2001–02 Newcastle United F.C. season

Newcastle United

2001–02 season
Chairman	Freddy Shepherd
Manager	Sir Bobby Robson
Stadium	St. James' Park
FA Premier League	4th
FA Cup	Sixth round
League Cup	Fifth round
Intertoto Cup	Finalists
Top goalscorer	League: Alan Shearer (23) All: Alan Shearer (27)
Average home league attendance	51,373
Home colours Away colours
← 2000–01 2002–03 →

In the 2001–02 season, English professional football (soccer) club Newcastle United F.C. played in the Premier League, finishing fourth.

Season summary

For Bobby Robson's first two seasons as manager, the club remained in the bottom half of the table, however during this period Robson had built up an exciting young squad. He felt that his side could aim for eighth place in the final table as the season began

Newcastle reached an Inter-Toto Cup final early in the season against Troyes AC, which they lost on away goals after a 4–4 draw at home.^[1] They were soon looking like unlikely contenders for the Premiership title after they spent Christmas at the top of the table. Players such as Kieron Dyer (a Ruud Gullit signing), Craig Bellamy and Laurent Robert ensured the team were capable of once again punching their weight in the league. Newcastle achieved qualification for the lucrative Champions' League finishing in 4th place.^[2]

This brought renewed hope for the club after four seasons of struggle, though in the end Newcastle fell short of winning the title that they had coveted since 1927. Nonetheless, fourth place was their highest since 1997, securing Champions League football for only the second time in the club's history.

• 
  Kieron Dyer
• 
  Craig Bellamy
• 
  Laurent Robert

Final league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
2	Liverpool	38	24	8	6	67	30	+37	80	Qualification for the Champions League first group stage
3	Manchester United	38	24	5	9	87	45	+42	77	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
4	Newcastle United	38	21	8	9	74	52	+22	71
5	Leeds United	38	18	12	8	53	37	+16	66	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[a]
6	Chelsea	38	17	13	8	66	38	+28	64

Club transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
June 2001	FW	Craig Bellamy	Coventry City	£6,000,000
July 2001	DF	Robbie Elliott	Bolton Wanderers	Free
1 August 2001	MF	Laurent Robert	PSG	£9,500,000[3]
11 September 2001	DF	Sylvain Distin	PSG	£500,000 (loan fee)[4]
4 February 2002	MF	Jermaine Jenas	Nottingham Forest	£5,000,000[5]

• Total spending: £21m

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
May 2001	MF	Des Hamilton	Cardiff City	Free
May 2001	MF	Stephen Glass	Watford	Free
May 2001	FW	Kevin Gallacher	Preston North End	Free
May 2001	MF	Daniel Cordone	Racing Club	Loan ended
May 2001	DF	Carl Serrant	-	Retired
January 2002	MF	Christian Bassedas	Tenerife	Loan
1 February 2002	DF	Warren Barton	Derby County	Nominal[6]
7 February 2002	MF	Rob Lee	Derby County	Undisclosed[7]
March 2002	DF	David Beharall	Oldham Athletic	£150,000

• Total spending: £0.15m

Players

First-team squad

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IRL Shay Given 2 DF  ENG Warren Barton 3 DF  ENG Robbie Elliott 4 MF  PER Nolberto Solano 5 DF  IRL Andy O'Brien 6 MF  CHI Clarence Acuña 7 MF  ENG Rob Lee 7 MF  ENG Jermaine Jenas 8 MF  ENG Kieron Dyer 9 FW  ENG Alan Shearer (captain) 10 MF  ARG Christian Bassedas 11 MF  WAL Gary Speed 12 DF  ENG Andy Griffin

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 GK  ENG Steve Harper 14 DF  ENG Wayne Quinn 16 FW  ENG Carl Cort 17 FW  WAL Craig Bellamy 18 DF  NIR Aaron Hughes 20 FW  COD Lomana LuaLua 22 MF  ENG Jamie McClen 23 FW  ENG Shola Ameobi 24 DF  FRA Sylvain Distin 25 MF  SCO Brian Kerr 32 MF  FRA Laurent Robert 34 DF  GRE Nikos Dabizas 35 DF  FRA Olivier Bernard

Reserve squad

The following players did not appear for the first-team this season.^[8]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  ESP Marcelino 21 MF  PAR Diego Gavilán 26 MF  ENG James Coppinger 27 DF  ENG David Beharall 29 GK  NED John Karelse 30 DF  SCO Steven Caldwell 31 MF  ENG Stuart Green 33 MF  POR Pedro Dimas

No. Pos. Nation Player 36 DF  SCO Gary Caldwell 37 FW  SCO Colin McMenamin 38 MF  SCO Ryan McGuffie 39 MF  ENG Mark Boyd 40 DF  ENG David Cowan — GK  ENG Phil Pringle — GK  ENG Adam Sadler

U-19 squad

The following players made most of their appearances for the under-19 team this season, but may have also appeared for the under-17s or the reserves.^[9]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 28 FW  ENG Michael Chopra — GK  ENG Carl Bell — GK  ENG Jonny Brain — DF  ENG Aaron Labonte — DF  ENG Lee Norton — DF  ENG Bradley Orr — DF  ENG Peter Ramage — DF  IRL Joe Kendrick — MF  ENG Karl Colley[10] — MF  ENG Tommy English — MF  ENG Andy Ferrell — MF  ENG Robert Kent — MF  ENG Chris Moore

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Craig Robson — MF  ENG Damon Robson — MF  NIR Carl Heiniger — MF  IRL Stephen Brennan — FW  ENG Jonathan Mann — FW  ENG Richard Offiong —   Kevin Dixon —   Paul Dunn —   Ryan Hogg —   David Molloy —   Chris Meredith —   Matthew Patterson —   Stephen Pringle

U-17 squad

The following players made most of their appearances for the under-17 team this season, but may have appeared for the under-19s or the reserves.^[11]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Adam Bartlett — GK  ENG Adam Collin — GK  ENG Ben Smith — DF  ENG Liam Atkin — DF  ENG Chris Carr — DF  ENG Phil Cave — DF  ENG Kris Gate — DF  ENG Steven Taylor — DF  SCO Chris Shanks — MF  ENG James Beaumont — MF  ENG Martin Brittain — MF  ENG Ross Gardner — MF  ENG Steven Istead — MF  ENG Neale McDermott — MF  ENG Ben Webster — MF  IRL Alan O'Brien

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ENG Guy Bates — FW  ENG Lewis Guy — FW  ENG Marc Walton — FW  COD Calvin Zola — MF   Ben Jackson —   Michael Carr —   Ben Dixon —   Stephen Graham —   Mark Grant —   Danny Howe —   Scott Kerr —   Mark Laird —   Graeme Matthewson —   Wesley Richardson —   Gavin Stoker —   Jack Wanless

Trialists

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  NED Dries Boussatta (free agent)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  IRN Hamed Kavianpour (on trial from Persepolis)

Other players

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  NIR Daryl Smylie — MF  RSA Matty Pattison

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ENG Carl Finnigan

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Director of Football	Gordon Milne
Manager	Bobby Robson
Assistant manager	David Geddis
First-team coach	John Carver
Goalkeeping coach	Simon Smith
Under 17 coach	Alan Irvine
Under 19 coach	Kenny Wharton
Reserve team coach	Tommy Craig
Academy striker coach	Peter Beardsley
Physiotherapist	Derek Wright
Assistant Physio	Paul Ferris
Chief scout	Charlie Woods

Appearances, goals and cards

(Starting appearances + substitute appearances)

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Shay Given	38	0	5	0	1	0	6	0	50	0	2	0
2	DF	Warren Barton	4+1	0	0	0	1	0	6	0	11+1	0	2	0
3	DF	Robbie Elliott	26+1	1	3+1	0	2+1	0	6	0	37+3	1	5	0
4	MF	Nolberto Solano	37	7	5	1	4	0	6	4	52	12	4	0
5	DF	Andy O'Brien	31+3	2	4+1	1	3+1	0	0+1	0	38+6	3	4	0
6	MF	Clarence Acuña	10+6	3	3+2	1	1+1	0	0+1	0	14+10	4	4	0
7	MF	Rob Lee	15+1	1	0	0	3	0	3	0	21+1	1	4	0
7	MF	Jermaine Jenas	6+6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6+6	0	0	0
8	MF	Kieron Dyer	15+3	3	2	0	0+1	0	0	0	17+4	3	0	0
9	FW	Alan Shearer	36+1	23	5	2	4	2	0	0	45+1	27	3	0
10	MF	Christian Bassedas	1+1	0	0	0	1	0	3+1	0	5+2	0	2	0
11	MF	Gary Speed	28+1	5	2	0	3	0	6	2	39+1	7	5	0
12	DF	Andy Griffin	3+1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4+1	0	0	0
13	GK	Steve Harper	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
14	DF	Wayne Quinn	0	0	0+1	0	1	0	6	1	7+1	1	0	0
16	FW	Carl Cort	6+2	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	8+2	1	0	0
17	FW	Craig Bellamy	26+1	9	3	0	2+1	4	6	1	37+2	14	9	0
18	DF	Aaron Hughes	34	0	5	1	3	0	6	2	48	3	2	0
20	FW	Lomana LuaLua	4+16	3	0+3	0	0+3	0	0+6	2	4+28	5	0	0
22	MF	Jamie McClen	3	0	3	1	0	0	0+2	0	6+2	1	0	0
23	FW	Shola Ameobi	4+11	0	0+1	0	2+1	2	6	3	12+13	5	3	0
24	DF	Sylvain Distin	20+8	0	5	0	2	0	0	0	27+8	0	6	0
25	MF	Brian Kerr	0	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0	0+2	0	0	0
32	MF	Laurent Robert	34+2	8	3	1	3	1	0	0	40+2	10	7	0
34	DF	Nikos Dabizas	33+2	3	3	0	2	0	6	0	44+2	3	8	0
35	DF	Olivier Bernard	4+12	3	2	0	2	0	0+3	0	8+15	3	2	0

Matches

Pre-season

Intertoto Cup

Rob Lee Testimonial

Premier League

FA Cup

League Cup

References

External links

• FootballSquads - Newcastle United - 2001/02
• Newcastle United transfers under Bobby Robson
• Newcastle United Football Club - Fixtures 2001-02
• Newcastle - Player Appearances - Soccerbase