2002–03 Sunderland A.F.C. season

During The 2002/2003 Season Sunderland competed in The F.A. Premier League.

Season summary

While few had tipped Sunderland to do well this season, even fewer predicted just how disastrous it would turn out to be for the Mackems. A largely indifferent start to the season resulted in the sacking of longtime manager Peter Reid, and, while it was widely predicted that Mick McCarthy would take over, the Sunderland board wrongfooted everyone by appointing the FA's Technical Director Howard Wilkinson as manager. No substantial improvement resulted under Wilkinson and after a somewhat magnificent 2-1 victory over Liverpool on December 15, 2002 - which was to be only their fourth and final win of the season - they were to achieve an abysmal amount of just two points from their final 20 games; after a 0-0 draw against Blackburn Rovers on January 11, 2003, they still had a chance to avoid relegation at the time, remaining in close contention with their other relegation rivals but it all went horribly wrong as they proceeded to lose all of their final 15 league games including an incredibly embarrassing 3-1 home defeat to Charlton Athletic in which they scored three own goals in seven minutes. Wilkinson was in turn axed in March and McCarthy was finally appointed to the manager's job. By this stage it was far too late to save Sunderland's top-flight status, and they were relegated with the worst record in the history of the Premier League and the second-lowest points total since the League began using three points for a win in 1981.

Players

Squad

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

Starting 11

GK 1 Thomas Sorensen

RB 2 Stephen Wright

CB 18 Darren Williams

CB 17 Jody Craddock

LB 3 Michael Gray (Captain)

RM 16 Jason McAteer

CM 8 Gavin McCann

CM 4 Claudio Reyna

LM 11 Kevin Kilbane

RS 9 Tore Andre Flo

LS 10 Kevin Phillips

Results

Premier League Results