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2002–03 Huddersfield Town A.F.C. season

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Huddersfield Town
2002–03 season
ChairmanDavid Taylor
ManagerMick Wadsworth (until 26 March 2003)
Mel Machin (from 27 March 2003)
Division Two22nd (relegated)
FA CupFirst round
(knocked out by Swindon Town)
League CupSecond round
(knocked out by Burnley)
League TrophyFirst round
(knocked out by Wrexham)
Top goalscorerLeague: Martin Smith (17)
All: Martin Smith (17)
Highest home attendance13,769 vs Wigan Athletic (19 April 2003)
Lowest home attendance3,810 vs Darlington (10 September 2002)
Biggest win4–0 vs Chesterfield (5 April 2003)
Biggest defeat0–4 vs Oldham Athletic (28 September 2002)
0–4 vs Cardiff City (29 December 2003)
1–5 vs Port Vale (26 April 2003)

Huddersfield Town's 2002–03 campaign saw them relegated to the bottom division for the first time since the 1979–80 season. Huddersfield endured a dreadful season under Mick Wadsworth. That season saw Wadsworth sacked twice, but on the first attempt of him being sacked, he was re-hired because the club couldn't pay him off. Mel Machin took over for the last month of the season, but couldn't stop the Terriers relegating to the Football League Third Division.[1] Town's main worry during the season was administration, which nearly saw the club liquidated.

Squad at the start of the season

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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 England ENG Scott Bevan (on loan from Southampton)
2 DF Wales WAL Steve Jenkins
4 DF England ENG Nathan Clarke
5 DF England ENG Adie Moses
6 MF England ENG Chris Holland
7 MF England ENG Danny Schofield
8 MF England ENG Kenny Irons
9 FW England ENG Andy Booth
10 MF United States USA John Thorrington
11 MF England ENG Simon Baldry
14 FW England ENG Jon Stead
No. Pos. Nation Player
15 FW Australia AUS Scott McDonald (on loan from Southampton)
17 DF England ENG Eddie Youds
19 FW England ENG Martin Smith
20 DF Republic of Ireland IRL Thomas Heary
22 DF Canada CAN Kevin Sharp
23 DF England ENG Jon Dyson
27 DF England ENG Nat Brown
28 DF England ENG Paul Scott
29 MF England ENG Jon Worthington
31 FW England ENG Paul Macari
33 MF Republic of Ireland IRL Dwayne Mattis

Review

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Mick Wadsworth was appointed manager of the Terriers during the close season with many people predicting Town would have as good a season as the previous season, which saw them lose in the play-offs to Brentford, but Wadsworth's new 4-3-3 formation wasn't pleasing fans and players alike. During the early part of the season, Town had a run of scoring 1 goal in 6 matches. The only highlight of the early part of the season was taking Division 1 Burnley to extra time in the second round of the Worthington Cup, before losing 1–0.

Christmas and New Year also bore little joy to the Terriers and went on a run of 5 losses from 6, before a mini revival which saw them unbeaten in 5 matches, before another dip which saw them lose another 5 in 6. That saw Wadsworth lose his job in late March, which then saw Mel Machin take over as caretaker manager and after managing to draw with eventual champions Wigan Athletic, many thought that Town might survive, but bad consecutive losses to Stockport County and Port Vale saw Town go down.

Squad at the end of the season

[edit]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
4 DF England ENG Nathan Clarke
5 DF England ENG Adie Moses
6 MF England ENG Chris Holland
7 MF England ENG Danny Schofield
8 MF England ENG Kenny Irons
9 FW England ENG Andy Booth
10 MF United States USA John Thorrington
11 MF England ENG Simon Baldry
12 FW Peru PER Gianfranco Labarthe Tome
14 FW England ENG Jon Stead
15 DF Republic of Ireland IRL Jason Gavin (on loan from Middlesbrough)
17 DF England ENG Eddie Youds
19 FW England ENG Martin Smith
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 DF Republic of Ireland IRL Thomas Heary
22 DF Canada CAN Kevin Sharp
23 DF England ENG Jon Dyson
27 DF England ENG Nat Brown
28 DF England ENG Paul Scott
29 MF England ENG Jon Worthington
31 FW England ENG Paul Macari
33 MF Republic of Ireland IRL Dwayne Mattis
35 GK England ENG Phil Senior
37 DF England ENG John McCombe
38 DF England ENG David Mirfin
40 GK England ENG Andrew Jeffery

Results

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Division Two

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Date Opponents Home/
Away 		Result
F - A 		Scorers Attendance League
position
10 August 2002 Brentford H 0 - 2 9,635 23rd
13 August 2002 Plymouth Argyle A 1 - 2 Thorrington [89] 8,953 21st
17 August 2002 Peterborough United A 1 - 0 Mattis [10] 5,205 19th
24 August 2002 Crewe Alexandra H 1 - 1 Booth [26] 8,467 18th
26 August 2002 Tranmere Rovers A 1 - 2 McDonald [44] 7,534 19th
31 August 2002 Blackpool H 0 - 0 9,506 20th
7 September 2002 Barnsley H 1 - 0 Smith [59] 11,989 17th
14 September 2002 Northampton Town A 0 - 0 4,679 17th
17 September 2002 Queens Park Rangers A 0 - 3 11,010 18th
21 September 2002 Luton Town H 0 - 1 9,249 21st
28 September 2002 Oldham Athletic A 0 - 4 7,643 23rd
5 October 2002 Port Vale H 2 - 2 Smith [12], Baldry [17] 9,091 22nd
12 October 2002 Notts County H 3 - 0 Stead [15, 73], Moses [25] 9,984 19th
19 October 2002 Mansfield Town A 2 - 0 Smith [53, 61] 4,998 17th
26 October 2002 Colchester United H 1 - 1 Stead [90] 8,924 16th
29 October 2002 Bristol City A 0 - 1 11,494 17th
2 November 2002 Cheltenham Town A 0 - 1 4,322 19th
9 November 2002 Wycombe Wanderers H 0 - 0 8,695 20th
23 November 2002 Swindon Town H 2 - 3 Smith [36], Stead [90] 8,334 22nd
30 November 2002 Chesterfield A 0 - 1 4,194 23rd
14 December 2002 Stockport County H 2 - 1 Smith [27, 83] 7,978 22nd
21 December 2002 Wigan Athletic A 0 - 1 6,013 23rd
26 December 2002 Tranmere Rovers H 1 - 2 Smith [78] 11,002 24th
29 December 2002 Cardiff City A 0 - 4 13,703 24th
1 January 2003 Blackpool A 1 - 1 Booth [75] 7,184 24th
11 January 2003 Peterborough United H 0 - 1 9,022 24th
18 January 2003 Crewe Alexandra A 0 - 1 5,819 24th
25 January 2003 Cardiff City H 1 - 0 Booth [80] 9,462 23rd
4 February 2003 Plymouth Argyle H 1 - 0 Smith [82 (pen)] 7,294 24th
8 February 2003 Wycombe Wanderers A 0 - 0 5,886 23rd
15 February 2003 Cheltenham Town H 3 - 3 Irons [54], Smith [56, 59] 9,309 23rd
22 February 2003 Barnsley A 1 - 0 Booth [26] 12,474 21st
25 February 2003 Brentford A 0 - 1 4,366 21st
1 March 2003 Northampton Town H 2 - 0 Baldry [44], Smith [45] 9,661 19th
4 March 2003 Queens Park Rangers H 0 - 3 8,695 20th
8 March 2003 Luton Town A 0 - 3 6,122 21st
15 March 2003 Colchester United A 0 - 2 3,835 23rd
18 March 2003 Mansfield Town H 1 - 1 Smith [51] 8,756 24th
22 March 2003 Bristol City H 1 - 2 Smith [20 (pen)] 9,467 24th
29 March 2003 Notts County A 2 - 3 Booth [19], Schofield [37] 5,872 24th
5 April 2003 Chesterfield H 4 - 0 Smith [17, 53], Stead [23, 66] 9,098 22nd
12 April 2003 Swindon Town A 1 - 0 Smith [87] 4,760 22nd
19 April 2003 Wigan Athletic H 0 - 0 13,769 22nd
21 April 2003 Stockport County A 1 - 2 Booth [3] 7,159 22nd
26 April 2003 Port Vale A 1 - 5 Gavin [45] 5,925 22nd
3 May 2003 Oldham Athletic H 1 - 1 Schofield [26] 11,271 22nd

FA Cup

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Date Round Opponents Home/
Away 		Result
F - A 		Scorers Attendance
16 November 2002 Round 1 Swindon Town A 0 - 1 4,210

Worthington Cup

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Date Round Opponents Home/
Away 		Result
F - A 		Scorers Attendance
10 September 2002 Round 1 Darlington H 2 - 0 Baldry [3], Clarke [16 (og)] 3,810
1 October 2002 Round 2 Burnley H 0 - 1 (aet, 90 mins: 0 - 0) 5,887

LDV Vans Trophy

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Date Round Opponents Home/
Away 		Result
F - A 		Scorers Attendance
22 October 2002 Round 1 Wrexham A 1 - 2 Mattis [77] 1,350

Appearances and goals

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Squad No. Name Nation Position League Apps League Goals FA Cup Apps FA Cup Goals League Cup Apps League Cup Goals FLT Apps FLT Goals Total Apps Total Goals
1 Scott Bevan  England GK 30 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 34 0
2 Steve Jenkins  Wales DF 26 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 29 0
4 Nathan Clarke  England DF 2 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 (1) 0
5 Adie Moses  England DF 40 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 43 1
6 Chris Holland  England MF 33 (1) 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 37 (1) 0
7 Danny Schofield  England MF 25 (5) 2 1 0 2 0 0 (1) 0 28 (6) 2
8 Kenny Irons  England MF 29 (6) 1 0 0 1 0 0 (1) 0 30 (7) 1
9 Andy Booth  England FW 32 (1) 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 32 (1) 6
10 John Thorrington  United States MF 16 (15) 1 0 (1) 0 0 (1) 0 1 0 17 (17) 1
11 Simon Baldry  England MF 14 (8) 2 0 0 2 1 1 0 17 (8) 3
12 Kevin Gallacher  Scotland FW 5 (2) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 (2) 0
12 Gianfranco Labarthe Tome  Peru FW 0 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (3) 0
13 Lee Ashcroft  England FW 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
14 Jon Stead  England FW 28 (14) 6 1 0 2 0 1 0 32 (14) 6
15 Jason Gavin  Republic of Ireland DF 10 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 1
15 Scott McDonald  Australia FW 7 (6) 1 0 0 0 (1) 0 0 0 7 (7) 1
17 Eddie Youds  England DF 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 0
19 Martin Smith  England FW 35 (3) 17 1 0 1 (1) 0 1 0 38 (4) 17
20 Thomas Heary  Republic of Ireland DF 14 (6) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 15 (6) 0
22 Kevin Sharp  Canada DF 38 (1) 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 42 (1) 0
23 Jon Dyson  England DF 2 (1) 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 4 (1) 0
27 Nat Brown  England DF 36 (2) 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 39 (2) 0
28 Paul Scott  England DF 2 (11) 0 0 0 0 (1) 0 0 0 2 (12) 0
29 Jon Worthington  England MF 10 (12) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 11 (12) 0
31 Paul Macari  England FW 0 (5) 0 0 0 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 (6) 0
33 Dwayne Mattis  Republic of Ireland MF 27 (6) 1 1 0 1 (1) 0 1 1 30 (7) 2
35 Phil Senior  England GK 16 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 (2) 0
37 John McCombe  England DF 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (1) 0
38 David Mirfin  England DF 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (1) 0

References

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  1. ^ "English Football Stats - English League Tables - 2002/03 - Tiers 1 - 4". www.englishfootballstats.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
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