2002–03 Crystal Palace F.C. season

During the 2002–03 English football season, Crystal Palace competed in the Football League First Division.

Crystal Palace

2002–03 season
Chairman	Simon Jordan
Manager	Trevor Francis (until 18 April) Steve Kember (caretaker from 18 April)
Stadium	Selhurst Park
First Division	14th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Fifth round
Top goalscorer	League: Johnson (11)[1] All: Johnson (14)[2]
Average home league attendance	16,867
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Season summary

Under Francis, Palace were unable to mount a serious promotion challenge and they finished mid-table in Division One. The main highlight of the season was in February 2003 when Palace knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup in a fourth round replay at Anfield. Having drawn the first match 0–0 at Selhurst Park, Palace went to Anfield as the clear underdogs. A goal from Julian Gray and an own goal from Liverpool's Stephen Henchoz meant that Palace progressed to a 5th round where they played at home against Leeds United. They lost 2–1 in controversial circumstances, as Palace were denied a first half goal despite the ball clearly crossing the line. Francis resigned on 18 April after another difficult season, and was replaced by long-serving coach Steve Kember.

The end of Francis' tenure, however, saw the beginning of a remarkable, two-year-long transfer saga. Clinton Morrison, a youth team product who had been one of the team's most reliable goalscorers, headed to Birmingham for a £4 million fee in a part-exchange deal which saw Andrew Johnson come to Selhurst Park for £750,000, having been deemed surplus to requirements by Blues boss Steve Bruce. Johnson went on to become an even bigger success at Palace than Morrison, and helped take the club into the Premier League before eventually moving on to Everton for a fee of £8.6million in 2006; Morrison's return to Selhurst Park a year earlier cost Palace £2 million, meaning the club were left with the same player and a total profit of £9,850,000.

Final league table

Main article: 2002–03 Football League First Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
12	Preston North End	46	16	13	17	68	70	−2	61
13	Watford	46	17	9	20	54	70	−16	60
14	Crystal Palace	46	14	17	15	59	52	+7	59
15	Rotherham United	46	15	14	17	62	62	0	59
16	Burnley	46	15	10	21	65	89	−24	55

Updated to match(es) played on 11 May 2003. Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Players

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[3]

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 Matt Clarke 2 DF  IRL Curtis Fleming[notes 1] 3 DF  ENG Danny Granville 4 DF  ENG Danny Butterfield 5 DF  WAL Kit Symons[notes 2] 6 DF  AUS Tony Popovic 7 MF  ENG Hayden Mullins 8 FW  ENG Andy Johnson 9 FW  SCO Dougie Freedman 10 MF  ENG Shaun Derry 11 MF  ENG Julian Gray 12 DF  ENG Jamie Smith 13 GK  LVA Aleksandrs Koliņko 14 MF  SCO Steven Thomson 15 MF  FIN Aki Riihilahti

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF  ENG Tommy Black 22 MF  ENG Wayne Routledge 23 FW  WAL Gareth Williams[notes 3] 24 DF  GHA Will Antwi[notes 4] 26 MF  ENG Ben Surey 27 DF  ENG David Hunt 31 FW  NGA Dele Adebola 32 DF  ENG Darren Powell 33 GK  FRA Cédric Berthelin 35 FW  ENG Noel Whelan (on loan from Middlesbrough) 38 DF  ENG Gary Borrowdale 42 MF  ENG Ben Watson 43 DF  ENG Sam Togwell 55 FW  NGA Ade Akinbiyi[notes 5]

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 17 FW  LVA Andrejs Rubins (released) 18 DF  ENG Dean Austin (to Woking) 20 FW  ENG Steve Kabba (to Sheffield United) 21 DF  ENG Andy Frampton (to Brentford)

No. Pos. Nation Player 25 DF  USA Gregg Berhalter (to Energie Cottbus) 25 GK  GER Sven Scheuer (to Grazer AK) 33 GK  GRE Nikolaos Michopoulos (on loan from Burnley)

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 19 DF  ENG Craig Harrison 28 MF  ENG Robert Smith

No. Pos. Nation Player 29 MF  MRI Gavin Heeroo[notes 6] 30 GK  ENG Lance Cronin

References

1. "Crystal Palace players: League Division 1 2003".
2. "All Crystal Palace players: 2003".
3. "FootballSquads - Crystal Palace - 2002/03".

Notes

1. Fleming was born in Manchester, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in April 1996.
2. Symons was born in Basingstoke, England, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally through his father and made his international debut for Wales in February 1992.
3. Williams was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally and represented them at U-21 level.
4. Antwi was born in Epsom, England, but also qualified to represent Ghana internationally and made his international debut for Ghana in 2003.
5. Akinbiyi was born in Hackney, England, but also qualified to represent Nigeria internationally through his parents and made his international debut for Nigeria in 1999.
6. Heeroo was born in Haringey, England, but also qualified to represent Mauritius internationally and made his international debut for Mauritius in 2002.