Season 2002/03
original illustrations of the kits worn during the season


The Season in brief

United struggled before the turn of the year, and after Christmas were third and trailing Arsenal by seven points. Remarkably they won fifteen of their final eighteen games, drawing the other three. They hit top spot on April 12th after an emphatic 6-2 win at St James' Park and collected their eighth Premier League title on the final day of the season, winning 2-1 at Goodison Park. United's only two domestic defeats came in the League Cup Final, beaten 2-0 by Liverpool, and 2-0 by Arsenal in the F.A. Cup fifth round.

In Europe United moved effortlessly into the quarter finals, topping both group tables. Beaten 3-1 in the Bernabéu, a van Nistelrooy goal at least gave United some hope. In the return at Old Trafford however, Real Madrid's Ronaldo was unstoppable and scored a marvellous hat trick. Two goals from substitute David Beckham helped United to a 4-3.

The agreement with Nike, agreed in late 2000 for thirteen years, began at the start of the season. Nike produced new designs for all three of United's kits, all of which were in the club's traditional colours. Premier League sleeve patches were worn on shirts for all domestic games.

Although the goalkeeper's change kit officially had grey socks, it was more often as not worn with the black home socks. Roy Carroll and Ricardo wore long-sleeved shirts in both domestic and European games. In the game against Juventus at home, Barthez wore the long sleeved change shirt with track suit bottoms.