FA Premier League 2003–04

The 2003-04 FA Premier League season was mainly contended between Arsenal, Manchester United and to some extent, Chelsea. In the end, Arsenal went through the season without a single defeat (the first team to do so since Preston North End in 1889 - 115 years earlier) and were crowned champions once more, at the expense of Chelsea, who had spent heavily throughout the season.

Chelsea had been bolstered by a £100 million outlay on world-class players, a spree funded by the extensive financial resources of their new owner Roman Abramovich. Manchester United's attack was as strong as ever thanks to free-scoring Ruud van Nistelrooy, but the midfield was weakened following the pre-season £25million sale of David Beckham to Real Madrid, and the centre of defence suffered a more severe setback after Rio Ferdinand was ruled out for the final four months of the season after being found guilty of the "failure or refusal to take a drugs test". The case of Rio Ferdinand started a debate about punishments relating to drug testing in football, with there being differing views on whether the punishment was too harsh or too lenient. Ferdinand's club sought to make direct comparisons with an earlier case of Manchester City reserve player who had in fact committed a lesser drug testing offence and as a result escaped with only a fine. [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/motive-is-always-considered-in-deciding-guilt-576995.html Motive is always considered in deciding guilt - Business News, Business - Independent.co.uk ] ]

Arsenal, meanwhile, had only signed German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann in the 2003 close season, but French striker Thierry Henry was instrumental in Arsenal's success. Away from the Premiership, Arsène Wenger's team suffered disappointment in the cup competitions. They lost their defence of the FA Cup (which they held for two seasons in a row) after losing to eventual winners Manchester United in the semi-final. Arsenal were knocked out of the Champions League quarter-finals by Chelsea (3-2 on agg). These two blows came with a few days of each other and it was feared that Arsenal might squander their lead of the Premiership for the second successive season, but Arsenal thumped Liverpool only days later and never looked back. Arsenal's Invincibles finished the season with 26 wins, 12 draws, 0 defeats and 90 points.

The three relegation points were occupied by three teams bracketed together on 33 points. Wolves and Leicester City followed the trend of many other newly promoted Premiership clubs and were relegated just one season after reaching the top division. But the other relegation place went to Leeds United, whose playing fortunes had dipped in the past two seasons after David O'Leary was sacked as manager and club debts had risen so high that many star players had to be sold. As a result, Leeds were finally relegated from the Premiership after 14 years of top division football - just three seasons after they had reached the Champions League semifinals.

In his third season as Middlesbrough manager, Steve McClaren had guided the Teessiders to their first ever major trophy - sealed with a 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup final. McClaren was also the first English manager to win a major trophy since Brian Little guided Aston Villa to League Cup success in 1996. He was also the first manager to take Middlesbrough into European competition - they would be competing in the 2004-05 UEFA Cup.

2003-04 saw a number of managerial changes in the Premiership. Glenn Hoddle was sacked as manager of Spurs in September, with Director of Football David Pleat taking over as temporary manager until the end of the season. He was then replaced by French national coach Jacques Santini, who was in the charge for five months before being replaced by assistant first team coach Martin Jol. At the end of 2003-04, Frank Arnesen was appointed Director of Football for Spurs.

Leeds United sacked Peter Reid in November and installed first team coach Eddie Gray as interim manager until the end of the season, as they could not afford to buy another team's manager out of his contract. Gray was unable to save Leeds from relegation and was sacked by the club's new owners, who installed Gray's assistant Kevin Blackwell as their new manager.

Gordon Strachan quit as Southampton manager in March and was replaced by Plymouth Argyle's Paul Sturrock. Just after the start of 2004-05, Sturrock handed in his resignation and was replaced by Steve Wigley who spent three months at the helm before being replaced by Harry Redknapp.

At the end of 2003-04, Gérard Houllier was sacked as manager of Liverpool despite having won four cup competitions (including three in one season) during his six-year spell as manager. Liverpool then turned to ex-Valencia coach Rafael Benítez as the man they hoped could win the league title which has eluded Anfield since 1990.

Despite guiding Chelsea to Third position in the Premiership (their highest league finish for half a century) and to their first ever Champions League or European Cup semifinal, Claudio Ranieri was sacked after four years in charge at Stamford Bridge. Roman Abramovich then appointed José Mourinho as Chelsea's new manager. Mourinho, who won the 2004 Champions League with Porto of Portugal, was given a three-year contract.

Final league table

Club-by-club review

Arsenal

Arsene Wenger described it as immortality, and he wasn't far wrong. Arsenal completed an entire Premiership season without losing a single game. Their final record read 26 wins, 12 draws and 0 defeats. Only twice before had any English club completed a professional league campaign unbeaten, since the Football League was first founded in 1888. Striker Thierry Henry was undoubtedly the finest player in a brilliant side, though the likes of Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira earned similar plaudits for their own excellent performances.

But it hadn't always looked like this. Until February, Arsenal had bounced between first and third place, as the three-way race with Chelsea and Manchester United seemed unpredictable. At one stage before Christmas, the gap had been so tight that Arsenal and Chelsea had the highest points total in the division, as well as an identical goal difference and number of goals scored, which meant that Arsenal led the table as they began with an 'A'. But Arsenal got even better in the second half of the season while their rivals faltered, and the title was wrapped up before the end of April.

Early April, however, saw two successive games that threatened to derail Arsenal's perfect season. First they were eliminated from the FA Cup by Manchester United in the semi-final, and then they were knocked out of the European Cup by Chelsea in the quarter-final. But a 4-2 victory over Liverpool reinforced Arsenal's form. Arsenal came within 1 point of Manchester United's record of most points in a season finishing with an impressive 90. Arsenal were very strong right from the start from the season. They were freeflowing and with players like Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, and scoring goalscorer Thierry Henry in the squad Arsenal looked unstoppable.

Aston Villa

Manager Graham Taylor's unsuccessful second spell as manager had come to an end in June 2003, and chairman Doug Ellis recruited David O'Leary as Taylor's successor. The first few months of O'Leary's reign suggested that he was not the man to revitalise a Villa side that had been habitually underachieving for several years. Indeed, they entered December on the brink of the relegation zone, but a great run of form beginning over Christmas took them into the top six during March. They even went as high as fourth at one stage, and there was talk of Champions League qualification. But defeat on the final day of the season saw them finish sixth - this season not enough for even a UEFA Cup place.

Birmingham City

After finishing 13th in their first top flight campaign for nearly 20 years, Birmingham continued to impress. For much of the season, they looked good bets for a top six finish, though ultimately their squad did not stand the ultimate test and their less spectacular form in the final weeks of the season meant that they finished 10th in the final table - not enough for European qualification, but an improvement on the previous season's already good finish.

Blackburn Rovers

Finishing sixth in the Premiership at the end of 2002-03 had booked Blackburn Rovers their second successive UEFA Cup campaign, but it was short-lived. And their Premiership form was far too dismal to give the side any hope of a third successive European qualification. Indeed, much of the season was spent battling against relegation, but a decent finish to the season saw relegation fears eradicated by the end of April and Rovers finished 15th in the final table, putting intense pressure on manager Graeme Souness to turn things around.

Bolton Wanderers

After two near misses with relegation, Sam Allardyce finally established Bolton as a Premiership team. A side that had been tipped to struggle at the wrong end of the Premiership soon looked like outsiders for a UEFA Cup place, and qualification for the Carling Cup final saw this dream look even closer. A 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough ended Bolton's dreams of glory at the Millennium Stadium, and in the end they didn't quite finish high enough for a European debut. However, an eighth place finish was the club's highest final position for some 50 years.

Charlton Athletic

For the third season running, a late slump in form ended Charlton Athletic's hopes of European qualification. In 2001-02, they had finished 14th after failing to win any of their final 10 games. In 2002-03, they had finished 12th after a not-quite-so dramatic slump. 2003-04, however, did bring Charlton's best Premiership finish to date, as well as their highest league finish since the 1950s, as they came seventh. For much of the season, they had occupied the Champions League and UEFA Cup places, but the familiar end-of-season setback pushed them out of the European places.

Chelsea

Roman Abramovich's £150million takeover of Chelsea Football Club in June 2003 was perhaps the biggest footballing story of the close season. The Russian billionaire's open cheque book saw manager Claudio Ranieri spend a total of more than £100million on the likes of Damien Duff, Glen Johnson, Joe Cole and Claude Makelele. Chelsea were most people's favourites for the Premiership title, but in the end they couldn't match the brilliance of unbeaten Arsenal. They did reach the European Cup semi-finals, and in the quarter-finals they overcame Arsenal to become the last remaining English side in the competition, and in the process ended an 18-game winless streak against the Gunners.

The Premiership's biggest-spending side failed to lift a major trophy in 2003-04, and consequently Ranieri was sacked and replaced by FC Porto's European Cup winning coach Jose Mourinho.

Everton

In 2002-03, all the talk at Goodison Park was about how David Moyes was restoring some pride to the blue half of Merseyside thanks to a seventh place finish. 2003-04, however, was quite a different story, as Everton struggled at the wrong end of the Premiership and finished the season one place above the drop zone with 39 points (a tally which in many seasons has seen teams relegated, even under the 38-game format).

18-year-old striker Wayne Rooney was England's key player in their run to the quarter-finals of Euro 2004, but fast-growing rumours that he was about to be sold to Manchester United put Everton's top flight future under increasing doubt.

Fulham

Two seasons of bottom half finishes had fallen well short of expectations at Fulham, who had won promotion in 2001 with ambitions of becoming one of the country's top sides. These disappointments had led to the dismissal of Jean Tigana as manager in March 2003, and the appointment of 32-year-old Chris Coleman (who had no previous managerial experience) as Tigana's successor saw Fulham among most people's tips for relegation in 2003-04. But 2003-04 turned out to be one of Fulham's most successful seasons ever, as they finished ninth in the Premiership to secure their highest-ever final league position. For much of the season they had been in contention for European qualification, but things tailed off after the sale of leading goalscorer Louis Saha to Manchester United in January. Still, it was a very good season for a club who had been tipped by so many observers to go down, and an excellent first full season in management for Chris Coleman.

Leeds United

The financial crisis at Elland Road saw Leeds United's debts reach the £100million mark, and consequently the sell-off of key players continued. Manager Peter Reid was sacked on 10 November after Leeds collected 8 points from their first 12 games, and former player, coach and manager Eddie Gray was brought in on a temporary basis.

Leeds continued to struggle, but a 4-1 defeat by Bolton on 2 May left them with no hope of survival, and Gray was soon on his way out of the club for good, to be replaced by Kevin Blackwell, who had been brought to the club a year earlier as Reid's assistant. Few observers gave Leeds much hope of an immediate promotion back to the Premiership, with Blackwell's ultimate task being seen as one of avoiding a second successive relegation.

Leicester City

Micky Adams had guided Leicester City 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. 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).

Liverpool

Gerard Houllier secured his fourth top-four finish in six seasons as Liverpool manager, but it wasn't enough for the Liverpool board of directors, who terminated his contract on 24 May, a week after the end of a campaign which saw Liverpool pip Aston Villa and Newcastle United to the fourth and final Champions League place. Striker Michael Owen was sold to Real Madrid shortly afterwards, and the task of building a Liverpool side capable of ending the title wait that began in 1990 fell to Spaniard Rafael Benitez, who had just achieved domestic league title glory with Valencia.

Manchester City

After finishing ninth in their final season at 80-year-old Maine Road, Manchester City's debut season at the City of Manchester Stadium was a major disappointment. A side which had been tipped by some to qualify for the UEFA Cup instead spent the season battling against relegation. Winning their 36th game of the season left them six points clear of safety, but survival was effectively confirmed due to them having a far greater goal difference than Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leeds United. It took victory in their penultimate game of the season to put survival beyond all doubt, but even then the future was not looking bright for under pressure manager Kevin Keegan.

Manchester United

A 3-0 win over Millwall at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 24 May ended Manchester United's five-year wait for their 11th FA Cup triumph, but this success only partly compensated for a failure to win the Premiership title which for at least the first half of the season had looked likely to end up at Old Trafford. Ruud Van Nistelrooy was on song as usual with more than 30 goals in all competitions, but the loss of Rio Ferdinand for the final four months of the season (his penalty for missing a drugs test on 22 September) coincided with United surrendering their Premiership crown and finishing third in the final table. Their European Cup hopes were ended in the Second Round knockout stage thanks to a last-gasp winner by FC Porto at Old Trafford it also looked like manager Alex Ferguson would be sacked after the season failure.

On a brighter note, 19-year-old winger Cristiano Ronaldo showed huge promisement as David Beckham's successor on the right side of midfield.

Unfortunately, not all of the club's new signings were a success. Brazilian World Cup winning midfielder Jose Kleberson failed to establish himself in the first team (largely due to Cristiano Ronaldo's brilliant form), while midfielder Eric Djemda-Djemba failed to live up to his reputation as Roy Keane's eventual successor on the few occasions that he managed to break into the first team, while French striker David Bellion was similarly disappointing.

Middlesbrough

After 128 years in existence, Middlesbrough Football Club finally won a major trophy when on 29 February 2004 they beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, to lift the Carling Cup. It was a case of third time lucky for manager Steve McClaren, who in his first season as manager had seen Middlesbrough exit the FA Cup in the semi-finals and in his second season had watched them slip out of contention for a European place due to a slump in form late on.

Middlesbrough's first major trophy also brought them their first European campaign, as they qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Newcastle United

For the third season running, Sir Bobby Robson secured European qualification for Newcastle United, but there was a slight disappointment this time, as their place in Europe was the UEFA Cup rather than the Champions League, as had happened in the previous two campaigns. Their fifth-place finish was achieved despite a bad run at the end of the season, failing to win in their last five games.

Portsmouth

Portsmouth's Premiership debut (and only their second top division campaign during the last 45 years) was a fine one, as they finished 13th and established Fratton Park as one of the hardest Premiership grounds to get a result at. Only their dismal away form prevented them from finishing even higher and challenging for a European place, but it was still a very good season for the only newly promoted side to preserve their Premiership status.

outhampton

The previous season's FA Cup runners-up failed to make an impact in any of the cup competitions, and their 12th place finish was a something of a disappointment after the previous season, when Southampton were eighth in the league - their highest ever in the Premiership and their highest in the top flight since 1990. The club was thrown into further turmoil in March, when Gordon Strachan announced his resignation as manager. There was talk that Glenn Hoddle would be returning to the club for a second spell, but the job went to Plymouth Argyle's Paul Sturrock instead.

Tottenham Hotspur

A dismal start to the season cost Glenn Hoddle his job and he was sacked as manager on 21 September after two-and-a-half years at the helm. Director of Football David Pleat took over first team duties until the end of the season, but was unable to inspire Tottenham to a challenge for European qualification nor either of the cup competitions, and a 14th place finish in the final table was Tottenham's lowest since 1998. New Sporting Director Frank Arnesen and Head Coach Jacques Santini were appointed at the end of the season to bring some hope to fans of a club that had so far underachieved in almost every season since the 1991 FA Cup triumph.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Back in the top flight after 20 years away, Wolverhampton Wanderers did not win any of their opening seven Premiership fixtures and it was obvious that the season was going to be a long and hard struggle. There were some good results during this difficult season, including a 1-0 home win over a full-strength Manchester United on 17 January in which Kenny Miller scored the only goal of the game, but Wolves failed to win any of their 19 away fixtures and this counted heavily against them and their relegation was finally confirmed in early May.

Promoted teams

These teams were promoted from the First Division at the start of the season:
*Portsmouth (First Division Champion)
*Leicester City (First Division runner-up)
*Wolverhampton Wanderers (First Division playoff winner)

Relegated teams

These teams were relegated to the First Division at the end of the season:
*Wolverhampton Wanderers
*Leeds United
*Leicester City

Top goal scorers

References

ee also

*2003-04 in English football