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So - more on Paddy and Percy Mills, the brothers who were respectively great uncle and grandfather of Nigel Pearson. Paddy's two goals against Leicester on this day 100 years ago helped him on his way to a total of 29 this season - his most successful in his six years at Anlaby Road. At the end of the following season he joined Notts County, where he was joined by his brother Percy, nine years his junior. They were only together for a short time - Paddy moved to Birmingham in 1929, then back to Hull shortly afterwards. He featured in their historic run to the FA Cup semi-final in 1930, when they lost to Arsenal. The following month they were relegated to the third tier - the first club to combine a serious challenge for Cup honours with a relegation battle in Divsion Two (Leicester City were the next, 19 years later). As Hull went down to Division Three North, Notts County went down with them to Division Three South - a double relegation for the Mills brothers. Percy stayed at Meadow Lane throughout the 1930s - his total of 407 League appearances putting him fourth on the club's all time list. Unlike his older brother, Percy never once played against Leicester City. When we went down in 1935 after ten seasons in the top flight, Notts County were dropping down again to the third tier, where they stayed for the rest of the decade. Here he is in 1938, sitting to the left of Dixie Dean, who had just joined the club from Everton: Finally, let's go back to November 1924. After his two goals that day, Leicester would have been hoping they'd seen the last of Paddy Mills for a while. But we'd be back at Anlaby Road very soon, in dramatic circumstances.

Match 16 Saturday November 22nd 1924 Hull City v Leicester City The curse of the 'ex'. It was already in force 100 years ago. It just had to be Mick O'Brien that brought our two-month unbeaten run to an end. Irish international O'Brien had been Leicester City captain the previous season. We'd signed him in 1922 from QPR, where he had been a teammate of Arthur Chandler: He'd left Leicester for Hull City in the summer. He said he'd taken a fancy to the place because, while serving in the navy during the war his ship called in at the port. So we lost our biggest personality - though it's arguable that without the space created by his departure, the club's spectacular transformation over the next few years would not have happened. If O'Brien had remained captain, Johnny Duncan would not have been able to stamp his personality on the team in the way he did so effectively. As we headed for Hull's Anlaby Road ground that day, we were third in the table, with Hull down in 18th. You can see the ground here: In the foreground is The Circle, where Leicestershire's C.S. Dempster made a famous 165 not out against Yorkshire in 1939. Mick O'Brien played centre half, so his direct opponent was his old mate Channy. It was the Irishman who had the better of things early on, and we were struggling to find our usual rhythm. When we did get an attack going, we found Hull keeper George Maddison in top form. Then midway through the first half the home side took the lead: 'A kick was taken by MILLS in the vicinity of the corner flag. The shot was cleverly aimed at the mouth of the goal, when Hebden secured the ball, which somehow or other he pulled into the net. The referee had no hesitation in awarding the goal, but so strong was the Leicester players' appeal that he consulted his linesman, who confirmed the decision' (from Athletic News). Hull were playing the 'one-back game' - a tactic devised to catch opposition forwards offside. Back then, there had to be THREE opponents behind the attacker when the ball was played (not two, like now). In the usual 2-3-5 formation, with the two full backs in their regular positions, forwards could usually stay onside as a move developed. But if one of those full backs pushed up, a forward would often be caught unawares and the flag would go up. At the time, this was becoming such a common tactic that the FA and Football League were considering a change in the law (and indeed at the end of the season that's what happened). In the second half, Mills scored again, 'forcing a passage through a crowd of opponents and driving the ball into the net out of Hebden's reach'. Mick O'Brien then popped up in attack and 'he shot with great power, Hebden managing to turn the ball round the post'. All we could manage in response was a last minute goal from Chandler, who knocked in the rebound after Maddison saved Harry Wadsworth's shot. This was Kernel's summary in the Football Post: That defeat meant we dropped down to 4th, while at the top Derby and Man U changed places for the fourth weekend in a row: So the man of the day was Hull's Paddy Mills, whose goals put an end to our great run: Handsome looking chap, isn't he? In fact, he is related to a famous Leicester City figure, one who also has a connection with Hull City. Paddy Mills is the great uncle of Nigel Pearson. Paddy's brother Percy, Nigel's grandfather, was also a professional footballer: Quite a family resemblance, right? In a postscript to this week's report I'll tell you all about the Mills brothers. Coming up very soon.

Match 15 Saturday November 15th 1924 Leicester City v Portsmouth. Ths was Pompey's first ever visit to Filbert Street. Champions of Division Three South the previous season, they were looking for a second promotion in a row. This was the top six before the game. This week's game will be handled a little differently. Rather than the usual selection of the best bits of a variety of match reports, I'm going to concentrate on the coverage the game received in the leading sports newspaper of the day - Athletic News. It's difficult now to appreciate just how influential that paper used to be. Think of L'Equipe's standing in France and you'd get pretty close. Gazzetta in Italy and Kicker in Germany play a similar role. It's one of the peculiarities of the UK sports press that we don't now have a publication of that status - probably due to the way high quality sports coverage developed in the regular press throughout the 20th century. On the Monday after Portsmouth's visit, Athletic News devoted more column inches to the game than to any other taking place that weekend. This was the match report: (That 'tragic ephemeral experience' is the 1908/09 season when, after we'd finished second in Division Two and been promoted, we went straight back down, finishing nine points adrift at the bottom, the worst moment being a 12-0 defeat at Forest). So they were the highlights of what was in fact a much longer report. And that wasn't all. We also featured on the front page, where the key events of the week would be summarised: The other big game of the day was 4th v 1st - Chelsea and Derby played out a 1-1 draw in front of a crowd of 40,000, bigger than any in Division One that day. The result allowed Man U to leapfrog Derby once again: We were up to third - our highest poistion of the season so far. On this form, we would surely go higher.

Postscript to this week's instalment: 1) With Harold Lineker being a right winger, his hero was no doubt Hugh Adcock, one of the best right wingers in the England at the time (he would later be selected for the national side). Adcock was singled out for special praise following today's game at Fulham for the way his positional sense allowed to him to beat the offside trap (this was the last season before the historic rule change): 2) The Fulham manager was Andy Ducat. You may remember him being the central character in the followng story (a day when Harvey Darvill was also in the Fulham team):

Match 14 Saturday November 8th 1924 Fulham v Leicester City The accident at the War Memorial, the Nuneaton bus fire, and the death of Chelsea's Tommy Meehan had already touched Leicester's season indirectly. Today at Craven Cottage, there would be a tragic incident right in front of the eyes of our players and traveling fans. At the time though, nobody had any idea of the seriousness of the situation. Before we come to that, let's summarise the game itself. We were looking to extend our unbeaten run to seven games. Two weeks after our fine win at Selhurst Park we were back in London with another chance to impress the journalists of the capital. All reports agreed that the first half was a complete non-event, players from both sides being repeatedly caught offside. It was after the break that the game came to life, and at the centre of the action was our keeper George Hebden. First, he let a harmless effort from Bill Prouse slip under his body and into the net. Three minutes later, Fulham threatened again, and though Hebden saved comfortably this time, before he could release the ball, Fulham centre forward Harvey Darvill 'gave him the full force of his shoulder'. That was a perfectly legal tactic at the time (and would remain so until the 1960s), and Darvill's challenge saw Hebden lose control of the ball. Prouse was there for a simple tap in to make it 2-0. We needed a quick response, and we got it. According to The Daily Herald, 'it seemed as though the Leicester side wanted this "two-down tonic" to show what a really good side they can be'. This was Kernel in the Football Post: Johnny Duncan looked like losing his unbeaten certificate as captain. But once again the Scotsman's personality saved the situation, and under his leadership the lads rallied in splendid fashion and took complete control of the game. Arthur Chandler pulled one back with a 'fine shot', and we pressed for the equaliser. It would come fifteen minutes from time, in controversial circumstances. Duncan was in a great position to score, but 'Reynolds, the home goalkeeper, dived for the ball and proceeded to lie with it under his body. Duncan made an effort to get the ball but Reynolds would not move and the referee ran to the spot and picked up the ball. Without hesitation, he dropped it and Bamber, the Leicester left-half, booted it into the net. It was all done so quickly that the spectators and Fulham players were amazed. The London players tried to mob him but he was very firm in his decision'. (Daily News, London). The crowd 'booed until it must have been hoarse and at the finish provided another interlude by discharging bangers and other fireworks' (Kernel). 2-2 was the final score. During that second half, shortly after Harvey Darvill's shoulder charge on George Hebden, those two players collided again. This time it was the Fulham man who came off worse, the impact leaving him flat out on the ground. Hebden went to help him up, and heard him say 'I've been winded'. He was taken off and given lengthy treatment by the Fulham trainer before returning. That seemed to be the end of the story. But tragically, it was not. A week later, Darvill was fit to play, and scored as Fulham drew 1-1 at Stoke. He then played the following Saturday in a home win over Coventry, but the day after that he started complaining of stomach pains. His condition quickly deteriorated, and for three days he was in agony in hospital. It turned out he had burst a blood vessel in his stomach following that collision with George Hebden. On Wednesday November 26th he died, aged just 28. The following Saturday, Hebden had to miss a Leicester game to give evidence at the inquest, where the coroner returned a verdict of 'accidental death'. No blame was attached to the Leicester keeper. Before he died, Harvey had told his brother 'Probably I've had a kick, but pros take no notice of that kind of thing'. Shortly after the inquest, the bereaved family took the trouble to write to Hebden, 'assuring him of their sympathy in the unfortunate accident'. On the day of the inquest, Hebden's place in our line-up was taken by Bert Godderidge. As we shall see, he played well, and stayed in the team the following week. In fact, Hebden woud never play for us again. That one incident at Craven Cottage had ended the life of one player and, indirectly, the top-level career of another. Hebden played out the rest of his career in the lower Leagues. Back on November 8th, these were the full results: Chelsea's impressive win at Blackpool moved them right into contention and knocked us down a place. The situation at the top of Division One, meanwhile, was fascinating, with two surprise teams at the top. Like us, Notts County and Birmingham traveled down from the Midlands to London that day. At Highbury, Donald Cock put the Magpies ahead before getting sent off for violent conduct. County held on for an impressive victory. The result was the same at Upton Park, where Coalville-born Joe Bradford scored to give Birmingham the points. Here's action from both games: You can see that both Notts County and Birmingham were wearing that distinctive V-design jersey: Those results left the Midlands pair clear at the top of the table: At that time, only Aston Villa and West Brom had brought the title to the Midlands, but it looked like a third club might be added to the list this season. Would it be Notts County or Birmingham? Could they maintain this early season form? The answer was 'No'. Both faded badly, with Birmingham finishing 8th and Notts County 9th. They would have to wait for that first title. 100 years on, they are still waiting. Wolves, Derby, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City have been added to that list, but not those two. If you ask their fans now whether they think it will ever happen, you will get the same answer Leicester fans would have given ten years ago. This, by the way, was how Nottingham's Football Post saw the situation back then: Back in 1924, of course, we had never won a trophy of any description. But that weekend, there was a sign that football in the city was on the up. Sports fans in Leicester that Saturday afternoon had two options: Our professional team may have been lagging behind Derby County in the Division Two promotion race, but what happened at Filbert Street that afternoon was a portent of things to come. With Harold Lineker starring on the right wing, the result was: Leicester Boys 7 Derby Boys 0.

I'm being very selective with the bits I pick out of reports - just cherry picking. Later in the season when it really hots up there'll no doubt be longer excerpts that'll give a better idea of how the press covered the game at the time. It would be nice eventually to have something like the incredible Hatters Heritage site, where you can access complete match reports of every game Luton ever played. They got lottery funding of some kind. https://hattersheritage.co.uk/

I've read your comment three or four times and I'm still trying to fully understand it! I'll try and answer as best I can. 'City' - seemed to be used quite a lot in many of the local papers at that time. Perhaps due to the change of name being only five years earlier. 'The ref' - the details of the ref were always given in match reports, alongside his hometown, which is different from today. I usually don't mention him in these summaries, though there have been a few controversial incidents refered to. 'The manager' - now this is a very interesting point. Back then, there was almost no mention of Peter Hodge in headlines, or in match previews or match reports. Seems incredible, right? It's partly because the final responsibility for team selection lay with the directors, though as I've said a few times, no doubt they were interested in Hodge's input, given his long experience in the game. This was the age before the 'personality manager'. Perhaps Herbert Chapman, who would lead Huddersfield to their second League title in a row this season before joining Arsenal, was the first ever. 'The owner' - another interesting one. As Jon Holmes and the crew discussed on his podcast recently, there were no owners then. There was a Board of Directors'. It was the same for most of the 20th century. I don't understand your last point about the Football League. But keep the observations coming - they always touch on interesting topics.

Match 13 Saturday November 1st 1924 Leicester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers 'Kernel', the Leicester correspondent of the Football Post, had chosen a good pen name. Leicester City were often called the 'Knuts' at this time, after the streets near the ground, and as we entered November, Kernel got to the heart of the matter. 'It has struck me as a remarkable coincidence', he said, 'that City's rise form the outskirts of the relegation circle to their present highly satisfactory position dates from the time Johnny Duncan assumed the reigns of captaincy. The Scotman is one of those unostentatious sort, an unconscious psychologist, a reader among footballers and a man who inspires confidence among his colleagues by his own example'. He captains the team both on and off the field, and studies the problem of promotion with a far-seeing eye. Only quite recently we were discussing City's chances, and he thinks that if we can keep close handy to the top over the Christmas holidays we have a great chance of pulling it off. He believes the teams at the top in the first half of the season are the special mark of all teams in the League, who are out with great determination to peg them back'. Wolves were another club hoping Duncan's analysis was on the mark. They went into this game behind us only on goal average, but with a game in hand. One of the founder members of the League, they became the first of those 12 clubs to fall into the third tier when they were relegated in 1923. After winning Division Three North, they were now looking to become the first club ever to earn promotion in two successive campaigns. We had George Hebden back in goal, with our classic front five unchanged since the clocks went back in mid-September (yes - it was much earlier then). Just five minutes into the game, the middle man in that front five provided the highlight of the day. The Mercury gave it the full Roy of the Rovers treatment: It was as fine an individual goal as we have seen this season. Breaking away down the middle of the field from a position not far inside the Wolves' half, Chandler controlled the ball in a fast spurt and retained possession despite the attention of two defenders, who found his pace a shade too much for them. When a third defender rushed across to stem his advance, Chandler shot before he could be tackled. The shot was taken sooner than the keeper expected, and the ball went low into the net at great pace. Johnny Duncan had slipped the ball through to Chandler to set up that first goal, and the captain nodded in the second just before half time. We should have scored a hatful after that but a combination of poor finishing and heroics from Wolves' keeper Noel George meant there were no goals after half time. 'Duncan put in three straight hard drives that looked to be goals all the way' reported Athletic News, 'but George met all three, no mean feat with a heavy ball, covered with mud traveling at express speed'. 2-0 was how it ended. In total contrast to the modern game, the Second Division was then given almost as much coverage in the press as the top flight. Athletic News sent their top reporter to Crystal Palace v Derby today, and their front page had a spread of 'the men of the moment' which featured seven players of the season so far. Three of them were from Division Two - Alex Kane, the Portsmouth keeper, and forwards from the top two - Arthur Lochhead and Albert 'Fairy' Fairclough of Derby: Johnny Duncan must have been pretty close to selection for that list. These were the other results that day: One result stands out - leaders Derby losing at Selhurst Park. According to the Derby Telegraph, Palace's new ground was 'a mass of water lying in pools because the drains are still unconnected'. But the ref said the game could go ahead. 'Fairy' Fairclough was injured and missed the game, and the defeat allowed Man U to leapfrog them at the top, Arthur Lochhead on the scoresheet yet again for United. With Pompey and Chelsea also winning, there was now a bunch of clubs ready to take aim at the top two. With eleven points from six games, we were moving into position, and the season looked like it was going to be a real thriller.

Match 12 Saturday October 25th 1924 Barnsley v Leicester City This was the day on which the most notorious forgery in the history of British politics was published. The Daily Mail that morning had details of the 'Zinoviev letter', supposedly written by a prominent Soviet figure to the British Communist Party, outlining how the two could further the revolution in the UK. Coming just four days before the General Election, its impact was devastating for the Labour government, which had been negotiating a treaty with the Soviet Union. Four days later, the Conservatives swpet back to power and the premierhship of Ramsay Macdonald (the man who made his name in Leicester) was over. At the De Montfort Hall on this Saturday afternoon, Lord Curzon, former Foreign Secretary and still a leading figure in the Tory party, spoke to a full house about the revelations in the Mail that morning. Someone in the crowd cried out 'Is it true?' Lord Curzon assured them that it was. But in fact, the whole thing was the concoction of a group of anti-Bolshevik Russians living in Berlin. When Labour lost the election, the faith of the working class in the electoral system was shaken, and many then believed that the only way to change things was through industrial action. That was the backdrop to the General Strike, two years later. On this day, Leicester City were heading for a town that would be right at the centre of that strike - the mining community of Barnsley in Yorkshire. After four straight wins, we were confident of another two points against the side at the bottom of the table. Due to George Hebden's collision with Frank Hoddinott last week, Bert Godderidge was back in goal, but apart from that we were unchanged. In the Barnsley side at inside left was a man who would sign for Leicester the following season and go on to become an England international and a Filbert Street legend - Ernie Hine. Oakwell held sad memories for us, as 'Kernel' in the Nottingham Post reminded us: When the game kicked off, Kernel was impressed by the home crowd: We took the lead just before half time through a simple goal from Arthur Chandler. Then the home side dominated the second half, 'playing a whirlwind football calculated to unbalance any side with pretensions to scientific football'. We held out until ten minutes from time, when Beaumont shot home after a corner which it seems should never have been given. Kernel again: And so it finished 1-1. The stand out result was Palace's victory at third-placed Blackpool, which left Derby and Man U even further clear, while that point for Barnsley lifted them off the bottom above South Shields. This was our first dropped point in five games. We couldn't afford many more if we wanted to keep in touch with the leaders.

Nice one that. By the way, feel free to post a link to this thread on Facebook (I'm not on it).

Match 11 Saturday October 18th 1924 Crystal Palace v Leicester City At many times in our history, we have been the darlings of the London press. Sometimes this has been due to the number of players in the team signed from clubs in the capital (for example, in the Jimmy Bloomfield era), at other times it has been due simply to the quality of football we played. This was true in the 1960s, and also back in the 1920s. Today's game, our first ever at the new Selhurst Park, can be pinpointed as the first in that tradition. Crystal Palace were lying fourth in the table going into this game, three places ahead of us, but from the start there was only one team in it. This report from the Daily Chronicle is the best of those reports, and it deserves reproducing at some lenghth: The only drama at the other end came when Palace forward Frank Hoddinott, a former boxer, collided with our keeper George Hebden and both were left hobbling. Palace offered so little threat, however, that Hebden wasn't required to make a save in the half hour remaining. There was another benefit of playing in London - the chance of having an action photo alongside those match reports. For the first time this season there is a picture to present to you. This is from the Sunday Mirror: Our player looks more like Reg Osborne than Adam Black. If so, that makes two Osbornes in the picture. The victory took us up to fifth, but the top four all recorded similarly impressive away wins. As Derby were winning 3-0 at Valley Parade, across town those invincible All Blacks were beating Yorkshire 42-4 at the Lidget Green ground. So - we were playing thrilling attacking football, but it was already turning into a brutal promotion race. It looked like we'd have a real fight on our hands to make the top two.

A complete statistical back-up to this season, and every season, can be found on the history section of this site. There are no doubt quite a few regular visitors to this site who are unaware that the history section exists, but it's a truly magnificent resource (thanks to @Mark ). https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/history/browse/?season=1924

Match 10 Saturday October 11th 1924 Leicester City v Clapton Orient There were no international breaks back then of course. The England team played just five matches this season - the regular Home International matches, which at that time were spread throughout the season, and friendlies against Belgium and France. But there were extra fixtures that, while not classed as internationals, were used by the selectors as trial matches for the full England XI. These were the Football League representative games. On this day, the Football League XI traveled to Belfast to play the Irish League, with three Second Division players chosen. So three of Leicester's rivals were without a key player that afternoon. You can see them circled in red in the team picture: They are: Fred Kean of The Wednesday, keeper Harry Hardy of Stockport County and, on the front row, Harry Bedford of Blackpool. Bedford was the star that day - he scored four as the English XI won 5-0. The man circled in blue is Tom Bromilow, future Leicester manager, then at Liverpool. Football League fixtures of this sort had been going since the 1890s. Over 70 had been staged, but no Leicester City player had ever been chosen. It's a measure of the low standing of the club up to that point. It wasn't until 1926 that a Leicester player earned that honour (that was Ernie Hine, who at this point was still at Barnsley). So we went into this game against Clapton Orient with the same XI that had won the last two so convincingly. The Londoners didn't move their base to Leyton until the late 1930s, and only changed their name after World War 2. They began the day two places above us in the table, and this was the wonderful kit they were wearing at the time: They took the lead early on, when our keeper George Hebden fumbled and allowed Charlie Rennox to score. We hit back quickly, and before half time we were in front. George Carr shot home from close range, then Johnny Duncan 'stooped forward to head a grand goal amid the wildest enthusiasm', as the Leicester Mail put it. Carr and Duncan each added a second after the break, in between which Orient's Bert Bliss got one back. 4-2 was how it ended. Our outstanding performer was right winger Hugh Adcock, who'd set up two of the goals and created a host of other chances. Orient were fortunate that, as the Daily Express put it 'Arthur Chandler was for once unable to shoot straight'. So that was three big wins in a row,. As 'Kernel' in the Football Post put it, we had now 'secured a pretty good foothold on the winning path'. He believed that no team in the Division was playing as well as Leicester at that point. Those wins had taken us from 17th to 7th: While Harry Bedford was scoring all those goals for the Football League, his Blackpool teammates could only draw at home to Middlesbrough. That allowed Derby and Man U to move clear of the pack. It was Arthur Lochhead, future Filbert Street star, who got that crucial winner for United. We'd need to keep our winning run going to have any chance of closing that gap.

Match 9 Saturday October 4th 1924 Sheffield Wednesday v Leicester City When Winston Churchill stood as a Liberal Party candidate for the Leicester West constituency in a 1923 by-election, he was given some advice on campaigning tactics in the city. 'It's a rugby town. Rub in the rugger stuff and you'll be fine'. We don't know exactly how much he 'rubbed in the rugger stuff', but it didn't do him much good. He was beaten by the Labour candidate. Pretty soon, following the events of the 1924/25 season, the oval ball itself would have to concede top spot in the city. Not that you'd have thought so on this day, October 4th 1924. Leicester City had an attractive looking game at Sheffield Wednesday, but many fans who might have traveled north for the game stayed behind for the big sporting event of the weekend. Leicester Tigers were hosting The Invincibles. This was the seventh match of the famous 1924 All Blacks touring side, and a record crowd of 30,000 turned up to see them. This was the scene as they performed the Haka at Welford Road: The All Blacks won 27-0, and went on to win every single game of the tour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1924–25_New_Zealand_rugby_union_tour_of_Britain,_Ireland_and_France Those fans who chose Tigers over Leicester City no doubt felt they'd witnessed a rare display of sporting excellence. But if they'd gone to Hillsborough they'd have seen an equally impressive victory. For this was the day when Leicester's promotion campaign really took off, with a result to make the rest of the Division sit up and take note. It had been quite an eventful couple of weeks for Johnny Duncan. In addition to being handed the captaincy of the club and being restored to the forward line, he'd said farewell to a teammate with whom he had an especially close relationship. His brother Tommy. The two had been brought to Filbert Street from Raith Rovers two years earlier in a joint deal arranged by Peter Hodge, another ex-Raith man. But while Johnny had flourished, Tom had been given few opportunities to shine. He was a right winger, and he with Hugh Adcock in such good form, Tom's chances were limited. As Johnny led Leicester out at Sheffield Wednesday, Tom was in another part of Yorkshire, turning out for the club he'd just joined - Halifax Town, in Division Three North. At Hillsborough, it didn't take us too long to make a breakthrough: Hugh Adcock quickly added a second with a fine cross shot, and Wednesday were booed off at half time. Early in the second half Johnny Duncan made it three, and the reporter from the famous Sheffield 'Green Un' told us that 'this score was ironically received'. I think we know what he means. From then on it was exhibition time, and the star of the show was Johnny Duncan. He added a fourth when he 'picked up a Wednesday clearance and headed for goal. Two or three defenders tried to hold him up, but he beat them and, pivoting around in the goal area, he defeated Davison with an oblique shot'. Wednesday got one back, but 4-1 was the final score. Press reports in both Sheffield and Leicester agreed that it was a thoroughly deserved victory. Leicester played a strong, virile game throughout. They were quicker and cleverer, and knew what to do with the ball when they got it. (Sheffield Independent). Duncan, a man whom Leicester would have transfered for a mere song the back end of last season, amazed his own club officials with his skill at inside-right. (Sheffield Daily Telegraph) Never, I think, have I seen Duncan play better (Leicester Mercury) Internationals like Kean and Wilson were tearing their hair in an effort to subjugate him. But Duncan was not having any. He feinted, swerved and manoeuvered with almost uncanny effect, and his last goal was a real 'bobby-dazzler'. 'Kernel' in the Nottingham Football Post. The Leicester Mail told us that: 'At the end of the match a large section of the crowd remained in front of the directors' stand and booed and hooted for some time'. Elsewhere, the top three also recorded impressive away wins, so this was the state of play: It was quite an eventful few days in Leicester. Next door to the Welford Road ground where the All Blacks were playing, this used to be the scene: We know those buildings as the Granby Halls, but back then they were called the Junior Training Hall (right) and the Empress Hall (left). On October 6th, 8,000 people packed into the JTH to hear a speech by David Lloyd George, the man who'd been Prime Minister during the War. Another 4,000 were in the Empress Hall listening to the speech through the new technology of 'loud speakers'. The captions on that Mercury cartoon are hard to see, but the main figure is Lloyd George. His speech was quite historic. It marked the Liberal Party's increasing attacks on the first ever Labour Government. Two days later, Labour lost a vote on a Liberal amendment in the Commons and a General Election was called. The Tories won that election, and thus ended the Premiership of Ramsay Macdonald, the man who'd made his name as MP for Leicester in the early years of the century (he's been called 'the only really prominent MP ever to represent a Leicester constituency'). If you want to find out more about why Labour lost that vote, and why it led to the government's fall, here's a decent summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell_Case Despite the Liberal Party's role in those momentous events, they in fact were the real losers in that election. Their share of the vote plummeted, and never again would they challenge seriously. Since then we've had 100 years of two-party politics, with Labour and Conservative. And with the round ball club on the rise, the sporting balance of power in Leicester was also set to change.

There's a postscript to today's piece. I said that Johnny Duncan was named captain for today's game. But look at this, from the Leicester Mail's late edition that day: That tells us that the captains were Harry Grundy for Oldham and Jack Bamber for Leicester. So why did I talk about Duncan? The Mercury said this: That contradicts the Mail report. What was going on? The two players could hardly be mistaken for each other. Unlike Jack Bamber, Duncan could boast neither a classically athletic figure nor a full head of hair. So who was right? The Mail reporter, who used the pen name 'Scrutator'? Or the Mercury man, who was known as 'Albion'? Common sense favours 'Albion'. Jack Bamber had been captain in every game so far, and 'Scrutator', probably just presumed he still was, and lazily wrote it that way. There would be no reason for 'Albion', to say that Duncan had taken over the captaincy unless that had indeed happened. But can we do any better than common sense? Fortunately, further evidence came with Monday's Mail, where 'Scrutator' told us this: There were many who left the ground with the conviction that Leicester had actually scored FIVE goals, and even now the matter is open to question. When Johnny Duncan found the net he certainly looked in a safe position. He was so warmly congratulated by his colleagues that it was clear that most of the players thought it was a goal. It is a difficult matter for anyone to keep every player under his eye, and while one would hesitate to say that the referee was actually wrong, one must remember that even he cannot be expected to see everything. Then there was Carr's goal. Gray caught it and fell on the line. It looked to me that the ball went over, and I reported to that effect in the Sports Mail. Now it appears that the referee held Carr to be offside, while many thought he had ruled the ball in play. As things turrned out, Leicester won by three goals to none. Crikey. 'Scrutator' clearly hadn't been scrutating carefully enough. In his report in the Sports Mail he actually got the SCORE wrong, and now he was blustering furiously to save his reputation, with a report that contains more special pleading than actual match detail. What state must he have been in when he turned up at Filbert Street on Saturday? Probably 'tired and emotional', to use the old Private Eye euphemism. But at least we can clear up the confusion. His reference to Bamber at the coin toss can safely be dismissed. Our captain that day, for the first time, was Johnny Duncan.

Match 8 Saturday September 27th 1924 Leicester City v Oldham Athletic For those who despair of the way commercial interests play havoc with the modern fixture list, the 1924/25 season stands out as a shining example of a golden past. In the first three weeks of the season, we played Saturday-Monday, Saturday-Monday, Saturday-Monday. But after that came a remarkabkle three months in which every single match kicked off on Saturday afternoon. No Cup games. No midweek games. No strange kick-off times. There weren't even any friendlies. 1924 was the first year in the history of the club in which we didn't play a single friendly game (not even pre-season - the only chance Peter Hodge had to assess his players was in a couple of red v blue trial matches - Leicester v Leicester Reserves). All we had was the good old Football League programme, helping us through the autumn with the dark nights drawing in, taking us through till Christmas, with the FA Cup just around the corner. The construction of the War Memorial had been progressing at a similarly steady pace, gettng higher week by week. But then suddenly that project came to a dramatic halt. Bert Hale was an expert stone carver. He lived in Sydenham, South London very close to Selhurst Park, the ground which had opened on the first day of the season (Bert may even have been there that day - with his specialist knowledge he'd no doubt have had a few comments to make about Leitch's design). He had worked on the Cenotaph in London just after the War, and now he had been called to display his talents on another Lutyens War Memorial - in Victoria Park, Leicester. On Wednesday September 24th, he was carving a wreath, just like the one on the Cenotaph, when tragedy struck. A stone weighing one tonne was being hoisted into place above him when it somehow came loose, and smashed into the scaffolding on which Bert was working, knocking him 45 feet to the ground. He was rushed to the Royal infirmary in a critical condition. Three days later he passed away. Bert Hale's name was quickly forgotten. Inside the War Memorial he was working on is a sacred booklet containing all the names of the Leicestershire men who fell during the Great War. Every year we remember their sacrifice. Perhaps Bert deserves a little commemoration too. Johnny Takes Over As Bert was losing his fight for life that Saturday afternoon, there were momentous events taking place half a mile away. As Leicester City ran out to face Oldham Athletic at Filbert Street, supporters realised what had happened. It was a change that, in retrospect, has to go down as the key turning point of this story. Johnny Duncan was leading the players on to the field. Jack Bamber, the England international half-back we'd signed from Liverpool, had been captain for the first seven games of the season, but now the job passed to the man from Fife. As with the switch of Duncan into the forward line two weeks earlier, the directors would have made the decision in consultation with Peter Hodge. With us lying in 17th place, they knew the team needed some kind of shake-up, and events that afternoon suggested they'd made a wise move. Duncan responded positively to his new responsibility. 'He was often the master mind', the Mercury reported, 'He was in one of his most discerning moods. He worked tremendously hard as well, taking up position admirably, and carrying the game forward with a keen sense of what was best'. Leicester took the lead after twenty minutes when Pat Carrigan headed home from a corner. Then Duncan slipped a pass to Chandler, and he made it two 'with a fine run and cross shot as he closed in from the right'. Oldham were offering very little, and it was only Bert Gray that was keeping the score down. He was the Wales international keeper, star of the side that had recently won the Home International Championship. He was only beaten for a third time when Duncan's shot was deflected past him in the second half. 3-0 was the final score, and the Sports papers that evening showed us moving up to 13th. This was how things looked: Our next three games would all be against clubs bunched together with us on seven points - Wednesday, Orient and Palace. A chance to move further up the table. (by the way, that marvelous photo above of Duncan leading us out fron the grand old players' tunnel was taken a little later in the 1924/25 season)

I'm putting this on Bentley's Roof too, where there's been a lot of interesting comment. Here's one example from 'channysixthswan': Whether 24/25 was ‘our second greatest season ever’ is a claim that I’ll be intrigued to see you stand up. By any measure, it was a landmark season, not least because it took us out of the ‘also ran’ category we’d languished in for much of our existence since 1884. But ‘second greatest’ is a tag that, to my mind, could easily apply to 28/29 (missing out on the Div One title by one point, with a better goal average than the Champions (The Wednesday), the famous 10-0 (6-0 Channy) biggest league win, the most top flight goals by a player in a top flight season (Chandler, 34), the combined strike force of Chandler, Lochhead and Hine (all three still comfortably in the Club’s top ten all time goal scorers), only City squad with five England internationals (and Channy missing out, inexplicably), a narrow fifth round defeat to the eventual FA Cup Winners). The Second Greatest claim could also be made for the 1962/3 season, or at a big stretch, 1999/2000, or dare I say it 2020/21 (although it didn’t feel like it, at all, after the Slavia Prague game, or most of all, the final whistle against the Spuds, following that Devon Loch style collapse in all but one of the last few games).

As mentioned above, Schmeichel's the first Celtic keeper since 1906 to start with five clean sheets. Tom Sinclair was the man who did it back then, and no doubt he gave credit to the full backs in front of him - one of whom was Willie Orr. He's the man who, in 1929, was Leicester manager when we finished runners-up in the League - our best finish until Kasper and the lads in 2016: The story of Tom Sincair's move to Celtic is pretty bizarre. Their regular keeper Davey Adams injured his hand during a pre-season game at Ibrox when he collided with a goalpost that had a sharp nail sticking out of it. As some kind of compensation, Rangers loaned a keeper to Celtic until Adams was fit again - and that was Tom Sinclair.

Match 7 Saturday September 20th 1924 Coventry City v Leicester City In the mid 1920s, the landscape of the south side of Leicester was changing rapidly. The Filbert Street Main Stand had been completed three years earlier, so fans on the way to the game now had that delicious sense of anticipation that comes with seeing the ground from a distance. From the upper tiers of that stand you could see the War Memorial slowly rising above Viccy Park, and if you looked to the right, the electricity generating station was gradually expanding and blocking the view of the gas works. These were all major projects, but they were dwarfed in scale by the building program about to get under way a little further south. On Saturday September 20th, Councillor Hallam of the Leicester Housing Committee performed a historic ceremony in front of scores of VIP guests - cutting the first sod at the council's first ever large scale housing project - the Saffron Lane Estate. The plan was to build 1,500 houses in just two years, meeting the enormous demand from city residents living in slum conditions in the centre of the city. The Mercury wasn't holding anything back that day. This was the front page: And this was how it viewed the occasion: Old John, that quaint and historic edifice that has looked down long enough to see every towering factory chimney rise as a sign of the commercial development of a great city, must have stirred at the sight of a great gathering of people signifying a new town, the physical and moral salvation of 10,000 people, and a vastly important epoch in the history of Leicester. The council had received a number of tenders for the plan, and settled on that of Messrs Henry Boot and Sons, though it wasn't the lowest submitted. Managing Director Charles Boot explained that: We have overcome one of the great disadvantages of concrete houses by adopting the 'double wall' principle. There is a two-inch space between two walls throughout the house without a break thus avoiding the possibility of damp through the walls. This shows how the area looked before building started, and when the project was completed, with the Aylestone Recreation Ground at the top of each map: The notion of the Saff as a 'garden city' will no doubt trigger a few guffaws, but compared to what people were used to, those houses would have seemed like paradise - indoor toilets, room enough for all the family, a garden to play in, and green spaces nearby. As Councillor Hallam performed that ceremony, however, many of the future residents of the estate had their minds elsewhere. Twenty miles away at Highfield Road, Coventry, Leicester City were hoping to build on the impressive win at Stockport five days earlier. The Coventry paper reported that 'The influx of Leicester visitors was greater than anticipated'' and before kick off 'they made themselves known with a variety of war cries'. The Bantams, as Coventry were then known, were 17th in the table, six places below Leicester, but in their line up was the legendary inside forward Danny Shea - 'the intellectual footballer' as he had been dubbed. He was a former England international, now 36. You can seen him below in a bizarre team group picture in which the Coventry players are decked out in suits. Shea is the little fellow right in the middle who you would swear must be the groundsman or one of the directors. But no - that's the man who played inside right against Leicester that afternoon - and he would be the game's central actor. Just five minutes in, Shea's 'brainy pass' set up Fred Herbert to put Coventry one up. But soon after, this happened: Shea then got the second himself, 'diverting in a cross', and after half time his header put Coventry 3-1 up. Duncan and Carr then combined to set Channy up for 'a fine shot' that reduced the deficit, and our centre forward had a great chance to complete his hat-trick when through on goal, but he shot straight at the keeper. Coventry then got a fourth through Fred Morris, their other ex-England international, and 4-2 is how it finished. Once again, we had dominated, but had failed to put our chances away. This is how the Leicester Mail summed it up: In the field, Leicester were completely masters of the situation, but when in front of goal they were guilty of the same fault that spoiled their chances last season. They dallied! They played for position and forgot the points where football is different from billiards. The Mercury reflected that 'Shea is older and slower, of course, but he is still the past master in the arts of the timely pass and the wise manoeuvre'. Strangely enough, the most pertinent commentary on the club throughout that season came from a Nottingham based reporter called 'Kernel' who had a weekly column in that city's excellent 'Football Post' newspaper, which appeared every Saturday afternoon. This was how he saw the situaiton: Prophetic words. But at the time, you could understand those 'impulsive' judgments. We were lying in 17th place in Division Two, and every one of our rivals was looking down on us. Both Nottingham clubs were in Division One, Derby had gone back to the top of Division Two that day with a 4-0 win at Wolves, and even Coventry had now moved above us. But amid the gloom, there was already one ray of light. Two days earlier, on the Thursday afternoon, Leicester Boys had faced Nottingham Boys in a game staged at Filbert Street. At outside right that afternoon was Harold Lineker, 55 years before his grandson made his professional debut on the same ground. Harold's fine performances for St.George's School had earned him a call-up, and he contributed to an impressive 2-0 victory over Nottingham, with both the goals coming in the last five minutes. That match was a prestigious friendly, but the real battle was about to start. The draw had just been made for the first round of the English Schools Trophy, that competition in which Leicester had never got beyond the preliminary stage. Their first opponents this time would be the boys from the county - 'Mid-Leicestershire'.

Match 6 Monday September 15th 1924 Stockport County v Leicester City We don't know who really took the decision. The directors had ultimate responsibility for picking the team, but it's hard to imagine that manager Peter Hodge, with his experience, didn't have some say in the matter. He was the man, after all, who had brought Johnny Duncan to Filbert Street two years earlier. For this game at Edgeley Park, Duncan was moved back into the forward line, so when we ran out on this Monday evening, the famous five were in place for the first time. For City fans of that generation, the names had a magical ring - Adcock, Duncan, Chandler, Carr, Wadsworth. Our first truly great forward line: Stockport County v Leicester City was the fixture which, three years earlier, had recorded the lowest ever atttencance for a League game - just 13! But that crazy stat, which used to be included in football annuals without an explanation, was due to the fact that the game was the second part of a double header at Old Trafford, after Edgeley Park had been closed due to crowd trouble. Thirteen people paid to watch the second game, but there were a couple of thousand others on the terraces who stayed on after the earlier game between Manchester United and Derby County, when both those clubs were in Division One. This season, they were rivals in the Division Two promotion race. As we boarded the train for the north-west, League leaders Derby were heading the same way, for a fixture with second-placed Blackpool. There were about 10,000 at Edgeley Park, and just as on Saturday, rain was falling at kick-off time and continued falling throughout the game. After twelve minutes, we finally scored our first away goal of the season. Wadsworth received the ball on the left wing and beat his man 'in brilliant style'. He was supported by Chandler, but 'when the latter was thwarted in his efforts to reach the ball, Duncan dashed through and the ball was in the net before Hardy knew where he was'. Our keeper George Hebden then kept us in front with a series of fine saves, before we went further ahead: That was full back Billy Barrett's last contribution in a Leicester shirt. He was the only survivor of Leicester City's first ever match, five years earlier (after the reconstruction following Leicester Fosse's financial troubles). The penalty was just his second goal in 152 appearances. He was born in Stockingford, the area of Nuneaton that was still in shock following the bus tragedy two weeks earlier. The seven victims were all from that part of town, and this week, seven become eight when 17 year-old Mary Harvey lost her fight for life after two weeks in intensive care. Barrett would sign for Derby at the end of the season, and the Rams' defensive frailties were exposed today in that top of the table clash at Bloomfield Road. Having conceded just three in five games before today, that total was doubled in just seventeen minutes, and the man behind the 'Blackpool Hurricane', as the Derby Evening Telegraph put it, was Matt Barrass. He played a similar role to Johnny Duncan at Leicester, and just like Duncan, he had been moved from the half-back line to inside forward for this game. Duncan was happy to be back in the position where he could do most damage to opposition defences, and this was how the Mercury saw it:

Great old footage just uploaded to youtube. 15 year old Derek Forster made his Sunderland debut in the opening game of the 64/65 season, becoming the youngest ever top flight player. The visitors were Leicester City. The cameras kind of capture our goals - you have to use your imagination a bit but it's still really valuable footgage: This is how the goals were described in the Merc:

Match 5 Saturday September 13th 1924 Leicester City v Stoke For a short time after World War 1, Leicester could boast something that Stoke could not - it was officially a 'city'. After King George V's visit to Leicester in 1919, the change was announced, with the name of the football club following almost immediately afterwards.Then in 1925 the King visited the Potteries and he himself broke the news of a similar change in status. Shortly after that, the local football club became 'Stoke City'. So this was the last time they visited Filbert Street as plain old 'Stoke'. Before the game, we were 14th, Stoke 15th - we really needed two points to start moving up the table. Rain kept the crowd down to about 15,000 - and the ones who did turn up were in for a miserable afternoon. Ten minutes into the game, the rain suddenly got much heavier, and thanks to defective guttering on the roof of the Main Stand, people standing below were drenched. It was goalless at half time, and though we had most of the play, we were still suffering from 'that fatal habit of hesitation before goal'. Then Channy had the chance of the game. He was right through - but 'slipped on the wet grass' and the chance was gone. Stoke then broke away and with their only chance of the game, Len Armitage put the ball in the net. 'By every rule of chance or probablility they deserved nothing', said the Mail. But they won 1-0. We couldn't blame the awful weather. In Derby and Manchester conditions were the same, but the Rams beat Fulham 5-1 and United beat Coventry by the same score. This was how the top of the table looked that evening: Leicester slipped to 17th. A relegation battle now looked more likely than a challenge for promotion. Two days later another Monday evening fixture was scheduled - away to Stockport County, who'd made a fine start, as you can see from that table. The directors knew something had to change - and they were about to make a crucial decision.

Every comment you make opens up a whole new can of worms! (perhaps literally in this case). The question of flooding from the river / canal and its impact on the history of the football club is a huge topic that I'm hoping to write about soon. Just to say here that the club believed in 1948 that installing a proper drainage system would solve the problem of a pitch that resembled a 'Burma rice field', and to some extent it worked.

The biggest take from Simon Inglis' book 'Engineering Archie' was that those huge terraces at football grounds, that you wouldn't think had anything to do with architecture, were actually an advanced form of engineering - it took decades of trial and error (and tragedy, with the Ibrox disaster of 1902) before that form of terracing became standard. This also relates back to your point above about why Filbert Street couldn't expand. We hired Leitch in the Fosse era and he went over every inch of the available space, lowered the level of the pitch, reprofiled the primitive terracing, introduced crush barriers, and a series of other improvements that, even though there was no new stand to alter the basic appearance of the place, hugely increased the capacity and safety of the ground.