The Story Of City’s Previous Four FA Cup Finals
A superb goal from Youri Tielemans from all of 30 yards out saw City beat Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 15 May as the Foxes finally won a final at the fifth attempt.
Although Leicester had previously lost out on the four occasions prior, the showpiece finals attracted a combined 400,000 supporters, and proved to be memorable affairs nonetheless.
1949 FA Cup Final
Leicester City 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 3
Attendance: 98,920
Leicester City team: Bradley, Jelly, Scott, W. Harrison, Plummer (c), King, Griffiths, Lee, J. Harrison, Chisholm, Adam
In 1949, despite fighting relegation from the Second Division, 400-1 outsiders Leicester City reached their first ever FA Cup Final, where they met high flying First Division side Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Managed by Johnny Duncan, Leicester City’s young team had a gruelling run to the final. The third round tie against First Division Birmingham City went to two replays.
After defeating Preston North End in the fourth round, 18 goals were scored in the fifth round tie against Luton Town. City equalised in the last minute of extra-time to draw 5-5 at Luton before defeating the Hatters 5-3 in the replay four days later.
After winning 1-0 at Brentford in the quarter-final, lowly Leicester sensationally defeated league champions Portsmouth 3-1 in the semi-final at Highbury with Don Revie scoring twice.
Revie, along with goalkeeper Ian McGraw, missed the final through injury. Leicester City were 2-0 down at half-time. Mal Griffiths made it 2-1 soon after half time and in the 64th minute the 100,000 Wembley crowd thought that Ken Chisholm had equalised before his ‘goal’ was ruled offside. Sam Smyth’s goal a minute later secured a 3-1 victory for Wolves.
The following week, after an open top bus tour, the team then had to play three games in four days. They needed to draw the final game at Cardiff City to avoid the drop into the Third Division. They drew 1-1 and Nottingham Forest were relegated instead.
1961 FA Cup Final
Leicester City 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2
Attendance: 100,000
Leicester City team: Banks, Chalmers, Norman, McLintock, King, Appleton, Riley, Walsh (c), McIlmoyle, Keyworth, Cheesebrough
In 1961, Leicester City reached their second FA Cup Final, this time against league champions Tottenham Hotspur.
Leicester played in nine matches on their way to Wembley. These included replays against Birmingham City and Barnsley and two replays against Sheffield United in an epic semi-final.
On the eve of the final, Wales international centre-forward Ken Leek, who had scored in every round leading to Wembley, was sensationally dropped by Leicester’s manager Matt Gillies.
A persisting urban myth is that the page in the Directors’ Minutes explaining Leek’s omission has been removed. This is totally untrue. There are no pages missing, but there is no mention of the reasons for dropping Leek either.
The young reserve centre-forward Hughie McIlmoyle played instead of Leek. Eighteen minutes into the final, Leicester City full-back Len Chalmers was seriously injured.
There were no substitutes in those days, so City had to reorganise with a crippled Chalmers hobbling on the wing.
Leicester City held out until the 69th minute when England centre-forward Bobby Smith scored. Seven minutes later, Terry Dyson beat Gordon Banks to add a second.
As league champions, Spurs qualified for the European Cup. Their place in the European Cup Winners’ Cup was therefore awarded to losing finalists Leicester City who had finished sixth in the league.
1963 FA Cup Final
Leicester City 1 Manchester United 3
Attendance: 100,000
Leicester City team: Banks, Sjoberg, Norman, McLintock, King, Appleton (c), Riley, Cross, Keyworth, Gibson, Stringfellow
Leicester, who had finished fourth in the First Division, were firm favourites to win the 1963 FA Cup Final against Manchester United, who had narrowly avoided relegation.
United’s manager Matt Busby said that Leicester were 'unquestionably the Team of the Year. Davie Gibson is one of the year’s outstanding footballers. Banks is a brilliant goalkeeper'.
The legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, despite criticising Leicester’s ultra-defensive performance in the Hillsborough semi-final, following Mike Stringfellow’s early winning goal, nevertheless felt that Leicester were 'the best side in the land'.
For the final, because the match was on black and white television, City wore an all white strip to distinguish them from the red-shirted United side.
Once the game started, Leicester were surprisingly outplayed. Brilliantly inspired by Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and Paddy Crerand, Manchester United were too pacey for a City side that looked jaded in attack and overworked in defence.
Denis Law scored in the 30th minute and David Herd added a second soon after half-time. Ken Keyworth scored for Leicester with a diving header 10 minutes from the end, but Herd added his second five minutes later to make the score 3-1.
After such a promising season it was difficult to explain the defeat. The players’ view was that they just didn’t turn up on the day and that United’s great players had performed to their potential, which they hadn’t really done during the season.
1969 FA Cup Final
Leicester City 0 Manchester City 1
Attendance 100,000
Leicester City team: Shilton, Rodrigues, Nish (c), Roberts, Woollett, Cross, Fern, Clarke, Lochhead, Gibson, Glover; Sub, Manley.
In the 1969 FA Cup Final, Leicester City, who had been fighting relegation from the top flight all season, faced the previous season’s league champions Manchester City.
Manager Frank O’Farrell had replaced the long serving Matt Gillies 106 days earlier, in December 1968. He then guided his new club to another FA Cup Final.
On their way to Wembley, Leicester City didn’t concede a single goal after the third round. Their run included the memorable fifth round replay victory at Anfield, when Peter Shilton saved a penalty and Andy Lochhead headed the only goal of the game in front of a Merseyside crowd of over 54,000.
When Allan Clarke, for whom Leicester had broken the British transfer record when they signed him for £150,000 at the beginning of the season, scored an 86th minute-winner in the Hillsborough semi-final against West Bromwich Albion, Leicester were back at Wembley for their fourth FA Cup Final.
John Sjoberg missed the final through injury. Davie Gibson and Len Glover, who had both been injured, were declared fit to play, but lacked full fitness.
Captained by 21-year-old David Nish, the youngest-ever FA Cup Final captain, Leicester lost the final 1-0 to a goal scored in the 23rd minute by Neil Young, whose tremendous left-foot shot from a Mike Summerbee cross gave Shilton no chance. Lochhead and Peter Rodrigues missed good chances to equalise and Clarke was named Man of the Match.
In the three weeks after the final, Leicester had five games to avoid relegation. Their final game at Old Trafford was a must-win to stay up, but they lost 3-2 and were relegated after 12 seasons in the top flight.