2002–03 Leicester City F.C. season

Leicester City

2002-03 season
Chairman	Martin George
Manager	Micky Adams
Stadium	Walkers Stadium
First Division	2nd (promoted)
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Dickov (17) All: Dickov (20)
Highest home attendance	32,082 (vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers, 28 September 2002)
Lowest home attendance	22,978 (vs. Reading, 24 August 2002)
Average home league attendance	29,230[1]
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

During the 2002-03 English football season, Leicester City F.C. competed in the Football League First Division after being relegated from the FA Premier League the previous season. Despite being placed into administration, Leicester managed to regain promotion to the Premier League.

Season summary

In October 2002, Leicester went into administration with debts of £30 million. Some of the reasons were the loss of TV money (ITV Digital, itself in administration, had promised money to First Division clubs for TV rights), the large wage bill, lower fees for players transferred to other clubs than expected and the £37 million cost of the new stadium. Manager Micky Adams was banned from the transfer market for most of the season, until the club was rescued by a takeover by a consortium led by former Leicester striker Gary Lineker. Adams guided Leicester to runners-up spot in Division One and automatic promotion back to the Premiership with 92 points. After several First Division clubs complained to the Football League, the Football League introduced a ruling that any club placed in administration would be deducted ten points.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts
1	Portsmouth	46		17	3	3	52	22		12	8	3	45	23		97	45	+52		98
2	Leicester City	46		16	5	2	40	12		10	9	4	33	28		73	40	+33		92
3	Sheffield United	46		13	7	3	38	23		10	4	9	34	29		72	52	+20		80
4	Reading	46		13	3	7	33	21		12	1	10	28	25		61	46	+15		79
5	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46		9	10	4	40	19		11	6	6	41	25		81	44	+37		76
6	Nottingham Forest	46		14	7	2	57	23		6	7	10	25	27		82	50	+32		74
7	Ipswich Town	46		10	5	8	49	39		9	8	6	31	25		80	64	+16		70
8	Norwich City	46		14	4	5	36	17		5	8	10	24	32		60	49	+11		69
9	Millwall	46		11	6	6	34	32		8	3	12	25	37		59	69	–10		66
10	Wimbledon	46		12	5	6	39	28		6	6	11	37	45		76	73	+3		65
11	Gillingham	46		10	6	7	33	31		6	8	9	23	34		56	65	–9		62
12	Preston North End	46		11	7	5	44	29		5	6	12	24	41		68	70	–2		61
13	Watford	46		11	5	7	33	26		6	4	13	21	44		54	70	–16		60
14	Crystal Palace	46		8	10	5	29	17		6	7	10	30	35		59	52	+7		59
15	Rotherham United	46		8	9	6	27	25		7	5	11	35	37		62	62	±0		59
16	Burnley	46		10	4	9	35	44		5	6	12	30	45		65	89	–24		55
17	Walsall	46		10	3	10	34	34		5	6	12	23	35		57	69	–12		54
18	Derby County	46		9	5	9	33	32		6	2	15	22	42		55	74	–19		52
19	Bradford City	46		7	8	8	27	35		7	2	14	24	38		51	73	–22		52
20	Coventry City	46		6	6	11	23	31		6	8	9	23	31		46	62	–16		50
21	Stoke City	46		9	6	8	25	25		3	8	12	20	44		45	69	–24		50
22	Sheffield Wednesday	46		7	7	9	29	32		3	9	11	27	41		56	73	–17		46
23	Brighton & Hove Albion	46		7	6	10	29	31		4	6	13	20	36		49	67	–18		45
24	Grimsby Town	46		5	6	12	26	39		4	6	13	22	46		48	85	–37		39

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

• NB: In the Football League goals scored (F) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).

Key
	Football League Champions, promoted to FA Premier League
	Promoted to FA Premier League
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted to Premier League through play-offs
	Relegated

Results

Leicester City's score comes first^[2]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
10 August 2002	Watford	H	2-0	31,022	Deane (2)
14 August 2002	Stoke City	A	1-0	14,028	Scowcroft
18 August 2002	Ipswich Town	A	1-6	27,374	Stevenson
24 August 2002	Reading	H	2-1	22,978	Deane, Dickov (pen)
27 August 2002	Crystal Palace	A	0-0	15,440
31 August 2002	Gillingham	H	2-0	30,067	Lewis, Dickov
7 September 2002	Wimbledon	A	3-2	2,165	Benjamin, Izzet (pen), Stewart
14 September 2002	Derby County	H	3-1	31,049	Izzet, Deane, Dickov
17 September 2002	Bradford City	H	4-0	24,651	Deane, Elliott, Dickov (pen), Scowcroft
21 September 2002	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0-0	22,219
28 September 2002	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1-0	32,082	Dickov (pen)
5 October 2002	Norwich City	A	0-0	20,952
19 October 2002	Burnley	H	0-1	26,254
26 October 2002	Nottingham Forest	A	2-2	29,497	Deane, Dickov
29 October 2002	Coventry City	H	2-1	27,139	Taggart, Deane
2 November 2002	Portsmouth	A	2-0	19,107	Scowcroft, Elliott
9 November 2002	Walsall	H	2-0	25,243	Heath, Scowcroft
16 November 2002	Millwall	A	2-2	10,772	Heath, Stewart
23 November 2002	Rotherham United	H	2-1	31,714	Dickov, Stewart
26 November 2002	Preston North End	A	0-2	13,048
30 November 2002	Grimsby Town	A	2-1	7,310	Scowcroft, Izzet
7 December 2002	Sheffield United	H	0-0	26,718
14 December 2002	Millwall	H	4-1	31,904	Scowcroft (2), Elliott, Dickov
20 December 2002	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	1-0	6,592	Deane
26 December 2002	Ipswich Town	H	1-2	31,426	Dickov (pen)
28 December 2002	Watford	A	2-1	16,017	Elliott, Deane
11 January 2003	Stoke City	H	0-0	25,038
18 January 2003	Gillingham	A	2-3	8,609	Sinclair, Wright
28 January 2003	Reading	A	3-1	17,156	Dickov (2, 1 pen), Heath
1 February 2003	Crystal Palace	H	1-0	27,005	Dickov
8 February 2003	Walsall	A	4-1	8,741	Dickov, Scowcroft (2), Elliott
17 February 2003	Portsmouth	H	1-1	31,775	Benjamin
22 February 2003	Wimbledon	H	4-0	31,438	Dickov (3, 2 pens), Benjamin
1 March 2003	Derby County	A	1-1	24,307	Deane
4 March 2003	Bradford City	A	0-0	11,531
8 March 2003	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1-1	27,463	McLaren (own goal)
15 March 2003	Preston North End	H	2-1	30,713	Deane (2)
18 March 2003	Burnley	A	2-1	14,554	Dickov, Benjamin
22 March 2003	Coventry City	A	2-1	16,610	McKinlay
5 April 2003	Grimsby Town	H	2-0	31,014	Benjamin, Davidson
8 April 2003	Nottingham Forest	H	1-0	32,065	Wright
12 April 2003	Rotherham United	A	1-1	9,888	Benjamin
19 April 2003	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	2-0	31,909	Izzet, Stewart
21 April 2003	Sheffield United	A	1-2	21,277	Deane
27 April 2003	Norwich City	H	1-1	31,639	Benjamin
4 May 2003	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1-1	28,190	Benjamin (pen)

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	4 January 2003	Bristol City	H	2-0	25,868	Elliott, Dickov
R4	25 January 2003	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1-4	28,164	Dickov (pen)

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	10 September 2002	Hull City	A	4-2 (a.e.t.)	7,061	Rogers (2), Dickov, Scowcroft
R2	2 October 2002	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2-1 (a.e.t.)	10,472	Izzet, Benjamin
R3	5 November 2002	Manchester United	A	0-2	47,848

Squad

^[3] 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 Tim Flowers 2 DF Andy Impey 3 DF Frank Sinclair 4 DF Gerry Taggart 6 MF Muzzy Izzet 7 MF Matt Jones 10 FW James Scowcroft 12 GK Simon Royce 13 GK Michael Price 14 DF Callum Davidson 15 DF Alan Rogers 16 GK Ian Walker 17 MF Stefan Oakes 18 DF Matt Elliott 19 GK Paul Murphy

No. Position Player 20 FW Trevor Benjamin 21 MF Martin Reeves 22 FW Paul Dickov 23 DF Jordan Stewart 24 DF Matt Heath 25 MF Jon Stevenson 26 DF Junior Lewis 27 FW Brian Deane 28 DF Jon Ashton 29 FW Chris O'Grady 30 FW Tomi Petrescu 32 MF Billy McKinlay 33 MF Nicky Summerbee 34 MF Tom Williamson 35 FW Tommy Wright

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 8 MF Lee Marshall (to West Bromwich Albion) 9 FW Darren Eadie (retired) 11 MF Dennis Wise (to Millwall)

No. Position Player 29 FW Matt Piper (to Sunderland) 31 MF Damien Delaney (to Hull City) DF Jacob Laursen (released)

References

2. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/leicester-city/2002-2003/results
3. http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/2002-2003/d1/leicester.htm