2003–04 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

During the 2003–04 English football season, Nottingham Forest competed in the Football League First Division.

Nottingham Forest

2003–04 season
Chairman	Nigel Doughty
Manager	Paul Hart (until 7 February) Joe Kinnear (from 10 February)
Stadium	City Ground
First Division	14th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Andy Reid (13) All: Andy Reid (13)
Average home league attendance	24,824
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

Season summary

The 2003–2004 season saw Paul Hart suffer from a squad that was low in confidence and with no money. However, Forest started reasonably well, winning five of their first seven games and after 15 games, they won seven and lost five and were in the top half of the table. Unfortunately, when they went into the bottom three, after going 14 games without a win, the Forest chairman Nigel Doughty called time on Hart's reign as Forest manager.

Joe Kinnear was then brought in to replace Hart. The club's directors looked to have made a good decision when Kinnear revitalised Forest, bringing out the best in key players like Michael Dawson and Andy Reid, and they climbed up the table to secure a safe 14th place.

Final league table

Main article: 2003–04 Football League First Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
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	58	+3	60
15	Preston North End	46	15	14	17	69	71	−2	59
16	Watford	46	15	12	19	54	68	−14	57

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Nottingham Forest's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 2003	Sunderland	H	2–0	23,579	Harewood, Louis-Jean
16 August 2003	Reading	A	0–3	16,833
23 August 2003	Cardiff City	H	1–2	23,407	Harewood
27 August 2003	Coventry City	A	3–1	17,586	Reid (2), Johnson
30 August 2003	Norwich City	H	2–0	21,058	Johnson, Harewood (pen)
13 September 2003	Sheffield United	H	3–1	25,209	Harewood (2, 1 pen), Reid
16 September 2003	Burnley	A	3–0	12,530	Harewood, Reid, Taylor
20 September 2003	Crewe Alexandra	A	1–3	8,685	Harewood
27 September 2003	Derby County	H	1–1	29,059	Reid
1 October 2003	Preston North End	H	0–1	22,278
4 October 2003	Stoke City	A	1–2	13,755	Williams
14 October 2003	Rotherham United	H	2–2	20,168	Harewood (2)
18 October 2003	Wimbledon	H	6–0	23,520	Harewood (2, 1 pen), Reid, Taylor, Dawson, Morgan
22 October 2003	West Ham United	A	1–1	29,544	Reid
25 October 2003	Bradford City	A	2–1	11,654	Jess, Reid
1 November 2003	Millwall	A	0–1	9,635
4 November 2003	Walsall	A	1–4	7,321	Reid
8 November 2003	Watford	H	1–1	21,229	Bopp
22 November 2003	Wigan Athletic	A	2–2	10,403	Thompson, Harewood
29 November 2003	West Bromwich Albion	H	0–3	27,331
3 December 2003	Ipswich Town	H	1–1	21,588	Morgan
6 December 2003	Watford	A	1–1	14,988	Reid
13 December 2003	Crystal Palace	A	0–1	16,935
26 December 2003	Norwich City	A	0–1	16,429
28 December 2003	West Ham United	H	0–2	27,491
10 January 2004	Sunderland	A	0–1	26,340
17 January 2004	Reading	H	0–1	23,116
31 January 2004	Cardiff City	A	0–0	17,913
7 February 2004	Coventry City	H	0–1	23,075
14 February 2004	Walsall	H	3–3	25,012	Impey, King, Taylor
21 February 2004	Rotherham United	A	1–1	9,046	Jess
25 February 2004	Gillingham	H	0–0	26,473
28 February 2004	Bradford City	H	2–1	26,021	Reid, Taylor
2 March 2004	Wimbledon	A	1–0	6,317	Taylor
6 March 2004	Gillingham	A	1–2	9,096	Barmby
13 March 2004	Crystal Palace	H	3–2	28,306	Williams (2), Reid
17 March 2004	Burnley	H	1–1	26,885	Taylor
20 March 2004	Derby County	A	2–4	32,390	Taylor, Williams
27 March 2004	Crewe Alexandra	H	2–0	24,347	King (2)
3 April 2004	Sheffield United	A	2–1	22,339	King, Taylor
10 April 2004	Stoke City	H	0–0	28,758
12 April 2004	Preston North End	A	2–2	15,117	King, Williams
17 April 2004	Millwall	H	2–2	22,263	Reid, Johnson
24 April 2004	Ipswich Town	A	2–1	27,848	Johnson (2)
1 May 2004	Wigan Athletic	H	1–0	29,172	Johnson
9 May 2004	West Bromwich Albion	A	2–0	26,821	Williams, Johnson

FA Cup

Main article: 2003–04 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	3 January 2004	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–0	11,843	King
R4	25 January 2004	Sheffield United	H	0–3	17,306

League Cup

Main article: 2003–04 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	12 August 2003	Port Vale	A	0–0 (won 3–2 on pens)	4,950
R2	23 September 2003	Tranmere Rovers	A	0–0 (won 4–1 on pens)	4,477
R3	29 October 2003	Portsmouth	H	2–4	20,078	Bopp (2)

First-team squad

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  WAL Darren Ward[1] 2 DF  FRA Matthieu Louis-Jean 4 DF  ENG Des Walker 5 DF  ENG Michael Dawson 6 DF  IRL John Thompson 7 MF  IRL Andy Reid 8 MF  SCO Gareth Williams 9 FW  JAM David Johnson 10 FW  WAL Gareth Taylor 11 FW  JAM Marlon King[2] 12 GK  IRL Barry Roche 14 MF  SCO Eoin Jess 15 MF  GER Eugen Bopp 16 DF  SCO Chris Doig 17 MF  SCO Michael Stewart (on loan from Manchester United) 18 MF  WAL Paul Evans[3] 19 MF  IRL Brian Cash

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 FW  ENG Craig Westcarr 21 MF  NIR Danny Sonner[4] 22 GK  ENG Paul Gerrard (on loan from Everton) 23 DF  ENG Wes Morgan 24 DF  SCO Gregor Robertson 25 MF  ENG Matt Bodkin 26 DF  ENG James Biggins 27 FW  ENG Richard Jeffrey 28 MF  ENG Andy Haskins 29 DF  ENG James Perch 30 GK  GER Pascal Formann 31 DF  AUS David Tarka 32 MF  ENG Ross Gardner 33 MF  ENG James Beaumont 34 DF  ENG Alan Rogers (on loan from Leicester City) 35 MF  ENG Andy Impey (on loan from Leicester City)

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. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  BEL Davy Oyen (to K.V.S.K. United Overpelt-Lommel) 11 FW  ENG Marlon Harewood (to West Ham United) 18 DF  ISL Brynjar Gunnarsson (to Stoke City)

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 MF  IRL Stephen McPhail (on loan from Leeds United) 22 FW  ENG Michael Chopra (on loan from Newcastle United) 36 MF  ENG Nick Barmby (on loan from Leeds United)

Appearances

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Division 1		FA Cup		Worthington Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	WAL	Darren Ward	37	0	32	0	2	0	3	0
2	DF	FRA	Matthieu Louis-Jean	42	1	37+1	1	2	0	2	0
3	DF	BEL	Davy Oyen	5	0	4	0	0	0	1	0
4	DF	ENG	Des Walker	28	0	23+2	0	2	0	1	0
5	DF	ENG	Michael Dawson	31	1	30	1	0	0	1	0
6	DF	IRL	John Thompson	36	1	26+6	1	1	0	3	0
7	MF	IRL	Andy Reid	51	13	46	13	2	0	3	0
8	MF	SCO	Gareth Williams	43	6	38+1	6	2	0	1+1	0
9	FW	ENG	David Johnson	18	7	10+7	7	0	0	1	0
10	FW	ENG	Gareth Taylor	38	8	28+6	8	2	0	2	0
11	FW	ENG	Marlon Harewood	22	12	19	12	0	0	3	0
11	FW	JAM	Marlon King	26	6	23+1	5	2	1	0	0
12	GK	IRL	Barry Roche	8	0	6+2	0	0	0	0	0
14	MF	SCO	Eoin Jess	37	2	21+14	2	0	0	+2	0
15	MF	GER	Eugen Bopp	18	3	9+6	1	1	0	1+1	2
16	DF	SCO	Chris Doig	11	0	7+3	0	0	0	+1	0
17	MF	SCO	Michael Stewart	15	0	11+2	0	0	0	1+1	0
18	DF	ISL	Brynjar Gunnarsson	14	0	9+4	0	1	0	0	0
18	MF	ENG	Paul Evans	8	0	8	0	0	0	0	0
19	MF	IRL	Brian Cash	1	0	+1	0	0	0	0	0
20	FW	ENG	Craig Westcarr	4	0	+3	0	+1	0	0	0
21	MF	ENG	Danny Sonner	32	0	19+9	0	1	0	3	0
22	MF	IRL	Stephen McPhail	16	0	13+1	0	0	0	2	0
22	FW	ENG	Michael Chopra	5	0	3+2	0	0	0	0	0
22	GK	ENG	Paul Gerrard	8	0	8	0	0	0	0	0
23	DF	ENG	Wes Morgan	36	2	30+2	2	1	0	3	0
24	DF	SCO	Gregor Robertson	21	0	12+4	0	2	0	3	0
25	MF	ENG	Matt Bodkin	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
26	DF	ENG	James Biggins	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
27	FW	ENG	Richard Jeffrey	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	MF	ENG	Andy Haskins	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	DF	ENG	James Perch	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	GK	GER	Pascal Formann	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
31	DF	AUS	David Tarka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
32	MF	ENG	Ross Gardner	2	0	1+1	0	0	0	0	0
33	MF	ENG	James Beaumont	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	DF	ENG	Alan Rogers	12	0	12	0	0	0	0	0
35	MF	ENG	Andy Impey	16	1	15+1	1	0	0	0	0
36	MF	ENG	Nicky Barmby	6	1	6	1	0	0	0	0

References

1. Ward was born in Worksop, England.
2. King was born in Southwark, England.
3. Evans was born in Oswestry, England.
4. Sonner was born in Wigan, England.