Filbert Street & nostalgia

[OrdinaryJon]

I'm doing some research about changing fan experiences since the 1990s and fan activism. This includes a case study of the move from Filbert Street to the Walkers Stadium.

 

What do people remember about the move at the time? Was there much fan actvisim for or against the move? 

 

Do you feel differently about the move now, compared to when it was first being discussed? 

 

Do you think the fan experience is better now at the King Power Stadium than it was at Filbert Street?

 

Interested in what peoples memories of this are and thoughts now?? 

 

Thanks.

[Bayfox]

From memory most I know objected but they was an acceptance it was needed as trying to redevelop Filbert st had been exhausted and the residents in burnmoor st weren't for moving.

 

As a consumer I guess you could argue the matchday experience is better for families etc.

 

Personally I would still have loved for my kids to witness a night game from the kop at Filbert st.

 

However I guess that due to those 4 season, promotion, great escape,  title and european nights, the KP feels a little more like home now as it has some history to be proud of. 

 

Slightly of topic, but I like many think that the introduction of safe standing, would massively benefit the match day atmosphere at the KP and probably across most the modern stadia.

 

I guess nostalgia plays a part, but for me Filbert st will always be my home, but unfortunately every day those memories fade and seem further and further away. There was certainly something special that got me about walking down those tight streets and turning towards the kop and the tight concourses. 

 

I don't get that with the KP however on days like the title presentation and those european games, the day vardy smashed the record the KP has been a fantastic venue inside the stadium.

Edited 10 August 2019 by Bayfox

[Izzy]

5 minutes ago, Bayfox said:

From memory most I know objected but they was an acceptance it was needed as trying to redevelop Filbert st had been exhausted and the residents in burnmoor st weren't for moving.

 

As a consumer I guess you could argue the matchday experience is better for families etc.

 

Personally I would still have loved for my kids to witness a night game from the kop at Filbert st.

 

However I guess that due to those 4 season, promotion, great escape,  title and european nights, the KP feels a little more like home now as it has some history to be proud of. 

 

Slightly of topic, but I like many think that the introduction of safe standing, would massively benefit the match day atmosphere at the KP and probably across most the modern stadia.

 

I guess nostalgia plays a part, but for me Filbert st will always be my home, but unfortunately every day those memories fade and seem further and further away. There was certainly something special that got me about walking down those tight streets and turning towards the kop and the tight concourses. 

 

I don't get that with the KP however on days like the title presentation and those european games, the day vardy smashed the record the KP has been a fantastic venue inside the stadium.

Good post. Pretty much word for word what I'd say..

[Shah johns]

I was first taken to Filbert Street as a kid by my Mums ex boyfriend in about 1989, £5 for a child to stand on the Kop and used to love it. 

It was a different era to today so things that went on down there would not be acceptable today never mind in football but in society in general, I used to love the slightly (Ok very) aggressive banter and when a big team game to visit the place would be electric. Away fans in pen 4 and the east stand I stood in pen 3 and even as a 13 year old kid you felt part of it.  I used to enjoy the mostly constant singing, coins flying everywhere and getting crushed against the standing bars whenever we got near our goal., when we scored it was carnage in there.

I do love the KP but it’s different now but not worse, society and football have moved on, some of the things I saw at Filbert  Street looking back were unacceptable and the new stadium is fantastic and will hopefully get even bigger and better but Filbert Street for me is part of my childhood and I will always miss it.

[urban.spaceman]

.

Edited 10 August 2019 by urban.spaceman

[Nickfosse]

Filbert Street is where I fell in love with Leicester City as a five year old in 1973 and holds many magnificent memories. The Bloomfield boys, the O’Neill years, and the joy of walking the narrow terrace streets to the game and seeing the floodlights penetrate the autumn mists. My preference at the time was for Filbert Street to be redeveloped but that was never going to get planning permission and I knew if the club were to achieve their potential we would need a new stadium so I was delighted with the move to the Walkers, though sorry we were no longer one of the few teams to play in a Street. 

 

However, the Filbert Street era for me has a very dark side. Hooliganism on an industrial scale at times, racist chanting, dreadful ownership who made any penny out of any half decent player and allowed everyone in when we played Burnley after securing promotion and being in SK 4 barely being able to breathe let alone move (it wasn’t till Hillsborough that I realised how close we came to a similar disaster that day). Having to hide in a newsagents as a pack of Palace fans starting running towards my mum, dad and me wanting to kick our heads in and being handed over police barricades when it all kicked off v Man Utd. 

 

There is is also some misplaced nostalgia about atmosphere. Yes, there were some great nights, but I recall Oldham at home in our O’Neill promotion year when I shouted at Colin Hill to “get em going Colin” and he answered me from the other side of the pitch, “I’m trying”. How silent does a stadium need to be for that to happen? 

 

The toilets and concourses were a disgrace and I could barely see the other end of the pitch. 

 

Our present stadium is now full of magnificent memories. Not just the league wins and Europe but sharing it with my ageing parents and four boys who I would not have taken to the Filbert Street I experienced as a lad. Since being relegated to the third tier we have had the most wonderful times supporting the team I fell in love with at filbo.

 

All that said, I do worry about the increasing silence at the KP the longer we are in the Premier League, and I very much support all efforts to get a great atmosphere going again. I think the best of both worlds is safe standing and I’d love to see a sizeable section included in the new stadium plans. 

 

Edited 10 August 2019 by Nickfosse

[Vacamion]

 

Filbert Street was dear to our hearts, but it was an utter craphole.

 

Those bloody houses on Burnmoor Street meant that we had no option than to build from scratch. 

 

All of which meant that rebuilding the main stand at Filbo a few years before had been a colossal waste of time and money. 

 

Thank goodness we built the new stadium next door, and didn't (like some other clubs) buy cheap land on the edge of town and end up with a ground in the middle of nowhere. 

[urban.spaceman]

1 hour ago, OrdinaryJon said:

I'm doing some research about changing fan experiences since the 1990s and fan activism. This includes a case study of the move from Filbert Street to the Walkers Stadium.

 

What do people remember about the move at the time? Was there much fan actvisim for or against the move? 

 

Do you feel differently about the move now, compared to when it was first being discussed? 

 

Do you think the fan experience is better now at the King Power Stadium than it was at Filbert Street?

 

Interested in what peoples memories of this are and thoughts now?? 

 

Thanks.

I don't remember much protestation about moving - maybe some anguish over losing our identity by leaving Filbert Street, but to be honest, the club had been planning for a number of years to build a new stadium and despite the turmoil behid the scenes (which were nothing in comparison to what was to come), I remember it feeling inevitable that we'd have to leave Filbert Street eventually. I'd had a season ticket for the last two years at Filbert Street and absolutely ****ing loved the place. East Stand was mine, some of the greatest memories of my childhood - Atletico at home next to the Kop - that will stay with me forever. 

 

I remember the club handling the move quite well - one of the last games was against Man Utd and we had to win to stay up. We lost 1-0, but before the end the entire ****ing ground was singing 'stand up if you love Leicester'. And I mean everyone. We all knew we were going down, we all knew we'd be leaving this place soon, but we all still loved Leicester ****ing City no matter what.

 

Moving into the Walkers felt weird and was followed by many ups and downs - administration, potential name change, promotion, relegation, then half a decade of mediocrity and eventually relegation to League One. I had a season ticket for the first two years before I foolishly moved away for Uni. I remember it taking a long time for guys to settle and for an actual atmosphere to get going that was in any way close to the Filbert Street I remember. Since Vichai came along though there's been a vast improvement in the actual football, and the atmosphere has been unforgettable at times. I missed most of the league winning season but I was there for Sevilla, which is the greatest game I've been to.

 

In terms of match day experience I don't see it as being much different to Filbert Street - we built the Walkers for absolute dirt cheap especially by today's standards, and it shows. I cannot wait for the stadium expansion because as well as extra seats (and an increased chance of getting a ticket), it should see a vastly improved and modernised concourse experience. 

 

On reflection - though I have only fond memories of Filbert Street - the move has been extremely positive for us in the long run. It's our home, and the stage of literally the greatest sporting story of all time. I wish they'd built a scaled down replica of Filbert Street where it used to be though.

[pSinatra]

Nostalgia is a strange thing.  It's easier to remember the good times & forget the god awful times.  It was well past it's sell by date & as important as it was to my footballing experience, I don't regret for one second moving away.

 

I work with Cardiff City STH.  I told him Ninian Park was an absolute shithole.  He tried to tell me about all the wonderful times he'd had.  I'm sure there were the occasional good times, but that doesn't detract from the fact that it was a shithole.  Filbert Street was a shithole, the Baseball Ground was an even bigger shit hole, Roker Park was, Ayresome Park, Upton Park, Maine Road were all shitholes.

 

I think a move to a new ground is better than patching up what you've already got.  Old Trafford is full of history & it's huge but it's still a bit of a dive.  They would have a fantastic ground, if they knocked it down & started again.

[davieG]

The stadium is only as good as the fans in it, I remember some awful games at FIlbert St, especially night ones when there were only 9k fans there I felt like I was on my own in a massive arena and on top of that the football was crap.

So there's been good and bad at both.

 

The biggest controversy was over the naming of the place where people got so hot over the Bowl bit that the actual sponsoring of the stadium which was equally disliked ended up happening.

 

I think it's fair to say that most people would have preferred a local relevant name such as Filbert (St) Way, The Raw Dykes, Freeman's Wharf or even The Boulevard (Western Boulevard) but I guess on reflection it would have been hard to get agreement on an alternative.

 

Loved Filbert St now love the KP because of the good memories at both.

[purpleronnie]

15 minutes ago, davieG said:

The stadium is only as good as the fans in it, I remember some awful games at FIlbert St, especially night ones when there were only 9k fans there I felt like I was on my own in a massive arena and on top of that the football was crap.

So there's been good and bad at both.

 

The biggest controversy was over the naming of the place where people got so hot over the Bowl bit that the actual sponsoring of the stadium which was equally disliked ended up happening.

 

I think it's fair to say that most people would have preferred a local relevant name such as Filbert (St) Way, The Raw Dykes, Freeman's Wharf or even The Boulevard (Western Boulevard) but I guess on reflection it would have been hard to get agreement on an alternative.

 

Loved Filbert St now love the KP because of the good memories at both.

Yeah it's weird how some games stick in your mind, I remember port vale back in 91...they scored from a cross in the 1st minute and then defended for 90 mins...we lost 1-0...must have been around 10,000 there.

[stripeyfox]

I don't recall any major opposition to the move. The announcement, when it came, was the last of several false dawns with regard to building a new stadium. Most people I knew acknowledged it was a shithole and we needed to move for lots of reasons. The fact that the new stadium would be only a few hundred yards away was a huge plus and big sweetener for the deal.

 

The only real outrage I can recall was the decision to name it "Walkers Bowl", later reduced to the seemingly less controversial Walkers Stadium, which I guess was their intention all along - classic old trick of announcing something really bad for everyone to be up in arms about only to later "climb down" and make the original plan seem palatable after all!
 

[SemperEadem]

Was there any anti felling to it being an identikit bowl very similar to many?

[Vlad the Fox]

38 minutes ago, SemperEadem said:

Was there any anti felling to it being an identikit bowl very similar to many?

From what I can remember, I think most people were happy to be moving to a new stadium close to the old one and one with an increased capacity. We were aware it was like southamptons but not many seemed to care. 

Edited 10 August 2019 by Vlad the Fox

[Bluetintedspecs]

Filbo from 69 as a 6 year old when I fell in love with LCFC, the ground and football.

In truth it wasn't a great stadium, hotch potch with mis matched stands due to the housing causing restrictions.

In my heart though Filbert Street was my 'Theatre of Dreams' and nightmares  I wouldn't swap a second of it because it's what's made me appreciate and value the dizzy heights we reached in 15/16.

In conclusion Filbo will only hold the best of memories for me RIP my genuine first love.

[Vlad the Fox]

Many great times there. Remember the last game there when we were all stood on the edge of the pitch in front of the kop digging it up while waiting for the game to finish. 

[Corky]

We were a top ten, cup winning team when the new stadium construction was about to begin. Filbert St had a lot of character and it would've been fantastic if it could've been redeveloped but not to be. We had to increase capacity and get the numbers in at some point. Just a shame it all fell apart around the time of the move.

 

The plus points about Filbert Way are the location- no different to Filbert St, not stuck in a retail park off a motorway like Reading's and Coventry's, and the potential for expansion and making the immediate area the club's own.

[Vlad the Fox]

5 minutes ago, Corky said:

We were a top ten, cup winning team when the new stadium construction was about to begin. Filbert St had a lot of character and it would've been fantastic if it could've been redeveloped but not to be. We had to increase capacity and get the numbers in at some point. Just a shame it all fell apart around the time of the move.

 

The plus points about Filbert Way are the location- no different to Filbert St, not stuck in a retail park off a motorway like Reading's and Coventry's, and the potential for expansion and making the immediate area the club's own.

I think the importance of this is sometimes overlooked but it allowed people to carry on the same match day routines, drink in the same pubs, eat in the same cafes/restaurants etc. This made the transition easy not to forget the importance to the local economy in the city, on route to and around the stadium. Many of those pubs relied upon the football for survival. 

Edited 10 August 2019 by Vlad the Fox

[Spudulike]

Luton have also come to the same decision about location...

 

Power Court

 

"If Leicester City can win the Premier League in a new environment," he said, "So can we." 

 

Righto 

[Nickfosse]

48 minutes ago, SemperEadem said:

Was there any anti felling to it being an identikit bowl very similar to many?

Only a little bit, as others have said, we knew it was the same as Southampton but it was more relief that we’d managed to relocate close by without moving outside the Ciity and that we’d eventually got planning permission from the City Council for something bigger than Filbo (it was quite a drawn out and difficult saga). We knew we needed something bigger to move the Club forward though took a long time to for us to realise that on the pitch. 

On a slight tangent, I’m not convinced that getting planning permission for the proposed stadium expansion will be straight forward either. 

[Spudulike]

3 minutes ago, Nickfosse said:

Only a little bit, as others have said, we knew it was the same as Southampton but it was more relief that we’d managed to relocate close by without moving outside the Ciity and that we’d eventually got planning permission from the City Council for something bigger than Filbo (it was quite a drawn out and difficult saga). We knew we needed something bigger to move the Club forward though took a long time to for us to realise that on the pitch. 

On a slight tangent, I’m not convinced that getting planning permission for the proposed stadium expansion will be straight forward either. 

If planners refuse such massive investment in our city then they're not fit for purpose.

[Nickfosse]

3 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

If planners refuse such massive investment in our city then they're not fit for purpose.

I totally agree, but as Peter Wheeler said when the Tigers were trying to rebuild Welford Road, dealing with Leicester City Council was like juggling soot. 

[Footballwipe]

17 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

If planners refuse such massive investment in our city then they're not fit for purpose.

It'll be the planning LAWS that aren't fit for purpose, not the planners. They only follow what they're directed to.

 

It's the Planning Policy, Elected Members and policies (as agreed and voted through by Councillors) that will be to blame. They set the framework for certain agreements, contributions and elements that the planners have to weigh up with the aforementioned local planning policies are.

[Spudulike]

2 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

It'll be the planning LAWS that aren't fit for purpose, not the planners. They only follow what they're directed to.

 

It's the Planning Policy, Elected Members and policies (as agreed and voted through by Councillors) that will be to blame. They set the framework for certain agreements, contributions and elements that the planners have to weigh up with the aforementioned local planning policies are.

So, it won't be the planners interpretation of the laws then ??

[Paninistickers]

The mood at the time was very downbeat.

 

Peter Taylor had destroyed Martin O Neill's team and at the time, Dave Basset and Micky Adams were attempting a silk purse out of a sow's ear. We were skint, going down, heading for administration and players on huge contracts.... All I recall was a slight disbelief that a stadium could and would be built when in such a mess on and off the pitch.

 

Even when the skeleton of the stadium was up, I expected building to be stopped at any moment and the whole thing mothballed