TWIH: Anniversary Of A Shock Departure

Forty-five years ago this week, on November 30 1968, Leicester City endured one of the grimmest days in their history. Not only did they lose 7-1 at Everton, but also the Club announced on the afternoon of the match that Matt Gillies, the most successful manager in the Club’s history, had resigned along with his coach and right-hand man Bert Johnson.

Leicester was rocked by this news. It sent shock waves through the city and county.

Gillies’ resignation ended a continuous connection with the Club, which had lasted nearly 17 years. This included his ten years as manager, which made him the longest serving manager in the Club’s history.

Turning first to the match at Goodison Park, which was still taking place when the announcement of Gillies’ departure was made, City were cut to ribbons by a title-chasing Everton side. 

Joe Royle slammed home a tremendous shot after 16 minutes. Alan Ball scored a superb cheeky goal eight minutes later. Ten minutes after that Peter Shilton made a schoolboy error when he threw a ball out to Everton’s Gerry Humphreys who, presented with this gift, crashed the ball straight back into the net.  John Hurst and Joe Royle added two more goals in the first quarter of an hour after half time. Rodney Fern scored a consolation goal for Leicester just after the hour but four minutes later Joe Royle completed his hat trick before Jimmy Husband made it 7-1 a minute from the end of the game.  A player present in the dressing room that day told me last week that after the game the normally reserved Matt Gillies was openly upset and emotional.

There had been a long board meeting at Filbert Street the previous evening.  This led to a statement being issued by the Club just after half time which said, ‘Mr Matt Gillies, manager of Leicester City Football Club, and coach Mr Bert Johnson today resigned their positions with the Club.  Mr Gillies said that he felt it was in the best interests of the Club and that he will be staying on until a successor is appointed.’

The Leicester Mercury reported that the departure was ‘the result of long standing differences on Club policy which have reached a head with Leicester occupying their lowest position in Division One for many years.’

Matt Gillies said that his resignation was purely voluntary. ‘I have been thinking about this for some time and this seemed the best possible time to do it. I would like to emphasise that no pressure was put on to me by the Board and that my resignation was my own decision.’

It subsequently emerged that Gillies resigned in protest because the Club had actually sacked Bert Johnson.

To understand the impact of these resignations it is necessary to recall Matt Gillies’ achievements during his time at the Club.

A centre-half, Matt signed for Leicester City in January 1952 for £9,500 from Bolton Wanderers where he had been captain.  

He was the regular centre-half when Leicester City won the old Second Division title in 1954.

 He joined the coaching staff in 1956. In this capacity, he helped Leicester City break many Club records the following season when they stormed to the old Second Division title again.

In November 1958 he became acting manager when David Halliday left Filbert Street at a time when the City were  in bottom place in the old First Division.

This appointment was made permanent in January 1959. This coincided with a bad New Year run of nine defeats and one draw out of ten games putting the Club at the bottom of the table in March. Fortunately, the directors kept faith with their new manager. A late season rally saw the City just avoid relegation, finishing in 19th position.

There then followed an era of unprecedented success for the Club.

They consolidated the next season, finishing 12th. The following season they finished 6th and were beaten FA Cup Finalists at Wembley losing unluckily to double-winning Tottenham Hotspur. The next season they competed in Europe.  The season after that that they were realistic contenders for the league and cup double, before finishing 4th in the league  and losing in the FA Cup Final to Manchester United. The Club won the League Cup in 1964 and were beaten finalists in 1965. Further top-half finishes in the old First Division followed.

One of Gillies’ key appointments was to bring Bert Johnson in as coach, scout and chief adviser.  Between them Gillies and Johnson signed some great players for Leicester City. These included Gordon Banks, Graham Cross, Davie Gibson, Mike Stringfellow, Bobby Roberts, Derek Dougan, Jackie Sinclair, Peter Rodrigues, Peter Shilton, David Nish, Alan Clarke and Lenny Glover to name just a few.

They also developed youngsters Howard Riley, Richie Norman, John Sjoberg and Frank McLintiock into big first division star players.

However, by the beginning of 1968, the pressure of management was having an adverse effect on Matt. He was absent from the club for three months with a serious stress-related condition. Bert Johnson took over the reins and the club finished mid-table.

The following season though, despite paying out a British record transfer fee of £150,000 for centre-forward Alan Clarke, the City were near the bottom of the table in November. The writing was on the wall.  In retrospect, Gillies’ departure perhaps shouldn’t have been such a surprise.

Nevertheless his resignation 45 years ago this week truly marked the end of one of the Club’s Golden Ages. Never again has the Club had such a lengthy unbroken run in the top division or reached so many Cup Finals as was the case during Matt Gillies’ spell as manager.

Pics:

1. Matt Gillies

2. Coach Matt Gillies with manger David Halliday in 1957.

3. Matt Gillies leading Leicester City out at Wembley for the 1961 FA Cup Final.

4. Matt( 3rd  from the right) inspecting the pitch at Filbert Street during the Big Freeze in 1963.

5. Matt Gillies and Peter Shilton at Filbert Street.

6. Bert Johnson and Matt Gillies(front row, 3rd and 4th from the left) at the start of their final season at Leicester City.