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2003–04 in English football

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The 2003-04 season was the 124th season of competitive football in England.

Overview

Arsenal completed the entire campaign without losing a single league game.

Leeds United narrowly avoided going into administration, but despite a valiant effort late in the season to claw back lost points, they were unable to avoid relegation and lost their place in the Premiership.

Wimbledon completed their controversial relocation to Milton Keynes and moved into the National Hockey Stadium, which would be used as a temporary home until a permanent home was built at Denbigh North. At the end of the season, the club's directors changed its name to Milton Keynes Dons.

Telford United, who had been members of the Conference every season since its formation in 1979, went out of business at the end of a season in which they had reached the Fourth Round of the FA Cup. The club was quickly reformed as A.F.C. Telford United and joined the Northern Premier League.

Doncaster Rovers were crowned Division Three champions to earn their second successive promotion, having been Conference playoff winners the previous season. They had not played above the league's lowest tier for nearly 20 years.

Carlisle United were relegated to the Conference from Division Three. They had spent all but two of the last 17 seasons in the league's fourth tier, but had been members of the top division during the 1974-75 season and topped the league three games into the season despite getting relegated at the end of it. York City also followed them out of the Football League afer a dreadful second half to the season. Meanwhile, Chester City and Shrewsbury Town were promoted back to the Football League from the Nationwide Conference.

Events

National team

Date Venue Opponents Score Competition England scorers
August 20, 2003 Portman Road, Ipswich  Croatia 3-1 F David Beckham (pen), Michael Owen, Frank Lampard
September 6, 2003 Skopje City Stadium Macedonia 2-1 ECQ Wayne Rooney, David Beckham (pen)
September 10, 2003 Old Trafford, Manchester  Liechtenstein 2-0 ECQ Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney
October 11, 2003 Istanbul  Turkey 0-0 ECQ
November 16, 2003 Old Trafford, Manchester  Denmark 2-3 F Wayne Rooney, Joe Cole
February 14, 2004 Estádio Algarve, Faro  Portugal 1-1 F Ledley King
March 31, 2004 Nya Ullevi Stadion, Gothenburg  Sweden 0-1 F
June 1, 2004 City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester  Japan 1-1 FA Michael Owen
June 5, 2004 City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester  Iceland 6-1 FA Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney (2), Darius Vassell (2), Wayne Bridge
June 13, 2004 Estádio da Luz, Lisbon  France 1-2 ECF Frank Lampard
June 17, 2004 Estádio Cidade, Coimbra   Switzerland 3-0 ECF Wayne Rooney (2), Steven Gerrard
June 21, 2004 Estádio da Luz, Lisbon  Croatia 4-2 ECF Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney (2), Frank Lampard
June 24, 2004 Estádio da Luz, Lisbon  Portugal 1-1 (FT), 2-2 (aet), 5-6 (P) ECF Michael Owen, Frank Lampard
  • ECQ - Euro 2004 qualifiers
  • ECF - Euro 2004 finals
  • F - Friendly; scores are written England first
  • FA - FA Summer Tournament (friendly)
  • (FT) - Full time
  • (aet) - After extra time
  • (P) - After penalty shoot out

Honours

Competition Winner
FA Premier League Arsenal
FA Cup Manchester United
Carling Cup Middlesbrough
Football League Trophy Blackpool
Football League First Division Norwich City
Football League Second Division Plymouth Argyle
Football League Third Division Doncaster Rovers
FA Community Shield Manchester United

European qualification

Competition Qualifiers Reason for qualification
UEFA Champions League Arsenal 1st in FA Premier League
Chelsea 2nd in FA Premier League
UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round Manchester United 3rd in FA Premier League
Liverpool 4th in FA Premier League
UEFA Cup Newcastle United 5th in FA Premier League
Middlesbrough League Cup Winners
Millwall In lieu of FA Cup winners
(qualification awarded as FA Cup runners-up because FA Cup winners Manchester United had already qualified for the Champions League)

League tables

FA Premier League

The Premiership title race was a three-horse race for most of the season, but Arsenal remained unbeaten all season long and clinched the title with 90 points and an 11-point gap over runners-up Chelsea, who had been most people's favourites for the title after a £100million summer spending spree.

League Cup winners Middlesbrough qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history, joined by fifth-placed Newcastle United. Seventh-placed Charlton Athletic and eighth-placed Bolton Wanderers both achieved their highest league finishes since the 1950s, while ninth-placed Fulham (many people's pre-season relegation favourites) defied the odds under 33-year-old manager Chris Coleman and achieved the highest league finish of their history. Portsmouth, also considered favourites for relegation pre-season, finished a respectable 13th in their first top-flight season.

Newly promoted Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers both went down after just one season, while Leeds United's financial crisis saw them lose most of their key players and eventually saw them relegated from the top flight after 14 successive seasons among the elite.

Pos Team Pl W D L F A GD Pts
1. Arsenal 38 26 12 0 73 26  +47 90
2. Chelsea 38 24 7 7 67 30  +37 79
3. Manchester United 38 23 6 9 64 35  +29 75
4. Liverpool 38 16 12 10 55 37  +18 60
5. Newcastle United 38 13 17 8 52 40  +12 56
6. Aston Villa 38 15 11 12 48 44  +4 56
7. Charlton Athletic 38 14 11 13 51 51  0 53
8. Bolton Wanderers 38 14 11 13 48 56  -8 53
9. Fulham 38 14 10 14 52 46  +6 52
10. Birmingham City 38 12 14 12 43 48  -5 50
11. Middlesbrough 38 13 9 16 44 52  -8 48
12. Southampton 38 12 11 15 44 45  -1 47
13. Portsmouth 38 12 9 17 47 54  -7 45
14. Tottenham Hotspur 38 13 6 19 47 57  -10 45
15. Blackburn Rovers 38 12 8 18 51 59  -8 44
16. Manchester City 38 9 14 15 55 54  +1 41
17. Everton 38 9 12 17 45 57  -12 39
18. Leicester City 38 6 15 17 48 65  -17 33
19. Leeds United 38 8 9 21 40 79  -39 33
20. Wolverhampton Wanderers 38 7 12 19 38 77  -39 33

Leading goalscorer: Thierry Henry (Arsenal) - 30

Key
Qualified for the Champions League
Qualified for the UEFA Cup
Relegated to the Championship

Football League First Division

The top three led the division for most of the season, but Sunderland could not shake off their poor start to the season and eventually lost out to Norwich, returning to the Premiership after nearly a decade, and West Brom, who bounced back to the Premiership after relegation the previous season. Crystal Palace achieved one of the most unlikely promotions of recent times, spending the entire first half of the season in the relegation zone under manager Steve Kember before surging into the play-off places under new manager Iain Dowie.

Wimbledon's move to Milton Keynes took its toll on the club, and they finished bottom of the table in an abysmal final season for the club before it was renamed as MK Dons. Bradford fared little better, despite the presence of former England captain Bryan Robson in the manager's chair. Walsall made a respectable start to the season before slumping somewhat later in the season, and finally crashing into the relegation zone when just a single point from any of their last three games would have ensured survival.

P W D L F A GD Pts
C 1 Norwich City 46 28 10 8 79 39 +40 94
P 2 West Bromwich Albion 46 25 11 10 64 42 +22 86
  3 Sunderland 46 22 13 11 62 45 +17 79
  4 West Ham United 46 19 17 10 67 45 +22 74
  5 Ipswich Town 46 21 10 15 84 72 +12 73
P 6 Crystal Palace 46 21 10 15 72 61 +11 73
  7 Wigan Athletic 46 18 17 11 60 45 +15 71
  8 Sheffield United 46 20 11 15 65 56 +9 71
  9 Reading 46 20 10 16 55 57 -2 70
  10 Millwall 46 18 15 13 55 48 +7 69
  11 Stoke City 46 18 12 16 58 55 +3 66
  12 Coventry City 46 17 14 15 67 54 +13 65
  13 Cardiff City 46 17 14 15 68 58 +10 65
  14 Nottingham Forest 46 15 15 16 61 58 +3 60
  15 Preston North End 46 15 14 17 69 71 -2 59
  16 Watford 46 15 12 19 54 68 -14 57
  17 Rotherham United 46 13 15 18 53 61 -8 54
  18 Crewe Alexandra 46 14 11 21 57 66 -9 53
  19 Burnley 46 13 14 19 60 77 -17 53
  20 Derby County 46 13 13 20 53 67 -14 52
  21 Gillingham 46 14 9 23 48 67 -19 51
R 22 Walsall 46 13 12 21 45 65 -20 51
R 23 Bradford City 46 10 6 30 38 69 -31 36
R 24 Wimbledon 46 8 5 33 41 89 -48 29

Leading goalscorer: Andrew Johnson (Crystal Palace) - 27

Football League Second Division

Plymouth Argyle finished top of the division, though they lost manager Paul Sturrock to Southampton. Queens Park Rangers grabbed the second spot from under the noses of Bristol City, who proceeded to lose the play-off final to Brighton & Hove Albion, another side who bounced back from relegation the previous season.

Tony Adams, previously suggested by many as a possible future manager of Arsenal and England, failed to keep Wycombe Wanderers up, ending their ten-year spell in the division. Notts County nearly went bankrupt during the course of the season and the effect on the club was evident, as they slipped into Division Three (or League Two, as it would be called the next season), and Rushden & Diamonds' years of success came to a grinding halt as they crashed back out of the division after being promoted the previous year. Grimsby Town filled the final relegation spot, resulting in their second successive relegation.

P W D L F A GD Pts
C 1 Plymouth Argyle 46 26 12 8 85 41 +44 90
P 2 Queens Park Rangers 46 22 17 7 80 45 +45 83
  3 Bristol City 46 23 13 10 58 37 +21 82
P 4 Brighton & Hove Albion 46 22 11 13 64 43 +21 77
  5 Swindon Town 46 20 13 13 76 58 +18 73
  6 Hartlepool United 46 20 13 13 76 61 +15 73
  7 Port Vale 46 21 10 15 73 63 +10 73
  8 Tranmere Rovers 46 17 16 13 59 56 +3 67
  9 A.F.C. Bournemouth 46 17 15 14 56 51 +5 66
  10 Luton Town 46 17 15 14 69 66 +3 66
  11 Colchester United 46 17 13 16 52 56 -4 64
  12 Barnsley 46 15 17 14 54 58 -4 62
  13 Wrexham 46 17 9 20 50 60 -10 60
  14 Blackpool 46 16 11 19 58 65 -7 59
  15 Oldham Athletic 46 12 21 13 66 60 +6 57
  16 Sheffield Wednesday 46 13 14 19 48 64 -18 53
  17 Brentford 46 14 11 21 52 69 -17 53
  18 Peterborough United 46 12 16 18 58 58 0 52
  19 Stockport County 46 11 19 16 62 70 -8 52
  20 Chesterfield 46 12 15 19 49 71 -22 51
  21 Grimsby Town 46 13 11 22 55 81 -26 50
  22 Rushden & Diamonds 46 13 9 24 60 74 -14 48
  23 Notts County 46 10 12 24 50 78 -28 42
  24 Wycombe Wanderers 46 6 19 21 50 75 -25 37

Leading goalscorer: Leon Knight (Brighton & Hove Albion) and Stephen McPhee (Port Vale) - 25

Football League Third Division

Doncaster earned a second successive promotion, showing that the club was firmly back on track after the years of struggle and scandal the club endured in the late 90s. Hull's expensive investment in players finally paid off, and the team was promoted. Torquay, traditionally strugglers, snatched the last automatic promotion spot from Huddersfield on the last day of the season. Huddersfield would make up for this by beating Mansfield in the play-off final.

York started the season brightly, but only managed to gain nine points between November 1 and the end of the season and lost their 80-year old League status. Carlisle started the season horrendously, but a late run saw them finish 23rd. A few years ago this would have seen them complete an amazing escape from relegation, but with the introduction of two relegation places from the League it was no longer sufficient, and they dropped into the Conference.

P W D L F A GD Pts
C 1 Doncaster Rovers 46 27 11 8 79 37 +42 92
P 2 Hull City 46 25 13 8 82 44 +38 88
P 3 Torquay United 46 23 12 11 68 44 +24 81
P 4 Huddersfield Town 46 23 12 11 68 52 +16 81
  5 Mansfield Town 46 22 9 15 76 62 +14 75
  6 Northampton Town 46 22 9 15 58 51 +7 75
  7 Lincoln City 46 19 17 10 68 47 +21 74
  8 Yeovil Town 46 23 5 18 70 57 +13 74
  9 Oxford United 46 18 17 11 55 44 +11 71
  10 Swansea City 46 15 14 17 58 61 -3 59
  11 Boston United 46 16 11 19 50 54 -4 59
  12 Bury 46 15 11 20 54 64 -10 56
  13 Cambridge United 46 14 14 18 55 67 -12 56
  14 Cheltenham Town 46 14 14 18 57 71 -14 56
  15 Bristol Rovers 46 14 13 19 50 61 -11 55
  16 Kidderminster Harriers 46 14 13 19 45 59 -14 55
  17 Southend United 46 14 12 20 51 63 -12 54
  18 Darlington 46 14 11 21 53 61 -8 53
  19 Leyton Orient 46 13 14 19 48 65 -17 53
  20 Macclesfield Town 46 13 13 20 54 69 -15 52
  21 Rochdale 46 12 14 20 49 58 -9 50
  22 Scunthorpe United 46 11 16 19 69 72 -3 49
R 23 Carlisle United 46 12 9 25 46 69 -23 45
R 24 York City 46 10 14 22 35 66 -31 44

Leading goalscorer: Steve MacLean (Scunthorpe United) - 23

National league system

Cup competitions

Competition Winners
FA Trophy Hednesford Town
FA Vase Winchester City
FA National League System Cup Mid Cheshire League

Football Conference

Northern Premier League

Southern League

Isthmian League

Other leagues

League Champions Notes
Step 3 Leagues Northern Premier League First Division Hyde United  
Southern League Midland/West Division Redditch United (promoted to Conference North after playoffs)
Southern League South/East Division King's Lynn  
Isthmian League Division One North Yeading  
Isthmian League Division One South Lewes (promoted to Conference South after playoffs)
Step 4 Leagues Northern League Dunston Federation Brewery  
North West Counties League Clitheroe  
Northern Counties East League Ossett Albion  
Midland Alliance Rocester  
United Counties League Spalding United  
Eastern Counties League A.F.C. Sudbury  
Isthmian League Division Two Leighton Town  
Essex Senior League Concord Rangers  
Spartan South Midlands League Beaconsfield SYCOB  
Combined Counties League A.F.C. Wimbledon  
Hellenic League Brackley Town  
Western League Bideford  
Wessex League Winchester City  
Sussex County League Chichester City United  
Kent League Cray Wanderers  

Transfer deals

Summer transfer window

The summer transfer window ran from the end of the previous season until 31 August 2003.

8 May 2003
11 May 2003
4 June 2003
6 June 2003
7 June 2003
11 June 2003
25 June 2003
30 June 2003
1 July 2003
2 July 2003
3 July 2003
7 July 2003
8 July 2003
9 July 2003
10 July 2003
11 July 2003
14 July 2003
15 July 2003
16 July 2003
17 July 2003
18 July 2003
21 July 2003
23 July 2003
24 July 2003
26 July 2003
28 July 2003
31 July 2003
1 August 2003
2 August 2003
3 August 2003
4 August 2003
5 August 2003
6 August 2003
8 August 2003
11 August 2003
12 August 2003
13 August 2003
14 August 2003
15 August 2003
21 August 2003
24 August 2003
25 August 2003
26 August 2003
29 August 2003
30 August 2003
31 August 2003
1 September

January transfer window

The mid-season transfer window runs from 1 January to 31 January 2004.

1 January 2004
2 January 2004
6 January 2004
9 January 2004
12 January 2004
14 January 2004
17 January 2004
23 January 2004
21 January 2004
22 January 2004
25 January 2004
27 January 2004
29 January 2004
30 January 2004
2 February 2004

For subsequent transfer deals see 2004-05 in English football.

Retirements

Famous Debutants

Deaths

  • John Charles, 72, was the most famous Leeds United player in the pre Don Revie era. His exploits for Leeds United and the Welsh national team attracted attention from all over the world and he was sold to Italian side Juventus in 1958.
  • Steve Cooper, 39, former striker who played nine Football League clubs during his career, most notably Tranmere Rovers and Plymouth Argyle, where he was a key member of promotion-winning sides. Later joined Scottish side Airdrie where he was a member of the side that surprisingly reached the Scottish FA Cup final in 1995.
  • Jimmy Davis, 21, Manchester United and England U-21 striker, died in a car crash on the M40 just hours before he was due to play his first game for Watford on a season-long loan deal. He had played once for Manchester United in a League Cup game, and had spent part of the 2001-02 season on loan to Swindon Town.
  • Ray Harford, 58, was best remembered for his managerial and coaching career - he was manager of Luton Town when they won the League Cup in 1988 and assistant manager of Blackburn Rovers when they were Premiership champions in 1995. He was promoted from the role of assistant manager to the manager's seat at three clubs - Luton Town, Wimbledon and Blackburn Rovers. He also had spells in charge of Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and finally Queens Park Rangers. His last post was as first-team coach at Millwall, and helped them win the Division Two title in 2001. He was still on the club's payroll at the time of his death from lung cancer.
  • Bob Stokoe, 73, was manager of the Sunderland side who achieved a shock F.A Cup victory over Leeds United in the 1973 final. He later managed Carlisle United and returned to Sunderland during the 1986-87 season, but quit after failing to save them from relegation to the old Third Division for the first time in their history.


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