# 2002–03 Dundee United F.C. season

The 2002–03 season was the 94th year of football played by Dundee United, and covers the period from 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2003. United finished the season in eighth place.
United were knocked out of the Tennent's Scottish Cup by Hibernian in the third round, and were beaten by Celtic in the CIS Insurance Cup semi-finals.

## Review and events

What had begun with optimism and hopes that United could continue the progress made the previous year would end up being statistically the club's worst season since before World War II. Eddie Thompson took over as chairman with the season barely a month old and quickly sacked Alex Smith, though a run of just two wins from the first ten games did not help the manager's cause. After a failed attempt to recruit Ian McCall, Paul Hegarty was put in charge provisionally until the end of the season. While the former club hero got off to a decent start with 7 points from five matches, a dismal run of ten weeks without a win followed, leading to Hegarty being dismissed at the end of January and McCall being successfully recruited.
The key factor in McCall's change of heart was that while his previous club Falkirk were runaway leaders of the First Division, it was by now evident that they were unlikely to be promoted as their ground did not meet the SPL's requirements. McCall still had the task of keeping United off the bottom of the table in the unlikely event that the SPL had a change of heart or one of the chasing pack overhauled Falkirk, and he ultimately managed this with an excellent run of form after the SPL split, leaving them to finish eleventh. However, this good finish could not mask what had been an extremely poor season by any measure, and left McCall facing a major reconstruction job.

## Match results

Dundee United played a total of 43 competitive matches during the 2002–03 season. The team finished eleventh in the Scottish Premier League.
In the cup competitions, United were knocked out of the Tennent's Scottish Cup in the third round, losing at home to Hibernian. Celtic knocked United out of the CIS Cup in the semi-finals.

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |
All results are written with Dundee United's score first.

### Bank of Scotland Premierleague

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 3 August 2002 | Partick Thistle | A | 0–0 | 6,375 | |
| 10 August 2002 | Kilmarnock | H | 1–2 | 6,366 | Thompson |
| 17 August 2002 | Celtic | A | 0–5 | 56,907 | |
| 25 August 2002 | Motherwell | H | 1–1 | 5,795 | McIntyre |
| 31 August 2002 | Dundee | H | 0–0 | 12,402 | |
| 11 September 2002 | Aberdeen | A | 2–1 | 10,724 | Thompson (2) |
| 14 September 2002 | Dunfermline | H | 1–2 | 6,041 | Lilley |
| 21 September 2002 | Hearts | A | 0–2 | 11,532 | |
| 28 September 2002 | Rangers | H | 0–3 | 10,013 | |
| 5 October 2002 | Hibernian | A | 1–2 | 11,532 | Thompson |
| 19 October 2002 | Livingston | H | 2–3 | 5,572 | Lilley, McIntyre |
| 26 October 2002 | Partick Thistle | H | 1–1 | 6,369 | Thompson |
| 2 November 2002 | Kilmarnock | A | 2–1 | 5,417 | Thompson, McIntyre |
| 10 November 2002 | Celtic | H | 0–2 | 10,664 | |
| 16 November 2002 | Motherwell | A | 2–1 | 5,381 | Hamilton (2) |
| 23 November 2002 | Dundee | A | 2–3 | 11,539 | Hamilton, McIntyre |
| 30 November 2002 | Aberdeen | H | 1–1 | 8,621 | Hamilton |
| 4 December 2002 | Dunfermline | A | 1–4 | 4,342 | McIntyre |
| 7 December 2002 | Hibernian | H | 1–1 | 5,673 | Wilson |
| 14 December 2002 | Rangers | A | 0–3 | 47,639 | |
| 21 December 2002 | Hearts | H | 0–3 | 6,025 | |
| 26 December 2002 | Livingston | A | 0–3 | 5,103 | |
| 29 December 2002 | Partick Thistle | A | 0–0 | 5,109 | |
| 2 January 2003 | Kilmarnock | H | 2–2 | 7,183 | Dodds, McIntyre |
| 29 January 2003 | Celtic | A | 0–2 | 55,204 | |
| 1 February 2003 | Motherwell | H | 2–1 | 6,672 | Tod, Miller |
| 9 February 2003 | Dundee | H | 1–1 | 10,457 | |
| 16 February 2003 | Aberdeen | A | 0–3 | 9,146 | |
| 1 March 2003 | Dunfermline | H | 3–0 | 6,004 | Craig Easton, Tod, Ogunmade |
| 9 March 2003 | Hibernian | A | 1–1 | 7,518 | McIntyre |
| 15 March 2003 | Livingston | H | 0–1 | 6,247 | |
| 5 April 2003 | Hearts | A | 1–2 | 9,663 | Griffin |
| 13 April 2003 | Rangers | H | 1–4 | 10,013 | Dodds |
| 26 April 2003 | Hibernian | H | 1–2 | 6,758 | McCracken |
| 3 May 2003 | Motherwell | A | 2–2 | 9,056 | Miller, McIntyre |
| 10 May 2003 | Livingston | A | 2–1 | 6,314 | McIntyre, Miller |
| 17 May 2003 | Partick Thistle | A | 1–0 | 6,357 | Paterson |
| 24 May 2003 | Aberdeen | H | 0–2 | 8,516 | |

### Tennent's Scottish Cup

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 25 January 2003 | Hibernian | H | 2–3 | 8,986 | O'Donnell, Hamilton |

### CIS Insurance Cup

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 24 September 2002 | Queen's Park | H | 4–1 | 3,600 | O'Donnell (3), Thompson |
| 29 October 2002 | Airdrie United | A | 2–1 | 1,768 | Thompson (2) |
| 13 November 2002 | Livingston | A | 2–0 | 3,592 | Lilley (2) |
| 6 February 2003 | Celtic | N | 0–3 | 18,856 | |

## Player details

During the 2002–03 season, United used 32 different players, with a further played named as a substitute who did not make an appearance on the pitch. The table below shows the number of appearances and goals scored by each player.
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Bank of Scotland Premierleague | Bank of Scotland Premierleague | Tennent's Scottish Cup | Tennent's Scottish Cup | CIS Insurance Cup | CIS Insurance Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | SCO | Paul Gallacher | 38 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 22 | GK | SCO | Alan Combe | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | SCO | Jamie McCunnie | 21 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | SCO | Warren Cummings | 12 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | NIR | Danny Griffin | 17 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | SCO | Kevin McGowne | 13 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | SCO | Gary Bollan | 13 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | SCO | Jim Lauchlan | 28 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | ENG | Hasney Aljofree | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | SCO | David McCracken | 30 | 1 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | SCO | Mark Wilson | 31 | 1 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 35 | DF | ITA | Daniele Chiarini | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | DF | SCO | Andy Tod | 13 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | SCO | Craig Easton | 41 | 1 | 36 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | SCO | Charlie Miller | 38 | 4 | 34 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | SCO | Jim Paterson | 38 | 1 | 33 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | SCO | Stuart Duff | 38 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | NIR | Stephen Carson | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | GRE | Tassos Venetis | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ISL | Arnar Gunnlaugsson | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | TRI | Russell Latapy | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | SCO | Stephen O'Donnell | 14 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 9 | FW | SCO | Derek Lilley | 37 | 4 | 33 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| 10 | FW | SCO | Jim McIntyre | 37 | 9 | 32 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 12 | FW | SCO | Allan Smart | 18 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | SCO | Billy Dodds | 16 | 2 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | SCO | Jim Hamilton | 16 | 5 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | SCO | Steven Thompson | 23 | 9 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 23 | FW | SCO | David Winters | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 | FW | SCO | Daniel Ogunmade | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | FW | SCO | Stephen McGowan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 | FW | SCO | Aaron Conway | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Team statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 8 | Aberdeen | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 41 | 54 | −13 | 49 | |
| 9 | Livingston | 38 | 9 | 8 | 21 | 48 | 62 | −14 | 35 | |
| 10 | Partick Thistle | 38 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 37 | 58 | −21 | 35 | |
| 11 | Dundee United | 38 | 7 | 11 | 20 | 35 | 68 | −33 | 32 | |
| 12 | Motherwell | 38 | 7 | 7 | 24 | 45 | 71 | −26 | 28 | Spared from relegation |
* ↑ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.
* ↑ As the First Division champions Falkirk did not have a suitable ground for the SPL, bottom club Motherwell were spared from relegation.

## Playing kit

| Home colours | Away colours | Third colours |
The jerseys were sponsored by Telewest for the last time.

## Awards

* Mark Wilson
** Scottish Premier League Young Player of the Month: 1
       November 2002