2003–04 Manchester City F.C. season

Manchester City

2003–04 season
Owner	Publicly traded company
Chairman	John Wardle
Manager	Kevin Keegan
Stadium	City of Manchester Stadium (a.k.a. Eastlands and CoMS)
Premier League	16th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Fourth round
UEFA Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Nicolas Anelka (16) All: Nicolas Anelka (24)
Highest home attendance	47,269 0v0 Chelsea 28 February 2004
Lowest home attendance	29,067 0v0 Sporting Lokeren 24 September 2003
Average home league attendance	46,245 – over 19 PL home games (3rd highest in Premier League)
Home colours Away colours
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

Results summary
All competitions
	Wins	Draws	Losses	Win %
Home	7	12	5	29.2%
Away	9	6	12	33.3%
Both	16	18	17	31.4%
Premier League
	Wins	Draws	Losses	Win %
Home	5	9	5	26.3%
Away	4	5	10	21.1%
Both	9	14	15	23.7%

The 2003–04 season was Manchester City Football Club's second consecutive season playing in the Premier League, the top division of English football, and its seventh season since the Premier League was first created with Manchester City as one of its original 22 founding member clubs. Overall, it was the team's 112th season playing in a division of English football, most of which have been spent in the top flight.

Season review

After finishing ninth during the club's final season at 80-year-old Maine Road, Manchester City's debut season at the City of Manchester Stadium was a major disappointment. A ninth-place finish had not been good enough to earn City an opportunity to play in the UEFA Cup but the team was rewarded with that opportunity anyway due to being awarded a "Fair Play" slot in the UEFA Cup competition this season. City reached the second round proper of the competition thanks to aggregate victories against The New Saints and Lokeren, but exited the competition on the away goals rule after two draws against Polish club Groclin.

Having embarked on a new era for the club by signing a host of experienced players in the summer, such as Claudio Reyna and Steve McManaman, to combine with such burgeoning talents coming through from the MCFC youth academy as Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips, City started their season very brightly with three wins in five games, sending them near the top of the table. They were still in the top-half of the table after winning five, drawing three and losing three of their first 11 games, with three notably big wins: a 3–0 opening-game away win at Charlton Athletic, a 4–1 home victory over Aston Villa and a 6–2 thumping of Bolton Wanderers. However, a dreadful 3–0 home defeat against unlikely opponents Leicester City in November started a gradual downturn in form and City then ended up battling against relegation. At one point, City went on a run of winning only one game out of 18 league and cup matches played, sparking media rumours of unrest in the squad.^[1] Survival in the Premier League was not confirmed until City won their 36th game of the league season. That victory meant that City were six points ahead of the relegation places, but the club's survival was effectively confirmed due to it having a far superior goal difference to Leicester, Leeds and Wolves, who were relegated.

Perhaps the most memorable game played by Manchester City during this season was the FA Cup fourth-round replay fixture against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane which featured what many people consider to be one of the most extraordinary comebacks in the history of the competition.^[1][2] City fell three goals behind during the first half, had Nicolas Anelka substituted due to injury and Joey Barton was sent off during half-time for verbally abusing the referee.^[1] Despite having one man less than their opponents during the second half, City came all the way back to win 4–3 and reach the next round.^[1] Rookie Icelandic goalkeeper Árni Arason made a key double save^[1] and Jon Macken scored the winning goal.^[1] In the next round, a Manchester derby at Old Trafford, City lost 4–2 to exit the competition.

Team kit

There was a change in the producer of the team kits for this season, with Reebok replacing the previous season's supplier, Le Coq Sportif. The shirt sponsorship was provided by the financial and legal services group First Advice who had also been the sponsors for the previous season.^[3]

Home

Home (version 2)

Home (version 3)

Away

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  ENG David James 2 DF  FRA David Sommeil 3 DF  BEL Daniel Van Buyten (on loan from Marseille) 4 DF  NED Gerard Wiekens 5 DF  FRA Sylvain Distin 8 FW  ENG Robbie Fowler 9 FW  CRC Paulo Wanchope 10 MF  FRA Antoine Sibierski 11 FW  ENG Jon Macken 12 GK  ENG Nicky Weaver 17 DF  CHN Sun Jihai 18 DF  GER Michael Tarnat 19 MF  AUS Danny Tiatto 20 MF  ENG Steve McManaman 22 DF  IRL Richard Dunne

No. Pos. Nation Player 24 MF  ENG Joey Barton 25 GK  ISL Árni Gautur Arason 26 MF  NED Paul Bosvelt 27 DF  DEN Mikkel Bischoff 28 MF  ENG Trevor Sinclair 29 MF  ENG Shaun Wright-Phillips 30 MF  FRA Christian Negouai 32 GK  DEN Kevin Stuhr-Ellegaard 33 GK  DEN Kasper Schmeichel 39 FW  FRA Nicolas Anelka 41 DF  ENG Stephen Jordan 42 MF  IRL Glenn Whelan 43 DF  IRL Paddy McCarthy 44 MF  IRL Willo Flood 45 FW  IRL Stephen Elliott

Left club during season

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  ENG David Seaman (retired) 7 FW  ENG Darren Huckerby (to Norwich City) 14 MF  ISR Eyal Berkovic (to Portsmouth) 15 DF  NOR Alfie Haaland (retired)

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 DF  SCO Paul Ritchie (to Walsall) 25 DF  CMR Lucien Mettomo (to Kaiserslautern) 40 MF  ENG Chris Shuker (to Barnsley)

Historical league performance

Prior to this season, the history of Manchester City's performance in the English football league hierarchy since the creation of the Premier League in 1992 is summarised by the following timeline chart – which commences with the last season (1991–92) of the old Football League First Division (from which the Premier League was formed).

Friendly games

Pre-season

First game ever played at CoMS

Competitive games

Premier League

Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
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 (R)	38	6	15	17	48	65	−17	33	Relegation to the Football League Championship

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	9	14	15	55	54	+1	41	5	9	5	31	24	+7	4	5	10	24	30	−6

Results by round

Individual match reports

UEFA Cup

Final aggregate score 1–1 with Groclin progressing on away goals rule

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League Cup

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FA Cup

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premier League		FA Cup		League Cup		UEFA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK	ENG	David Seaman	26	0	19	0	1	0	1	0	5	0
1	GK	ENG	David James	18	0	17	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
12	GK	ENG	Nicky Weaver	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
25	GK	ISL	Árni Gautur Arason	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
32	GK	DEN	Kevin Stuhr Ellegaard	5	0	2+2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Defenders
2	DF	FRA	David Sommeil	25	2	18	1	2	0	1	0	4	1
3	DF	BEL	Daniel Van Buyten	6	0	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
4	DF	NED	Gerard Wiekens	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
5	DF	FRA	Sylvain Distin	50	3	38	2	5	1	2	0	5	0
17	DF	CHN	Sun Jihai	42	2	29+4	1	3	0	1	0	5	1
18	DF	GER	Michael Tarnat	41	4	32	3	4	1	2	0	3	0
22	DF	IRL	Richard Dunne	40	0	28+1	0	5	0	2	0	3+1	0
27	DF	NED	Mikkel Bischoff	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0
41	DF	ENG	Stephen Jordan	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
6	MF	USA	Claudio Reyna	31	1	19+4	1	3	0	1	0	2+2	0
19	MF	AUS	Danny Tiatto	9	0	1+4	0	0	0	0	0	2+2	0
20	MF	ENG	Steve McManaman	30	0	20+2	0	2+1	0	0+1	0	4	0
24	MF	ENG	Joey Barton	39	1	24+4	1	3+1	0	2	0	2+3	0
26	MF	NED	Paul Bosvelt	35	1	22+3	0	4	1	1	0	4+1	0
28	MF	ENG	Trevor Sinclair	38	2	20+9	1	3+1	0	2	0	3	1
29	MF	ENG	Shaun Wright-Phillips	46	11	32+2	7	3+1	1	2	2	4+2	1
30	MF	FRA	Christian Negouai	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
42	MF	IRL	Glenn Whelan	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0
44	MF	IRL	Willo Flood	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Forwards
8	FW	ENG	Robbie Fowler	41	10	23+8	7	4	1	2	1	4	1
9	FW	CRC	Paulo Wanchope	26	6	12+10	6	0	0	0	0	1+3	0
10	FW	FRA	Antoine Sibierski	30	7	18+5	5	3+2	1	0+1	0	1	1
11	FW	ENG	Jon Macken	21	4	7+8	1	1+2	2	0+1	1	1+1	0
39	FW	FRA	Nicolas Anelka	43	24	31+1	16	4	4	2	0	5	4
45	FW	IRL	Stephen Elliott	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Players transferred out during the season
1	GK	ENG	David Seaman	26	0	19	0	1	0	1	0	5	0
7	FW	ENG	Darren Huckerby	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
14	MF	ISR	Eyal Berkovic	7	0	1+3	0	0	0	0+1	0	2	0

Starting 11

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	MS	Notes
1	GK		David Seaman	26
17	RB		Sun Jihai	38
22	CB		Richard Dunne	38
5	CB		Sylvain Distin	50
18	LB		Michael Tarnat	41
28	RM		Trevor Sinclair	28
24	CM		Joey Barton	31	Steve McManaman had 26 starts
26	CM		Paul Bosvelt	31
29	LM		Shaun Wright-Phillips	41
8	CF		Robbie Fowler	33
39	CF		Nicolas Anelka	42

Goal scorers

Information current as of 15 May 2004 (end of season)

Transfers and loans

References