2001–02 in English football


The 2001–02 season was the 122nd season of competitive football in England.

Events

Arsenal cruise to title glory

In what had earlier been one of the most closely fought Premiership title races for years, Arsenal won the championship by a seven-point margin. Their crown was won in the penultimate game of the season when they beat defending champions Manchester United 1–0 at Old Trafford. Four days earlier, they had also won the FA Cup with a 2–0 victory over Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
Their top scorer, Thierry Henry, was on target 24 times in the league alone.
One downside to the season was Arsenal's failure to progress to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Sir Alex puts off his retirement

announced in February that he would be postponing his retirement as Manchester United manager by at least three more seasons after he signed a new contract as manager. The news came just after United completed an impressive revival in the Premiership which saw them rise from ninth to first in the space of two months.
On 8 December, United stood ninth in the Premiership – 11 points behind Liverpool, who had a game in hand – and had lost five of their seven previous games in the aftermath of a 1–0 defeat at home to West Ham United. Even a UEFA Cup place appeared beyond reach. An eight-match winning run, however, saw United cruise to the top of the Premiership and they were soon challenging a three-horse race with Liverpool and Arsenal. They remained in the title race until the penultimate game of the season, when they lost 1–0 at home to Arsenal and surrendered the title crown to their opponents.
United's failure was largely put down to the inability to find a suitable replacement for Jaap Stam, the Dutch central defender who had been sold to Lazio for £16.25 million just after the start of the season. Another disappointment was the failure of Juan Sebastián Verón, at £28.1 million the most expensive player ever to sign for an English club, to never live up to his hefty price tag. On a positive note, Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy lived up to his £19 million price tag by scoring 34 goals in all competitions during his first season at Old Trafford, breaking the club record that had been set by Dennis Viollet 40 seasons earlier.
After the season concluded, rumours began to circulate that Ferguson was about to break the English transfer record once again and sign Leeds United central-back Rio Ferdinand in the hope that his side would return to their winning ways in 2002–03.

Ipswich fall from grace

A year after qualifying for the UEFA Cup and earning George Burley the Manager of the Year award, Ipswich Town dropped back into Division One. The Suffolk side had looked doomed by Christmas after winning just one of their first 18 Premiership games. Then came a turnaround in form which saw them win seven out of eight fixtures and climb to 12th place, suggesting that they were safe. But another decline set in, and this time Ipswich were unable to halt it. Their relegation was confirmed with a 5–0 defeat away to runners-up Liverpool on the final day of the season.
Joining Ipswich in Division One would be already doomed Derby County and Leicester City, both going down after six seasons in the Premiership, the last of which had seen three different men take charge of the team.

West Brom and Birmingham back in the big time

and Birmingham City, who had last played in the top flight in 1985–86, were finally promoted back to the top division with Albion as Division One runners-up and Birmingham as playoff winners. In an ironic twist, Albion had overtaken another local rival in Wolverhampton Wanderers, which had been out of the top flight even longer, in the race for the run for second place by winning seven of their final nine league games. Birmingham's triumph was sealed by a penalty-shoot out win over Norwich at the Millennium Stadium. They followed champions Manchester City, managed by Kevin Keegan, into the Premiership.

Back to back for Brighton

secured successive title winning promotions. This was a massive turnaround for the fortunes of the club which had between 1996 and 1998 finished second bottom of the football league and were on the verge of going out of business.

The Battle of Bramall Lane

One of the seven Albion in their promotion run came on 16 March 2002, against Sheffield United. This match would turn recent English football history,.

ITV Digital crisis plunges league clubs into turmoil

The collapse of debt-ridden ITV Digital in May 2002 plunged many Football League clubs into turmoil. The likes of Bradford City, Nottingham Forest, Watford, Barnsley, Lincoln City and Port Vale filed for administration, fearful that the drastic loss of revenue would put them out of business.
Of all the troubled clubs, Bradford City's situation was the most precarious. The West Yorkshire club had debts of £36million and had failed to meet a deadline for a takeover deal. It seemed inevitable that the Bantams, who had gone into liquidation in 1983, would endure a total collapse and lose their place in the Football League. Their only hope was for the Football League to ignore their financial plight and allow them a place in Division One for the 2002–03 season.

Dario reaches managerial milestone

On 20 November 2001, Dario Gradi took charge of his 1,000 competitive game in charge of Crewe Alexandra in Division One. Gradi had arrived at Crewe in June 1983, and he reached this landmark just four months into a season which had already seen a total of more than 20 managerial changes in the Premiership, Division One, Division Two and Division Three. Crewe ended the season by being relegated to Division Two but the club's directors showed no intention of parting company with the longest-serving manager at any Football League club.

Wimbledon get go-ahead for Milton Keynes move

Just after the end of the Division one season, a three-man panel of The FA gave permission for Wimbledon FC to move from their historic South London home to Milton Keynes. The move sparked outrage among Wimbledon supporters, who formed their own club – AFC Wimbledon – in response to the controversial plans of chairman Charles Koppel.

League tables

FA Premier League

Arsenal won their second Premier League title in five seasons, as well as their second double in the same period, after a remarkable season in which they fought with the rest of the top six for the title right up until the final stages. They scored in every Premier League game, were unbeaten away from home, and finished the league season with 13 successive wins - and also had the satisfaction of clinching the title with a win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in their penultimate game. Liverpool's second-place finish was their highest for 11 years, ironically ending Manchester United's top-two run which had started after theirs had ended. United had rallied well and led the league for a while after losing six league games between mid September and early December, but a few dropped points in the final two months of the season meant that they just couldn't get the better of Arsenal in the title race. Newcastle United, meanwhile, finished fourth in their third season under the management of 69-year-old Bobby Robson, their highest finish for five years.
Leeds United and Chelsea had to settle for UEFA Cup qualification after losing ground in the closing stages of the title race, while newly promoted Blackburn Rovers also qualified for the competition as League Cup winners and finished in a secure 10th place.
Leicester City's final season at Filbert Street, their home for 111 years, ended in relegation after just five league wins. Joining them in Division One were their local rivals Derby County, who had coincidentally been promoted alongside them six years earlier. Derby had finished not far above the relegation zone in the previous two campaigns, but Leicester had been a top 10 side as recently as two years before their relegation, when they had also won their second League Cup in four seasons.
Last to go down were Ipswich Town, who had revived themselves mid-season after a disastrous start, but were unable to halt it after another slide towards the end of the campaign and any hopes of survival were ended on the final day of the season when they were crushed by Liverpool, just one year after qualifying for Europe. Sunderland, who had fallen just one place short of Europe in the last two seasons, came just one place away from relegation. Newly promoted Bolton's strong start to the season meant that they survived in 16th place, despite their lackluster form for much of the rest of the season.
For the first time in 12 years, all three newly promoted top division sides avoided relegation.
Leading goalscorer: Thierry Henry, 24

First Division

Manchester City managed to make an immediate return from the previous season's relegation, and returned to the Premier League as champions. West Bromwich Albion built on their surprise play-off appearance the previous year, achieving automatic promotion to the top-flight for the first time since 1986 at the expense of local rivals Wolves, who had looked all set for promotion just weeks earlier, but went out of the playoffs against Norwich. The play-offs were won by Birmingham City, finally earning promotion after two successive disappointments, and also returning to the top flight for the first time since 1986.
Burnley finished seventh for the second season running, only missing out on the playoffs on goal difference. Local rivals Preston finished eighth, with former Scotland manager Craig Brown now at the helm after David Moyes left for Everton.
Stockport County endured a dismal season despite the high-profile appointment of Carlton Palmer as manager, and fell into Division Two. Barnsley also went down, despite a play-off final appearance only two years previously. The final relegation spot was filled by Crewe, who for once were unable to pull off a survival act.
Top Goalscorer: Shaun Goater - 28

Second Division

Brighton earned a second successive championship, despite the loss of manager Micky Adams early in the season - however, they would also have to cope with the loss of replacement manager Peter Taylor after the season ended. Reading earned the runners-up spot after four seasons in Division Two, and the play-offs were won by Stoke City who, despite this success, sacked manager Gudjon Thordarson immediately afterwards.
QPR came out of administration at the end of a season where they finished a respectable eighth in their first campaign at this level since the 1960s, featuring in the race for a playoff place until the penultimate game of the season. Wigan Athletic finished a disappointing tenth after successive playoff appearances, but kept faith in manager Paul Jewell to deliver promotion in his second season at the helm.
Cambridge United were cut adrift early in the season, and never looked to have much chance of surviving. Long-time Division Two members Wrexham never recovered from a bad start, and also went down. Bury suffered a financial crisis off the pitch and the effects of this ultimately affected the team's performance and sent them down to the League's bottom tier. The final relegation spot was filled by Bournemouth.
Leading goalscorer: Bobby Zamora - 28

Third Division

Plymouth and Luton were involved in a close fight for the divisional title for the whole season; ultimately Plymouth won out, with Luton taking the runners-up spot and making an immediate return to Division Two after going down the previous season. The third automatic spot was closely contested between Mansfield and Cheltenham; Mansfield were the ultimate victors despite some poor results late in the season, but Cheltenham would win promotion anyway through the play-offs.
This was the final season where only a single team would drop out of the League into the Conference. Ultimately there proved to be little drama about who would go down, as it became obvious from the first few weeks that Halifax Town were doomed, never managing to earn enough wins to have any serious chance of survival.
Leading goalscorer: Steve Howard - 24

Diary of the season

From Division One to The Premier League:
From Division Two to Division One:
From Division Three to Division Two:
From The Football Conference to Division Three:

Relegated teams

From The Premier League to Division One:
From Division One to Division Two:
From Division Two to Division Three:
From Division Three to The Football Conference:

Transfer deals

;1 August 2001
;2 August 2001
;3 August 2001
;9 August 2001
;10 August 2001
;14 August 2001
;16 August 2001
;24 August 2001
;31 August 2001
;3 September 2001
;14 September 2001
;24 September 2001
;19 October 2001
;30 November 2001
;7 December 2001
;24 December 2001
;29 December 2001
;23 January 2002
;30 January 2002
;8 February 2002
;18 February 2002
;6 March 2002
;18 March 2002
;28 March 2002
;18 April 2002
For subsequent transfer deals see 2002–03 in English football.

Managerial changes

August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
;April
May
June
July
9 November 2001: Tony Ford, 42-year-old midfielder with one of the highest appearance records of any postwar English footballer, retires from playing after leaving Rochdale and following their manager Steve Parkin to Barnsley as his assistant and deciding that he was not capable of playing second tier football.
19 February 2002: Roberto Di Matteo, 31-year-old midfielder who was Chelsea's record signing for £4.9 million in 1996 and scored for them in FA Cup final wins in 1997 and 2000, retires after 17 months out of action having failed to recover from a broken leg suffered in a UEFA Cup game in September 2000.
21 April 2002: Stuart Pearce, 40-year-old left back who had been in league football since 1983 and was an England international for more than a decade until his last appearance in 2000, retires at the end of an illustrious career with ended on a high as he helped Manchester City win promotion to the Premier League as Division One champions. His final game was against Portsmouth at Maine Road, in which he missed a penalty that if scored would have been the 100th goal of his professional career that had also taken in spells with Coventry City, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United and West Ham United.
10 May 2002: Lee Dixon, 38-year-old right back who signed for Arsenal in January 1988 and played more than 600 games for them, retires after winning his second double in five seasons for the North London club.
11 May 2002: Matthew Le Tissier, 33-year-old striker who spent his entire professional career at Southampton since 1986, retires after scoring 162 goals for them but never managing to win a major trophy or play in a European competition, though he did manage several England appearances in the 1990s.

Deaths