Misplaced Pages

The 2002–03 Football League First Division (referred to as the Nationwide First Division for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the league under its current format as the second tier of English football.

Portsmouth won the division to return to the Premier League after a fifteen-year absence. In Harry Redknapp's first full season in charge the team secured the title on 27 April, with a victory over Rotherham, having been promoted with four games to spare by defeating Burnley.

Leicester City were promoted at the first attempt following their relegation. Their promotion was contentious as they entered administration during the season due to debts in excess of £50 million stemming from their loss of Premier League income and major investment in a new stadium, but were able to write-off these entirely when a new consortium took control and therefore avoided having to sell off players. Following this incident, the Football League would introduce rules that penalised any club entering administration with a ten-point points deduction; although Leicester would still have finished in second place had been this been applied.

Wolverhampton Wanderers won the play-offs to reach the modern-day Premiership for the first time after a 3–0 win in the play-off final against a Sheffield United team which had reached the semi-finals of both domestic cup competitions. This marked a return to top-flight football for Wolves after a nineteen-year exodus that had seen them fall as low as the fourth tier. Also leaving the division were Sheffield Wednesday, Brighton & Hove Albion and Grimsby Town, who were all relegated.

Team changes from previous season

From the First Division

Promoted to the Premiership:

• Manchester City
• West Bromwich Albion
• Birmingham City

Relegated to the Second Division:

• Crewe Alexandra
• Barnsley
• Stockport County

To the First Division

Relegated from the Premiership:

• Leicester City
• Ipswich Town
• Derby County

Promoted from the Second Division:

• Brighton & Hove Albion
• Reading
• Stoke City

Team overview

Stadia and locations

• Note 1: Wimbledon rented the use of Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park home.

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Kit maker	Sponsor
Bradford City	Nicky Law	BCAFC	JCT600
Burnley	Stan Ternent	TFG Sports	Lanway
Brighton & Hove Albion	Martin Hinshelwood	Erreà	Skint Records
Coventry City	Gary McAllister	CCFC	Subaru
Crystal Palace	Trevor Francis	Le Coq Sportif	Churchill Insurance
Derby County	John Gregory	Erreà	Pedigree
Gillingham	Andy Hessenthaler	Gills Leisure	SeaFrance
Grimsby Town	Paul Groves	Avec	Dixon
Ipswich Town	George Burley	Punch	TXU Energi
Leicester City	Micky Adams	Le Coq Sportif	LG
Millwall	Mark McGhee	Strikeforce	24seven
Nottingham Forest	Paul Hart	Umbro	Pinnacle Insurance
Norwich City	Nigel Worthington	Xara	Digital Phone Company
Portsmouth	Harry Redknapp	Pompey Sport	Ty
Preston North End	Craig Brown	Voi	NewReg.com
Reading	Alan Pardew	Kit@	Westcoast
Rotherham United	Ronnie Moore	Bodyline	T-Mobile
Sheffield United	Neil Warnock	Le Coq Sportif	Desun
Sheffield Wednesday	Terry Yorath	Diadora	Chupa Chups
Stoke City	Steve Cotterill	Le Coq Sportif	Britannia
Walsall	Colin Lee	Xara	Banks's
Watford	Ray Lewington	Kit@	Toshiba
Wimbledon	Stuart Murdoch	Patrick	Go MK
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Dave Jones	Admiral	Doritos

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Brighton & Hove Albion	Peter Taylor	Resigned	29 April 2002	Off season	Martin Hinshelwood	15 July 2002
Brighton & Hove Albion	Martin Hinshelwood	Moved to director of football position	7 October 2002	24th	Steve Coppell	7 October 2002
Stoke City	Steve Cotterill	Resigned to become assistant manager at Sunderland	10 October 2002	15th	Tony Pulis	1 November 2002
Ipswich Town	George Burley	Sacked	11 October 2002	19th	Joe Royle	28 October 2002
Sheffield Wednesday	Terry Yorath	Resigned	31 October 2002	22nd	Chris Turner	7 November 2002
Crystal Palace	Trevor Francis	Mutual consent	18 April 2003	11th	Steve Kember	23 May 2003
Derby County	John Gregory	Sacked	9 May 2003	18th (end of season)	George Burley	5 June 2003

• Note 2: Although Gregory was dismissed on this date, he had already been suspended from his post on 21 March after "serious allegations" were made against him.
• Note 3: Burley was initially appointed on 31 March as interim manager following John Gregory's suspension.

League table

Play-offs

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Notes
	Manager	Club
August	Harry Redknapp	Portsmouth
September	Micky Adams	Leicester City
October	Ray Lewington	Watford
November	Alan Pardew	Reading
December	Gary McAllister	Coventry City
January	Neil Warnock	Sheffield United
February	Alan Pardew	Reading
March	Joe Royle	Ipswich Town
April	Mark McGhee	Millwall

PFA Team of the Year

Pos.	Player	Club
GK	Shaka Hislop	Portsmouth
DF	Denis Irwin	Wolverhampton Wanderers
DF	Joleon Lescott	Wolverhampton Wanderers
DF	Michael Dawson	Nottingham Forest
DF	Matthew Taylor	Portsmouth
MF	Muzzy Izzet	Leicester City
MF	Michael Brown	Sheffield United
MF	Paul Merson	Portsmouth
MF	Michael Tonge	Sheffield United
FW	David Johnson	Nottingham Forest
FW	Paul Dickov	Leicester City

References

1. ^ "English League Championship Stats – 2011–12". Statto.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
2. "English League Championship Stats: Team Attendance". ESPN.
3. "Portsmouth 3-2 Rotherham". BBC Sport. 27 April 2003.
4. "Portsmouth promoted". BBC Sport. 15 April 2003.
5. "Leicester City put into administration". BBC News. 22 October 2002.
6. "League to punish stricken clubs". BBC News. 25 September 2003.
7. "Wolves back in big time". BBC Sport. 26 May 2003.
8. "Taylor quits Brighton". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 29 April 2002.
9. "Hinshelwood given Brighton job". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 15 July 2002.
10. ^ "Seagulls go for Coppell". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 7 October 2002.
11. "Cotterill quits Stoke". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 10 October 2002.
12. "Pulis gets Stoke job". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 1 November 2002.
13. "Ipswich sack Burley". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 11 October 2002.
14. "Royle eyes promotion". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 28 October 2002.
15. "Yorath quits Wednesday". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 31 October 2002.
16. "Turner handed Owls post". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 7 November 2002.
17. "Francis leaves Palace". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 18 April 2003.
18. "Palace appoint Kember". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 23 May 2003.
19. "Gregory suspended by Derby". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 21 March 2003.
20. "Derby sack Gregory". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 9 May 2003.
21. "Burley takes over at Derby". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 31 March 2003.
22. "Burley relishes Derby challenge". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 5 June 2003.
23. "Manager of the Month: August 2002". League Managers Association.
24. "Manager of the Month: September 2002". League Managers Association.
25. "Manager of the Month: October 2002". League Managers Association.
26. "Manager of the Month: November 2002". League Managers Association.
27. "Manager of the Month: December 2002". League Managers Association.
28. "Manager of the Month: January 2003". League Managers Association.
29. "Manager of the Month: February 2003". League Managers Association.
30. "Manager of the Month: March 2003". League Managers Association.
31. "Manager of the Month: April 2003". League Managers Association.
32. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2003). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004. Queen Anne Press. p. 496. ISBN 1-85291-651-6.

• 2002–03 Football League First Division
• Football League First Division seasons
• 2002–03 in European second tier association football leagues
• 2002–03 in English football leagues