Eleven Out Of Twelve

[kushiro]

As is so often the case, it's someone else's contribution that triggers a new voyage down the rabbit hole that is Leicester CIty history.

 

 

@Phube posted this on the 'crazy stat' thread over the weekend:

 

 

It's a fascinating graphic, isn't it?

 

But looking at it I sensed there was something more there - perhaps an acrostic message - you know, like the famous example of the Luton Town director using his programme notes to spell out 'Watford are sh**'.

 

Then I realised - it's not so much the letters as the numbers. There's a story in there. 

 

Let's look at those seven seasons one by one.

 

 

1894/95  Bury

 

The season started on September 1st, and Bury began their great run with a 4-2 win over Manchester City at Gigg Lane. That was the first ever game for 'Manchester City', who had just changed their name from 'Ardwick FC'.  And that day was also momentous for another club. Leicester Fosse were playing their first ever Football League game. 

 

We had been elected at the AGM in June, the club receiving great praise for 'having 1,200 members in what had been a hot bed of rugbyism'. Now, instead of regular fixtures against the likes of Burton, Kettering and Mansfield in the Midland League, the world opened up, and we'd be heading all over the country, up to the North East to play Newcastle and down to South London to play Woolwich Arsenal.

 

Our first fixture was at Grimsby Town's Abbey Park ground. We lost 4-3, but we'd taken the very first step on the journey that would lead to the miracle 122 years later.

 

We were in the same division as Bury, but in their opening run of eleven wins out twelve, we were not one of their victims. We had to wait until Christmas Day to play our first ever game at Gigg Lane, and we lost 4-1. A couple of weeks later we were back - and they knocked us out of the FA Cup.

 

 

1903/04   Preston

 

In Preston's great start to the season we were one of the teams they beat - 4-3 at Deepdale in game seven. Later in the season they walloped us 4-1 at Filbert Street. And it wasn't just Preston that beat us. Nine years after our baptism in the Football League, this season marked a low point.  We'd been trying and failing to get out of Division Two all that time, and now it looked like we might be heading out the wrong exit. We finished rock bottom of the League and had to apply for re-election. Surely we wouldn't be back in the Midland League? Fortunately, the club had developed a reputation as a band of thoroughly decent chaps and we comfortably topped the re-election vote.

 

 

 

1905/06  Bristol City

 

The Robins actually opened their season in disastrous fashion - losing 5-1 at Old Trafford, but then they reeled off eleven wins in a row, the seventh of those being a 2-1 win at Filbert Street. They kept that going right through till February, a total of 24 League games unbeaten. Football fever was mounting in the west country,, and the next visitors to Ashton Gate were Leicester Fosse. .

 

Surely that great run wouldn't be threatened by the team who had achieved absolutely nothing in their twelve seasons in the Football League.

 

We headed to Bristol on the Friday, and the man from the Leicester Daily Post went with them. As he reported:

 

The players were frequently told of their impending fate in phrases something like this: 'Yah! You're goin' to be whacked!'.  But amid all the verbal opposition, they grew in strength.

 

On Saturday, the unthinkable happened. The result was Bristol CIty 1 Leicester Fosse 2 - their six month unbeaten run finally over. 

 

That seemed to be a turning point. If we could 'whack' a team like Bristol City, surely we could whack anyone. The followng season we finished just out of a promotion place, and the year after that we finally did it - Fosse were in Division One.

 

 

1919/20  Tottenham Hostpur 

 

It was the first day of League football for four years after the suspension during the War. Spurs' great run began in startling fashion - a 5-0 win at Coventry. It was also a truly momentous day for us -  the first game played by 'Leicester City Football Club'. Fosse were no more, and our new life began with a 2-1 defeat at home to Wolves. Our first away game was actually at White Hart Lane. As the players arrived at Marylebone Station on the way to the game they were met by a man who'd just traveled down from Scotland. This was Mr. Peter Hodge, who we had just appointed as manager, and who was meeting his players for the first time.  Hodge watched us lose 4-0 to Spurs, then ten days later, Spurs came to Filbert Street and won 4-2.  

 

Those results were nothing to be ashamed of - this was a truly great Tottenham line-up, fired by the injustice of Arsenal having taken their place in the top flight on completely spurious grounds when League football resumed. In the coming years, Hodge would assemble the first truly great Leicester side.

 

 

1992/93  Newcastle United

 

We had to wait more than seventy years for the next instance. During those seven decades Leicester City went up seven times and came back down again seven times. You could call it a kind of consistency, but here we were back in the second tier - though now the thing that changed its name was not the club, but the Division itself. With the advent of the Premier League, it was now called 'Division One'

 

Keegan's team were playing scintillating football, and having won eleven out of twelve, they came to Filbert Street for game number thirteen. It was a pretty special occasion:

 

 

Our season finished dramatically of course with the unrivalled drama of the Swindon Play-Off Final.

 

 

 

2000/01  Fulham

 

Finally an example of a club whose fixture list that season didn't include Leicester City. We were in the top flight. In fact, as Fulham were racing clear at the  top of 'Division One', guess who was sitting pretty in the Premier League? Of course, it was Peter Taylor's boys - we were top of the pile for the first time in almost 40 years.

 

A false dawn, of course. 

 

 

2022/23  Leicester City

 

And so we're up to date. 

 

 

 

There we have it - no acrostic message, but a compact Leicester history.  Seven seasons of peaks and troughs - each of them a milestone along this crazy journey.

Edited 23 October 2023 by kushiro

[kushiro]

And while we're at it, with the Sunderland game coming up, let's ask two important questions:

 

a) Did each of those clubs win game number 13?

 

b) Were they promoted at the end of the season?

 

 

1894/95  Bury

 

a) Yes they did, but then lost game fourteen at Notts County.

 

b) Yes - as Champions.

 

 

1903/04  Preston

 

a)  No - they drew 1-1 at Bradford City then lost at Barnsley.

 

b)  Yes - as Champions.

 

 

1905/06  Bristol CIty

 

a)  Yes - and number 14 and 15 too. As we've seen, they had an unbeaten six month run until we beat them in February,

 

b) Yes - as Champions.

 

 

1919/20  Tottenham

 

a) No - they lost at Bury.

 

b) Yes - as Champions,

 

 

1992/93  Newcastle United

 

a) No - as we saw, they lost at Filbert Street.

 

b) Yes - as Champions.

 

 

2000/01 Fulham

 

a) No - they lost at home to Preston.

 

b) Yes - as Champions.

 

 

Believers in superstition will be nodding their heads. Game number 13 was often unlucky.  But always just a blip on the way to the title. 

Edited 23 October 2023 by kushiro

[Fox seen in Norwich]

Good read, so good I’ve missed my bus stop 😱

[Koke]

The Fulham team that got promoted in 2001 were pretty good. They became a mainstay in the Premier League for years after that.

[Golden Fox]

1 hour ago, kushiro said:

As is so often the case, it's someone else's contribution that triggers a new voyage down the rabbit hole that is Leicester CIty history.

 

 

@Phube posted this on the 'crazy stat' thread over the weekend:

 

 

It's a fascinating graphic, isn't it?

 

But looking at it I sensed there was something more there - perhaps an acrostic message - you know, like the famous example of the Luton Town director using his programme notes to spell out 'Watford are sh**'.

 

Then I realised - it's not so much the letters as the numbers. There's a story in there. 

 

Let's look at those seven seasons one by one.

 

 

1894/95  Bury

 

The season started on September 1st, and Bury began their great run with a 4-2 win over Manchester City at Gigg Lane. That was the first ever game for 'Manchester City', who had just changed their name from 'Ardwick FC'.  And that day was also momentous for another club. Leicester Fosse were playing their first ever Football League game. 

 

We had been elected at the AGM in June, the club receiving great praise for 'having 1,2000 members in what had been a hot bed of rugbyism'. Now, instead of regular fixtures against the likes of Burton, Kettering and Mansfield in the Midland League, the world opened up, and we'd be heading all over the country, up to the North East to play Newcastle and down to South London to play Woolwich Arsenal.

 

Our first fixture was at Grimsby Town's Abbey Park ground. We lost 4-3, but we'd taken the very first step on the journey that would lead to the miracle 122 years later.

 

We were in the same division as Bury, but in their opening run of eleven wins out twelve, we were not one of their victims. We had to wait until Christmas Day to play our first ever game at Gigg Lane, and we lost 4-1. A couple of weeks later we were back - and they knocked us out of the FA Cup.

 

 

1903/04   Preston

 

In Preston's great start to the season we were one of the teams they beat - 4-3 at Deepdale in game seven. Later in the season they walloped us 4-1 at Filbert Street. And if wasn't just Preston that beat us. Nine years after our baptism in the Football League, this season marked a low point.  We'd been trying and failing to get out of Division Two all that time, and now it looked like we might be heading out the wrong exit. We finished rock bottom of the League and had to apply for re-election. Surely we wouldn't be back in the Midland League? Fortunately, the club had developed a reputation as a band of thoroughly decent chaps and we comfortably topped the re-election vote.

 

 

 

1905/06  Bristol City

 

The Robins actually opened their season in disastrous fashion - losing 5-1 at Old Trafford, but then they reeled off eleven wins in a row, the seventh of those being a 2-1 win at Filbert Street. They kept that going right through till February, a total of 24 League games unbeaten. Football fever was mounting in the west country,, and the next visitors to Ashton Gate were Leicester Fosse. .

 

Surely that great run wouldn't be threatened by the team who had achieved absolutely nothing in their twelve seasons in the Football League.

 

We headed to Bristol on the Friday, and the man from the Leicester Daily Post went with them. As he reported:

 

The players were frequently told of their impending fate in phrases something like this: 'Yah! You're goin' to be whacked!'.  But amid all the verbal opposition, they grew in strength.

 

On Saturday, the unthinkable happened. The result was Bristol CIty 1 Leicester Fosse 2 - their six month unbeaten run finally over. 

 

That seemed to be a turning point. If we could 'whack' a team like Bristol City, surely we could whack anyone. The followng season we finished just out of a promotion place, and the year after that we finally did it - Fosse were in Division One.

 

 

1919/20  Tottenham Hostpur 

 

It was the first day of League football for four years after the suspension during the War. Spurs' great run began in startling fshion - a 5-0 win at Coventry. It was also a truly momentous day for us -  the first game played by 'Leicester CIty Football Club'. Fosse were no more, and our new life began with a 2-1 defeat at home to Wolves. Our first away game was actually at White Hart Lane. As the players arrived at Marylebone Station on the way to the game they were met by a man who'd just traveled down from Scotland. This was Mr. Peter Hodge, who we had just appointed as manager, and who was meeting his players for the first time.  Hodge watched us lose 4-0 to Spurs, then ten days later, Spurs came to Filbert Street and won 4-2.  

 

Those results were nothing to be ashamed of - this was a truly great Tottenham line-up, fired by the injustice of Arsenal having taken their place in the top flight on completely spurious grounds when League football resumed. In the coming years, Hodge would assemble the first truly great Leicester side.

 

 

1992/93  Newcastle United

 

We had to wait more than seventy years for the next instance. During those seven decades Leicester City went up seven times and came back down again seven times. You could call it a kind of consistency, but here we were back in the second tier - though now the thing that changed its name was not the club, but the Division itself. With the advent of the Premier League, it was now called 'Division One'

 

Keegan's team were playing scintillating football, and having won eleven out of twelve, they came to Filbert Street for game number number thirteen. It was a pretty special occasion:

 

 

Our season finished dramatically of course with the unrivalled drama of the Swindon Play-Off Final.

 

 

 

2000/01  Fulham

 

Finally an example of a club whose fixture list that seaon didn't include Leicester City. We were in the top flight. In fact, as Fulham were racing clear at the  top of 'Division One', guess who was sitting pretty in the Premier League? Of course, it was Peter Taylor's boys - we were top of the pile for the first time in almost 40 years.

 

A false dawn, of course. 

 

 

2022/23  Leicester City

 

And so we're up to date. 

 

 

 

There we have it - no acrostic message, but a compact Leicester history.  Seven seasons of peaks and troughs - each of them a milestone along this crazy journey.

Cracking write-up as ever.

 

I think my favourite bit is the pulling out of Newcastle v's Leicester from 1992/93 with highlights. In the days when Leicester weren't on TV very much, I thought there might be mention of another game between those 2 sides from that year which is seared into my memory. But if @kushiro doesn't feel its worth mentioning a game when we found ourselves 6-0 at half time, then it can't have been that important, so maybe it didn't happen after all!!!

[kushiro]

3 minutes ago, Golden Fox said:

Cracking write-up as ever.

 

I think my favourite bit is the pulling out of Newcastle v's Leicester from 1992/93 with highlights. In the days when Leicester weren't on TV very much, I thought there might be mention of another game between those 2 sides from that year which is seared into my memory. But if @kushiro doesn't feel its worth mentioning a game when we found ourselves 6-0 at half time, then it can't have been that important, so maybe it didn't happen after all!!!

Yeah - I  decided to pass quickly over that one!

[filthyfox]

1 hour ago, kushiro said:

And while we're at it, with the Sunderland game coming up, let's ask two important questions:

 

a) Did each of those clubs win game number 13?

 

b) Were they promoted at the end of the season?

 

 

1894/95  Bury

 

a) Yes they did, but then lost game fourteen at Notts County.

 

b) Yes - as Champions.

 

 

1903/04  Preston

 

a)  No - they drew 1-1 at Bradford City then lost at Barnsley.

 

b)  Yes - as Champions.

 

 

1905/06  Bristol CIty

 

a)  Yes - and number 14 and 15 too. As we've seen, they had an unbeaten six month run until we beat them in February,

 

b) Yes - as Champions.

 

 

1919/20  Tottenham

 

a) No - they lost at Bury.

 

b) Yes - as Champions,

 

 

1992/93  Newcastle United

 

a) No - as we saw, they lost at Filbert Street.

 

b) Yes - as Champions.

 

 

2000/01 Fulham

 

a) No - they lost at home to Preston.

 

b) Yes - as Champions.

 

 

Believers in superstition will be nodding their heads. Game number 13 was often unlucky.  But always just a blip on the way to the title. 

So... win 16 games, and we get League Record number 1.

 

I still think Rudkin should go after overseeing that debacle last season.

 

BUT... we are obviously a Premi3r League team that got relegated rather than a Champ team playing in the Premier.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

2 hours ago, kushiro said:

2000/01  Fulham

 

Finally an example of a club whose fixture list that seaon didn't include Leicester City. We were in the top flight. In fact, as Fulham were racing clear at the  top of 'Division One', guess who was sitting pretty in the Premier League? Of course, it was Peter Taylor's boys - we were top of the pile for the first time in almost 40 years.

 

A false dawn, of course. 

Fulham's squad contained 4 former/future Foxes - Barry Hayles (who scored 18 league goals for them that campaign), Simon Morgan (who made just one sub appearance, the last of his long Fulham career), Elvis Hammond (one sub appearance, his Fulham league debut) and Rufus Brevett (39 appearances).

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, Fox seen in Norwich said:

Good read, so good I’ve missed my bus stop 😱

The worst thing is, @Fox seen in Norwich is the driver!

[foxfanazer]

It's 11, it's heaven for Enzo Maresca. Hold the back page, hold the front page, a Leicester manager has smashed the record 

[Fox seen in Norwich]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

The worst thing is, @Fox seen in Norwich is the driver!

Ha. Yeah and now seen in Peterborough 😂

[Gazza3]

2 hours ago, Golden Fox said:

Cracking write-up as ever.

 

I think my favourite bit is the pulling out of Newcastle v's Leicester from 1992/93 with highlights. In the days when Leicester weren't on TV very much, I thought there might be mention of another game between those 2 sides from that year which is seared into my memory. But if @kushiro doesn't feel its worth mentioning a game when we found ourselves 6-0 at half time, then it can't have been that important, so maybe it didn't happen after all!!!

It did . I was there

[Foxmeister]

4 more wins for the record then.....

[weller54]

I bet Tottenham had an open top bus celebration!!

[LanguedocFox]

8 hours ago, Golden Fox said:

Cracking write-up as ever.

 

I think my favourite bit is the pulling out of Newcastle v's Leicester from 1992/93 with highlights. In the days when Leicester weren't on TV very much, I thought there might be mention of another game between those 2 sides from that year which is seared into my memory. But if @kushiro doesn't feel its worth mentioning a game when we found ourselves 6-0 at half time, then it can't have been that important, so maybe it didn't happen after all!!!

I remember that well. Last match of the regular season and it was probably the first time all season that we'd been on telly - Sky was only there because Newcastle were runaway champions. I went to our local (in London) and watched it in a pub full of Chelsea fans, all of whom took the piss out of me. Best that could be said is that we drew the second half 1-1.

 

Of course, we finished 6th, beat Pompey in the playoff semis, then lost to Glenn Doddle's Swindon at Wembley. AN end of the season to forget.

[urban.spaceman]

10 hours ago, kushiro said:

1919/20  Tottenham

 

a) No - they lost at Bury.

10 hours ago, kushiro said:

b) Yes - as Champions,

[kushiro]

When Fulham lost that 13th game at home to Preston, guess who scored the winner:

 

Craig's mate:

 

 

 

He's telling Craig 'I meant it, you know':

 

 

[HybridFox]

6 hours ago, weller54 said:

I bet Tottenham had an open top bus celebration!!

Cart and horse I imagine (who came third in a two-horse race 🎵)

[jayfox26]

10 hours ago, weller54 said:

I bet Tottenham had an open top bus celebration!!

Apparently they are having one this weekend if they beat Palace. Premier league champions October 2023.

[Vlad the Fox]

On 23/10/2023 at 10:15, kushiro said:

Yeah - I  decided to pass quickly over that one!

If I remember correctly it was suggested that we were playing for positions, if we lost it gave us a better draw in the play offs, Little told the players to take their ease off the gas but didn’t mean quite as much as they did. 

[Wolfox]

2 minutes ago, Vlad the Fox said:

If I remember correctly it was suggested that we were playing for positions, if we lost it gave us a better draw in the play offs, Little told the players to take their ease off the gas but didn’t mean quite as much as they did. 

That and nobody wanted to get injured before the playoffs started…. We barely competed!

[shailen]

Just shows you how rare it is for a club to smash it up like we have especially given the squad overhaul in the summer and a new manager. Credit where credit is due!!!