2002–03 Crystal Palace F.C. season

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Crystal Palace
2002–03 season
ChairmanSimon Jordan
ManagerTrevor Francis (until 18 April)
Steve Kember (caretaker from 18 April)
StadiumSelhurst Park
First Division14th
FA CupFifth round
League CupFifth round
Top goalscorerLeague:
Johnson (11)[2]
All:
Johnson (14)[1]
Average home league attendance16,867

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 First Division
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
12 Preston North End 46 16 13 17 68 70 −2 61
13 Watford 46 17 9 20 54 70 −16 60
14 Crystal Palace 46 14 17 15 59 52 +7 59
15 Rotherham United 46 15 14 17 62 62 0 59
16 Burnley 46 15 10 21 65 89 −24 55
Updated to match(es) played on 11 May 2003. Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Players[]

First-team squad[]

Squad at end of season[3]

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 England ENG Matt Clarke
2 DF Republic of Ireland IRL Curtis Fleming[notes 1]
3 DF England ENG Danny Granville
4 DF England ENG Danny Butterfield
5 DF Wales WAL Kit Symons[notes 2]
6 DF Australia AUS Tony Popovic
7 MF England ENG Hayden Mullins
8 FW England ENG Andy Johnson
9 FW Scotland SCO Dougie Freedman
10 MF England ENG Shaun Derry
11 MF England ENG Julian Gray
12 DF England ENG Jamie Smith
13 GK Latvia LVA Aleksandrs Koliņko
14 MF Scotland SCO Steven Thomson
15 MF Finland FIN Aki Riihilahti
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 MF England ENG Tommy Black
22 MF England ENG Wayne Routledge
23 FW Wales WAL Gareth Williams[notes 3]
24 DF Ghana GHA Will Antwi[notes 4]
26 MF England ENG
27 DF England ENG David Hunt
31 FW Nigeria NGA Dele Adebola
32 DF England ENG Darren Powell
33 GK France FRA Cédric Berthelin
35 FW England ENG Noel Whelan (on loan from Middlesbrough)
38 DF England ENG Gary Borrowdale
42 MF England ENG Ben Watson
43 DF England ENG Sam Togwell
55 FW Nigeria NGA Ade Akinbiyi[notes 5]

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. Pos. Nation Player
17 FW Latvia LVA Andrejs Rubins (released)
18 DF England ENG Dean Austin (to Woking)
20 FW England ENG Steve Kabba (to Sheffield United)
21 DF England ENG Andy Frampton (to Brentford)
No. Pos. Nation Player
25 DF United States USA Gregg Berhalter (to Energie Cottbus)
25 GK Germany GER Sven Scheuer (to Grazer AK)
33 GK Greece GRE 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. Pos. Nation Player
19 DF England ENG Craig Harrison
28 MF England ENG
No. Pos. Nation Player
29 MF Mauritius MRI Gavin Heeroo[notes 6]
30 GK England ENG Lance Cronin

References[]

  1. ^ "All Crystal Palace players: 2003".
  2. ^ "Crystal Palace players: League Division 1 2003".
  3. ^ "FootballSquads - Crystal Palace - 2002/03".

Notes[]

  1. ^ Fleming was born in Manchester, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in April 1996.
  2. ^ Symons was born in Basingstoke, England, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally through his father and made his international debut for Wales in February 1992.
  3. ^ Williams was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally and represented them at U-21 level.
  4. ^ Antwi was born in Epsom, England, but also qualified to represent Ghana internationally and made his international debut for Ghana in 2003.
  5. ^ Akinbiyi was born in Hackney, England, but also qualified to represent Nigeria internationally through his parents and made his international debut for Nigeria in 1999.
  6. ^ Heeroo was born in Haringey, England, but also qualified to represent Mauritius internationally and made his international debut for Mauritius in 2002.
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