During the 2003–04 English football season, Leicester City competed in the FA Premier League.
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 three wins in five games in November kept Leicester in close contention of survival, with the 2–0 victory at Portsmouth seeing them rise to as high as 12th; however, it all went wrong as, after a creditable 1–1 draw with eventual champions 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 have won). Ultimately, Leicester were relegated in a 2–2 draw at Charlton Athletic, which left them eight points adrift of Manchester City with two games remaining. 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
Results summary
Results by round
Results Leicester City's score comes first
Legend WinDrawLoss
FA Premier League DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 16 August 2003 SouthamptonH2–231,611Dickov (pen), Ferdinand 23 August 2003 ChelseaA1–241,073Scowcroft 26 August 2003 MiddlesbroughH0–030,823 30 August 2003 Aston VillaA1–332,274Izzet 15 September 2003 Leeds UnitedH4–030,460Nalis, Dickov (2), Scowcroft 20 September 2003 LiverpoolA1–244,094Bent 27 September 2003 Manchester UnitedH1–432,044Sinclair 4 October 2003 FulhamA0–214,562 19 October 2003 Tottenham HotspurH1–231,521Dickov 25 October 2003 Wolverhampton WanderersA3–428,578Ferdinand (2), Scimeca 2 November 2003 Blackburn RoversH2–030,975Bent, Howey 9 November 2003 Manchester CityA3–046,966Stewart, Dickov (pen), Bent 22 November 2003 Charlton AthleticH1–130,242Ferdinand 29 November 2003 PortsmouthA2–020,061Ferdinand, Bent 6 December 2003 ArsenalH1–132,108Hignett 13 December 2003 Birmingham CityH0–230,639 20 December 2003 EvertonA2–337,007Ferdinand, Scowcroft 26 December 2003 Newcastle UnitedH1–132,148Dickov 28 December 2003 Bolton WanderersA2–228,353Bent, Ferdinand 7 January 2004 SouthamptonA0–031,053 11 January 2004 ChelseaH0–431,547 17 January 2004 MiddlesbroughA3–327,125Dickov (2), Bent 31 January 2004 Aston VillaH0–531,056 7 February 2004 Newcastle UnitedA1–352,125Ferdinand 10 February 2004 Bolton WanderersH1–126,674Ferdinand 22 February 2004 Tottenham HotspurA4–435,218Doherty (own goal), Ferdinand, Thatcher, Bent 28 February 2004 Wolverhampton WanderersH0–031,768 13 March 2004 Birmingham CityA1–029,491Ferdinand 20 March 2004 EvertonH1–131,650Bent 28 March 2004 LiverpoolH0–032,013 5 April 2004 Leeds UnitedA2–334,036Dickov, Izzet 10 April 2004 FulhamH0–228,392 13 April 2004 Manchester UnitedA0–167,749 17 April 2004 Blackburn RoversA0–122,749 24 April 2004 Manchester CityH1–131,457Scowcroft 1 May 2004 Charlton AthleticA2–226,034Bent, Ferdinand 8 May 2004 PortsmouthH3–131,536Dickov, Scowcroft, Taylor (own goal) 15 May 2004 ArsenalA1–238,419Dickov
FA Cup
+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersR33 January 2004 Manchester CityA2–230,617Dickov, BentR3R14 January 2004 Manchester CityH1–318,916Ferdinand
League Cup
+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersR223 September 2003 Crewe AlexandraH1–027,675Dickov (pen)R329 October 2003 Aston VillaA0–126,729
Squad Squad at end of season
Left club during the season
Reserve squad
Statistics Overview CompetitionRecord Premier League FA Cup League Cup Total
Appearances and goals As of end of season
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players transferred or loaned out during the season
Transfers
In Steve Howey – Manchester City, 5 June, undisclosed Riccardo Scimeca – Nottingham Forest, 24 June, free Paul Brooker – Brighton and Hove Albion, 24 June, free Danny Coyne – Grimsby Town, 3 July, free Keith Gillespie – Blackburn Rovers, 8 July, free Lilian Nalis – Chievo, 11 July, free Les Ferdinand – West Ham United, 11 July, free Ben Thatcher – Tottenham Hotspur, 17 July, £300,000 Craig Hignett – Blackburn Rovers, 18 July, free Steve Guppy – Celtic, 13 January, free Peter Canero – Kilmarnock, 2 February, £250,000 Lee Morris – Derby County, 2 February, nominal fee Nicolas Priet – Lyon, free
Out Tim Flowers – retired, 7 May Martin Reeves – released, 7 May (later joined Northampton Town on 9 June) Simon Royce – released, 7 May (later joined Charlton Athletic on 26 June) Stefan Oakes – released, 7 May (later joined Walsall on 3 July Nicky Summerbee – released, 7 May (later joined Bradford City on 4 September) Jon Ashton – released, 7 May (later joined Oxford United on 8 September) Matt Jones – released, 7 May (later retired on 4 June 2004) Michael Price – released, 7 May Darren Eadie – released, 7 May Jon Stevenson – released, 7 May (later joined Swindon Town) Brian Deane – West Ham United, 31 October, free Steve Howey – Bolton Wanderers, 29 January, undisclosed John Curtis – Portsmouth, 2 February, free Gerry Taggart – Stoke City, 26 February, free
Loan in Marcus Bent – Ipswich Town, 1 September, season-long loan Nikos Dabizas – Newcastle United, 1 January, six-month loan Steffen Freund – Kaiserlautern, 30 January, season-long loan
Loan out Tommy Wright – Brentford, 12 September Gerry Taggart – Stoke City, 9 December, two months
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 FerdinandPlayers' Player of the Season Les FerdinandSupporters' Club Player of the Season N/AAcademy Player of the Season Richard StearmanGoal of the Season Lilian Nalis (vs. Leeds United, 15 September 2003)
References