Which Darkest Leicester moment pained you the most?

[deanolegend1989]

The reason I say Cardiff is because I genuinely felt robbed.

 

Watford, for all 'that' 60 seconds will as far as I'm concerned, never ever be topped in Leicester's history, I thought we were extremely lucky to be where we were. I thought we'd been absolute shite for the majority of the second half of the season and we'd been outplayed in that game as well. I thought the penalty was extremely soft and it's not that I'm saying I wanted him to miss - but I didn't feel like we deserved to be at Wembley that year, I personally think it'd have been a farce.

 

Cardiff, was just so, so gutting to watch. So many times that season you had to pinch yourself. Whilst being a top Championship club wasn't really something we should consider a big achievement, I'd grown up with the majority of my football being dominated by the Leveins, Kellys, Holloways, Megsons etc... just basically, a Derby of today although if anything worse. No hope, no entertainment, just simply stale season after stale season. It was surreal watching us actually perform at this level and against so many odds when you consider our team was made up of the likes of Weale, Neilson, Brown, Hobbs, Berner, Morrison, N'Guessan, Adams, Oakley, Dyer, Waghorn, Fryatt, Howard, and many others who you'd never have associated with a promotion winning side. I felt that season like we'd seriously over-achieved and in the most unbelievable of circumstances, had actually turned what looked a dead tie into a victory and we weren't even threatened until that horrible fvcking **** Chopra dives, throws every bit of aggression he can muster into trying to get Bruce sent off, and we eventually fall due to one of the most bizarre penalties ever as well as a real unsung hero (of that season at least...) missing the crucial penalty. I was proud of that side, but that truly was a fvcking nightmare and I got over Watford so much quicker than that and it's simply because of merit.

 

Stoke was a whole different argument altogether, but funnily enough, I felt optimistic. Referring back to the fact we'd been such a dull team, the thought of winning every week regardless of opposition started to appeal more, as wrong as it sounds.

 

1. Cardiff

2. Stoke

3. Watford

 

What a top post! Nearly exactly what Id of wrote . The bit firstly about Cardiff...couldnt agree more. I mean I was the same, only started really following Leicester passionatly since 03, I also was used to dross after dross season and absolutely no memory of even having a hope of being in the top half(I remember a 2-1 win vs Stoke one season, maybe 06/07.Steven Hughes scored the winner? Basically we moved up to 12th and I remember thinking OMG top half..and going to college so happy). Thats how sad it was, so to finally have a team doing well in the CC was a pleasure to watch. For me it felt like a dream(and tbh every season since has been amazing to what I was used to haha).

 

Also the Stoke thing, I also remember saying at the time 'actually maybe it will be a good thing'. At first clearly down, the Hume shot agonisingly saved, the McCuarly header off post, the Stoke fans invading the pitch before FT prolonging the agony..was terrible, but after a few hours I honestly remember thinking 'you know what, lets start again and come back with momemtum'. In reality, I should of been worried because we quite easily could of festered for 3 to 4 seasons in League 1 but at the time I honestly was not too down...Was good to get out of a rut, felt like a new start.

 

Watford for me I was devestated. We were holding on to extra time and delighted tbh. Then we get a pen...absolute elation! 1 kick to Wembley...then what happened! I jumped off my seat ready to celebrate 'save' then saved rebound! I was just standing up staring at the screen, hands on my head...as the move progressed I didnt move, I was so upset 'weve blown it', 'there going to win extra time now'..as Anya crosses the ball..heads back..DEEENEY! I am still standing and not moved my hands the entire time..followed by 'Oh My God...That didnt just happen'(in the most sarcastic tone possible)...second late I swing round and smash the shit out my sofa shouting 'F*K!!!!!!!!!!!!!'(neighbours think im going mental) .

For me it was absoultely devastating for a good day..but then next day I genuinely felt this season we could just mount another challenge and it wasnt the end for this team(providing we didnt make the same mistake as last time and get rid of Nige). That was my main worry.

 

Overall though, AT THE TIME..Id say 1.Watford. 2.Stoke. 3.Cardiff. Plainly because Watford was devastating, We had a kick to win it, we had been top and also 2nd in Feb, We also had a historic day in Nottingham a week or so before(I thought it was fate). Stoke because it was horrible to see us drop like a stone and reality says we are a league 1 club and we got seasons to wait to ever even have a chance of returning to the EPL! Cardiff 3rd because I felt extremely proud and that with the team we have we punched so far above are weight, it was like Ricky Hatton facing Lennox Lewis! So for that reason I wasnt as upset...but clearly the way King put us ahead, it felt like Liverpool in Istanbul and was dramatic to the point that when they get that penalty(when the guy was bloody offside) was another reason to suggest we didnt get what we deserved that night.

 

So all In all Watford, Stoke then Cardiff for how I felt afterwards..but in terms of what we deserved Cardiff we fought like men and didnt get what we deserved. Watford probably did and Stoke most certainly got what we deserved.

In terms of hindsite, I think Stoke actually was the best thing that ever happened to us. Watford meant we had another year to gel and start again. As Cardiff, the team tryed so hard that I was pretty worried we wouldnt be as strong the season after..I.E it did feel like that whole season we would slip but we never did..credit to the guys, but felt we had missed our chance and would have seasons to wait afterwards or if we had gone up, could of been a Derby.

 

Theres lots of ways to look at it..

 

I personally think in terms of how it effects the future of the club:

Cardiff was the worst..Watford was easy to get our heads up and Stoke was a new fresh start and it its own way exciting..

 

In terms of how I felt regarding the game at the time:

Watford made me Ill and was the worse..Cardiff felt disapointed and unjust but proud...Stoke It felt a weight off the shoulders tbh.

 

Lots of ways to look at it but Id say Watford for the pain at the time(first half hour after), Stoke for the rest of the day(the realisation), Cardiff for the week-months after(close season). Overall Stoke happened for the best tbh, Cardiff probably was a blessing in disguise not going up, Watford again probably works perfect for our team having another season to click.

 

I could talk all day(I already have) but I still couldnt come up with a firm answer.

[Leicester_Numan]

All three were terrible days. All games that we were so close to winning and yet it just wasn't to be. I'll probably go for relegation against Stoke. Having only supported City since we were relegated from the premier league, all I'd seen were years of poor and mediocre football. I honestly couldn't see things getting better at all given the situation that we were in, I could just see it getting worse and worse. That's one of the main reasons that I'm so grateful towards Nigel Pearson. For the first time I could be truly proud of the club, especially in the 09/10 season.

At least after the other games, there was hope for the future (until we sacked Pearson after the Cardiff game anyway).

I'm surprised no-one picked up on that, Pearson wasn't sacked, forced out at worst, certainly he felt he had to leave, but he definitely wasn't sacked

[Leicester_Numan]

I went for Stoke as I felt hope for the future after all 3, but losing our proud record of never being out of the top 2 divisions was painful and is now gone forever.

I think we needed that step down to league 1 though, years of fighting the inevitable were depressing and we needed to reorganise and get back to winning ways.

The 2 play off games while painful were just typical Leicester to me so I wasn't too upset by them and there was the hope of better to come. I tend not to overreact to a defeat and bounce back quickly anyway.

[teblin]

Stoke. That was the one thing we had along with only a few other clubs, that we had never been outside the top 2 divs.

[Stueygeddard]

Mine has to be the day Peter Taylor became our manager. If his task would have been come into the club, upset all of our legend players baring muzzy/matty Elliott. And spend all of our money on sub standard "potential" players (I'm being polite). Eg akinbuyi, m jones, lee Marshall (his words to me were 'that boy will play for England one day'). Apparently he didn't sign Benjamin the club did (and in the end he didn't do too bad under Micky). Then he accomplished it with style.

The bloke was arrogant to say the least and was one of the most clueless people when things started to go wrong. Every failed top flight side has one of these. Eg charlton, had curbishley as their o Neill and then employed les reed!

Steve wigley at soton was another no hoper!!

As far as results go I'd have to middlesborough away 3-3 Curtis og. Because I thought wolves 4-3 was bad enough but it showed we just couldn't hold a lead. We were so good going forward that season!

[dpjfox]

losing to Blackburn in play-off final by a dodgy pen

[OriginalRobboFOX]

Should edit your poll to include:

- Speedies dive at Wembley

- Pulling it back to 3-3 only to lose 4-3 against Swindon

- Losing to Spurs in the coca cola

- Losing to Wycombe in the FA cup

- 3-0 up at Wolves only to lose 4-3

- Getting spanked by Bolton on the opening day at Filbo

- Administration

- Cardiff peno shootout

[jonthefox]

None of the above. For me it was administration. A truly horrible period.

[Tielemans63]

Swindon in the playoff final. Was a kid at the time and I remember roaring when Bodin smashed in that pen.

[Rocket-Ron]

The worst by far for me was the defeat to Tottingham in the league cup final.

Took hours to get there due to heavy traffic on motorway. Stuck between Spurs fans (who are the biggest pr1cks in football) on the north circular, one group in a stretch limo (yes really) and another in a double decker bus.

and then obviously their last min winner, all the trouble in the ground and to top it all we couldn't get out of our parking space until there knobhead fans left... "we only had ten men" w4nkers....      

[Simmo86]

Cardiff from that list.

 

But overall, nothing will ever come close to Wycombe for me. That was just total devastation!

[lcfc will]

Relagation really didnt hurt me that much, I felt that we deserved it and it had been coming for 3 years. As for the other two, its a close call but I feel Watford edges it as it was absolutelty painful to watch, truly horrible. Cardiff was poor but penalties are always a lottery, from being so close to victory against Waford to losing in the space of 40 seconds was awful.

[Brauny Fox]

Swindon.

[hairy]

Totally different for me

 

For me its when we became run by an individual rather then a group (i.e. the board). Some of the managerial comings and goings along with decisions in the running of the club have been bizzare ever since and very secretive.

[bovril]

Winning 3-1 at Boro in 04 with 90 minutes on the clock. We know what happened next. I was listening on the radio with my Dad. When the o.g. went in I just quietly left my chair and went somewhere private. For me that was ever harder than the Wolves game, although I remember feeling sick listening to that.

 

We should never have gone down that season. If we had stayed up who knows where we would be now.

 

Relegation to Stoke - I was listening in a disgusting internet cafe in Palermo and the whole thing had been so inevitable for months. I almost felt relieved when the final whistle went, like that odd euphoria after a heavy vomiting session. I was annoyed with losing the record but we all knew it was deserved.

[MattTheOldFox]

Relegation at Oxford in '87 and Blackburn and Swindon play off defeats were the hardest to take.

[StanSP]

In my time, it was the relegation down to League One. As rubbish as that season and the seasons leading up to it were, it was the final nail in the coffin but at the time it felt like a dagger to the heart. The time had finally come that we left the top 2 divisions in our history for the first time ever. It was that legacy and that record which was wiped from the history books forever. Something that cannot be reversed which hits you so hard.

 

In hindsight it has obviously benefited us as we have been a better club since, but we could have gone the way of our rivals and stayed in League One for more than a season.

 

That for me was the darkest period.

 

The play-off losses were bad and heart-breaking, of course. But unlike a relegation, you're still in the same division and it's something you can build on at the time. Our relegation and consequent League One season could have been so much different.

[lgfualol]

Reading some peoples' opinions in the rainbow laces thread

 

Watford

 

Took me months to get over that. 

[Dickov22]

This is going to sound really strange but none of them. Mine is actually quite random.

The most upset I have ever been watching Leicester was after the 4-3 defeat at Newcastle when we had been 3-1 up before Shearer scored a hat trick. I still don't know why either. I cried for ages.The Wycombe at home defeat a close second, I still can't watch either if they come on the tele.

The other three were horrid but I was filled with pride after the two play off losses still, the relegation I just thought we got exactly what we deserved.

I can definitely relate to this- I was in the Director's box at St James Park. Being 14, I thought it hilarious to make it clear to all fans around me I was a Leicester fan. It was pretty awful when about 300 Geordies infront of me celebrated wildly in my face as Shearer got the winner.

Others that stand out for me are Blackburn at Wembley with that ridiculous penalty. Swindon was awful too. Losing at home to Bolton 0-5, think it was even 0-5 at half time in fact! Cardiff on penalties was awful. Watford wasn't so bad because I didn't think we deserved it, and I'd have been a bit gutted to win a game by Knockaert cheating.

[StanSP]

I can definitely relate to this- I was in the Director's box at St James Park. Being 14, I thought it hilarious to make it clear to all fans around me I was a Leicester fan. It was pretty awful when about 300 Geordies infront of me celebrated wildly in my face as Shearer got the winner.

Others that stand out for me are Blackburn at Wembley with that ridiculous penalty. Swindon was awful too. Losing at home to Bolton 0-5, think it was even 0-5 at half time in fact! Cardiff on penalties was awful. Watford wasn't so bad because I didn't think we deserved it, and I'd have been a bit gutted to win a game by Knockaert cheating.

 

Results like that stick in the mind but definitely not the darkest period of being a Leicester fan. There were even results like 4-0 vs Arsenal in the same season then 4-0 vs Chelsea at Walkers, 5-0 vs Villa at the Walkers as well.

[Manc Fox]

The Swindon play-off final was my worse. After telling my buddy we'd win 4-3 on the bus down. At 3-0 down i still said to him my score was still achievable!!

Was also one of the best Football feelings when we got it back to 3-3, was sobbing with joy when they got that dodgy penalty!! Think i was inconsolable all the way back home. Sad day that was   

[suffolk fox]

semi final of fa cup against spurs at villa park, lineker missed a sitter if i remember correctly, i know that was over 10 years ago

That was 1982 and Lineker was playing for Barcelona. Well beaten by a good Spurs side and we scored an own goal.

Apologies, I was there and I can't remember Lineker playing? But according to stats he was? We still deserved to lose though Ian Wilson scored the own goal.

[Bramhall Fox]

Of the 3, Watford.  Cardiff gave so many emotions that everyone else has already mentioned (pride etc. etc.).  Stoke was just the culmination of such a disappointing few years and a totally crap season and it almost felt inevitable.  Watford was so sickening because of the way it happened and because I genuinely believed it was fate that we'd go up after the miracle and utter joy of Forest.

 

But, Swindon was the worst ever.  However, it also followed the best ever - when Thommo's equaliser went in, I've never felt anything like it.  The utter elation, emotion and pleasure will never be topped (and there've been many great ones - Shrewsbury, Derby, Boro, Palace, Forest in particular) and maybe that's why it was even more painful.  I laugh with my brothers about the simple scale of emotions that Swindon day.  However, after all that, it was also followed by one of our best nights out ever after a Leicester match when we walked into a pub in Leicester Square wanting a consolation quiet drink and ending up having a massive party with hundreds of Leicester fans (alongside many other clubs' fans who wanted to shake our hands and tell us how brilliant we'd been and how unlucky etc) and a simply brilliant drunken night. 

[One Arm Babba]

Definitely the most recent one. The others are in the past and you get over them. The play off semi with Watford is still raw. I look for Watford every week, hoping that they lose. I hate the Udinese ****s.

[Dickov22]

Results like that stick in the mind but definitely not the darkest period of being a Leicester fan. There were even results like 4-0 vs Arsenal in the same season then 4-0 vs Chelsea at Walkers, 5-0 vs Villa at the Walkers as well.

It wasn't the fact we got thrashed at home. It was more the realisation we were at the end of a successful era, and that we'd replaced a brilliant Manager and players with total mediocrity

Results like that stick in the mind but definitely not the darkest period of being a Leicester fan. There were even results like 4-0 vs Arsenal in the same season then 4-0 vs Chelsea at Walkers, 5-0 vs Villa at the Walkers as well.

It wasn't the fact we got thrashed at home. It was more the realisation we were at the end of a successful era, and that we'd replaced a brilliant Manager and players with total mediocrity