2003–04 Crystal Palace F.C. season

Crystal Palace
2003–04 season
Chairman Simon Jordan
Manager Steve Kember
Kit Symons (caretaker)
Iain Dowie
Stadium Selhurst Park
First Division 6th (qualified for play-offs)
Play-offs Winners
FA Cup Third round
League Cup Fourth round
Top goalscorer League:
Andy Johnson (28)
All:
Andy Johnson (32)
Average home league attendance 19,968

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

Season summary

Crystal Palace started the season on the right foot, winning their first three games to top the table, but that was as good as it got under manager Steve Kember and, after a 5–0 defeat at newly promoted Wigan Athletic in November saw the club in 20th place, Kember was sacked (chairman Simon Jordan had previously declared that Kember would have a "job for life" at Palace). Kit Symons stepped up as caretaker until Northern Irishman and former Palace striker Iain Dowie was appointed. Under Dowie, Palace rocketed up the table to reach the play-offs. After beating Sunderland on penalties in the semi-final to reach the Millennium Stadium, they beat West Ham United to regain promotion to the Premiership.

Crucial to Palace's promotion was striker Andy Johnson, who scored 28 times in the league alone. He finished as the First Division's top scorer, and was voted as the club's Player of the Year.

Kit

English company Admiral Sportswear became Palace's kit manufacturers. The new home kit retained the navy shorts worn last season, albeit with a new blue and red striped design along the sides, and the navy socks, which now featured white trim. Palace's traditional blue and red striped shirts were modified with navy trim on the sleeves.

Churchill Insurance remained the kit sponsors for the fourth consecutive season.[1]

Final league table

Pos Team Pl W D L F A GD Pts
1. Norwich City 46 28 10 8 79 39 +40 94
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
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 51 +10 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
22. Walsall 46 13 12 21 45 65 -20 51
23. Bradford City 46 10 6 30 38 69 -31 36
24. Wimbledon (later MK Dons) 46 8 5 33 41 89 -48 29

Results

Crystal Palace's score comes first

Legend

Win Draw Loss

Football League First Division

DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
9 August 2003 BurnleyA3-212,976Freedman (3, 1 pen)
16 August 2003 WatfordH1-015,333Shipperley
23 August 2003 WimbledonA3-16,113Butterfield, Freedman (pen), Hughes
26 August 2003 Sheffield UnitedH1-215,466Johnson
30 August 2003 MillwallA1-114,425Watson
13 September 2003 SunderlandA1-227,324Johnson
16 September 2003 Bradford CityH0-113,514
20 September 2003 West Bromwich AlbionH2-217,477Freedman, Johnson
27 September 2003 Norwich CityA1-216,425Derry
1 October 2003 West Ham UnitedA0-331,861
4 October 2003 Cardiff CityH2-116,160Routledge, Shipperley
14 October 2003 Derby CountyH1-114,344Butterfield
18 October 2003 Rotherham UnitedH1-118,715Freedman
21 October 2003 Ipswich TownH3-415,483Johnson, Freedman (2, 1 pen)
25 October 2003 GillinghamA0-18,889
1 November 2003 Wigan AthleticA0-56,796
8 November 2003 Preston North EndH1-114,608Johnson
22 November 2003 WalsallA0-06,910
25 November 2003 Stoke CityA1-010,277Johnson
29 November 2003 Coventry CityH1-114,622Edwards
6 December 2003 Preston North EndA1-412,836Derry
9 December 2003 Crewe AlexandraH1-312,259Butterfield
13 December 2003 Nottingham ForestH1-016,935Johnson
20 December 2003 ReadingA3-012,743Johnson (2), Routledge
26 December 2003 MillwallH0-119,737
28 December 2003 Ipswich TownA3-127,629Johnson, Gray
10 January 2004 BurnleyH0-015,276
17 January 2004 WatfordA5-115,017Johnson (2, 1 pen), Routledge, Gray, Freedman
24 January 2004 Bradford CityA2-110,310Johnson, Shipperley
31 January 2004 WimbledonH3-120,552Johnson (2), Granville
7 February 2004 Sheffield UnitedA3-023,816Johnson, Popovic, Shipperley
14 February 2004 Stoke CityH6-316,715Johnson (3, 2 pens), Hughes, Shipperley, Routledge
21 February 2004 Derby CountyA1-221,856Hughes
28 February 2004 GillinghamH1-017,485Butterfield
6 March 2004 ReadingH2-217,853Freedman, Johnson
13 March 2004 Nottingham ForestA2-328,306Shipperley, Granville
20 March 2004 Norwich CityH1-023,798Routledge
27 March 2004 West Bromwich AlbionA0-224,990
6 April 2004 Rotherham UnitedA2-16,001Gray, Shipperley
10 April 2004 Cardiff CityA2-016,656Johnson, Routledge
12 April 2004 West Ham UnitedH1-023,977Freedman
17 April 2004 Wigan AthleticH1-118,799Granville
21 April 2004 SunderlandH3-018,291Johnson (pen), Shipperley, Freedman
24 April 2004 Crewe AlexandraA3-28,136Johnson (3, 1 pen)
1 May 2004 WalsallH1-021,518Johnson
9 May 2004 Coventry CityA1-222,195Freedman

First Division play-offs

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
SF 1st Leg14 May 2004 SunderlandH3-225,287Shipperley, Butterfield, Johnson
SF 2nd Leg17 May 2004 SunderlandA1-2 (won 5-4 on pens)34,536Powell
F29 May 2004 West Ham UnitedH1-072,523Shipperley

FA Cup

Main article: 2003–04 FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R33 January 2004 Tottenham HotspurA0-332,340

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R112 August 2003 Torquay UnitedA1-1 (won 3-1 on pens)3,366Freedman
R223 September 2003 Doncaster RoversH2-14,904Johnson (2 pens)
R328 October 2003 BlackpoolH3-16,010Johnson (2), Freedman
R43 December 2003 Aston VillaA0-324,258

Squad

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

No. Position Player
2 Republic of Ireland DF Curtis Fleming[2]
3 England DF Danny Granville
4 England DF Danny Butterfield
5 Wales DF Kit Symons[3]
6 Australia DF Tony Popovic
8 England FW Andy Johnson
9 Scotland FW Dougie Freedman
10 England MF Shaun Derry
11 England FW Neil Shipperley
12 England DF Jamie Smith
13 France GK Cedric Berthelin
14 England MF Ben Watson
15 Finland MF Aki Riihilahti
16 England MF Tommy Black
No. Position Player
17 Northern Ireland MF Michael Hughes
18 England DF Gary Borrowdale
20 England DF Mark Hudson (on loan from Fulham)
21 England MF Julian Gray
22 England MF Wayne Routledge
23 Wales FW Gareth Williams[4]
24 England MF Mikele Leigertwood[5]
26 England MF Ben Surey
27 Belgium GK Nico Vaesen (on loan from Birmingham City)
28 England MF Tom Soares
29 Mauritius MF Gavin Heeroo[6]
30 England GK Lance Cronin
32 England MF Darren Powell
36 England DF Tariq Nabil

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
1 England GK Matt Clarke (retired)
7 England MF Hayden Mullins (to West Ham United)
19 Wales DF Rob Edwards (on loan from Aston Villa)
No. Position Player
25 Norway GK Thomas Myhre (on loan from Sunderland)
31 Nigeria FW Ade Akinbiyi (to Stoke City)

References

  1. http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Crystal_Palace/Crystal_Palace.htm
  2. Fleming was born in Manchester, England.
  3. Symons was born in Basingstoke, England, but qualified to represent Wales internationally through his father and made his international debut for Wales in February 1992.
  4. Williams was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally and has represented them at U-21 level.
  5. Leigertwood was born in Enfield, England, but qualified to represent Antigua and Barbuda internationally and made his international debut for Antigua and Barbuda in November 2008.
  6. Heeroo was born in Haringey, England, but qualified to represent Mauritius internationally and made his international debut for Mauritius in 2002.
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