Unseen Treasures: Colin Appleton's Atlético Madrid Gift

This silver plate, a recent addition to the Club’s Heritage Collection, was gifted to left half-back Colin Appleton, who during his career, was captain of both Leicester City and, for one season, Charlton Athletic.

2026-03-04T17:00+00:00

by John Hutchinson

Published

04 Mar, 2026

Unseen Treasures: Colin Appleton's Atlético Madrid Gift

This silver plate, a recent addition to the Club’s Heritage Collection, was gifted to left half-back Colin Appleton, who during his career, was captain of both Leicester City and, for one season, Charlton Athletic.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-04T17:00+00:00

Unseen Treasures: Colin Appleton's Atlético Madrid Gift

This silver plate, a recent addition to the Club’s Heritage Collection, was gifted to left half-back Colin Appleton, who during his career, was captain of both Leicester City and, for one season, Charlton Athletic.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-04T17:00+00:00

Unseen Treasures: Colin Appleton's Atlético Madrid Gift

This silver plate, a recent addition to the Club’s Heritage Collection, was gifted to left half-back Colin Appleton, who during his career, was captain of both Leicester City and, for one season, Charlton Athletic.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-04T17:00+00:00

Unseen Treasures: Colin Appleton's Atlético Madrid Gift

This silver plate, a recent addition to the Club’s Heritage Collection, was gifted to left half-back Colin Appleton, who during his career, was captain of both Leicester City and, for one season, Charlton Athletic.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-04T17:00+00:00

The inscription engraved, beneath Atléti’s crest, reads: ‘ATLÉTICO DE MADRID 15-X1-61’. This indicates that it was one of the gifts given by the Madrid club to City players on 15 November, 1961 after the second leg of a European Cup Winners’ Cup tie between the two sides.

Leicester had qualified for this UEFA competition, then in only its second year, because Tottenham Hotspur, who had defeated us in the 1961 FA Cup Final, were also the 60/61 league champions. That meant they had qualified for the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) instead.

After beating Glenavon 7-2 on aggregate in the first round of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, City were drawn against Atlético, who had won the Spanish Cup in 1960 and 1961.

In the controversial first leg at Filbert Street, Ken Keyworth scored the opening goal, had another goal disallowed and the Spaniards equalised with a last-minute penalty. In the second leg, in the old Vicente Calderón, Gordon Banks saved a penalty but Atlético, who went on to win the trophy that season, recorded a 2-0 victory.

The Club’s Heritage Collection also contains other gifts connected to this tie. These are an engraved silver tray presented after the first leg on 25 October, 1961, an impressive brass statuette on a marble base of the fictional Spanish knight Don Quixote, and a large bottle of Pedro Domecq Carlos III brandy. The label on the bottle has been signed by the Atlético players. Sixty-five years later, there is still some brandy left in the bottle.

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