst Park a year earlier cost Palace £2 million, meaning the club were left with the same player and a total profit of £9,850,000.

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

Squad

Squad at end of season

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 Matt Clarke 2 DF Curtis Fleming 3 DF Danny Granville 4 DF Danny Butterfield 5 DF Kit Symons 6 DF Tony Popovic 7 MF Hayden Mullins 8 FW Andy Johnson 9 FW Dougie Freedman 10 MF Shaun Derry 11 MF Julian Gray 12 DF Jamie Smith 13 GK Aleksandrs Koliņko 14 MF Steve Thomson 15 MF Aki Riihilahti

No. Position Player 16 MF Tommy Black 22 MF Wayne Routledge 23 FW Gareth Williams 24 DF Will Antwi 26 MF Ben Surey 27 DF David Hunt 31 FW Dele Adebola 32 DF Darren Powell 33 GK Cedric Berthelin 35 FW Noel Whelan (on loan from Middlesbrough) 38 DF Gary Borrowdale 42 MF Ben Watson 43 DF Sam Togwell 55 FW Ade Akinbiyi

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 17 FW Andrejs Rubins (released) 18 DF Dean Austin (to Woking) 20 FW Steve Kabba (to Sheffield United) 21 DF Andy Frampton (to Brentford)

No. Position Player 25 DF Gregg Berhalter (to Energie Cottbus) 25 GK Sven Scheuer (to Grazer AK) 33 GK Nikolaos Michopoulos (on loan from Burnley)

Reserve squad

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

No. Position Player 19 DF Craig Harrison 28 MF Robert Smith

No. Position Player 29 MF Gavin Heeroo 30 GK Lance Cronin