The 2002–03 season was Oldham Athletic's sixth consecutive season in the third tier of English football. The club competed in Football League Second Division under the management of Iain Dowie who had been promoted from the role of assistant manager following the dismissal of Mick Wadsworth at the end of the previous season.
In addition to the league, Oldham participated in the FA Cup, the League Cup (then known as the Worthington Cup) and the Football League Trophy (then known as the LDV Vans Trophy). The club reached the second round of the FA Cup, the fourth round of the League Cup and the first round of the Football League Trophy.
Oldham finished 5th in the Second Division with 82 points from 46 matches. This league placing qualified Oldham for the end-of-season promotion play-offs. In the play-off semi-final, Oldham played Queens Park Rangers. The first leg at Boundary Park finished 1-1, with David Eyres scoring for Oldham and Richard Langley equalising for QPR. QPR won the second leg 1-0 at Loftus Road through a Paul Furlong goal, giving them a 2-1 aggregate win and ending Oldham's promotion challenge.
Following the end of the season, the club's major shareholder, Chris Moore, announced that he was not willing to support the club financially to the same level he had during the previous season, when losses were reported to be £50,000 a week. Moore sold his 95% shareholding to a group headed by then commercial manager Sean Jarvis and financial director Neil Joy, who operated as the club's directors until administrators were appointed soon after the start of the 2003-04 season.
Players
The following players appeared for Oldham during the season. Details are provided as at the end of the season (30 June 2003).
No Pos Nat Name Age Debut App Start Sub Notes 2 DF 23 34 26 8 4 9 0 3 MF 35 78 70 8 2 16 5 6 MF 33 284 255 29 39 34 0 7 MF 26 60 58 2 6 10 0 8 MF 38 140 128 12 12 14 1 9 FW 21 7 6 1 0 1 0 On loan 10 FW 28 78 55 23 9 10 0 11 MF 31 29 27 2 2 6 2 12 FW 25 46 34 12 12 9 1 13 GK 23 26 22 4 0 0 0 14 DF 25 16 13 3 0 1 0 15 DF 24 52 40 12 3 8 3 16 GK 27 43 43 0 0 0 1 17 FW 19 10 3 7 3 0 0 18 MF 22 38 25 13 2 7 0 19 FW 31 129 94 35 23 7 0 20 DF 24 61 59 2 1 1 0 21 DF 22 53 52 1 6 10 2 22 DF 19 2 0 2 0 0 0 23 DF 20 35 29 6 3 2 0 24 FW 21 34 15 19 4 3 0 28 MF 39 135 130 5 32 16 1 29 DF 24 26 26 0 1 2 1 30 FW 20 10 3 7 1 0 0 31 MF 27 84 65 19 6 7 0 32 FW 29 31 30 1 13 2 0 33 DF 20 79 78 1 1 10 0 34 MF 24 27 25 2 4 4 0
Statistics Appearances and goals
Final league table
Competitions League Division 2
League Division 2 Play-Offs
F.A. Cup
Football League Cup
Football League Trophy (LDV Vans Trophy)
References General https://www.11v11.com/teams/oldham-athletic/tab/matches/season/2003/ Specific