2003–04 Leicester City F.C. season

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

Main article: 2003–04 FA Premier League

;Results summary

;Results by round

Results

Leicester City's score comes first

Legend

FA Premier League

FA Cup

Main article: 2003–04 FA Cup

League Cup

Main article: 2003–04 Football League Cup

Squad

:Squad at end of season

Left club during the season

Reserve squad

Statistics

Overview

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.

References

References

1. "Leicester City results for the 2003-2004 season - Statto.com".
2. Sinclair was born in [[London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth]], [[England]], but qualified to represent [[Jamaica]] internationally and made his international debut for [[Jamaica national football team. Jamaica]] in 1998.
3. Izzet was born in [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Tower Hamlets]], [[England]], but qualified to represent [[Turkey]] internationally and made his international debut for [[Turkey national football team. Turkey]] in 2000.
4. Elliott was born in [[London Borough of Wandsworth. Wandsworth]], [[England]], but also qualified to represent [[Scotland]] internationally and made his full international debut for [[Scotland national football team. Scotland]] in November 1997.
5. Benjamin was born in [[Kettering]], [[England]], but qualified to represent [[Jamaica]] internationally and made his international debut for [[Jamaica national football team. Jamaica]] in November 2002.
6. Thatcher was born in [[Swindon]], [[England]], but qualified to represent [[Wales]] internationally and made his international debut for [[Wales national football team. Wales]] in March 2004.
7. "All Leicester City players: 2004".
8. (2003-06-05). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Foxes move for Howey". BBC News.
9. (2003-06-24). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Foxes snap up Scimeca". BBC News.
10. (2003-06-24). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Brooker joins Leicester". BBC News.
11. (2003-07-03). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Leicester sign Coyne". BBC News.
12. "Foxes sign Gillespie".
13. (2003-07-11). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Foxes snap up Nalis". BBC News.
14. (2003-07-11). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Ferdinand signs for Leicester". BBC News.
15. (2003-07-17). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Foxes sign Thatcher". BBC News.
16. (2003-07-18). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Leicester swoop for Hignett". BBC News.
17. (2004-01-19). "Foxes delight for Canero". BBC News.
18. (2004-02-02). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Leicester land Morris". BBC News.
19. (2003-06-09). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Northampton Town | Reeves pens Cobblers deal". BBC News.
20. (2003-06-26). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Charlton Athletic | Royce returns to Charlton". BBC News.
21. (3 July 2003). "Walsall sign duo". [[BBC Sport]].
22. (4 June 2004). "Jones forced to retire". BBC Sport.
23. (2003-10-31). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | West Ham Utd | West Ham sign Deane". BBC News.
24. (2004-01-29). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Bolton Wanderers | Howey completes Bolton switch". BBC News.
25. (2004-02-02). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Portsmouth | Pompey land LuaLua". BBC News.
26. (2004-02-26). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Stoke City | Taggart joins Stoke City". BBC News.
27. (2003-09-01). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Bent makes Leicester move". BBC News.
28. (2004-01-01). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Dabizas to join Leicester". BBC News.
29. (2004-01-30). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Leicester City | Leicester land Freund". BBC News.
30. (2003-12-09). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Stoke City | Taggart joins Stoke". BBC News.
31. (17 November 2004). "Leicester City Annual Player Awards". LCFC.co.uk.
32. (17 November 2004). "Awards Ceremony Picture Special". LCFC.com.
33. (15 September 2003). "Dickov leaves Leeds reeling". BBC Sport.