Filbert Street & nostalgia

[Guest Markyblue]

51 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

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

Not going to happen,  the expansion includes benefits for the city as a whole.

[dayday]

I would of loved it if we had a new version of the kop and double decker at the Kp when we was building it.

[bovril]

Filbert Street was the first football ground I went to. I remember my first night game, vs Southampton is 96, and the grass glowing under the floodlights. I remember the noise that could be generated in the Double Decker. As others have said, we had no choice but to move, and it's great we stayed so close. But I would love to go back in time and experience it again. 

 

[Suzie the Fox]

3 hours ago, SemperEadem said:

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

Not that i recall, but then it was a time before social media so it was basically pub / match talk. 

 

Im sure if twitter had been about there would be more of an uproar

[OrdinaryJon]

Some fantastic replies to this! Thanks a lot for that. 

 

I think there was some activism around the boardroom battle and the 'Gang of 4' just prior to the stadium relocation but I haven't found much evidence of opposition to the move itself. The proposed name of the stadium cause some consternation and fan activism successfully challenged this, thankfully!

 

I think the new ground being located so close to the old one, and within the city centre was important - especially (as others pointed out above) when you look at those out-of-town stadium builds. 

[OrdinaryJon]

There was a column about the development of the new stadium in every match day programme of the final season at Filbert Street and various events and memorabilia related to this - see pics. 

[Bourbon Fox]

My first footballing memory is of watching a bloke piss through a rolled-up programme onto the steps of the kop. I'm sure we were standing, which I think would tally with it being about '89 and me being about 5 years old. 

 

What I miss is the frisson of danger, the swelling of the ranks through the side streets, sticking with the crowd and avoiding the spots where away fans might be. It sounds stupid but for a young boy having this experience of excitement, anticipation, trepidation and being part of a surge of thousands doesn't come close to any other type of feeling. A street packed with friendly strangers with a common love.

The occasional glimpse of trouble or being bundled past the Shed and steered away from the horses definitely added to the impression that this was a place, a few hours, where life could be a little bit different. 

 

Oh, and the songs. Starting in Westcotes and growing down Narborough Road, by the time the streams of fans converged on Raw Dykes it was hundreds together. Sung at top volume, all joining in, borne on a breeze of Carling Premier breath and profanity. Sometimes my dad would join in, belting out something like '**** off Mark McGhee' with a 'don't tell your mother' wink and a conspiratorial grin. This was different. This was Going Down The City. 

 

Wide-eyed, silent and with a panda pop and a bag of Smith's Salt-your-own I learned about pub culture - taking the piss out of your mates, always giving a lady a seat, playing spoof and buying rounds and the confident espousal of tactical expertise. My replica shirt was sacred, worn only at the match or when emulating the likes of Tommy Wright and Muzzy on a Thursday night. 

 

I don't miss the ground per se, and I think family-friendliness is a welcome, necessary, inevitable part of progress. 

 

But somewhere along with the danger and my childhood I think we lost the thrill. Walking to the KP is always a special feeling, but it's not got the edge for me - the cocktail of passion and mild peril. 

 

Filbert Street for me will always be a place of noise, camaraderie and an intriguing hint of menace. Not saying that's a good thing, but I wouldn't want my memories to be any different. 

[Nickfosse]

3 minutes ago, Bourbon Fox said:

My first footballing memory is of watching a bloke piss through a rolled-up programme onto the steps of the kop. I'm sure we were standing, which I think would tally with it being about '89 and me being about 5 years old. 

 

What I miss is the frisson of danger, the swelling of the ranks through the side streets, sticking with the crowd and avoiding the spots where away fans might be. It sounds stupid but for a young boy having this experience of excitement, anticipation, trepidation and being part of a surge of thousands doesn't come close to any other type of feeling. A street packed with friendly strangers with a common love.

The occasional glimpse of trouble or being bundled past the Shed and steered away from the horses definitely added to the impression that this was a place, a few hours, where life could be a little bit different. 

 

Oh, and the songs. Starting in Westcotes and growing down Narborough Road, by the time the streams of fans converged on Raw Dykes it was hundreds together. Sung at top volume, all joining in, borne on a breeze of Carling Premier breath and profanity. Sometimes my dad would join in, belting out something like '**** off Mark McGhee' with a 'don't tell your mother' wink and a conspiratorial grin. This was different. This was Going Down The City. 

 

Wide-eyed, silent and with a panda pop and a bag of Smith's Salt-your-own I learned about pub culture - taking the piss out of your mates, always giving a lady a seat, playing spoof and buying rounds and the confident espousal of tactical expertise. My replica shirt was sacred, worn only at the match or when emulating the likes of Tommy Wright and Muzzy on a Thursday night. 

 

I don't miss the ground per se, and I think family-friendliness is a welcome, necessary, inevitable part of progress. 

 

But somewhere along with the danger and my childhood I think we lost the thrill. Walking to the KP is always a special feeling, but it's not got the edge for me - the cocktail of passion and mild peril. 

 

Filbert Street for me will always be a place of noise, camaraderie and an intriguing hint of menace. Not saying that's a good thing, but I wouldn't want my memories to be any different. 

My award for the most beautifully written post of the year goes to you sir. Thank you, you’ve evoked many a memory for me through this powerful account of Filbo match days. 

[treer]

@boubon fox, your prose is brilliant.

You could find a vocation with proper sentences and paragraphs.

[Bourbon Fox]

5 minutes ago, treer said:

@boubon fox, your prose is brilliant.

You could find a vocation with proper sentences and paragraphs.

I'm transitioning into an association-by-contiguity style. You've caught me just after the death of the Oxford comma. 

[Wymsey]

Has anyone still got any 'treasures' of Filbert Street (such as seats, piece of turf etc)?

[cropstonfox]

A brick in my pile of stuff to be sorted

In the garage

[davieG]

I’ve got the Auction Poster.

 

My bit of turf died on me.

[murphy]

The utter craposity pf Filbert st, the cow shed East Stand, was also it's charm.  Filbert St. had soul and just a whiff of danger.  As a kid, I always asscociated the smell of cigarette smoke with match day.

 

I miss it, but times change.

[Nickfosse]

8 minutes ago, murphy said:

The utter craposity pf Filbert st, the cow shed East Stand, was also it's charm.  Filbert St. had soul and just a whiff of danger.  As a kid, I always asscociated the smell of cigarette smoke with match day.

 

I miss it, but times change.

And boxing day fixtures with cigar smoke for me. 

[Vlad the Fox]

11 minutes ago, davieG said:

I’ve got the Auction Poster.

 

My bit of turf died on me.

I took my bit of turf on the lash with me after the spurs game, proudly sat on tables and bars as we went from pub to pub. Hung over, the next morning I laid it in my garden but unfortunately the common mud was too much for it and it gradually died over the following weeks. 

[Vacamion]

1 hour ago, Bourbon Fox said:

My first footballing memory is of watching a bloke piss through a rolled-up programme onto the steps. 

 

 

Dude, your whole post was fantastic.

 

The bit from your post that I've quoted reminds me that, probably late 70s or early 80s, I was about 10 years old and was in the bogs with my Dad and there was a queue, 3 or 4 deep, for the urinal. 

 

Can't remember which bit.  We started off in the late 70s in the East Stand, then in the Jock Wallace era we were in the Double Decker. 

 

Anyway, the facilities at Filbert Street were awful in those days.  This is probs why the other dude was peeing on the terrace. 

 

I vividly remember that as we stood in the queue for the urinal, a bloke peeing into to the trough had a proper hardnut bloke standing right behind him, peeing down his leg. 

 

The bloke getting urinated on just carried on peeing, looking up, as if he hadn't noticed what was happening to him. 

 

Dad was pulling my sleeve and pointing this out to little me.  We couldn't believe that the pissee didn't start a ruck. 

 

It was an early lesson for me that people can be horrible to each other, and also that Filbert Street was a place where bad things might happen if you weren't on your guard. 

 

Edited 10 August 2019 by Vacamion

[Vlad the Fox]

Here’s something a wrote in a thread on here not long after I joined back in 2012, 

 

On 06/09/2011 at 22:32, Vlad the Fox said:

Filbert street was great. Magical at times. I can remember us being 3 - 0 up against Man u after about 20 mins when they were 10 points clear at the top of the league. I had to endure all the man u fans at school telling me how they were going to stuff us, even my best mate, a leicester fan, turned round on the friday and said he supported man u. The following monday was so sweet. Man u managed to chuck away their 10 point lead and atkinson got the sack.

 

Midweek games were special too. I remember peak and banks hitting belters against liverpool. Lineker missing a penalty in his last game against sunderland to get his trick. In fact lynex lineker and smith were devastating together.

 

I can remember runing on the pitch after the last games of the season and patting the players on the back. Shaking hands with shef united fans on the track in front of the old main stand after they had won promotion.

I can remember Harry Redknapp saying it was the most intimadating ground he'd been to on football focus once.

Tommy Writght calling the ref a bald **** in front of the family enclosure and then shearer taking lennons head off in almost the same spot some years later.

 

There was also the time after we had secured promotion, in 82 i think, when everyone invaded the pitch, i looked to my mum to ask if i could go on and she was already half way down the steps of the north stand shouting for me to 'come on.'

 

There are so many more memories like Tony James' goal against oxford with other scores going our way and the roars and cheers that flushed round the ground as each stand realized it. The agony of the last fifteen minutes when all the other fixtures had finished and as it stood we were safe, unless oxford, (who were throwing everything at us) scored. Followed by a jubilant pitch invasion where the stewards and police were helping us out of pen 4 (nearly didn't get in for this game) onto the pitch.

 

But one of the best moments was that night against camebridge. Looking around the stadium that was absolutely rocking i was bursting with pride as my team which i had been watching for as long as i could remember was going to finally realise my dream of seeing them at Wembley. This was coupled with the belief that we were finally going somewhere.

 

Unfortunately we had to move though. A capacity of just over 22,000 wasn't enough and the ground couldn't really be developed further. We should be grateful that we managed to find land in the city avoiding an out of town venue which would of effected the whole match day experience not to mention the loss of trade to the city. Over the years we will experience highs and lows, already two promotions and relegations. These memories will bind us to the stadium and affection will grow, and as it does so, we will develop a character and atmosphere as a group of supporters and stadium.

Leicester till i die.

I’ll add that that slight sense of danger people have mentioned that you felt going to football years ago did add an edge to the day that got the adrenaline pumping. Obviously things change and I wouldn’t want my kids seeing some of the stuff that went on, my parents didn’t and as such there were certain games I didn’t go to, but there is no denying it gave you a buzz. As children and young men you did a lot of growing up going to the footy. 

[Russell sprout]

8 hours ago, Vacamion said:

 

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. 

 

 

I remember going to watch us v spurs on a weekday(we lost 1-0,David Ginola scored in the 90th minute)

and whilst walking up Burmoor street heading to the kop,

some spurs fans looking lost asked ‘where’s to away end’,

when I told them they were stood outside it they couldn’t believe it,

i pointed to where they had to go through and they thought it was a shop in between houses,

not realising the stand was behind the houses,

though in there defence it was a complete shithole of a stand,

before I moved into the kop I sat in the bottom left hand side of the Carling stand,

and me and my mate at the time used to put our hands across the left hand side of our face so we could only see the kop and Carling stand and would say how good our stadium would be if it was like that all the way round

[Vlad the Fox]

5 minutes ago, Russell sprout said:

I remember going to watch us v spurs on a weekday(we lost 1-0,David Ginola scored in the 90th minute)

and whilst walking up Burmoor street heading to the kop,

some spurs fans looking lost asked ‘where’s to away end’,

when I told them they were stood outside it they couldn’t believe it,

i pointed to where they had to go through and they thought it was a shop in between houses,

not realising the stand was behind the houses,

though in there defence it was a complete shithole of a stand,

before I moved into the kop I sat in the bottom left hand side of the Carling stand,

and me and my mate at the time used to put our hands across the left hand side of our face so we could only see the kop and Carling stand and would say how good our stadium would be if it was like that all the way round

I got speaking to a shelf united fan on holiday in Newquay many years ago, he was the editor of their fanzine at the time, any we ended up in a pub somewhere for a few drinks while we chatted footy. He told me he and his mates ended up in the tigers ground one match when they played us thinking it was our ground 

 

[Rob1742]

Most clubs went through the same process, so it was a total change of visiting new football grounds from old across the county, so it wasn’t unique to us.

 

Also our ground wasn’t too bad compared to others. People have said it was a poor ground but we had a new stand that housed what must have been a third of the crowd so facilities were above those of many of our competitors.

 

We had a fairly large mega store as I recall they called it and great restaurant and conference facilities, so it was a fairly decent ground in comparison to many.

 

The atmosphere was said to be special, but I think that is a bit of nostalgia. Through the hooligan era the atmosphere was dreadful and I think it was only truly special on nights like Cambridge in the play offs and that the atmosphere at the KP has beaten it many times over.

 

Id still move back in a heartbeat. My biggest ever regret was that I wasn’t in a position to buy it to keep it going for nostalgic reasons. Whatever happens at the KP I just can’t get those memories out of my head of going down as a kid, it was truly special. But that would be the same for every kid that has such passion about their team.

 

I have a seat, I have a ball that flew over the stands into a garden from the last game. I have some ashtrays from the old main stand boardroom and I have the bowler hat that the old chairman put in the cupboard when we lost an FA Cup final. 

[davieG]

Where Foxestalk goes the Merc follows

 

Filbert Street then and now

 

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/gallery/filbert-street-then-and-now-3195199

 

Some good pics though.

[Kinowe Soorie]

12 hours ago, Bourbon Fox said:

My first footballing memory is of watching a bloke piss through a rolled-up programme onto the steps of the kop. I'm sure we were standing, which I think would tally with it being about '89 and me being about 5 years old. 

 

What I miss is the frisson of danger, the swelling of the ranks through the side streets, sticking with the crowd and avoiding the spots where away fans might be. It sounds stupid but for a young boy having this experience of excitement, anticipation, trepidation and being part of a surge of thousands doesn't come close to any other type of feeling. A street packed with friendly strangers with a common love.

The occasional glimpse of trouble or being bundled past the Shed and steered away from the horses definitely added to the impression that this was a place, a few hours, where life could be a little bit different. 

 

Oh, and the songs. Starting in Westcotes and growing down Narborough Road, by the time the streams of fans converged on Raw Dykes it was hundreds together. Sung at top volume, all joining in, borne on a breeze of Carling Premier breath and profanity. Sometimes my dad would join in, belting out something like '**** off Mark McGhee' with a 'don't tell your mother' wink and a conspiratorial grin. This was different. This was Going Down The City. 

 

Wide-eyed, silent and with a panda pop and a bag of Smith's Salt-your-own I learned about pub culture - taking the piss out of your mates, always giving a lady a seat, playing spoof and buying rounds and the confident espousal of tactical expertise. My replica shirt was sacred, worn only at the match or when emulating the likes of Tommy Wright and Muzzy on a Thursday night. 

 

I don't miss the ground per se, and I think family-friendliness is a welcome, necessary, inevitable part of progress. 

 

But somewhere along with the danger and my childhood I think we lost the thrill. Walking to the KP is always a special feeling, but it's not got the edge for me - the cocktail of passion and mild peril. 

 

Filbert Street for me will always be a place of noise, camaraderie and an intriguing hint of menace. Not saying that's a good thing, but I wouldn't want my memories to be any different. 

What a fantastic post 

[Footballwipe]

13 hours ago, OrdinaryJon said:

There was a column about the development of the new stadium in every match day programme of the final season at Filbert Street and various events and memorabilia related to this - see pics. 

I have one of the small stadium models in my living room, and at least two of the keyrings unopened in their original packaging. I remember getting them when they were dirt cheap in the sale. Must've been at the new megastore

[demon_dog]

Think one of my memories of Filbo was when we played a non league team in the League cup, it was a freezing cold winters night, the kop was virtually empty.

In the row I sat in there were only 2 other guys, the game was that bad that just after half time they lit a spliff and sat there in a haze watching the game with a smile on their faces!

To this day I can't recall who we played or what the (if any) score was, I simply recall these two guys!

 

When I first went the match cost 7shillings and 6 pence to go into the Kop, About 35p in todays money.