2001–02 Portsmouth F.C. season

Portsmouth

2001–02 season
Chairman	Milan Mandaric
Manager	Graham Rix (until 25 March) Harry Redknapp (from 25 March)
Stadium	Fratton Park
First Division	17th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Crouch (18) All: Crouch (19)
Average home league attendance	15,121
← 2000–01 2002–03 →

During the 2001–02 English football season, Portsmouth F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

Portsmouth started the season promisingly but slumped during the winter and were involved in a relegation battle for the second half of the season. A string of poor results, including a 4–1 home loss in the FA Cup to bottom of the Football League Leyton Orient, meant that Director of Football Harry Redknapp was given more responsibilities until he eventually replaced Rix as team manager toward the end of the season. The goals of striker Peter Crouch and the creativity of veteran Croatian midfielder Robert Prosinečki played a crucial role in saving Portsmouth from relegation. Despite only spending the one season with the club before moving to Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana, such was the role Prosinečki played that he is now widely regarded as one of the greatest players to ever grace Fratton Park. Crouch was sold to Aston Villa near the end of the season for £5 million, which was used in the ensuing summer to rebuild the squad.

Tragedy struck the club six days before the start of the season when goalkeeper Aaron Flahavan was killed in a car crash near Bournemouth on 5 August. Both Portsmouth and Flahavan's youth club Southampton retired the number 1 jersey during the season, out of respect for Flahavan, who had played more than 100 games for Portsmouth since making his debut five years earlier.

Kit

Portsmouth retained the previous season's kit, manufactured by the club's own brand, Pompey Sport, and sponsored by Bishop's Printers.

Final league table

Main article: 2001-02 Football League

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts
1	Manchester City	46		19	3	1	63	19		12	3	8	45	33		108	52	+56		99
2	West Bromwich Albion	46		15	4	4	36	11		12	4	7	25	18		61	29	+32		89
3	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46		13	4	6	33	18		12	7	4	43	25		76	43	+33		86
4	Millwall	46		15	3	5	43	22		7	8	8	26	26		69	48	+21		77
5	Birmingham City	46		14	4	5	44	20		7	9	7	26	29		70	49	+21		76
6	Norwich City	46		15	6	2	36	16		7	3	13	24	35		60	51	+9		75
7	Burnley	46		11	7	5	39	29		10	5	8	31	33		70	62	+8		75
8	Preston North End	46		13	7	3	45	21		7	5	11	26	38		71	59	+12		72
9	Wimbledon	46		9	8	6	30	22		9	5	9	33	35		63	57	+6		67
10	Crystal Palace	46		13	3	7	42	22		7	3	13	28	40		70	62	+8		66
11	Coventry City	46		12	4	7	33	19		8	2	13	26	34		59	53	+6		66
12	Gillingham	46		12	5	6	38	26		6	5	12	26	41		64	67	–3		64
13	Sheffield United	46		8	8	7	34	30		7	7	9	19	24		53	54	–1		60
14	Watford	46		10	5	8	38	30		6	6	11	24	26		62	56	+6		59
15	Bradford City	46		10	1	12	41	39		5	9	9	28	37		69	76	–7		55
16	Nottingham Forest	46		7	11	5	26	21		5	7	11	24	30		50	51	–1		54
17	Portsmouth	46		9	6	8	36	31		4	8	11	24	41		60	72	–12		53
18	Walsall	46		10	6	7	29	27		3	6	14	22	44		51	71	–20		51
19	Grimsby Town	46		9	7	7	34	28		3	7	13	16	44		50	72	–22		50
20	Sheffield Wednesday	46		6	7	10	28	37		6	7	10	21	34		49	71	–22		50
21	Rotherham United	46		7	13	3	32	29		3	6	14	20	37		52	66	–14		49
22	Crewe Alexandra	46		8	8	7	23	32		4	5	14	24	44		47	76	–29		49
23	Barnsley	46		9	9	5	37	33		2	6	15	22	53		59	86	–27		48
24	Stockport County	46		5	1	17	19	44		1	7	15	23	58		42	102	–60		26

• Pld = Matches ; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
• NB: In the Football League goals scored (F) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).

Key
	Football League Champions, promoted to FA Premier League
	Promoted to FA Premier League
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted to Premier League through play-offs
	Relegated

Results

Portsmouth's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
11 August 2001	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	2–2	23,012	Crouch, Crowe
18 August 2001	Bradford City	H	0–1	17,239
25 August 2001	Stockport County	A	1–0	5,090	Prosinečki
27 August 2001	Grimsby Town	H	4–2	13,614	Burchill (2), Crouch (2)
8 September 2001	Gillingham	H	2–1	17,224	Barrett, Zamperini
12 September 2001	Wimbledon	A	3–3	7,138	Burchill, Crouch, Bradbury (pen)
15 September 2001	Crystal Palace	H	4–2	18,149	Zamperini, Prosinečki, Burchill (pen), Crouch
18 September 2001	Walsall	A	0–0	6,153
22 September 2001	Coventry City	A	0–2	18,303
25 September 2001	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–2	17,287	Prosinečki (pen)
28 September 2001	Barnsley	A	4–1	11,660	Vincent, Crouch, Bradbury (2, 1 pen)
12 October 2001	Rotherham United	A	1–2	6,427	Crouch
20 October 2001	Sheffield United	H	1–0	15,538	Edinburgh
23 October 2001	Norwich City	A	0–0	19,962
27 October 2001	Preston North End	H	0–1	15,402
30 October 2001	Birmingham City	H	1–1	15,612	Bradbury
3 November 2001	Sheffield Wednesday	A	3–2	18,212	Crouch (2), Barrett
10 November 2001	Burnley	A	1–1	14,123	Crouch
17 November 2001	Manchester City	H	2–1	19,103	Bradbury, Crouch
25 November 2001	Watford	A	0–3	15,631
28 November 2001	Nottingham Forest	H	3–2	14,837	Hjelde (own goal), Bradbury (2, 1 pen)
2 December 2001	Norwich City	H	1–2	13,286	Harper
8 December 2001	Crewe Alexandra	H	2–4	14,430	Lovell, Crouch
13 December 2001	Millwall	A	0–1	11,527
22 December 2001	Stockport County	H	2–0	13,887	Crouch, Lovell
26 December 2001	Gillingham	A	0–2	10,477
29 December 2001	Grimsby Town	A	1–3	5,217	Crouch
12 January 2002	Bradford City	A	1–3	14,306	Primus
17 January 2002	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2–3	13,105	Quashie, Prosinečki
30 January 2002	Nottingham Forest	A	1–0	26,476	Prosinečki
2 February 2002	Barnsley	H	4–4	12,756	Prosinečki (3, 1 pen), Primus
9 February 2002	Sheffield United	A	3–4	17,553	Crouch, Prosinečki, Quashie
16 February 2002	Rotherham United	H	0–0	13,313
23 February 2002	West Bromwich Albion	A	0–5	21,028
26 February 2002	Coventry City	H	1–0	12,336	Crouch
2 March 2002	Walsall	H	1–1	13,203	Crouch
5 March 2002	Crystal Palace	A	0–0	15,915
9 March 2002	Millwall	H	3–0	15,221	Biagini, O'Neil, Pitt
12 March 2002	Wimbledon	H	1–2	13,118	Biagini
16 March 2002	Crewe Alexandra	A	1–1	7,170	Crouch
23 March 2002	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0–0	14,819
30 March 2002	Preston North End	A	0–2	16,832
1 April 2002	Burnley	H	1–1	18,020	Todorov
7 April 2002	Birmingham City	A	1–1	25,030	Pitt
13 April 2002	Watford	H	0–1	16,302
21 April 2002	Manchester City	A	1–3	34,657	Pitt

FA Cup

Main article: 2001–02 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	16 January 2002	Leyton Orient	H	1–4	12,936	Smith (own goal)

League Cup

Main article: 2001–02 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	21 August 2001	Colchester United	H	1–2	7,078	Crouch

Squad

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

No. Position Player 2 DF Jason Crowe 3 DF Jamie Vincent 4 MF Shaun Derry 5 DF Eddie Howe 6 DF Carl Tiler 7 MF Kevin Harper 8 MF Robert Prosinečki 10 FW Lee Bradbury 11 MF Nigel Quashie 13 DF Alessandro Zamperini 14 GK Chris Tardif 15 MF Courtney Pitt 16 DF Thomas Thøgersen 17 MF Tom Curtis 19 FW Luke Nightingale 20 FW Rory Allen 21 DF Justin Edinburgh 22 FW Mladen Rudonja 23 MF Garry Brady 24 DF Scott Hiley

No. Position Player 25 FW Steve Lovell 26 MF Gary O'Neil 27 MF Stefani Miglioranzi 28 MF Michael Panopoulos 29 MF Mark Summerbell (on loan from Middlesbrough) 30 DF Linvoy Primus 31 GK Dave Beasant 32 FW Rowan Vine 33 DF Lewis Buxton 34 MF Neil Barrett 35 FW Mark Burchill 36 MF Uliano Courville 37 GK Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi 38 MF Carl Pettefer 39 DF Scott Wilson (on loan from Rangers) 40 GK Alan Knight 41 FW Leonardo Biagini (on loan from Mallorca) 42 DF Shaun Cooper 43 FW Svetoslav Todorov

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. Position Player 1 GK Aaron Flahavan (died) 5 DF Darren Moore (to West Bromwich Albion) 9 FW Peter Crouch (to Aston Villa) 18 DF David Waterman (to Oxford United)

No. Position Player 22 FW Lee Mills (to Coventry City) 29 MF Ceri Hughes (to Cardiff City) 37 GK Saša Ilić (on loan from Charlton Athletic) 39 GK Andy Petterson (to West Bromwich Albion)