Remembering City’s Unlikely Trophy Triumph At Filbert Street
Friday 7 August, 2020 marks the 49th anniversary of City’s 1971 FA Charity Shield success over Liverpool at Filbert Street.
Bookmakers wouldn’t have even been able to offer odds on the Foxes claiming their first and only FA Charity Shield (now Community Shield) should Arsenal have opted to contest the fixture against Bill Shankly’s side.
Instead, the Gunners, who had won the first division and FA Cup in 1970/71, played in a previously-arranged pre-season tour, and so Leicester, as Division Two champions, were invited to face FA Cup runners-up Liverpool.
City had been relegated in 1969 as FA Cup finalists, and finished third the following season before gaining promotion back to the top tier as champions in 1970/71.
The FA Charity shield was played at Filbert Street, as the competition did not move to its present venue at Wembley Stadium until 1974.
City’s line-up on the day was as follows: Shilton, Whitworth, Nish, Kellard, Sjoberg, Cross, Farrington, Brown, Fern, Sammels, Glover.
Liverpool, meanwhile, were managed by the legendary Shankly. In the previous 11 years they had won the Second Division title, two First Division titles, and the FA Cup. They had also played in Europe for eight successive seasons, with final and semi-final appearances in all three major European tournaments.
It was a sunny summer day, and a crowd of 25,000 fans filled Filbert Street as Steve Whitworth scored the only goal of the game – his only strike in 401 matches for the Club.
Leicester became only the second club in the trophy’s history to win the Charity Shield without ever winning the league or the FA Cup – the other was Brighton in 1910).
Seven years of top-flight football followed for City, who during that period finished seventh in 1975/76 and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup two years prior.