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2002–03 Watford F.C. season

English football team season

Field	Value
club	Watford
season	2002–03
manager	Ray Lewington
chairman	Graham Simpson
stadium	Vicarage Road
league	First Division
league result	13th
cup1	FA Cup
cup1 result	Semi-finals
cup2	League Cup
cup2 result	First round
league topscorer	Helguson (11)
season topscorer	Helguson (13)
average attendance	13,405
prevseason	2001–02
nextseason	2003–04

The 2002–03 season marked Watford Football Club's third consecutive season in the Football League First Division, following relegation from the Premier League in the 1999–2000 season. The club was managed by its former reserve team manager Ray Lewington, following the dismissal of Gianluca Vialli at the end of 2001–02. The club finished 13th in the First Division, reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, and were eliminated in the first round of the League Cup. Watford were operating under severe financial constraints following the collapse of ITV Digital, and at the end of the season were forced to offload several first-team players, including Tommy Smith, Gifton Noel-Williams, Stephen Glass, and record signing Allan Nielsen.

Season review

Over the summer many of the Vialli's signings left the club. Lewington had few funds to strengthen the side. The extent of Watford's financial difficulties was exposed in the autumn, along with many League clubs, following the collapse of ITV Digital. The club was facing administration when the players and staff agreed a 12% wage deferral. Exacerbating the club's difficulties were the large payoffs they had had to make to Vialli and several players on terminating their contracts, and Vialli's decision to sue the club early in 2003. The club started the season well, however, despite the players having to agree to a pay-cut during October, and finished in mid-table. An unexpected run to the FA Cup semi-final, where Watford lost to Premiership side Southampton, also generated vital cash.

Final league table

Main article: 2002–03 Football League First Division

Results

Watford's score comes first

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
10 August 2002	Leicester City	A	0–2	31,022
13 August 2002	Millwall	H	0–0	11,187
17 August 2002	Wimbledon	H	3–2	10,292	Webber, Robinson, Nielsen
24 August 2002	Portsmouth	A	0–3	17,901
26 August 2002	Coventry City	H	5–2	11,136	Glass, T Smith, Webber, Nielsen, Robinson
31 August 2002	Norwich City	A	0–4	20,563
7 September 2002	Walsall	H	2–0	10,528	T Smith, Foley
14 September 2002	Nottingham Forest	A	1–0	17,865	Cox
17 September 2002	Preston North End	A	1–1	12,408	Robinson
21 September 2002	Crystal Palace	H	3–3	12,153	Ardley, Hyde, Helguson
28 September 2002	Sheffield United	A	2–1	16,301	Cox (pen), Helguson
5 October 2002	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1–0	15,305	Helguson
12 October 2002	Grimsby Town	H	2–0	13,821	Foley, T Smith
19 October 2002	Gillingham	A	0–3	8,728
26 October 2002	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–0	15,058	Helguson
30 October 2002	Stoke City	A	2–1	11,215	Helguson, Cox
2 November 2002	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–1	16,524	Cox
9 November 2002	Rotherham United	A	1–2	6,790	Foley
17 November 2002	Ipswich Town	H	0–2	16,184
23 November 2002	Reading	A	0–1	17,465
30 November 2002	Burnley	H	2–1	13,977	Helguson, T Smith (pen)
7 December 2002	Derby County	A	0–3	21,653
14 December 2002	Ipswich Town	A	2–4	22,985	T Smith, Cox
21 December 2002	Bradford City	H	1–0	12,579	Cox (pen)
26 December 2002	Wimbledon	A	0–0	2,643
28 December 2002	Leicester City	H	1–2	16,017	Helguson
1 January 2003	Portsmouth	H	2–2	15,048	Hyde, Cox
11 January 2003	Millwall	A	0–4	9,030
19 January 2003	Norwich City	H	2–1	13,338	Nielsen, Helguson
1 February 2003	Coventry City	A	1–0	17,393	Hyde
8 February 2003	Rotherham United	H	1–2	15,025	T Smith
22 February 2003	Walsall	A	0–2	7,705
25 February 2003	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–0	24,591
1 March 2003	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	17,934	Helguson
4 March 2003	Preston North End	H	0–1	11,101
15 March 2003	Grimsby Town	A	0–1	4,847
18 March 2003	Gillingham	H	0–1	10,492
22 March 2003	Stoke City	H	1–2	12,570	Helguson
29 March 2003	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2–2	17,086	T Smith, Norville
5 April 2003	Burnley	A	7–4	10,208	Brown, Hyde, Cox, Chopra (4)
8 April 2003	Crystal Palace	A	1–0	14,051	Hunt (own goal)
19 April 2003	Bradford City	A	1–2	11,145	Helguson
21 April 2003	Derby County	H	2–0	11,909	Chopra, Ardley
26 April 2003	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	0–4	6,841
30 April 2003	Reading	H	0–3	11,814
4 May 2003	Sheffield United	H	2–0	14,320	Cox, Fitzgerald

FA Cup

Main article: 2002–03 FA Cup

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	4 January 2003	Macclesfield Town	A	2–0	4,244	Helguson, Pennant
R4	25 January 2003	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–0	16,975	Helguson
R5	15 February 2003	Sunderland	A	1–0	26,916	T Smith
QF	9 March 2003	Burnley	H	2–0	20,336	T Smith, Glass
SF	13 April 2003	Southampton	N	1–2	42,602	Gayle

League Cup

Main article: 2002–03 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
	R1	10 September 2002	Luton Town	H	1–2	14,171	Foley

Players

First-team squad

:Squad at end of season

Left club during season

Reserve squad

References

Notes

References

(24 September 2002). "Watford in financial peril".
(25 September 2002). "Watford players agree pay cut".
(7 February 2003). "Vialli sues Watford".
(13 April 2003). "Watford 1-2 Southampton".
(13 March 2003). "Hornets eye stadium repurchase".
"Watford results for the 2002-2003 season".
"FootballSquads – Watford – 2002/03".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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