During the 2002–03 English football season, Brentford competed in Football League Second Division. Despite an unbeaten start and topping the table, the club won just four of the final 21 matches of the season to slump to a 16th-place finish.

After defeat in the 2002 Second Division play-off Final, the team was broken up, with high earners Ívar Ingimarsson, Lloyd Owusu and captain Paul Evans released and defender Darren Powell sold for £400,000 on the eve of the new season.Manager Steve Coppell resigned and was replaced by his assistant, Wally Downes. The squad was reinforced with players on free transfers and throughout the season, a need to balance the books in the wake of the ITV Digital collapse saw no transfer fees paid out and a need to reduce the wage bill. The loss of Lloyd Owusu up front and the return of loanee Ben Burgess to Blackburn Rovers led to the loan signing of youngster Rowan Vine from Portsmouth and a chance for Mark McCammon as a first-choice striker. A number of youth products were also promoted to the first team squad. The financial state of affairs also led Managing Director Gary Hargreaves to state that the club would "have to sell the freehold of Griffin Park without any guarantee of a return to the borough in the near future".

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