Club history: 2002-03
2002-2003. Everyone expected PSG to be battling near the top of the table. Ronaldinho had adapted perfectly to the French game and the summer recruitment was complimentary and complete. The results? Disastrous! Upset by numerous internal affairs, the 2002-03 term saw PSG run the full gamut of emotions. In week 13 of the season, the club could even have moved top of the standings. But in the end, PSG finished 11th, the worst league position of the last 15 years. In March, the club miraculously avoided the worst: PSG hosted Troyes to the Parc des Princes. Unhappy with the club’s sporting results, the supporters were on strike. After just half an hour, Troyes were leading 2-0. A monumental groan echoed around the stadium and heralded the revolution on the pitch and the capital club registered a memorable 4-2 triumph.
What is there to say about the final of the Coupe de France (French Cup) – PSG’s last chance to qualify for European competition and lost 2-1 against Auxerre at the Stade de France? The man in black produced red for Hugo Leal… but there’s no point crying over spilt milk. 
Yet even during the blackest days, PSG always produced the goods in the big matches: Bordeaux, Auxerre, Monaco, Lyon… they all succumbed to Parisian pressure at Le Parc. And one mustn’t forget the best of all, Marseille. The three wins in the national derby are surely the only things the supporters remember from an otherwise catastrophic campaign, including a first win at the Stade Vélodrome in 20 years. In total, PSG scored eight times in three matches against Marseille, conceding just one!
Armed with a new president and a new coach, fans of the capital club looked towards the 2003-04 season as one of redemption, a phoenix emerging from the flames…
