During the 2003β04 English football season, Millwall competed in the
Football League First Division, the second tier of English football.
Season summary
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.
Source:
Soccerway Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored. Notes:
^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
Strikeforce remained Millwall's kit sponsors. London-based stationery retailer
Ryman became kit sponsors.
^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 2001β02 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.
^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.
^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.
^McCammon was born in
Barnet,
England, but also qualified to represent
Barbados internationally and made his international debut for
Barbados in 2006.
^Elliott was born in
Wandsworth,
England, but also qualified to represent
Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for
Jamaica in October 2011.
^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.