Villa are beaten for the first time in nine games and as a result are pushed down to sixth place and outside the European places but given David O'Leary's side had been 18th in December, the recovery was remarkable.

Villa lose to Manchester United for the third time this season and as a result are beaten to a UEFA Cup spot at the last by Newcastle.

Despite that disappointment, little could detract from the surprisingly good job that David O’Leary had done in taking a squad that had struggled so badly under Graham Taylor to just outside the European places.

His appointment was far from universally popular, and the doubts were seeming confirmed in the opening few months, but O’Leary recovered well but the key test was now improving the squad and building on the unexpected gains seen in 2003-04. 

Centre forward Dion Dublin, 35, makes his 189th and final appearance in a Villa shirt (148 Starts) before moving on to Leicester City on a free transfer in July 2004. Dublin had started his Villa career with a bang under John Gregory - scoring 7 in his first 3 games, and contributing 10 goal involvements in his first 7 - but goals became much harder to come by with 2 added in 17 games to the end of his debut season. His second season delivered 12 goals before he sustained a broken neck in December which ruled him out for 3 months. On his return he would score 3 goals, with 9 more following in 2001-02 but a goal involvement rate that had been one every 1.77 games before his injury, was now 2.13 having scored 12 goals in his last 50 games. 2001-02 brought just 6 goals, a loan away from the club and a struggle for playing time under Graham Taylor before a better run in the side and 14 goals during the turgid 2002-03 campaign. Dublin’s final season would produce just 3 goals in 28 appearances under David O’Leary to leave him with a goal involvement rate of one for every 2.45 games played delivering W72 D51 L66, 58 Goals, 19 Assists, 17 Bookings and 2 Red Cards.

Centre forward Peter Crouch, 23, makes his 43rd and final appearance in a Villa shirt (25 Starts) before moving on to Southampton for a fee of £2,700,000 in July 2004. Villa had paid Portsmouth £6,750,000 for Crouch’s services in March 2002 but despite showing the potential to be an influential player, he appeared to never have been truly trusted by manager David O’Leary and was sold on at a huge loss. Crouch’s subsequent career underlined the fact that he was sold far too early having left with a record of W15 D10 L18, 6 Goals, 7 Assists and 2 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 1.92 games he started.

Forward Marcus Allbäck, 30, makes his 44th and final appearance in a Villa shirt before moving on to Hansa Rostock for a fee of £180,000 in July 2004. Villa had paid £2,700,000 to SC Heerenveen for Allbäck just 2 years earlier and his signing was another catastrophic loss for the club with Allbäck having delivered W18 D9 L17, 7 Goals, 1 Assist and 2 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 5.50 games he played.