Leicester City In 100 Players: Richie Norman

[davieG]

https://www.lcfc.com/news/2746653/leicester-city-in-100-players-richie-norman

 

 

Club Historian John Hutchinson reviews the careers of 100 of the most outstanding players to represent Leicester Fosse and Leicester City – continuing with Richie Norman, a speedy and effective left full-back who was a key player for Leicester City between 1958 and 1968.
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Richie’s 10 seasons at Filbert Street were all in the old First Division. He played in two FA Cup showpiece finals and in two finals of the League Cup, winning the trophy in 1964. He also played in Europe and established a then-Club record of playing in 194 consecutive games.

Richie first came to prominence as captain of the Newcastle district of Newburn’s Schools team which reached the English Schools’ Shield semi-final in 1950/51. He then went on to play for Northumberland Boys and the North Eastern sides of Newburn, Ferryhill, with whom he won the Northern League Championship, and Horden Colliery.

Spotted by City’s chief scout Ronnie Turnbull, Richie signed for Leicester in November 1958, at a time when Arsenal also wanted to sign him. 

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Richie Norman
Meeting Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh ahead of the 1963 FA Cup Final.

After completing his National Service in the army, Richie made his debut in January 1960 at St. James’ Park against his hometown club Newcastle United.

He was one of a number of young up-and-coming young players at Filbert Street, such as Gordon Banks, Frank McLintock, Howard Riley, Len Chalmers, John Sjoberg and Ian King, all of whom went on to be key players in the 1960s.

Between April 1960 and February 1964, Richie established a then-Club record of playing in 194 consecutive games.

He was in the FA Cup 1961 and 1963 final sides against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

He also played in City’s European Cup Winners’ campaign of 1961/62 and was an ever-present in the famous ‘Ice Kings’ team which came close to winning a league and FA Cup double in 1963. The following season he was in the side which won the League Cup, after defeating Stoke City in the final and was a League Cup finalist again the following year, when Leicester narrowly lost to Chelsea.

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John Sjoberg, Gordon Banks, Richie Norman & Ian King
John Sjoberg, Gordon Banks, Richie Norman and Ian King pose for an action shot at Filbert Street ahead of the final of the FA Cup.

An extremely effective defender, Richie had great pace. He famously scored with a volley at Old Trafford in April 1963 a few days before the Foxes went to the top of the old First Division. Among his other goals were the two he scored in City’s 8-1 League Cup win at Coventry City in December 1964.

Richie made 365 appearances in all competitions for Leicester City. After 10 seasons at Filbert Street, all of which were in the old First Division, he joined Peterborough United in June 1968.

He became player-manager of Burton Albion in 1969 and then coached at Coventry City, Derby County and Northampton Town.  

He subsequently worked as a physiotherapist for Northampton Town, Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, the England Under-19s cricket team and Kettering Town, before spending 25 years at Nuneaton Borough, who granted him a second testimonial match (the first was in 2004) last season.

Richie is still a regular spectator at King Power Stadium on match days.

[The Doctor]

Lovely bloke, ran the football at QE when I was there in the late 2000s. 

[String fellow]

He was an incredible servant to the club, and missed just a handful of games over 7 consecutive seasons, being an ever-present in most of them. His No.3 shirt at left full-back was eventually taken over by Willie Bell in late 1967. He went from the start of the 60/61 all the way through to late on in the 63/64 without missing a single match in any competition!