2002–03 Football League Third Division
| Season | 2002–03 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Portsmouth |
| Promoted |
Portsmouth Leicester City Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| Relegated |
Shrewsbury Town Exeter City |
|
← 2001–02
2003–04 →
|
|
| Season | 2002–03 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Portsmouth (1st second tier title) |
| Direct promotion to FA Premier League |
Portsmouth, Leicester City |
| Promoted to FA Premier League through play-offs | Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| Relegated |
Brighton & Hove Albion, Grimsby Town, Sheffield Wednesday |
| Matches played | 552 |
| Goals scored | 1,512 (2.74 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Svetoslav Todorov (Portsmouth), 26 |
|
← 2001–02
2003–04 →
|
|
| Season | 2002–03 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Wigan Athletic (2nd third tier title) |
| Direct promotion |
Wigan Athletic, Crewe Alexandra |
| Promoted through play-offs | Cardiff City |
| Relegated |
Cheltenham Town, Huddersfield Town, Mansfield Town, Northampton Town |
| Matches played | 552 |
| Goals scored | 1,421 (2.57 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Robert Earnshaw (Cardiff City), 31 |
|
← 2001–02
2003–04 →
|
|
| Season | 2002–03 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Rushden & Diamonds (1st fourth tier title) |
| Direct promotion |
Rushden & Diamonds, Hartlepool United, Wrexham |
| Promoted through play-offs | Bournemouth |
| Relegated to Conference |
Exeter City Shrewsbury Town |
| New club in the league | Boston United |
| Matches played | 552 |
| Goals scored | 1,419 (2.57 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Andy Morrell (Wrexham), 34 |
|
← 2001–02
2003–04 →
|
|
The 2002–03 Football League (known as the Nationwide Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 104th completed season of The Football League.
Portsmouth won the First Division by some distance, passing manager Harry Redknapp’s old club, West Ham on the way down. Leicester City earned a somewhat controversial promotion, as administration and a Creditor’s Voluntary Agreement wrote off much of their debt. Partly as a result of this, the League would introduce a ten point deduction for any teams going into administration from the next season onwards. The play-offs were won by Wolves, returning to the top flight after nearly 20 years and finally allowing owner Sir Jack Hayward to see the return he wanted on his years of investment.
Grimsby Town were relegated, after struggling in the division for five years on extremely limited resources. Both Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday suffered awful starts to the season (Brighton managing only a single win from their first sixteen matches), and despite good runs of form late in the season, neither were able to survive.
Wigan won their first-ever promotion beyond the Second Division, helped by considerable investment in the team. Crewe Alexandra managed a promotion on considerably less resources, while play-off winners Cardiff City were another big-spending team that were able to earn promotion.
An ill-advised managerial change mid-season helped send Northampton down. Mansfield Town’s first season out of the bottom division in over a decade ended as their previous spell had; with immediate relegation. Huddersfield started badly, and a financial crisis later in the season helped condemn them to relegation, only three years after they looked Premiership-bound. Cheltenham came close to survival, but a defeat on the final day of the season saw them return to the Third Division.
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