During the 2002–03 English football season,

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

competed in the First Division, following relegation from the

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

the previous season. Despite being relegated, Ipswich Town had achieved UEFA Cup qualification for the second season running, this time via the

UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking The UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking was used by UEFA from 1995 to the 2015–16 season to grant three berths for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Since that time it has granted a monetary prize to winning associations. Qualific ...

Season summary

The financial cost of relegation the previous season saw Ipswich enter administration on 10 February. The financial problems had caused the sale of both key players like Marcus Stewart and promising young players like

Titus Bramble Titus Malachi Bramble (born 31 July 1981) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre back. Bramble played in the Premier League over thirteen consecutiv ...

and Darren Ambrose, leading to poor results on the pitch that left Ipswich struggling near the relegation zone. A 3–0 defeat at fellow strugglers Grimsby Town proved to be the final straw and manager George Burley was sacked in October. First team coach and former Ipswich player Tony Mowbray took charge of the next four games, winning one, before being replaced by Joe Royle - a former player for Town's archrivals Norwich City. Royle turned Town's fortunes around considerably and they finished in 7th place, 4 points off the playoff places. In the League Cup, Ipswich reached the fourth round before being knocked out by eventual winners Liverpool 5–4 on penalties, after

Tommy Miller Thomas William Miller (born 8 January 1979) is an English professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was most recently the manager of National League North club Spennymoor Town. He has previously played for Hartlepool United, Ipswi ...

's strike in the fourteenth minute was cancelled out by

El Hadji Diouf El Hadji Ousseynou Diouf (; born 15 January 1981) is a Senegalese former professional footballer. Throughout his career, Diouf played as a winger or a forward. Having started his professional football career in France with Sochaux, Rennes an ...

's 54th-minute penalty.

First-team squad

:''Squad at end of season''

Left club during season

Reserve squad

Pre-season

Ipswich went on a pre-season tour of Denmark in July as part of the pre-season for the 2002–03 season.

Legend

Competitions

Football League First Division

League table

Legend

''Ipswich Town's score comes first''

Matches

FA Cup

League Cup

UEFA Cup

Transfers

Loans in

Transfers out

Loans out

Squad statistics

''All statistics updated as of end of season''

Appearances and goals

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Season summary

First-team squad

Left club during season

Reserve squad

Pre-season

Legend

Competitions

Football League First Division

League table

Legend

Matches

FA Cup

League Cup

UEFA Cup

Transfers

Loans in

Transfers out

Loans out

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

Goalscorers

Clean sheets

Disciplinary record

Starting 11

Awards

Player awards

References