Leicester City and The Treble

[kushiro]

Lots of retrospectives in the media recently looking back at United's treble in 1998/99 - all pretty much covering the same ground. This is a take from a different angle - a Leicester-centric perspective.

 

Here's six stories from the season in which Martin O'Neill's bond with Leicester fans just kept on getting stronger.

 

 

1)  Chucking away a two goal lead in the opening game can set the tone for the whole season - as we've just been painfully reminded. When it happened back in 1998 it didn't have the same effect  - not on us, at least. But for Man U, coming back from two down that day really did set the tone - the first of several dramatic late recoveries that took them to those three big cups.

 

Going into that game, all the focus was on two United players:

 

 - Roy Keane, playing his first League game for 10 months  (since the injury caused by his challenge on Alfie Haaland).

 

- David Beckham, playing his first League game since the sending off v Argentina in the World Cup.

 

It was also Frank Sinclair's Leicester debut. 

 

You probably know the key moments of the game, but here's a rare and longer version, showing two things not on the usual short highlights clip - Kasey Keller's injury and Matt Elliott's role in the build up to our second goal. Listen out too for how incredibly loud the 3,000 Leicester fans are before United pull a goal back.

 

 

 

2)  Next an easy quiz question. United won three trophies that season, but which club won the other major honour?

 

It was so nearly Leicester City.  We lost 1-0 in the League Cup Final, and winners Spurs were the only team that season to knock Man U out of any competition, Ginola's famous goal sealing a 3-1 win in the quarter finals on the same night we beat Blackburn 1-0 (remember Neil Lennon's header?)

 

A week after that Wembley final, we went to White Hart Lane in the League and won 2-0, with Tony Cottee scoring his 200th career goal. Those three points helped us finish above Spurs in the Premier League table for the third season running - O'Neill's team punching above their weight yet again.

 

 

3)  People remember that season for the Man U v Arsenal rivalry in League and FA Cup. But the title race was really a three-way affair. Chelsea were the third team in the contest - or at least they were until Leicester did the other two a big favour with a famous comeback at Stamford Bridge in April. Those final 15 minutes are one of my favourite climaxes to any game, with Ian Marshall coming on to terrrorize the home defence. 

 

Worth seeing it again:

 

 

 

4)   I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I really despise the current Man U set up - from their whiney, petulant players to the odious owners. But back in 1998/99 I had a sneaking admiration for them. Not for Fergie, but for the players, and especially the fans. The team had that famous five who'd come through from the youth set-up, and the fans were fighting a spirited battle against the Murdoch take over  - a battle they ultimately won.  There was a real bond between those on the pitch and those in the stands - especially the fans Roy Keane used to call the 'hard core', the ones that made the atmosphere at United away games so memorable. They were the loudest, and the sharpest away fans in the top flight. 

 

Which brings us to January that season, when United arrived at Filbert Street  - and won 6-2. 

 

Their opening goal that day is one from the Dwight Yorke - Andy Cole telepathy collection. I always thought Yorke shouted 'over' as the cross came in - but watching it back now I think that what you can hear is actually one of the Leicester defenders shouting 'away!'  

 

Even without the shout, Cole knew exactly where Yorke would be.

 

After that, we fell apart defensively.

 

If you can bear it, have a look at this brief highlights video and tell me what you think about that shout for the opening goal.

 

PL Classics | Leicester 2-6 Manchester United (1999) | #Treble99 - YouTube

 

Three weeks later, United went to the City Ground and came away with an even more emphatic victory - 8-1 - a result that helped Forest on the way to relegation and a two decade absence from the top flight.

 

 

5)  There is, of course, a family connection between United's greatest season and Leicester's.

 

Kasper got a taste for silverware very early in life:

 

 

(the photo's actually from their 1994 parade).

 

 

6)  We started with teams that throw away a two goal lead on the opening day of the season. Here's another quiz question  - what was the other occasion between 1998 and 2022 when we did that?

 

It was under Micky Adams' leadership.

 

Any ideas?

 

It was 2003/04.

 

We went two up against Southampton in the first ten minutes - then after a Kevin Phillips wonder goal, they fought back to draw (that game too was a prelude to relegation).

 

Our scorers that day both played a big part in the 1998/99 Manchester trophy story.

 

On the final day of the Premier League season, it looked for a long time as though the trophy was going to Highbury. Spurs took the lead at Old Trafford with Les Ferdinand's famous lob, before United came back to win 2-1.

 

Then a few days after United clinched the treble in Barcelona, Man City's season climaxed in even more dramatic circumstances. They were two down to Gillingham with three minutes left in the division two play-off final at Wembley, and somehow they pulled it back to 2-2 - the equaliser coming like this:

 

 

I'd love to see a reverse of that season - Man City doing the treble, and United in the third tier.

 

We can only dream.

 

Edited 9 June 2023 by kushiro

[bovril]

Always enjoy your posts and especially this one as it's a season I remember well.

 

It was perhaps my least favourite season of the O'Neill Premiership years, maybe because of the league cup loss or maybe even because United did the treble. Growing up a fan of an unfashionable club in late 90s rural England, you'd always hope for United to lose. But looking back you're right that there is a lot to admire about that team. And meeting United fans (their real fans) they were always very complimentary about O'Neill's Leicester and some of the performances we put in against them in that era. 

[TJQuik]

Please never stop making these posts

[kushiro]

I smuggled my camera into that 6-2 game back in 1999 (yep - in the pre-smart phone era, taking photos at football games was not allowed). 

 

Here's a couple of shots - 

 

a) Steve Walsh leading us out at the start.

 

b) The telepathy twins Cole and Yorke with beaming smiles at the end (plus Becks, fingers stroking his golden locks for the last time at FIlbert Street - when he returned a year later it was the day he unveiled his new skinhead cut).

 

 

[Paninistickers]

5 minutes ago, kushiro said:

I smuggled my camera into that 6-2 game back in 1999 (yep - in the pre-smart phone era, taking photos at football games was not allowed). 

 

Here's a couple of shots - 

 

a) Steve Walsh leading us out at the start.

 

b) The telepathy twins Cole and Yorke with beaming smiles at the end (plus Becks, fingers stroking his golden locks for the last time at FIlbert Street - when he returned a year later it was the day he unveiled his new skinhead cut).

 

 

I remember closely watching Cole in this era. His movement off the ball was extraordinary. It was a hugely underrated part of his game. Pulled defenders all over the shop

[Supergray22]

3 hours ago, Paninistickers said:

I remember closely watching Cole in this era. His movement off the ball was extraordinary. It was a hugely underrated part of his game. Pulled defenders all over the shop

I remember that also. You don’t see enough of that. Great strikers put in the spade work. 

[kushiro]

 A couple of things that didn't make it into the original post:

 

1)  A very tough question. What was the significance for Leicester of the game at the Valley on the last day of the 1998/99 season - Charlton Athletic 0 Sheffield Wedensday 1?      (Answer coming later).

 

 

2)  One thing Leicester and Man U had in common was that their plans for the future were both dealt a blow by the intervention of the Labour govenrment in the spring of 1999.

 

As mentioned above, the plan to sell the club to Rupert Murdoch was rejected  - after the DTI called in the takeover and judged it was not in the public interest, given Murdoch's numerous media interests. Definitely a good decision, that one - though United fans didn't know that the Glazers were just around the corner.

 

Leicester's plans to build a new stadium at Bede Island were also called in - by the Department of the Environment, who rejected the idea because of the plans for a supermarket next to the ground. Another good decision, I reckon. Surely the current site is preferable, on the right side of the canal (anyone disagree?)

[bovril]

19 minutes ago, kushiro said:

 A couple of things that didn't make it into the original post:

 

1)  A very tough question. What was the significance for Leicester of the game at the Valley on the last day of the 1998/99 season - Charlton Athletic 0 Sheffield Wedensday 1?      (Answer coming later).

It won us the fair play league that season?

 

I vaguely remember around that time getting excited at rumours we'd be let into the Intertoto because of winning fair play. And I know Wednesday had a player sent off that day. Followed Charlton closely that season as my sister was living there. 

[kushiro]

17 minutes ago, bovril said:

It won us the fair play league that season?

 

I vaguely remember around that time getting excited at rumours we'd be let into the Intertoto because of winning fair play. And I know Wednesday had a player sent off that day. Followed Charlton closely that season as my sister was living there. 

 

Yeah - you go it.  Peter Atherton sent off.

 

It put us in a draw for a place in the UEFA Cup -  there were eight clubs in the pot, and we missed out - clubs from Norway and Estonia were the lucky ones,

[bovril]

2 hours ago, kushiro said:

 

Yeah - you go it.  Peter Atherton sent off.

 

It put us in a draw for a place in the UEFA Cup -  there were eight clubs in the pot, and we missed out - clubs from Norway and Estonia were the lucky ones,

Wow, I can't remember actually being in a draw for it. I suppose with football news being mostly confined to ceefax in those days we remember the actual games more than all the nonsense in the off season.

 

Got to be the worst thing about modern football - 24/7 football news. 

[Bats8711]

“You never know with Leicester City - you simply never know.”

 

Some things change, some things stay the same. 

[kushiro]

7 hours ago, bovril said:

Wow, I can't remember actually being in a draw for it. I suppose with football news being mostly confined to ceefax in those days we remember the actual games more than all the nonsense in the off season.

 

Got to be the worst thing about modern football - 24/7 football news. 

Maybe with us qualifying for the UEFA Cup in 1997 and 2000 this disappointment has been largely forgotten. 

 

 

I wonder how far we'd have gone had we been selected. That was the compeition when Galatasaray beat Leeds in the semi--finals (Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight RIP) and then Arsenal in the final.

2000 UEFA Cup semi-final violence - Wikipedia

Edited 9 June 2023 by kushiro

[kushiro]

I've avoided him so far in this thread, but here's a few quick points about Alex Ferguson.

 

1) First, it's quiz time again. Can you name the one occasion he played in a competitive game at Filbert Street?

 

2) Before Fergie signed Andy Cole in January 1995, his number one target was our old friend Stan Collymore. Forest boss Frank Clark wouldn't sell though, and when Collymore learned that Cole had gone to Old Trafford instead, Stan was apparently 'gutted'. 

 

Would United have won a treble with Stan? Who knows - but it's a bit hard to imagine him forming the kind of understanding with Dwight Yorke that Andy Cole did. 

 

3) Another player who may have been thinking 'that could've been me' when United won the treble was the man whose cross gave Tony Cottee that headed goal at Old Trafford in the video above - Robbie Savage. He was of course a member of the United team that won the Youth Cup in 1992 along with the Nevilles, Giggs, Butt and Beckham. Fergie got rid of him though. The communication between the two of them while he was on United's books seems to have been mainly Fergie telling Robbie to get his haircut.

 

4)  Ferguson was fired as St. Mirren manager in 1978. The club drew up a charge sheet of 12 supposed offences to justify kicking him out, one of which was, bizarrely, 'attending the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Bruges at Wembley'. Fergie decided to contest the sacking, claiming unfair dismissal. The subsequent tribunal ruled in the club's favour, saying that Alex's treatment of a club employee was 'petty and immature' and in an extraordinary concluding statement, saying that he 'possesses neither by experience nor talent any managerial ability at all'.  

 

5) By the time the tribunal ruled, however, Alex had already fixed himself up with a better job - at Pittodrie. I loved his Aberdeen team that won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1983 - the last Scottish team to win a European trophy!  And the following year he brought them to Filbert Street for our centenary game. 

 

I've still got the programme and, what do you know, there's a scribble on the back page:

 

 

Who could that be? Well, turn it round and it's obvious:

 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

24 minutes ago, kushiro said:

1) First, it's quiz time again. Can you name the one occasion he played in a competitive game at Filbert Street?

I'm guessing Leicester City Vs Ayr United - Texaco Cup 1st Round 2nd Leg - 3rd of October 1973.

[kushiro]

9 minutes ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

I'm guessing Leicester City Vs Ayr United - Texaco Cup 1st Round 2nd Leg - 3rd of October 1973.

Yeah - that's it.

 

That was quite an interesting time for The Honest Men, as Ayr United are known. Look at this clip from two weeks after they played at Filbert Street.  It shows Ferguson's goal that put them second in the top flight, ahead of Celtic and Rangers. Typical Fergie reaction when he thinks the goal might be disallowed.

 

 

They faded and finished 7th, and it was Fergie's last season as a player.