Football League Second Division
Wigan won their first-ever promotion beyond the Second Division, helped by considerable investment in the team. Crewe managed a promotion on considerably less resources, while play-off winners Cardiff 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 Division Three.
| Pos | Team | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Wigan Athletic | 46 | 29 | 13 | 4 | 68 | 25 | +43 | 100 |
| 2. | Crewe Alexandra | 46 | 25 | 11 | 10 | 76 | 40 | +36 | 86 |
| 3. | Bristol City | 46 | 24 | 11 | 11 | 79 | 48 | +31 | 83 |
| 4. | Queens Park Rangers | 46 | 24 | 11 | 11 | 69 | 35 | +24 | 83 |
| 5. | Oldham Athletic | 46 | 22 | 16 | 8 | 68 | 38 | +30 | 82 |
| 6. | Cardiff City | 46 | 23 | 12 | 11 | 68 | 43 | +25 | 81 |
| 7. | Tranmere Rovers | 46 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 66 | 57 | +9 | 80 |
| 8. | Plymouth Argyle | 46 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 63 | 52 | +11 | 65 |
| 9. | Luton Town | 46 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 67 | 62 | +5 | 65 |
| 10. | Swindon Town | 46 | 16 | 12 | 18 | 59 | 63 | -4 | 60 |
| 11. | Peterborough United | 46 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 51 | 54 | -3 | 58 |
| 12. | Colchester United | 46 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 52 | 56 | -4 | 58 |
| 13. | Blackpool | 46 | 15 | 13 | 18 | 56 | 64 | -8 | 58 |
| 14. | Stockport County | 46 | 15 | 10 | 21 | 65 | 70 | -5 | 55 |
| 15. | Notts County | 46 | 13 | 16 | 17 | 62 | 70 | -8 | 55 |
| 16. | Brentford | 46 | 14 | 12 | 20 | 47 | 56 | -9 | 54 |
| 17. | Port Vale | 46 | 14 | 11 | 21 | 54 | 70 | -16 | 53 |
| 18. | Wycombe Wanderers | 46 | 13 | 13 | 20 | 59 | 66 | -7 | 52 |
| 19. | Barnsley | 46 | 13 | 13 | 20 | 51 | 64 | -13 | 52 |
| 20. | Chesterfield | 46 | 14 | 8 | 24 | 43 | 73 | -30 | 50 |
| 21. | Cheltenham Town | 46 | 10 | 18 | 18 | 53 | 68 | -15 | 48 |
| 22. | Huddersfield Town | 46 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 39 | 61 | -22 | 45 |
| 23. | Mansfield Town | 46 | 12 | 8 | 26 | 66 | 97 | -31 | 44 |
| 24. | Northampton Town | 46 | 10 | 9 | 27 | 40 | 79 | -39 | 39 |
Leading goalscorer: Robert Earnshaw (Cardiff City), 31
| Key |
|---|
| Promoted to Division 1 |
| Qualified for the promotion playoff |
| Relegated to Division 3 |
Read more about this topic: 2002–03 In English Football, League Competitions
Famous quotes containing the words football, league and/or division:
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—Donald Hall (b. 1928)
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—Bible: Hebrew, Job 5:19-23.
“The division between the useful arts and the fine arts must not be understood in too absolute a manner. In the humblest work of the craftsmen, if art is there, there is a concern for beauty, through a kind of indirect repercussion that the requirements of the creativity of the spirit exercise upon the production of an object to serve human needs.”
—Jacques Maritain (1882–1973)