Everything about Leicester City F C totally explained
Milan Mandarić
| manager =
Vacant
| league =
The Championship
| season =
2007-08 |
position =
The Championship, 22nd
(relegated) |
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Leicester City Football Club, (also known as
The Foxes) is an
English professional
football club based in the city of
Leicester. Leicester's highest ever finish was second in the old
Division One in
1928-29, and despite getting into the
FA Cup final four times, they've never won the cup. They have however won the
League Cup three times and the Second Division title six times before it became known as the
Football League Championship.
Leicester were founded in
1884 as
Leicester Fosse, playing on a field near Fosse Road. They moved to
Filbert Street in
1891 and played there for nearly 111 years, before relocating to the nearby
Walkers Stadium in
2002.
History
» For a statistical breakdown by season, see Leicester City FC seasons
Leicester City were founded in 1884 as
Leicester Fosse as they played on a field by the Fosse Road, and joined
the Football Association in
1890. The club played at five different grounds, including
Victoria Park, before moving to
Filbert Street in
1891. The same year, the club joined the Midland League, and was elected to Division Two of the
Football League in
1894 after finishing second. Leicester's first ever Football League game was a 4-3 defeat at
Grimsby, with a first League win following a week later, against Rotherham at Filbert Street. The same season also saw the club's largest win to date, a 13-0 victory over Notts Olympic in an
FA Cup qualifying game.
In
1919, when League football resumed after
World War I, Leicester Fosse ceased trading due to financial difficulties of which little is known. The club was reformed as "Leicester City Football Club", particularly appropriate as the borough of Leicester had recently been given
city status. Following the name change, the club enjoyed moderate success in the 1920s; under the management of Peter Hodge, and with record goalscorer
Arthur Chandler in the side, they won the Division Two title in
1924-25 and recorded their highest ever league finish in
1928-29 as runners-up to
Sheffield Wednesday. However the 1930s saw a downturn in fortunes, with the club relegated in
1934-35 and, after promotion in
1936-37, another relegation in
1938-39 would see them finish the decade in Division Two. Leicester won the Division Two championship in
1954, with the help of Arthur Rowley, one of the club's most prolific strikers. Although they were relegated from Division One the next season, they returned in
1957, with Rowley scoring a club record 44 goals in one season. Leicester remained in Division One until
1969, their longest period ever in the top flight.
Under the management of Matt Gillies, one of the club's most successful managers, Leicester reached the FA Cup final another two times, but lost in both
1961 and
1963. A lot of O'Neill's squad also left around this time, this coupled with some poor dealings in the transfer market would eventually see Taylor lose his job after little more than a season in charge. Taylor was replaced by a management team of
Dave Bassett and
Micky Adams, but they couldn't prevent City's last season at
Filbert Street ending in relegation.
Leicester moved into the new 32,500-seat
Walkers Stadium at the start of the 2002-03 season.
Walkers, the Leicestershire based
crisp manufacturers, acquired the naming rights for a ten year period. In October 2002, the club went into administration with debts of £30 million. Some of the reasons were the loss of TV money (
ITV Digital, itself in administration, had promised money to First Division clubs for TV rights), the large wage bill, lower than expected fees for players transferred to other clubs and the £37 million cost of the new stadium. Adams was banned from the transfer market for most of the season, until the club was rescued by a takeover by a consortium led by Gary Lineker. This is the origin of the nickname "the Foxes". The club mascot is a character called "Filbert Fox". There are also secondary characters "Vickie Vixen" and "Cousin Dennis", though only Filbert is currently seen at games. The current shirt badge has been unchanged since 1992. In another reference Leicestershire's tradition of hunting, the club adopted the
Post Horn Gallop in 1941, although the origin is a 19th century coachman's tune to signal mail was arriving. It was played over the PA system as the teams came out of the tunnel at all home games. However, perhaps unwisely, the club has replaced it in the past few seasons with a jazzed-up modern version, with the apparent idea that this would appeal to younger fans. This wasn't a popular decision, but still it remains as the Club's opening music of choice.
Stadia
Leicester have played at numerous grounds, but only two since they joined the
Football League. When first starting out they played on a field by the Fosse Road, hence the original name Leicester Fosse. They moved from there to
Victoria Park, which at the time was a racecourse. Due to this fact the team also played on Mill Lane and Belgrave Road. When Mill Lane was earmarked for redevelopment the club played at the County Cricket ground on Aylestone Road for the early part of the 1890 season. That year the club secured the use of an area ground by
Filbert Street and thirteen months later they moved in to their new home.
Filbert Street remained virtually unchanged until 1927 when a new two tier stand was built, named the Double Decker, a name it would keep till the grounds closure in 2002. The ground wasn't developed any further, apart from compulsory seating being added, till 1993 when work began on the new Carling Stand. The stand was impressive while the rest of the ground were untouched since at least the 1920s, this led manager
Martin O'Neill to say he used to "lead new signings out backwards" so they only saw the Carling Stand.
The club moved away from Filbert Street in 2002 to a new 32,500 all-seater stadium. Amidst a strong feeling that the naming rights had been underpriced, the stadium was named the
Walkers Stadium, although many supporters refer to the ground as Filbert Way, the road on which it's situated. The first match the Walkers hosted was a friendly against
Athletic Bilbao, and the first competitive match was a 2-0 victory against
Watford. The stadium has since hosted an
England international against
Serbia and Montenegro, as well as internationals between
Brazil and
Jamaica, and Jamaica and
Ghana. More recently the stadium has been used to host the Heineken Cup European Rugby semi finals for the
Leicester Tigers rugby club, itself based within a mile of the Walkers Stadium.
Rivalries
Being based in the
East Midlands, there are many teams that Leicester can play local matches against (known colloquially as "derbies"). Most regularly, these are against
Derby County and
Nottingham Forest, teams who Leicester have shared Leagues with for many recent seasons. Other teams in the East Midlands are
Notts County,
Northampton Town,
Mansfield Town,
Lincoln City,
Boston United and
Chesterfield, although due to not being in the same League, matches against these clubs have been limited to Cup games in recent years.
The local rivalries can be known to stretch as far as the
West Midlands as well, and in recent years the main rivalry for Leicester has been with
Coventry City, only 24 miles away. The game between the two clubs has become known as '
The M69 Derby', taking its name from the motorway connecting the two cities.
Other matches against West Midlands opponents include
Birmingham City,
West Brom,
Wolves and
Aston Villa which are simply known as Midlands derbies. Games with Aston Villa took on greater significance when
Brian Little left Leicester to take the managers job at Villa and more recently the appointment of
Martin O'Neill as the current manager of Villa.
Club honours
National competition:
- Football League First Division
- Football League Second Division
- Champions 1925, 1937, 1954, 1957, 1971, 1980
- Football League First Division
- Runners-Up 2003
- Playoff Winners 1994, 1996
- Playoff Runner-Up 1992, 1993
- FA Cup
- Runners-Up 1949, 1961, 1963, 1969
- League Cup
- Winners 1964, 1997, 2000
- Runners-Up 1965, 1999
- Charity Shield
- Winners 1971
Regional competition:
- War League South
- Midland War Cup
Managers
Leicester have had 36 managers, with
Peter Hodge and
Dave Bassett taking in two spells (Bassett's second was as caretaker manager). Here is a shortened list of the club's most significant managers, including the current holder of the position. For a full list see
here. There have been 7 managers in the 7 years since the loss of
Martin O'Neill.
Ian Holloway became the first manager to win his first league game in charge with a 2-0 victory over
Bristol City, since
David Halliday 1955.
Manager stats obtained from
(External Link
)
Records & statistics
Graham Cross holds the record for the most Leicester appearances, with the defender playing 596 games between 1960 and 1976. He is just ahead of midfielder
Sep Smith who managed 586 between 1929 and 1949.
Striker
Arthur Chandler is currently the club's all time record goal scorer, netting 273 in his 12 years at the club. The most goals managed in single season for the club is 44 by
Arthur Rowley, in the 1956-1957 season. Of the current crop of players
Iain Hume is top of the scoring scale, managing 22 goals since his move from
Tranmere Rovers in August 2005. The fastest goal in the club's history was scored by current striker
Matty Fryatt, when he netted after just nine seconds against
Preston in April 2006.
The club's record attendance is 47,298 against
Tottenham Hotspur at
Filbert Street, in a fifth round
FA Cup clash in 1928. The record at their current home, the
Walkers Stadium, is 32,086 for a friendly match against
FC Barcelona in
2003.
Leicester City is second behind
Sunderland for having won the most
Division Two titles since the end of
World War II. The club has also been promoted and relegated between the top two divisions more than any other team; 11 times in both directions.
The club has lost four
FA Cup finals. This is the most lost finals without winning the trophy.
Leicester City are one of only two clubs (the other being
Brighton) to have won the
Charity Shield despite never winning either the League championship or the FA Cup.
Between
1990 and
2000, the club played seven matches at
Wembley Stadium, including three
League Cup finals and four
play-off finals. Only
Manchester United and
Arsenal appeared at more Wembley matches during this time.
At the end of the 2007-2008 season, Leicester were relegated below the top two tiers of English league football for the first time in the club's history, leaving a select group of nine teams which have never played outside these two leagues.
Players
As of 2008-05-26.
1st Team Squad
Summer 2008 squad changes
Out
- Loan Return}}
- Loan Return}}
- Loan Return}}
For notable past players, please see
Backroom Staff
Manager: Vacant
Assistant Manager: Tim Breacker
Assistant Manager: Des Bulpin
Head Of Recruitment: Gary Penrice
Goalkeeping Coach: Mike Stowell
Reserve Team Manager: Gerry Taggart
Physio: David Rennie
Assistant Physio: Tom Freeman
Academy Manager: Jon Rudkin
Academy Coach (Under 18): Steve Beaglehole
Academy Coach (Under 16): Trevor Peake
Kitman: Paul McAndrew
References, Footnotes & Bibliography
In Depth History of the Club at the Official Site
Potted History of the Club at the Official Site
Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
City in the 60s at Norfox.net
History of the clubs colours and badges
