From The Archives: An Arthur Chandler Anecdote From 1925
It includes newspapers, football magazines, photographs, cartoons, letters, official documents, Directors’ minutes, home and away programmes, films, videos, DVDs and much more besides.
One invaluable source in the Club’s archives is the Leicester Sports Mercury, which for many years was published each Saturday evening.
In the close season of 1935, this newspaper ran a five-part series full of anecdotes written by Leicester City’s record-breaking centre forward Arthur Chandler.
The series was prompted because Arthur, in the twilight of his career, was about to transfer to Notts County after 11 years at Filbert Street during which he scored a Club record 273 goals.
In his article written on 25 May, 1935, Arthur recounted his experiences relating to an FA Cup tie against Newcastle United 10 years earlier.
Arthur’s two goals in front of a 58,000 crowd at St. James' Park earned Leicester City a 2-2 draw. The replay was set for the following Thursday afternoon at Filbert Street.
Following the match, the team returned to their hotel in Whitley Bay. The room that Arthur shared with captain Johnny Duncan was an attic at the top of the hotel with a fan light which was open, directly above their bed. While they were sleeping, they were covered by a layer of snow. Arthur was woken by his captain shouting: ‘Channy, we’re at the North Pole’.
They cleared the snow, moved the bed and went back to sleep.
The following day, Arthur developed a bad cold and influenza. He was isolated and confined to bed until Monday afternoon. Still feeling ill, he travelled back to Quorn with the team on the Wednesday, where they spent the night. Despite having a cough on the morning of the replay, Arthur declared himself fit.
His article continued: “We won the replay by the only goal, scored by George Carr. I was glad when the match ended for I hadn’t realised what little energy is left you in fighting off an attack of ‘flu.”
The article provides a remarkable insight into the contrast between the lives of top professional players nearly 100 years ago and the lives experienced by top players today.