Cup final day memories

[Voll Blau]

The results of the "finish fourth or Cup win" poll are leaving me a bit down, so I'd like to read people's memories of experiencing Leicester in Cup finals to cheer me up. (League, FA or otherwise). Whether at Wembley, on TV or listening to the radio etc - just whatever you did on those days!

 

Have at it...

[urban.spaceman]

I remember clearly spotting the staff from my local chippy in Syston waiting outside Wembley before the either the Spurs or Tranmere cup final. Rumour had it that the owner/manager was either an uncle/cousin/dad/grandad/brother/patriarchal connection to Theo Zagorakis and they'd get free tickets all the time.

 

I appreciate that's a completely useless memory but that's just how my mind works sadly.

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 minute ago, urban.spaceman said:

I remember clearly spotting the staff from my local chippy in Syston waiting outside Wembley before the either the Spurs or Tranmere cup final. Rumour had it that the owner/manager was either an uncle/cousin/dad/grandad/brother/patriarchal connection to Theo Zagorakis and they'd get free tickets all the time.

 

I appreciate that's a completely useless memory but that's just how my mind works sadly.

The chip related memoirs of urban.spaceman.

[Ric Flair]

14 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

The results of the "finish fourth or Cup win" poll are leaving me a bit down, so I'd like to read people's memories of experiencing Leicester in Cup finals to cheer me up. (League, FA or otherwise). Whether at Wembley, on TV or listening to the radio etc - just whatever you did on those days!

 

Have at it...

Driving down to Wembley for the cup final vs Middlesborough and the traffic was the pits as we were coming off the M1, my old boy wound down his window and said to some 'Boro fans. " You don't tend to come here very often, follow us we're here loads " both car loads found it funny and that was that. About 10 mins later our car overheated and blew up and they drove past honking the horn pissing themselves hahahahahaaa. We managed to get to Wembley just before kick off and getting home was a nightmare, my Dad was trying to get us to leave early to miss everyone but thankfully we stayed for Heskey's scuffer.

[Voll Blau]

1 hour ago, urban.spaceman said:

I remember clearly spotting the staff from my local chippy in Syston waiting outside Wembley before the either the Spurs or Tranmere cup final. Rumour had it that the owner/manager was either an uncle/cousin/dad/grandad/brother/patriarchal connection to Theo Zagorakis and they'd get free tickets all the time.

 

I appreciate that's a completely useless memory but that's just how my mind works sadly.

Love it! 

 

Remember walking round the outside of the Middlesbrough end of Wembley to go and have a look at the Twin Towers in '97 before the match. To this day I'm not sure why my dad and grandad decided to go that way round, instead of just walking round the back of the Leicester end...

[Bert]

Was in the local pub for the Tranmere final. I was 13. Had big ears (still have) so someone made a tin foil hat and put it on my head to make it look like the trophy. Everyone kept lifting me up like it was the trophy presentation after we’d won. My dad then fell asleep at the bar as he always did on a Sunday and had his face covered in permanent marker  

[stripeyfox]

Remember queuing for tickets for the Boro final in 1997. They announced there were the last few hundred tickets would go on sale first thing the next morning so we went down to Filbert Street and got there about 7pm with the intetiion of waiting all night. By about 11pm there were hundreds, possibly a thousand or more people queing round the car park (illumiated by the light of Comet Hale-Bopp in the sky I seem to rememeber). In the end, the openend the ticket office around midnight I think and we got our tickets and got back to bed about 2am!

 

 

[PhillippaT]

I've never been to Wembley, and I hope that I'll have a good reason to, now I'm down here! It'll probably be because of Arsenal first, though

[TiffToff88]

19 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

The chip related memoirs of urban.spaceman.

Now THAT is a thread i could become invested in!

[WestLothianFox]

I was at the 69 FA cup final against Man City with my elder brother and one of his mates. Our train didn't leave London until about 11.30 that night, so the pair of them dragged me round various pubs. I was only 15 at the time, but looked old enough to drink, so downed lots of pints. As soon as the train starting moving, I had to make a dash to the toilets, and spent the full journey praying to the great white porcelain god. I felt awful for a week after. Its a wonder I ever touched the stuff again.

 

[UniFox21]

I voted for top 4, but I'd love to see us in a cup final. We had our league cup victories when i was born and like 3, so 0 recollection of any of it. 

 

 

[Voll Blau]

Also remember my old man giving me a lecture about not fidgeting too much with the flag he'd got me outside Wembley.

 

"If that flagpole goes up your nose it'll go right up into your brain and kill you."

 

Cheers dad. As if the warning about remaining vigilant for IRA bombs in the programme hadn't put seven-year-old me on edge enough already.

 

Magical, magical times.

[treer]

i remember man city, the town absolutely empty from around 1.30, before tv in pubs

[HybridFox]

I have nothing but quarter final pain . Make it happen this year!

[Stoopid]

First memory of a football match was watching the 61 Final on TV - bit young for it to really register so kind of passed me by...

 But two years later the Man Utd Final had me roaring in the back yard afterwards...horrible.

By 69 I was a regular Pop Sider but couldn't score a Wembley ticket. More tears, not just from me but also David Nish who cried for the whole journey on the open-top bus afterwards ( which I followed on my bike).

The League Cup win in 64 didn't mean that much in comparison as neither did the two round the turn of the century.

I guess that for people like me, who grew up in the FA Cup carnage of the sixties, only winning that trophy will finally bring any resolution.

But I'm not holding my breath...

[Spudulike]

My Dad decided to go for a pee after the Kelly equaliser for Tranmere. He wanted to miss the rush before extra time (knowing what the Wembley bogs were like). There was one other in the gents beside him as they heard the roar when Matty Elliott headed the winner. The only cup that City have ever won at Wembley and he was in the bog for the winner 

[m4DD0gg]

I have been to wembley every time since the Blackburn match but probably the most eventful was the Tranmere cup final.

 

After getting more and more shitfaced on the way down and then on wembley way me and my brother thought it would be a good idea to have our faces painted in the LCFC colours by some random bloke (i cant quite remember but i am sure he was drunk) on Wembley way. God knows how much it cost but we just let him get on with it.

 

Any how half way through said procedure my old man rocks up from the pub and was beyond startled by what was going on, after closer inspection he confirmed it was indeed emulsion that was being daubed over mine and my brothers face, at the time we didnt care and carried on getting smashed and enjoying the win...............

 

The aftermath............

 

...............After two days of scrubbing the paint had started to turn from blue and white to a kind of mouldy dog shit green and neither me or my bro dared leave the house. Eventually after 3 days and having red raw skin from where the old dear was literally using the yard brush on our faces it was finally gone.

[SystonFox]

3 hours ago, Spudulike said:

My Dad decided to go for a pee after the Kelly equaliser for Tranmere. He wanted to miss the rush before extra time (knowing what the Wembley bogs were like). There was one other in the gents beside him as they heard the roar when Matty Elliott headed the winner. The only cup that City have ever won at Wembley and he was in the bog for the winner 

Bloke a few rows behind me missed both goals for a piss I’m sure of it. I vividly remember him announcing he’s off for a piss so we will likely score. Low and behold we did and he came back chuckling. 

 

I still have photos of wembley 2000 I took with a disposable camera and they are fantastic quality. Also still have the foxes at Wembley 2000 flag. Lad now has it hung in his bedroom.

 

 

[irishfoxkev]

Bear with me as have three that stick in my memory for various reasons

1969 FA Cup Final....14 yrs old , 3 years a Leicester fan and first trip to Wembley ..so sad and hurt by the loss...even relegation that year was more bearable 

1997 Hillsboro...League Cup final replay vs Middlesboro.....had been at drawn match in Wembley and just had to get to replay.

I had a few Uk based customers and persuaded my boss in Dublin that 3 of them needed urgent visits so flew into MAnchester for 1st meeting.2nd one in Stoke on Trent and overnight stay. Lovely drive across the Pennines to Sheffield.Met up with the other Irish foxes fans...Fantastic night, great atmosphere and of course result....Decided to drive back to Stoke the same way I had used earlier. big mistake..total darkness , no sat nav , hadn’t a clue where I was going. . Took a right turn at a junction and soon the road I was on got narrower.Loads of deer running around.couple of headlights  suddenly appeared behind me and then a roadblock in front of me with armed police...Seems I turned into some stately homes drive way that some VIPs were staying at and caused major security alert. Got police escort back to main road and told which way to go.Got back to hotel in Stoke at about 3am knackered but still on a high 

1999 Wembley v/s Spurs....gutted by result but the whole day was ruined by the obnoxious threatening behaviour of the people in London and in particular Spurs fans. Arrived into London very early and had my 12 year old daughter with me . Her first trip to a match so went into central London to pass a few hours. From the word go got verbal abuse from people including taxi drivers. Atmosphere on Tubes and Wembley way very tense. Sitting very close to tunnel where major infamous row broke out with group of Spurs fans who were in our end. More verbal abuse and being spat at on our way back to Heathrow....Defeat I could have dealt with but the behavior of their fans is why 20 years on we both have a hatred of all things Spurs and enjoy nothing more than seeing them lose to us and bottle so many situations since then. This week has been a good one with last Sat and them losing to Colchester👍👍👍🦊

 

[DerbyshireFox]

I vividly remember dad picking up from school in Ashby and going to Filbert Street to queue for tickets for the League Cup Final with Spurs. We must have queued for a good hour or two. We get to the front of the queue and the only tickets left are the most expensive! My 10 year old mind overflowing with excitement looking excitedly at my dad to then hear the words...”come on, let’s go, I’m not paying that”. Much bemusement and protestations followed, but we left with no tickets and a very gutted 10yr Old. I’ve never let him forget it since 🤣. At least I was spared the rare sight of Spurs lifting silverware - even though my uncle recorded it on VHS for me 😩. When we won the league and got the Charity Shield game, I bought the tickets this time - thankfully they were much cheaper than 99 🤣. Still waiting for my first cup final, and when it happens I’m bloody going 😂

[tylesta]

19 hours ago, Bert said:

Was in the local pub for the Tranmere final. I was 13. Had big ears (still have) so someone made a tin foil hat and put it on my head to make it look like the trophy. Everyone kept lifting me up like it was the trophy presentation after we’d won. My dad then fell asleep at the bar as he always did on a Sunday and had his face covered in permanent marker  

With a attempted roll up in hand

[volpeazzurro]

17 hours ago, treer said:

i remember man city, the town absolutely empty from around 1.30, before tv in pubs

Absolutely remember that as a young lad. I'd just been to Ron 's on Churchgate for a haircut and when I came out I wondered where everyone had gone! 

[The whole world smiles]

I went to Wembley 8 times between the ages 6 and 14 so it's difficult to remember Which trips were for cup finals and which for play off finals. But my memories of Wembley trips:

 

- piss flowing out of the urinals and into concorse like some foul smelling mini tsunami. then some fans not bothering to even que for the overflowing toilets and adding to the sea whilst right there in the walkway whilst other fans qued for overpriced tea and burgers. (And some people say they miss the old Wembley!)

 

- pulling behind a van/lorry on the motorway and the back doors opening and there was about 5 city fans in there dancing around in the back of it beer cans every where.

 

- seeing big blokes crying real tears after spurs loss.

 

- my dad's Wembley breakfasts which was basically a fry up that he called a Wembley breakfast to add to the excitement.

 

- making a pretty small pretty hard to read pretty crappy lcfc flag and putting it in the back of the car. To go with the scarves out the window. Also cutting up newspaper to chuck In the air. Not sure why it was in fashion then.

 

- papping other city fans on the M1 and giving them the raised fist of solidarity. wa*ker signs at other fans (especially Derby).

 

- my dad taking me to a pub after a victory barely talking just letting it all soak in.

 

- A good mate of mine who had chosen to support Newcastle as his team (around the time of Keegan shearer, asprilla etc) all his life turning up at the park in full Leicester kit the week before Boro his dad had got him and his family tickets I'd never hated the little glory grabbing c*nt more! 

[Bert]

1 hour ago, tylesta said:

With a attempted roll up in hand

 The good old days 

[urban fox]

Remember the '69 FA cup final. was only 9 years old at the time but that was the days when the entire Saturday TV schedule on both BBC and ITV was turned over to all things cup final from about 10Am with cup final quiz shows, celebrity fan interviews and all sorts of stuff.

Spent all day glued to our little B&W TV, cried when we lost. really thought we were going to win it.

 

Was at Wembley for the first two play offs, driving back from Norfolk on the day of the Derby play off, no radio on in car as had taped the match and was going to watch it when I got home so didn't want to know the score.  Kept seeing groups of obviously happy city fans outside the pubs as we drove along the Uppingham road on the way home so had guessed that we had won it.

 

Watched all of the league cup finals down the pub. The Spurs one was the first that I took my daughter to. despite the loss a great experience for her as all the locals cleared a way and sat her down at table right at the front so she could see properly.

 

Surely must be time for another one.