Former Player Remembers: Howard Riley Post LCFC

Next Match | Saturday 18 April Sat 18 Apr

POR

(A)

01 D

03 H

25 M

29 S

Interviews & Features

Heritage

Photos

Former Player Remembers: Howard Riley Post LCFC

Howard Riley, who was a speedy winger with a powerful shot, will go down in history as one of Leicester City’s top players. The story of his subsequent career is a varied and interesting one, which he recently shared with Club Historian John Hutchinson.

2025-01-09T15:00+00:00

by John Hutchinson

Published

09 Jan, 2025

Former Player Remembers: Howard Riley Post LCFC

John Hutchinson

2025-01-09T15:00+00:00

Former Player Remembers: Howard Riley Post LCFC

John Hutchinson

2025-01-09T15:00+00:00

Former Player Remembers: Howard Riley Post LCFC

John Hutchinson

2025-01-09T15:00+00:00

Former Player Remembers: Howard Riley Post LCFC

John Hutchinson

2025-01-09T15:00+00:00

What is unusual about his story is that, when he was at the peak of his career, at the age of 25, he gave up full-time first-class football and dropped out of the limelight.

Howard was born in Wigston into a sporting family. His father and grandfather both played first-class cricket for Leicestershire and his brothers were also on City’s books.

Capped at England youth level three times in 1954/55, Howard made his First Team debut against Nottingham Forest in the old First Division in August 1955, four days after his 17th birthday.

Between 1957 and 1959, his full-time career at Filbert Street was interrupted by his two years of National Service, which was a form of peacetime conscription for all able-bodied males between the ages of 18 and 21. The last National Serviceman was demobbed in 1963, by which time two million men, including several of Howard’s Leicester City team-mates, had been conscripted to the British Army, the Royal Navy or the Royal Airforce.

During his two years in the army, Howard represented the British Army in matches against the French Army, the Royal Navy, the Irish FA, the Belgium Army and the RAF. He also was able to play, when available, for Leicester City.

Howard with former City team-mate Richie Norman at King Power Stadium in 2017.

While he was in the Army, Howard made his England Under-23s debut against Wales at Wrexham in 1958. His team-mates that day included Jimmy Greaves, Johnny Haynes and Brian Clough. Demobbed in August 1959, Howard was initially in competition with Tommy McDonald for the No.7 shirt, but he soon made the position his own.

In 1960/61, when the team finished sixth in the old First Division, Howard starred in the FA Cup Final, as Leicester unluckily lost to league champions Tottenham Hotspur.

The following season, he played in all four of Leicester City’s games in the European Cup Winners’ Cup and, in 1962/63, he was a key member of the side which were realistic contenders for the league and FA Cup double. With only five games to go before the end of the season, they were top of the table and had reached the FA Cup Final against Manchester United.

It was at this point that, in the summer of 1963, aged only 25, that Howard went part-time so that he could train as a teacher in Saltley near Walsall, but he kept his place in the side for the following year and scored in the 1964 League Cup Final victory over Stoke City. It was a decision that Howard has come to regret.

As he explained: “I’d played over 200 games for the City, but I’d not reached my peak. I’d played in two FA Cup Finals and could have had another five or six years. I was also due to have a testimonial in another couple of years, in 1965. I remember talking to Stanley Matthews once.

“If I’d had a good chat with him then, he’d probably have said: ‘Stay in football. I played until I was 50 you know!’ Instead, I went from playing on top pitches like Wembley, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester to frozen college pitches. I didn’t really regret it at the time but in retrospect I do now when I think about it, but hindsight is easy.

Carrying the ball onto the pitch ahead of the Club's Remembrance fixture in 2016.

“If I’d played on, I might have played in the 1969 Cup Final and then, when I’d finished, I’d have gone into coaching. However, at the time I thought that teaching would provide more security in life, so I applied to Saltley College of Education, got onto a three-year course, and changed the whole complexion of my life.

On the other hand, in the 70s and 80s, my wife and I have seen the world. We’ve been to Spain hundreds of times, and been to places like Mexico, Hawaii, Jamaica and America and, as I player, I did play all the top players, the top teams and at the top grounds. You can’t forget that.”

After starring for Walsall in the Third Division between 1965 and 1967 and Atlanta Chiefs in the National Professional Soccer League between 1967 and 1968, Howard returned to England to feature in the Third Division for Barrow in the 1968/69 season.

Thinking back to these times, Howard began: “Their manager was my old Leicester City team-mate and captain, Colin Appleton, but he left soon after I’d signed. I didn’t really enjoy it there very much. It wasn’t like playing in America, where we’d travel huge distances but on a jet.

“We’d go by bus and get back at about two in the morning. Imagine what it was like playing at Plymouth! We didn’t travel the night before. We’d travel on the day of the match and then travel back straight after it. We’d be sitting on the bus for hours. I don’t know how we did it!”

In July 1969, Howard left Barrow after a year at Holker Street and returned to Leicester to start his teaching career.

The Birch gives Howard, Richie Norman and Hugh McIlmoyle a guided tour of LCFC Training Ground in 2022.

“I started out at Westcotes School and was there for three or four years,” he explained. “I taught PE and History. However, the PE facilities weren’t great. They were fine indoors but, for any outdoors PE, we had to travel to Aylestone playing fields. We had to travel by bus every afternoon to take the pupils there. There were no real facilities there, just sheds. There was no heating and lighting either.

“In the end, I decided to go to a school with better facilities and applied for a post at King Richard III School, which I got. Later we amalgamated with nearby Fullhurst College, which was built in the middle of its own grounds, which were massive. I taught PE and gymnastics and worked there for over 20 years until I retired in 1995.

“I started a cricket team and also ran the football team, and another chap ran the rugby team for me. We had a lot going on in sport. There was a lot of travelling between schools for fixtures. For example, when we played at Judgemeadow School, I had to make two journeys in my car to get our team there. We had cross country teams too on Saturday mornings. I also taught a bit of history. I got on well with the staff there.”

While in his first year at Westcotes, Howard played for Rugby Town, who had recently been managed by Jimmy Walsh, his former team-mate and captain in the 1961 FA Cup Final.

“I spent a year at Rugby,” Howard continued. “It was okay. There had been some ex-Leicester players there but none of them were there when I was there. It was semi-professional. The standard of football wasn’t bad but then I went to Burton Albion for two years.”

Burton’s player-manager was Richie Norman, who had appeared 365 times for Leicester City between 1958 and 1968. Howard had been his team-mate at Filbert Street for six years, and had played with him in two FA Cup Finals and in the League Cup winning team of 1964.

Reminiscing about old times with Mike Stringfellow, Bobby Roberts and Richie Norman.

“Obviously I knew Richie well and he asked me to play there,” Howard recalled. “Burton were in the Southern League and were doing quite well. The standard of football wasn’t up to the top level but considering we weren’t full-time and only trained for two evenings a week it was a reasonable standard of football.

“I travelled over for training with Graham Brown, who’d been a Leicester City reserve. He’d been in the Academy and had played as a sub for the First Team. He still lives three doors away from me. As player-manager, Richie was a hard task master, but I enjoyed playing there. As semi-professionals we were paid something like £12-£14 a week.”

Howard’s next football move was in 1974, when he became player-manager at Ibstock Penistone Rovers for two years.

“I remember that they had a very big pitch there, so the training was really good. I was playing in most of the matches. Your relationship with team-mates is inevitably a bit different being player-manager and it’s harder if you weren’t playing well. We trained on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and played on Sunday.

“We were in the Senior League, so we were playing teams like Friar Lane, Wigston Fields and Syston. We were paid a small amount. It kept my fitness up! It wasn’t too bad being a manager but I didn’t renew it after two years because I’d never had it in my sights to become a manager, neither at a top club, let alone a local club.”

Every summer, Howard played cricket and, during the 1974 close season, he joined Midland Athletic Football Club, which became Wigston Town after it merged with Wigston Council Old Boys.

Four Foxes in Seagrave.

“I went there (in 1974) as interim manager. My brother Bob played there for a year and we did okay. Then we got another chap in to run the side because he’d got contacts to get players, so we built a good side. We used to organise discos and other events and look after the ground to help the County FA.

“When we merged with Wigston Council Old Boys, it completed a full circle for me because I’d played for them when I was 13 or 14 before I was scouted by (the ex-Leicester City manager) Tom Bromilow and I joined Leicester City.”

After his time at Wigston Town, Howard carried on playing for the Leicester City All-Stars charity team and he returned to work for Foxes after he retired from teaching in 1995.

He added: “The Head of the Academy was the ex-Forest goalkeeper Alan Hill, who was there for a year before David Nish (Leicester City’s FA Cup Final captain in 1969) took over for a couple of years. I applied for the post of Education Welfare Officer in 1999.

“I looked after the Under-16s Academy lads, doing things like checking their education arrangements, making sure they were doing the right courses and taking them in the minibus to and from their educational meetings. Before I took over this role, the students had done their course work at Coventry, but I thought that Loughborough College would be a better bet, so I changed it and they went to Loughborough instead.

“Most of the students did Sports Science subjects, just in case they didn’t make the grade with their football, which most of them didn’t. They needed something to fall back on. I did this for about six or seven years and then I spent two years working with a lad with special needs at South Wigston High School, a lovely school with a brilliant headmaster. He was a pianist and an organist, which I appreciated because I play the piano.”

Howard may now have some regrets about giving up elite football at the age of 25, but he is still a very good friend of the Club that he has supported since boyhood.

LATEST HEADLINES

Rowett: James & Ramsey Assessed Pre-Pompey Gary Rowett revealed that Jordan James and Aaron Ramsey are being monitored prior to our trip to Portsmouth.

18 Hours 29 Mins Ago

Pompey Clash Live On Foxes Hub We're at Fratton Park this Saturday lunchtime - here's how to follow the action across Foxes Hub.

19 Hours 34 Mins Ago

McSweeney ‘Really Pleased’ With Leeds Triumph Leon McSweeney believes our Under-21s were rewarded for a high level of performance produced during the 3-2 success over Leeds United on Monday.

15 Apr, 2026

Foxes On Target In World Cup Qualifiers Hannah Cain and Sari Kees both netted in recent FIFA Women’s World Cup Qualifiers, while Emily van Egmond scored for Australia.

15 Apr, 2026