TWIH: Steve Claridge’s Debut

Eighteen years ago this week, on 3 March, 1996, a player who was to go down in the folk lore of Leicester City made his debut for the Club. His name was Steve Claridge.

At the time both Leicester City and Steve Claridge were at a very low ebb.

Three months earlier, Mark McGhee’s Leicester City, following their relegation from the Premier League the previous year, were second in the table and in a good position to bounce straight back into the top-flight. McGhee then walked out on the Club.

Martin O’Neill was appointed shortly before Christmas.  He made a calamitous start, winning only one of his first twelve league and cup games up until the beginning of March.  Promotion looked a distant prospect.

Steve Claridge meanwhile was thoroughly disillusioned with life at Barry Fry’s Birmingham City. At the time he confessed to being puzzled by his situation, saying: “Everything was going well for me at Birmingham and then suddenly I was not wanted. It was a complete mystery and no one would tell me what had gone wrong. By the end, I was just desperate to leave. The two and a half weeks before my move to Leicester was the worst period of my life.”

For a while it looked as though the transfer wouldn’t happen.  Negotiations dragged on but in the end Steve accepted the original offer made to him by O’Neill after initially turning it down.  He later admitted that he realised that O’Neill was not a man to be messed with much longer and so he finally agreed to his offer. His money would go up £500 a week if Leicester were promoted to the Premier League but Steve did not really expect this to happen. He felt that his best chance for top-flight football had gone when he left Birmingham.

Leicester paid £1 million for Steve. This would be increased by another £100,000 when he made 50 appearances. A further £100,000 would be added to the fee if Leicester were promoted.

At the time, this seemed a strange deal. It had been financed by the sale of the exciting and hugely talented, popular and speedy Julian Joachim for £1.5 million to Brian Little’s Aston Villa. Many fans would have preferred to see Joachim in the team rather than Claridge.

O’Neill however rated Steve as “a top class player who can prove vital for what we are trying to achieve... promotion”. These were prescient words indeed bearing in mind what happened at Wembley three months later. O’Neill went on to say: “He will help by bringing on young Emile (Heskey) who is a great talent at present but he needs proper treatment and that means maybe giving him a spell on the sidelines so he does not get burnt out.”

Steve made his debut two days after signing. It was against Ipswich Town at Portman Road for a live Sunday afternoon televised game.  It was a game which O’Neill said the team just had to win.

Steve played up front with Iwan Roberts.  Unfamiliar with his new kit, he wore his shorts back to front throughout the game. Heskey dropped to the bench.

Rarely, if ever, can a player have had a more disastrous start to a Leicester City career.

Within 12 minutes, Ipswich Town were 3-0 ahead!

After six minutes a rash challenge from Brian Carey on future City star Ian Marshall, resulted in  veteran John Wark scoring with a free kick from 25 yards out.

Four minutes later, Ipswich’s Simon Milton had the freedom of the right flank to run through and score.

Two minutes afte that, Gustav Uhlenbeek’s right wing cross was headed home by Marshall.

Leicester had been caught cold.

Martin O’Neill was furious. He said: “The game started at 3pm, but apparently our players didn’t think so. They must have thought that they were still on the team bus. It was an embarrasment and to be honest, it could have been more than three in the first quarter of an hour.”

Nevertheless, ten minutes into the second half a Neil Lewis cross from the left was touched on by Claridge for Iwan Roberts to score with a diving header.

Leicester were still up against it though.  Five minutes later, Kevin Poole had to make a good save to prevent it becoming 4-1, and then, in the 75th minute, they conceded a penalty. Steve Walsh brought down Uhlenbeek in the area. Wark took the spot kick but Kevin Poole brilliantly saved it.

Amazingly, a minute later, Leicester made it 3-2 when Roberts burst through the middle to plant a low shot home on the run.

It was too little too late. With three minutes to go, City were caught out at the back as Marshall looped home the clinching goal over a stranded Poole who had rushed out to the edge of the area.

Claridge must have wondered what he had let himself in for. In midfield, Neil Lennon, who had signed for City earlier that month was also unsettled by his new colleagues, although he battled tenaciously throughout.

The City fans were desolate. “We are going nowhere fast” was one verdict.

Things did not get better for either Steve or the Club. In his first six games, he failed to score and was on the losing side four times. The Club slipped to ninth position. Promotion really did look to be a distant dream.

Claridge twice went to see O’Neill to apologise for his poor form. He said he was always tired, was sleeping half the day and had lost sensation in his feet. It was a worrying time. Leicester City sent him for tests. Finally it was decided that the tablets he had been taking for a heart defect for the previous 18 years were causing serious side effects. Steve’s medication was changed.

Following the dreadful debacle of the home defeat against Sheffield United at the end of March, when the crowd turned on O’Neill, the fortunes of both Steve and Leicester City changed.

The next fixture was a make or break away fixture against Charlton Athletic. O’Neill was going to drop Steve, but he begged for one more chance. O’Neill relented. Steve scored a goal from 20 yards out. Leicester hung on for a 1-0 victory.

This kick started the promotion challenge. Leicester went on to win six of their last eight league matches, with Claridge scoring five times.

If Steve’s first game for Leicester City could not have been much worse, his final game that season could not have been any better. His ‘shinned’ goal four seconds from the end of extra time in the Wembley Play-Off Final against Crystal Palace secured a place in the Premier League.

In retrospect, Steve’s debut eighteen years ago this week was the darkness before dawn. The glory years were about to start, and Steve played a big part in these in a way that few of us who saw the game at Ipswich would have thought possible. 

Pics from Steve Claridge’s Leicester City debut:

Header: Steve battles for the ball with Ipswich defender Steve Sedgley

1. Steve, wearing his shorts back to front, holds off a challenge.

2.Iwan Roberts takes congratulations from Steve after scoring his second goal.

3. Steve with John Wark, who scored with a free kick and then missed a penalty.

4. Steve takes a tumble in a contest for the ball with Ipswich midfielder Geraint Williams.