Remembering Tony Cottee’s League Cup Triumph

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Remembering Tony Cottee’s League Cup Triumph

On his birthday, Sunday 11 June, LCFC.com recalls the journey that led to Tony Cottee lifting the League Cup with Leicester City at the turn of the century.

2021-07-11T07:42:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

11 Jul, 2021

Remembering Tony Cottee’s League Cup Triumph

On his birthday, Sunday 11 June, LCFC.com recalls the journey that led to Tony Cottee lifting the League Cup with Leicester City at the turn of the century.

Sam Jones

2021-07-11T07:42:00.000Z

Remembering Tony Cottee’s League Cup Triumph

On his birthday, Sunday 11 June, LCFC.com recalls the journey that led to Tony Cottee lifting the League Cup with Leicester City at the turn of the century.

Sam Jones

2021-07-11T07:42:00.000Z

Remembering Tony Cottee’s League Cup Triumph

On his birthday, Sunday 11 June, LCFC.com recalls the journey that led to Tony Cottee lifting the League Cup with Leicester City at the turn of the century.

Sam Jones

2021-07-11T07:42:00.000Z

Remembering Tony Cottee’s League Cup Triumph

On his birthday, Sunday 11 June, LCFC.com recalls the journey that led to Tony Cottee lifting the League Cup with Leicester City at the turn of the century.

Sam Jones

2021-07-11T07:42:00.000Z

A scorer of 293 goals across his 19-year playing career, Cottee was a constant fox in the box during his successful career, primarily with West Ham United, Everton and Leicester and later at Norwich City, Millwall and Barnet.

Signed by Martin O’Neill in August 1997, Cottee scored five times in 23 games during his maiden campaign at the Club, also featuring in the home leg of the historic UEFA Cup clash with Atlético Madrid.

A top-half finish of 10th denoted another superb Premier League season, but there was room for improvement in the cup competitions, with City out of the League Cup at the hands of Grimsby Town in the second round.

And while Cottee had won the Malaysian FA Cup with Selangor prior to his Filbert Street move, he was yet to win a trophy in his native country, coming closest when Everton were FA Cup finalists in 1989.

And it would be while at Leicester that he lifted his only piece of silverware in England - the League Cup in 2000, a standout memory from Cottee’s illustrious career.

The Foxes came close to claiming the trophy for the third time in the Club’s history a year prior, when Cottee, an experienced member of the side, played a key role in reaching the final.

After starting the 3-0 victory over Chesterfield in the second round first leg, the forward scored both goals as Leicester edged past Charlton Athletic in the next round, netting either side of Paul Mortimer’s equaliser for the Addicks.

Yet again Cottee was the man to send City through in the semi-final against Sunderland, scoring during each half of the first leg at Stadium of Light before Gavin McCann pulled one back for the Black Cats.

In the return leg at Filbert Street, Niall Quinn had levelled things up at 2-2 on aggregate, but Cottee's 54th minute strike – his third of the tie and fifth in that season’s competition – ensured it would be Leicester in the final.

Starting the 1999 showpiece against Tottenham Hotspur, partnering Emile Heskey in attack, Cottee could only watch on as Allan Nielsen popped up with a later winner to hand Spurs the trophy, leaving Leicester heartbroken.

Cottee hit double figures for league goals that campaign, meanwhile, as City finished 10th in the Premier League once again, taking his seasonal tally in all competitions to 16 in 37 games.

Incredibly, O’Neill’s side once again made it to the final the following year, this time playing second tier Tranmere Rovers at Wembley Stadium on 27 February, 2000.

Although Cottee did not score on the run to reach a second successive Wembley final, he started the 2-0 win over Grimsby Town in round three and then the penalty shootout success against Leeds United.

Armed with the same strike force of Cottee and Heskey, City were able to triumph in the final, winning 2-1, with defender Matt Elliott finding the net twice at the national stadium.

Cottee, who had broken down in tears following the full-time whistle, consoled by his manager after losing the previous year, was now collecting his first winners' medal in England at the age of 34.

The league campaign was also a successful one, ending with an eighth-place finish and another 13 goals for Cottee, who ended as top goalscorer and was a regular in the side, making 33 appearances.

But it is the League Cup that sticks out as the most memorable moment from Cottee's Leicester spell, which came to an end in September 2000 after exactly a century of appearances and 34 goals.

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