‘There Was Good Energy’ - St Ledger Reflects On City Career

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‘There Was Good Energy’ - St Ledger Reflects On City Career

Sean St Ledger recalls memories from his time playing for the Foxes between 2011 and 2014, in conversation with Club Historian John Hutchinson.

2026-10-13T11:20+01:00

by John Hutchinson

Published

13 Oct, 2026

‘There Was Good Energy’ - St Ledger Reflects On City Career

Sean St Ledger recalls memories from his time playing for the Foxes between 2011 and 2014, in conversation with Club Historian John Hutchinson.

John Hutchinson

2026-10-13T11:20+01:00

‘There Was Good Energy’ - St Ledger Reflects On City Career

Sean St Ledger recalls memories from his time playing for the Foxes between 2011 and 2014, in conversation with Club Historian John Hutchinson.

John Hutchinson

2026-10-13T11:20+01:00

‘There Was Good Energy’ - St Ledger Reflects On City Career

Sean St Ledger recalls memories from his time playing for the Foxes between 2011 and 2014, in conversation with Club Historian John Hutchinson.

John Hutchinson

2026-10-13T11:20+01:00

‘There Was Good Energy’ - St Ledger Reflects On City Career

Sean St Ledger recalls memories from his time playing for the Foxes between 2011 and 2014, in conversation with Club Historian John Hutchinson.

John Hutchinson

2026-10-13T11:20+01:00

The Republic of Ireland international defender made 44 appearances as a Leicester City player following 91 games for our previous opponents, Peterborough United, across a three-year stint from 2002, before turning out for the likes of Preston North End, Middlesbrough and Millwall.

“I was born in Solihull,” Sean began. “As a youngster I played for a local team in Aston. I was a centre-forward in those days and scored a lot of goals. Then I went on trial with Peterborough and signed for them. I was quite small then and they said I’d be a better player in centre-midfield.

“Then I became a defender, but I was small for a centre-back so I had to drop down a year from the under-15s to the under-14s, so I was the same size as the other players. I had a year there with Dan Ashworth as my manager and throughout that year I grew and I went back to joining the under-17s and that’s when my apprenticeship started.

“A year later I made my first team debut when I was 18. I came on as a substitute against Wycombe Wanderers. Barry Fry was the manager. He was really good with young players. He was a good motivator. You knew where you stood with him. He showed a lot of faith in me, and I went on to play a lot of games for Peterborough in League One and League Two. It was a good time. I enjoyed it.

“Peterborough was struggling financially and a TV company made a payment to the club to make a behind-the-scenes documentary with Ron Atkinson called ‘Big Ron Manager’. I learnt quite a bit from Ron. He’d managed some top clubs and had some really good experience to pass on.”

In July 2006, Sean transferred to Preston, where he played 144 games in five seasons. He was Player of the Year in 2008 and reached the Championship Play-Off Semi-Finals in 2009. He had a brief loan spell at Middlesbrough later that year. His final season at Deepdale (10/11) was hindered by injury, and Preston were relegated to League One. Needing the money, they sold Sean to Leicester City in July 2011.

“The move to Leicester came about partly because I was playing for Ireland at the time and the manager was Giovanni Trapattoni,” Sean explained. “He knew Leicester City’s manager Sven-Göran Eriksson as they’d both managed in Italy and I think Trapattoni mentioned me to Sven.

“I’d also played with Paul Gallagher and David Nugent when I was at Preston, and they were also now at Leicester. My aim was to play in the Premier League, and I thought that at Leicester, I might be able to achieve this because the new owners’ aim was to get to the Premier League.”

Sean’s first game for Leicester City was a pre-season friendly against José Mourinho’s star- studded Real Madrid in front of a record crowd at the newly named King Power Stadium. Sean found himself playing against the likes of Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Unfortunately, Sean’s first few weeks at Filbert Way were hampered by injury and then in October 2011, after a 3-0 home defeat against Millwall, Eriksson left the Club and Nigel Pearson returned as manager.

“Nigel came in at a time when I was on international duty,” he remembered. “I had just come back from qualifying for the Euros. His first training session was all about pressing and I remember thinking that I was really going to enjoy it under this manager.

“I played in the first game after Nigel’s return. We beat Crystal Palace 3-0 and Paul Gallagher scored twice. I like Nigel. Sven was quite quiet and humble. Nigel would give you a direct answer. He was more authoritarian. He’s a really good person.

“In December, Nigel dropped me. I didn’t think that I deserved to be dropped, but Nigel was very straight with me and I accepted it. I got back into the side in January. Atalanta, in Serie A, wanted to take me on loan, but I didn’t go. Back in the side, I played well for the rest of the season.

“We had a good run in the FA Cup. We beat Forest, Swindon and then Norwich at Carrow Road. Then we lost to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the quarter-final.

“Nigel was starting to develop a culture at the Club and create a really good environment at the training ground. The squad became smaller, with more home-grown players and players who had hunger and desire.”

However, Sean’s next season at Leicester (12/13) was knocked off course by injury. He was injured in a pre-season friendly against Burton Albion and only played a handful of games.

“I went to Germany to see a famous doctor there,” Sean recalled. “The Club looked after me really well. I had a big affinity with the Club because of this.

“I was loaned out to Millwall in March 2013, and I ended up playing for Millwall in an FA Cup semi-final against Wigan who were in the Premier League and who went on to win the Cup that year. This meant that I was fortunate enough to play at Wembley. I actually played there twice, once for Millwall and once for the Republic of Ireland against England.”

When Sean came back from his loan at Millwall, Leicester had just dramatically got through to the 2013 Championship Play-Off Semi-Final as a result of Anthony Knockaert’s last gasp goal at Nottingham Forest.

“Then there was the equally dramatic second leg of the play-off semi-final at Watford,” Sean recalled, “when Leicester missed a last-minute penalty which would have won the tie and then seconds later Troy Deeney scored Watford’s winner at the other end! We’d come a long way with Nigel. The team was developing, and they were well set up for the following year.”

The following season, (13/14) when Leicester City won the Championship title, Sean played in the opening two fixtures.

He continued: “I got a knee injury in training, when I went in for a tackle with Ritchie De Laet and did my medial collateral ligament and then later, a scan revealed I had osteoarthritis. I didn’t play again for the whole of that season. Ever since then, I’ve had problems with my knee.

“However, there was good energy in the changing room. Even though I wasn’t playing, I wanted the team to do well. David Nugent was one of my best friends, so I wanted him and the others to advance. They were all good players.

“Although I’d been injured all season, I was awarded a Championship title winners’ medal. I was released at the end of the season when my contract expired, so the dream of playing in the Premier League had vanished. Obviously I was disappointed, but I had been injured for a long time.”

Sean’ then moved to the USA in 2015, playing for MLS sides Orlando City and Colorado Rapids. He spent the 17/18 season with National League sides Solihull Moors and then Guiseley, where he was caretaker manager for the last four months of the season.

Sean concluded: “I’d no plans when I finished playing. Football had been my whole life and I was a bit lost to be honest. I did my ‘B’ Licence when I came back from America. I’d had a good relationship with Jon Rudkin when I’d been at Leicester and when I came back, he’d become the Director of Football.

“He put me in touch with recruitment and I started doing some part-time scouting at Under-21s level and in the lower leagues, before taking on a full-time scouting role at Leicester.”

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