Links With The Past: A Centenary Testimonial Certificate

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Links With The Past: A Centenary Testimonial Certificate

Club Historian John Hutchinson reveals another unseen treasures from the Club’s historic collections and archives.

2025-02-11T17:00+00:00

by John Hutchinson

Published

11 Feb, 2025

Links With The Past: A Centenary Testimonial Certificate

Club Historian John Hutchinson reveals another unseen treasures from the Club’s historic collections and archives.

John Hutchinson

2025-02-11T17:00+00:00

Links With The Past: A Centenary Testimonial Certificate

Club Historian John Hutchinson reveals another unseen treasures from the Club’s historic collections and archives.

John Hutchinson

2025-02-11T17:00+00:00

Links With The Past: A Centenary Testimonial Certificate

Club Historian John Hutchinson reveals another unseen treasures from the Club’s historic collections and archives.

John Hutchinson

2025-02-11T17:00+00:00

Links With The Past: A Centenary Testimonial Certificate

Club Historian John Hutchinson reveals another unseen treasures from the Club’s historic collections and archives.

John Hutchinson

2025-02-11T17:00+00:00

Forty years ago, during the 1984/85 season, Leicester City celebrated its centenary. Among the mementoes in the Club’s Heritage Collection celebrating the centenary is this framed testimonial certificate, presented to the Club by the Council of the Football Association.

It is totally unique. No other copy or version exists. Its elaborate and ornate design has been hand painted beautifully by a calligrapher, who used gold gilding in parts of the design which, with its decorated margin and embellished capital letters, is reminiscent of Victorian certificate design.

The testimonial certificate states that it was presented by the FA ‘in appreciation of the services to the game rendered by the Officers and Players of Leicester City Football Club over a period of 100 years’.

It then states that the ‘outstanding achievements of both the Club and the leading players deserve the fullest recognition’, listing these as ‘League Cup Winners 1964, FA Charity Shield Winners 1971, FA Cup Runners-up 1949, 1961, 1963, 1969’.

It goes on to list those Leicester City players who had won full international caps in the Club’s first 100 years. At that point, only 34 players had won international caps and all of them had represented the Home Countries and the Republic of Ireland.

The England players listed included Hugh Adcock, Ernie Hine, Len Barry and Roger Osborne from the 1920s, Sep Smith from the 1930s, Gordon Banks from the 1960s, and Keith Weller, Steve Whitworth and Frank Worthington from the 1970s. Also listed is Peter Shilton, who won the first 20 of his 125 England caps in 1070 while at Filbert Street.

One name that is missing is Gary Lineker’s, who had won his first cap in May 1984, presumably just before this testimonial certificate had been created. Other notable names included on the certificate were those of Willie Cunningham, Derek Dougan, John O’Neill and Paul Ramsey (whose name is misspelt) from Northern Ireland; Johnny Duncan, Frank McLintock, Davie Gibson and Jackie Sinclair from Scotland; and Mal Griffiths, Dai Jones, Ken Leek, and Peter Rodrigues from Wales.

The final sentence on the testimonial certificate states: ‘The Football Association congratulates the Club on its splendid record’. It is signed by the FA Chairman, Bert Millichip, and the FA Secretary, Ted Croker, who were both high very profile figures in football at the time.

Not only does this certificate sum up the history of Leicester City’s first 100 years, it also provides a reminder of the progress the Club has made between its 100th anniversary and this year’s 140th anniversary.

The number of international players has risen from 34 to 159. The number of countries awarding caps to Leicester City players has risen from five to 39.

The trophy haul (excluding second-tier titles, which are not included on the certificate) has risen from two to seven, with the addition of two more League Cups in 1997 and 2000, the Premier League title in 2016, the FA Cup in 2021 and another Charity (Community) Shield in 2021.

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