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2003–04 Millwall F.C. season

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2003–04 Millwall F.C. season
ChairmanCyprus Theo Paphitis
ManagerScotland Mark McGhee
(until 15 October)[1]
England Dennis Wise
(player-manager)
StadiumThe Den
First Division10th
FA CupRunners-up
League CupFirst round
Top goalscorerLeague: Tim Cahill and Neil Harris (9)
All: Tim Cahill (12)

During the 2003–04 English football season, Millwall competed in the Football League First Division, the second tier of English football.

Season summary

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Despite having spent the previous seasons chasing promotion to the Premiership, Mark McGhee left Millwall by "mutual consent" in October with the club just six points behind league leaders Sheffield United with 14 games played. His replacement, player-manager Dennis Wise, led Millwall to a final 10th place, four points off the play-offs. The club enjoyed greater success in the FA Cup, reaching the final for the first time in their history,[2] to face Manchester United. Millwall, who were missing 16 players through injury and suspension, were unable to create many opportunities and lost 3-0[3] to a United side which had finished third in the Premier League that season.

Curtis Weston, a boyhood United fan, became the youngest player to ever appear in an FA Cup final when he came on a substitute for Wise in the 89th minute. Weston, aged 17 years 119 days, beat the 125-year-old record previously held by James F. M. Prinsep, who appeared in the 1879 final for Clapham Rovers aged 17 years and 245 days; Weston defeated Prinsep's record by 126 days.

As United had already qualified for the Champions League, Millwall gained European qualification for the first time in their history, entering the UEFA Cup in the first round.

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
8 Sheffield United 46 20 11 15 65 56 +9 71
9 Reading 46 20 10 16 55 57 −2 70
10 Millwall 46 18 15 13 55 48 +7 69 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[a]
11 Stoke City 46 18 12 16 58 55 +3 66
12 Coventry City 46 17 14 15 67 54 +13 65
Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Notes:
  1. ^ Since the FA Cup winners Manchester United qualified for the Champions League, their place in the UEFA Cup went to Millwall, who were the FA Cup runners-up.

Kit

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Strikeforce remained Millwall's kit sponsors. London-based stationery retailer Ryman became kit sponsors.

Players

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First-team squad

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Squad at end of season[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK England ENG Tony Warner[notes 1]
2 DF England ENG Matt Lawrence
3 DF Republic of Ireland IRL Robbie Ryan
4 MF Australia AUS Tim Cahill[notes 2]
6 DF Northern Ireland NIR Joe Dolan[notes 3]
7 MF Barbados BRB Paul Ifill[notes 4]
8 MF England ENG David Livermore
9 FW England ENG Neil Harris
10 FW England ENG Danny Dichio
11 MF England ENG Curtis Weston
12 DF England ENG Darren Ward
13 GK Guadeloupe GLP Willy Guéret
14 MF England ENG Andy Roberts
16 FW France FRA Abou Fofana
17 DF Australia AUS Kevin Muscat[notes 5]
18 FW England ENG John Sutton
No. Pos. Nation Player
19 MF England ENG Dennis Wise (player-manager)
21 FW England ENG Nick Chadwick (on loan from Everton)
22 FW Northern Ireland NIR Kevin Braniff
23 FW England ENG Mark McCammon[notes 6]
25 MF England ENG Marvin Elliott[notes 7]
26 MF Scotland SCO Peter Sweeney
27 DF Republic of Ireland IRL Alan Dunne
28 DF England ENG Mark Phillips
29 FW Belgium BEL Bob Peeters
30 MF England ENG Charley Hearn
33 GK England ENG Andy Marshall
34 DF England ENG Paul Robinson
35 DF England ENG Tony Craig
37 MF Republic of Ireland IRL Barry Cogan
38 MF Jamaica JAM Trevor Robinson
39 FW Republic of Ireland IRL Mark Quigley

Left club during season

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
5 DF England ENG Stuart Nethercott (to Wycombe Wanderers)
10 FW Republic of Ireland IRL Richard Sadlier (retired)
11 FW England ENG Noel Whelan (to Derby County)
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 DF England ENG Ronnie Bull (to Brentford)
31 GK England ENG David McCartney (to Hornchurch)
42 DF Brazil BRA Juan (on loan from Arsenal)

Reserve squad

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
15 FW England ENG Moses Ashikodi[notes 8]
31 DF Wales WAL Matthew Rees
32 FW England ENG Ben May
36 DF Republic of Ireland IRL Tim Clancy
No. Pos. Nation Player
40 MF England ENG Cherno Samba[notes 9]
41 MF Ivory Coast CIV Alex Tiesse
45 MF England ENG Ellis Lattimore

Awards

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At the end of the season, defender Darren Ward was named the club's player of the year.

Notes

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  1. ^ Warner was born in Liverpool, England, but also qualified to represent Trinidad and Tobago internationally and made his international debut for Trinidad and Tobago in February 2006.
  2. ^ Cahill was born in Sydney, Australia, but also qualified to represent Samoa, England, and the Republic of Ireland through his mother, father, and grandparents respectively, and represented Samoa (then called Western Samoa) at U-20 level, unsuccessfully attempted to overturn a FIFA ruling that prevented him from representing the Republic of Ireland during the 2001–02 season, changed his allegiance to Australia in 2003 following a change in FIFA's eligibility rules and made his international debut for Australia in March 2004.
  3. ^ Dolan was born in Southwark, England, but also qualified to represent Northern Ireland internationally and represented Northern Ireland at U-18 and U-21 level.
  4. ^ Ifill was born in Brighton, England, but also qualified to represent Barbados internationally through his parents and made his international debut for Barbados in June 2004.
  5. ^ Muscat was born in Crawley, England, but was raised in Australia and represented Australia at U-20 and U-23 level before making his international debut for Australia in September 1994.
  6. ^ McCammon was born in Barnet, England, but also qualified to represent Barbados internationally and made his international debut for Barbados in 2006.
  7. ^ Elliott was born in Wandsworth, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for Jamaica in October 2011.
  8. ^ Ashikodi was born in Lagos, Nigeria, but was raised in England and also qualified to represent Antigua and Barbuda internationally, and represented England at U-16, U-17, U-18 and U-19 level before making his international debut for Antigua and Barbuda in September 2012.
  9. ^ Samba was born in Banjul, Gambia, but was raised in England from the age of 6 and represented England at U-16, U-17, U-18, U-19 and U-20 level before making his international debut for Gambia in September 2008.

References

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  1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/millwall/3193162.stm McGhee leaves Millwall, BBC News
  2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/millwall/4527395.stm Wise steps down as Millwall boss, BBC News
  3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/fa_cup/3725063.stm United win FA Cup, BBC News
  4. ^ "FootballSquads - Millwall - 2003/04".
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