Leicester City Info

Leicester City Football Club, (also known as The Foxes) is an English professional football club based in the city of Leicester. They currently play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. 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 have never won the cup. They have however won the League Cup three times and the Football League Championship six times.

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.
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Leicester City was 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 1907-08 the club finished as Second Division runners-up, gaining promotion to the First Division, the highest level of English football. However, the club were relegated after a single season which included the club's record defeat, a 12-0 loss against Nottingham Forest.

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.

City reached the FA Cup final for the first time in their history in 1949, losing 3-1 to Wolves. However, the club was celebrating a week later when a draw on the last day of the season ensured survival 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. In 1961 they were on the losing side to double winners Tottenham, and as a result were England's representatives in the 1961-62 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. In 1963, the club reached as high as first place in the First Division, eventually placed fourth, the club's best post-war finish. Gillies collected silverware in 1964, when Leicester beat Stoke 4-3 on aggregate to win the League Cup for the first time.[1] Leicester also reached the League Cup final the following year, losing to Chelsea. After a bad start to the season, Matt Gillies resigned in November 1968. His successor, Frank O'Farrell was unable to prevent relegation, but the club reached the FA Cup final in 1969 for the last time to date, losing to Manchester City.

In 1971, Leicester were promoted to back Division One, and won the Charity Shield for the only time against Liverpool. Unusually, due to Division One champions Arsenal's commitments in European competition, Division Two winners Leicester were invited to play FA Cup winners Liverpool, beating them 1-0. Jimmy Bloomfield was appointed for the new season, and his team remained in the First Division for his tenure. No period since Bloomfield has seen the club remain in the top division for so long. Leicester reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1974.

Frank McLintock, a noted player for seven years for Leicester successful period from the late Fifties to the mid Sixties, succeeded Jimmy Bloomfield in 1977. Due to City's relegation in at the end of the 1977-78 season and McClintock's subsequent resignation, he is regarded as one of Leicester's worst managers. Jock Wallace resumed the tradition of successful Scottish managers (after Peter Hodge and Matt Gillies) by steering Leicester to the Division Two championship in 1980. Unfortunately, Wallace was unable to keep Leicester in Division One, but they reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1982. Under Wallace, one of City's most famous home-grown players, Gary Lineker, emerged into the first team squad. Leicester's next manager was Gordon Milne, who achieved promotion in 1983. Lineker 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. Milne had left in 1986 and was replaced by in 1987 David Pleat, who oversaw one of the club's most unsuccessful periods in its history. He was sacked in January 1991 after a defeat that left City fourth from bottom. Gordon Lee was put in charge of the club until the end of the season. Leicester won their final game of the season, which guided them clear of relegation to the third tier of the football league.

After the Premiership was founded in 1992 Leicester tried desperately to gain promotion to it. Brian Little took over in 1991 and by the end of the 1991-1992 season Leicester had reached the playoff final. Mike Newell, a former Leicester player, would break the clubs heart by converting the winning penalty, to send Blackburn Rovers up to the top flight. A year later Leicester would suffer more playoff heartbreak losing 4-3 to Swindon Town, having come back from 3-0 down. It was third time lucky in 1994 when Leicester, lead by captain Steve Walsh, beat local rivals Derby County 2-1.

Little quit as Leicester manager the following November to take charge at Aston Villa, and his successor Mark McGhee was unable to save Leicester from finishing second from bottom in the 1994-95. Leicester were flying high at the top of Division One when McGhee left the club unexpectedly in December 1995 to take charge at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Oddly this would be the spark of the clubs most successful era, as McGhee was replaced by Martin O'Neill. Under O'Neill, Leicester qualified for the 1995-96 Division One promotion playoffs and beat Crystal Palace 2-1 with a last-gasp Steve Claridge goal securing an immediate return to the Premiership. Leicester established themselves in the Premiership with four successive top ten finishes. O'Neill was the first manager to win silverware for 26 years, winning the League Cup twice, in 1997 and 2000, and Leicester were runners-up in 1999. This meant qualification for the UEFA Cup in 1998 and 2001, the club's first European competition since 1961. O'Neill became a sought-after manager, turning down Leeds United in 1999, but in June 2000 he was lured to Celtic F.C.. He is regarded today as easily the best manager of recent years, and one of the most successful in the club's history.

O'Neill was replaced by the former England U-21 coach Peter Taylor. A lot of O'Neill 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 could not 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. Adams guided Leicester to runners-up spot in Division One and automatic promotion back to the Premiership with more than 90 points. Leicester only lasted one season in the top flight and were relegated back to the newly labelled Championship, previously known as Division One. In reaction to Leicester's restructuring of their debts, the Football League changed their rules and now penalises teams going into administration with a ten point penalty.

When Adams resigned as manager in October 2004 Craig Levein was appointed boss. This would prove to be an unsuccessful period and after 15 months in charge and flirting with relegation Levein was sacked. Assistant manager Rob Kelly, took over as caretaker manager, and after winning three out of four games 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.

In October 2006 ex Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandarić was quoted as saying he is interested in buying the club and that there was a 50/50 chance for a proposed takeover in January 2007 at the earliest. The reported price for the club would be around £6 million and the current playing squad is worth roughly £4.2 million. On October 30 Mandarić held talks with the club over investing a reported £25m. At an extraordinary general meeting on November 18 the board gave Mandarić permission to do due diligence and make an official approach. On the 16th December, it was reported on Radio Leicester that the Mandarić deal was looking very precarious, although Mandarić's advisors have rejected these claims, saying that talks were still ongoing. On 2007-01-02, the Leicester Mercury reported that the deal was very much alive and expected to be completed in the next few weeks, after a revised bid was approved and recommended by the board. On 15 January 2007, the Leicester Mercury reported that the deal was almost complete, and that an official announcement of the takeover "will probably be made on Thursday."After numerous delays due to findings of the due diligence process, and unspecified health concerns over Mandarić's mother, the takeover was finally formally announced on 2007-02-13 at 12:05 UK time.

On the 11 April 2007, at 1pm, Robert Kelly was sacked as manager and Nigel Worthington appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. Worthington saved the club from relegation, but was not offered the job on a permanent basis, and was released before moving on to the then vacant Northern Ireland managerial position. On May 25, 2007 the club announced former MK Dons manager Martin Allen as their new manager, signing a 3 year contract to manage the team. Allen's relationship with Mandarić became tense and after only 4 games Allen left by mutual consent on 29 August 2007.

On the 13 September 2007, a press conference was called by Leicester City chairman Milan Mandaric where he announced Gary Megson as the new manager of the club, citing Megson's "wealth of experience" as a deciding factor in the appointment. Former Leicester City favourite Gerry Taggart was appointed as Megson's first team coach. However, Megson left on 24 October 2007 after only six weeks in charge following an approach made for his services by Bolton Wanderers.