HISTORY CORNER – The Team Of The Year 2002/03

Season 2002/03 was Yeovil Town`s promotion-winning season. It was also notable for being the first season that two teams would be promoted to the Football League – the champions and the play-off winners.

Doncaster Rovers therefore joined Yeovil in achieving promotion, winning the final played at Stoke City`s Britannia Stadium against Dagenham & Redbridge.

Curiously, only one Doncaster player made the end of season team of the year which was dominated by Yeovil players, with their manager Gary Johnson winning the accolade as top boss in the same season that saw one of his former clubs, Kettering Town, relegated from non-League football`s top competition.

Johnson`s (pictured above) success in leading Yeovil to promotion saw him go on to manage Bristol City, Peterborough United and Northampton Town before returning to the Glovers in 2012 and then Cheltenham Town, where he repeated his title success in the now-National League in 2015/16.

Four of Johnson`s stalwarts at Yeovil made the team of the year for 2002/03.

Goalkeeper Chris Weale came through the youth system at Huish Park and went on to become a vital part of the title-winning team, totalling 163 appearances before re-joining Gary Johnson at Bristol City in 2006.

He went on to have spells with Leicester City and Shrewsbury before re-joining Yeovil in 2014.

Capped four times by England C in 2003, Weale spent a year with Derby County as cover and is still playing at the age of 35 for Dorchester Town in the Evo-Stik League South Premier.

Defender Terry Skiverton played over 320 games for Yeovil in an eleven-year career having previously been with Wycombe and Welling United after being released by Chelsea.

Also capped at semi-pro level for England, Skiverton took over as player-manager at Huish Park in 2009 following the departure of Russell Slade and remained in charge until January 2012 when Gary Johnson returned for his second spell, with Skiverton moving to assistant boss.

When Johnson left in 2015, Skiverton took over as caretaker-manager before reverting to number two again upon the arrival of Paul Sturrock - a position he currently holds under current manager and former team-mate Darren Way.

Way was also named in the 2002/03 team of the year for his combative midfield performances.

He first arrived at Huish Park in 2000 and became a club legend by helping the Glovers achieve promotion from the Conference and then League Two in 2005, as well as lifting the FA Trophy in 2002.

After leaving for Swansea City in January 2006, Way returned to Somerset on loan in 2007, before signing permanently ahead of the 2008/09 season.

However, Way’s playing career was ended on December 2008 when he was involved in a severe car accident.

The determined character defied the doctor's prognosis of not being able to walk again by returning to Yeovil as a coach, working under Slade, Skiverton and Johnson - achieving promotion to the Championship with the latter.

Two years after the club's solitary season in the second tier, Way worked under Paul Sturrock as first-team coach, before taking interim charge in December 2015.

He was appointed as permanent boss after six games and led Yeovil to safety during the 2015/16 season by a margin of 14 points, putting together a six-game unbeaten run in the process and turning the club's fortunes around.

Way signed a new three-year contract in the summer of 2016 to keep him at Huish Park, before guiding the Glovers to a twentieth-place finish during the 2016/17 campaign, accruing the club's highest points tally in the last four campaigns

Attacking wide midfielder Michael McIndoe was the fourth member of the Glovers` promotion-winning side to make the team of the year.

Edinburgh-born McIndoe came through the youth system at Luton and played 40 times for the Hatters` senior side before moving to Hereford United in 2000.

Yeovil signed him in a year later for £25,000 and he went on to play a major part in their title success, after being player of the year in his first season as the Glovers won the FA Trophy.

He went on to make just under 100 appearances and contribute 22 goals before being sold to Doncaster Rovers in the summer of 2003 for £50,000.

He went on to enjoy great success with Donny, earning the PFA`s player of the year for the division and winning Scottish B caps.

In his second season with Doncaster, McIndoe wqas voted in the top five players of 2004/05 alongside Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard!

He moved on to have spells with the likes of Barnsley, Wolves, Bristol City, teaming-up once more with Gary Johnson, who paid £500,000 for his services, and then Coventry City before McIndoe left football in the summer of 2011 to solely concentrate on his business career, which went sour as was well-documented.

Joining Terry Skiverton in the back four in the team of the year were Tarkan Mustafa, Scott Guyett and Michael Rose.

Mustafa, now 44, had a slow start to his football career with fairly unsuccessful spells with Norwich City and Wimbledon, but came to the fore after joining Kettering Town in 1996.

His form for the Poppies in 96/97 earned him a move back to London with Barnet, but he surprisingly failed to establish himself with the Bees and left to join Kingstonian.

In 1999, he scored the winning goal in the FA Trophy Final for K`s against Forest Green Rovers and left to help the sadly now defunct Rushden & Diamonds win promotion to the Football League.

After playing eighty games for Diamonds, he joined Dagenham & Redbridge in February 2003, having been on loan with the Daggers.

It was his form for the East Londoners that earned him a place in the team of the 2002/03 season as he helped them to the play-off final.

After leaving the Daggers in 2004, Mustafa went on to play non-League football for a variety of sides, including Hornchurch, Aldershot Town, Worthing, Eastleigh, Redbridge and Canvey Island before retiring at the age of 35 in 2008.

Guyett earned his place in the team of the year for his performances with Chester City.

Although born in Ascot, the now 41-year-old spent most of his childhood in Australia and started out with Brisbane City.

He moved to England and his first team were Gresley Rovers, where he played a major part in the side winning the Southern League in 1996/97 before being signed by Southport.

He followed manager Mark Wright to Oxford United in 2001 and again when the former Liverpool and England defender took over at Chester.

After earning a place in that end of season team, Guyett helped Chester to win promotion back to the Football League a year later.

He moved on to play for Yeovil and then AFC Bournemouth in 2008 at the age of 32.

He was released by the Cherries two years later, and after a short spell with Dorchester Town, moved to Crystal Palace to work as the club's fitness coach.

Alongside Michael McIndoe and Darren Way in the team of the year`s engine room was Morecambe`s Stewart Drummond.

Drummond (pictured) started his career with the Shrimps and played almost 200 times, scoring 31 goals, in a ten-year spell as a first-team regular until leaving for Chester in 2004, where he was voted as player of the year.

He moved on to Shrewsbury Town two years later and then re-joined Morecambe in 2008 and added a further 280 appearances to his tally and 34 goals before retiring at the age of 39 in 2015.

He is still with the club, however, as academy manager.

Making up a three-man attack in the 2002/03 Conference team of the year were Daryl Clare, then with Chester, Doncaster striker Paul Barnes and Barnet`s Junior Agogo.

Clare was deemed good enough to wins caps for the Republic of Ireland at under-21 and `B` level and enjoyed a stella playing career, especially in the Conference, where he was a champion twice with Boston United and Chester City (the year after being in this team of the year) as well as being the league`s player of the year for 2003/04 and `golden boot` winner in 2001/02 and 2003/04.

He also played in the Football League for the likes of Grimsby Town, Burton Albion and Rushden & Diamonds as well as a host of other non-League sides, including Gateshead and Cambridge United.

He dropped down the levels to manage Louth Town and, most recently, ChromaSport & Trophies United Counties League Premier Division side Boston Town.

In contrast to most others in the team of the year, Paul Barnes was already 34 when he enjoyed a tremendous season in helping Doncaster to gain promotion back to the Football League, winning the `golden boot` in the process.

He had already racked up well over 300 League appearances for the likes of Notts County, Stoke, York City, Birmingham, Burnley, Huddersfield and Bury before he signed for Donny in 2001.

After scoring 31 goals in seventy-one appearances for Rovers, instead of moving back into the League, he played non-League football for Tamworth and then Hinckley United before hanging up his boots in 2005 and the age of 38.

He spends most of his time now watching his son Harvey, who has been capped by England at under-18 and under-20 level and is currently on a season`s loan with Barnsley from parent club Leicester City.

Agogo started out at Sheffield Wednesday and had several loan spells with a variety of clubs before moving to the United States in the late 1990s to try his luck with the likes of Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids and San Jose Earthquakes.

He returned to England and had a short spell with Queens Park Rangers before signing for Barnet at the start of the 2002/03 season.

His form for the Bees was outstanding as he scored 21 goals in thirty-nine matches, and won three England C caps.

But that was his one and only season with the Bees as he was snapped up by Bristol Rovers, where he played 126 times and scored 41 goals before an `undisclosed` fee took him to Nottingham Forest in August 2006.

After sixty-four games and 20 goals for Forest, Agogo left for Egyptian side Zamalek SC and then Cypriot outfit Apollon Limassol before ending his playing days with Scottish side Hibernian.

Agogo now runs his own fitness training business.