'It Was Unbelievable' - Cross On His Foxes Memories

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'It Was Unbelievable' - Cross On His Foxes Memories

Graham Cross made 600 appearances for Leicester City between 1961 and 1975, which is a Foxes record. When speaking to Club Historian John Hutchinson, Graham recalled playing for 12 years in the old First Division, featuring in the European Cup Winners’ Cup, appearing in two FA Cup Finals, winning the League Cup and the FA Community Shield, and lifting the old Second Division title.

2026-03-02T15:00+00:00

by John Hutchinson

Published

02 Mar, 2026

'It Was Unbelievable' - Cross On His Foxes Memories

John Hutchinson

2026-03-02T15:00+00:00

'It Was Unbelievable' - Cross On His Foxes Memories

John Hutchinson

2026-03-02T15:00+00:00

'It Was Unbelievable' - Cross On His Foxes Memories

John Hutchinson

2026-03-02T15:00+00:00

'It Was Unbelievable' - Cross On His Foxes Memories

John Hutchinson

2026-03-02T15:00+00:00

In addition, Graham, who grew up as a Foxes fan, was a distinguished first-class cricketer for Leicestershire CCC.

“As a boy I used to sit on the wall in the old Popular Stand at Filbert Street to watch matches,” he began. “We used to swap the boards around with the half-time scores that used to hang on the wall. Fans would see a 6-0 score and say: ‘That can’t be right!’

“When I went to Leicester as a young lad from school, I was a centre-forward because I’d scored loads of goals at Linwood Lane School, but I never liked playing as a striker to be honest. It wasn’t for me. It all changed when I played for Leicester City’s A-team at Lockheed Leamington. The wing-half, for some reason, didn’t turn up so I played at wing-half and it sort of progressed from there.”

Graham made his City First Team debut as a 17-year-old.

“To get into the First Team, you needed to be lucky,” Graham modestly continued. “We had five teams: the B-team, the A-team, the midweek team, the reserves and the First Team. I made my debut as a 17-year-old against Birmingham City, who had Jimmy Bloomfield in their side. I scored in the game with an easy tap-in. I played at inside-forward, although I would never have made an inside-forward.

“When I was 18, I made my European debut against Glenavon in the European Cup Winners’ Cup when we won fairly easily. In the next round, I played in Madrid against Atlético. I played centre-back alongside Ian King. I was up against their star player. We were a bit unlucky to lose 2-0 but they had a dubious penalty. It was an unbelievable stadium to play in.”

The following season (62/63), when Leicester City were realistic contenders for the league and FA Cup double, Graham established himself in the First Team.

He added: “That season, we won 10 games in succession. Then, we drew with Spurs 2-2 at Filbert Street. Greavsie (Jimmy Greaves) scored on the stroke of half-time, but the whistle had gone before it hit the back of the net so it didn’t count!

“When we beat Shankly’s Liverpool at Hillsborough that season in the FA Cup Semi-Final, we were top of the league. The match was like the Alamo. It was unbelievable. After Mike Stringfellow had given us the lead, I don’t think we got out of our half. Banksy (Gordon Banks) played so well that day.

“There were a lot of good players in the team, like wing-halves Colin Appleton and Frank McLintock, Arsenal’s future double-winning captain. Frank liked attacking more than defending. I preferred defending. The coach, Bert Johnson, had the idea to keep switching our positions during a game. People just couldn’t understand what we were doing. Sometimes we didn’t know either! Bill Shankly must have been impressed with this tactic. The following season, we did exactly the same at Liverpool with Tommy Smith.

“The (1963) FA Cup Final against Manchester United was horrendous. We lost 3-1. They were about fourth from the bottom in the First Division.

“Not long before the game, we had drawn 2-2 at Old Trafford and beaten them 4-3 at Filbert Street when both Ken Keyworth and Dennis Law scored hat-tricks.

“On the Friday before, the TV guys were so certain we were going to win the cup that they persuaded Colin Appleton (Leicester City’s captain) to go and practice how to get the trophy. That was tempting fate! We didn’t win. None of us performed, full stop. We were hopeless. How many times did we give the ball away? They had the big stars like Denis Law, Bobby Charlton, Albert Quixall and Paddy Crerand. It was a disappointing day for us.

“Towards the end of that season, we had so many injuries – left, right and centre. We struggled to get a fit side for the final. We ran out of players. The season went flat. We never got our impetus back and we finished fourth.”

Graham continued to be a mainstay of Matt Gillies’ top-flight side, who also won the League Cup in 1964 and reached the final in 1965. Gillies left the Club in November 1968.

Under Gillies’ successor, Frank O’Farrell, who was Manager between 1968 and 1971, Graham missed only one game, playing in what turned out to be a long-established centre-back partnership with John Sjoberg. At the end of O’Farrell’s first season, Graham was in the City side which lost to Manchester City in the 1969 FA Cup Final.

The team was relegated three weeks later and, for the first time, Graham found himself playing outside the top division, but he was an ever-present for the next two seasons which culminated in the Second Division title and a return to the top flight in 1971.

Graham has an extremely high opinion of Frank O’Farrell.

“I got on ever so well with Frank,” he explained. “Fantastic. For me, he was the best manager. An absolute gentleman. Frank and his coach, Malcolm Musgrove, were absolutely fantastic. As a pair, they were tremendous. I had total respect for both of them. They were brilliant. Malcolm was a terrific coach. Tremendous. He must be the best we ever had. When we won the Second Division title, the number of clean sheets and 1-0 victories we had was unbelievable.

“When Frank and Malcolm went to manage Manchester United in 1971, I was mortified. He nearly signed me for Manchester United. I’d have jumped at the chance. But, with Matt Busby in the background, what chance did he have at Old Trafford? Football can be a horrible game. One minute it can be great and the next it can be completely the opposite.”

Back in the top flight, the new Manager was the ex-Arsenal and Birmingham City player, Jimmy Bloomfield, who Graham had faced on his debut many years earlier. After signing players like Keith Weller from Chelsea, Jon Sammels from Arsenal, Alan Birchenall form Crystal Palace and Frank Worthington from Huddersfield Town, Bloomfield’s Leicester became one of the most attractive sides to watch during the 1970s. This was particularly the case in the 73/74 season, when the Club reached the FA Cup Semi-Final against Liverpool.

Bloomfield was at the Club for six seasons and, for the first four of them, Graham hardly missed a game. However, his relationship with Bloomfield wasn’t an easy one.

“I never got on well with him but we had a pretty good side,” Graham added. “In the 73/74 season, it was the best I’d played in, with a terrific forward line. I was a regular in his side for four years but we never saw eye to eye. At one time, he had this idea of playing a man-for-man marking system. He played Jon Sammels at the back, like [Franz] Beckenbauer, to spray the ball around. He even put The Birch, a great lad, in the backline. He played me as a man-to-man marker. He wanted me to man-mark whoever was the striker. I had to follow him everywhere. That wasn’t me. I’m not that sort of player. I like to read the game. I told him it wasn’t for me. That was one of the things we fell out over.

“In the summer, I used to play cricket for Leicestershire. They were doing well in the Championship and we won the cup in 1975, when Bloomfield wouldn’t give me a new contract. So, I said to him, if he wasn’t going to give me a new contract, I’d finish the cricket season playing for Leicestershire. After that, he didn’t want to know me and I didn’t want to know him. He never picked me once in the 75/76 season, which was a nightmare. Other clubs were interested but I was there until March and then I went on loan to Chesterfield for the rest of the season. I’d played a Club record 600 games, but that was it.”

In June 1976, after 16 years at Filbert Street, Graham signed for Brighton & Hove Albion.

“Peter Taylor signed me,” Graham remembered. “And then he left a couple of weeks later to rejoin Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest. Alan Mullery (the ex-Tottenham Hotspur and England midfielder) took over.

“I’d go to Brighton on the Thursday for home matches. I used to catch the 6:30am train in the morning from Leicester, go from St. Pancras to Victoria, and catch the 8:45am train to Brighton. I’d get there at about 9:45am, ready for 10am training. After the game on the Saturday, I would catch the 5:30pm train back to Leicester. I used to tell the ref that I didn’t want to be playing any extra-time because I would miss my train back!

“We got promoted that season back to the old Second Division. I played in every game. I only had one season at Brighton, which was absolutely fantastic. I loved every minute of it.”

That summer, Graham went to Preston North End, where he once again won promotion to the Second Division, before finishing his career at Lincoln City in 1979.

Graham’s 600 games for the Club included two FA Cup Finals and two League Cup Finals. He also played in the European Cup Winners’ Cup. Twelve of his 14 seasons in the First Team were in the top flight.

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