Club Historian John Hutchinson reveals another unseen treasure from Leicester City’s historic collections and archives dating back to the early 1970s.
Micky Bates, who sadly died in October, was a lifelong fan with a deep knowledge of Leicester City’s history. Micky was a very skilled model maker, despite a stroke several years ago.
One of his last projects was this superb model of Filbert Street and surrounding houses. Visitors to the stadium will be familiar with his earlier model of Filbert Street in the 1980s, which is on display in the stadium’s reception area.
This latest model evokes memories of the old ground as it was in the early 1970s before the installation, in 1974, of the executive boxes above the Filbert Steet end of the stadium. It features the nationally famous polysphere tent which was unique to Filbert Street and protected the pitch from frost and snow.
The turnstile entrances, which enabled fans to enter the ground through two houses in Burnmoor Street, have been accurately replicated, as have a host of other detailed features.
This truly remarkable artefact is now in the Club’s heritage collection, together with Micky’s other models of Filbert Street’s Carling Stand, the Kate Street murals, the classic turnstile façade in Filbert Street and, of course, his earlier well-known model of the Filbert Street ground in the 1980s.
