2003–04 Manchester City F.C. season

After finishing ninth during the club's final season at 80-year-old Maine Road, Manchester City's debut season at the City of Manchester Stadium was a major disappointment. A ninth-place finish had not been good enough to earn City an opportunity to play in the UEFA Cup but the team was rewarded with that opportunity anyway due to being awarded a "Fair Play" slot in the UEFA Cup competition this season. City reached the second round proper of the competition thanks to aggregate victories against The New Saints and Lokeren, but exited the competition on the away goals rule after two draws against Polish club Groclin.

Having embarked on a new era for the club by signing a host of experienced players in the summer, such as Claudio Reyna and Steve McManaman, to combine with such burgeoning talents coming through from the MCFC youth academy as Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips, City started their season very brightly with three wins in five games, sending them near the top of the table. They were still in the top-half of the table after winning five, drawing three and losing three of their first 11 games, with three notably big wins: a 3–0 opening-game away win at Charlton Athletic, a 4–1 home victory over Aston Villa and a 6–2 thumping of Bolton Wanderers. However, a dreadful 3–0 home defeat against unlikely opponents Leicester City in November started a gradual downturn in form and City then ended up battling against relegation. At one point, City went on a run of winning only one game out of 18 league and cup matches played, sparking media rumours of unrest in the squad.[1] Survival in the Premier League was not confirmed until City won their 36th game of the league season. That victory meant that City were six points ahead of the relegation places, but the club's survival was effectively confirmed due to it having a far superior goal difference to Leicester, Leeds and Wolves, who were relegated.

Perhaps the most memorable game played by Manchester City during this season was the FA Cup fourth round replay fixture against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane which featured what many people consider to be one of the most extraordinary comebacks in the history of the competition.[1][2] City fell three goals behind during the first half, had Nicolas Anelka substituted due to injury and Joey Barton was sent off during half-time for verbally abusing the referee.[1] Despite having one man less than their opponents during the second half, City came all the way back to win 4–3 and reach the next round.[1] Rookie Icelandic goalkeeper Árni Arason made a key double save[1] and Jon Macken scored the winning goal.[1] In the next round, a Manchester derby at Old Trafford, City lost 4–2 to exit the competition.

There was a change in the producer of the team kits for this season, with Reebok replacing the previous season's supplier, Le Coq Sportif. The shirt sponsorship was provided by the financial and legal services group First Advice who had also been the sponsors for the previous season.[3]

Home (version 1)

Home (version 2)

Away

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 David James 2 DF David Sommeil 3 DF Daniel Van Buyten (on loan from Marseille) 4 DF Gerard Wiekens 5 DF Sylvain Distin 6 MF Robin Keane 8 FW Robbie Fowler 9 FW Paulo Wanchope 10 MF Antoine Sibierski 11 FW Jon Macken 12 GK Nicky Weaver 17 DF Sun Jihai 18 DF Michael Tarnat 19 MF Danny Tiatto 20 MF Steve McManaman 22 DF Richard Dunne

No. Position Player 24 MF Joey Barton 25 GK Árni Gautur Arason 26 MF Paul Bosvelt 27 DF Mikkel Bischoff 28 MF Trevor Sinclair 29 MF Shaun Wright-Phillips 30 MF Christian Negouai 32 GK Kevin Stuhr-Ellegaard 33 GK Kasper Schmeichel 39 FW Nicolas Anelka 41 DF Stephen Jordan 42 MF Glenn Whelan 43 DF Paddy McCarthy 44 MF Willo Flood 45 FW Stephen Elliott

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 GK David Seaman (retired) 7 FW Darren Huckerby (to Norwich City) 14 MF Eyal Berkovic (to Portsmouth) 15 DF Alf-Inge Håland (retired)

No. Position Player 16 DF Paul Ritchie (to Walsall) 25 DF Lucien Mettomo (to Kaiserslautern) 40 MF Chris Shuker (to Barnsley)

Prior to this season, the history of Manchester City's performance in the English football league hierarchy since the creation of the Premier League in 1992 is summarised by the following timeline chart – which commences with the last season (1991–92) of the old Football League First Division (from which the Premier League was formed).

All competitions Scorer Goals Nicolas Anelka 25 Shaun Wright-Phillips 11 Robbie Fowler 10 Antoine Sibierski 7 Paulo Wanchope 6 Jon Macken 4 Michael Tarnat Sylvain Distin 3 Sun Jihai 2 Trevor Sinclair David Sommeil Joey Barton 1 Paul Bosvelt Darren Huckerby Christian Negouai Claudio Reyna

Premier League Scorer Goals Nicolas Anelka 17 Robbie Fowler 7 Shaun Wright-Phillips Paulo Wanchope 6 Antoine Sibierski 5 Michael Tarnat 3 Sylvain Distin 2 Joey Barton 1 Sun Jihai Jon Macken Claudio Reyna David Sommeil Trevor Sinclair

UEFA Cup Scorer Goals Nicolas Anelka 4 Robbie Fowler 1 Darren Huckerby Sun Jihai Christian Negouai Shaun Wright-Phillips Antoine Sibierski Trevor Sinclair David Sommeil

League Cup and FA Cup Scorer Goals Nicolas Anelka 4 Jon Macken 3 Shaun Wright-Phillips Robbie Fowler 2 Paul Bosvelt 1 Sylvain Distin Antoine Sibierski Michael Tarnat

Information current as of 15 May 2004 (end of season)