2003–04 Ipswich Town F.C. season

Ipswich Town

2003–04 season
Chairman	David Sheepshanks
Manager	Joe Royle
Stadium	Portman Road
First Division	5th (qualified for play-offs)
Play-offs	Semi-finals
FA Cup	Fourth round proper
Carling Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Darren Bent (15) All: Darren Bent (16)
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

During the 2003–04 English football season, Ipswich Town competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

Ipswich Town, in their second consecutive season in English football's second tier, finished the campaign in fifth place. Having scored 84 goals, Town suffered from their poor defensive record: with 72 goals conceded, Town had the third worst defensive record in the whole division, and the worst of the top 18 teams. Town won the first leg of their play-off, against fourth-placed West Ham United, with a goal from teenage striker Darren Bent (who scored 15 goals in the league alone), but lost the second leg 2-0, condemning Town to another season in the new championship.

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[1][2]

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Kelvin Davis 2 DF Fabian Wilnis 3 DF Chris Makin 4 DF John McGreal 5 DF Drissa Diallo 6 DF Matt Elliott (on loan from Leicester City) 7 MF Jim Magilton 8 MF Tommy Miller 9 FW Pablo Couñago 10 FW Alun Armstrong 11 MF Jermaine Wright 12 FW Richard Naylor 14 DF Matt Richards

No. Position Player 15 MF Georges Santos 16 FW Marcus Bent 17 FW Dean Bowditch 18 FW Darren Bent 20 DF Aidan Collins 21 DF Scott Mitchell 23 MF Chris Bart-Williams 28 DF Gerard Nash 30 MF Martijn Reuser 32 FW Shefki Kuqi 33 MF Ian Westlake 34 GK Lewis Price

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. Position Player 16 FW Marcus Bent (on loan to Leicester City) 19 GK Andy Marshall (on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Millwall) 22 GK Nathan Abbey (to Burnley)

No. Position Player 25 MF Alan Mahon (on loan from Blackburn Rovers) 26 MF James Pullen (to Peterborough United) 27 MF Matthew Bloomfield (to Wycombe Wanderers)

Reserve squad

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

No. Position Player 24 MF Nabil Abidallah 26 DF Scott Barron

No. Position Player 29 DF Antonio Murray 31 FW Sam Morrow

References