Leicester City Football Club ( )"Leicester. ". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 28 August 2015. is a professional football club based in Leicester, East Midlands, England. The club competes in , the third tier of English football.
The club was founded in 1884 as Leicester Fosse F.C, before they became known as Leicester City in 1919, coinciding with the city of Leicester gaining official city status. They moved to Filbert Street in 1891, were elected to the Football League in 1894, and moved to the nearby Walkers Stadium in 2002. The stadium was renamed to the present day King Power Stadium in 2011.
Leicester City have won seven major trophies within the English football league system, including one Premier League, one FA Cup, three League Cups, and two FA Community Shields. They are currently the sixth most successful team in English football since the turn of the century, as one of only five clubs to have won all three major domestic trophies since 2000. The club's 2015–16 Premier League title win attracted global attention, and they became one of seven clubs to have won the Premier League since its inception in 1992. Prior to 2015–16, Leicester's highest league finish was the second place in the 1928–29 First Division.
The club's longest period of time spent at the top level of English football came between 1957 and 1969. During these years, Leicester reached three FA Cup finals, competed in European football for the first time, and recorded their third highest ever league finish. The club have since participated in a further six European campaigns and two FA Cup finals, reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in 2016–17, winning the FA Cup in 2021, and reaching the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals in 2021–22. Leicester won the League Cup in 1964, 1997, and 2000 respectively, and were finalists in 1964–65 and 1998–99.
History
Founding and early years (1884–1949) Formed in 1884 by a group of old boys of Wyggeston School as "Leicester Fosse", the club joined The Football Association (FA) in 1890. Before moving to Filbert Street in 1891, the club played at five different grounds, including Victoria Park south-east of the city centre and the Belgrave Road Cycle and Cricket Ground. The club also joined the Midland League in 1891, and were elected to Division Two of the Football League in 1894 after finishing second. Leicester's first match in the Football League was a 4–3 defeat at Grimsby Town, with a first league win the following week, against Rotherham United at Filbert Street. The same season also saw the team's largest win to date, a 13–0 victory over Notts Olympic in an FA Cup qualifying match. 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 was relegated after a single season which included the team'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. The club was reformed as "Leicester City Football Club" which was 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, who won the Division Two title in 1924–25. Hodge left in May 1926 and was replaced two months later by Willie Orr. In the 1927–28 First Division, the club finished in third place before recording their second highest ever league finish a season later in 1928–29, finishing as runners-up by a single point to The Wednesday. However, the 1930s saw a downturn in fortunes, with the club relegated in 1934–35. After promotion in 1936–37, another relegation in 1938–39 would see them finish the decade in Division Two.
Post-World War II (1949–2000)
Leicester reached the FA Cup final for the first time in their history in 1949, losing 3–1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers. The club, however, was celebrating a week later when a draw on the last day of the season ensured survival in Division Two. In 1954, Leicester won the Division Two championship, with the help of Arthur Rowley, one of the club's most prolific ever strikers. Despite relegation in the previous season, under the management of Dave Halliday, Leicester returned to Division One in 1957, with Rowley scoring a club record 44 goals in one season. Leicester remained in Division One for 12 years until 1969, their longest period to date in the top division of English football. Halliday left the club in October 1958.
Under the management of Matt Gillies, who was appointed on 8 November 1958, and his assistant Bert Johnson, Leicester reached the FA Cup final on another two occasions, but were defeated in both 1961 and 1963. As they lost to double winners Tottenham Hotspur in 1961, Leicester were England's representatives in the 1961–62 European Cup Winners' Cup. For much of the 1962–63 season, the club led the First Division and became nicknamed the "Ice Kings" due to their remarkable run of form on icy and frozen pitches. Leicester eventually finished in 4th place, the club's best post-war finish. Gillies guided Leicester to their first piece of silverware in 1964, when they beat Stoke City 4–3 on aggregate to win the League Cup. Leicester also reached the League Cup final in the following year, but lost 3–2 on aggregate to Chelsea. Gillies and Johnson received praise for their version of the "whirl" and the "switch" system, a system that had previously been used by the Austrian and Hungarian national teams. After a poor start to the season, Matt Gillies resigned as manager in November 1968. His successor Frank O'Farrell was unable to prevent relegation, but the club reached the FA Cup final again in 1969, losing 1–0 to Manchester City.
In 1971, Leicester were promoted back to the First Division, and won the FA Charity Shield for the first time. Due to double winners Arsenal's commitments in European competition, Second Division winners Leicester were invited to play FA Cup runners-up Liverpool. Leicester won the match 1–0 with Steve Whitworth the winning goalscorer. Jimmy Bloomfield was appointed as the club's new manager in June 1971, and the team remained in the First Division throughout his tenure. Leicester also reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1973–74. Frank McLintock, a notable former player of seven years in a successful period from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, succeeded Bloomfield in 1977.
On 19 March 1977, Winston White became Leicester's first black player to feature for the club, in an away match at Stoke City. The club was relegated at the end of the 1977–78 season and McLintock resigned. Jock Wallace resumed the tradition of successful Scottish managers (after Peter Hodge and Matt Gillies) by steering Leicester to the Second Division championship in 1980. Wallace was unable to keep Leicester in the First Division, but they reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1982. Under Wallace, one of Leicester City's most famous home-grown players, Gary Lineker, emerged into the first-team squad.
Leicester's next manager was Gordon Milne, who was appointed in August 1982. He achieved promotion with the club a year later in 1983. Lineker helped Leicester maintain their place in the First Division, but was sold to Everton in 1985. Two years later, Leicester were relegated, having failed to find a suitable replacement to partner Alan Smith, who was then sold to Arsenal after Leicester went down. Milne left in 1986 and was replaced in 1987 by David Pleat, who managed the club until January 1991. Gordon Lee succeeded Pleat and was put in charge until the end of the 1990–91 season, guiding Leicester clear of relegation to the third tier of English football.
Brian Little took over in May 1991 and by the end of the 1991–92 season, Leicester had reached the play-off final for a place in the new Premier League. They lost to Blackburn Rovers by way of a penalty from former Leicester striker Mike Newell. The club also reached the play-off final the following year, but lost 4–3 to Swindon Town. In the 1993–94 season, Leicester were promoted from the play-offs at the third attempt under Brian Little, beating East Midlands rivals Derby County 2–1 in the final. Little quit as Leicester manager in the following November to take charge at Aston Villa, and his successor Mark McGhee was unable to save Leicester from finishing second bottom of the 1994–95 Premier League.
McGhee left the club unexpectedly in December 1995, while Leicester were top of the Second Division, to take charge of Wolverhampton Wanderers. McGhee was replaced by Martin O'Neill. Under O'Neill, Leicester reached the play-off final in 1996 and gained promotion to the Premier League. Following promotion, Leicester established themselves in the Premier League with four successive top 10 finishes. O'Neill also ended Leicester's 33-year wait for a major trophy, winning the League Cup in 1997 and again in 2000. Thus, the club qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1997–98 and 2000–01, which was their first participation in European football since 1961. In June 2000, O'Neill left Leicester City to take over as manager of Celtic.
Decline in the early 21st century (2000–2008)
Martin O'Neill was replaced by former England under-21 coach Peter Taylor. During this time, one of Leicester's European campaigns ended in a 3–1 defeat to Red Star Belgrade on 28 September 2000 in the UEFA Cup. Leicester began well under Taylor's management, topping the Premier League for two weeks in the autumn and remaining in contention for a European place for most of the season, before a late-season collapse following an FA Cup semi-final defeat to Wycombe Wanderers, dragged them down to a 13th-place finish. Taylor was dismissed by the club after a poor start to the 2001–02 season, and his successor Dave Bassett lasted just six months. Bassett was replaced by his assistant Micky Adams – the change of management being announced just before relegation was confirmed. Leicester won just five league matches all season.
The club moved into the new 32,314-seat Walkers Stadium at the start of the 2002–03 season, ending 111 years at Filbert Street. Walkers, the Leicester-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. The key attributing factors 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 cost of building the new stadium. The manager, Micky Adams, was banned from the transfer market for most of the season, even after the club was rescued with a takeover by a Gary Lineker-led consortium. In the club's first season at the new stadium, they gained automatic promotion back to the Premier League (then known as the FA Barclaycard Premiership) with more than 90 points, recording only two home defeats throughout the campaign. However, Leicester were relegated in the following season (2003–04), to the newly labelled Championship (previously known as Division One).