Foxes being put down at the Forest

After the bitter disappointment (well, ok, not that bitter) of an F.A. Cup quarter final defeat at the Hawthorns at the weekend, Forest had to take it on the chin and just "Geron wi' it!" Luckily we had exactly the right management team to make sure that was going to happen and, equally luckily, we played our next opponents at fortress City Ground who, with all due respect, were not having the best of seasons. This was not a top of the table clash, it was (almost) a top v bottom one. And after the match the team we played, Leicester, would indeed be bottom - destined for yet another relegation.

Leicester Derbies

It seemed a long time ago since Forest were playing at Filbert Street in just their 7th game of their return to the first division back in late September. It was 191 days ago to be precise, about 3/4 of a season. That match had ended up an easy 3-0 win for Forest, so we were all hoping (Ok, let's be honest... expecting!) to clinch another double - which would be our 4th of the season.

Leicester - 4th Double of the season?

As discussed in the Derby County away blog, of the two East Midlands derby matches Forest regularly play in, Derby derbies are more intensive than Leicester derbies. My theory about that it is simply to do with distance. Derby are close enough for Nottingham folk to care more about being the top dogs but not so close that you're likely to have friends and family in common. I guess that criterion could apply to Leicester too, but being a little further seems to dampen down the hatred a little.

Leicester is 74% further away than Derby

Derby have been in the league a bit longer than Leicester (and Forest, even though Forest are - yawn - the oldest club of the three). They were original league members, whereas Leicester came in two years after Forest but I doubt this has had any effect in the rivalry.

Fosse to City

Leicester were known as Leicester Fosse for the first period of their existence, from 1884 until the end of the first world war in 1919, in fact. The name came from the road where their first pitch was located. Fosse Road, (based on, no doubt, but not quite the same as, Fosse Way, the famous Roman Road) was also the location of the garden shed in which the club was founded.

The most important date in Leicester Fosse's history, from a Forest fan's perspective at least, has to be 21st April 1909. That day, they played at the City Ground in a match that might have been thought of as some kind of relegation battle. Certainly Forest weren't having a good season. Then again, Leicester were rock bottom and already looked pretty much doomed.

The result?

Nottingham Forest 12 Leicester Fosse 0

This is still Leicester's worst recorded defeat in a competitive fixture, even today, 109 years later.

Leicester going down in 1909

This was Leicester's first ever relegation but it wouldn't be their last.

Leicester Fosse also played in blue most of the time, and as they had long moved to Filbert Street the change in name must have been logical and smooth. Leicester had just officially been given city status after a visit from King Edward. It's not given automatically due to having a cathedral, as I had thought. A bit of creeping up is necessary too, it seems.

After the first world war Leicester enjoyed a relatively successful period including a three season spell when they actually had the best league record in England. Forest, at the time were a mid-table second division side.

1926-1929 - Leicester had the best league record in England.

But after a nine year spell in the top flight, Leicester were relegated back to the second division in 1935.

Second relegation in 1935

Two years later, Leicester were back in the top flight again. But two years after that... relegated again.

3rd relegation, four years later

Leicester than had a nine year spell in the second division, including one season (1951-52) when Forest actually finished (one place) above them in the league - the only season out of 26 we managed to do that. It ended in 1954 when they won the second division to get promotion back to the first division again.

Bad luck, Leicester. Relegated back down again at the first attempt.

4th relegation

Two years later, they were back and this time it was to stay... at least a few years. 12, to be precise. This was another good spell in Leicester's history as they finished 6th (1960-61), 4th (1962-63), 7th (1965-66) and 8th (1966-67) as well as making it to the F.A. Cup final three times in 1961, 1963 and 1969, winning the League Cup in 1964 and getting to the final the year after.

Then...

5th Relegation

Leicester's yo-yo reputation was maintained as they bounced back again two seasons later to start this, their current spell.

This current season was Leicester's 7th consecutive season in the top flight.

But I think everyone knew what was coming next...

So, the question that was on my mind as I wrote all that was this...

Are Leicester the most relegated club in first division history?

Answer: No.

That honour rested (in 1977) with Sheffield Wednesday. However, Leicester's imminent relegation this season was about to put them joint second in the "masters of relegation" table.

Leicester, about to go up to 2nd in the table

(of the most relegated sides from the first division)

Here's a summary of the league histories of the two clubs, side-by-side. It's not a good look for Forest, despite Leicester's 5 relegations.

As Leicester had been in the first division ever since I started supporting Forest and we had always been in the second, this was only the second time I'd watched Leicester play in Nottingham.

The first one was a friendly at the start of the 1974-75 season.

Forest v Leicester pre-season "friendly"

Did I say "friendly"? Well I can't remember much about the match - which Leicester won easily 3-1, but it was one of the scariest matches I've ever been to. A crowd of 7,837 turned up and, it seemed to my albeit rather naive (almost) 15 year old eyes that most of them were hooligans looking for a fight.

I'll never forget the scenes of marauding Forest and Leicester fans doing pitched battles on the open East Stand terracing.

The Teams

Keith Weller

John McGovern must have been crook (aussie for "knackered") at Albion because he missed this one. Maybe our dynamic duo just wanted to make sure he was fit for the Wembley final against Liverpool coming up in four days time.

In any case, John O'Hare replaced him in midfield. The good news at the back was that Viv Anderson returned to the team but, bizarrely, Ian Bowyer, who had taken his place at right back in the cup, now switched to taking the place of Peter Withe as our No. 9 as he had to miss a game due to a one match ban.

Talk about Mr Versatile!

Frank McLintock brought back veteran David Webb in place of Alan Wollett in an otherwise unchanged side but it was all a bit futile as Leicester looked doomed.

A notable addition to the team, that missed the first match at Filbert Street was Keith Weller.

Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John O'Hare, 5 David Needham, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Archie Gemmill, 9 Ian Bowyer, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: John Robertson 1 (pen.).

Leicester City
1 Mark Wallington, 2 Steve Whitworth, 3 Dennis Rofe, 4 Eddie Kelly, 5 John Sims, 6 David Webb, 7 Keith Weller, 8 Billy Hughes, 9 Trevor Christie, 10 Geoff Salmons, 11 Tommy Williams.
Substitutions: Roger Davies(12) came on for John Sims (5).

Attendance: 32,355

The Match

I stood in the Trent End for this match and, if my memory serves me right (good luck there!) Robbo struck a penalty in front of us early on, in the 13th minute to settle the nerves and give us one of those dour 1-0 wins that teams destined for the title seem always to be able to be able to grind out.

I honestly have no memory of the game whatsoever but by all accounts Forest played well in patches but were hanging on grimly by the end as the Foxes were fighting for their lives.

Other midweek games

There were six other first division mid week games played. Three on the same, Tuesday night as we did and three the next night.

It was a good set of results for us as all the games but ours' and QPR's were drawn. This basically meant that both Everton and Manchester City had lost further ground. Forest's lead at the top was now back to 5 points and we had two games in hand.

Surely, this was going to be our year, now.

Ranger's 1-0 win over West Ham was crucial and opened up a two point gap for themselves above the relegation zone, again with two games in hand. Newcastle could only draw with Birmingham so they looked doomed too.

Forest 5 points clear at the top with two games in hand. Leicester, at the bottom, 5 points from safety having played two games more. A stark contrast, indeed.

Robbo's penalty put him into the top scorer's chart for the first time. But, as you can see below, Forest's three players in that chart was topped by Manchester City, who had four.

This was Forest's 26th consecutive home game in all competitions without defeat.

City Ground Fortress - 26 unbeaten and counting

Elsewhere, Liverpool were ploughing their way to another European Cup win. They beat Benfica 4-1 at Anfield to clinch a place in the semi-finals. The thought started to enter our heads that we might be having some European action ourselves soon. What a thought! Just a year ago (March 1977) Forest played Hull City at home in the second division in front of just over 15,000 fans. Thoughts of promotion seemed very remote at that time as we lay in 7th place. The week after, a 2-0 defeat at Bramall Lane seemed to signal the end of our promotion challenge.

So remember the adage: It aint over 'till it's over!

Next match for Forest? Only the small matter of the League Cup Final at Wembley against the mighty mighty Liverpool!

50,000+ Views - Thank you!

I reached a landmark the other day that I think is worth a mention. I reached 50,000 views. I am amazed that so many people share my nerdy interest for nostalgia - or maybe they're just clicking on the link and thinking "this is shit! get me out of here!".

Anyway, if you do like these posts any feedback is appreciated and, of course, please feel free to share the link with anyone you know who might be interested.