2002 �03 DERBY COUNTY F.C. SEASON

Derby County
2002–03 season
Chairman	Lionel Pickering
Manager	John Gregory (until 21 March); George Burley (from 31 March)
Stadium	Pride Park Stadium
First Division	18th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Christie (8); All: Christie (9)
Highest home attendance	33,016 (vs. Reading, 10 August 2002)
Lowest home attendance	21,014 (vs. Millwall, 16 April 2003)
Average home league attendance	25,469
	← 2001–02 2003–04 →

During the 2002–03 English football season, Derby County competed in the Football League First Division, following relegation from the FA Premier League the previous season.

Season summary

Derby were expected to make a bid for an immediate return to the Premiership, but struggled all season which resulted in manager John Gregory being sacked in March and replaced by former Ipswich Town manager George Burley, who led the team to a secure but disappointing 18th-place finish.

Kit

Derby retained the previous season's home kit, manufactured by Italian company Erreà and sponsored by Pedigree.

Final league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
16	Burnley	46	15	10	21	65	89	−24	55
17	Walsall	46	15	9	22	57	69	−12	54
18	Derby County	46	15	7	24	55	74	−19	52
19	Bradford City	46	14	10	22	51	73	−22	52
20	Coventry City	46	12	14	20	46	62	−16	50

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

Results

Derby County's score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
10 August 2002	Reading	H	3–0	33,016	Lee, Ravanelli, Christie
13 August 2002	Gillingham	A	0–1	8,775
17 August 2002	Grimsby Town	A	2–1	5,810	Bolder (2)
24 August 2002	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–4	29,954	Christie
26 August 2002	Rotherham United	A	1–2	8,408	Strupar
31 August 2002	Stoke City	H	2–0	21,723	Christie (2)
7 September 2002	Burnley	H	1–2	22,343	Bolder
14 September 2002	Leicester City	A	1–3	31,049	Riggott
17 September 2002	Crystal Palace	A	1–0	14,948	Kinkladze
21 September 2002	Preston North End	H	0–2	29,257
28 September 2002	Ipswich Town	A	1–0	24,439	Carbonari
5 October 2002	Walsall	H	2–2	25,247	Christie (2)
12 October 2002	Bradford City	A	0–0	13,385
20 October 2002	Nottingham Forest	H	0–0	30,547
26 October 2002	Millwall	A	0–3	8,116
30 October 2002	Sheffield United	H	2–1	23,525	McLeod, Burton
2 November 2002	Sheffield Wednesday	A	3–1	19,747	Morris (2), McLeod
9 November 2002	Portsmouth	H	1–2	26,587	Higginbotham (pen)
16 November 2002	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	0–1	6,845
25 November 2002	Wimbledon	H	3–2	25,597	Elliott, Burton, Morris
30 November 2002	Norwich City	A	0–1	20,522
7 December 2002	Watford	H	3–0	21,653	Morris, Riggott, Burton
14 December 2002	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1–0	25,786	Higginbotham (pen)
21 December 2002	Coventry City	A	0–3	13,185
26 December 2002	Grimsby Town	H	1–3	27,141	Morris
28 December 2002	Reading	A	1–2	16,299	Burley (pen)
1 January 2003	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–1	26,442	Christie
11 January 2003	Gillingham	H	1–1	22,769	Zavagno (pen)
18 January 2003	Stoke City	A	3–1	17,308	Christie, Zavagno, Morris
1 February 2003	Rotherham United	H	3–0	26,257	Kinkladze, Bolder, McLeod
8 February 2003	Portsmouth	A	2–6	19,503	Morris, Kinkladze (pen)
15 February 2003	Sheffield Wednesday	H	2–2	26,311	Bolder (2)
22 February 2003	Burnley	A	0–2	15,063
1 March 2003	Leicester City	H	1–1	24,307	Burley
5 March 2003	Crystal Palace	H	0–1	22,682
8 March 2003	Preston North End	A	2–4	14,003	Ravanelli (2)
15 March 2003	Bradford City	H	1–2	23,735	Morris
19 March 2003	Nottingham Forest	A	0–3	29,725
22 March 2003	Sheffield United	A	0–2	18,401
5 April 2003	Norwich City	H	2–1	23,643	Burley, Kenton (own goal)
12 April 2003	Wimbledon	A	2–0	1,934	Valakari, Boertien
16 April 2003	Millwall	H	1–2	21,014	Kinkladze
19 April 2003	Coventry City	H	1–0	23,921	Ravanelli
21 April 2003	Watford	A	0–2	11,909
26 April 2003	Walsall	A	2–3	8,416	Valakari, Ravanelli
4 May 2003	Ipswich Town	H	1–4	28,785	Lee

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	4 January 2003	Brentford	A	0–1	8,709

League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	10 September 2002	Mansfield Town	A	3–1	5,788	Morris, Christie, Evatt
R2	2 October 2002	Oldham Athletic	H	1–2 ( a.e.t.)	9,029	Higginbotham (pen)

Players

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[2]

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
2	DF	ENG	Warren Barton
3	DF	ARG	Luciano Zavagno
5	DF	ENG	Steve Elliott
6	DF	SCO	Paul Ritchie (on loan from Manchester City)
7	MF	ENG	Rob Lee
9	FW	BEL	Branko Strupar^{[notes 1]}
10	FW	ENG	Tommy Mooney (on loan from Birmingham City)
11	FW	ENG	Lee Morris
13	GK	ENG	Lee Grant
14	DF	ENG	Richard Jackson
16	MF	SCO	Craig Burley
17	DF	ENG	Paul Boertien
18	MF	GEO	Georgi Kinkladze
21	FW	ITA	Fabrizio Ravanelli
22	MF	ENG	Adam Murray
23	FW	ENG	Marvin Robinson
24	GK	ENG	Andy Oakes


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
25	DF	ENG	Ian Evatt
26	MF	ENG	Adam Bolder
28	DF	FRA	Youl Mawéné
31	DF	ENG	Chris Palmer
32	MF	ENG	Matt O'Halloran
33	MF	FIN	Simo Valakari
34	FW	ENG	Marcus Tudgay
35	MF	ENG	Lewis Hunt
36	MF	SCO	Lewis Green
37	DF	ENG	Pablo Mills
38	MF	FIN	Kris Weckstrom
39	MF	IRL	Barry Molloy
40	FW	ENG	Izale McLeod
41	DF	ENG	Tom Huddlestone
44	MF	ENG	Lee Holmes
45	GK	ENG	Lee Camp^{[notes 2]}

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
1	GK	EST	Mart Poom (to Sunderland)
4	DF	ENG	Danny Higginbotham^{[notes 3]} (to Southampton)
6	DF	ENG	Chris Riggott (to Middlesbrough)
8	FW	ENG	Nick Chadwick (on loan from Everton)
10	FW	ENG	Malcolm Christie (to Middlesbrough)
15	MF	SCO	Brian O'Neil (to Preston North End)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
20	FW	JAM	Deon Burton^{[notes 4]} (to Portsmouth)
27	DF	FRA	François Grenet (to Rennes)
29	DF	NOR	Bjørn Otto Bragstad (to SW Bregenz)
30	DF	ARG	Horacio Carbonari (to Rosario Central)
31	MF	IRL	Fiachra McArdle (released)

Transfers

In

Out

Darryl Powell – released (later joined Birmingham City on 12 September)^[3]
Brian O'Neil – released, 27 November^[4] (later joined Preston North End)
Fiachra McArdle – released, 27 November
Deon Burton – Portsmouth, 11 December, £250,000
Mart Poom – Sunderland, 10 January, £2,500,000^[5]
Chris Riggott and Malcolm Christie– Middlesbrough, 31 January, £3,000,000 combined^[6]
Danny Higginbotham – Southampton, 31 January, £1,500,000^[7]
Bjørn Otto Bragstad – released (later joined SW Bregenz)
Horacio Carbonari – released (later joined Rosario Central)

Loan out

Deon Burton – Portsmouth, 9 August
François Grenet – Rennes, 29 August
Mart Poom – Sunderland, 15 November
Marvin Robinson – Tranmere Rovers, 29 November

References

^ "Derby County results for the 2002-2003 season - Statto.com". Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
^ "FootballSquads - Derby County - 2002/03".
^ "Blues complete Powell signing". 12 September 2002.
^ "Rams release two more". 27 November 2002.
^ "Sunderland seal Poom deal". 10 January 2003.
^ "Boro grab Derby pair". 13 February 2003. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
^ "Saints seal Higginbotham deal". 13 February 2003.

Notes

^ Strupar was born in Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia (now Croatia) but became a naturalised Belgian citizen and made his international debut for Belgium in 1999.
^ Camp was born in Derby, England, and represented them at U-21 level, but also qualifies to represent Northern Ireland internationally and would make his full international debut for Northern Ireland in March 2011.
^ Higginbotham was born in Manchester, England, but also qualified to represent Gibraltar internationally through his maternal grandmother and would make his international debut for Gibraltar in November 2013.
^ Burton was born in Reading, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for Jamaica in September 1997.

[1] "Derby County results for the 2002-2003 season - Statto.com". Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2012.

[2] "FootballSquads - Derby County - 2002/03".

[7] "Blues complete Powell signing". 12 September 2002.

[8] "Rams release two more". 27 November 2002.

[9] "Sunderland seal Poom deal". 10 January 2003.

[10] "Boro grab Derby pair". 13 February 2003. Retrieved 5 March 2023.

[11] "Saints seal Higginbotham deal". 13 February 2003.

[3] Strupar was born in Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia (now Croatia) but became a naturalised Belgian citizen and made his international debut for Belgium in 1999.

[4] Camp was born in Derby, England, and represented them at U-21 level, but also qualifies to represent Northern Ireland internationally and would make his full international debut for Northern Ireland in March 2011.

[5] Higginbotham was born in Manchester, England, but also qualified to represent Gibraltar internationally through his maternal grandmother and would make his international debut for Gibraltar in November 2013.

[6] Burton was born in Reading, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for Jamaica in September 1997.

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v t e Derby County Football Club
The club	History 1884–1967 1967–present Seasons Players Player of the Year Managers Records and statistics Head to Head Europe Reserves and Academy
Grounds	Racecourse Ground Baseball Ground Pride Park Stadium
Media	The Damned Utd (novel) The Damned United (film)
Other	Nottingham Forest rivalry Brian Clough Trophy Leicester City rivalry Derbyshire FA Centenary Cup Derby County Women

v t e Derby County Football Club
The club	History 1884–1967 1967–present Seasons Players Player of the Year Managers Records and statistics Head to Head Europe Reserves and Academy
Grounds	Racecourse Ground Baseball Ground Pride Park Stadium
Media	The Damned Utd (novel) The Damned United (film)
Other	Nottingham Forest rivalry Brian Clough Trophy Leicester City rivalry Derbyshire FA Centenary Cup Derby County Women

Season summary

Kit

Final league table