Sven Goran Eriksson

Sven Goran Eriksson

So once again the revolving door is back in use at The King Power Stadium and the latest casualty Sven Goran Eriksson departs

It would be easy to get carried away and look for excuses as to why Sven should have been sacked, or not, as the case may be, but that debate is no more as Sven, rightly or wrongly is given his marching orders.

When Sven arrived at Leicester I was unsure whether he was the right choice to  get us out of a precarious situation lying at the wrong end of the championship, but Sven went about his business and not only lifted us up the table but placed us on the verge of the promotion fringes, only to fall away again. But Sven had us playing attractive football and the signs for a promotion push this season looked promising, especially with the amount of money he had at his disposal.

Unfortunately spending loads of cash doesn’t always guarantee results and despite being only two points off the play off positions performances have been disappointing with only the occasional glimpse of the football we know we are capable of playing, being put on show.  

So the axe falls, perhaps Sven’s tinkering with the squad and/or, the system were to blame for our misfortunes or perhaps our squad were just not playing to their capabilities. Whatever, it is too late to look for reasons and we now have to look forward.

Sven is a gentleman and he remains dignified in his departure. I for one wish him well

I am not going to try and speculate who will be the next man to try and get us to the promised land of the premier league; I just hope that our owners make the right call! - And get it right. Because the one thing we don’t want to see back in regular action at The King Power Stadium; is the revolving door.

DEREK DOUGAN

DEREK DOUGAN

This week I am reminiscing about one of the greatest showmen the game has ever seen and we were lucky enough to have him at Leicester City, be it only for a short while.

Take a bow ALEXANDER DEREK DOUGAN

The ‘Doog’ was a flamboyant character who was not only a great footballer but also he was a lover of rock music and loved watching Leicester’s own favourite band The Roaring Sixties who were later to become Family and he was a massive Jimi Hendrix fan. The ‘Doog’ also made a record and dabbled at being a DJ. He also wrote several books, became a politician a TV pundit and even managed to become chairman of the PFA and later was to become chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers. So as you can see there is enough material there to write many articles about the ‘Doog’

Derek Dougan was born in Belfast on 20 January 1938 and played for numerous clubs starting with Distillery in Ireland and then going on to play for  Portsmouth, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa, Peterborough United, Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and  Kettering Town who he also managed. Dougan also played in the states making some guest appearances. He also represented Northern Ireland at schoolboy, under 19, amateur and B level and he won 43 senior caps scoring 8 goals.

Derek Dougan signed for Leicester City in the summer of 1965 for a fee of £21,000 pounds from third division Peterborough United, it is reported that the ’Doog’ even took a pay cut to join City to resurrect his career in the top flight of English football  and alongside another newcomer Jackie Sinclair the ‘Doog’ soon became a fans favourite.

Leicester had a star studded team in this era and we managed to have international representatives for all four home countries with Dougan (Northern Ireland) Gibson (Scotland) Rodrigues (Wales) and Banks (England)

In Dougan’s first season he had to take a back seat in the scoring charts to fellow newcomer Sinclair who scored two in the opening three games and Dougan found the net in his fifth start in a 4-1 win at home against Sunderland, now he had found the net Dougan became a prolific scorer  as was Sinclair. It was Jackie Sinclair who finished as top scorer in the league with a total of 22 goals and Dougan managed 19 another legend Mike Stringfellow chipped in with 12.

Leicester finished in a creditable 7^th place in division 1 and reached the fifth round of The FA Cup and the second round of The League Cup losing to Manchester City in both competitions

Dougan also managed one FA Cup goal to Sinclair’s two (perhaps I should have written about Jackie Sinclair)

In the following season 1966-67 little did we know that this was to be the ‘Doog’s’ final season with us and he made a total of 31 appearances and scored 16 league goals and 5 League Cup goals that season( for the record Jackie Sinclair scored 21 league goals and 1 League Cup goal)   

Dougan’s final game for Leicester was on March 4 1967 in a 2-2 home draw against Everton and then out of the blue (literally) Dougan was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a fee of £50,000 and the sale incurred the wrath of Leicester supporters   who had taken Dougan to their hearts, and some fans even boycotted Leicester’s games to watch the ‘Doog’ play for Wolverhampton as he scored a hat trick on his debut at home v Hull City and helped Wolves gain promotion to the first division in that season.

The Leicester supporters loved the ‘Doog’ so much that they sang a song about him; to the tune of ‘I see the moon’ the lyrics went something like this

 I see the Doog the Doog sees me, We bought him out of division three, He scored the goals we made him our king, But now Doog has gone away, Over  the  midlands to Molineux, With Wolverhampton he started a new , He still scores the goals that made him our king, Dougan for ever more-Dougan-Dougan 

The ‘Doog went on to become a legend at Wolves and played for them for over eight seasons making 323 appearances and scoring 123 goals.

Sadly on 24 June 2007 Alexander Derek Dougan died of a heart attack in Wolverhampton aged 69

I was fortunate to meet the ‘Doog’ some years after he had retired. I was at Atherstone Council waiting for a job interview when a friend of mine who also turned up for an interview for the same job (it was on the bins) said to me that my idol was in the pub over the road, I was torn whether to stay for the interview or go over to the ‘clock’ as it was known to see Doog. Dougan was there to open a betting shop in Atherstone, I went to the ‘clock’

I was cheeky and introduced myself and I was fortunate that I not only had a chat with Derek but I also had a drink with him and we talked about football. I asked him why he left Leicester so soon and he hinted that he clashed with the manager Matt Gillies over tactics.

How many footballers today would buy you a drink and chat with you in a pub!

 Derek signed a beer mat for me as well. In case you are interested I never got the job on the bins, my mate Billy Cooper did but I didn’t care. I had a lifetime memory of meeting my idol the ‘DOOG’

R.I.P. Derek Dougan a true legend---Leicester Till I Die

 

GRAHAM CROSS

GRAHAM CROSS

‘The Tank’ Graham Cross is probably my favourite Leicester player of all time, simply because being a centre back myself in my playing days, I used to watch Graham’s positional play and precision tackling in awe. I believe that in his day Graham Cross was one of the finest centre backs ever to pull on a City shirt.

Graham Frederick Cross was born in Leicester on 15^th November 1943 and made his Leicester debut on April 29^th 1961 against Birmingham City at Filbert Street in a 3-2 win and Graham even managed a debut goal.

Graham made six more appearances in the league the following season and managed another goal in the final league game of the season in a 2-3 defeat at home to Spurs. He also made two appearances in the European Cup Winners Cup, one against Glenavon away in a 4-1 win and also in the away leg at Atletico Madrid in a 2-0 defeat which saw City go out of the competition losing 3-1 on aggregate.

In the 1962-63 season Graham established himself as a regular in the starting line-up and was shuffled between defence and attack throughout the season and he scored seven league goals and one F A Cup goal and he picked up a losing F A Cup final medal after playing against Manchester United in the Wembley final, City losing 3-1. Graham was to pick up another losers medal in 1969 after the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City.

It would take up loads of room to catalogue all of ‘The Tanks’ achievements and appearances on here ,so here is a watered down version that I am afraid doesn’t do him justice

In his spell as a Leicester player Graham Cross made 495 league appearances and 3 as substitute 59 F A Cup appearances 40 League Cup appearances and 2 European Cup Winners Cup appearances. Graham scored 29 league goals 6 F A Cup goals and 2 League Cup goals, He also picked up 2 losing F A Cup final medals and 1winners and 1 losers Football League Cup final medals.

I firmly believe that Graham Cross was Leicester City’s finest ever player and his appearance record for me testifies that, he holds the record for most appearances made in a foxes shirt, a total of 599 appearances in all competitions, a record that I believe will never be broken especially in today’s football climate where loyalty means less to players than it did in what I call the golden era of football.

It was Graham Cross’s central defensive partnership with ‘big John Sjoberg’ that formed the rear guard for Leicester City for many seasons and without taking anything away from Alan Woollett, if Sjoberg had been fit for the 1969 F A Cup final I believe we may have won. Graham went on to play for Leicester until 1975.

Graham Cross was not only an accomplished footballer playing for his home town team he was also a first class cricketer playing for Leicestershire (whose Grace Road ground is not far from City’s Belvoir Drive training ground) between 1961-1977. It was cricket that ultimately ended his Leicester City career. In the summer of 1975 Leicestershire captured the Championship for the first time and despite everyone’s excitement the football clubs directors decided to suspend Graham Cross for failing to report back for pre-season training. Graham was playing cricket for Leicestershire.

Graham went out on loan for a short while at Chesterfield before joining Brighton for the 1976-77 season where he was an ever present in there side helping them gain promotion from the 3^rd division, and the following season he moved to Preston and once again he was instrumental in helping Preston gain promotion. Graham then joined Lincoln but unfortunately his spell with them ended in relegation. Graham then had a spell at coaching before taking up the reigns as manager of Hinckley Athletic. 

A sad note to Graham Cross’s illustrious career happened in February 1993 when it was reported that he had been jailed for using post office funds to pay off his gambling debts, despite this blip in his life for me ‘The Tank’ Graham Cross is a true Leicester legend.

For those of us that remember the great days at Filbert Street we are in for a special treat as I am sure many of you will know Micky Bates has made a replica model of Filbert Street that he is kindly letting Leicester City put on display as of the next home game v Derby County it is a true work of art and will bring back many happy memories. I am sure Micky wouldn’t mind me mentioning it to you all        

RODNEY FERN

RODNEY FERN

I was over the moon when Chris asked me to contribute to the ‘Leicester Till I Die’ web site by writing a blog about my memories regarding Leicester City Football Club and it has given me the opportunity to share those memories with you. I was also recently asked if it was possible to incorporate a look back at past players and write a ‘where are they now ‘ feature, so I thought I would give it a go and the player I have chosen first is a personal favourite of mine Rodney Fern

Rodney is a local lad and he was born in Burton-on- Trent on 13^th December 1948. Rodney played local football for Measham (the village where I live) alongside another Leicester legend and local hero David Nish (but more about David another time).

Rodney was given the nickname ‘Marty’ because of his resemblance to the late comedian Marty Feldman, although Rodney was far from being a comedian on the football field

Rodney was given a chance in the first team at Leicester by coach Bert Johnson who was placed in charge of team affairs following an illness to manager Matt Gillies, and Rodney made his debut on February 3^rd 1968 against Leeds United at Filbert Street. Unfortunately I wasn’t at the game and like other Leicester supporters I watched Rodney’s impressive debut on ‘match of the day.’ In his next game which was against Liverpool at Anfield, Fern scored Leicester’s goal in a 3-1 defeat. He then scored again in the following 3-1 home win v Sheffield United and managed to score two more goals on May 4^th at Filbert Street in a 4-2 home win against rivals Nottingham Forest. He also scored one of the goals in a fourth round F.A.Cup replay at Filbert Street where Leicester beat Manchester City 4-3 in an epic cup tie.

Rodney made a total of 13 league appearances and one as substitute and scored 4 league goals,he also made 5 F.A.Cup appearances scoring 1 goal. Not bad in his first few months as a City player.

In 1968-69 season which was the bitter-sweet season which saw Leicester relegated from division 1but also reach the F.A.Cup final losing to Manchester City. Rodney Fern made a total of 29 league appearances and 6 as substitute scoring 6 goals, 7 F.A.Cup appearances with 1 as substitute scoring 2 goals and 2 League Cup appearances scoring 1 goal

In our first season back in division 2 Rodney established himself in the first team with a string of superb displays, indeed in the first game of the season v Birmingham City he scored with a dramatic overhead kick that is still talked about today, Leicester winning 3-1.

 Playing in a forward line that included Glover, Gibson, Lochhead and Brown. Fern excelled and put in many star performances and one of the best I ever saw from any Leicester player was at Villa Park on August 27^th 1969 when Rodney Fern was rampant and was given man of the match for a breath taking display. Leicester won 1-0 with a Lenny Glover goal.

Unfortunately despite Rodney’s heroics Leicester missed out on promotion, finishing 3^rd in the table and had to be content with spending another season in division 2. Rodney Fern made a total of 39 league appearances and 1 as substitute scoring a total of 17 goals. He also made 5 F.A.Cup appearances and 5 League Cup appearances scoring 1 goal, Rodney was Leicester’s top scorer that season.

In 1970-71 season Leicester finished as champions but Rodney played only 23 league games with 4 substitute appearances and managed only 2 league goals. He made 5 F.A.Cup appearances scoring 2 goals and 4 League Cup appearances scoring 1 goal.

The 1971-72 season saw Leicester back in division 1 but it was to be Rodney Fern’s last season as a City player. Jimmy Bloomfield arrived as manager and started to assemble a star studded team that was to capture the imagination of Leicester supporters. Rodney played a total of 29 league games with 7 substitute appearances scoring 3 goals, and he made just 1 League Cup appearance. 

In 1972 Rodney Fern was transferred to Luton Town where he played 39 matches and scored 5 goals. He then moved to Chesterfield and played 152 matches and managed 54 goals and his last transfer was to Rotherham United were he had a satisfying spell playing 105 games and scored 34 goals

When he retired Rodney became a publican and if you were ever in The Ferrers at Lount there is a chance that you just may have been served by Rodney Fern. From being a publican he then became a coal merchant and as recently as last year I still saw Rodney Fern delivering coal in the area.

When we moved to Measham in 1995 Rodney used to drink in my new local ‘The Swan’ in Measham and on a Friday evening he used to be in there enjoying a game of cards. On one particular Friday I was in the Swan with my wife Theresa and there was Rodney in his card school. I sat patiently waiting for my hero to get up from the table and when he went to the gents I duly followed him, he must have thought I was a raving nutter as I entered the loo and burst into a chorus of R-O-D-N-E-Y—R-O-D-N-E-Y he laughed as I explained he was a hero of mine in the days when I stood on the kop at Filbert Street singing his praises. My wife just couldn’t believe it when I told her-but these things have to be done.        LEICESTER TILL I DIE

RECORD SIGNINGS

RECORD SIGNINGS

Following our first home game of the season last Saturday which saw record signing Matt Mills make his home league debut in a disappointing defeat against Reading. I cast my mind back to Saturday 17^th August 1968 when another Leicester record signing also made his home debut---Allan Clarke

Clarke was signed by manager Matt Gillies from Fulham before the start of the 1968/69 season in what was to be not only a transfer record for Leicester, but also a British transfer record that was valued at £150,000 part of the deal took fans favourite Frank Large to Fulham, he was valued at £40,000 in the deal

Just like this season expectations were high, especially with the signing of Clarke and the season started with a 1-1 draw at Queens Park Rangers and Clarke scored on his debut. This was followed by 3-0 defeat at Arsenal and then Clarke’s home debut followed v Ipswich Town

I was sitting in the double decker stand that day and like everyone else in the 26,014 crowd was hoping to see City get their first win that would kick start the season, but alas we lost 3-1 with Ipswich goals coming from Crawford, O’Rourke and Hegan. Leicester replied with a David Nish penalty and the scene was set for what was to be a frustrating season for us foxes

The following home game saw Clarke score a fine hat trick in a convincing 3-0 win against Manchester City but this was followed by two 1-0 defeats against Stoke and Wolves and although we beat Southampton 3-1 in the next home game we went a further five games without a win which also saw us take a 4-0 thrashing at Liverpool

This was to be the pattern for the rest of the season and it became obvious that we were destined to be involved in a relegation battle. On November 29^th Matt Gillies resigned as manager and the following day Leicester were hammered 7-1 at Everton. Frank O’Farrel was appointed manager and despite having the honour of leading Leicester out at Wembley in the F.A.Cup Final losing 1-0 to Manchester City, he couldn’t prevent the team from being relegated to the second division

Clarke scored a total of twelve league goals and three league cup goals and he managed just one F.A.Cup goal it being the semi-final winner against West Bromwich Albion. Allan Clarke was transferred to Leeds United for another record fee of £165,000 and he went on to be a part of probably the greatest ever Leeds United team and Leicester had the task of playing second division football

Just a quick mention of another record signing, Adi Akinbiyi who is well remembered at Leicester. His home debut was a 0-0 draw v Aston Villa. He managed to score 11 goals in 58 appearances and we were relegated in his second season with us

Hopefully following a fine 1-0 away win at Coventry on the opening day of the season, the disappointing result against Reading will not see us follow the same fortunes as our previous record signings and we will indeed go on to secure promotion to the premier league –LEICESTER TILL I DIE  

How It all Began 'Leicester City'

ALAN ‘meashamfox’BENNETT  (blog 1)

I have been a proud supporter of Leicester City all my life and I can remember going to Filbert Street in the late 1950’s with my Dad. I can remember sitting in the double decker stand but unfortunately I can’t remember much about the football, but I remember the large crowds and the rosette sellers and the badges you used to be able to buy with player’s pictures on. I remember the names Dave McLaren, Jimmy Walsh, Albert Cheeseborough, Ken Leek, Howard Riley and Willie Cunningham. My adventures as a Leicester City supporter had begun.

The first game that I remember vividly was on October the 8^th 1966 and it was against Nottingham Forest, we won 3-0 with goals from Gibson, Goodfellow and Stringfellow and I can still picture the crowds singing and chanting as we made our way to the Upperton Road. Unfortunately it was the last game my Dad went to as he passed away a few months later. I have a lot to thank him for.

I started to get to more games although it wasn’t easy from where I lived having to rely on public transport and tapping my Mum for some money to help me out ( I used to live in Dordon North Warwickshire-a born and bred cuckoo) but it was worth it to see my idols Graham Cross, John Sjoberg, Derek Dougan, Gordon Banks  etc  a magical time for football when every team in the first division had star players and I was fortunate to be around at this time to see the likes of Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Moore, George Best, Bobby Charlton and Dennis Law etc.

When Derek Dougan left Leicester for Wolves it was a sad day for me as I worshiped the ‘Doog’ but some years later I was fortunate to meet him and have a chat about football over a drink, a memory that I will cherish forever R.I.P. ‘Doog’ a true character and  legend.

Another sad memory was the day we got relegated from division one in 1969. We had lost to Manchester City in the F A Cup Final and it was after the final that we completed our fixtures and the final game of the season away at Manchester United where we had to win to stay up. I was actually standing in the Stretford end for this game and I had to control my jubilation as David Nish scored in the first minute but then Best, Law and Charlton took over and despite another City goal from Rodney Fern, it was all over and we were in the second division.

It was in this two season period that we spent in the second division that I started going to every home game and to loads of away games and we saw some exiting football at Filbert Street.

In the early seventies I think anyone that can remember will agree that at Filbert Street we were treated to a feast of entertainment. We didn’t win anything but it was a privilege to watch Leicester and Jimmy Bloomfield’s super stars, Weller, Worthington, Sammells, Birchenall etc. magic times. But after the good we had the bad and the Frank McLintock era that lasted one season tested my sanity and was probably the worst Leicester team I ever saw, but after McLintock left a new era dawned again and welcome Jock Wallace.

Jock Wallace transformed our club and was instrumental in bringing in one’ Alan Young’ I think you may know him, he was an ok striker , and of course the introduction of Gary Lineker probably the best goal scorer I have ever seen at our club. Indeed I think that the partnership he formed with Alan Smith was one of the best in football.

Over the years since I have been fortunate to meet many Leicester players and at a function organised by the’ Birch’ many years ago I was even asked for my autograph by a young fan, I will hasten to add that I was stood next to Frank Worthington at the time and it was his autograph the youngster wanted but it was mine she insisted on having much to the amusement of Worthington and the young girl’s father.

I have to mention my brother and my best friend Roy who has shared many of the moments over the years with me, and despite him having some bad times fighting cancer and losing a leg, through a football injury, still travels with me to the Walkers-sorry-The King Power Stadium.

Over the past few seasons we have all witnessed good and bad times at our beloved club but now we stand on the brink of what we hope will be magic times under Sven and our new owners and until the end I will be there—Leicester Till I Die.