Manchester United

2002–03 season
Manager	Sir Alex Ferguson
Chairman	Martin Edwards
Premier League	1st
FA Cup	Fifth Round
Carling Cup	Runners-up
UEFA Champions League	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Ruud van Nistelrooy (25) All: Ruud van Nistelrooy (44)
Highest home attendance	67,721 vs Charlton Athletic (3 May 2003)
Lowest home attendance	47,848 vs Leicester City (5 November 2002)
Average home attendance	66,220
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The 2002–03 season was Manchester United's 11th season in the Premier League, and their 28th consecutive season in the top division of English football.^[1] This season saw the club finish at the top of the Premier League table, after their lowest finish in the history of the Premier League the previous season, when they came third. In order to win the title, the team had to pull Arsenal back from an eight point lead at Christmas. United also finished as runners-up in the Worthington Cup, with Liverpool eventually taking the prize. The club also broke the English transfer record for the third time in just over a year as they paid £29.1 million for Leeds United defender Rio Ferdinand.

At the end of the season, United midfielder David Beckham decided to move to Real Madrid in a £25 million deal, having spent 12 years at United (eight of them as a regular first team player). Meanwhile, 37-year-old centre back Laurent Blanc announced his retirement from playing. Fellow centre back David May was finally given a free transfer after nine years at the club, the last five of which had seen his first team opportunities limited to a handful of appearances.

Contents 1 Season review 2 Pre-season and friendlies 3 Premier League 4 FA Cup 5 Worthington Cup 6 Champions League 6.1 Qualifying rounds 6.2 Group stage 6.3 Second group stage 6.4 Knock-out stage 7 Squad statistics 8 Transfers 8.1 In 8.2 Out 8.3 Loan out 9 See also 10 References

[edit] Season review

After ending the previous season by surrendering the title to Arsenal at home and finishing third behind rejuvenated Liverpool, Sir Alex Ferguson reiterated his desire to dominate English football by signing a three year contract in the late winter of 2002.^[2] By the end of the season, Ferguson got his wish and bagged Manchester United their fifteenth domestic league title, thanks largely to the form of striker Ruud van Nistelrooy who scored an impressive 25 goals during the run in. The manager also assembled a new defense which included new signing Rio Ferdinand, who broke the transfer record for a defender and in English football.

The Red Devils started their quest to regain the Premiership title at home to newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion and scrapped up three points thanks to a super-sub Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Results didn't flow as Ferguson hoped and as early Autumn approached, Manchester United got off to their worst start since the inauguration of the Premiership, lying in tenth place.^[3] Things didn't get better as losses to Bolton Wanderers and Leeds United were eclipsed by a derby day defeat to Manchester City in November which allowed a four point gap to open with leaders, Liverpool. Following an empathic win against Newcastle United, the team started a run of wins that included rivals Liverpool, struggling West Ham and champions Arsenal to help their Premiership challenge gather ominous momentum. Although losing at Boxing Day to Middlesbrough, the team finished a respectable third, five points behind Arsenal come the New Year. This, astonishingly was the last time they were on the losing side come the end of the season and remained unbeaten.^[4]

A series of late home wins against Sunderland and Chelsea in January helped pile the pressure on runaway leaders Arsenal, who were conciding with a minor goalkeeping crisis. After drawing at Bolton in the late evening kick-off, Arsenal had the chance to open a five point gap at the top of the Premiership summit all be it if they win at Maine Road. A five star performance ensured this through a rampant display of attacking football that all but put one hand on the trophy. The title race went down to two after Blackburn completed a sensational double over the reigning champions at home. Rovers' win gave United a chance to steal a march on their rivals; their victory over Aston Villa thanks to a solo David Beckham goal, narrowed the gap at the top to just two points.

April began with a ruthless win at Old Trafford against Liverpool, which helped them reclaim top spot all be it temporarily. However, Kolo Toure's late own goal gifted Aston Villa a point when Arsenal perhaps should have taken three. By the end of the week, just goal difference separated the top two, favouring the Gunners.^[5] A rout against Newcastle, led up to the game of the season - against Arsenal at Highbury. A stalemate draw didn't prove decisive, however favouring Manchester United who kept a three point lead, although the Gunners with a game in hand. Despite more European disappointment; this time at the hands of Real Madrid through an impressive Ronaldo performance, A thrilling comeback by Bolton Wanderers dented Arsenal's hopes of regaining the double and installed Manchester United as sole favourites to win the league. They didn't bluff - cruising to a home win against Charlton Athletic which virtually handed them title after Arsenal failed to better the result.

[edit] Pre-season and friendlies

Date	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
2002-07-20	Shelbourne	A	5 – 0	van Nistelrooy (3) 17', 20', 63', Forlán 22', Yorke 60'	10,000
2002-07-27	Chesterfield	A	5 – 0	Blanc 19', van Nistelrooy 54', Forlán 80', Keane 83', Richardson 86'	6,583
2002-07-27	Bournemouth	A	3 – 2	Verón 33', Muirhead 61', Stewart 66'	8,104
2002-07-30	Valerenga	A	2 – 1	Solskjær 26' (pen.), Keane 84'	25,572
2002-08-02	Ajax	A	1 – 2	Scholes 78'	48,000
2002-08-04	Parma	N	3 – 0	Giggs 23', Verón 50', Solskjær 55'	48,000
2002-08-06	Aarhus XI	A	5 – 0	van Nistelrooy (2) 44', 80', Solskjær 71', Giggs 81', Forlán 87'	20,500
2002-08-10	Boca Juniors	H	2 – 0	van Nistelrooy (2) 23', 40'	56,724

[edit] Premier League

Manchester United started their attempts to regain the Premiership title with a match against newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford. Although the fans were confident of taking maximum points they had to wait until the 78th minute for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the late-goal specialist, to give them the lead with his 100th goal for the club. They could not add to their one-goal advantage, despite West Brom having to play with ten-men with Derek McInnes being sent off for two bookings, the second for a foul on Nicky Butt in the 64th minute, but held on to begin the season with victory.^[6]

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	League position
17 August 2002	West Bromwich Albion	H	1 – 0	Solskjær 78'	67,645	7th
23 August 2002	Chelsea	A	2 – 2	Beckham 26', Giggs 66'	41,541	7th
31 August 2002	Sunderland	A	1 – 1	Giggs 7'	47,586	8th
3 September 2002	Middlesbrough	H	1 – 0	van Nistelrooy 28' (pen)	67,464	4th
11 September 2002	Bolton Wanderers	H	0 – 1		67,623	7th
14 September 2002	Leeds United	A	0 – 1		39,622	10th
21 September 2002	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1 – 0	van Nistelrooy 62' (pen)	67,611	8th
28 September 2002	Charlton Athletic	A	3 – 1	Scholes 54', Giggs 82', van Nistelrooy 90'	26,630	4th
7 October 2002	Everton	H	3 – 0	Scholes (2) 86', 90', van Nistelrooy 90' (pen)	67,629	4th
19 October 2002	Fulham	A	1 – 1	Solskjær 62'	18,103	4th
26 October 2002	Aston Villa	H	1 – 1	Forlán 77'	67,619	4th
2 November 2002	Southampton	H	2 – 1	P. Neville 15', Forlán 85'	67,691	3rd
9 November 2002	Manchester City	A	1 – 3	Solskjær 7'	34,649	5th
17 November 2002	West Ham United	A	1 – 1	van Nistelrooy 38'	35,049	5th
23 November 2002	Newcastle United	H	5 – 3	Scholes 25', van Nistelrooy (3) 38', 45', 53', Solskjær 55'	67,625	5th
1 December 2002	Liverpool	A	2 – 1	Forlán (2) 63', 66'	44,250	4th
7 December 2002	Arsenal	H	2 – 0	Verón 20', Scholes 72'	67,650	3rd
14 December 2002	West Ham United	H	3 – 0	Solskjær 15', Verón 17', Schemmel 61' (o.g.)	67,555	2nd
22 December 2002	Blackburn	A	0 – 1		30,475	3rd
26 December 2002	Middlesbrough	A	1 – 3	Giggs 60'	34,673	3rd
28 December 2002	Birmingham City	H	2 – 0	Forlán 37', Beckham 73'	67,640	3rd
1 January 2003	Sunderland	H	2 – 1	Beckham 81', Scholes 90'	67,609	2nd
11 January 2003	West Bromwich Albion	A	3 – 1	van Nistelrooy 8', Scholes 22', Solskjær 55'	27,129	2nd
18 January 2003	Chelsea	H	2 – 1	Scholes 39', Forlán 90'	67,606	2nd
1 February 2003	Southampton	A	2 – 0	van Nistelrooy 15', Giggs 22'	32,085	2nd
4 February 2003	Birmingham City	A	1 – 0	van Nistelrooy 56'	29,475	2nd
9 February 2003	Manchester City	H	1 – 1	van Nistelrooy 18'	67,646	2nd
22 February 2003	Bolton Wanderers	A	1 – 1	Solskjær 90'	27,409	2nd
5 March 2003	Leeds United	H	2 – 1	Radebe 20' (o.g.), Silvestre 79'	67,135	2nd
15 March 2003	Aston Villa	A	1 – 0	Beckham 12'	42,602	2nd
22 March 2003	Fulham	H	3 – 0	van Nistelrooy (3) 44', 68', 90'	67,706	2nd
5 April 2003	Liverpool	H	4 – 0	van Nistelrooy (2) 5' (pen.), 65' (pen.), Giggs 78', Solskjær 90'	67,639	2nd
12 April 2003	Newcastle United	A	6 – 2	Solskjær 32', Scholes (3) 34', 38', 52', Giggs 44', van Nistelrooy 58'	52,164	1st
16 April 2003	Arsenal	A	2 – 2	van Nistelrooy 24', Giggs 63'	38,164	1st
19 April 2003	Blackburn Rovers	H	3 – 1	van Nistelrooy 20', Scholes (2) 42', 61'	67,626	1st
26 April 2003	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2 – 0	Scholes 69', van Nistelrooy 90'	36,073	1st
3 May 2003	Charlton Athletic	H	4 – 1	Beckham 11', van Nistelrooy (3) 32', 37', 52'	67,721	1st
11 May 2003	Everton	A	2 – 1	Beckham 45', van Nistelrooy 79'	40,168	1st

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Manchester United	38	25	8	5	74	34	+40	83
2	Arsenal	38	23	9	6	85	42	+43	78
3	Newcastle United	38	21	6	11	63	48	+15	69

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

[edit] FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
4 January 2003	Round 3	Portsmouth	H	4 – 1	van Nistelrooy (2) 5' (pen.), 82' (pen.), Beckham 16', Scholes 89'	67,222
26 January 2003	Round 4	West Ham United	H	6 – 0	Giggs (2) 8', 29', van Nistelrooy (2) 49', 58', P. Neville 50', Solskjær 69'	67,181
15 February 2003	Round 5	Arsenal	H	0 – 2		67,209

[edit] Worthington Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
5 November 2002	Round 3	Leicester City	H	2 – 0	Beckham 80' (pen.), Richardson 90'	47,848
3 December 2002	Round 4	Burnley	A	2 – 0	Forlán 35', Solskjær 65'	22,034
17 December 2002	Round 5	Chelsea	H	1 – 0	Forlán 80'	57,985
7 January 2003	Semi-final First leg	Blackburn Rovers	H	1 – 1	Scholes 58'	62,740
22 January 2003	Semi-final Second leg	Blackburn Rovers	A	3 – 1	Scholes (2) 30', 42', van Nistelrooy 77' (pen.)	29,048
2 March 2003	Final	Liverpool	N	0 – 2		74,500

[edit] Champions League

[edit] Qualifying rounds

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
14 August 2002	Third qualifying round First leg	Zalaegerszeg	A	0 – 1		40,000
27 August 2002	Third qualifying round Second leg	Zalaegerszeg	H	5 – 0	van Nistelrooy (2) 6', 76' (pen.), Beckham 15', Scholes 21', Solskjær 84'	66,814

[edit] Group stage

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	Group position
18 September 2002	Maccabi Haifa	H	5 – 2	Giggs 10', Solskjær 35', Verón 46', van Nistelrooy 54', Forlán 89'	63,439	2nd
24 September 2002	Bayer Leverkusen	A	2 – 1	van Nistelrooy (2) 31', 44'	22,500	1st
7 October 2002	Olympiacos	H	4 – 0	Giggs (2) 19', 67', Verón 26', Solskjær 77'	66,902	1st
23 October 2002	Olympiacos	A	3 – 2	Blanc 20', Verón 58', Scholes 83'	13,220	1st
29 October 2002	Maccabi Haifa	A	0 – 3		22,000	1st
13 November 2001	Bayer Leverkusen	H	2 – 0	Verón 42', van Nistelrooy 69'	66,185	1st

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Manchester United	6	5	0	1	16	8	+8	15
2	Bayer Leverkusen	6	3	0	3	9	11	-2	9
3	Maccabi Haifa	6	2	1	3	12	12	0	7
4	Olympiacos	6	1	1	4	11	17	-6	4

[edit] Second group stage

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	Group position
26 November 2002	Basel	A	3 – 1	van Nistelrooy (2) 62', 63', Solskjær 68'	29,501	1st
11 December 2002	Deportivo	H	2 – 0	van Nistelrooy (2) 7', 54'	67,014	1st
19 February 2003	Juventus	H	2 – 1	Brown 4', van Nistelrooy 85'	66,703	1st
25 February 2003	Juventus	A	3 – 0	Giggs (2) 15', 41', van Nistelrooy 63'	59,111	1st
12 March 2003	Basel	H	1 – 1	G. Neville 53'	66,870	1st
18 March 2003	Deportivo	A	0 – 2		25,000	1st

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Manchester United	6	4	1	1	11	5	+6	13
2	Juventus	6	2	1	3	11	11	0	7
3	Basel	6	2	1	3	5	10	-5	7
4	Deportivo	6	2	1	3	7	8	-1	7

[edit] Knock-out stage

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
8 April 2003	Quarter-final First leg	Real Madrid	A	1 – 3	van Nistelrooy 52'	75,000
23 April 2003	Quarter-final Second leg	Real Madrid	H	4 – 3	van Nistelrooy 43', Helguera 52' (o.g.), Beckham (2) 71', 85'	66,708

[edit] Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Worthington Cup		Europe		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Fabien Barthez	30	0	2	0	4	0	10	0	46	0
2	DF	Gary Neville	19(7)	0	3	0	5	0	8(2)	1	35(9)	1
3	DF	Phil Neville	19(6)	1	2	1	4	0	10(2)	0	35(8)	2
4	MF	Juan Sebastián Verón	21(4)	2	1	0	4(1)	0	11	4	37(5)	6
5	DF	Laurent Blanc	15(4)	0	1	0	0	0	9	1	25(4)	1
6	DF	Rio Ferdinand	27(1)	0	3	0	4	0	11	0	45(1)	0
7	MF	David Beckham	27(4)	6	3	1	5	1	10(3)	3	45(7)	11
8	MF	Nicky Butt	14(4)	0	0(2)	0	0(1)	0	8	0	22(7)	0
10	FW	Ruud van Nistelrooy	33(1)	25	3	4	4	1	10(1)	14	50(2)	44
11	MF	Ryan Giggs (vc)	32(4)	8	3	2	4(1)	0	13(2)	4	52(7)	14
13	GK	Roy Carroll	8(2)	0	1	0	2	0	3	0	14(2)	0
14	DF	David May	0(1)	0	0	0	2	0	0(1)	0	2(2)	0
15	MF	Luke Chadwick	0(1)	0	0	0	1	0	0(3)	0	1(4)	0
16	MF	Roy Keane (c)	19(2)	0	3	0	2	0	6	0	30(2)	0
17	MF	Michael Stewart	0(1)	0	0(1)	0	1	0	0(1)	0	1(3)	0
18	MF	Paul Scholes	31(2)	14	2(1)	1	4(2)	3	9(1)	2	46(6)	20
19	GK	Ricardo	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	3(1)	0	3(2)	0
20	FW	Ole Gunnar Solskjær	29(8)	9	1(1)	1	1(3)	1	9(5)	4	40(17)	15
21	FW	Diego Forlán	7(18)	6	0(2)	0	3(2)	2	5(8)	1	15(30)	9
22	DF	John O'Shea	26(6)	0	1	0	3	0	12(4)	0	42(10)	0
24	DF	Wes Brown	22	0	1(1)	0	5	0	6	1	34(1)	1
25	MF	Quinton Fortune	5(4)	0	0	0	1	0	3(3)	0	9(7)	0
26	MF	Danny Pugh	0(1)	0	0	0	1	0	1(2)	0	2(3)	0
27	DF	Mikaël Silvestre	34	1	2	0	5	0	13	0	54	1
31	MF	Darren Fletcher	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
34	DF	Lee Roche	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1(1)	0
37	FW	Danny Webber	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0(1)	0
38	DF	Mark Lynch	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
40	FW	Daniel Nardiello	0	0	0	0	1	0	0(1)	0	1(1)	0
42	MF	Kieran Richardson	0(2)	0	1	0	0(1)	1	2(3)	0	3(6)	1
43	FW	Mads Timm	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0(1)	0

[edit] Transfers

[edit] In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
2002-07-22	DF	Rio Ferdinand	Leeds United	£29.1m
2002-08-30	GK	Ricardo	Real Valladolid	£1.5m

[edit] Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
2002-07-07	GK	Nick Culkin	Unattached	Free
2002-07-26	FW	Dwight Yorke	Blackburn Rovers	£2m
2003-06-26	DF	Lee Roche	Unattached	Free
2003-06-30	DF	Laurent Blanc	Unattached	Free
2003-06-30	DF	David May	Unattached	Free

[edit] Loan out

Date From	Date To	Position	Name	To
2002-08-09	2002-11-14	MF	Jimmy Davis	Swindon Town
2002-08-12	2002-10-27	FW	Danny Webber	Watford
2002-08-30	2003-05-25	MF	Kirk Hilton	Livingston
2002-09-01	2003-06-01	MF	Bojan Djordjic	Aarhus Fremad
2002-10-11	2002-12-11	FW	Ben Muirhead	Doncaster Rovers
2002-11-07	2003-03-23	DF	Paul Tierney	Crewe Alexandra
2002-11-18	2003-05-04	DF	Alan Tate	Swansea City
2002-11-29	2002-12-17	GK	Ben Williams	Coventry City
2003-01-01	2003-05-04	GK	Ben Williams	Chesterfield
2003-02-07	2003-03-19	MF	Luke Chadwick	Reading
2003-03-27	2003-05-15	MF	Luke Chadwick	Reading

[edit] See also

• Manchester United F.C. seasons

[edit] References

v • d • e Manchester United F.C. seasons 1880–81 · 1881–82 · 1882–83 · 1883–84 · 1884–85 · 1885–86 · 1886–87 · 1887–88 · 1888–89 · 1889–90 001890–91 · 1891–92 · 1892–93 · 1893–94 · 1894–95 · 1895–96 · 1896–97 · 1897–98 · 1898–99 · 1899–1900 1900–01 · 1901–02 · 1902–03 · 1903–04 · 1904–05 · 1905–06 · 1906–07 · 1907–08 · 1908–09 · 1909–10 1910–11 · 1911–12 · 1912–13 · 1913–14 · 1914–15 · 1915–16 · 1916–17 · 1917–18 · 1918–19 · 1919–20 1920–21 · 1921–22 · 1922–23 · 1923–24 · 1924–25 · 1925–26 · 1926–27 · 1927–28 · 1928–29 · 1929–30 1930–31 · 1931–32 · 1932–33 · 1933–34 · 1934–35 · 1935–36 · 1936–37 · 1937–38 · 1938–39 · 1939–40 1940–41 · 1941–42 · 1942–43 · 1943–44 · 1944–45 · 1945–46 · 1946–47 · 1947–48 · 1948–49 · 1949–50 1950–51 · 1951–52 · 1952–53 · 1953–54 · 1954–55 · 1955–56 · 1956–57 · 1957–58 · 1958–59 · 1959–60 1960–61 · 1961–62 · 1962–63 · 1963–64 · 1964–65 · 1965–66 · 1966–67 · 1967–68 · 1968–69 · 1969–70 1970–71 · 1971–72 · 1972–73 · 1973–74 · 1974–75 · 1975–76 · 1976–77 · 1977–78 · 1978–79 · 1979–80 1980–81 · 1981–82 · 1982–83 · 1983–84 · 1984–85 · 1985–86 · 1986–87 · 1987–88 · 1988–89 · 1989–90 001990–91 · 1991–92 · 1992–93 · 1993–94 · 1994–95 · 1995–96 · 1996–97 · 1997–98 · 1998–99 · 1999–2000 2000–01 · 2001–02 · 2002–03 · 2003–04 · 2004–05 · 2005–06 · 2006–07 · 2007–08 · 2008–09 · 2009–10