# 2002–03 Sheffield United F.C. season

During the 2002–03 English football season, Sheffield United competed in the Football League First Division.

## Season summary

The season turned out to be one of the most successful in Sheffield United's history. United reached the semi-finals of both the FA and League Cups before being eliminated by Arsenal and Liverpool respectively; both sides went on to win the respective cups. United also managed to qualify for the play-offs for promotion to the Premiership. United reached the play-off final after beating Nottingham Forest over two legs in the semi-final, but were beaten by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Portsmouth (C, P) | 46 | 29 | 11 | 6 | 97 | 45 | +52 | 98 | Promotion to 2003–04 FA Premier League |
| 2 | Leicester City (P) | 46 | 26 | 14 | 6 | 73 | 40 | +33 | 92 | Promotion to 2003–04 FA Premier League |
| 3 | Sheffield United | 46 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 72 | 52 | +20 | 80 | Qualification for First Division Playoffs |
| 4 | Reading | 46 | 25 | 4 | 17 | 61 | 46 | +15 | 79 | Qualification for First Division Playoffs |
| 5 | Wolverhampton Wanderers (O, P) | 46 | 20 | 16 | 10 | 81 | 44 | +37 | 76 | Qualification for First Division Playoffs |

## Results
### First Division play-offs

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| SF 1st leg | 10 May 2003 | Nottingham Forest | A | 1–1 | 29,064 | Brown (pen) |
| SF 2nd leg | 15 May 2003 | Nottingham Forest | H | 4–3 (won 5–4 on agg) | 30,212 | Brown, Kabba, Peschisolido, Walker (own goal) |
| F | 26 May 2003 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | N | 0–3 | 69,473 | |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| R3 | 4 January 2003 | Cheltenham Town | H | 4–0 | 9,166 | Murphy, McGovern, Kabba (2) |
| R4 | 25 January 2003 | Ipswich Town | H | 4–3 | 12,757 | Brown (2), Jagielka, Peschisolido |
| R5 | 15 February 2003 | Walsall | H | 2–0 | 17,510 | Mooney, Ndlovu |
| QF | 9 March 2003 | Leeds United | H | 1–0 | 24,633 | Kabba |
| SF | 13 April 2003 | Arsenal | N | 0–1 | 59,170 | |

### League Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| R1 | 10 September 2002 | York City | H | 1–0 | 4,675 | McGovern |
| R2 | 1 October 2002 | Wycombe Wanderers | H | 4–1 | 4,389 | Boulding, Brown (2), Montgomery |
| R3 | 6 November 2002 | Leeds United | H | 2–1 | 26,663 | Jagielka, Ndlovu |
| R4 | 3 December 2002 | Sunderland | H | 2–0 | 27,068 | Murphy, Allison |
| R5 | 17 December 2002 | Crystal Palace | H | 3–1 | 22,211 | Asaba, Peschisolido (2) |
| SF 1st leg | 8 January 2003 | Liverpool | H | 2–1 | 30,095 | Tonge (2) |
| SF 2nd leg | 21 January 2003 | Liverpool | A | 0–2 (lost 2–3 on agg) | 43,837 | |

## Players
### First-team squad

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 | ENG | Simon Tracey |
| 2 | DF | ENG | Rob Kozluk |
| 3 | DF | ENG | Rob Ullathorne |
| 4 | DF | ENG | Steve Yates |
| 5 | DF | AUS | Shaun Murphy |
| 6 | DF | WAL | Rob Page (captain) |
| 7 | MF | ENG | Michael Brown |
| 8 | MF | SCO | Stuart McCall (assistant manager) |
| 9 | FW | ENG | Carl Asaba |
| 10 | FW | CAN | Paul Peschisolido |
| 11 | FW | NED | Laurens ten Heuvel |
| 12 | MF | SCO | Nick Montgomery |
| 14 | FW | ENG | Wayne Allison |
| 15 | DF | ENG | Ben Doane |
| 16 | FW | ZIM | Peter Ndlovu |
| 17 | MF | ENG | Phil Jagielka |
| 18 | MF | ENG | Michael Tonge |
| 19 | DF | FRA | Benoît Croissant |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 20 | MF | FRA | Jean-Philippe Javary |
| 21 | MF | IRL | Colin Cryan |
| 22 | DF | SCO | Grant Smith |
| 23 | GK | ENG | Paddy Kenny |
| 24 | GK | IRL | Gary Kelly |
| 25 | FW | ENG | Rob Nugent |
| 26 | FW | ENG | Mark Rankine (on loan from Preston North End) |
| 27 | FW | ENG | Lewis Killeen |
| 28 | FW | NIR | Owen Morrison |
| 29 | MF | ENG | Adam Baum |
| 30 | FW | ENG | Tyrone Thompson |
| 31 | FW | ENG | Ryan Mallon |
| 32 | FW | ENG | Dean Windass |
| 34 | FW | ENG | Steve Kabba |
| 36 | DF | ENG | John Curtis (on loan from Blackburn Rovers) |
| 37 | DF | ENG | Danny Wood |
| 38 | MF | NED | Marcel Cas |
| 39 | FW | SCO | Iffy Onuora |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 13 | GK | NED | Wilko de Vogt (to RBC Roosendaal) |
| 14 | DF | ENG | Shane Nicholson (to Tranmere Rovers) |
| 24 | FW | ENG | Tommy Mooney (on loan from Birmingham City) |
| 24 | MF | SCO | Jon-Paul McGovern (on loan from Celtic) |
| 26 | DF | ENG | Jon Harley (on loan from Fulham) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 26 | DF | ENG | Wayne Quinn (on loan from Newcastle United) |
| 28 | MF | ENG | Lee Featherstone (to Scunthorpe United) |
| 35 | MF | ENG | Michael Boulding (on loan from Aston Villa) |
| 36 | DF | ENG | Richard Edghill (released) |