Leicester City F.C.
Andrew Taylor | manager =
Rob Kelly | league =
The Championship | season =
2005-06 | position =
The Championship, 16th |
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Leicester City Football Club, nicknamed the "Foxes", are an
English football team, playing in the
Football League Championship. They play at the
Walkers Stadium,
Leicester, where they moved in 2002 after 111 years at Filbert Street.
Leicester City have reached the F.A Cup final four times (1949, 1961, 1963 and 1969) but have never won the trophy, a record in England. Their highest league finish is runners-up in Division One and their highest
Premier League finish is seventh. They have been League Cup winners three times (1964, 1997 and 2000). Their most successful manager was Martin O'Neill, who guided Leicester to their two most recent League Cup victories as well as four successive top-ten finishes in the
Famous players to have worn a Leicester shirt include
Gary Lineker,
Peter Shilton,
Gordon Banks,
Emile Heskey,
Muzzy Izzet, and
Neil Lennon.
Famous managers to have taken charge of Leicester include Martin O'Neill, Brian Little, Gordon Milne and Jimmy Bloomfield.
Leicester Fosse
The club was founded in
1884 as
Leicester Fosse because it played on a field by the Fosse Road. Before moving to
Filbert Street in 1891, the club played at five different grounds. The club joined
the Football Association in
1890. In 1894, it was elected to the Second Division. The first ever league game was a 4-3 defeat at Grimsby, but a week later at
Filbert Street the club recorded its first league win against Rotherham. In
1908 the club finished as Second Division runners-up and reached the First Division, but went back down again after just one season.
Leicester City is born
In
1919, due to financial problems, Leicester Fosse ceased to exist and the club became
Leicester City Football Club.
City's cup fortunes
City reached the F.A Cup final for the first time in their history in 1949, but lost to Wolves. They reached it again three times over the next 20 years, but lost each time. In 1961 they were on the losing side to double winners Tottenham, and as a result were England's representatives in the 1961-62 European Cup Winners Cup - their first foray into European competition. The 'Foxes' enjoyed some real success in 1964 when they claimed their first major trophy - the League Cup.
Gary Lineker
Leicester City won promotion to the First Division in 1983 - by which time they had established themselves as a yoyo team who regularly bounced between the top two divisions of the Football League - and their striker Gary Lineker was soon hitting the headlines as one of the most exciting strikers in England. He helped Leicester maintain their place in the First Division but was sold to Everton in 1985 and two years later Leicester went down, having failed to find a suitable replacement.
A Close Shave
1990-
1991 was probably the worst season in the history of Leicester City football club. Manager David Pleat was sacked with the club near the foot of the old Second Division and Gordon Lee was put in charge of the club until the end of the season. Leicester won their final game of the league season which guided them clear of relegation to the lower tier of the football league for the first time in their history -a humiliation suffered by
West Bromwich Albion F.C. instead.
Wembley Hoodoo
Brian Little, who had just taken
Darlington F.C. from the Conference to the Third Division with successive promotions, was given the manager's job at Leicester and in his first season as manager they qualified for the promotion playoffs. Leicester beat
Cambridge United F.C. 6-1 on aggreggate in the semi finals but lost out on a place in the new Premier League after a 1-0 defeat in the playoff final to
Blackburn Rovers F.C. - the only goal of the game was scored by Blackburn's
Mike Newell, a former Leicester player. The goal, a penalty, came after a much disputed foul by
Steve Walsh on
David Speedie. Speedie became the subject of much hatred amongst Leicester City supporters, but, somewhat ironically, signed for the club a year later. The signing prompted one
Fanzine,
The Fox, to observe "Had you told me that Leicester City would sign Speedie a year later, I would have said, 'Ah, such is the fickle and transient nature of football,' either that or, 'Yeah, bollocks will we!'"
Leicester suffered another playoff final defeat at the end of the 1992-93 Division One campaign. Trailing 3-0 to Swindon during the second half, goals from Julian Joachim,
Steve Walsh and Steve Thompson brought them level with their opponents. Then Paul Bodin scored a penalty for Swindon and it was the West Country club who won promotion to the Premiership.
Third Time Lucky
In
1993-
1994 it was third time lucky for Leicester as they beat East Midlands rivals
Derby County F.C. 2-1 in the final to secure promotion to the Premiership after seven years outside the top division. David Speedie did not play in the final, having been sent off in the semi-final. Brian Little quit as Leicester manager the following November to take charge at
Aston Villa F.C., and his successor Mark McGhee was unable to save Leicester from finishing second from bottom in the 1994-95 Premiership campaign with just six wins from 42 league games.
The Martin O'Neill Revolution
Leicester were flying high at the top of Division One when McGhee controversially walked out on the club in December 1995 to take charge at
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. He was replaced by
Martin O'Neill, who prior to his brief six-month spell as
Norwich City F.C. manager had taken Wycombe from the Conference to Division Two with two successive promotions.
Under O'Neill, Leicester qualified for the
1995-
1996 Division One promotion playoffs and beat
Crystal Palace F.C. 2-1 with a last gasp Steve Claridge goal which secured an immediate return to the Premiership.
Leicester then established themselves in the Premiership under
Martin O'Neill thanks to four successive top ten finishes and two League Cup victories. Then in June
2000 Martin O'Neill was lured to
Celtic F.C. and replaced by the former England U-21 coach
Peter Taylor.
Peter Taylor: A false dawn
For most of 2000-01, Leicester looked set to qualify for European competition. They had even topped the Premiership for two weeks in October. But then they were knocked out of the
FA Cup quarter finals by Division Two Wycombe Wanderers, and then came nine defeats from their final ten Premiership fixtures which saw them slip to 13th in the table. A terrible start to 2001-02 (a five nil defeat at home to Bolton Wanderers) saw Taylor sacked and replaced by David Bassett, who was unable to stop Leicester's season from going from bad to worse. Just before relegation was confirmed, Bassett moved onto the club's board of directors to make way for his assistant Micky Adams, who had quit the manager's job at
Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. six months earlier to work under Bassett at Leicester. Leicester's last game of the 2001-02 season was also their last at Filbert Street, and they beat
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. 2-1 to secure only their fifth Premiership win of a dismal season.
Micky Adams: Back up... and back down again - The YoYo Spell
Leicester moved into the new 32,000-seat
Walkers Stadium (named after their sponsors the crisp makers) at the start of the 2002-03 season, but due to the loss of Premiership television money, the cost of constructing their new stadium and Dennis Wise's suing of the club after his sacking over an incident that left Callum Davidson with a fractured cheekbone, the club went into administration with debts of £30million. Adams was banned from the transfer market for most of the season, until the club was rescued by a takeover. However he guided Leicester to runners-up spot in Division One and automatic promotion back to the Premiership with more than 90 points.
It was because of Leicester restructuring their debts that the Football League changed their rules and now penalise teams going into administration with a ten point penalty.
Leicester narrowly missed out on staying in the premiership in
2003-
2004 after a season of misfortunes and were relegated from the Premiership on 33 points, along with (
Leeds United F.C. and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Adams resigned as manager in October
2004 and David Bassett began a second (temporary) spell as manager assisted by the former FA technical director
Howard Wilkinson. The pair remained in charge at Leicester until
Craig Levein was appointed Leicester City boss on Friday
October 29,
2004.
Levein had previously managed
Cowdenbeath F.C. and most recently
Heart of Midlothian F.C., both of whom he played for as a
defender.
Craig Levein: More disappointment
Leicester's poor start to the
2005-06 season saw some fans call for
Levein's resignation as the team were near the bottom of the table after ten matches, and fell into the relegation zone in January. He was sacked as manager on
25 January 2006, despite a famous 3-2
FA Cup win over Premiership club
Tottenham just 17 days earlier. Many fans agreed that even though Craig Levein didn't get the results on the pitch, his signings and other work off the pitch had left the club in a great position for the future.
Rob Kelly: A new era?
After winning three out of four games as caretaker manager and moving the club 5 places up the league,
Rob Kelly was appointed to see out the rest of the season. Kelly steered Leicester to safety and in April 2006 was given the manager's job on a permanent basis.
Jim McCahill retired as chairman on 1st June 2006 and was replaced by
Andrew Taylor.
Leicester City squad as of 31 July, 2006:
*William Clark 1896 - 1897
*George Johnson 1898 - 1907
*James Blessington 1907 - 1909
*Andy Aitken 1909 - 1911
*John W Bartlett 1912 - 1914
*Peter Hodge 1919 - 1926
*William Orr 1926 - 1932
*Peter Hodge 1932 - 1934
*Andy Lochhead 1934 - 1936
*Frank Womack 1936 - 1939
*Tom Bromilow 1939 - 1945
*Tom Mather 1945 - 1946
*Johnny Duncan 1946 - 1949
*Norman Bullock 1949 - 1955
*David Halliday 1955 - 1958
*Matt Gillies 1959 - 1968 - Won the first major trophy of Leicester's history - the 1964 League Cup - as well as reaching two F.A Cup finals, both of which were lost
*Frank O'Farrell 1968 - 1971
*Jimmy Bloomfield 1971 - 1977
*Frank McLintock 1977 - 1978
*Ian MacFarlane 1978 (as caretaker)
*Jock Wallace 1978 - 1982
*Gordon Milne 1982 - 1986
*Bryan Hamilton 1986 - 1987
*David Pleat 1987 - 1991
*Gordon Lee 1991 (as caretaker)
*Brian Little 1991 - 1994 - Won promotion to Premiership in 1994 after two successive playoff final defeats
*Kevin MacDonald 1994 (as caretaker)
*Mark McGhee 1994 - 1995
*Martin O'Neill 1995 - 2000 - Achieved promotion to Premiership, four successive top-10 finishes and two League Cup triumphs
*Peter Taylor 2000 - 2001 - Sacked 15 months into his tenure as manager after a promising start ended in failure
*Garry Parker 2001 (as caretaker)
*Dave Bassett 2001 - 2002 - Managed a struggling Leicester side for 6 months before he became Director of Football
*Micky Adams 2002 - 2004 - Took Leicester to the Premiership in spite of a serious financial crisis, but was unable to keep them there
*Craig Levein 2004 - 2006 - Sacked after 16 unsuccessful months as manager.
*Rob Kelly Since 2006 - Replaced Craig Levein in February 2006 |
*
1925 Division Two Champions
*
1929 Division One Runners-Up
*
1937 Division Two Champions
*
1954 Division Two Champions
*
1957 Division Two Champions
*
1964 League Cup Winners
*
1965 League Cup Runners-Up
*
1971 Division Two Champions
*
1971 Charity Shield Winners
*
1980 Division Two Champions
*
1992 Play-off Runners-Up
*
1993 Play-off Runners-Up
*
1994 Play-off Winners
*
1996 Play-off Winners
*
1997 League Cup Winners
*
1999 League Cup Runners-Up
*
2000 League Cup Winners
All Time Records
| Category | Current Record | Previous Record | | Most Goals (Career) | Arthur Chandler - 273 | ??? |
| Most Goals (Season) | 1956/57 - Arthur Rowley - 44 | 1952/53 - Arthur Rowley - 39 |
| Record High Attendance | 47,298 v Tottenham Hotspur, FA Cup 5th Round, 18 February 1928 | ??? |
| Record Low Attendance | 13 v Stockport County (A), 1921-05-07 | ??? |
| Most Appearances | Graham Cross - 596 (3 sub), 1961-75 | Sep Smith - 586, 1929-49 |
| Most Consecutive Appearances | 331 by Mark Wallington, 1975-82 | 198 by Steve Whitworth, 1972-78 |
| Record Victory | 10-0 v Portsmouth (1928-10-20) | ??? |
| Record Defeat | 0-12 v Nottingham Forest (as Leicester Fosse) (1909-04-21) | ??? |
| Fastest Goal | 9 seconds - Matty Fryatt vs Preston (H) (2006-04-15) | 10 seconds - Tom Dryburgh v Swansea (H) (1953-06-28), Derek Hines v Lincoln (1953-11-21), Ian McNeill v Nottingham Forest (A) (1957-03-30) |
Current Records
Current Season (2006-07)
| Category (last update) | FLC - League, FAC - FA Cup, CC - Carling Cup | | Top Goalscorer (2006-08-05) | 0 - ??? |
| Most Appearances (???) | 2 - Many |
| Most Yellow Cards (2006-08-09) | 1 - Danny Tiatto, Patrick McCarthy, Alan Maybury, Matty Fryatt, Andy Johnson |
| Most Red Cards (2005-10-15) | 0 - ??? |
Miscellaneous Facts
* Leicester City hold the unwanted record of the most FA Cup final appearances without winning the competition, having lost four times;
1949 Wolverhampton Wanderers,
1961 Tottenham Hotspur,
1963 Manchester United,
1969 Manchester City* Many supporters refer to the Walkers Stadium as 'Filbert Way', after the road on which it stands. This is due partly to the perception that Walkers Crisps paid a pittance for the stadium naming rights and partly out of affection for the clubs old ground at Filbert Street.
* The club mascot is "Filbert Fox", "Vickie Vixen" and "Cousin Dennis" were added for a while though only Filbert is currently seen at games
* The
Post Horn Gallop is famously played over the PA system as the team comes out at all home games. Although recently a new jazzed up version has been played.
* The Leicester teams of the 1970s had an unusually large number of players whose surnames began with "W" . Notable amonst these are
Mark Wallington,
Frank Worthington,
Keith Weller,
Alan Woollett,
Joe Waters and
Steve Whitworth* Leicester are 1 of just 10 clubs to have never played outside the top 2 tiers of English football
See also Leicester City F.C. playersNotable players who have spent time at Leicester City.
* Septimus 'Sep' Smith - First team player from 1929 to 1949
*
Gordon Banks - World Cup winning former England goalkeeper
* Arthur Chandler
*
Stan Collymore - former
Southend United F.C. striker
*
Nikos Dabizas -
Euro 2004 winner
*
Steve Guppy *
Emile Heskey - former England and
Liverpool F.C. striker
*
Muzzy Izzet - Turkish international
*
Kasey Keller - American international goalkeeper
*
Neil Lennon -
Celtic F.C. captain
*
Gary Lineker - former England striker and BBC presenter
*
Roberto Mancini -
Inter Milan manager
*
Arthur Rowley*
Robbie Savage*
Peter Shilton - fomer English goalkeeper
*
Steve Walsh*
Theo Zagorakis -
Euro 2004 winner
*
Leicester City Official website*
Foxestalk - Leicester City discussion forum*
Talking Balls - Leicester City discussion forum*
Leicester City MAD Fansite*
Leicester City Fan Site*
Leicester City Supporters Club of Australia
