2003–04 Watford F.C. season

Watford

2003–04 season
Chairman	Graham Simpson
Manager	Ray Lewington
Stadium	Vicarage Road
First Division	16th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Scott Fitzgerald (10) All: Scott Fitzgerald (11)
Average home league attendance	14,855
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

During the 2003–04 English football season, Watford F.C. competed in the First Division.

Season summary

The ongoing financial difficulties saw a large number of players released that summer, including record signing Allan Nielsen and strikers Tommy Smith and Gifton Noel-Williams. To make matters worse, Manchester United loanee Jimmy Davis was killed in a car crash on the opening day of the new campaign. This had a huge effect on the team's form at the beginning of the season, and notably on his close friend Danny Webber. But a strong finish to the season saw the club finish in mid-table.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1.	Norwich City	46	28	10	8	79	39	+40	94
2.	West Bromwich Albion	46	25	11	10	64	42	+22	86
3.	Sunderland	46	22	13	11	62	45	+17	79
4.	West Ham United	46	19	17	10	67	45	+22	74
5.	Ipswich Town	46	21	10	15	84	72	+12	73
6.	Crystal Palace	46	21	10	15	72	61	+11	73
7.	Wigan Athletic	46	18	17	11	60	45	+15	71
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
11.	Stoke City	46	18	12	16	58	55	+3	66
12.	Coventry City	46	17	14	15	67	54	+13	65
13.	Cardiff City	46	17	14	15	68	58	+10	65
14.	Nottingham Forest	46	15	15	16	61	51	+10	60
15.	Preston North End	46	15	14	17	69	71	-2	59
16.	Watford	46	15	12	19	54	68	-14	57
17.	Rotherham United	46	13	15	18	53	61	-8	54
18.	Crewe Alexandra	46	14	11	21	57	66	-9	53
19.	Burnley	46	13	14	19	60	77	-17	53
20.	Derby County	46	13	13	20	53	67	-14	52
21.	Gillingham	46	14	9	23	48	67	-19	51
22.	Walsall	46	13	12	21	45	65	-20	51
23.	Bradford City	46	10	6	30	38	69	-31	36
24.	Wimbledon (later MK Dons)	46	8	5	33	41	89	-48	29

Results

Watford's score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
16 August 2003	Crystal Palace	A	0-1	15,333
23 August 2003	West Bromwich Albion	H	0-1	15,023
25 August 2003	Sunderland	A	0-2	23,600
30 August 2003	Gillingham	H	2-2	12,793	Helguson, Webber
13 September 2003	Millwall	H	3-1	11,305	Dyer, Cox (pen), Young
17 September 2003	Derby County	A	2-3	18,459	Gayle, Young
20 September 2003	Wigan Athletic	A	0-1	9,211
27 September 2003	Ipswich Town	H	1-2	15,350	Fitzgerald
30 September 2003	Burnley	H	1-1	11,573	Fitzgerald
4 October 2003	Crewe Alexandra	A	1-0	7,055	Webber
14 October 2003	Walsall	H	1-1	12,231	Baird (own goal)
18 October 2003	Bradford City	H	1-0	12,399	Fitzgerald
21 October 2003	Coventry City	H	1-1	13,487	Fitzgerald
25 October 2003	Wimbledon	A	3-1	6,115	Devlin, Webber, Fitzgerald
28 October 2003	Cardiff City	A	0-3	14,011
1 November 2003	Rotherham United	H	1-0	18,067	Webber
4 November 2003	Preston North End	A	1-2	11,152	Webber
8 November 2003	Nottingham Forest	A	1-1	21,229	Cook
15 November 2003	Norwich City	A	2-1	16,420	Fitzgerald, Cox (pen)
22 November 2003	West Ham United	H	0-0	20,950
29 November 2003	Reading	A	1-2	14,521	Cook
6 December 2003	Nottingham Forest	H	1-1	14,988	Fitzgerald
13 December 2003	Sheffield United	A	2-2	18,637	Smith, Helguson
20 December 2003	Stoke City	H	1-3	13,732	Helguson
26 December 2003	Gillingham	A	0-1	8,971
28 December 2003	Cardiff City	H	2-1	15,512	Fitzgerald, Cook
10 January 2004	Coventry City	A	0-0	12,226
17 January 2004	Crystal Palace	H	1-5	15,017	Helguson (pen)
31 January 2004	West Bromwich Albion	A	1-3	23,958	Fitzgerald
7 February 2004	Sunderland	H	2-2	16,798	Mahon, Cox (pen)
14 February 2004	Preston North End	H	2-0	12,675	Bouazza, Devlin
21 February 2004	Walsall	A	1-0	6,684	Cook
28 February 2004	Wimbledon	H	4-0	15,323	Cook, Cox (pen), Smith, Ardley
3 March 2004	Stoke City	A	1-3	13,108	Helguson
9 March 2004	Bradford City	A	0-2	17,143
13 March 2004	Sheffield United	H	0-2	13,861
16 March 2004	Derby County	H	2-1	13,931	Helguson, Mahon
20 March 2004	Ipswich Town	A	1-4	23,524	Fitzgerald
27 March 2004	Wigan Athletic	H	1-1	13,382	Helguson
10 April 2004	Crewe Alexandra	H	2-1	18,041	Hyde, Wright (own goal)
12 April 2004	Burnley	A	3-2	11,413	Devlin, Helguson, Cook
17 April 2004	Rotherham United	A	1-1	7,221	Dyer
20 April 2004	Millwall	A	2-1	10,263	Dyer, Cook
24 April 2004	Norwich City	H	1-2	19,290	Blizzard
1 May 2004	West Ham United	A	0-4	34,685
9 May 2004	Reading	H	1-0	17,979	Young

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	3 January 2004	Chelsea	H	2-2	21,121	Helguson, Mahon
R3R	14 January 2004	Chelsea	A	0-4	38,763

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	12 August 2003	Bournemouth	H	1-0	9,561	Fitzgerald
R2	23 September 2003	Bristol City	A	0-1	5,213

Squad

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 Alec Chamberlain 2 MF Neal Ardley 3 DF Paul Mayo 4 MF Paolo Vernazza 5 DF Neil Cox 6 DF Sean Dyche 7 FW Bruce Dyer 8 MF Micah Hyde 9 FW Danny Webber 12 MF Gavin Mahon 13 GK Richard Lee 14 DF Wayne Brown 15 DF Marcus Gayle 16 MF Anthony McNamee 17 MF Jamie Hand

No. Position Player 18 FW Heiðar Helguson 19 DF Jerel Ifil 20 DF Lloyd Doyley 21 FW Scott Fitzgerald 22 FW Lee Cook 23 MF Gary Fisken 24 FW Jason Norville 25 MF Paul Devlin 27 MF Ashley Young 30 GK Lenny Pidgeley (on loan from Chelsea) 31 GK Kevin Hitchcock 33 MF Dominic Blizzard 34 DF Jack Smith 35 FW Hameur Bouazza

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 3 DF Paul Robinson (to West Bromwich Albion) 10 MF Richard Johnson (to Colchester United) 10 DF Chris Baird (on loan from Southampton)

No. Position Player 11 MF Jimmy Davis (on loan from Manchester United) 32 DF Stephen Kelly (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)

References

1. "Watford 2003–2004 Results". Tony Brown. Statto.com. Retrieved 16 January 2011.