Leicester City Football Club - The Foxes

Leicester City History

2006-07 Season

19th in the Championship
League Cup: 3rd round: Aston Villa h. 2-3 aet.
FA Cup: 3rd round replay: Fulham a. 3-4

Highlight:
3-0 win against Coventry City, 17/2/07

Low Spot:
1-4 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, 2/12/06

Good:
Nils-Eric Johansson
Perhaps the best of a bad bunch. At least the Swede definitely got going when the going was at its' toughest late on in the campaign.
Patrick Kisnorbo
Another steady defensive performer.

Bad:
Momo Sylla
At least the Foxes managed to shunt this fella back north of the border for a spell on loan at Kilmarnock. Another import who proves that decent athletes don't necessarily make good footballers.
Andy Johnson
The Foxes were bereft of any real creativity and guile and more would have been expected in that respect from this experienced campaigner.

In Brief:
This was a very poor season for Leicester. For the bulk of the campaign they were highly inconsistent but three wins in February at least seemed to have removed any threat of relegation.
Not so. Only four points came from the next ten games and suddenly relegation was a very real prospect. Hard fought victories at Preston and Barnsley secured safety but did nothing to hide the fact that overall this was a shoddy effort.
Optimism remains high, however, with Milan Mandaric taking control of the club although the appointment of Martin Allen as manager suggests that if the club are to be successful in the near future they will be doing it the Derby way and not putting too much emphasis on playing any football.
Allen inherits a squad that looks capable defensively but lacking creativity and a proven goalscorer.

Leicester City F.C. - Club History

Leicester City Football Club was formed in 1884 and was originally known as Leicester Fosse. The club was elected into Division Two of the Football League in 1894.

The club won promotion to Division One in 1908 as runners up behind Bradford City but were relegated straight back into Division Two in 1909.

Leicester then had to wait until 1925 before being promoted again but fared better on this venture into the top flight. In 1929 the Foxes missed out on the league championship by just a single point behind The Wednesday and in 1934 they reached the FA Cup semi finals where they lost 4-1 to Portsmouth.

In 1935, however, Leicester were again relegated and despite winning the Division Two title in 1937 they still spent the second world war in Division Two after suffering relegation in 1939.

As a second division club, one that almost suffered relegation in fact, Leicester reached the 1949 FA Cup final after this time defeating Portsmouth in the semi finals. The Foxes lost out at Wembley, however, falling to a 3-1 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Leicester won the Division Two championship in both 1954 and 1957 and spent the whole of the 1960's in the first division managing a highest placed finish of 4th in 1963.

The 60's was generally a heartbreaking decade for Leicester in cup competition as they lost three FA Cup finals, in 1961, 63 and 69, as well as the League Cup final of 1965. The Foxes did capture the League Cup in 1964, however.

Leicester lost 2-0 to Tottenham in 1961, 3-1 to Manchester United in 1963 and 1-0 to Manchester City in 1969.

They defeated Stoke City on a 4-3 aggregate to collect the League Cup in 1964 before losing to Chelsea on a 3-2 aggregate the following season.

During this spell Leicester were represented in goal by two of England's greatest ever custodians, Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton.

The Foxes were relegated in 1969 but won yet another second division title in 1971. They retained first division status until 1978 when they suffered another relegation.

After claiming the Division Two title again in 1980 Leicester suffered immediate relegation, reaching the FA Cup semi finals as a second division club in 1982 before losing 2-0 to Tottenham Hotspur.

In 1983 the Foxes gained promotion from Division Two with the help of two outstanding young strikers, Alan Smith and Gary Lineker. The club suffered relegatin again in 1987, however.

In 1991 Leicester were only spared relegation to the third division by the fact that the league was re-structured that year. For the next three seasons the Foxes reached the play offs, losing in the finals of 1992 and 93 to Blackburn Rovers and Swindon Town before clinching a place in the Premier League in 1994 after beating Derby County 2-1 with both goals coming from Steve Walsh.

Leicester again suffered immediate relegation but won a place in the play offs again in 1996, clinching promotion with a 2-1 extra time victory over Crystal Palace. Martin O'Neill had just sent on his reserve goalkeeper to face the looming penalty shootout when Steve Claridge netted the winning goal with the last kick of the game.

The following season Leicester managed to win the League Cup. They drew 1-1 with Middlesbrough at Wembley thanks to an Emile Heskey goal before winning the replay at Hillsborough 1-0 with another extra time goal from Claridge.

In 1999 they reached the final again only to lose 1-0 to Spurs but won the trophy again the following year after a 2-1 victory over Tranmere Rovers, Matt Elliott grabbing both goals.

The Foxes were relegated from the Premier League in 2002, won promotion back the following season only to be relegated again in 2004.

Leicester have been involved in European competition on three occasions. They qualified for the Cup Winners Cup in 1961 as Tottenham completed the double and overcame Glenavon before bowing out on a 3-1 aggregate to the eventual winners of the competition Atletico Madrid.

They also qualified for the UEFA Cup in both 1997-98 and 2000-01. On the first occasion it was again Atletico Madrid who put them out and on the second Red Star Belgrade proved too strong.

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