2002–03 Newcastle United F.C. season

Newcastle United

2002–03 season
Chairman	Freddie Shepherd
Manager	Bobby Robson
Stadium	St James' Park
Premier League	3rd
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Third round
UEFA Champions League	Second group stage
Top goalscorer	League: Alan Shearer (17) All: Alan Shearer (25)
Highest home attendance	52,181 (vs. Sunderland)
Lowest home attendance	34,067 (vs. Željezničar)
Average home league attendance	51,923
Home colours Away colours
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

During the 2002–03 English football season, Newcastle United F.C. participated in the FA Premier League (known as the FA Barclaycard Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary[]

After a slow start, the club began putting together the wins and, by the end of March, were in a three-way title race with Manchester United and Arsenal. Consecutive defeats to a resurgent Everton and a 6–2 home thrashing by Alex Ferguson's side killed off Newcastle's title hopes, but Bobby Robson and his team was able to brush off the challenge from Chelsea to finish 3rd in the Premier League, entering the qualification rounds for the Champions League in the 2003–04 season.^[1]

The 2002–03 season was a particularly colourful one for Newcastle on the European stage. In the first group stage, Newcastle lost their first three matches in a row, then, in an astonishing reversal, shocked Italian giants Juventus 1–0 at St James' Park.^[2] They then controversially beat Dynamo Kyiv 2–1 in Newcastle^[3] before winning the crucial last match, away to Feyenoord, 3–2 in injury time, with striker Craig Bellamy scoring the injury time winner. With Dynamo Kyiv losing at home to Juventus, Newcastle progressed to the second round,^[4] in a 'group of death' with Internazionale, Barcelona and Bayer Leverkusen.

Bellamy was sent off for lashing out at Inter defender Marco Materazzi in an off-the-ball incident during the opening minutes of the match. Bellamy was punished further by a three-match ban.^[5] Compounding the disaster for Newcastle was the suspension of influential captain Alan Shearer for a similar incident, although the punishment was just a two-match ban.^[6] Newcastle went on to lose 1–4 at home.^[7]

Shearer returned in the fourth game in the 4-team group, scoring all three goals in a 3–1 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen at home.^[8] Despite a superb performance against Inter in the famous San Siro, only to draw 2–2, Newcastle lost at home 2–0 to Barcelona and dropped out of the Champions League.^[9]

Final league table[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United (C)	38	25	8	5	74	34	+40	83	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Arsenal	38	23	9	6	85	42	+43	78
3	Newcastle United	38	21	6	11	63	48	+15	69	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
4	Chelsea	38	19	10	9	68	38	+30	67
5	Liverpool	38	18	10	10	61	41	+20	64	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[a]

Team kit[]

The team kit for the 2002–03 season was produced by Adidas and the main shirt sponsor was NTL.

Transfers[]

In[]

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
20 June 2002	MF	Hugo Viana	Sporting CP	£8,500,000[10]
12 July 2002	DF	Titus Bramble	Ipswich Town	£5,000,000[11]
13 February 2003	DF	Jonathan Woodgate	Leeds United	£9,000,000[12]
25 March 2003	MF	Darren Ambrose	Ipswich Town	£1,000,000[13]

• Total spending: £23.5m

Out[]

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
April 2002	GK	Jonny Brain	Unattached	Free
April 2002	DF	Ryan McGuffie	Gretna	Free
27 May 2002	MF	Mark Boyd	Port Vale	Free[14]
April 2002	FW	Colin McMenamin	Livingston	Free
3 July 2002	DF	James Coppinger	Exeter City	Released[15]
30 August 2002	DF	David Cowan	Motherwell	Free[16]
February 2003	MF	Stuart Green	Hull City	£150,000
January 2003	MF	Tommy English	Livingston	Released
January 2003	MF	Neale McDermott	Fulham	Free
January 2003	MF	Christian Bassedas	Newell's Old Boys	Released
March 2003	GK	John Karelse	AGOVV Apeldoorn	Free
March 2003	MF	Joe Kendrick	1860 Munich	Free
January 2003	MF	Damon Robson	Unattached	Free

• Total spending: £150,000

Players[]

First-team squad[]

Squad at end of season^[17]

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  IRL Shay Given 3 DF  ENG Robbie Elliott 4 MF  PER Nolberto Solano 5 DF  IRL Andy O'Brien 6 MF  CHI Clarence Acuña 7 MF  ENG Jermaine Jenas 8 MF  ENG Kieron Dyer 9 FW  ENG Alan Shearer (captain) 10 FW  WAL Craig Bellamy 11 MF  WAL Gary Speed (vice-captain) 12 DF  ENG Andy Griffin 13 GK  ENG Steve Harper 14 DF  ENG Wayne Quinn 16 FW  ENG Carl Cort

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF  ENG Darren Ambrose 18 DF  NIR Aaron Hughes 19 DF  ENG Titus Bramble 20 FW  COD Lomana LuaLua 22 MF  ENG Jamie McClen 23 FW  NGA Shola Ameobi 25 MF  SCO Brian Kerr 27 DF  ENG Jonathan Woodgate 28 FW  ENG Michael Chopra 30 DF  SCO Steven Caldwell 32 MF  FRA Laurent Robert 34 DF  GRE Nikos Dabizas 35 DF  FRA Olivier Bernard 45 MF  POR Hugo Viana

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 15 DF  ESP Marcelino (to Poli Ejido) 17 MF  ARG Christian Bassedas (released)

No. Pos. Nation Player 31 MF  ENG Stuart Green (to Hull City)

Reserve squad[]

The following players did not appear for the first-team this 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 21 MF  PAR Diego Gavilán 24 GK  ENG Tony Caig 29 GK  NED John Karelse 33 GK  ENG Adam Collin 36 DF  SCO Gary Caldwell

No. Pos. Nation Player 37 FW  COD Calvin Zola — DF  ENG Bradley Orr — DF  ENG Steven Taylor — MF  IRL Alan O'Brien — MF  RSA Matty Pattison

Trialists[]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Russell Howarth (on trial from York City)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  NGA Isaac Okoronkwo (on trial from Shakhtar Donetsk)

Coaching staff[]

Position	Staff
Manager	Bobby Robson
Assistant manager	John Carver
First-team coach	Nigel Pearson
Goalkeeping coach	Andy Woodman
Development coach	Arthur Cox
Reserve team coach	Terry McDermott
Chief scout	Steve Clarke

Appearances, goals and cards[]

(Starting appearances + substitute appearances)^{[18][19][20][21]}

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Champions League		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Shay Given	38	0	1	0	0	0	12	0	51	0	0	0
3	DF	Robbie Elliott	0+2	0	0	0	1	0	0+1	0	1+3	0	0	0
4	MF	Nolberto Solano	29+2	7	1	0	0+1	0	10+2	1	40+5	8	1	0
5	DF	Andy O'Brien	26	0	1	0	0	0	11+1	0	38+1	0	1	0
6	MF	Clarence Acuña	2+2	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	4+2	0	0	0
7	MF	Jermaine Jenas	23+9	6	1	1	0	0	8	0	31+9	7	1	0
8	MF	Kieron Dyer	33+2	2	0	0	1	2	11+1	2	45+3	6	1	0
9	FW	Alan Shearer	35	17	1	1	0	0	12	7	48	25	8	0
10	FW	Craig Bellamy	27+2	7	1	0	0	0	6	2	34+2	9	3	1
11	MF	Gary Speed	23+1	2	0	0	0	0	12	1	35+1	3	5	0
12	DF	Andy Griffin	22+5	1	1	0	1	0	11	1	35+5	2	7	1
13	GK	Steve Harper	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	3	0	0	0
14	DF	Wayne Quinn	0	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0+1	0	0	0
16	FW	Carl Cort	0+1	0	0	0	1	0	0+1	0	1+2	0	0	0
17	MF	Darren Ambrose	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0
18	DF	Aaron Hughes	35	1	1	0	0	0	11+1	0	47+1	1	2	0
19	DF	Titus Bramble	13+3	0	0	0	0	0	8	0	21+3	0	4	0
20	FW	Lomana LuaLua	5+6	2	0+1	0	1	0	5+4	2	11+11	4	3	0
22	MF	Jamie McClen	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0
23	FW	Shola Ameobi	8+20	5	0+1	0	0	0	4+6	3	12+27	8	4	0
25	MF	Brian Kerr	4+4	0	0	0	0	0	1+1	0	5+5	0	0	0
27	DF	Jonathan Woodgate	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	0	1	0
28	FW	Michael Chopra	0+1	0	0	0	0+1	0	0+2	0	0+4	0	0	0
30	DF	Steven Caldwell	12+2	1	0	0	1	0	1+1	0	14+3	1	1	1
32	MF	Laurent Robert	25+2	5	1	0	0+1	0	9+2	0	35+5	5	3	1
34	DF	Nikos Dabizas	13+3	0	0+1	0	1	0	7+1	0	21+5	0	6	1
35	DF	Olivier Bernard	24+6	2	1	0	1	0	8+2	0	34+8	2	7	0
45	MF	Hugo Viana	11+12	2	0	0	1	0	5+5	2	17+17	4	5	0

Matches[]

Pre-season[]

Premier League[]

Champions League[]

FA Cup[]

League Cup[]

References[]

External links[]

• FootballSquads - Newcastle United - 2002/03