Ted Jelly Recounts First FA Cup Final

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Ted Jelly Recounts First FA Cup Final

Leicester City full-back Ted Jelly recalls, in vivid detail, the weeks leading up to our first FA Cup Final 77 years ago.

2026-03-18T15:00+00:00

by John Hutchinson

Published

18 Mar, 2026

Ted Jelly Recounts First FA Cup Final

Leicester City full-back Ted Jelly recalls, in vivid detail, the weeks leading up to our first FA Cup Final 77 years ago.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-18T15:00+00:00

Ted Jelly Recounts First FA Cup Final

Leicester City full-back Ted Jelly recalls, in vivid detail, the weeks leading up to our first FA Cup Final 77 years ago.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-18T15:00+00:00

Ted Jelly Recounts First FA Cup Final

Leicester City full-back Ted Jelly recalls, in vivid detail, the weeks leading up to our first FA Cup Final 77 years ago.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-18T15:00+00:00

Ted Jelly Recounts First FA Cup Final

Leicester City full-back Ted Jelly recalls, in vivid detail, the weeks leading up to our first FA Cup Final 77 years ago.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-18T15:00+00:00

Club Historian John Hutchinson has retrieved, from the Club’s extensive archive, Ted's first-hand memories, in an extract which never previously appeared in print.

Leicester-born Ted, who died in 2000, signed professional forms for City in May 1946 after being demobilised from the Navy at the end of the Second World War. A right full-back, he made his debut against Southampton in May 1947. He became a regular in the First Team in January 1949, following an injury to long-serving full-back Willie Frame. He then became a mainstay in the side during the run to the FA Cup Final against Wolverhampton Wanderers four months later.

“After winning the semi-final,” Ted recalled, “there was a build-up of fixtures, and we were in a perilously low position in the old Second Division. The first match after the semi-final was against Grimsby and we needed every point we could possibly get.

“In those days, you had boots with nails often protruding through the studs and, after about five minutes into the game, (goalkeeper) Ian McGraw went to gather the ball. Their centre-forward put his boot in and this completely severed McGraw’s little finger, leaving half of it lying in the Filbert Street goalmouth. There were no substitutes then and so I went into goal. When we lined up for the second half, leading 1-0, we only had eight men.

Ted made his City debut against Soouthampton.

"As well as McGraw, Charlie Adam had a broken elbow bone and Johnny King had concussion. Also, Sandy Scott was playing with a heavily bandaged, terrific gash in his forehead. It wasn’t a dirty game. These injuries were all through body contacts. McGraw came back later to make it nine men and tried to play on the left wing with his finger bound up. They finally equalised, to make the final score 1-1. I really enjoyed playing in goal and, to my surprise, I got a standing ovation when I left the pitch.

“In another game before the final, we lost 3-1 to West Ham at Filbert Street. During that game, Don Revie, who was one of the stars of our side, received a blow on the nose. Thinking no more of it, he was selected to play in the final game before the FA Cup Final away at Plymouth. We travelled there on the Friday and, the night before the game, there was a panic in the hotel. The blow on the nose against West Ham had now resulted in a haemorrhage. It was life threatening. He was rushed to Plymouth hospital and then transferred to the Leicester Royal Infirmary.

“We knew that this would keep Revie out against Wolves. Psychologically, losing him made a difference because him playing would probably have called upon a couple of Wolves players to watch him, which Portsmouth had done in the semi-final.

“The month leading up to the final was interesting. We were naïve. Through lack of experience, we were inviting photographers down to the ground, to take our photographs for no charge. Someone came to the ground, marketing elastic braces, to take our photos with the braces. What did we get out of it? A pair of braces each! We stood around an ice cream van eating the vendor’s ice creams. We got an ice cream cone out of that.

“Things improved a bit and we did get a pair of spikes and a tracksuit each, but we were green. It should have been a time when we cashed in on our achievements, but we didn’t. Our attitude was that we were so concerned about the league programme and winning the cup, we couldn’t really be bothered about making money.

Ted ran television and radio shops once retiring from football.

“During the week before the final, we went away to Stevenage. We did some training in the local park and at Stevenage’s football ground.

“The night before, we went to a very small cinema. I don’t remember the name of the film, but it was boring, and I think we all fell asleep in the cinema. We returned to the hotel at about 9 o’clock and went to bed at 10 o’clock, which was the usual thing.

“The next morning, different people kept arriving at the hotel and introducing themselves, with some trying to tell us what we needed to do in the final. After spending the morning in the hotel in Stevenage, we journeyed to Harrow for our pre-match lunch which was usually a piece of boiled fish or boiled chicken, and a piece of dried toast.

“What a tremendous thrill it was to be on the bus to Wembley! The bus was bedecked and we had outriders to escort us. Going up the Wembley Hill to the ground, there were crowds all along the route. There was a terrific amount of pageantry, and we recognised various people we knew in the crowds. Half my ship’s company from my Navy days during the war were outside the ground, and then, of course we got into the stadium.

“Once inside, we then had to walk onto the pitch to have a look at it. We weren’t wearing the smart Club blazers and suits that you see today. Most of us were wearing our demob suits (part of a complete outfit of clothing issued by the Government to all servicemen to help with their return to civilian life after the war). We also came across radio reporters. In those days, television was only available in a 20-mile radius around London. Shops were charging each person sixpence to watch the final if they wished to.

A shot of Leicester's disallowed goal in the final.

“After these preliminaries, about three quarters of an hour before the start of the match, you then started to get ready for the game. By this time, nerves were probably having an effect on certain players. The knee that you got a bump on about three weeks before suddenly starts to hurt, and you worry if it’s going to be alright, but it isn’t hurting really. It’s all in the mind.

“When it got to a quarter-to-three, a whistle went and we had to start going out onto the pitch. There were 100,000 people out there. We lined up in the tunnel, alongside our opposition. We waited there, talking to each other. By now, nerves were really beginning to show. Everybody was jumping up and down and doing exercises and so forth.

“Then, standing there, it went really silent. You couldn’t hear a thing. Yet a few yards away there were 100,000 people yelling their heads off. It was incredible.

“Then a man turned up with a scroll. What this was for, I don’t really know. He led both teams, with their managers at the front, onto the pitch. We marched up the tunnel, which was very cool indeed. All we could hear was the sound of the studs echoing on the floor. Then we reached an open area at the head of the tunnel and the noise of the cheers was unbelievable, and the warm air hit you. It was as if someone a had slapped a piece of warm rag across your face.

“We then marched across to the green carpet to be introduced to the then-Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. I personally had quite a long chat with him. He asked me how the Wembley pitch compared with our pitch at Filbert Street. Referring to the mud, I told him that we had what we used to call the deep end and the shallow end at Filbert Street, before we had a new pitch laid, two or three years before. This was all very pleasant and then we had to start the game.”

The match ended up with Wolverhampton Wanderers achieving a 3-1 victory.

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