2003–04 Rangers F.C. season

The 2003–04 season was the 124th season of competitive football by Rangers.

Rangers

2003–04 season
Chairman	John McClelland
Manager	Alex McLeish
Ground	Ibrox Stadium
Scottish Premier League	2nd
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 →

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 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

Squad information

N	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	Since	App	Goals	Ends	Transfer fee	Notes
1	GK		Stefan Klos	32	1998			2007	£0.7m
2	DF		Fernando Ricksen	27	2000			2009	£3.75m
3	DF		Craig Moore (captain)	28	1999 (Winter)			2006	0.9m
4	MF		Emerson	32	2003	18	1	2005	Free
5	DF		Frank de Boer	34	2004 (Winter)	17	2	2004	Free
6	MF		Barry Ferguson	26	1998	255	38		Youth system	left on 29 August
7	FW		Shota Arveladze	26	2001			2005	£2m
8	MF		Christian Nerlinger	31	2001				£1.8m
9	FW		Egil Østenstad	31	2003	17	2	2004	Free	left on 19 December
10	FW		Michael Mols	33	1999	147	48	2004	£4m
11	MF		Gavin Rae	26	2004 (Winter)	11	2	2007	£0.25m
12	DF		Bob Malcolm	23	1997	98	3	2007	Youth system
14	MF		Ronald de Boer	34	2000			2004	£4m
15	DF		Zurab Khizanishvili	22	2003	38	0	2006	Free
16	DF		Paolo Vanoli	31	2003	35	1	2005	Free
17	DF		Kevin Muscat	31
18	DF		Michael Ball	24	2001			2006	£6.5m
19	FW		Steven Thompson	20	2003 (Winter)			2006	£0.2m
20	MF		Nuno Capucho	32	2003	32	6	2005	£0.7m
21	DF		Maurice Ross	23	2000				Youth system
22	GK		Allan McGregor	22	2001				Youth system
26	FW		Peter Løvenkrands	25	2000				£1.3m
27	MF		Stephen Hughes	22	1999	90	7		Youth system	left 31 January
30	MF		Chris Burke	21	2000	44	5	2007	Youth system
32	DF		Alan Hutton	20	2002	24	1		Youth system

• Last updated: 22 May 2004
• Source: Players transfer, Wikipedia players' articles
• Ordered by position on pitch.

Transfers

In

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	Moving from	Type	Transfer window	Ends	Transfer fee	Source
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	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	Moving to	Type	Transfer window	Transfer fee	Source
25	DF		Dan Eggen	33	Le Mans	Transfer	Summer	n/a	[10]
5	DF		Arthur Numan	33	Retired	End of contract	Summer	n/a	[10]
7	FW		Claudio Caniggia	35	Qatar SC	Transfer	Summer	Free	[10]
	FW		Stephen Dobbie	20	Hibernian	Transfer	Summer	Free	[10]
	DF		Marc Twaddle	16	Falkirk	Transfer	Summer	Free	[10]
	MF		Jimmy Gibson	20	Clyde	Transfer	Summer	Free	[10]
15	DF		Bert Konterman	32	Vitesse	Transfer	Summer	Free	[10]
16	DF		Jérôme Bonnissel	30	Fulham	Transfer	Summer	Free	[10]
44	DF		Paul Reid	21	Northampton Town	Transfer	Summer	£0.1m	[11]
3	DF		Lorenzo Amoruso	32	Blackburn Rovers	Transfer	Summer	£1.4m	[12]
11	MF		Neil McCann	28	Southampton	Transfer	Summer	£1.5m	[13]
6	MF		Barry Ferguson	25	Blackburn Rovers	Transfer	Summer	£7.5m	[14]
17	DF		Kevin Muscat	30	Millwall	Transfer	Summer	Free	[15]
30	GK		Jesper Christiansen	25	Viborg FF	Transfer	Winter	Free	[16]
9	FW		Egil Østenstad	32	Viking FK	Transfer	n/a	Free	[17]

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

Player statistics

No.	Player	Position	Appearances	Goals
1	Stefan Klos	GK	46	0
2	Fernando Ricksen	DF	42	1
3	Craig Moore	DF	25	2
4	Emerson	MF	18	1
5	Frank de Boer	DF	17	2
6	Barry Ferguson	MF	5	0
7	Shota Arveladze	FW	29	15
8	Christian Nerlinger	MF	21	5
9	Egil Østenstad	FW	17	2
10	Michael Mols	FW	45	12
11	Gavin Rae	MF	11	2
12	Robert Malcolm	DF	17	0
14	Ronald de Boer	MF	21	3
15	Zurab Khizanishvili	DF	38	0
16	Paolo Vanoli	DF	35	1
17	Kevin Muscat	DF	0	0
18	Michael Ball	DF	43	1
19	Steven Thompson	FW	19	8
20	Nuno Capucho	MF	32	6
21	Maurice Ross	DF	30	1
22	Allan McGregor	GK	6	0
23	Mikel Arteta	MF	33	9
24	Steven MacLean	FW	0	0
25	Henning Berg	DF	30	0
26	Peter Løvenkrands	MF	36	13
27	Stephen Hughes	MF	28	3
29	Jesper Christiansen	GK	0	0
30	Chris Burke	MF	26	4
32	Alan Hutton	DF	11	1
37	Hamed Namouchi	MF	9	3
38	Darryl Duffy	FW	3	0
40	Alex Walker	MF	2	0
45	Charlie Adam	MF	2	0
48	Gary MacKenzie	DF	2	0
49	Robert Davidson	FW	1	0
50	Ross McCormack	FW	1	0
52	Bajram Fetai	FW	1	0

Disciplinary record

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[circular reference]

Other staff Position Staff Physiotherapist Davie Henderson Doctor Dr Iain McGuiness Chief scout Ewan Chester Team analyst Steve Harvey (from September) Massuer David Lavery Kit controller Jimmy Bell Source: Wikipedia article[circular reference]

Matches

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

Scottish Premier League

Main article: 2003–04 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.)

Scottish League Cup

Main article: 2003–04 Scottish League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
28 October 2003	R3	Forfar Athletic	H	6–0	26,327	Nerlinger (3), Løvenkrands, Capucho, Østenstad
3 December 2003	QF	St Johnstone	H	3–0	11,072	Burke, Østenstad, Mols
5 February 2004	SF	Hibernian	N	*1–1	27,954	Mols

*Rangers lost the match 4–3 on penalties

Scottish Cup

Main article: 2003–04 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

UEFA Champions League

Main article: 2003–04 UEFA Champions League

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
13 August 2003	QR3	Copenhagen	H	1–1	47,401	Løvenkrands
27 August 2003	QR3	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

Competitions

Overall

Competition	Started round	Current position / round	Final position / round	First match	Last match
Scottish Premier League	—	—	2nd	11 August	4 May
Scottish Cup	Third round	—	Quarter-finals	29 July	18 September
League Cup	Third round	—	Semi-finals	7 August	31 October
UEFA Champions League	Third qualifying round	—	Group stage	29 September	2 February

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Scottish Premier League

Main article: 2003–04 Scottish Premier League

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[a]
1	Celtic (C)	38	31	5	2	105	25	+80	98	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Rangers	38	25	6	7	76	33	+43	81	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
3	Heart of Midlothian	38	19	11	8	56	40	+16	68	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[b]
4	Dunfermline Athletic	38	14	11	13	45	52	−7	53
5	Dundee United	38	13	10	15	47	60	−13	49

Source: Scottish Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.
2. As Celtic, the 2003–04 Scottish Cup winners, qualified for the UEFA Champions League via their league position, the place in the UEFA Cup was passed onto Dunfermline Athletic, the cup runners-up.

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: ^{[citation needed]}

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	37	38
Ground	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A
Result	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	L	D	D	W	W	W	W	W	L	W	W	L	W	W	W	W	D	W	L	D	W	W	L	W	D	W	D	W	L	L	W

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Champions league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MUN	STU	PAN	RAN
1	Manchester United	6	5	0	1	13	2	+11	15	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–0	5–0	3–0
2	VfB Stuttgart	6	4	0	2	9	6	+3	12			2–1	—	2–0	1–0
3	Panathinaikos	6	1	1	4	5	13	−8	4	Transfer to UEFA Cup		0–1	1–3	—	1–1
4	Rangers	6	1	1	4	4	10	−6	4			0–1	2–1	1–3	—

Source: RSSSF

References

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