German Memories: Richie Norman and Davie Gibson

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German Memories: Richie Norman and Davie Gibson

Tonight's match against Borussia Mönchengladbach is a reminder that Leicester City have a long history of playing friendly games against German opposition.

2017-08-04T09:32:23.765Z

by John Hutchinson

Published

04 Aug, 2017

German Memories: Richie Norman and Davie Gibson

Tonight's match against Borussia Mönchengladbach is a reminder that Leicester City have a long history of playing friendly games against German opposition.

John Hutchinson

2017-08-04T09:32:23.765Z

German Memories: Richie Norman and Davie Gibson

Tonight's match against Borussia Mönchengladbach is a reminder that Leicester City have a long history of playing friendly games against German opposition.

John Hutchinson

2017-08-04T09:32:23.765Z

German Memories: Richie Norman and Davie Gibson

Tonight's match against Borussia Mönchengladbach is a reminder that Leicester City have a long history of playing friendly games against German opposition.

John Hutchinson

2017-08-04T09:32:23.765Z

German Memories: Richie Norman and Davie Gibson

Tonight's match against Borussia Mönchengladbach is a reminder that Leicester City have a long history of playing friendly games against German opposition.

John Hutchinson

2017-08-04T09:32:23.765Z

These matches include the very first match at Filbert Street under floodlights which was against Borussia Dortmund in October 1957. The last time that Leicester City played Borussia Mönchengladbach, meanwhile, was in a friendly match at Filbert Street on 6 August, 1992.

Unfortunately the Foxes' new signing David Lowe fractured his cheekbone and the Foxes lost 3-1. This was exactly 26 years to the day after Matt Gillies’ City had defeated the German Club 3-0 in Mönchengladbach, with goals from Mike Stringfellow, Bobby Roberts and Jackie Sinclair.

The previous season (1965/66), Borussia Mönchengladbach had made their debut in the Bundesliga, which they went on to win five times in the 1970s.

We spoke to two of the City stars from that 1966 victory, left-back Richie Norman and inside-left Davie Gibson, who were happy to reminisce about their memories of playing against German teams.

Casting their minds back, Richie and Davie both remembered the Borussia Mönchengladbach game as just one of a series of matches their team played against German opposition in the 1960s. These matches involved several trips to Germany.

Sitting in the lounge at King Power Stadium named after his good friend Gordon Banks, Richie recalled: “We toured all over Germany. Over the years we went to places like Monchengladbach, Schalke, Brunswick, Kaiserslautern, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Hanover, Dresden and Munich.

"We always seemed to play well against German teams.”

One trip to Dresden which, in those days, was behind the Iron Curtain in Communist East Germany, was particularly memorable.

“It was in May 1965," Richie added. "We were due to fly from Copenhagen to Dresden but as we were sitting in the airport lounge, we were told that we were not going to go by plane after all. One of the directors felt that the private plane due to take us was a death trap.

"This meant we had to catch a ferry across the Baltic and then go overland. It was about 9pm but we booked a ferry. We had three bunks to a cabin. I was sharing with Gordon Banks and Ian King.

"We had just settled down when there was a knock on the door and two great big guards demanded to see our passports. The looked at Gordon’s passport first.

"'Gordon Banks?' they shouted. 'Yes,' Gordon replied. 'Richie Norman?' they shouted. 'Yes' I answered. Then it was centre-half Ian King’s turn. 'Which one is Kinky?' they shouted. We fell about laughing!

"That nickname stuck for a long time! We played Dresden the next day and drew 2-2. We were given some spending money after the game, but nowhere was open. One of the Dresden directors arranged for a Dresden china shop to be opened for us.

"We had to spend our East German money there because we couldn’t change any unspent money once we were out of the country. I spent my money on a china ballerina statuette.”

City’s visit to Dresden was at the height of the Cold War and Richie recalled the atmosphere in the region.

He continued: “Dresden was still badly bomb-damaged from 20 years earlier. It seemed dark and mysterious to us. I remember us sitting in the hotel lobby trying to spot spies! The next day we traveled by train to East Berlin and went through the Berlin Wall.

"When I got back home one of the ballerina’s legs was broken!”

In April 1967, the Foxes played a Borussia Dortmund side which contained three players from the previous year’s West German World Cup Final side, defeated by England.

These were goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski, attacking midfielder ‘Siggi’ Held and striker Lothar Emmerich, who had beaten Banks to score West Germany’s late equaliser sending the World Cup Final into extra time.

A week before this game, Banks had moved from Filbert Street to Stoke City, enabling Peter Shilton to start on his long career as City’s first team goalkeeper. Derek Dougan had also recently left the Club.

Leicester City won 6-0, the heaviest defeat suffered by the German side for 10 years. Richie was up against ‘Siggi’ Held.

“I’d watched him in the World Cup Final and was interested in how [England-left back] Ray Wilson had played against him," he said.

"I was interested to see what I could do. Before the game, I had wondered, that if I had been playing in the World Cup Final could I have held him?

"At Filbert Street, I was on top of him throughout the game, so why not?”

Davie also has vivid memories of this game because for probably the only time in his career the diminutive star played at centre-forward.

Paul Matthews took over his midfield role. Davie, who scored City’s third goal just before half time, remembers the game not so much for his goal, but for his tactical acumen.

“In those days, every German team played with a sweeper like Franz Beckenbauer. I decided that I would just stand a couple of yards in front of the centre-half. You need two players to mark the sweeper. Then they can’t get the ball back to him. It stumped their passing.

"They had to pass to someone else and then our guys would get stuck into them. When Leicester got the ball and wanted to play it upfield to me, this guy would try to play me offside but I was too smart for him.

"Playing at centre-forward like this against a British side wouldn’t have worked. I would have been flattened. I’m not going to blow my own trumpet, but nobody ever said to me what a brilliant idea this was!”

Davie has several other memories of tours to Germany. He remembers how impressive David Nish was in completing a lap of the running track surrounding one of the pitches in Germany (either at Schalke or at Borussia Dortmund) in only one minute.

He was also impressed when, after a game at Eintracht Brunswick, the players were each given a pair of cufflinks.

“They were absolutely great," he added. "I think they ought to present this sort of thing after Cup Finals. Nearly 50 years later I still wear them with my tuxedo. They have a crest on with a lion. They still look brand new. I wonder if the other guys still have their cufflinks."

One of the great things about Leicester City is the affection that ex-players have for the Club.

Several of the “other guys” referred to by Davie who took part in the games against German sides in the 1960s are still regular visitors on matchdays at King Power Stadium.

These include Mike Stringfellow, Howard Riley, Paul Mathews, Malcolm Manley, as well as Richie and Davie. Long may it continue...

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