Mark_from_USA Posted 7 February 2016 Posted 7 February 2016 Here is my write-up on my recent trip to the Stoke match. Leicester's King Power You guys were great hosts, and Bayfox anf NewquayFox both worked to get me a ticket, so thank you for a great experience Circling over a brightly-lit Birmingham early on a still-dark Saturday, I could not help but think about how the contrasting fates of Midlands football clubs would be on full display later that day. At the Hawthorns, a typically lackluster West Brom side would face the doomed Villans. The Potters would travel from Stoke to visit King Power stadium, the current centre of the football universe, at least for this brief moment in time. And I arrived in the middle of it all to experience my own journey into this strange new world. My mission to see a Leicester game first-hand had been made possible by a well-timed business trip, and the help of a handful of Leicester fans who enabled a stranger to fulfill one of his dreams. With the match nearly sold out, the club would not sell me a ticket directly (perhaps believing I was a closet Stoke fan), but friends on a message board answered my plight. The rule on the Leicester boards is “thou shalt not overcharge a fellow fan”, and they didn’t. Someone I had never met bought my ticket, and trusted me to keep a date 5000 miles from home in a downtown pub to claim it. I was sure to be there plenty early, and the cockamamie scheme worked. I was going to the match. He said: “I hope you didn’t travel all the way here just for this, mate”. People travel from halfway around the world for Arsenal, or Man United. For Leicester City? Not quite. Even with international attention beckoning, these fans still were thinking, “we’re just little Leicester City at heart”. I walked to King Power, meeting some folks along the way who seemed intrigued by my journey (and by our political process and current cast of misfits). Passing the imposing new Leicester Tigers ground, I started to understand Leicester’s credentials as a Midlands sporting capital. Perhaps they deserved a top football team as well. The King Power campus (compared to Filbert Street, you can only call it that), sits not half a mile from where I roamed the streets of Aylestone as a kid. It’s corporate, but the owners know that, and their mission is to make sure it doesn’t feel that way inside. Finding my seat, I made the acquaintance of a gentleman next to me, who told me of watching Leicester back in the early 1960’s, before I was born, 50 odd years ago. He had never seen times such as these. In my seat was one of the infamous clappers, a cardboard accordion that makes a nice loud pop when you slap it against your hand. I won’t pretend that I can sway other club’s fans about clappers, I can’t. A few fans around me thought clappers were there so so called ‘plastic fans’ could contribute to the atmosphere. As the match progressed, I thought they did add to it, especially in helping the crowd add percussion to the music, and in making noise when there was a bad call, a goal, a contested throw, and just about everything else. There is a bit of superstition about the clappers, since the Thai owners started with them in the West Ham match last year that began the Great Escape. More about that superstition later. The match itself was a tour-de-force for Leicester, a return to the form that got them to the top in the first place. The highlight for me was Vardy’s goal, which happened right below me in the Kop. It was trademark Vardy, pace and a wonderful finish, and the roar in the stadium was deafening when he scored it. It was soon followed by a vicious nutmeg by Mahrez to feed Ulloa. These two, in particular, seemed back on form. The rest of the team was doing what they had done all season, turning in a fine, well-drilled performance. It was an immense performance, an immense atmosphere, an immense achievement, putting them back atop the League. I watched the Stoke fans in their buses as I walked out and just thought how much they would be wishing to be on the journey we were on right now. But then, vicariously, perhaps even they were in some sense. Isn’t everyone, secretly? I spent Sunday visiting the revitalized downtown Leicester, and managed a stop to pay my respects to Richard III, the vilified and reborn ruler whose improbable story of rediscovery beneath a small parking lot after 500 years lost to history has captured imaginations everywhere. The Leicester Cathedral where he now rests manages to be both traditional and hip at the same time, and the small museum that sprang up near his burial manages to serve up history, cultural commentary, and scientific discovery in equal measure. It’s a great addition to a great town. The downtown market where Gary Lineker grew up as the child of a merchant is still the largest in Europe, but there is so much more to Leicester now. Now Leicester is known for a King. Then it hit me: known for a king. There is a crown, on a shirt, worn by some intrepid men, that says “King Power”. A crown that even manages to match the replica on display in the Cathedral. This is what Leicester is becoming known for: King Power. You will say “that’s just a coincidence, that Leicester’s owners’ company just happens to be named that”. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. Maybe its superstition, or maybe it was meant to be. In Leicester, one of history’s villians, one of it’s maligned, is now reborn, re-imagined. Brought to a new generation not by just luck or happenstance, but also by the painstaking and dedicated work of a few who believed they could find what others missed, and bring it to life. As a metaphor for Leicester City Football Club, it could not be more apropos. If you really think about it, and consider the body of work these past few years, is the still unfolding story of the Thais and their beloved Leicester City that much different? Part tradition, part science, and 100% refreshing revolution. King Power indeed.
NewquayFox Posted 7 February 2016 Posted 7 February 2016 Excellent write up, glad you enjoyed it and spread the word about us all over America..... Up the City.....
The Year Of The Fox Posted 7 February 2016 Posted 7 February 2016 Brilliant. Pleased you made it to a game
tyfox Posted 7 February 2016 Posted 7 February 2016 Fair play to the lads who helped you get a ticket to the match. Well done lads
TheLittleBigMan Posted 7 February 2016 Posted 7 February 2016 Nice work and well done to the fans who helped sort it out. Brilliant.
Spudulike Posted 8 February 2016 Posted 8 February 2016 What a superb read and a reminder that our city has a lot going for it. Perhaps you need to be away for a while to truly appreciate it. I don't know but although I've lived over half of my life away it's still home to me. Glad that you picked a good game
Bayfox Posted 9 February 2016 Posted 9 February 2016 Glad you enjoyed the trip and the match. Good little write up that mate. Glad you took a stroll to the ground from the station. Much better than us lazy gits who jump in a taxi every week .
TrentFox Posted 9 February 2016 Posted 9 February 2016 Great read. Makes me smile that are are some fabulous human beings on here. Well done all involved in enabling this to happen. Heart-warming.
Mark_from_USA Posted 9 February 2016 Author Posted 9 February 2016 Glad you enjoyed the trip and the match. Good little write up that mate. Glad you took a stroll to the ground from the station. Much better than us lazy gits who jump in a taxi every week . As you said the grounds were easy to get into though. Lots of walking but easy access. Luckily is was a warmish day so walking about Leicester was enjoyable. It has changed a lot since I was there way back in the 70's, for the better.
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