Leicester City FC is a professional football club from the city of the same name that was formed in 1884 under the name of Leicester Fosse FC, playing at a ground by Fosse Road.
The club played at several different grounds over the following six years as Victoria Park, Belgrave Road, Mill Lane and the County Cricket ground on Grace Road all staged Fosse matches before the moved into Filbert Street in 1891, when the club also became members of the Midland League.
A runners-up place in 1893-94 saw Leicester elected to Division Two of the Football League. After successfully applying for re-election in 1903-04, the team ended as runners-up in 1907-08 to win promotion to Division One at a time that George Johnson held the role of secretary/manager.
The side were relegated in 1908-09 in a season that saw a 12-0 hiding handed out by Nottingham Forest. Another successful re-election bid ensued at the completion of the 1914-15 campaign before Fosse hit financial problems in 1919.
The club was quickly reformed as Leicester City. Promotion was achieved in 1924-25 under manager Peter Hodge with Arthur Chandler the star player of the day. City finished league runners up to Sheffield Wednesday in 1928-29.
A topsy turvy period followed, with the team going out in the semi-final of the FA Cup to Portsmouth in 1933-34 and then being relegated in 1934-35. Manager Frank Womack led City to promotion as Division Two champions in 1936-37 before the side was relegated once more in 1938-39.
Johnny Duncan took over as team boss soon after World War Two, leading City to the 1948-49 FA Cup final, where they went down 4-1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Two years later, City signed one of the clubs’ greatest strikers, Arthur Rowley from Fulham.
Another Division title followed in 1953-54 with Norman Bullock in charge of the side. However, the ‘Filberts’ spell in the top division lasted just twelve months. Promotion was claimed along with another Division Two title in 1956-57, led by manager Dave Halliday.
Halliday sold Rowley at the end of the following campaign, with the outcry so big that he lost his job. Former 'Foxes' player Matt Gillies took over and before long signed quality youngsters such as Gordon Banks, Frank McLintock, Graham Cross and Colin Appleton.
City reached the FA Cup finals in 1960-61 losing 2-0 to Tottenham Hotspur before returning to the 1962-63 final where Leicester went down 3-1 to Manchester United with Ken Keyworth netting the consolation goal.
However, in 1963-64 silverware was finally delivered to Filbert Street as Stoke City were defeated in the League Cup Final over two legs. They went on to be the final the following season, but they went down to Chelsea.
In 1968 Gillies resigned owing to ill health with Frank O'Farrell arriving as his replacement. The Foxes were relegated in 1968-69 after spending the previous twelve years in the top flight. The same season saw then side reach the FA Cup final, but a Neil Young goal for Manchester City saw a 1-0 defeat.
O’Farrell led the team to the Second Division title in 1970-71 before he headed off to Manchester United, to be replaced by Jimmy Bloomfield. Another fine team entertained the City faithful, with favourites such as Len Glover, Keith Weller, Alan Birchenall and Frank Worthington starring.
City reached the 1973-74 FA Cup semi-finals, losing to Liverpool after a replay while England keeper Peter Shilton adorned an all white kit in the Foxes goal. The popular Bloomfield moved on in 1977.
Former player McLintock took over as the team were relegated in 1977-78, to be replaced by Jock Wallace. The Scotsman oversaw the introduction of local youngster Gary Lineker. City clinched the Division Two title in 1979-80 before dropping back down to the second tier after just one season in the first division.
City were defeated by Tottenham Hotspur in the 1981-82 FA Cup semi-final with striker Alan Smith. picked up from non-league Alvechurch partnering Lineker in attack before the team won promotion in 1982-83 after Gordon Milne had taken over as manager.
The side also contained the likes of stalwart keeper Mark Wallington, Steve Lynex, Andy Peake, John O’Neill and Larry May. Lineker was sold to Everton in 1985 with Smith heading to Arsenal two years later after City had been relegated once more under manager Bryan Hamilton.
David Pleat was appointed to take charge of the team in December 1987, before being replaced by Gordon Lee who managed to help keep the side from dropping down to the third tier at the end of the 1990-91 season before the arrival of new boss Brian Little.
Little immediately saw results, taking City to the play-offs in 1991-92, defeating Cambridge United before losing 1-0 to Blackburn Rovers at Wembley. The Leicester team contained future legend Steve Walsh along with Mike Whitlow and Simon Grayson who would play their parts over the following few seasons.
1992-93 saw further heartbreak as Swindon Town beat them in the final 4-3 in one of Wembley's greatest ever games, after Portsmouth had been defeated in the semi-finals, with Julian Joachim, Walsh and Steve Thompson scoring for City, who fought back from a 3-0 deficit.
Leicester were not to be denied, as they won promotion in the 1993-94 play-off final after earlier disposing of Tranmere Rovers, with a 2-1 win against Derby County. Walsh, playing as a centre forward, scored both goals.
Little departed the following November to join his old club Aston Villa in an acrimonious move with Mark McGhee appointed in his place. City were relegated after just one Premier League season prior to the arrival of Martin O’Neill as manager in December 1995.
The Norther Irishman gradually turned things around and signed players such as Neil Lennon, Muzzy Izzett, Tony Cottee, Robbie Savage, Matt Elliott and Steve Claridge to join an already decent squad.
Stoke City were defeated in the 1995-96 play-offs to set up a final against Crystal Palace. The Foxes came from behind with a Garry Parker penalty and Claridge goal in the last minute of extra time to clinch promotion back to the top level of English football.
O'Neill would lead the side to four consecutive top ten league finishes as Filbert Street became a difficult place for teams to visit. City also became a good cup side as in 1996-97 they defeated Middlesbrough 1-0 at Hillsborough in the League Cup final with another extra time Claridge goal after the sides had drawn 1-1 at Wembley.
Local young striker Emile Heskey scored in that encounter as he became a handful for defenders. Leicester returned to the final in 1998-99 but lost 1-0 in a tetchy game to Tottenham Hotspur.
However, City won their third league cup in 1999-00 in the last final at the old Wembley after a couple of goals from skipper Matt Elliott were enough to help defeat Tranmere Rovers 2-1. Other previously unmentioned notable stars of the time included Kasey Keller, Gerry Taggart, Steve Guppy and Tony Cottee.
At the end of the successful season O'Neill left to join Celtic, while Emile Heskey was sold to Liverpool for £11M. Peter Taylor took over but found O'Neill a tough act to follow. He eventually departed to be replaced by Dave Bassett in October 2001.
Poor signings were matched by Chairman John Elsom, who made some poor decisions regarding the financial prudence of the club. Mickey Adams arrived in the managerial hot seat but could not stave off relegation in 2001-02.
To end a dismal season, City also said goodbye to their Filbert Street home to move a few hundred metres to a new stadium named the Walkers Stadium in a ten years naming right deal with the local crisp makers.
The move cost more than the club had accounted for. Relegation meant lower gate revenues, the loss of the ITV digital money and some unwise transfer dealings led to the club entering administration in October 2002 with debts of around £30M.
Adams led the side to promotion in 2002-03 after a consortium led by Gary Lineker took over and restructured the debts. Many clubs felt City had cheated their way up as they suffered no punishment for their financial indiscretions. It led to the rule of point deductions being introduced throughout football thereafter.
City were relegated once again in 2003-04, leading to the appointment of manager Craig Levein the following November. The Scotsman lasted until January 2006 when Rob Kelly took over to steer the side away from relegation.
Former Portsmouth Chairman Milan Mandarić bought the club in February 2007 from the fifty five previous shareholders, before sacking Kelly and replacing him with Nigel Worthington who managed to help save the side before he was replaced by Martin Allen.
After just three months Allen moved on before Gary Megson didn’t even see out a month at the helm. Ian Holloway took over in November 2007, becoming the third permanent manager of the season.
The chopping and changing led to City dropping down to League One, the first time the club had played in the third tier. Nigel Pearson was appointed to lead the side straight back up to the Championship in 2008-09.
In 2009-10 Cardiff City defeated Leicester in the play-off semi-finals on penalties. Pearson moved to Hull City to be replaced by Paulo Sousa and then Sven Goran Eriksson as the club was bought by Thai based Duty Free Company 'King Power'.
The stadium was rebranded The King Power Stadium as Pearson returned to replace the sacked Swede in November 2011. The reappointment bore fruit as City reached the play-offs in 2012-13 before losing to Watford in the semi-finals.
Pearson and his side were not to be denied. The manager strengthened his squad and Leicester were promoted back to the Premier League after a ten year absence in April 2014 as champions of the second tier.
Those among the regulars included Kasper Schmeichel, Kevin Drinkwater, Lloyd Dyer, Anthony Knockaert and David Nugent. Further signings were made in the close season to try to consolidate a top flight place, including the experienced Argentinian Esteban Cambiasso from Internazionale.
Pearson's side looked absolutely doomed as the season reached its last quarter in Spring 2015. Remarkably City strung an amazing unbeaten run together to drag themselves safe. Shortly after the seasons end Pearson was dismissed for what was described as not to do with footballing matters.
Former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri came in as his replacement. The appointment was met with raised eyebrows in many quarters, but the Italian would well and truly confound any critics.
City pulled off one of the biggest shocks in English sporting history as they won the Premier League title in the 2015-16 season as opposing defences were blown away. While it was a squad effort, the following were the first choice starting eleven.
Kasper Schmeichel, Danny Simpson, Wes Morgan, Robert Huth, Christian Fuchs, Riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater, N'Golo Kanté, Marc Albrighton, Shinji Okazaki and Jamie Vardy who finished as top scorer to continue his miraculous rise from non-league football.
However, the teams league form during the following season struggled, despite a last eight appearance in the Champions League, before going out to Atlético Madrid. Ranieri was dismissed in February 2017 with coach Craig Shakespeare taking over at the helm.
Shakespeare was replaced in October 2017 by Claude Puel, with the team featuring England central defender Harry Maguire finishing in ninth place. Tragedy struck the club and the football family in October 2018 following the home game with West Ham United.
City's beloved owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha's helicopter crashed soon after taking off from the King Power Stadium pitch killing him and four other people on board. The club and city were in mourning with most players flying out to Bangkok for the funeral of the man they called "Boss".
Vichai’s son Aiyawatt took over ownership of the club, appointing Brendan Rodgers to replace Puel in February 2019 as the team ended in ninth place. This was improved on with fifth place in 2019-20 as Rogers added Ayoze Pérez, Youri Tielemans and Dennis Praet to the squad.
The team returned played fine football with further new players Timothy Castagne, Wesley Fofana and Cengiz Ünder were added to the likes of Harvey Barnes, James Justin, James Maddison, Marc Albrighton, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho.
Another fifth spot in 2020-21 paled into insignificance by events at Wembley on a May afternoon as a goal from Youri Tielemans was enough to defeat Chelsea 1-0 as Leicester City lifted the FA Cup. The 2021-22 campaign saw the side reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League where they lost to AS Roma.
Another good league finish ensued, but things were very different in 2022-23. Players were said to be unsettled, with some moving on, as spending was reduced. Poor form saw Rogers replaced by Dean Smith before the season’s end, but he could not help save the Foxes from relegation. Enzo Maresca arrives as the new manager in June 2023.
City won the Championship title in 2023-24 before Maresca headed off to Chelsea.
Leicester City FC will play in the Premier League in the 2024-25 season.
Leicester City 1 Crystal Palace 1 (Saturday 3rd October 1982) Division Two
My Mum and Dad used to take us away as a family for the weekend and had found good value at breaks at Holiday Inn around England. My Dad had been to Leicester many years previously as he was mates with Scarborough and City star Colin Appleton, so it looked a nice idea with a good train ride thrown in. Added to the attraction was that City were at home so we could take a game in.
We arrived on the Friday when we had a look around the city. After visiting the market on Saturday morning Dad took me and Nick to Filbert Street. Mum went to bingo and Paul to a roller disco. We were early so we went round the back of the Main Stand where we watched as the players arrived by car, with several signing our programmes.
I'd never experienced this before, so it was a bit of a thrill at the time. Dad managed to buy an old City programme from a shop in a terraced house in Burnmoor Street. I also found some bargains to add to my collection.
We entered the ground, where we sat near the half way line in the Burnmoor Street Stand or Popular Side as it was known. This was a former shallow converted terrace. To our right was the Filbert Street Stand. This had a lower tier of seats with early corporate boxes perched above it. Opposite was the Main Stand with a terracing paddock and a large tier of seats above it. Finally the Spion Kop was to our left.
This was a huge double decker stand for behind a goal. The bottom was terraced with a section in there for visiting fans, with seats above. The ground was hemmed in but traditional. In time the Main Stand was replaced by a more modern stanchion free construction as the whole ground was seated before it was all demolished.
City, under Jock Wallace were hoping to be promoted at the end of the season, but they stuttered along in this game. Palace took the lead to the joy of around five hundred visiting fans. The home faithful next to them tried to rouse their charges. Dad commented as to how he was surprised how clubs at this level survived on such poor gates compared to yesteryears.
The match was being filmed for highlights to be covered on ATV/Central TV the following afternoon with the superb Hugh Johns commentating. Nick at the time had an early hoodie and it was a bright lemon colour. We joked that it was his banana skin. Each time the ball crossed the half way line in the air we could spot him on the highlights.
City grabbed a draw through a late equaliser from Gary Lineker in one of his early appearences. Nick commented he would play for England. We laughed at this as he was only a sub and we'd only seen around fifteen minutes of him in action. How little we knew!
We headed off and went inside Welford Road, the home of Leicester RFC for a look at the fine arena and picked up a programme from their afternoon game with Coventry. The following day we did plenty of walking.
Leicester City 3 Birmingham City 1 (Tuesday 13th March 2012) The Championship (att: 21,092)
I was running out of options of new League grounds I could reach after early shift and still get back from afterwards. As usual I checked the fixtures well in advance to enable me to get the best bargains on the trains. I booked through Megabus and East Midland Trains and bought a match ticket online, which I would collect before the match; more of which later!
The walk took me past a much changed Welford Road since my last visit. It appeared that there was a game on later as the floodlights were turned on and a few fans were congregating outside. That scuppered any chance I had of popping in for some photos.
I was paying close attention to how long my walk was taking as I had to be on the 9.58pm train back to London later. I went down one of the terraced streets that led to Burnmoor Street. The memories were coming back to me. I continued on to the King Power Stadium, where I purchased a programme before going to collect my match ticket.
I was directed to the club shop for collection. The young lady informed me that I was in the wrong place and I needed to go to the portable outlet behind the Main Stand. I arrived to be told that they wouldn't be open for ten minutes.
I was treated to an exhibition of breathtaking skill by the assistant who tried to like wording up on the side of the outlet, so customers knew where to queue. I was the only person waiting. Eventually the shutters came up so I went forward to collect. I knew from experience that the bloke was struggling.
He asked me my name, and then after a forlorn search, how I spelt my surname. Again he went through his pile, as did his assistant. It was no good. It wasn't there. He sent me back to the club shop. Let's just say that I wasn't laughing. I returned where another young girl, quite possibly doing a part time job to supplement her grant, said she'd have to print me a new ticket.
Away I trudged after wasting at least a pint worth of time with all the mucking around. I was heading for a pub with great reviews called The Swan and Rushes which was near to the Infirmary. I was certain I was going the right way, even though it was taking me longer than I anticipated. I saw the pub stood alone in not what I would term a celubrious location, but I was thirsty and not particularly bothered. I entered in to the packed bar.
I was a bit surprised to find only Everard's beers on sale, but I was non too bothered as Tiger was very palitable. I managed to get a seat where an older group was sat. I had managed to generate plenty of stares when I walked in and plenty of the punters looked like they had seen pre and post match action over the years. I just assumed that the pub had recently changed management.
My seat was in the top corner of the Spion Kop. The stadium was one single tier of seating in one continuous bowl. It was very functional with every seat commanding a decent view of the action. It didn't have many features that made it stand out from other new stadiums that were built in the same era, which I found a bit of a shame.
The Brummies in the crowd had plenty to cheer when referee Mick Russell gave a very controversial penalty. He did the same at the Derby County v Crystal Palace game I attended a couple of weeks later, before he upset all at Doncaster Rovers in his officiating against Portsmouth which sealed their relegation.
They were proper supporters who watched the game through unbiased eyes. At half time I once again took advantage of the reasonable pie and pint offer, which if I remember rightly was £5.40. I returned to my seat after the break and continued to update my new pals with the updated Championship scores from my radio until the power ran out.
The game ebbed and flowed with Leicester looking likely to hang on to their win when I had to call it a night to make sure I'd catch my train. On my way back along Aylestone Road Beckford sealed the win with his second goal of the evening. I tried to keep up with another fan with the same intention as me. He was some athlete!
I made my train and was at home in Kingsbury at 11.30 after a good evening out and another new ground ticked off my list.
The photos of Filbert Street have been taken from the internet as I can't locate the ones we took on our visit.
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