User talk:Mancini's Sandbox/2003–04

The 2003–04 season was Manchester City Football Club's second consecutive season playing in the Premier League, the top division of English football, and its seventh season since the Premier League was first created with Manchester City as one of the its original 22 founding member clubs. Overall, it was the team's 112th season playing in a division of English football, most of which have been spent in the top flight.

Season review
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. 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 then ended up spending this season battling against relegation to the despair of all those pundits that had tipped the team to finish this season in a significantly higher position than City had achieved in the previous one. Winning its 36th game of the season left City six points clear of safety, yet the club's survival was effectively confirmed due to it having a far greater goal difference than rival relegation strugglers Leicester, Leeds and Wolves. It took failure to win their penultimate games of the season by all three of these teams to actually put City's survival beyond all doubt, but by now the future was not looking very bright for manager Kevin Keegan who would fail to last another season as the club's manager.

Perhaps the most memorable of the games 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.

Team kit
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.

Historical league performance
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).

Points breakdown
Points at home: 24 Points away from home: 17

Points against "Big Four" teams: 1 Points against promoted teams: 3


 * 6 points: Bolton Wanderers
 * 4 points: Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Charlton Athletic, Everton
 * 3 points: Manchester United, Newcastle United, Southampton
 * 2 points: Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur
 * 1 point: Birmingham City, Leeds United, Leicester City, Liverpool,
 * Portsmouth, Wolverhampton Wanderers
 * 0 points: Arsenal, Chelsea, Middlesbrough

Biggest &amp; smallest
Biggest home wins: 6–2 vs. Bolton Wanderers, 18 October 2003 5–1 vs. Everton, 15 May 2004 Biggest home defeat: 0–3 vs. Leicester City, 9 November 2003 Biggest away win: 0–3 vs. Charlton Athletic, 17 August 2003 Biggest away defeat: 3–0 vs. Newcastle United, 22 November 2003 Biggest home attendance: 47,304 vs. Chelsea, 28 February 2004 Smallest home attendance: 44,307 vs. Charlton Athletic, 7 January 2004 Biggest away attendance: 67,645 vs. Manchester United, 13 December 2003 Smallest away attendance: 16,124 vs. Fulham, 20 September 2003

Second leg
Final aggregate score 1–1 with Groclin winning due to away goals counting double

League Cup and FA Cup
Information current as of 15 May 2004 (end of season)