2002–03 Leeds United A.F.C. season

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

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

Season summary

When Terry Venables was appointed as manager, much was expected at Leeds as Venables had previously brought success to Tottenham and Barcelona before taking England to the semi finals of Euro 96. But the looming debt Leeds were now facing meant they couldn't keep star defender Rio Ferdinand, who was sold to Manchester Utd for $30 million. After the season began, striker Robbie Keane was also sold to Tottenham. Despite the rough start, Leeds began well, as back to back wins over Newcastle and Manchester Utd put Leeds top after 6 games. But a 1–4 loss to Arsenal, and later 0–1 to Liverpool, saw Leeds' form begin to drop. Utd were then embarrassingly knocked out the league cup by Sheffield Utd, and despite wins in the UEFA Cup Leeds' spiralling debts meant manager Terry Venables was forced to sell more top players. Lee Bowyer and mid fielder Olivier Dacourt soon left the club, and over time defenders Danny Mills and Jonathan Woodagte, as well as striker Robbie Fowler, were all sold. In the league, Leeds was losing consecutive games to Bolton, Charlton and Fulham. They were now out of the UEFA Cup and were slipping towards the relegation zone. Pressure was mounting on Venables, but was eased at times when Leeds won vital victories, with 16 year old James Milner scoring in consecutive games to secure those victories. Defender Matthew Kilgalion and mid fielder Frazier Richardson were also given debuts, despite reaching the quarter final of the FA cup where Leeds were again knocked out by Sheffield Utd. Venables, frustrated at the continued selling of key players, quit the club, and former Manchester City and Sunderland boss Peter Reid was appointed with 8 games left. With a 2–0 win over Fulham, and then later 3–2 over Arsenal, Mark Viduka in fantastic form saved Leeds from relegation. Utd finished in 15th place. However, only days after the season ended star striker Harry Kewell also left the club. With these accumulated departures, and finances still not under control, the worst was yet to come for Leeds.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
13	Birmingham City	38	13	9	16	41	49	−8	48
14	Fulham	38	13	9	16	41	50	−9	48
15	Leeds United	38	14	5	19	58	57	+1	47
16	Aston Villa	38	12	9	17	42	47	−5	45
17	Bolton Wanderers	38	10	14	14	41	51	−10	44

Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

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 defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 DF  ENG Danny Mills 19 MF  NOR Eirik Bakke 20 MF  ENG Seth Johnson 21 DF  SCO Dominic Matteo (captain) 22 DF  ENG Michael Duberry 23 MF  ENG David Batty 24 MF  AUS Paul Okon 25 MF  AUS Jacob Burns 26 GK  AUS Danny Milosevic 28 MF  ENG Jamie McMaster 34 DF  ENG Frazer Richardson 36 DF  ENG Matthew Kilgallon 38 MF  ENG James Milner 39 FW  ENG Simon Johnson

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 6 DF  ENG Jonathan Woodgate (to Newcastle United) 7 FW  IRL Robbie Keane (to Tottenham Hotspur) 11 MF  ENG Lee Bowyer (to West Ham United)

No. Pos. Nation Player 27 FW  ENG Robbie Fowler (to Manchester City) — GK  ENG Shaun Allaway (on loan to Grimsby Town)

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 32 MF  ENG Harpal Singh 35 DF  AUS Shane Cansdell-Sherriff

No. Pos. Nation Player 37 MF  IRL Paul Keegan — FW  ENG Emmanuel Ibhadon

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premier League		FA Cup		League Cup		UEFA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
13	GK		Paul Robinson	50	0	38	0	5	0	1	0	6	0
Defenders
2	DF		Gary Kelly	35	1	24+1	0	4	1	0	0	6	0
3	DF		Ian Harte	36	3	24+3	3	3	0	1	0	5	0
5	DF		Lucas Radebe	26	0	16+3	0	4	0	0	0	3	0
11	DF		Raúl Bravo	6	0	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
15	DF		Teddy Lučić	21	1	16+1	1	2+1	0	1	0	0	0
18	DF		Danny Mills	41	1	32+1	1	4	0	1	0	2+1	0
21	DF		Dominic Matteo	24	0	20	0	3	0	0	0	1	0
22	DF		Michael Duberry	21	0	11+3	0	1+1	0	0+1	0	3+1	0
34	DF		Frazer Richardson	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0
36	DF		Matthew Kilgallon	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
4	MF		Olivier Dacourt	9	0	4+3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
10	MF		Harry Kewell	41	16	31	14	4	1	1	0	5	1
12	MF		Nick Barmby	25	5	16+3	4	0+2	0	1	0	3	1
14	MF		Stephen McPhail	19	0	7+6	0	0	0	0+1	0	2+3	0
16	MF		Jason Wilcox	33	1	23+2	1	4	0	1	0	3	0
19	MF		Eirik Bakke	45	4	31+3	1	3+1	2	1	0	6	1
20	MF		Seth Johnson	13	1	3+6	1	3+1	0	0	0	0	0
24	MF		Paul Okon	21	0	15	0	5	0	0	0	1	0
25	MF		Jacob Burns	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	MF		Jamie McMaster	4	0	0+4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
38	MF		James Milner	22	2	1+17	2	0+4	0	0	0	0	0
Forwards
8	FW		Michael Bridges	9	0	1+4	0	0	0	0+1	0	1+2	0
9	FW		Mark Viduka	40	22	29+4	20	4	2	1	0	2	0
17	FW		Alan Smith	43	9	33	3	4	1	0	0	6	5
39	FW		Simon Johnson	4	0	1+3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Players transferred out during the season
6	DF		Jonathan Woodgate	24	1	18	1	1	0	1	0	4	0
7	FW		Robbie Keane	3	1	0+3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	MF		Lee Bowyer	22	3	15	3	1	0	1	0	5	0
27	FW		Robbie Fowler	10	2	2+6	2	0+1	0	0	0	0+1	0

Last updated: 30 May 2003
Source: Competitions

Top scorers

• Mark Viduka, 20
• Harry Kewell, 14
• Nick Barmby, 4
• Ian Harte, 3
• Alan Smith 3
• Lee Bowyer 3
• Robbie Fowler 2
• James Milner 2
• Danny Mills 1
• Jason Wilcox 1
• Jonathan Woodgate 1
• Eirik Bakke 1
• Teddy Lučić 1
• Seth Johnson 1
• Robbie Keane 1

Results

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H
Result	W	W	L	L	W	W	L	L	D	L	D	L	W	L	L	L	L	W	D	W	W	W	L	D	L	L	W	L	L	L	L	W	D	L	W	L	W	W
Position	3	1	5	5	3	3	5	7	9	10	12	13	10	10	14	16	16	16	16	14	13	12	13	12	13	14	14	14	15	15	16	14	13	16	15	16	16	15

Source: https://www.worldfootball.net/teams/leeds-united/2003/3/
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

17 August 2002 1	Leeds United	3–0	Manchester City	Leeds, West Yorkshire
15:00	Barmby  15' Viduka  45' Keane  80'	Report		Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 40,195 Referee: Graham Poll

24 August 2002 2	West Bromwich Albion	1–3	Leeds United	West Bromwich, West Midlands
	Marshall  90'	Report	Kewell  39' Bowyer  52' Viduka  70'	Stadium: The Hawthorns Attendance: 26,618 Referee: Steve Dunn

28 August 2002 3	Leeds United	0–1	Sunderland	Leeds, West Yorkshire
		Report	McAteer  45'	Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 39,929 Referee: Mark Halsey

31 August 2002 4	Birmingham City	2–1	Leeds United	Birmingham, West Midlands
	Devlin  32' D. Johnson  58'	Report	Bowyer  50'	Stadium: St. Andrews Attendance: 27,164 Referee: P Durkin

11 September 2002 5	Newcastle United	0–2	Leeds United	Newcastle, Tyne and Wear
		Report	Viduka  5' Smith  67'	Stadium: St. James' Park Attendance: 51,730 Referee: Dermot Gallagher

14 September 2002 6	Leeds United	1–0	Manchester United	Leeds, West Yorkshire
	Kewell  67'	Report		Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 39,622 Referee: Jeff Winter

22 September 2002 7	Blackburn Rovers	1–0	Leeds United	Blackburn, Lancashire
	Flitcroft  24'	Report		Stadium: Ewood Park Attendance: 25,415 Referee: Graham Poll

28 September 2002 8	Leeds United	1–4	Arsenal	Leeds, West Yorkshire
	Kewell  84'	Report	Kanu  9', 86' Touré  20' Henry  47'	Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 40,199 Referee: Alan Wiley

6 October 2002 9	Aston Villa	0–0	Leeds United	Birmingham, West Midlands
		Report		Stadium: Villa Park Attendance: 33,505 Referee: Mark Halsey

19 October 2002 10	Leeds United	0–1	Liverpool	Leeds, West Yorkshire
		Report	Diao  66'	Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 40,187 Referee: Steve Dunn

28 October 2002 11	Middlesbrough	2–2	Leeds United	Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire
	Job  25' Southgate  83'	Report	Viduka  11' (pen.) Bowyer  56' Smith	Stadium: Riverside Stadium Attendance: 34,723 Referee: Rob Styles

3 November 2002 12	Leeds United	0–1	Everton	Leeds, West Yorkshire
		Report	Rooney  80'	Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 40,161 Referee: Neale Barry

10 November 2002 13	West Ham United	3–4	Leeds United	Newham, London
	Di Canio  21', 50' (pen.) Sinclair  74'	Report	Barmby  11' Kewell  28', 51' Viduka  45'	Stadium: Upton Park Attendance: 33,297 Referee: Steve Dunn

17 November 2002 14	Leeds United	2–4	Bolton Wanderers	Leeds, West Yorkshire
16:00	Smith  4' Kewell  84'	Report	Pedersen  3', 90' Djorkaeff  80' Ricketts  89' (pen.)	Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 36,627 Referee: Alan Wiley

24 November 2002 15	Tottenham Hotspur	2–0	Leeds United	Tottenham, London
	Sheringham  12' Keane  41'	Report		Stadium: White Hart Lane Attendance: 35,718 Referee: Steve Bennett

1 December 2002 16	Leeds United	1–2	Charlton Athletic	Leeds, West Yorkshire
16:00	Kewell  42'	Report	Lisbie  80' Parker  90'	Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 35,537 Referee: Andy D'Urso

7 December 2002 17	Fulham	1–0	Leeds United	Loftus Road
	Djetou  10'	Report		Stadium: Fulham, London Attendance: 17,494 Referee: Paul Durkin

16 December 2002 18	Bolton Wanderers	0–3	Leeds United	Bolton, Greater Manchester
		Report	Mills  12' Fowler  16' Wilcox  75'	Stadium: Reebok Stadium Attendance: 23,378 Referee: Graham Poll

21 December 2002 19	Leeds United	1–1	Southampton	Leeds, West Yorkshire
15:00	Kewell  74'	Report	Fernandes  89'	Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 36,687 Referee: Chris Foy

26 December 2002 20	Sunderland	1–2	Leeds United	Sunderland, Wearside
	Proctor  34'	Report	Milner  51' Fowler  80' (pen.)	Stadium: Stadium of Light Attendance: 44,029 Referee: Mike Dean

28 December 2002 21	Leeds United	2–0	Chelsea	Leeds, Yorkshire
15:00	Woodgate  30' Milner  45'	Report		Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 40,122 Referee: Graham Barber

1 January 2003 22	Leeds United	2–0	Birmingham City	Leeds, West Yorkshire
	Bakke  6' Viduka  67'	Report		Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 40,034 Referee: Phil Dowd

11 January 2003 23	Manchester City	2–1	Leeds United	Manchester
15:00	Goater  29' N. Jensen  50'	Report	Kewell  90'	Stadium: Maine Road Attendance: 34,884 Referee: Rob Styles

18 January 2003 24	Leeds United	0–0	West Bromwich Albion	Leeds, West Yorkshire
		Report		Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 39,708 Referee: Uriah Rennie

28 January 2003 25	Chelsea	3–2	Leeds United	London
	Guðjohnsen  57' Lampard  80' Matteo  83' (o.g.)	Report	Kewell  17' Lučić  66'	Stadium: Stamford Bridge

1 February 2003 26	Everton	2–0	Leeds United	Liverpool
	Unsworth  56' (pen.) Radzinski  68'	Report		Stadium: Goodison Park

11 February 2003 27	Leeds United	1–0	West Ham United	Leeds, West Yorkshire
	S. Johnson  20'	Report	Kanouté  70'	Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 40,126 Referee: Dermot Gallagher

22 February 2003 28	Leeds United	0–3	Newcastle United	Leeds, West Yorkshire
		Report	Dyer  17', 48' Shearer  54'	Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 40,025 Referee: Alan Wiley

5 March 2003 29	Manchester United	2–1	Leeds United	Trafford, Greater Manchester
	Radebe  20' (o.g.) Silvestre  79'	Report	Viduka  64'	Stadium: Old Trafford Attendance: 67,135 Referee: Graham Poll

15 March 2003 30	Leeds United	2–3	Middlesbrough	Leeds, West Yorkshire
	Viduka  24', 76'		Maccarone  36' (pen.) Juninho  45' Geremi  64'	Stadium: Elland Road

23 March 2003 31	Liverpool	3–1	Leeds United	Liverpool
	Owen  12' Murphy  20' Gerrard  73'		Viduka  44'	Stadium: Anfield

5 April 2003 32	Charlton Athletic	1–6	Leeds United	London
	Euell  45'	Report	Kewell  12', 76' Harte  34' (pen.) Viduka  42', 53', 56' (pen.)	Stadium: The Valley Attendance: 26,24 Referee: E Wolstenholme

12 April 2003 33	Leeds United	2–2	Tottenham Hotspur	Leeds, West Yorkshire
	Viduka  31', 76' (pen.)		Sheringham  37' Keane  39'	Stadium: Elland Road

19 April 2003 34	Southampton	3–2	Leeds United	Hampshire
	Ormerod  31' Beattie  45' Svensson  54'		Kewell  80' Barmby  90'	Stadium: St. Mary's Stadium

22 April 2003 35	Leeds United	2–0	Fulham	Leeds, West Yorkshire
	Viduka  4', 49'	Report		Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 37,220 Referee: Neale Barry

26 April 2003 36	Leeds United	2–3	Blackburn Rovers	Leeds
	Viduka  21' Smith  90'		Dunn  38' (pen.) A. Cole  69' Todd  78'	Stadium: Elland Road

4 May 2003 37	Arsenal	2–3	Leeds United	Highbury, London
	Henry  31' Bergkamp  53'	Report	Kewell  5' Harte  48' Viduka  88'	Stadium: Highbury Referee: Alan Wiley

11 May 2003 38	Leeds United	3–1	Aston Villa	Leeds, Yorkshire
	Harte  8' Barmby  81' Viduka  90'	Report	Guðjónsson  40'	Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 40,205 Referee: Mark Halsey

First round

19 September 2002	Leeds United	1–0	Metalurh Zaporizhya	Leeds
	Smith 79'			Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Mikko Vuorela Assistant referees: Lassl Lahti Assistant referees: Taavl Sulander Fourth official: Petterl Kari

3 October 2002	Metalurh Zaporizhya	1–1	Leeds United
	Modebadze 24'		Barmby 77'	Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Muhittin Bosat

Leeds United won 2–1 on aggregate

Second round

31 October 2002	Leeds United	1–0	Hapoel Tel Aviv	Elland Road, Leeds
21:00	Kewell  81'	Report		Referee: Jack van Hulten (Netherlands)

14 November 2002	Hapoel Tel Aviv	1–4	Leeds United	Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence
17:00	Abukasis  2'	Report	Smith  30', 54', 63', 83'	Referee: Fritz Stuchlik (Austria)

Leeds United won 5–1 on aggregate.

Third round

28 November 2002	Málaga	0–0	Leeds United	La Rosaleda Stadium, Málaga
22:00		Report		Referee: Alfredo Trentalange (Italy)

12 December 2002	Leeds United	1–2	Málaga	Elland Road, Leeds
21:00	Bakke  22'	Report	Dely Valdés  13', 79'	Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)

Málaga won 2–1 on aggregate.

Transfers

In

Date	Nat.	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
8 August 2002		Nick Barmby	Liverpool	£2,750,000	[5]
12 August 2002		Paul Okon	Middlesbrough	free	[6]

Out

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

^±Current club record transfer fee received.

Transfers in: £2,750,000

Transfers out: £52,300,000

Total spending: £49,550,000

Loaned in

Date	Nat.	Name	From	Ref.
31 August 2002		Teddy Lučić	AIK Solna	[13]
31 January 2003		Raúl Bravo	Real Madrid	[14]

Loaned out

Date	Nat.	Name	To	Ref.
11 August 2002		Simon Johnson	Hull City	[15]
20 August 2002		Shaun Allaway	Grimsby Town	[15]
5 November 2002		Danny Milosevic	Plymouth Argyle	[16]
5 November 2002		Steven Ferguson	Hyde United	[16]
7 November 2002		Harpal Singh	Bradford City	[16]
8 November 2002		Shane Cansdell-Sherriff	Rochdale	[16]
19 November 2002		Jamie McMaster	Coventry City	[16]
13 December 2002		Craig Stiens	Swansea City	[17]
8 January 2003		Olivier Dacourt	Roma	[18]
10 January 2003		Frazer Richardson	Stoke City	[19]
20 January 2003		Danny Milosevic	Crewe Alexandra	[20]
29 March 2003		Tom Newey	Darlington	[21]

References

1. "Ridsdale resigns from struggling Leeds". Citywire. 31 March 2003.
2. "O'Leary sacked by Leeds". BBC News. 27 June 2002.
3. "Venables leaves Leeds". BBC News. 21 March 2003.
4. "Leeds United – 2002/03". FootballSquads. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
5. "Nick checks in at Leeds". The Guardian. 8 August 2002.
6. "Sunderland target Piper in £13m spending spree". The Telegraph. 13 August 2002.
7. "Man Utd seal Rio deal". BBC News. 22 July 2002.
8. "Robbie Keane joins Spurs". BBC News. 31 August 2002.
9. "Bowyer signs for Hammers". BBC News. 11 January 2003.
10. "Woodgate 'thrilled' to be at Toon". The Guardian. 31 January 2003.
11. "Fowler joins Man City". BBC News. 13 February 2003.
12. "Chesterfield sign Folan". BBC News. 14 February 2003.
13. "Leeds land Lucic". BBC News. 31 August 2002.
14. "Leeds sign Real defender". BBC News. 31 January 2003.
15. "Transfers – August 2002". BBC News. 5 September 2002.
16. "Transfers – November 2002". BBC News. 2 December 2002.
17. "Swansea escape with reprimand". BBC News. 31 March 2003.
18. "Dacourt joins Leeds exodus". The Guardian. 9 January 2003.
19. "Richardson loan extended". BBC News. 6 February 2003.
20. "Milosevic goes to Crewe". BBC News. 20 January 2003.
21. "Transfers – March 2003". BBC News. 14 April 2003.