Season 2002-2003 Details

There had been talk of moving United’s home from Elland Road to a new purpose built stadium with a capacity of 50,000 proposed to be located near the M1/A1 link road near Temple Newsam. Supposedly at no cost to the club as the sale of Elland Road and the naming rights would fund it. It turned out to be more pie in the sky and the club’s precarious financial position and its failure once again to qualify for the ECL meant that the sale of assets was inevitable. Players, being the most easily saleable were first to go. There was much speculation which player would be first but eventually it was Manager O’Leary who was first to go. His team which had been assembled at a high cost had vastly underachieved and O’Leary paid the price and collected his P45 just before the club’s financial year end. Martin O’Neill was the bookies favourite to succeed O’Leary, but it was Terry Venables who was the Directors’ choice. Venables had high credentials, having coached the England team to the semi-finals of Euro96 but he had been out of management for some time.

Read more about the 2002-2003 season in the European Adventures section of our Leeds United history timeline. For player appearances, goals, red cards and transfers for the 2002-2003 season click here.

	Season Record	GP	W	D	L	F	A	GD	P	Pos
Premier League		38	14	5	19	58	57	1	47	15
FA Cup		5	3	1	1	7	4	3	-	QF
League Cup		1	0	0	1	1	2	-1	-	R3
Europe		6	3	2	1	8	4	4	-	UC (R3)
TOTAL		50	20	8	22	74	67	7	-	-

	Managers	First Game	P	W	D	L	Win%
	Terry Venables	Manchester City (H) - 17/08/2002	17/08/2002	42	16	7	19	38.10%
	Peter Reid	Liverpool (A) - 23/03/2003	23/03/2003	8	4	1	3	50.00%

	Premier League		Venue	Date		Score
	Manchester City	H	Elland Road	17/08/2002		3 : 0	W
	West Bromwich Albion	A	The Hawthorns	24/08/2002		3 : 1	W
	Sunderland	H	Elland Road	28/08/2002		0 : 1	L
	Birmingham City	A	St Andrews	31/08/2002		1 : 2	L
	Newcastle United	A	St James Park	11/09/2002		2 : 0	W
	Manchester United	H	Elland Road	14/09/2002		1 : 0	W
	Blackburn Rovers	A	Ewood Park	22/09/2002		0 : 1	L
	Arsenal	H	Elland Road	28/09/2002		1 : 4	L
	Aston Villa	A	Villa Park	06/10/2002		0 : 0	D
	Liverpool	H	Elland Road	19/10/2002		0 : 1	L
	Middlesbrough	A	Riverside Stadium	26/10/2002		2 : 2	D
	Everton	H	Elland Road	03/11/2002		0 : 1	L
	West Ham United	A	Upton Park	10/11/2002		4 : 3	W
	Bolton Wanderers	H	Elland Road	17/11/2002		2 : 4	L
	Tottenham Hotspur	A	White Hart Lane	24/11/2002		0 : 2	L
	Charlton Athletic	H	Elland Road	01/12/2002		1 : 2	L
	Fulham	A	Loftus Road	07/12/2002		0 : 1	L
	Bolton Wanderers	A	Reebok Stadium	16/12/2002		3 : 0	W
	Southampton	H	Elland Road	21/12/2002		1 : 1	D
	Sunderland	A	Stadium Of Light	26/12/2002		2 : 1	W
	Chelsea	H	Elland Road	28/12/2002		2 : 0	W
	Birmingham City	H	Elland Road	01/01/2003		2 : 0	W
	Manchester City	A	Maine Road	11/01/2003		1 : 2	L
	West Bromwich Albion	H	Elland Road	18/01/2003		0 : 0	D
	Chelsea	A	Stamford Bridge	28/01/2003		2 : 3	L
	Everton	A	Goodison Park	01/02/2003		0 : 2	L
	West Ham United	H	Elland Road	08/02/2003		1 : 0	W
	Newcastle United	H	Elland Road	22/02/2003		0 : 3	L
	Manchester United	A	Old Trafford	05/03/2003		1 : 2	L
	Middlesbrough	H	Elland Road	15/03/2003		2 : 3	L
	Liverpool	A	Anfield	23/03/2003		1 : 3	L
	Charlton Athletic	A	The Valley	05/04/2003		6 : 1	W
	Tottenham Hotspur	H	Elland Road	12/04/2003		2 : 2	D
	Southampton	A	St Marys Stadium	19/04/2003		2 : 3	L
	Fulham	H	Elland Road	22/04/2003		2 : 0	W
	Blackburn Rovers	H	Elland Road	26/04/2003		2 : 3	L
	Arsenal	A	Highbury	04/05/2003		3 : 2	W
	Aston Villa	H	Elland Road	11/05/2003		3 : 1	W

	FA Cup		Venue	Date		Score
	Scunthorpe United FA Cup 3rd Round	A	Glanford Park	04/01/2003		2 : 0	W
	Gillingham FA Cup 4th Round	A	Priestfield Stadium	25/01/2003		1 : 1	D
	Gillingham FA Cup 4th Round Replay	H	Elland Road	04/02/2003		2 : 1	W
	Crystal Palace FA Cup 5th Round	A	Selhurst Park	16/02/2003		2 : 1	W
	Sheffield United FA Cup Quarter Final	A	Bramall Lane	09/03/2003		0 : 1	L

	League Cup		Venue	Date		Score
	Sheffield United Worthington Cup 3rd Round	A	Bramall Lane	06/11/2002		1 : 2	L

	Europe		Venue	Date		Score
	Metalurg Zaporizhia UEFA Cup 1st Round 1st Leg	H	Elland Road	19/09/2002		1 : 0	W
	Metalurg Zaporizhia UEFA Cup 1st Round 2nd Leg	A	Metero Stadim	03/10/2002		1 : 1	D
	Hapoel Tel Aviv UEFA Cup 2nd Round 1st Leg	H	Elland Road	31/10/2002		1 : 0	W
	Hapoel Tel Aviv UEFA Cup 2nd Round 2nd Leg	A	Artemio Franchi Stadium	14/11/2002		4 : 1	W
	Malaga UEFA Cup 3rd Round 1st Leg	A	La Rosaleda	28/11/2002		0 : 0	D
	Malaga UEFA Cup 3rd Round 2nd Leg	H	Elland Road	12/12/2002		1 : 2	L

	Premier League Table		Pld	Pts	GD	W	D	L	F	A
1		Manchester United	38	83	40	25	8	5	74	34
2		Arsenal	38	78	43	23	9	6	85	42
3		Newcastle United	38	69	15	21	6	11	63	48
4		Chelsea	38	67	30	19	10	9	68	38
5		Liverpool	38	64	20	18	10	10	61	41
6		Blackburn Rovers	38	60	9	16	12	10	52	43
7		Everton	38	59	-1	17	8	13	48	49
8		Southampton	38	52	-3	13	13	12	43	46
9		Manchester City	38	51	-7	15	6	17	47	54
10		Tottenham Hotspur	38	50	-11	14	8	16	51	62
11		Middlesbrough	38	49	4	13	10	15	48	44
12		Charlton Athletic	38	49	-11	14	7	17	45	56
13		Birmingham City	38	48	-8	13	9	16	41	49
14		Fulham	38	48	-9	13	9	16	41	50
15		Leeds United	38	47	1	14	5	19	58	57
16		Aston Villa	38	45	-5	12	9	17	42	47
17		Bolton Wanderers	38	44	-10	10	14	14	41	51
18		West Ham United	38	42	-17	10	12	16	42	59
19		West Bromwich Albion	38	26	-36	6	8	24	29	65
20		Sunderland	38	19	-44	4	7	27	21	65

	References
	Sheridan Dictates: Season Statistics 2002-03
	OzWhite: Leeds United Season Statistics and Teamsheets 2002-03
	Leeds United Programme Guide: Season 2002/03
	Leeds-Fans.org.uk: Season 2002 - 2003