2003–04 Rangers F.C. season

Rangers

2003–04 season
Chairman	John McClelland
Manager	Alex McLeish
Ground	Ibrox Stadium
Scottish Premier League	2nd P38 W25 D6 L7 F76 A33
Scottish Cup	Quarter-finals
League Cup	Semi-finals
Champions League	Group Stage
Top goalscorer	League: Shota Arveladze (12) All: Shota Arveladze (15)
Highest home attendance	49,962 vs Aberdeen (22 November)
Lowest home attendance	29,395 vs St Johnstone (3 December)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

The 2003–04 season is the 123rd season of competitive football by Rangers.

Overview

Rangers played a total of 52 competitive matches during the 2003–04 season. The season ended trophyless. Due to the club's financial situation they had to resort to selling many top players. These included Barry Ferguson, Lorenzo Amoruso and Neil McCann, they also released high earners Arthur Numan and Bert Konterman.

Despite starting the season well with seven consecutive wins and topping the table, a 1–0 loss at home to Celtic F.C. in October saw Rangers season unravel. Inconsistent form and three old firm derby defeats saw Rangers fall behind Celtic in the title race and ended up finishing 17 points off top spot.

The Scottish Cup campaign ended in the third round after a 1–0 defeat to Celtic. The League Cup campaign also ended in defeat at the semi-final stage to Hibernian at Hampden Park, 4–3 on penalties.

In Europe Rangers managed to qualify for the group stages of the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League with a win over F.C. Copenhagen in the third qualifying round. They were drawn in the group stages alongside English Champions Manchester United, Stuttgart and Panathinaikos. Despite earning 4 points from the first two matches Rangers were to finish bottom of the group.

Players

Transfers

In

N	P	Nat.	Name	Age	Moving from	Type	Transfer window	Ends	Transfer fee	Ref.
20	MF		Nuno Capucho	31	Porto	Transfer	Summer	2005	£0.67m	[1]
15	DF		Zurab Khizanishvili	21	Dundee	Transfer	Summer	2006	Free	[2]
16	DF		Paolo Vanoli	30	Bologna	Transfer	Summer	2005	Free	[3]
25	DF		Henning Berg	33	Blackburn Rovers	Transfer	Summer	2004	Free	[3]
4	MF		Emerson	31	Atlético Madrid	Transfer	Summer	2005	Free	[4]
9	FW		Egil Østenstad	31	Blackburn Rovers	Transfer	Summer	2004	Free	[5]
37	MF		Hamed Namouchi	19	Cannes	Transfer	n/a	2005	Free	[6]
	MF		Marc Kalenga	18	Auxerre	Transfer	n/a	2004	Free	[6]
11	MF		Gavin Rae	26	Dundee	Transfer	Winter	2007	£0.25m	[7]
5	DF		Frank de Boer	33	Galatasaray	Transfer	Winter	2004	Free	[8]
52	FW		Bajram Fetai	18	B.93	Transfer	Winter	2006	£0.2m	[9]

Last updated: 8 December 2014
Total spending: £1.12m

Out

N	P	Nat.	Name	Age	Moving to	Type	Transfer window	Transfer fee	Source
25	CB		Dan Eggen	33	Free Agent	End of contract	Summer	n/a	[10]
5	LB		Arthur Numan	33	Retired	End of contract	Summer	n/a	[10][11]
7	CF		Claudio Caniggia	35	Free Agent	End of contract	Summer	n/a	[10][12]
	CF		Stephen Dobbie	20	Hibernian	End of contract	Summer	n/a	[10]
	DF		Marc Twaddle	16	Falkirk	End of contract	Summer	n/a	[10]
	MF		Jimmy Gibson	20	Clyde	End of contract	Summer	n/a	[10]
15	CB		Bert Konterman	32	Vitesse Arnhem	End of contract	Summer	n/a	[10]
16	LB		Jerome Bonnissel	30	Fulham	End of contract	Summer	n/a	[10][13]
44	DF		Paul Reid	21	Northampton Town	Transfer	Summer	£0.1m	[14]
3	CB		Lorenzo Amoruso	32	Blackburn Rovers	Transfer	Summer	£1.4m	[15]
11	LW		Neil McCann	28	Southampton	Transfer	Summer	£1.5m	[16]
6	CM		Barry Ferguson	25	Blackburn Rovers	Transfer	Summer	£7.5m	[17]
17	RB		Kevin Muscat	30	Millwall	Transfer	Summer	Free	[18]
30	GK		Jesper Christiansen	25	Viborg FF	Transfer	Winter	Free	[19]
9	CF		Egil Østenstad	32	Free Agent	Transfer	n/a	n/a	[20]

Last updated: 31 January 2004
Total received: £10.5m

Player statistics

No.	Player	Position	Appearances	Goals
1	Klos, StefanStefan Klos	GK	46	0
2	Ricksen, FernandoFernando Ricksen	DF	42	1
3	Moore, CraigCraig Moore	DF	25	2
4	, EmersonEmerson	MF	18	1
5	de Boer, FrankFrank de Boer	DF	17	2
6	Ferguson, BarryBarry Ferguson	MF	5	0
7	Arveladze, ShotaShota Arveladze	FW	29	15
8	Nerlinger, ChristianChristian Nerlinger	MF	21	5
9	Østenstad, EgilEgil Østenstad	FW	17	2
10	Mols, MichaelMichael Mols	FW	45	12
11	Rae, GavinGavin Rae	MF	11	2
12	Malcolm, RobertRobert Malcolm	DF	17	0
14	de Boer, RonaldRonald de Boer	MF	21	3
15	Khizanishvili, ZurabZurab Khizanishvili	DF	38	0
16	Vanoli, PaoloPaolo Vanoli	DF	35	1
17	Muscat, KevinKevin Muscat	DF	0	0
18	Ball, MichaelMichael Ball	DF	43	1
19	Thompson, StevenSteven Thompson	FW	19	8
20	Capucho, NunoNuno Capucho	MF	32	6
21	Ross, MauriceMaurice Ross	DF	30	1
22	McGregor, AllanAllan McGregor	GK	6	0
23	Arteta, MikelMikel Arteta	MF	33	9
24	MacLean, StevenSteven MacLean	FW	0	0
25	Berg, HenningHenning Berg	DF	30	0
26	Løvenkrands, PeterPeter Løvenkrands	MF	36	13
27	Hughes, StephenStephen Hughes	MF	28	3
29	Christiansen, JesperJesper Christiansen	GK	0	0
30	Burke, ChrisChris Burke	MF	26	4
32	Hutton, AlanAlan Hutton	DF	11	1
37	Namouchi, HamedHamed Namouchi	MF	9	3
38	Duffy, DarrylDarryl Duffy	FW	3	0
40	Walker, AlexAlex Walker	MF	2	0
45	Adam, CharlieCharlie Adam	MF	2	0
48	MacKenzie, GaryGary MacKenzie	DF	2	0
49	Davidson, RobertRobert Davidson	FW	1	0
50	McCormack, RossRoss McCormack	FW	1	0
52	Fetai, BajramBajram Fetai	FW	1	0

Top scorer

Shota arveladze

Club

Board of directors Position Staff Chairman John McClelland Honorary chairman David Murray Director of Football Business Martin Bain Director of Finance Douglas Odam (until 28 August) David Jolliffe (from 1 August) Director of Retail Nick Peel Company Secretary Campbell Ogilvie Non-executive director John Greig (from 11 February) Non-executive director Alastair Johnston (from 11 February) Non-executive director Dave King Non-executive director Daniel Levy Non-executive director Donald Wilson Non-executive director Ian Skelly (until 27 June) Source:

Coaching staff Position Staff Manager Alex McLeish Assistant Manager Andy Watson First-team coach Jan Wouters Goalkeepers coach Billy Thomson Source: Wikipedia article

Other staff Position Staff Physiotherapist Davie Henderson Doctor Dr Iain McGuiness Chief scout Ewan Chester Kit controller Jimmy Bell Source: Wikipedia article

Matches

Scottish Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 2003	Kilmarnock	H	4–0	49,108	Løvenkrands, Mols, Arteta (2)
16 August 2003	Aberdeen	A	3–2	16,348	R. de Boer, Arteta, Mols
23 August 2003	Hibernian	H	5–2	49,642	Mols (2), O'Connor (o.g.), Arteta, Burke
31 August 2003	Dundee United	A	3–1	11,111	Capucho, Arveladze, Arteta (pen.)
13 September 2003	Dunfermline Athletic	H	4–0	49,072	Thompson, Mols, Arveladze, Capucho
21 September 2003	Heart of Midlothian	A	4–0	14,732	Arveladze (2), Løvenkrands (2)
27 September 2003	Dundee	H	3–1	49,548	Arveladze (2), Vanoli
4 October 2003	Celtic	H	0–1	49,825
19 October 2003	Motherwell	A	1–1	10,824	Arveladze
25 October 2003	Livingston	A	0–0	9,627
1 November 2003	Partick Thistle	H	3–1	49,551	Arteta (2, 1 pen.), Mols
9 November 2003	Kilmarnock	A	3–2	12,204	Arveladze (2), Capucho
22 November 2003	Aberdeen	H	3–0	49,962	Løvenkrands (2), Hughes
30 November 2003	Hibernian	A	1–0	11,160	Hughes
6 December 2003	Dundee United	H	2–1	49,307	Capucho, Løvenkrands
14 December 2003	Dunfermline Athletic	A	0–2	8,592
20 December 2003	Hearts	H	2–1	49,592	Arveladze, Burke
28 December 2003	Dundee	A	2–0	10,948	Capucho, Ball
3 January 2004	Celtic	A	0–3	59,087
17 January 2004	Motherwell	H	1–0	48,925	Arveladze
24 January 2004	Livingston	H	1–0	48,638	Nerlinger
1 February 2004	Partick Thistle	A	1–0	8,220	Løvenkrands
11 February 2004	Kilmarnock	H	2–0	46,900	Moore, Namouchi
14 February 2004	Aberdeen	A	1–1	15,815	F.de Boer
21 February 2004	Hibernian	H	3–0	49,698	Arveladze, Mols, Thompson
29 February 2004	Dundee United	A	0–2	10,497
13 March 2004	Hearts	A	1–1	14,598	Moore
20 March 2004	Dundee	H	4–0	49,364	Løvenkrands, F.de Boer, Rae, Thompson
23 March 2004	Dunfermline Athletic	H	4–1	47,487	Hutton, Løvenkrands, R.de Boer, Mols
28 March 2004	Celtic	H	1–2	49,909	Thompson
4 April 2004	Motherwell	A	1–0	8,967	Hughes
14 April 2004	Livingston	A	1–1	6,096	Mols
17 April 2004	Partick Thistle	H	2–0	49,279	Thompson, Rae
24 April 2004	Dundee United	A	3–3	8,339	Thompson (2), Namouchi
1 May 2004	Motherwell	H	4–0	47,579	Arteta, Ross, Namouchi, Thompson
8 May 2004	Celtic	A	0–1	59,180
12 May 2004	Hearts	H	0–1	47,467
16 May 2004	Dunfermline Athletic	A	3–2	6,798	Ricksen, Burke, McCormack (pen.)

UEFA Champions League

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
13 August 2003	QR3	FC Copenhagen	H	1–1	47,401	Løvenkrands
27 August 2003	QR3	FC Copenhagen	A	2–1	35,519	Arteta (pen.), Arveladze
16 September 2003	GS	VfB Stuttgart	H	2–1	47,957	Nerlinger, Løvenkrands
1 October 2003	GS	Panathinaikos	A	1–1	13,718	Emerson
22 October 2003	GS	Manchester United	H	0–1	48,730
4 November 2003	GS	Manchester United	A	0–3	66,707
26 November 2003	GS	VfB Stuttgart	A	0–1	50,348
9 December 2003	GS	Panathinaikos	H	1–3	48,588	Mols

Scottish Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
10 January 2004	R3	Hibernian	A	2–0	11,392	Arveladze, Løvenkrands
8 February 2004	R4	Kilmarnock	A	2–0	11,072	R.de Boer, Arveladze (pen.)
7 March 2004	QF	Celtic	A	0–1	58,735

League Cup

M	Date	Tournament	Round	Ground	Opponent	Score^1	Report
	28 October 2003	League Cup	R3	H	Forfar Athletic	6 – 0
	3 December 2003	League Cup	QF	H	St Johnstone	3 – 0
	5 February 2004	League Cup	SF	N	Hibernian	1 – 1 (3-4 pen.)

Last updated: 8 December 2014
Source: Wikipedia article
¹Rangers goals come first.
National flags for Ground and Opponent columns are only shown when different to that of Rangers.
M = Match; Ground: H = Home, A = Away, N = Neutral, HR = Home replacement, AR = Away replacement.

Friendlies

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
16 July 2003	Greuther Fürth	N	2–0	3,500	Thompson (2)
19 July 2003	VfB Auerbach	A	5–1	2,500	Mols (3), Capucho, Løvenkrands
19 July 2003	Erzgebirge Aue	A	1–0	2,500	R.de Boer
22 July 2003	Jahn Regensburg	A	1–2	5,000	Nerlinger
26 July 2003	Everton	H	2–3	28,000	Thompson, Mols
30 July 2003	Linfield	A	3–0	13,284	R.de Boer, Dowie, MacLean
5 August 2003	Arsenal	H	0–3	37,000

Competitions

Overall

Competition	Started round	Current position / round	Final position / round	First match	Last match
Template:Fb competition 2003-04 SPL	—	—	2nd	11 August	4 May
Template:Fb competition 2003-04 SCC	Template:Fb round2 2003-04 SCC R3	—	Template:Fb round2 2003-04 SCC QF	29 July	18 September
League Cup	Template:Fb round2 2003-04 SL Cup R3	—	Template:Fb round2 2003-04 SL Cup SF	7 August	31 October
Template:Fb competition 2003-04 SC	Template:Fb round2 2003-04 SC QR3	—	Template:Fb round2 2003-04 SC GS	29 September	2 February

Source: Competitions

Scottish Premier League

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Celtic	38	31	5	2	105	25	+80	98	2004–05 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2	Rangers	38	25	6	7	76	33	+43	81	2004–05 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round
3	Heart of Midlothian	38	19	11	8	56	40	+16	68	2004–05 UEFA Cup First round
4	Dunfermline Athletic	38	14	11	13	45	52	−7	53	2004–05 UEFA Cup Qualifying round

Updated to games played on 2 May 2004.
Source: Wikipedia article
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Head-to-Head: used when head-to-head record is used to rank tied teams.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
18	14	3	1	51	14	+37	45	8	0	0	26	3	+23	6	3	1	25	11	+14

Last updated: 2 January 2013.
Source: Wikipedia article

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
Ground	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A
Result	D	W	D	W	D	W	L	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W

Last updated: 2 January 2013.
Source: Wikipedia article
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

References

1. "Capucho joins Rangers". BBC Sport. 17 June 2003.
2. "Rangers seal Zura deal". BBC Sport. 18 July 2003.
3. "Berg signs on at Rangers". BBC Sport. 5 August 2003.
4. "Gers win Emerson race". BBC Sport. 29 August 2003.
5. "Ostenstad joins Rangers". BBC Sport. 30 August 2003.
6. "Gers snap up French duo". BBC Sport. 18 September 2003.
7. "Rangers parade signing Rae". BBC Sport. 31 December 2003.
8. "Rangers sign second de Boer". BBC Sport. 26 January 2004.
9. "Rangers sign young striker". BBC Sport. 31 January 2004.
10. "SPL ins and outs". BBC Sport. 4 August 2003.
11. "Numan to retire". BBC Sport. 18 February 2003.
12. "Caniggia considers other offers". BBC Sport. 12 February 2003.
13. "Fulham sign Bonnissel". BBC Sport. 1 August 2003.
14. "SPL ins and outs". BBC Sport. 4 August 2003.
15. "Blackburn sign Amoruso". BBC Sport. 14 July 2003.
16. "McCann makes Saints switch". BBC Sport. 5 August 2003.
17. "Rovers sign Ferguson". BBC Sport. 29 August 2003.
18. "Millwall land Muscat". BBC Sport. 29 August 2003.
19. "Christiansen leaving Rangers". BBC Sport. 16 January 2004.
20. "Ostenstad to leave Ibrox". BBC Sport. 19 December 2003.