2003–04 Leicester City F.C. season

Leicester City
2003-04 season
Chairman Jim McCahill
Manager Micky Adams
Premiership 18th (relegated)
FA Cup Third round
League Cup Third round
Top goalscorer League:
Les Ferdinand (12)
All:
Les Ferdinand (13)
Paul Dickov (13)
Average home attendance 30,983
← 2002-03 2004-05 →

During the 2003–04 English football season, Leicester City F.C. competed in the FA Premier League (known as the Barclaycard Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Contents

Season summary

Micky Adams had guided Leicester back to the Premiership at the first attempt, despite the club spending part of their Division One campaign in receivership before a takeover safeguarded their future. But he was unable to keep them there, and their relegation was confirmed at the beginning of May. A 4-0 thumping of fellow relegation rivals Leeds United in September appeared to have set the tone for the rest of the season but it was soon followed by a setback of five straight defeats despite promising displays. A run of several good results followed in November (three wins in five games) to keep Leicester in close contention of survival; however, it all went wrong as after a creditable 1-1 draw with Arsenal, the team went into freefall and endured a dreadful run of only one win in 22 games (though most scorelines were reasonably close and they dropped too many points from 12 games they drew which they could've won). Ultimately, they effectively went down fighting in a 2-2 draw at Charlton Athletic with two games left and six points adrift of Everton, which was how they finished. It was a traumatic end to a season which had seen the club plagued with crises on and off the field, including the La Manga controversy when players Keith Gillespie, Frank Sinclair and Paul Dickov were accused of sexual assault following an alleged incident at a hotel in Spain (all charges were finally dropped).

Final league table

Main article: 2003-04 FA Premier League
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
Key
Qualified for the Champions League
Qualified for the UEFA Cup
Relegated to the Championship

Results

Leicester City's score comes first

Legend

Win Draw Loss

FA Premier League

Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
16 August 2003 Southampton H 2–2 31,611 Dickov (pen), Ferdinand
23 August 2003 Chelsea A 1–2 41,073 Scowcroft
26 August 2003 Middlesbrough H 0–0 30,823
30 August 2003 Aston Villa A 1–3 32,274 Izzet
15 September 2003 Leeds United H 4–0 30,460 Nalis, Dickov (2), Scowcroft
20 September 2003 Liverpool A 1–2 44,094 Bent
27 September 2003 Manchester United H 1–4 32,044 Sinclair
4 October 2003 Fulham A 0–2 14,562
19 October 2003 Tottenham Hotspur H 1–2 31,521 Dickov
25 October 2003 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 3–4 28,578 Ferdinand (2), Scimeca
2 November 2003 Blackburn Rovers H 2–0 30,975 Bent, Howey
9 November 2003 Manchester City A 3–0 46,966 Stewart, Dickov (pen), Bent
22 November 2003 Charlton Athletic H 1–1 30,242 Ferdinand
29 November 2003 Portsmouth A 2–0 20,061 Ferdinand, Bent
6 December 2003 Arsenal H 1–1 32,108 Hignett
13 December 2003 Birmingham City H 0–2 30,639
20 December 2003 Everton A 2–3 37,007 Ferdinand, Scowcroft
26 December 2003 Newcastle United H 1–1 32,148 Dickov
28 December 2003 Bolton Wanderers A 2–2 28,353 Bent, Ferdinand
7 January 2004 Southampton A 0–0 31,053
11 January 2004 Chelsea H 0–4 31,547
17 January 2004 Middlesbrough A 3–3 27,125 Dickov (2), Bent
31 January 2004 Aston Villa H 0–5 31,056
7 February 2004 Newcastle United A 1–3 52,125 Ferdinand
10 February 2004 Bolton Wanderers H 1–1 26,674 Ferdinand
22 February 2004 Tottenham Hotspur A 4–4 35,218 Doherty (own goal), Ferdinand, Thatcher, Bent
28 February 2004 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 0–0 31,768
13 March 2004 Birmingham City A 1–0 29,491 Ferdinand
20 March 2004 Everton H 1–1 31,650 Bent
28 March 2004 Liverpool H 0–0 32,013
5 April 2004 Leeds United A 2–3 34,036 Dickov, Izzet
10 April 2004 Fulham H 0–2 28,392
13 April 2004 Manchester United A 0–1 67,749
17 April 2004 Blackburn Rovers A 0–1 22,749
24 April 2004 Manchester City H 1–1 31,457 Scowcroft
1 May 2004 Charlton Athletic A 2–2 26,034 Bent, Ferdinand
8 May 2004 Portsmouth H 3–1 31,536 Dickov, Scowcroft, Taylor (own goal)
15 May 2004 Arsenal A 1–2 38,419 Dickov

FA Cup

Main article: 2003–04 FA Cup
Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
R3 3 January 2004 Manchester City A 2–2 30,617 Dickov, Bent
R3R 14 January 2004 Manchester City H 1–3 18,916 Ferdinand

League Cup

Main article: 2003–04 Football League Cup
Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
R2 23 September 2003 Crewe Alexandra H 1–0 27,675 Dickov (pen)
R3 29 October 2003 Aston Villa A 0–1 26,729

Squad

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

No. Position Player
1 GK Ian Walker
2 DF Andrew Impey
3 DF Frank Sinclair
5 MF Craig Hignett
6 MF Muzzy Izzet
7 MF Keith Gillespie
8 MF Lilian Nalis
9 FW Les Ferdinand
10 FW James Scowcroft
11 MF Jordan Stewart
12 MF Paul Brooker
13 MF Steffen Freund (on loan from 1. FC Kaiserslautern)
14 DF Callum Davidson
15 DF Alan Rogers
16 GK Danny Coyne
17 MF Matt Jones
18 DF Matt Elliott
No. Position Player
19 GK Paul Murphy
20 FW Trevor Benjamin
21 DF Riccardo Scimeca
22 FW Paul Dickov
23 MF Tommy Wright
24 FW Lee Morris
25 DF Matt Heath
26 MF Junior Lewis
27 MF Steve Guppy
28 MF Peter Canero
30 FW Tomi Petrescu
32 MF Billy McKinlay
33 DF Ben Thatcher
34 DF Nicolas Priet
38 FW Marcus Bent (on loan from Ipswich Town)
44 DF Nikos Dabizas
MF Tom Williamson

Left club during the season

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

No. Position Player
28 MF Jon Ashton (to Oxford United)
27 FW Brian Deane (to West Ham United)
24 DF Steve Howey (to Bolton Wanderers)
No. Position Player
29 DF John Curtis (to Portsmouth)
4 DF Gerry Taggart (to Stoke City)

Starting 11

Awards

Club awards

At the end of the season, Leicester's annual award ceremony, including categories voted for by the players and backroom staff, the supporters and the supporters club, saw the following players recognised for their achievements for the club throughout the 2003-04 season.

Player of the Season Les Ferdinand[1]
Players' Player of the Season Les Ferdinand[1]
Supporters' Club Player of the Season N/A
Academy Player of the Season Richard Stearman[2]
Goal of the Season Lilian Nalis[2] (vs. Leeds United, 15 September 2003)[3]

References

  1. ^ a b "Leicester City Annual Player Awards". LCFC.co.uk. 17 Nov 2004. http://www.lcfc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10274~524422,00.html. Retrieved 19 May 2011. 
  2. ^ a b Awards Ceremony Picture Special, LCFC.com, 17 Nov 2004, http://www.lcfc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10274~524434,00.html, retrieved 19 Jan 2011 
  3. ^ "Dickov leaves Leeds reeling". BBC Sport. 15 Sept 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/3194219.stm. Retrieved 19 Jan 2011. 
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