2002–03 Manchester City F.C. season

Manchester City
Season 2002–03
Owner	Publicly traded company
Chairmen	David Bernstein (until 5 Mar. 2003) John Wardle
Manager	Kevin Keegan
Team captain	Ali Benarbia
Home stadium	Maine Road
Premier0League	Ninth
League Cup	Third round
FA Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: 0 Nicolas Anelka (14 goals) (7th highest in Premier League) All comps: Nicolas Anelka (14 goals)
Average home attendance	34,564 – over 19 PL home games (11th highest in Premier League)
Highest home attendance	35,141 0v0 Liverpool 28 September 2002
Highest away attendance	67,646 0v0 Manchester United 9 February 2003
Lowest home attendance	21,820 0v0 Crewe Alexandra 1 October 2002
Lowest away attendance	15,007 0v0 Wigan Athletic 5 November 2002
← 2001–02 0 0 0 0 0 0 2003–04 →

Results summary - all competitions
	Wins	Draws	Losses	Win %
Home	10	2	9	47.6%
Away	6	4	10	30.0%
Both	16	6	19	39.0%

Results summary - Premier League
	Wins	Draws	Losses	Win %
Home	9	2	8	47.4%
Away	6	4	9	31.6%
Both	15	6	17	39.5%

The 2002–03 season was Manchester City Football Club's first season back playing in the Premier League again after having been relegated from it at the end of the 2000–01 season. This was the club's sixth season playing in the Premier League since its initial formation as the top tier of English football ten years earlier, with Manchester City as one of its original 22 founding member clubs. Overall, this was Manchester City's 111th season playing in any division of English football, most of which have been spent in the top flight.

Season review

This season was the team's first one playing in the Premier League under the stewardship of Kevin Keegan who, having taken over the helm as manager from Joe Royle after the club had been relegated to the Football League First Division fifteen months earlier, had led the club to an immediate promotion back to the top flight. In fact, the previous season had seen Manchester City promoted in style, with the team breaking many prior club records as it became the new First Division champions. This successful campaign allowed Keegan to delve into the transfer market in the summer and he brought in a number of high-profile players - such as striker Nicolas Anelka, defender Sylvain Distin and goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel - in an effort to ensure that the team was strong enough to remain in the Premier League now that it was back there again.

By spending the £13m transfer fee required to bring Anelka to Manchester City from Paris Saint-Germain the club broke its previous transfer record. Sylvain Distin also transferred over to Manchester City from PSG for £5m, while Peter Schmeichel joined the club on a free transfer from Aston Villa. Some of the other players Keegan brought in during the newly introduced summer transfer window were Marc-Vivien Foé, who joined the club on a season-long loan from Lyon, Vicente Matías Vuoso (from Independiente) and Mikkel Bischoff. Additionally, Robbie Fowler, David Sommeil and Djamel Belmadi were also signed by Keegan a few months later during the 2003 January transfer window.

The new year would also see the man that had been the main impetus behind the hiring of Kevin Keegan, chairman David Bernstein, fall out with his new hire and leave the club following a boardroom dispute over finances and managerial structure that followed closely on the back of the previous week's resignation of the club's managing director. The initial cause of this dispute had occurred back in January concerning the protracted transfer saga of Robbie Fowler (which Bernstein had originally brokered).^[1] He was succeeded as club chairman by former deputy chairman John Wardle.^[2]

This season's campaign would finally see Manchester City win its first Manchester Derby in over 13 years, allowing Peter Schmeichel to establish an exceptional record where he has never been on the losing side in a derby game. During his nine years playing with Manchester United the Reds were unbeaten against Manchester City, while in his single final season playing with the Blues, City won the derby game played at Maine Road and drew the one played at Old Trafford. This was also to be Manchester City's last season playing at its historic Maine Road ground before moving to its current home at City of Manchester Stadium. Consequently, the last game of the season was also the last game ever played at the club's old ground, and Marc-Vivien Foé would have the distinction of being recorded in the soccer annals as the player who scored the last ever goal for Manchester City at Maine Road.

Team kit

The team kit was produced by Le Coq Sportif and the shirt sponsorship was provided by the financial and legal services group First Advice.^[3]

Home

Away

Third

Squad at end of season^[4]

First-team squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Peter Schmeichel 2 DF David Sommeil 3 DF Niclas Jensen 4 DF Gerard Wiekens 5 DF Sylvain Distin 6 MF Kevin Horlock 7 FW Darren Huckerby 8 MF Ali Benarbia 9 FW Paulo Wanchope 10 FW Shaun Goater 11 FW Jon Macken 12 GK Nicky Weaver 13 MF Christian Negouai 14 DF Eyal Berkovic 15 DF Alf-Inge Håland 16 DF Paul Ritchie 17 DF Sun Jihai 19 MF Danny Tiatto 20 GK Carlo Nash

No. Position Player 21 FW Vicente Matías Vuoso 22 DF Richard Dunne 23 MF Marc-Vivien Foé (on loan from Lyon) 24 DF Steve Howey 25 DF Lucien Mettomo 27 DF Mikkel Bischoff 28 DF Tyrone Loran 29 MF Shaun Wright-Phillips 30 DF Paddy McCarthy 31 MF Djamel Belmadi (on loan from Marseille) 32 GK Kevin Stuhr-Ellegaard 33 FW Robbie Fowler 34 DF Stephen Jordan 35 GK Brian Murphy 36 MF Glenn Whelan 39 FW Nicolas Anelka 40 MF Chris Shuker 41 MF Joey Barton

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. Position Player 18 MF Jeff Whitley (released) 31 DF Laurent Charvet (to Sochaux) 33 FW Chris Killen (to Oldham Athletic) 33 GK Tim Flowers (on loan from Leicester City)

No. Position Player 37 MF Terry Dunfield (to Bury) 38 MF Rhys Day (to Mansfield Town) 44 MF Karim Kerkar (released)

Historical league performance

Prior to this season, the history of Manchester City's performance in the English football league hierarchy since the creation of the Premier League in 1992 is summarised by the following timeline chart – which commences with the last season (1991–92) of the old Football League First Division (from which the Premier League was formed).

Games

Premier League

Position in final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
7	Everton !Everton	38	17	8	13	48	49	−1	59
8	Southampton !Southampton	38	13	13	12	43	46	−3	52
9	Manchester City !Manchester City	38	15	6	17	47	54	−7	51
10	Tottenham Hotspur !Tottenham Hotspur	38	14	8	16	51	62	−11	50
11	Middlesbrough !Middlesbrough	38	13	10	15	48	44	+4	49

Updated to games played on 11 May 2003 (end of season).
Source: Premier League 2002-03
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	15	6	17	47	54	−7	51	9	2	8	28	26	+2	6	4	9	19	28	−9

Last updated: 11 May 2003 (end of season).
Source: Premier League results 2002-03

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	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H
Result	L	W	L	W	L	D	D	L	L	L	W	W	W	L	L	W	W	D	L	W	W	D	W	L	W	L	D	L	L	W	L	L	D	W	W	L	W	L

Last updated: 11 May 2003 (end of season).
Source: Premier League results 2002-03
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Individual match reports

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League Cup

Second round

Third round

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FA Cup

Third round

Goal scorers

Information current as of 11 May 2003 (end of season)

Transfers and loans

See also

• Manchester City F.C. seasons

References