During the 2002–03 English football season, Newcastle United F.C. participated in 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 ...

(known as the FA Barclaycard Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary

After a slow start, the club began putting together the wins and, by the end of March, were in a three-way title race with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Consecutive defeats to a resurgent Everton and a 6–2 home thrashing by

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

's side killed off Newcastle's title hopes, but Bobby Robson and his team was able to brush off the challenge from Chelsea to finish 3rd in the Premier League, entering the qualification rounds for the Champions League in the 2003–04 season.] The 2002–03 season was a particularly colourful one for Newcastle on the European stage. In the first group stage, Newcastle lost their first three matches in a row, then, in an astonishing reversal, shocked Italian giants Juventus F.C., Juventus 1–0 at St James' Park. They then controversially beat Dynamo Kyiv 2–1 in Newcastle before winning the crucial last match, away to Feyenoord, 3–2 in injury time, with striker Craig Bellamy scoring the injury time winner. With Dynamo Kyiv losing at home to Juventus, Newcastle progressed to the second round, in a ' group of death' with Internazionale, Barcelona and Bayer Leverkusen. Bellamy was sent off for lashing out at Inter defender Marco Materazzi in an off-the-ball incident during the opening minutes of the match. Bellamy was punished further by a three-match ban. Compounding the disaster for Newcastle was the suspension of influential captain Alan Shearer for a similar incident, although the punishment was just a two-match ban. Newcastle went on to lose 1–4 at home. Shearer returned in the fourth game in the 4-team group, scoring all three goals in a 3–1 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen at home. Despite a superb performance against Inter in the famous San Siro, only to draw 2–2, Newcastle lost at home 2–0 to Barcelona and dropped out of the Champions League.

Final league table

Team kit

The team kit for the 2002–03 season was produced by

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...

and the main shirt sponsor was NTL.

Transfers

In

* Total spending: £23.5m

Out

* Total spending: £150,000

Players

First-team squad

:''Squad at end of season''

Left club during season

Reserve squad

:''The following players did not appear for the first-team this season.''

Trialists

Coaching staff

Appearances, goals and cards

:''(Starting appearances + substitute appearances)''Season Details : 2002–03 FA Barclaycard Premiership, Final standings
''toon1892.co.uk''. Retrieved 15 August 2013

Matches

Pre-season

Premier League

Champions League

FA Cup

League Cup

References

External links

FootballSquads - Newcastle United - 2002/03
{{DEFAULTSORT:2002-03 Newcastle United F.C. Season Newcastle United F.C. seasons

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...