2003–04 Birmingham City F.C. season

Birmingham City F.C.

2003–04 season
Chairman	David Gold
Manager	Steve Bruce
Ground	St Andrew's
Premier League	10th
FA Cup	Fifth round (eliminated by Sunderland)
League Cup	Second round (eliminated by Blackpool)
Top goalscorer	League: Mikael Forssell (17) All: Mikael Forssell (19)
Highest home attendance	29,588 vs Arsenal, 22 November 2003
Lowest home attendance	18,688 vs Blackburn Rovers, FA Cup 3rd round, 3 January 2004
Average home league attendance	29,073[1]
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

The 2003–04 season was Birmingham City Football Club's 101st season in the English football league system, their second season in the Premier League, and their 52nd season in the top tier of English football. They finished 10th in the 20-team league, three places higher than the previous season. They entered the FA Cup at the third round stage and lost to Sunderland in the fifth after a replay, and lost their opening second-round League Cup-tie to Blackpool. Top scorer was loan signing Mikael Forssell with 19 goals, 17 of which were scored in the league.

Pre-season

Pre-season friendlies

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Report
19 July 2004	Burton Albion	A	W	4–0	John (2) 8' 60', Dunn (2) 40' 43'	1,952	[2]
24 July 2004	Newcastle United1	A	L	1–2	Devlin 73' (pen)		[3][4]
26 July 2004	Malaysia XI1	A	W	4–0	John (2) 8' 50', Clemence 76', Hughes 82'		[5]
30 July 2004	Port Vale	A	L	0–2			[6]
2 August 2004	Burnley	A	W	2–2	Horsfield 8', Dunn 27'		[7]
5 August 2004	Walsall	A	W	3–1	John, Dugarry, Carter	8,000	[8]
9 August 2004	Real Mallorca	H	D	0–0			[9]

• Note 1: Matches were played as part of the FA Premier League Asia Cup tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Premier League

Season review

Having avoided relegation in their first season in the Premier League with seven wins from the last eleven games, Birmingham were expected to struggle.^[10] They were unbeaten in the league at the end of September, and went into November still in fourth place. During a poor spell in the middle of the season Steve Bruce's side fell as low as tenth, though they rallied again and stood one point off fourth place with eight matches to go.^[11] In contrast to the previous season, one win from the last eleven games gave Birmingham a tenth-place finish, six points behind city rivals Aston Villa, who had been struggling against relegation at the turn of the year.^[10][12]

Match details

Date	League position	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Report
16 August 2003	6th	Tottenham Hotspur	H	W	1–0	Dunn 36' pen.	29,358	[13]
23 August 2003	6th	Southampton	A	D	0–0		31,656	[13]
30 August 2003	6th	Newcastle United	A	W	1–0	Dunn 61'	52,006	[13]
14 September 2003	8th	Fulham	H	D	2–2	Forssell (2) 45', 82'	27,250	[13]
20 September 2003	7th	Leeds United	A	W	2–0	Savage 79' pen., Forssell 84'	34,305	[13]
27 September 2003	4th	Portsmouth	H	W	2–0	Clemence 21', Lazaridis 50'	29,057	[13]
4 October 2003	5th	Manchester United	A	L	0–3		67,633	[13]
14 October 2003	4th	Chelsea	H	D	0–0		29,460	[13]
19 October 2003	4th	Aston Villa	H	D	0–0		29,546	[13]
25 October 2003	4th	Bolton Wanderers	A	W	1–0	Forssell 31'	25,023	[13]
3 November 2003	4th	Charlton Athletic	H	L	1–2	Dugarry 64'	27,225	[13]
8 November 2003	5th	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	D	1–1	Forssell 49'	28,831	[13]
22 November 2003	5th	Arsenal	H	L	0–3		29,588	[13]
30 November 2003	8th	Liverpool	A	L	1–3	Forssell 33'	42,683	[13]
6 December 2003	8th	Blackburn Rovers	H	L	0–4		29,354	[13]
13 December 2003	8th	Leicester City	A	W	2–0	Morrison 42', Forssell 66'	30,639	[13]
26 December 2003	8th	Manchester City	H	W	2–1	Kenna 81', Forssell 87'	29,520	[13]
28 December 2003	9th	Everton	A	L	0–1		39,631	[13]
7 January 2004	10th	Tottenham Hotspur	A	L	1–4	Savage 68' pen.	30,016	[13]
10 January 2004	8th	Southampton	H	W	2–1	Clemence 16', Kenna 67'	29,071	[13]
18 January 2004	9th	Chelsea	A	D	0–0		41,073	[13]
31 January 2004	9th	Newcastle United	H	D	1–1	John 90'	29,513	[13]
8 February 2004	10th	Manchester City	A	D	0–0		46,967	[13]
11 February 2004	9th	Everton	H	W	3–0	Johnson 8', Lazaridis 39', Forssell 49'	23,331	[13]
22 February 2004	8th	Aston Villa	A	D	2–2	Forssell 60', John 90'	40,061	[13]
3 March 2004	7th	Middlesbrough	H	W	3–1	Martin Taylor 23', Savage 57', Forssell 79'	29,369	[13]
6 March 2004	5th	Bolton Wanderers	H	W	2–0	Forssell 24', Hughes 69'	28,003	[13]
13 March 2004	6th	Leicester City	H	L	0–1		29,491	[13]
20 March 2004	7th	Middlesbrough	A	L	3–5	Forssell (2) 23', 59', Morrison 45'	30,244	[13]
27 March 2004	6th	Leeds United	H	W	4–1	Hughes (2) 12', 67, Forssell (2) 69', 82' pen.	29,069	[13]
3 April 2004	6th	Fulham	A	D	0–0		14,667	[13]
10 April 2004	6th	Manchester United	H	L	1–2	Grainger 53'	29,548	[13]
12 April 2004	8th	Portsmouth	A	L	1–3	John 67'	20,104	[13]
17 April 2004	8th	Charlton Athletic	A	D	1–1	Morrison 84'	29,115	[13]
25 April 2004	9th	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	D	2–2	Forssell 34', Morrison 41'	29,494	[13]
1 May 2004	9th	Arsenal	A	D	0–0		38,061	[13]
8 May 2004	10th	Liverpool	H	L	0–3		29,553	[13]
15 May 2004	10th	Blackburn Rovers	A	D	1–1	John 83'	26,070	[13]

League table (part)

Final Premier League table (part)

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
8th	Bolton Wanderers	38	14	11	13	48	56	−8	53
9th	Fulham	38	14	10	14	52	46	−6	52
10th	Birmingham City	38	12	14	12	43	48	−5	50
11th	Middlesbrough	38	13	9	16	44	52	−8	48
12th	Southampton	38	12	11	15	44	45	−1	47
Key	Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
Source	[12]

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	12	14	12	43	48	−5	50	8	5	6	26	24	+2	4	9	6	17	24	−7

Source: ^[12]

FA Cup

Birmingham reached the fifth round of the 2003–04 FA Cup before losing to Sunderland of Division One after a replay.

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Report
Third round	3 January 2004	Blackburn Rovers	H	W	4–0	Morrison 23', Clemence 36', Forssell 78', Hughes 84'	18,688	[13]
Fourth round	24 January 2004	Wimbledon	H	W	1–0	Hughes 4'	22,159	[13]
Fifth round	14 February 2004	Sunderland	A	D	1–1	Forssell 28'	24,966	[13]
Fifth round replay	25 February 2004	Sunderland	H	L	0–2		25,645	[13]

League Cup

Birmingham lost in the second round of the 2003–04 League Cup to Blackpool of Division Two.

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Report
Second round	23 September 2003	Blackpool	A	L	0–1		7,370	[13]

Transfers

In

Date	Player	Club	Fee	Ref
1 July 2003	Christophe Dugarry	Bordeaux	Free	[14]
7 July 2003	David Dunn	Blackburn Rovers	£5.5m	[15]
23 July 2003	Luciano Figueroa	Rosario Central	£2.5m	[16]
2 February 2004	Martin Taylor	Blackburn Rovers	£1.25m	[17]

Out

Date	Player	Fee	Joined	Ref
8 July 2003	Tommy Mooney	Free	Swindon Town	[18]
8 August 2003	Joey Hutchinson	Free	Darlington	[19]
14 August 2003	Michael Johnson	Nominal	Derby County	[19]
5 September 2003	Geoff Horsfield	£500,000	Wigan Athletic	[20]
12 September 2003	Paul Devlin	£150,000	Watford	[20]
23 December 2003	Luciano Figueroa	Contract cancelled	(Cruz Azul)	[21]
2 February 2004	Jovan Kirovski	Released	(Los Angeles Galaxy)	[22]
11 March 2004	Christophe Dugarry	Released	(Qatar SC)	[23]
12 March 2004	Jeff Kenna	Free	Derby County	[24]
25 March 2004	Craig Fagan	Free	Colchester United	[25]
30 March 2004	Tommy Williams	Released	Peterborough United	[26]
18 June 2004	Darren Purse	£750,000	West Bromwich Albion	[27]
30 June 2004	Bryan Hughes	Released	(Charlton Athletic)	[28]

Brackets round club names denote the player joined that club after his Birmingham City contract expired.

Loan in

Date	Player	Club	Return	Ref
8 August 2003	Maik Taylor	Fulham	End of season	[29]
28 August 2003	Mikael Forssell	Chelsea	End of season	[19][30]

Loan out

Date	Player	Club	Return	Ref
1 August 2003	Craig Fagan	Colchester United	25 March 2004	[25]
10 October 2003	Andrew Barrowman	Crewe Alexandra	One month	[31]
21 November 2003	Mat Sadler	Northampton Town	Two months	[32]
24 December 2003	Nico Vaesen	Gillingham	One month	[33]
1 January 2004	Tommy Williams	Peterborough United	Three months	[26][34]
12 February 2004	Martin Grainger	Coventry City	18 March 2004	[35]
13 February 2004	Nico Vaesen	Bradford City	One month	[36]
18 March 2004	Nico Vaesen	Crystal Palace	End of season	[37]

Appearances and goals

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute.

Players with squad numbers struck through and marked left the club during the playing season.

Players with names in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Birmingham.

Players included in matchday squads

No.	Pos	Nat	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total		Discipline
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals!
1	GK	ENG	Ian Bennett	4 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	4 (2)	0	0	0
2	DF	IRE	Jeff Kenna	14 (3)	2	4	0	0	0	18 (3)	2	1	0
3	DF	ENG	Martin Grainger	3 (1)	1	0	0	0	0	3 (1)	1	0	0
4	DF	IRE	Kenny Cunningham	36	0	4	0	1	0	41	0	3	1
5	DF	ENG	Darren Purse	9	0	3	0	0	0	12	0	1	1
6	MF	SEN	Aliou Cissé	5 (10)	0	0 (1)	0	1	0	6 (11)	0	6	1
7	MF	SCO	Paul Devlin	0 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (2)	0	9	0
8	MF	WAL	Robbie Savage	31	3	4	0	0	0	34	3	12	0
9	FW	ENG	Geoff Horsfield	2 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	2 (1)	0	0	0
9	FW	FIN	Mikael Forssell	32	17	3 (1)	2	0 (1)	0	35 (2)	19	1	0
10	MF	ENG	Bryan Hughes	17 (9)	3	3 (1)	2	0	0	20 (10)	5	0	0
11	MF	AUS	Stan Lazaridis	25 (5)	2	2	0	1	0	28 (5)	2	0	0
12	GK	NIR	Maik Taylor	34	0	4	0	1	0	39	0	2	2
13	GK	IRE	Colin Doyle	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	FW	TRI	Stern John[lower-alpha 1]	7 (22)	4	1 (1)	0	1	0	9 (23)	4	0	0
15	FW	USA	Jovan Kirovski	0 (6)	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	0 (8)	0	0	0
15	DF	ENG	Martin Taylor	11 (1)	1	0	0	0	0	11 (1)	1	0	0
16	MF	ENG	David Dunn	20 (1)	2	3	0	1	0	24 (1)	2	2	0
18	GK	BEL	Nico Vaesen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	FW	IRE	Clinton Morrison	19 (13)	4	4	1	1	0	24 (13)	5	1	0
21	FW	FRA	Christophe Dugarry	12 (2)	1	0 (1)	0	0	0	12 (3)	1	6	1
22	MF	NIR	Damien Johnson[lower-alpha 2]	35	1	4	0	1	0	40	1	7	0
23	DF	ENG	Jamie Clapham	22 (3)	0	0 (1)	0	1	0	23 (4)	0	0	0
24	MF	ENG	Darren Carter	1 (4)	0	0 (3)	0	0	0	1 (7)	0	0	0
25	DF	ENG	Matthew Upson	30	0	2	0	1	0	33	0	2	0
26	DF	CIV	Olivier Tébily	17 (10)	0	2	0	0	0	19 (10)	0	4	0
27	FW	SCO	Andrew Barrowman	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
28	MF	ENG	Carl Motteram	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
32	MF	ENG	Stephen Clemence	32 (3)	2	1 (1)	1	1	0	34 (4)	3	4	0
35	FW	ARG	Luciano Figueroa	0 (1)	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0 (2)	0	0	0

Players not included in matchday squads

No.	Pos	Nat	Name
20	MF	ENG	Tom Williams
27	DF	ENG	Joey Hutchinson
29	DF	ENG	Craig Fagan
30	DF	ENG	Mat Sadler
34	MF	ENG	Neil Kilkenny

References

General

• Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9. 
• Matthews, Tony (2010). Birmingham City: The Complete Record. Derby: DB Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85983-853-2. 
• Source for match dates, league positions and results: "Birmingham City 2003–2004: Results". Statto Organisation. Retrieved 11 July 2013. 
• Source for lineups, appearances, goalscorers and attendances: Matthews (2010), Complete Record, pp. 442–43.
• Source for goal times: "Birmingham Results 2003/04". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 June 2013. 
• Source for transfers: "Birmingham Transfers 2003/04". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 June 2013. 

Specific

Birmingham City Football Club History Records Seasons Head-to-head Europe Grounds St Andrew's Muntz Street City of Birmingham Stadium People Managers Players with 100+ appearances 25–99 appearances 1–24 appearances Related articles Second City derby Reserves and Academy All articles

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