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