The Second Greatest Season Ever

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Three days to go before the big game and the players were taking a break from training at Filbert Street:



They're playing 'Wibbly Wob', a table football game. Predictably, Johnny Duncan and Arthur Chandler are the ones hogging the table.

I'd never heard of Wibbly Wob:



The rules say that 'the disc representing the ball is laid flat on the table and players hold the wires so that the foot of the 'striker' is just touching the disc'

There was a bit of a table football boom at the time. Later in the same year Andy Ducat, the footballing cricketer who you might remember from another thread, launched this:



Subbuteo was still over 20 years away.

 

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FA Cup Third Round (last 16)
Saturday February 21st 1925
Hull City v Leicester City

Let's start with a photo I was thrilled to find the other day. It's Johnny Duncan and Mick O'Brien before kick-off. Recall that Mick was our captain until he was transferred to Hull at the start of this season. You can see why Paul Taylor speaks of his 'outsize personality' in that profile from Of Fossils and Foxes quoted a few days ago.



It's a picture that really sums up the first decade of Leicester CIty. O'Brien, who so nearly led us to promotion in 1923, and Duncan - the soul of our first truly great side.

Perhaps the reason O'Brien is looking so confident is that he knows his team have a plan. They are going to go for our throats right from the start.

Within the first few seconds, 'a perfect sea of striped shirts swarmed round Godderidge, the Leicester keeper', and the home side had several near misses in the opening minutes.

This came as a surprise to the press photographers, who had all taken up positions behind the Hull goal until they realised the action was at the other end, as this R.B.Davis cartoon in the Mercury showed us:





In the 17th minute, Hull's pressure finally paid off. A corner was cleared but Paddy Mills set up Mick O'Brien on the edge of the box. He 'trapped the ball cleverly and let go a shot that sailed over the heads of several players and beat Godderidge as a piercing shriek of pent-up excitement rent the air'. What a time to get your first goal for the club.

Hull didn't let up, and our full backs Adam Black and Harry Hooper were called upon several times to make last ditch challenges. Hooper was having his best game for the club, and cries of 'Well played, Ginger' were heard when he made yet another clearance.



Hooper watches as Godderidge saves.

The battles between centre half and centre forward at each end were a highlight of the game. Leicester's Pat Carrigan could only deal with Paddy Mills by repeatedly fouling him. 'Carrrigan was merciless' said the Hull Daily Mail, 'and the referee was very charitable when he lectured a whole group of players rather than directing his remarks to individuals. Mills at the time was in the hands of the trainer on the touchline'. At the other end, O'Brien was keeping Chandler bottled up .

O'Brien is in the centre of the picture here, as Hull keeper George Maddison clears from Hugh Wadsworth. Johnny Duncan and Arthur Chandler are the Leicester players on the left.



The best effort for Leicester in the first half was a Chandler shot that Maddison tipped over the bar, then back at the other end just before the interval 'Godderidge made a remarkable save by throwing the ball round the post as he was falling back through the goal'.

We still couldn't get going in the second half, and the game became scrappy. Then ten minutes from time we got the equalizer. The ball came over from Wadsworth on the left and 'Duncan had the audacity to get the ball under control without the least suggesiton of hurry and then beat Maddison with a fast cross shot that hit the under part of the crossbar before finding the net'.

This is not a good quality picture, but it's worth putting here to get at least a feel of that crucial moment. Duncan is extreme right. Note the fans on the roof:



After that it was our turn to swarm around the opposition goal and we nearly snatched a winner that on the balance of play would have been very harsh on Hull.


Harry Wadsworth takes on the Hull defence

It had been our least impressive performance for several weeks, but we'd survived.

These were the other scores:



So four of the eight ties were draws, with the most impressive result being Cardiff's win at Notts County, who had been top of the Leage a few weeks earlier.

This is what happened at Bramall Lane. Fred Tunstall's winner looks not dissimilar to O'Brien's goal described above:

So Leicester got ready for another Thursday afternoon replay. Before that, on Monday lunchtime, it was the draw for the quarter finals.

 

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When the draw for the quarter finals was made, the first team out of the hat was 'Cardiff City'. The next was 'Hull City or Leicester City'. If we won the replay we'd be facing another tough away trip. But after our performance at Newcastle in Round Two that wasn't something we'd be too bothered about.

This was the full draw:

Cardiff City v Hull City or Leicester City
Southampton v Liverpool
Sheffield United v West Brom or Aston Villa
Tottenham or Blackburn Rovers v West Ham or Blackpool

Our rivals in the promotion race were playing close attention to the FA cup results. With Leicester facing another replay, it meant that in a period in which Derby, Man U and Chelsea all played just three games, we would be playing six (recall that those three clubs all fell at the first hurdle in the FA Cup). We might be the form team in the division, but surely all these extra games would take something out of us. That, at least, was what our rivals were hoping.

As we were snatching that draw at Hull on Saturday, Chelsea were in action in the League - at Stockport County. They had a chance to go level with Derby at the top but were hammered 4-0. This man Tommy Meads got a hattrick:



Both Man U and Derby had a weekend off as their scheduled opponets were still in the Cup (Southampton beat Bradford City 2-0). But on this Monday afternoon, just after the quarter final draw was made, United had their chance to go level at the top if they could beat Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. They couldn't manage it either. Controversial signing from Clapton Orient Albert Pape was on the scoresheet again but they were held to a 1-1 draw.

That left the table like this:



Meanwhile, as Hull City were preparing for the replay at the luxury Alexander Hotel in Bridlington, our players were following their normal training routine at Filbert Street. Reports suggested that both teams were likely to be unchanged from Saturday. Here's the players details - with just Mick O'Brien on either side over six foot:

 

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The day before the game, two other replays were staged. On Saturday, a record crowd of 64,000 at the Hawthorns had seen West Brom and Aston Villa draw 1-1. This Wednesday afternoon, Albion won 2-1 at Villa Park, which left them facing a quarter final tie at Bramall Lane. The other replay was Blackpool's 3-1 win over West Ham. They face the winners of the Blackburn - Tottenham replay, scheduled for tomorrow.

Tottenham had been two up with just eight minutes left at White Hart Lane on Saturday, and their fans were singing 'Who killed Cock Robin?' in celebration. Then Blackpool got two late goals, and 'the crowd filed out of the ground in silence'. No one sang 'two nil, and you ****ed it up' in those days - it was left to the cartoonist in the Daily Herald to put the boot in:



Also today, Derby beat Bradford City 2-0 in the League - the fixture postponed from Saturday. That put the Rams three points clear at the top of Division Two:



Hull's players spent the night in Sheffield prior to traveling down to Leicester tomorrow. Meanwhile at Filbert Street, preparations were underway for another massive crowd. After the scenes at the Newcastle replay, barbed wire was strung around the pillars on the Spion Kop to prevent a repeat of this scene:



The club also announced that the usual price reduction for boys would not be available, and that 'cripple carriages' would not be allowed in the ground 'in the interests of the unfortunate people themselves'.

Factories in the city would be closing early again to allow workers to make the 3pm kick off, and the Evening Mail had this front page story:



The report claimed that: 'Leicester City football team's wonderful achievements this season have been a huge advertisement to local industry and a stimulus to the city's trade. The team's feats have put the word 'Leicester' into the mouths and minds of hundreds of thousands of people in all parts of the country. The best wishes of all Leicester citizens are, therefore, with the City team in their splendid fights for promotion and the Cup'.

 

[Kushiro2]

FA Cup Third Round Replay
Thursday February 26th 1925. 3pm kick-off
Leicester City v Hull City


Nearly 1,000 visiting supporters made the trip on special trains that left Paragon Station in Hull and arrived at Great Central Station three hours later. 'A good number of them were of the fair sex', reported the Mercury, and 'there was never such a collection of black and amber hats'. Arriving at the same station from Sheffield were the Hull players, led by Mick O'Brien. Before they headed for the ground, 'they stopped for a meal in the station buffet'. O'Brien told a reporter that 'if there is a decisive result I will leave at six o'clock for Ireland'. He had been selected to play for his country against Scotland in Belfast on Saturday. If another replay were necesssary, it would take place on Monday, and he would have to pull out the Ireland squad.

The surprise before the game was that our right winger Hugh Adcock, tormentor of Newcastle in the last round, was unfit after taking a knock on the ankle at Hull. With Johnny Duncan's brother Tommy having left earlier this season we had no experienced replacement, so half back Norrman Watson was drafted in to play an unfamiliar role.

This was the scene at 2.55 - the band plays as Duncan leads the team out, with Channy following behind:



The excerpts from match reports that follow have been pieced together from the Daily Chronicle, the Nottingham Journal and the two Leicester papers.

'Duncan named the coin correctly and secured the Royal Blues a distinct first half advantage', with Paddy Mills (Nigel Pearson's great uncle, you'll recall) kicking off for Hull with a strong wind against them.

'The game opened with a series of thrills provided by the Leicester forwards, who played with the speed of greyhounds in the mud. Chandler put Duncan through but his shot hit the foot of a post with Maddison nowhere near it. After ten minutes of hurricane attacking, Watson put across a high dropping centre which curled towards goal. Maddison got his fists to it but it was a weak clearance, straight on to the head of Chandler, who steered it into the net'.


The Spion Kop shortly after Chandler's goal

'Chandler and Carr then went perilously close to a second, before Duncan ran clean through and Maddison had to make a glorious save'.

'Play proceeded to the accompaniment of an almost continual roar from the crowd, which was worked up to a high degree of excitment by the dazzling work of the home forwards. It was easy to see why Leicester had earned the description of the 'wonder team'.

With each one scheming in turn, Chandler, Duncan and Carr were an irresistible trio - brain and brawn working on that heavy ground. All were scientific and thrustful, but also cool and deliberate. These three know not the meaning of selfishness'.

The biggest scare for Leicester in the first half came when 'Hooper played a back pass unsighted to Godderidge, not noticing that Mills was almost upon him. Godderidge only had time to reach the ball on his knee and there was quite a struggle before he succeeded in getting the ball away'.

Once again the battles between centre-forward and centre-half caught the eye. 'The burly Chandler bewildered O'Brien, his former clubmate, but it was far from a happy day for Paddy Mills, who found Carrigan masterful without having to resort to the tactics which made him so unpopular at Hull'. Meanwhile, on the left wing, Wadsworth was causing anxiety to the visitors. He was badly brought down by Collier, with Billy Newton shooting just wide from the free kick.

It was 1-0 at the break, then 'the second half opened with a thrill. Hull were now playing with a strong wind behind them and after three minutes, Thom put a ball in from the left and Hamilton beat Godderidge from close range'.

Hull now started playing with a degree of confidence. 'A spell of kick and rush football followed, and this did not improve the home side's chances. But before it was too late, Leicester steadied themselves and once again began to look a team infinitely superior to Hull'. With twenty minutes to go, Leicester went back in front when 'Chandler headed in from a corner admirably taken by Watson'.

Stand-in Watson then completed a memorable afterrnoon, his 'magnificent run and centre led to a tussle in front of goal before Chandler pounced and banged the ball in for his third'.



O'Brien jumps, Chandler waits to nod in his second goal.


The remaining minutes were simply a celebration. The Leicester 'war cry' was heard - 'fans emitting a series of yells which sounded like the Maori war song'. And when rain started falling, the crowd broke into a chorus of 'It Aint Gonna Rain No Mo' - the big hit of recent months:

The optimism and rainfall references in the lyrics make it a distant cousin of 'When You're Smiling', written just a couple of years later. The wikipedia entry for the song says it was sung by Sheffield United fans this season - but they weren't the only ones.

The game finished 3-1, and this was manager Peter Hodge at the end, as portrayed in the Leicester Chronicle:



In the other replay, Spurs were made to regret throwing away that two goal lead on Saturday. In front of a massive Thursday afternoon crowd of almost 50,000, Blackburn raced into a 3-0 lead before the break and Spurs got just one back in the second half.

So this was the line-up for the quarter finals, just nine days away:



The League positions of the eight clubs left in are shown here on the Division One and Division Two tables from the previous weekend (since when Derby and Man U had picked up points, leaving us in third place):




We'd only reached the quarter-finals once before. But there was no knowing how far this wonder team could go:

 

[Sammelslongshot]

View attachment 8045

FA Cup Third Round Replay
Thursday February 26th 1925. 3pm kick-off
Leicester City v Hull City


Nearly 1,000 visiting supporters made the trip on special trains that left Paragon Station in Hull and arrived at Great Central Station three hours later. 'A good number of them were of the fair sex', reported the Mercury, and 'there was never such a collection of black and amber hats'. Arriving at the same station from Sheffield were the Hull players, led by Mick O'Brien. Before they headed for the ground, 'they stopped for a meal in the station buffet'. O'Brien told a reporter that 'if there is a decisive result I will leave at six o'clock for Ireland'. He had been selected to play for his country against Scotland in Belfast on Saturday. If another replay were necesssary, it would take place on Monday, and he would have to pull out the Ireland squad.

The surprise before the game was that our right winger Hugh Adcock, tormentor of Newcastle in the last round, was unfit after taking a knock on the ankle at Hull. With Johnny Duncan's brother Tommy having left earlier this season we had no experienced replacement, so half back Norrman Watson was drafted in to play an unfamiliar role.

This was the scene at 2.55 - the band plays as Duncan leads the team out, with Channy following behind:

View attachment 8046

The excerpts from match reports that follow have been pieced together from the Daily Chronicle, the Nottingham Journal and the two Leicester papers.

'Duncan named the coin correctly and secured the Royal Blues a distinct first half advantage', with Paddy Mills (Nigel Pearson's great uncle, you'll recall) kicking off for Hull with a strong wind against them.

'The game opened with a series of thrills provided by the Leicester forwards, who played with the speed of greyhounds in the mud. Chandler put Duncan through but his shot hit the foot of a post with Maddison nowhere near it. After ten minutes of hurricane attacking, Watson put across a high dropping centre which curled towards goal. Maddison got his fists to it but it was a weak clearance, straight on to the head of Chandler, who steered it into the net'.

View attachment 8047
The Spion Kop shortly after Chandler's goal

'Chandler and Carr then went perilously close to a second, before Duncan ran clean through and Maddison had to make a glorious save'.

'Play proceeded to the accompaniment of an almost continual roar from the crowd, which was worked up to a high degree of excitment by the dazzling work of the home forwards. It was easy to see why Leicester had earned the description of the 'wonder team'.

With each one scheming in turn, Chandler, Duncan and Carr were an irresistible trio - brain and brawn working on that heavy ground. All were scientific and thrustful, but also cool and deliberate. These three know not the meaning of selfishness'.

The biggest scare for Leicester in the first half came when 'Hooper played a back pass unsighted to Godderridge, not noticing that Mills was almost upon him. Godderidge only had time to reach the ball on his knee and there was quite a struggle before he succeeded in getting the ball away'.

Once again the battles between centre-forward and centre-half caught the eye. 'The burly Chandler bewildered O'Brien, his former clubmate, but it was far from a happy day for Paddy Mills, who found Carrigan masterful without having to resort to the tactics which made him so unpopular at Hull'. Meanwhile, on the left wing, Wadsworth was causing anxiety to the visitors. He was badly brought down by Collier, with Billy Newton shooting just wide from the free kick.

It was 1-0 at the break, then 'the second half opened with a thrill. Hull were now playing with a strong wind behind them and after three minutes, Thom put a ball in from the left and Hamilton beat Godderidge from close range'.

Hull now started playing with a degree of confidence. 'A spell of kick and rush football followed, and this did not improve the home side's chances. But before it was too late, Leicester steadied themselves and once again began to look a team infinitely superior to Hull'. With twenty minutes to go, Leicester went back in front when 'Chandler headed in from a corner admirably taken by Watson'.

Stand-in Watson then completed a memorable afterrnoon, his 'magnificent run and centre led to a tussle in front of goal before Chandler pounced and banged the ball in for his third'.

View attachment 8048

O'Brien jumps, Chandler waits to nod in his second goal.


The remaining minutes were simply a celebration. The Leicester 'war cry' was heard - 'fans emitting a series of yells which sounded like the Maori war song'. And when rain started falling, the crowd broke into a chorus of 'It Aint Gonna Rain No Mo' - the big hit of recent months:

The optimism and rainfall references in the lyrics make it a distant cousin of 'When You're Smiling', written just a couple of years later. The wikipedia entry for the song says it was sung by Sheffield United fans this season - but they weren't the only ones.

The game finished 3-1, and this was manager Peter Hodge at the end, as portrayed in the Leicester Chronicle:

View attachment 8049

In the other replay, Spurs were made to regret throwing away that two goal lead on Saturday. In front of a massive Thursday afternoon crowd of almost 50,000, Blackburn raced into a 3-0 lead before the break and Spurs got just one back in the second half.

So this was the line-up for the quarter finals, just nine days away:

View attachment 8050

The League positions of the eight clubs left in are shown here on the Division One and Division Two tables from the previous weekend (since when Derby and Man U had picked up points, leaving us in third place):

View attachment 8051


We'd only reached the quarter-finals once before. But there was no knowing how far this wonder team could go:

View attachment 8052

Fancy a punt on the Blades

 

[Kushiro2]

So who is cup hero Norman Watson, the man who came in for Hugh Adcock and set up each of Channy's three goals?

Here's what Of Fossils and Foxes says about him:

'A sturdy, muscularly defensive half back who exhibited versatility and patience in equal measure when sporadically backing up City's early 20s promotion efforts. After that, he shuttled left and right across the middle line with odd excursions to outside right and full back'. He was from Chester-le-Street in County Durham.



That Channy hat-trick took his total for the season to 30 in 33 games in League and Cup - way ahead of anyone else. The England selectors had not chosen him for this Saturday's game v Wales after his poor showing in the trial game. So he'd be playing for us against Barnsley in the League, just two days after the Hull replay.

This is how the Football Post saw things:



(and I still haven't worked out why they use the 'gent' to represent us)

 

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League Match Number 29
Saturday February 28th 1925
Leicester City v Barnsley

According to an Evening Mail report this week, the club's exploits were providing a boost to the city's commercial fortunes. But better still was the spring in the step and the smile on the face of every individual Leicester fan.

What did this extraordinary team have up its sleeve next? At the start of the month, the replay win over Newcastle was followed 48 hours later by a six goal hammering of Sheffield Wednesday in the League. Now there was another Thursday-Saturday double bill. Just two days after knocking out Hull, we faced Barnsley at Filbert Street.

Hugh Adcock was still unfit so Norman Watson kept his place on the right wing, while Barnsley had future Leicester legend Ernie Hine at inside left.

The Daily Express sent a reporter to the game, and the following is a collage of that report plus regulars 'Kernel' in the Footbal Post and 'Albion' in the Mercury.

'Instead of being tired by Thursday's Cup game, Leicester were as fresh as if they'd had a fortnight off. The most prominent player, naturally, was Chandler. A heavy man is generally at a disadvantage on a mud heap and it was remarkable to see the nimbleness, pace and agility of the Leicester centre forward. After seven minutes, the home side took the lead thanks to Chandler's persistence and cleverness. Duncan pushed the ball through to him and he ran between both backs and left keeper Tommy Gale helpless with a powerful oblique drive'.

'Chandler quickly added a second. It was a goal that will stand as a classic of what can be accomplished by speed, strength and ball control when a man sets himself the task of going through a defence, even though the mud is up to his ankle at every stride. He finished by sending the ball into the roof of the net with another lovely drive'.

'Leicester were displaying remerkable speed and technique on a surface that was exceedingly treacherous, playing in a manner that marked them - if there had been any doubt before - as a team of outstanding talent'.

'The Barnsley goal was almost in a state of perpetual siege and their full backs were glad to kick anywhere to obtain a temporary respite'.

'Two minutes after the break, Chandler completed his hat-trick - his second in three days. Wadsworth dropped over a nice centre which Chandler took in his stride, and after rounding Gittins he easily beat Gale for the third time'.

'Two minutes later Wadsworth was again in the picture with another smart run and centre. This time Chandler took the ball very low to score number four to a great ovation'.

After that came Barnsley's best spell of the game, 'Godderidge going full length to scoop out a beauty from Hine'. Then with ten minutes to go Watson centred from the right for Chandler to score his fifth, and just after that Duncan got on the scoresheet, heading in Wadsworth's cross from the left'.



Two of the greatest individual scoring feats in the club's history had taken place within the space of a couple of months. Channy didn't quite match Duncan's six on Christmas Day against Port Vale - though nobody before or since has equaled his haul of eight goals in two games just 48 hours apart.

Somwhow, despite having dropped just three points in our last twelve games, we found ourselves back outside the top two. Derby followed up their midweek win with a 1-0 victory at Clapton Orient, and having moved above us with a point on Monday, Man U today had an easy 3-0 win over Wolves at Old Trafford.



Chelsea were in danger of losing touch with the leading three. After going two up at home to Portsmouth they managed to lose 3-2.

Here's another table - showing the top goalscoring teams across all four divisions:



And that was just in League games. We'd knocked in another ten in the FA Cup in recent weeks.

Channy now had 28 in the League, and with thirteen games still to play he was being tipped to break the all-time record of 38. Leicester fans would have loved to have seen him break into the England team, but in those days internationals often clashed with a League programme. Had Channy played to his usual standard in the trial game in January, he wouldn't have had the chance to score those five goals today - he would have been pulling on a Three Lions shirt and playing against Wales in Swansea.

We need to have a closer look at the two internationals played this afternoon.

First the game in Swansea - "the crowd a mere 8,000, most of them drenched; the ground abominable, the players unrecognizable, the football - magnificent.", as the Westminster Gazette put it.

England won 2-1, with Manchester City's Frank Roberts getting both. The game's outstanding performer, however, was the home side's centre half and captain, Fred Keenor of Cardiff City - the man whose job a week from now would be to try and pour water on Channy's fire in the FA Cup quarter-final. This was how one reporter summed up his performance:

'The man of the match was Keenor. He was here, there and everywhere, inspiring his young wing halves, shielding his backs, tacking with almost inevitable certainty, and developing attacks in the second half in a manner that bordered on the miraculous'.

He also scored Wales' only goal, firing home from the edge of the box with the help of a deflection.

The clash between him and Chandler in seven days' time looked like being a true battle of the giants:



Meanwhile, Scotland were beating Ireland 2-1 at Windsor Park in Belfast, where there wasn't so much space on the terraces:



The picture below shows Mick O'Brien, who had hurried across the Irish Sea straight after Hull's defeat at Filbert Street on Thursday:



That's O'Brien on the right. You can also see legendary Scottish forward Hughie Gallacher in the white shirt and Irish keeper Tom Farquarson, the former IRA member now playing for Cardiff City. He was another man we'd be facing next Saturday.

Scotland won that game 2-1, and joined England on four points at the top of the Home Internationals table. The decider would be in April at Hampden Park, and with Scottish selectors having recently watched Johnny Duncan, there was a chance we'd be seeing a Leicester player in one of the season's two showpiece events. The other big one, of course, was the FA Cup Final. Johnny had his eyes on that, too.

Cardiff warmed up for the Cup with an impressive 2-1 win at Newcastle in Division One today, and as this Football Post cartoon shows, while there would be three other quarter-finals next Saturday, as well as a number of crucial League fixtures, the game getting people really fired up was the one at Ninian Park:

 

[Kushiro2]

It really was dancing in the streets time.

This is what had happened in the last three months:




Seventeen unbeaten - and if you tried to pick one as the highlight you'd have about ten different games competing for that title.

 

[Kushiro2]

More on Arthur Chandler - the man the whole country was talking about.

He had now scored three hat-tricks in five weeks - v Coventry, v Hull in the Cup, and now 5 v Barnsley. Mercury cartoonist R.B.Davis had Winston Churchill, well-known hat-lover, providing a selection to him. You can see the names of those clubs on the boxes. Then, looking ahead to the FA Cup quarter-final, Winston takes one out of the 'Cardiff' box.



Eighteen months earlier the two had actually met:



That was at Filbert Street when Winston stood unsuccessfully for the Liberal Party in the Leicester West constituency.


It's worth looking in a bit more detail at Channy's scoring habits.

Recall that between September and January he had that sequence of scoring in seventeen out of nineteen games - ' the most consistent run of scoring in the club's history'.



He was getting them all in ones (with just a solitary double).

Compare that with his recent run of 15 goals in eight games:



He was like a batsman who begins his innings cautiously, picking up singles close to the wicket, but then starts slogging the bowlers all round the ground.

 

[Kushiro2]

Three days before the quarter final, the Leicester squad set off for their base in Penarth, on the South Wales coast just outside Cardiff. Watching them depart, the Leicester Evening Mail reporter was moved to write that 'they made one think of a gallant band of explorers, in search of what they know to exist, but few are able to locate'.

This was the biggest game in the club's history. We'd made the last eight once before - fifteen years ago when we were still Leicester Fosse. But it was different then. We played Newcastle away when they were the best team in the land and we were a Division Two side not good enough to sustain a promotion challenge. It finished 3-0 and could have been a lot more.

Now we set off for Cardiff confident of victory.

The players boarded the 2.28 departure from Great Central Station, and 'work was stopped in the hosiery factory opposite in order that the girls could give them a hearty send-off. They crowded round the windows, cheering and blowing kisses. In the booking hall, Arthur Chandler was presented with a Bonzo pup as a mascot. It had a blue ribbon around the neck, but there was a rush to redecorate it with the appropriate colour'.

With Cardiff playing in blue, we'd have to switch:



The team arrived that evening at the Esplanade Hotel in Penarth:



Little danger here of a repeat of the incident in the hotel at Whitley Bay before the Newcastle tie, when Channy woke up in the morning covered in snow after roommate Johnny Duncan insisted on keeping the skylight open at night. Here he could snuggle up with his Bonzo pup, dreaming of the tricks he was going to show Fred Keenor on Saturday.

 

[kendalfox]

Three days before the quarter final, the Leicester squad set off for their base in Penarth, on the South Wales coast just outside Cardiff. Watching them depart, the Leicester Evening Mail reporter was moved to write that 'they made one think of a gallant band of explorers, in search of what they know to exist, but few are able to locate'.

This was the biggest game in the club's history. We'd made the last eight once before - fifteen years ago when we were still Leicester Fosse. But it was different then. We played Newcastle away when they were the best team in the land and we were a Division Two side not good enough to sustain a promotion challenge. It finished 3-0 and could have been a lot more.

Now we set off for Cardiff confident of victory.

The players boarded the 2.28 departure from Great Central Station, and 'work was stopped in the hosiery factory opposite in order that the girls could give them a hearty send-off. They crowded round the windows, cheering and blowing kisses. In the booking hall, Arthur Chandler was presented with a Bonzo pup as a mascot. It had a blue ribbon around the neck, but there was a rush to redecorate it with the appropriate colour'.

With Cardiff playing in blue, we'd have to switch:

View attachment 8089

The team arrived that evening at the Esplanade Hotel in Penarth:

View attachment 8090

Little danger here of a repeat of the incident in the hotel at Whitley Bay before the Newcastle tie, when Channy woke up in the morning covered in snow after roommate Johnny Duncan insisted on keeping the skylight open at night. Here he could snuggle up with his Bonzo pup, dreaming of the tricks he was going to show Fred Keenor on Saturday.

Thankyou very much, sent this to relations up in North Shields who live not far from Whiteley Bay had some smashing holidays there for years they like this nostalgia
Incidently used to proof read at the evening Mail many many moons ago

 

[kendalfox]

Thankyou very much, sent this to relations up in North Shields who live not far from Whiteley Bay had some smashing holidays there for years they like this nostalgia
Incidently used to proof read at the evening Mail many many moons ago

 

[kendalfox]

Hectic job proof reading always working to a time limit, scrap pieces of paper handed to your desk by runners these originals were printed on an old platon machine these scraps were read to mark out mistakes in print and sent back to the typesetters for removal of wrong type being words or grammatical errors, fullstops Capitals the typesetter has an alphabet tray which to pick each letter from to form headlines or paragraphs of so many lines which l had to assess errors quickly as printing time was of essence for the rolling presses each edition had to have updates from the previous ones and we are talking about eight to twelve page publication

If l can remember any more l'll let you know

 

[Kushiro2]

The day before the game, Bonzo was getting five-star treatment at the Esplanade Hotel. As the Mercury reported, 'the most profound respect is paid to the mascots that have been sent to the team. No meal is begun until the handsomely-decorated Bonzo and other equally expressive emblems of good luck are given their proper place at the table'.

Also visiting the hotel was the Western Mail, and they had the Leicester party pose for a photo:




Let's add names so we know who's who:




The fifteen in the picture are the regular first XI, two other players in the squad - Buchanan Sharp and Norman Watson, plus manager Peter Hodge and trainer Dave Gardner. Or should that be sixteen? Channy is holding Bonzo (and you can probably spot other mascots too).

One man who was with the party but not in the picture was our blind masseur Bill Fox, who would have been giving special attention to Adcock's ankle all week to get him fit for the game.

The Western Mail reporter had a word with Chandler, 'whose scoring feats have occasioned so much comment in football circles recently':

"Meeting him in "mufti" one would never think that this was the same finely-built, broad-shouldered man who is so thrustful in front of goal. He seems quite a different personality on and off the field. As a matter of fact, he's the entertainer of the party and a great practical joker. He told me 'It's going to be a great tussle. We thoroughly realise the strength of the opposition and we shall enter into this match determined to go every inch of the way. We can play good football and shall do so in this match. There will be no hacking, but a good clean game. We think we have a chance of the double - Cup and League. I think one goal may settle the match either way'".

Around tea time, Johnny Duncan received a massive boost with the news that he'd been selected for Scotland's trial game on March 17th. If he does well in that game he'll be making his debut against England at Hampden Park in the match to decide this year's Home International championship.

These were the men selected for the trial:



The trial is normally 'Anglos' - those playing in the Football League, v 'Scots', but this year only four Anglos were chosen and the teams were simply labeled A and B. Notice that one of the other Anglos is Jimmy Nelson, the Cardiff full back we'd be facing tomorrow - though he was a very special kind of 'Anglo' - a Scot playing for a Welsh club who signed him from Irish club Crusaders.

Duncan is also on this list of the top scorers in the four divisions of the Football League, published in Thomson's Weekly News, interestingly, in goals per game order. So Channy is behind David Brown of Darlington (though if you added FA Cup goals he'd be ahead):



'Dean' there in third place is of course Dixie - this was the season he burst onto the scene with Tranmere Rovers. A week from now, he would play his last game for the club before signing for Everton on March 16th. At the bottom of that list is Len Davies of Cardiff - but he wouldn't be facing Leicester tomorrow. He was injured in Wales' defeat in Scotland last month.

Finally, apologies for being a bit slow. I didn't realise that the hat Churchill is giving Channy in the cartoon a few days ago is meant to be a 'Welsh hat'. You can see it again in another Mercury cartoon this week, which shows Johnny Duncan, having led the team through three rounds of the Cup, now facing the next hurdle:

 

[Kushiro2]

FA Cup Quarter-Final
Saturday March 7th 1925
Cardiff City v Leicester City

And so the big day arrived. The club that had never won a trophy were just two games away from the Final, and all Leicester was talking about it.

At 8.30 and 8.45 in the morning, special trains set off from Great Central Station calling at Wigston Glen Parva and Hinckley on the way. On board, 'mascots were everywhere, draped in red and white'. Another special train left the Midland Station (London Road), where 'a hawker was selling red ribbons and miniature FA Cups as fast as he could pin them up'.

At the hotel in Penarth, Hugh Adcock passed a morning fitness test so we would be at full strength, while Johnny Duncan received a bouquet of red and white flowers, the card attached reading 'Leicester red, Cardiff blue, Cardiff one, Leicester two'.

The Evening Mail reported that 'All Wales came to Cardiff. Miners from the valleys arrived in their thousands, and down the main road came buses, public and private charabancs and taxi cabs full of cheeering and often yelling human beings'.

At the ground, Leicester fans were also making themselves heard, 'treating the whole crowd to an exhibition of the famous Leicester war-cry, which sounded sufficiently awesome and unintelligible to have been in the Welsh language itself'. (Wouldn't it be great if we knew more about this. Sadly, the details of the war-cry appear lost to history)

This is how the teams lined up, both in the classic 2-3-5 formation:



The opening fifteen minutes were very tight, and the most significant incident was Adcock going off for treatment after getting a knock on the ankle - the one Bill Fox had been working on all week. He came back on but 'it was evident he was in pain and could hardly raise any speed'.

Despite that setback, Leicester began to take control, 'playing much better football than their opponents', with Duncan at the centre of everything. We had a series of half chances - a Chandler header from a free kick, a George Carr shot that hit Fred Keenor, a Duncan dribble that nearly opened up the home defence.



This was how Reynolds Newspaper' summed up the first half. 'Leicester were so perfectly balanced and their go-ahead tactics so forceful and dangerous that Cardiff had all their work cut out to stop them scoring. There was nothing aggressive in the Leicester style and one was struck with the easy movement of their forwards, who combined beautifully and invariably drew the defence before parting with the ball.

We'd been the better side, but it was still goalless at the break.

At the start of the second half, Cardiff finally started playing like a top flight side, and Godderidge had to make a fine save from Joe Nicholson. After fifty five minutes, they took the lead. 'A clever pass from Nicholson to Davies saw the winger centre into the goal mouth, where Beadles jumped ...



...and beat Godderidge with a smart header into the net'.



It was a prodigious leap from Beadles, and according to Mercury cartoonist RB Davis, a rousing version of 'Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau' (Land Of My Fathers) a few moments earlier had given him the necessary wings:



Leicester were level almost immediately, from 'the cleverest move of the match'. 'Wadsworth and Carr, well supported by Bamber, forced an attack and Carr, when challenged, passed square to Chandler. He shot hard and low, and Farquarson did well to push the ball out. Duncan, waiting in position, banged the ball into the net'.

Straight after that, 'Chandler again made Farquarson save brilliantly following a similar movement, and so well did Leicester play subsequently that they appeared to have the game in hand'.

Cardiff rarely threatened, but then with time running out came what one report called 'the Welsh miracle'.

Keenor played the ball deep into the Leicester half, and Adam Black, with Nicholson in pursuit, was taking no chances. He blasted the ball into the crowd behind the goal to clear the danger - but in doing so gave the home side one last chance from a corner kick.

Willlie Davis took it with his right foot, and as the ball came across it seemed to swerve in towards goal. Godderidge raised a hand to palm it away but it sailed over his head - and into the net. The referee pointed to the halfway line and then instantly blew his whistle to signal the end of the match.

In the crowd there was confusion - you couldn't score direct from a corner kick, could you? But hang on - hadn't the rule just been changed? Yes - they changed it at the start of this season. The goal stands! No-one in the 50,000 crowd had ever witnessed such a moment before, but when it sunk in that a legitimate goal had been scored, confusion turned to elation and the scenes were unforgettable - 'the crowd swarmed onto the field in their thousands and the players had great difficulty making their way to the dressing room'.


Willie Davies

For Leicester, those cruel seconds meant the end of the double dream. The long unbeaten run, stretching back more than three months, was over - in what one report called 'an ultra-sensational manner'.

The rule about scoring direct from a corner had indeed been changed just nine months earlier, and in the intervening period, there had been just one instance of it happening - Huddersfield's Billy Smith scoring against Arsenal at Leeds Road in October. It had certainly never happened in an FA Cup match before.

In the directors' room after the match, referee Mr Pinckston produced his stopwatch, 'and there it lay, with the minute hand on 45 and the second hand on 60, exactly as he stopped it when the ball hit the net'. The winning goal had come from the last kick, in the last second of the 45 minutes.

Willie Davis told reporters 'Perhaps no-one will believe me, but I tried to score. it was a thousand-to-one chance, but it was our last'. Cardiff manager Fred Stewart said 'We were lucky to win. I don't think Leicester could have played better than they did today'.

The Leicester players made the long journey home, arriving back at Great Central Station at 10.30pm. The scenes there were no less remarkable than at Ninian Park:

'Thousands of supporters were there to give them a rousing reception - the kind normally reserved for conquerors. Several of the players were lifted shoulder-high, and Duncan and Chandler were carried as far as High Street, where the large crowd was so packed that for several minutes vehicular traffic was held up as cheers for City were raised repeatedly. Although some of the players had an uncomfortable few minutes, they assure me that they greatly appreciate the spirit behind the demonstration'. (Leicester Mercury)

It was a welcome you might expect for losing Cup-finalists, not for a team that hadn't even made the semis. So how to explain it? It's easy really. The team had taken the supporters and the whole city on an incredible three month joyride, conquering all before them, scoring more goals and playing more attractive football than any team in the land.

We hadn't made it to Wembley, but we had arrived. For the first time, the name 'Leicester City' was one that inspired respect and admiration among football lovers across the country,

 

[Kushiro2]

On the team's long journey back to Leicester, someone would have jumped out at one of the stations along the way to buy a sports paper. In the League, our three promotion rivals were all in action. News of defeats for two of them would have raised spirits a little.

Manchester United lost at Fulham, and that man Paddy Mills' goal gave Hull City victory over Chelsea:



That was Chelsea's third defeat in a row, and it now looked like a three-way fight for the two promotion slots.

As at Cardiff, the other three FA Cup Quarter-Finals all resulted in victories for the home side. Southampton beat Liverpool 1-0, Sheffield United beat West Brom 2-0 and Blackburn beat Blackpool 1-0.

 

[Nickj]

What a great read, but somehow I knew that it would end badly for us

 

[Kushiro2]

This is what the London papers had to say about the game at Cardiff:


There will be general disappointment at the disappearance from the competition of such a good side as Leicester City, whose brilliant play has raised Second Division stock to a higher standard than for some seasons. Daily Express

The Leicester inside trio of Chandler, Duncan and Carr were far more impressive than the whole of the Cardiff forwards, and the Welshmen are fortunate to have a half-back line that includes such men as Keenor and Hardy, and they strove valiantly to thwart the Leicester goal getters. Daily Express

If there is one player more sorry for himself than any other it must be Adam Black. It was he who gave away the corner, deliberately I thought, which caused so dramatic a defeat. This was the only thing he did approaching a mistake; in fact, he was the most outstanding player of all. Daily Chronicle

Black is a stripling of a full-back with a marvelous intuition of positional play, and his frustration of Davies and Beadles on his wing was, the dramatic climax aside, easily the best feature of the match. Westminster Gazette

Well might the Cardiff enthusiasts rejoice - this was a victory so sudden, so unexpected, and so undeserved on the balance of play. The Times.
The cartoonists had their say too.

This was the Western Mail's take on the clash between Arthur Chandler and Fred Keenor:




'Completely bottled' is a bit of an exaggeration. Channy didn't score, but reading the match reports it seems their battle was more like 50-50.


This was the Leicester Chronicle on Leicester fans' chant after the game:



That was one of the most common call and response refrains of the day - 'Are we downhearted?' 'No!!!' It was popular during the Great War:

The Chronicle also had this take on Adam Black conceding that last minute corner:

This is what he did:



And this is what he should have done:





Finally, the most celebrated cartoonist of the age Tom Webster's take on the quarter finals in the Weekly Dispatch:

 

[Kushiro2]

That song Leicester fans were singing after the final whistle in Cardiff really was one of our own. 'Are We Downhearted?' was co-written by Lawrence Wright, who grew up in the city and used to wheel his piano to Leicester Market where he'd play his own songs then sell the sheet music for a penny.

Later he founded Melody Maker and established his own music publishing empire.

When he was playing those tunes in the market at the start of the twentieth century it was a struggle to be heard over the cries of the stall holders - people such as Albert Lineker on his fruit and veg stall. Now, three days after the defeat at Ninian Park, Albert's son Harold's big Cup moment arrived.

For the first time, Leicester Boys had made it to the First Round Proper of the English Schools Shield, and on this day, Tuesday March 10th, they faced West Ham at Filbert Street. These were the line-ups:




West Ham's left half is called Garnett!!

Can you tell which one is Harry? (answer at the end of this post):



Here's the report from the Evening Mail:

Leicester Boys put up a great fight against West Ham. There were ovr 4,000 present as Leicester kicked off towards the Spion Kop. The Londoners had a pronounced advantage in the height and weight of their backs and half-backs.

Some pretty footwork was seen in the opening stages, the Leicester lads especially displaying nice combination. West Ham were dangerous when set going but the Leicester backs were playing a great game.

West Ham improved in attacking methods before the interval and Garnett hit the post with a long shot. Then Bramley of King Richard Road School headed just wide for Leicester.

Half Time: Leicester 0 West Ham 0

In the second half, the home side fought desperately for the lead but several pretty movements broke down in front of the Londoners' goal. The home custodian Breward of Mantle Road School was not called upon until ten minutes from time when he brought off a brilliant save at the foot of the post.

All the Leicester lads are to be congratulated on their splendid display. Final Score: 0-0.


Did you spot Harry Lineker?



A little knowledge of team photo convention between the wars would give you the answer without the appeal to family resemblance. The five on the front row were typically the forward line - in the correct order. So being the outside right in the team, Harry would naturally sit in that position.

Compare that picture with this one taken two days later, before Leicester's home game with Crystal Palace:



You can see the five forwards seated in formation - Adcock, Duncan, Chandler, Carr and Wadsworth.

Note too the similarity of the goalkeeper's cap in the two photos. Bert Godderidge was no doubt the hero of the Boys' keeper Breward. Who knows - that might even be Godderidge's cap that he's wearing - in a 1920s version of 'Kasper - can I have your gloves?'

Harry Lineker must have had a special affection for the man in his position, too - Hugh Adcock, the Coalville man who would win England honours in the years ahead.

Four days ahead the Boys' would be heading to London for the replay at Upton Park. And before that, Palace would be at Filbert Street for that crucial game. We had to shake off the Cup defeat and get our minds back on promotion. As this wonderful cartoon in the Football Post illustrates, we could now focus all our attention on the League:




The attention to detail is impressive (reminiscent of Squires in the Guardian) - look at the FA Cup shaped hat of the woman who jilted him

(I wonder if Harry Lineker was ever likened to that shape in the way his grandson would be).

 

[Kushiro2]

The last word on the drama in Cardiff is this picture:



It won a gold medal in the arts category at the Paris Olympics in the summer of 1924, just as the International Board were altering the law on scoring direct from a corner kick.

The painter was Jean Jacoby from Luxembourg and the title of the work is simply 'corner'. Quite a portent of the drama at Ninian Park (and the colours match too).

 

[Kushiro2]

League Match No. 30
Thursday March 12th 1925
Leicester City v Crystal Palace

It was a crucial time for Leicester Corporation's housing plans. After Major Winstanley refused to sell his 1,000 acre Braunstone estate, the council sought a compulsory purchase order so they could build 10,000 houses on the site. This week the government gave the plan the go-ahead.

'The Braunstone Estate comprises the whole of Major Winstanley's estate north-east of Coalpit Lane between Narborough Road and Hinckley Road' the Evening Mail explained, and 'it is admirably placed for the needs of the city. It is surrounded by main roads, it is well timbered, and contains a beautiful park which is preserved in the town plan as an open space for all time. The estate is served by two tramway routes (Western Park and Narborough Road) and can be conveniently and scientifically drained and sewered'.

This is how the area looked at the time - Hinckley Road rolling across the top, the red line showing Narborough Road, and Filbert Street far right:




The green light for the Braunstone plans came just six months after work began on the Saffron Lane Estate - see Match No. 7 above.

For Leicester City, it was back to the business of the promotion race - and that cartoon in the Football Post is so good it deserves another outing:



Jack Bamber picked up an ankle injury at Cardiff so the versatile Norman Watson, who'd filled in at outside right recently, now came in at left half.

At the start, Leicester were totally in control, but couldn't turn the pressure into goals. Then, as the Daily Express told us:

Palace obtained one of the luckiest goals that they or any other team have scored. Harry Hooper, who had checked a Palace attack, had plenty of time to clear but passed the ball back to keeper Godderidge. Black tried to make it easier for him to pick the ball up but diverted the ball away from the keeper who, in turning to retrieve the situation, slipped and fell over, leaving Fred Groves, who had followed up, to tap the ball over the line.

After the last minute drama on Saturday when Black conceded the corner, our full backs clearly thought the back pass was the safer option.

Just before half time we equalized when 'Carrigan sent in a hard, long shot that Bill Harper caught and then cleared - but the referee ruled that a goal had been scored despite the protests of the Palace players'.

After the break, 'The Midlanders' victory was assured when the impressive Wadsworth was brought down in the penalty area and Black made no mistake with a low drive. Soon after, Wadsworth gave Chandler a chance and his shot banged the bar, Duncan shooting through on the rebound with a shot that Harper never saw'.

3-1 was the final score.

The Evening Mail asked 'O.C.', a 'former footballer', to give his thoughts on the game, and he was refreshingly blunt:

I was not privileged to see one of the best displays. I had the feeling that there were slight swellings on some of the team's heads as a result of the admiration that has been poured over them in recent weeks. They seemed to despise their enemies - never a safe thing to do.

I cannot say I was impressed by Godderidge in goal. He did not have a great deal to do, but on at least two occasions he displayed shockingly bad judgment. if the backs could be a little less clever in passing back they would be a really fine pair. The first time I saw Black play I realised here is class, and Hooper is a fitting companion.

I liked the wing halves enormously, especially Watson. Carrigan is a tremendous worker at centre-half but not the skilled attacker that Mick O'Brien was. However, I think he is a better defender.

And now the forwards. I liked John Duncan the best of the whole team. He is a great worker and very clever, but best of all he does not bump the ball about with his head, one of the besetting sins of professional sides. He traps the ball brilliantly and gets moving at once, which is far more useful than butting it into the air. Every move of his is purposeful.

Carr was very clever at dribbling but I never saw any advantage come from his showy displays. I wanted to shout at him "Get on with the game!" I think he was the worst offender at despising his enemies.

Chandler had an off-day but I would not like to play centre-half against him. He is a goer and quick off the mark. And finally the wingers - Adcock does not have the sheer neatness of foot that Wadsworth shows. The worst of both of them was that they always seemed to think it necessary to stop and trick the opposing half near the corner flag before centring. I was brought up to believe that the square centre on the run before the half can catch you and with the defence generally out of place ought to be the aim of a winger. I recommend to Wadsworth, Adcock and Carr never to give the defence a single unnecassary second in which to recover or take position. From the observation of this maxim, goals come.


Wonderful stuff, isn't it? But what would the players have made of all that advice for the forward line? We were hardly short of goals - our current total of 86 in League and Cup was way ahead of any other team in the four divisions.

The victory lifted us back into second place in the table, above Manchester United. On Monday, Derby had beaten Barnsley 3-0 at the Baseball Ground, and this was how things now stood:



So it was another of those happy Thursday afternoons for Leicester fans. Two days later, Fulham were due at Filbert Street. Our double dream had gone, now we had a dozen games left to win the heart of Miss Promotion.

 

[kendalfox]

Brilliant

View attachment 8145

League Match No. 30
Thursday March 12th 1925
Leicester City v Crystal Palace

It was a crucial time for Leicester Corporation's housing plans. After Major Winstanley refused to sell his 1,000 acre Braunstone estate, the council sought a compulsory purchase order so they could build 10,000 houses on the site. This week the government gave the plan the go-ahead.

'The Braunstone Estate comprises the whole of Major Winstanley's estate north-east of Coalpit Lane between Narborough Road and Hinckley Road' the Evening Mail explained, and 'it is admirably placed for the needs of the city. It is surrounded by main roads, it is well timbered, and contains a beautiful park which is preserved in the town plan as an open space for all time. The estate is served by two tramway routes (Western Park and Narborough Road) and can be conveniently and scientifically drained and sewered'.

This is how the area looked at the time - Hinckley Road rolling across the top, the red line showing Narborough Road, and Filbert Street far right:

View attachment 8146


The green light for the Braunstone plans came just six months after work began on the Saffron Lane Estate - see Match No. 7 above.

For Leicester City, it was back to the business of the promotion race - and that cartoon in the Football Post is so good it deserves another outing:

View attachment 8148

Jack Bamber picked up an ankle injury at Cardiff so the versatile Norman Watson, who'd filled in at outside right recently, now came in at left half.

At the start, Leicester were totally in control, but couldn't turn the pressure into goals. Then, as the Daily Express told us:

Palace obtained one of the luckiest goals that they or any other team have scored. Harry Hooper, who had checked a Palace attack, had plenty of time to clear but passed the ball back to keeper Godderidge. Black tried to make it easier for him to pick the ball up but diverted the ball away from the keeper who, in turning to retrieve the situation, slipped and fell over, leaving Fred Groves, who had followed up, to tap the ball over the line.

After the last minute drama on Saturday when Black conceded the corner, our full backs clearly thought the back pass was the safer option.

Just before half time we equalized when 'Carrigan sent in a hard, long shot that Bill Harper caught and then cleared - but the referee ruled that a goal had been scored despite the protests of the Palace players'.

After the break, 'The Midlanders' victory was assured when the impressive Wadsworth was brought down in the penalty area and Black made no mistake with a low drive. Soon after, Wadsworth gave Chandler a chance and his shot banged the bar, Duncan shooting through on the rebound with a shot that Harper never saw'.

3-1 was the final score.

The Evening Mail asked 'O.C.', a 'former footballer', to give his thoughts on the game, and he was refreshingly blunt:

I was not privileged to see one of the best displays. I had the feeling that there were slight swellings on some of the team's heads as a result of the admiration that has been poured over them in recent weeks. They seemed to despise their enemies - never a safe thing to do.

I cannot say I was impressed by Godderidge in goal. He did not have a great deal to do, but on at least two occasions he displayed shockingly bad judgment. if the backs could be a little less clever in passing back they would be a really fine pair. The first time I saw Black play I realised here is class, and Hooper is a fitting companion.

I liked the wing halves enormously, especially Watson. Carrigan is a tremendous worker at centre-half but not the skilled attacker that Mick O'Brien was. However, I think he is a better defender.

And now the forwards. I liked John Duncan the best of the whole team. He is a great worker and very clever, but best of all he does not bump the ball about with his head, one of the besetting sins of professional sides. He traps the ball brilliantly and gets moving at once, which is far more useful than butting it into the air. Every move of his is purposeful.

Carr was very clever at dribbling but I never saw any advantage come from his showy displays. I wanted to shout at him "Get on with the game!" I think he was the worst offender at despising his enemies.

Chandler had an off-day but I would not like to play centre-half against him. He is a goer and quick off the mark. And finally the wingers - Adcock does not have the sheer neatness of foot that Wadsworth shows. The worst of both of them was that they always seemed to think it necessary to stop and trick the opposing half near the corner flag before centring. I was brought up to believe that the square centre on the run before the half can catch you and with the defence generally out of place ought to be the aim of a winger. I recommend to Wadsworth, Adcock and Carr never to give the defence a single unnecassary second in which to recover or take position. From the observation of this maxim, goals come.


Wonderful stuff, isn't it? But what would the players have made of all that advice for the forward line? We were hardly short of goals - our current total of 86 in League and Cup was way ahead of any other team in the four divisions.

The victory lifted us back into second place in the table, above Manchester United. On Monday, Derby had beaten Barnsley 3-0 at the Baseball Ground, and this was how things now stood:

View attachment 8149

So it was another of those happy Thursday afternoons for Leicester fans. Two days later, Fulham were due at Filbert Street. Our double dream had gone, now we had a dozen games left to win the heart of Miss Promotion.

 

[Kushiro2]

League Match No. 31
Saturday March 14th 1925
Leicester City v Fulham


Harvey Darvill had been quickly forgotten. When these two clubs met in November, the Fulham centre forward was involved in a heavy collision with our keeper George Hebden, and two weeks later Darvill died from the internal injuries he sustained. Despite that, there was no commemoration before today's game, nor any mention of his name in the newspapers this weekend, either in Leicester or London. 1925 was very different from 2025 (and who can say which is better).

Darvill's position in the Fulham line up had been taken by George Edmonds, while Hebden, who lost his place his place following the events at Craven Cottage, was now turning out regularly for our Reserves. Bert Godderidge had stepped in and established himself as our first team keeper (recall that Hebden had to attend the coroner's inquest in London, giving Godderidge his chance).

That game in November had finished 2-2, but today there was only one team in it. 'Fulham started to defend in the first minute and continued to defend to the last', reported the Daily Express, a view the Daily Chronicle backed up: 'In the first minute the Fulham goal was on the point of collapse, and for practically the whole game, Fulham keeper Fred Whalley and his colleagues were kept in a similar state of suspense.

It took us twenty minutes to make the breakthrough. 'Chandler and Duncan - those two minds with but a single thought - between them obtained the first goal. Chandler brought the ball forward, but seeing his teammate in a better position, passed it on. Duncan ran in and from fifteen yards shot a glorious goal high into the far corner of the net'. (Daily Chronicle)

'Ten minutes from the interval came an even better goal. Chandler found his way blocked by two opponents but neatly lifted the ball over both their heads. Duncan, with splendid anticipation, ran forwards at the same time and as Whalley came out to meet him, he lobbed the ball over the custodian into the net'. (Daily Chronicle)

People in the centre of town snapping up the Mercury's 4.30 edition saw this headline above the first half report:



It took us just five minutes of the second half to extend the lead. 'A pass from the right found Duncan twenty five yards out. He had to overcome a challenge when he was running into a shooting position but was not shaken off the ball and scored his third in the coolest style'. (Mercury)

Fulham were playing the 'one-back game' - where one of the full backs pushes up in an attempt to catch a forward offside (this was still possible under the old rule - which changed at the end of this season). Their trap worked occasionally, but still we made chances, one of which saw Chandler hit the bar with his best effort of the afternoon.

It was Hugh Adcock who added a fourth after 75 minutes. 'The inside men drew the defenders, and the ball came wide to the outside right, who beat Whalley comfortably'. (Football Post)

4-0 was the final score, and there was good news from elsewhere. Leaders Derby were at The Dell to face the side that had beaten Liverpool a week earlier to give the Second Division a representative in the FA Cup Semi-Finals. Southampton kept up that form today with a 1-0 victory that left the Rams just two points ahead of us, having played two games more. Meanwhile, Man U and Chelsea were both winning to stay in touch with the top two:



Our four goals took our total to 79 in the League, 90 in total - with Chandler on 34 and Duncan 31. The 'two minds with a single thought' were monopolising the leading scorers' list.



Duncan's three goals today completed a remarkable sequence. In our last ten home games, there had been five hat-tricks. Had the tradition of keeping the match ball been in place then, there wouldn't have been any balls left at Filbert Street. (This is where I need your help. I haven't been able to find out when the tradition of keeping the match ball after a hat-trick started. Google, wikipedia, AI - they all draw a blank. Any bright ideas?)

Let's reflect a bit more on that crazy stat. Since the Walkers became the King Power 14 years ago, there have been five Leicester hat-tricks at the stadium. In the heady days of winter in 1925, home fans witnessed the same number of hat-tricks in the space of just eleven weeks.

Duncan's latest treble came at just the right time. In midweek he would be playing in the Scottish trial match that would help the selectors choose the line up for the England game at Hampden. It's hard to imagine that any of his rivals for the inside right position were playing at the same consistent level of excellence - but in fact, as we were beating Fulham, those selectors were at Goodison Park to see the Football League play the Scottish League. And the performance of the Scottish forward line that day had reporters reaching for the superlatives.

'For those who watch English football week after week, the Scottish forward play was a revelation', said Athletic News, 'They were the superior ball players, their closer, cleverer combination a contrast with the sweeping and aggressive methods of the English forwards. Nothing so attractive as the incisive play of Morton and Cairns, the brilliant Rangers left wing pair, or Gallacher and Russell, the centre-forward and inside-right of Airdrieonians, has been witnessed south of the border this season. In fact, it is doubtful whether forward play of this standard has been seen since the England - Scotland game in 1920'.

Willie Russell, playing in Duncan's position, scored two of their three goals. Sadly for the Scots, their defence wasn't up to the same standard, conceding four times to give the Football League XI a narrow victory.

Having seen the Airdire pair perform so well together, could the selectors overlook them for the full international side? Duncan would have to be at his very best in the trial game to force his way into the side.

Meanwhile, in London that Saturday morning another Cup dream was dying. After the goalless draw at Filbert Street on Tuesday, Leicester Boys traveled to Upton Park for their replay with West Ham. The Mercury reported that 'the best moment of the first half came when a grand effort by Lineker led to Hill netting, but it was ruled offside'. It was a tight game, and the decisive moment came eleven minutes from the end when 'English scored a great goal for West Ham'. Leicester then 'tried hard for an equalising goal but the fates were against them'.

In the 1940s and 1960s, the Leicester Boys' side would taste glory in this competition, but for this side the journey was over.

A week after Leicester City's FA Cup defeat, the Football Post refelcted on the momentous events at Ninian Park. It's a striking passage, worth reproducing at length:

'The inexplicable and mysterious whimsicalities of the Football Gods are so amazing at times as to make us gasp in astonishment. But I have never witnessed a precedent for what happened on Saturday, and I doubt if I or any others present will ever live to see its counterpart again.

Your fiction writers have many times woven a fantastic climax to their sporting novelettes by the aid of a particularly vivid imagination, but here was truth much stranger than fiction. Thirty seconds remained when there was enacted the most sensational football miracle.

Duncan and his colleagues were attacking when Bill Hardy sent the ball to the other end, where Black was forced by Beadles to give away that fateful corner. Davies had eight seconds in which to gather the ball, place it and take the kick.

The spectacle of the players lined up in the goalmouth was watched with an intense excitement, and the flight of the ball was eagerly followed by thousands of eyes as it soared from the corner flag to drop in front of goal. Then like a bolt from the blue came the capricious breeze that swept it into the net, to the great astonishment of Davies and his colleagues and to the bewilderment of the City players.

For a second or two, a sea of faces were silent and dumbfounded, but this gave way to a tremendous shout of ecstatic joy, which must have resounded through every street of Cardiff and down the valleys beyond.

It was a bitter pill for John Duncan to swallow, and after the match I listened to his fears that the reverse, so undeserved and so extraordinarily uncanny after a long sequence of success, might undermine the morality of the men who splendidly support him on and off the field.

Such fears, I am convinced, have no being except in the captain's own mind, which was full to overflowing with a great disappointment, and even the captain must have gained some relief and consolation from the splendid reception the team received upon their arrival at Leicester the same night. The shouts and the cheering which the Royal Blues supporters gave them was just that spoonful of luscious jam which removes the nasty taste of a bitter pill from the mouth.

Even reverses have their consolation, and the team may take heart, proud in the knowledge that they have penned the most illustrious page in the history of the club so far, a page that teems with splendid deeds performed and glorious victories gained'.

 

[Kushiro2]

This is how we fared over the first 31 games of the season:




Now, with our midweek game in hand at Oldham coming up, we had the chance to make the final step and leapfrog Derby County at the top of Division Two.

We'd be traveling to Boundary Park, however, without our captain and our manager. Johnny Duncan was heading for Shawfield, home of Clyde FC, where the Scottish international trial was scheduled for the same night.

We could have refused to release Duncan, saying we needed him for such an important League game. Other clubs had done just that. But Leicester didn't. In fact, manager Peter Hodge was so proud of his skipper getting the chance for international recognition that he decided to travel up to Scotland with him.

News of Duncan's exploits at Leicester preceded him. This is what the press north of the border had to say before the game:

The selectors have been told again and again - and never more than last weekend - that they must play Duncan, the ex-Raith Rover who is credited with "making" the Leicester City team. At the moment it is a close-run thing between Duncan and Willie Russell. (Edinburgh Evening News)

One man who has a big chance is Johnny Duncan, the Leicester inside-right. "Tokey" isn't traveling to Shawfield simply to get the trip home. The old Raith Rover is coming north to show he is the great forward the English critics say he is. (Daily Record)

With Duncan at the trial, Buchanan Sharp was drafted in to play right half at Oldham.

How would we fare without our talisman? Would we regret not putting club before country? Might it even prove crucial in the race for promotion?

We'll find out tomorrow.

 

[Kushiro2]

League Match No. 31
Tuesday March 17th 1925
Oldham Athletic v Leicester City

As some readers have no doubt reflected, the season whose 100th anniversary is being celebrated has turned into the absolute mirror-image of the present campaign. The only thing left in the 2024/25 season is the final indignity of being overtaken by Southampton and being consigned to the position that would truly reflect the quality of our performances on and off the field.

Back in 1925, the reverse was the case. Only one team in Division Two had captured the imagination of the whole country, banging in goals for fun and playing scintillating football wherever we went. All that remained was for our position in the table to catch up with our reputation. As the team set off for Oldham, they finally had the chance to reach the summit.

When the game kicked off, however, it looked like 'the curse' was going to strike again.

Twice already this season a former Leicester player had come back to haunt us. Following Hull's Mick O'Brien and South Shields' Sandy Trotter, it was George Douglas' turn to make us wish we'd never got rid of him.

George had an eventful career. He won two England Amateur caps before the war, then in 1919 he scored the first ever goal for the club called 'Leicester City'' (for the full details see his profile in Of Fossils And Foxes). Now at 31 he was playing outside right for Oldham.



In the first half at Boundary Park, he was doing all he could to end our four month unbeaten run in the League. The home side were making all the chances, and without Johnny Duncan, we were lacking our usual fluency.

Early on, Douglas had 'a great shot that flew just over the bar', then he was 'troublesome again, setting up Reg Watson, who shot poorly'. Soon after that Douglas was the provider again, but once more Leicester were fortunate that Watson couldn't find the target.

'If Oldham had converted half the chances they created in the first half', said Scrutator in the Evening Mail, 'they would have won comfortably. George Douglas was their most brilliant and dangerous forward. But their finishing was wretched'.

It was scoreless at the break, with our forward line having hardly had a look in. 'We had witnessed none of those beautiful combined movements, for which City are justly famous this season'.

Then at the start of the second half, a defensive mistake suddenly left Chandler clear in front of goal, and he put us in front with our first real chance. That seemed to knock the stuffing out of Oldham, and we controlled the rest of the game. There were chances for Buchanan Sharp, Duncan's replacement, and for Channy again, but there were no further goals.

We had scraped a 1-0 win, but that was enough. The two points put us top of the table for the first time:



Most of the Manchester United players and directors were at Boundary Park to see their promotion rivals in action. 'They are more afraid of Leicester than of Derby', wrote 'Scrutator', who had a chance to speak to the United party.

200 miles north, Johnny Duncan was having a frustrating time at the Scottish trial. 'He showed clever touches', reported the Daily Record, 'but was unfortunate enough to be in a match in which most of the participants were doing little more than swinging out time'. That view of the game was shared by the Edinburgh Evening News, which told us that 'the play was never fast, and never in the faintest degree exciting'.

It was a remarkable contrast with the Scottish League XI's performance at the weekend, and that wasn't good news for Duncan.

Manager Peter Hodge, watching in the stand at Shawfield, would have been doubly anxious. He had come all this way to see a game in which his star player was struggling to do himself justice. And this after he had so selflessly put country before club. 'If we've not got a result at Oldham', he'd have been thinking, 'I'm going to look a right eejit'.

Meanwhile in Leicester it was 'back to school on Monday' for Harold Lineker after the defeat at West Ham, and his football career would go no further. His father would soon have him working full time on the stall on Leicester Market. Many years later he would reflect on what might have been. 'He did have the chance to turn professional', Colin Malam wrote after talking to Harold for his biography of grandson Gary. 'But there was no money in it in those days, and his father wanted him to work in the family business. So that was it. He never really had the chance'.

It seems Harold didn't have to work Saturday afternoons, though. He was already a Filbert Street season ticket holder, and with the win at Oldham, he was even more hopeful that we'd soon be up where we belonged - in the First Division.

 

[Kushiro2]

League Match No.33
Saturday March 21st 1925
Portsmouth v Leicester City

Top of the League, unbeaten in fifteen games, ten to play.

This was our first League visit to Fratton Park, the ground that had a unique feature - a pavilion and clock tower in the corner:




That balcony must have been a great place to watch a match from:





Sadly, that charming pavilion would be torn down at the end of this season to make way for Archibald Leitch's new Main Stand, with its trademark criss-cross steelwork feature. Here it is under construction in the summer of 1925:




As well as the Pompey Chimes, the chant on the Fratton Park terraces in those days was 'To Be A Farmer's Boy', sung for Willie Haines, their centre forward who was top scorer in Division Three South the previous season:




Their chairman was Bob Blyth, the uncle of Bill Shankly. He was the first former player to become chairman of a Football League club.




We were back to full strength, with Johnny Duncan and Jack Bamber returning. As at Oldham on Tuesday night, we were playing in red shirts. The Portsmouth Evening News said that: 'The visit of Leicester City this afternoon is of exceptional interest because the Midlanders have been boomed recently as 'the wonder team of the season'.

It took that team just nine minuts to take the lead - 'from the right, Adcock played the ball to Chandler. He met it, swerved round Clifford into position for a shot and found the net with a well-placed effort'. That was his 30th League goal of the season.

Pompey fans would have been fearing a repeat of the 4-0 defeat at Filbert Street, but fifteen minutes later they were level. Haines had a shot that was pushed out by Godderidge, but Willie Beedie was there to push home the rebound. Leicester defenders were convinced there had been a handball, but despite lengthy protests, the goal stood.

Straight after that Godderidge made a double save to keep us level, the second one 'a splendid one-handed parry, turning Mackie's close range shot over the crossbar when a goal seemed certain'. Then at the other end Pompey keeper Alex Kane made an equally impressive stop from Chandler.

1-1 was the half-time score.

With Duncan back we had recovered our fluidity, and we pressed hard for a winner. The Evening Mail told us that 'The Portsmouth backs came in for a deal of good-natured chaff from the spectators, who shouted "windy!" - an accusaton of having got the wind up'. At the other end, farmer's boy Haines wasn't getting much of a look in, as 'Carrigan never left him'.

Duncan it was who came closest to a second goal, his shot coming back off the bar. In the end, though, we had to settle for a point. The unbeaten sequence stretched to sixteen but the seven game winning run was over.

Elsewhere, second played fourth at the Baseball Ground in a game Chelsea knew they had to win to have any chance of getting back in the promotion race. Derby''s England international Harry Storer returned after three months out, and he was the main character in an extraordinary game.

Storer was injured early on with a heavy blow to the ribs, but the tradition in the days before substitutes was to struggle on, and he switched out to the wing, just a passenger for the rest of the game. At least, that's what the Chelsea defenders thought. Early in the second half with the game goalless, a clearance found him unmarked out on the left. From 25 yards he summoned up the energy to fire in a right foot shot - 'one of those perfect shots now seldom seen' - which flew into the corner of the net. 'The effort proved too much for him and he collapsed on the pitch, having to be carried off by ambulance men'.

Derby's ten men held out desperately for the rest of the game and 1-0 was the final score. Chelsea's challenge was surely over, but with Leicester only drawing, Storer's heroics took Derby back to the top. Manchester United stayed right in touch, winning 1-0 at Hull with another crucial Arthur Lochhead goal.






Port Vale's 4-2 win over Clapton Orient took them up to fifth (which is still the highest the club has ever finished in the Football League. ) Wilf Kirkham, who would become the club's all-time leading scorer, got a hat-trick to put him on the division's top scorers' list, which was still dominated by Leicester:



It was a historic day in Scotland with the opening of the new Murrayfield Stadium:



60,000 people, the biggest cowd ever to watch a game of rugby union, gathered to see Scotland beat England for the first time since 1912, completing the Grand Slam in the process.

In the round ball game, the Scotland v England fixture was just two weeks away. In the coming days Johnny Duncan would find out if his performance in the trial had got him into the line-up.

 

[Kushiro2]

League Match No. 34
Saturday March 28th
Leicester City v Hull City

With the club in a healthy financial position, and with ambitions of First Division football next season, plans were announced this week for an extension of the Main Stand. As you can see in the little picture above, the original stand covered only about two-thirds of the length of the pitch. Now, as the Mercury reported, 'Plans are being prepared for the addition of three bays to the present structure, two at the Spion Kop end and one at the other. This will provide about 2,000 additional seats, bringing the total to about 6,000'.

The new sections correspond roughly to what would later be known as the 'Wing Stands'.

Today's fixture against Hull City looked to have 'goals' written all over it. Paddy Mills, third in the top scorers' list, would be up against Arthur Chandler and Johnny Duncan, the men ahead of him.

Sadly for the visitors, Mills had to pull out on the morning of the game with illness, so we wouldn't have to face the man whose goals gave Hull victory in the reverse fixture in November. Mills had played at Filbert Street before, but his absence today meant It would be another 58 years before a member of this footballing family played on the ground again - that was in 1983 when 19 year-old Nigel Pearson, Paddy's great nephew, turned out for Shrewsbury (and couldn't stop a rampaging Gary Lineker scoring twice in a 3-2 win for Leicester).

When the game kicked off, it was Mills' replacement George Martin who came closest to scoring, his header only kept out by Godderdidge's fine save at the foot of a post. There wasn't much goalmouth action in the early stages, and all 'Scrutator' in the Leicester Mail could write was that 'a spell of midfield play was quite interesting on account of the pretty footwork that was witnessed'.

As the Hull Daily Mail reported, 'Chandler was not the man who scored a hat-trick in the Cup replay against Hull last month. He was under the thumb of the Hull captain. Mick O'Brien was the master this time, to such an extent that the Leicester supporters, who cheered him at first, changed their attitude when they realised how much their old player was keeping the home men in subjection'.

After 38 minutes we took the lead. Wadsworth's corner found George Carr and 'he headed a very pretty goal'. Chandler then hit the bar, and from the rebound, Carr 'could have walked the ball in but he was too eager and lifted the ball right over the Spion Kop roof and out of the ground'. Duncan then 'treated the crowd to a fine exposition of trickery', but after beating four opponents the final pass was intercepted.

The closest we came to adding to our lead in the second half was a Duncan header that hit the post. Hull never created a clear chance for an equalizer, and it finished 1-0. 'It was a game that lacked that measure of science usually associated with Filbert Street' said the Football Post, while the Hull Daily Mail said, 'A very lively party of Hull supporters had the satisfaction of seeing the Tigers giving the winners the closest run they have had for League points at home this year.'

The two points took us back to the top, as Derby could only draw 0-0 at Stockport, while Man U v Blackpool also finished goalless. That left us in a very handy position with eight to play:



Meanwhile in the FA Cup Semi-Final at Meadow Lane, Cardiff City faced Blackburn. At the start, Rovers fans were singing 'Cock of the North' (you know the tune - 'Oh we're the barmy Leicester army, la la la la la la'). But then Cardiff scored three times in fifteen minutes, and their fans taunted Rovers with 'Who killed Cock Robin?' Blackburn managed only a late consolation, so Cardiff were there - the first Welsh team in the Final. Leicester fans were left to reflect on what they might have done to that weak Blackburn side.

The other Semi-Final was Southampton v Sheffield United at Stamford Bridge, and it was a disaster for Saints right back Tom Parker. Leicester players down the years have had a few howlers in semis - like Ian Wilson's own goal in 1982 and Ian King's missed penalty in 1961. Tom Parker had both of those nightmare moments in the same game. In these great pictures from the Daily Mirror you can see his own goal that put United ahead, then his penalty that would have made up for it - had it not been saved:





Sheffield United ended up winning 2-1.

Following Cardiff's win, their striker Joe Nicholson was injured trying to escape from a throng of fans outside Meadow Lane. He climbed onto the canvas roof of a taxi only to fall through and suffer a cut to his knee. But that was nothing compared to the gauntlet future Leicester boss Dave Halliday had to run after his goal for Dundee helped them reach the Scottish Cup Final. This was how the caper was reported in the Dundee Courier:

On account of his height, Halliday was easily spotted and enthusiastic admirers pounced upon him almost immediately he emerged from the station. Eager hands raised him aloft and the triumphant crowd moved up Union Street. Halliday was then able to get down from his somewhat perilous perch, then the police took a hand. More than half a dozen blue coated figures joined hands to stem the crowd and Halliday saw his opportunity. He streaked off for safety up Tally Street with the pack in full flight. He quickly cut along Overgate but for him it was a tactical error and almost led to his undoing. About 10 yards from High Street an enthusiast spotted him and strongly tackled. Halliday pushed him off and it must have been a quaint site for the usual throng in Reform Street to see the dark blue center forward swing round into that thoroughfare at a fast pace, hat in hand. There he went all out and an extra spurt was sufficient for him to gain his freedom. Ultimately the crowd gave up the pursuit in the region of the Post Office.

It was quite an eventful weekend all round. Leicestershire's rugby team beat Gloucestershire 14-6 to win the County Championship for the first and only time. It's the longest standing competition run by the RFU, and though the team was called 'Leicestershire', it was basically a Leicester Tigers XV. It led to this fine cartoon in the Mercury, anticipating the sporting statue installed near the Clock Tower in 1997:



The caption reads 'Johnny Duncan capt. Leicester City: "What a pair of handsome ornaments we should make", with the words 'First Division" written on his bag.

We found out this week that Duncan would be free to play for us at Blackpool next Saturday. The teams for the Scotland v England game were announced, and it was disappointment for our skipper - and Arthur Chandler too. Both had featured in the trial matches, but both were overlooked. So it didn't happen then and it hasn't happened since - Leicester players on opposing sides in the Auld Enemy clash.

Meanwhile in London it was Boat Race day on the Thames, and this was the scene as the Oxford crew realised their boat was sinking:



They gave up and had to be rescued, allowing Cambridge to cruise home.

And with Oxford struggling on the Thames, let's spare a thought for Nottingham Forest, who were sinking rapidly into the River Trent. Their form was the exact opposite of ours. Our last League defeat was before Christmas, around the time Forest recorded their last victory. They were adrift at the bottom of Division One, nine points from safety. They were technically one place ahead of us in the Football League, but they were destined for relegation and several decades in the lower divisions.

Nottingham really was on the slide. County had been top of Division One in November, but their form since then had been nearly as bad as their neighbour, and they had fallen back into mid-table. The footballing depression hanging over the city must have been the reason for the pitiful attendance at the Cardiff - Blackburn semi-final. The 20,000 crowd was made up mostly of Welshmen and Lancastrians. Hardly any locals could be bothered, and the FA were paying close attention. Up to this point Nottingham had always been a popular choice as a neutral venue, as you can see from this remarkable map. It shows the FOUR grounds in the space of half a square mile that had staged an FA Cup semi-final - Meadow Lane, The City Ground, Trent Bridge and the already built-over Town Ground:



But with the apathy shown by the public this year, Nottingham would never again be chosen as one of the two semi-final venues (though the City Ground would stage a couple of SF replays, including Leicester v Sheffield United in 1961).

Overall, quite a weekend. And we only had two days to wait for the action to resume. A massive game was coming up on Monday - a trip to Molineux.

 

[Kushiro2]

League Match No. 35
Monday March 30th 1925 Kick off 5.10 pm
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leicester City

A week after announcing plans to extend the Main Stand at Filbert Street, we visited a club whose whole ground was being transformed. Wolves had approached Archibald Leitch and asked him to bring Molineux into the 20th century. His plan would change this:



Into one of the most atmospheric arenas of English football:



Leitch has featured almost as much as Johnny Duncan and Arthur Chandler in this story. This was the eleventh of his grounds we'd been to this season. But redevelopment work had recently been interrupted when the town was hit by gale force winds of such power that a brick wall and the roof of the Molineux Road Stand were blown into the street. This was the scene local residents woke up to on Sunday January 4th:



One man had a very lucky escape. Wolverhampton Corporation employee Arthur Jones was passing the ground at the time and 'narrowly avoided being hit by the press box' (which you can see in the picture, lying in the middle of the street).

That side of the ground was closed for several weeks, but it had just re-opened when we arrived for this Monday evening game. What now impressed the Leicester Evening Mail's 'Scrutator' was 'the enormous bank behind the goal - perhaps the finest of its kind in the country'.

The roof of that end had yet to be added, and in that state it was somehow even more imposing. When Hull City played here in the first game after the gale, it wasn't the empty Molineux Road side that distracted them, but that massive South Bank terrace, producing 'a curious feeling when running towards it'.

We were at full strength again, but in the first half it seemed that our players too were a little dazed by the surroundings. Our forward line couldn't get going at all, and the home side were on top. Wolves' inside-right J.P. O'Connor had their best effort, sending in a shot from the edge of the area that struck 'the bottom part of the crossbar' and bounced down on the line. They had several other attempts, none of which troubled Bert Godderidge.

After a goalless first half, we finally put a decent move together around the hour mark. George Carr found Chandler, who raced down the middle and beat keeper Noel George with 'a magnificent shot'.

It was our first, and only real chance of the game. After that Wolves continued to dominate play, but their attack was 'much cry and little wool'. With Adam Black and Harry Hooper outstanding at the back, we hung on for a precious win.

The Mercury put out a special Monday evening edition which hit the streets just after 7 o'clock. 'One Goal Suffices Again' was the headline. That was now four times in a row we'd scored just a single goal, but with our defensive solidity we'd still taken seven points out of eight. After the fireworks earlier in the season, March had been the month for grinding out results - exactly like 2016.

With seven to play, we'd finally got some daylight between ourselves and our rivals:



It was one of the great promotion surges. In our last sixteen games we had won twelve, drawn four and lost none.

The Leicester Chronicle had this take on the game at Wolves:









Meanwhile, our defeat in the FA Cup quarter-final had opened up an opportunity for another member of the Leicester football community. R.T. Bradshaw played for Coalville Albion FC before the war, and later turned to officiating. Today he was chosen as one of the two linesmen for the FA Cup Final.

Finally, in the Mercury today under the headline 'Leicester Market Sensation', this report appeared:

A stallholder who had adopted new methods of salesmanship has created a sensation in Leicester Market Place. He has solved the problem of eliminating the frequent complaints of customers that large and luscious fruits are displayed on the front of the stall and inferior quality put into the bag. "Oranges eight for sixpence! PICK YOUR OWN!", he roars. Other stallholders are indignant and are considering the advisability of joining together in protest.

Sadly, the report did not name the stallholder guilty of adopting this scandalous 'customer first' policy.


Who could it possibly be?


Any ideas?

 

[Kushiro2]

League Match No. 36
Saturday April 4th 1925
Blackpool v Leicester City

Next time you visit Blackpool (we could be playing them next season) take the opportunity to visit Leicester Road, a short walk from the Tower. It's not just the street name that'll give you a peculiar feeling. It's also the ghosts of the past. For it was on that site that we played our very first game in the town. In February 1897, Leicester Fosse lost 3-0 to Blackpool at the Raikes Hall ground, which was the most exotic venue in the League at the time.

The Raikes Hall Pleasure Grounds had an aquarium, a lake, a monkey hall, an opera house and a host of other facilities to entertain the public. In the picture below you can see the back of the stand at the football ground. That building on the right housed 'a replica of Niagara Falls':



The next shot was taken from the top of the Tower. You can see the lake, the stand and the pitch:



At the turn of the century, the Pleasure Grounds closed and the land was sold off for housing. Several new streets came into existence - Leicester Road, Lincoln Road, Leamington Road, Leeds Road, Liverpool Road and Longton Road (what the 'L' was going on?)

By the time of this match in 1925, Blackpool had been at their new home, Bloomfield Road, for more than two decades, though it was only the previous season that they'd adopted the famous tangerine jerseys. The Leicester party traveled up on the Friday, and no doubt a few supporters took the same journey and made a weekend of it.

Blackpool were the last team to beat us in the League - way back on November 29th. Since then, an unbeaten run of 18 games had put us within reach of promotion. Peter Hodge decided to give Hugh Adcock a rest for this trip. He hadn't been at his best in recent games, struggling to redsicover the scintillating form of the Newcastle cup tie. Norman Watson came in on the right wing.

We started the game on the front foot, and after Chandler shot just wide, we took the lead. Wadsworth put in a cross which Johnny Duncan and keeper Len Crompton both went up for. Duncan's head got there before the keeper's fist and the ball floated in to the net.

Watson was having a fine game on the wing, and as at Molineux on Monday, Black and Hooper were proving hard to beat at the back. Despite a lot of home pressure, we still led at the break.

Then came the controversial moment that turned the game.

'Jack Meredith had broken away and was making straight for goal when Jack Bamber, one of the cleanest and most accomplished half-backs in the game, overhauled him in the only possible way and charged him off the ball. So far as anybody could see it was perfectly fair and legitimate, but Meredith, who appeared to have his eye on the gallery, gave quite a spectacular melodramatic fall, and the general but erroneous impression was that he had been brutally dealt with. He lay inert and still as though badly hurt whilst the crowd clamoured for vengeance. The referee pointed to the spot, whereupon Meredith sprang up and rejoined the game'.

That's how the Leicester Evening Mail's 'Scrutator' saw the incident, and 'Albion' in the Mercury concurred, calling it 'an extremely mild infringement'. It should be added, though, that the neutral Athletic News cast no doubt on the ref's decision, saying simply that Meredith had been 'brought down in the area',

Blackpool's England forward Harry Bedford took the penalty, and though Godderidge got his hands to the ball, it squirmed over the line.

Leicester 'were not quite the same well-balanced force after this', and ten minutes from time, we conceded again. Godderidge decided to chase a ball out to the corner flag but lost possession to Georgie Mee (Bertie's older brother). He crossed, and both Bedford and Bert White had shots blocked, 'providing the greatest thrill of the match', but the ball now fell to Meredith, who knocked it past the floundering Godderidge.



2-1 was how it finished, Blackpool becoming the only team to do the double over us this season. Their two victories bookended our 18 game unbeaten run.

The big match of the day was second v third, Derby v Man U. Previewing the game, the Evening Mail claimed that 'If Leicester do go up, they would naturally prefer that Derby should accompany them'. Whether East Midlands rivalry was totally different back then, or the writer was simply out of touch with supporters' feelings, is unclear.

The key moment at the Baseball Ground came after just eight minutes. 'Derby's Harold Wightman lifted the ball high towards goal, and nobody expected to see the effort meet with success, but Alf Steward misjudged it and it sailed over his head into the net'. After that, 'United should have rescued the game but 'missed three open goals'.

So Derby moved level with us on points, though our goal average was far superior, 2.71 to 2.19:



And so that four month unbeaten run in the League was over. If you compare it with similar sequences in the second tier over the years, it stands out as our most impressive statistically. You can see below how most of those runs came at just the right time - as the season approached its climax. Note that 2023/24 stands out in two ways - Enzo Maresca's side had two separate spells of near-invincibility, and they were both much earlier in the campaign:



Meanwhile at Hampden Park today, Scotland beat England 2-0 in that game Duncan and Chandler missed out on. Leading the line for Scotland were the Airdrie pair of Willie Russell (in Duncan's inside right position), and centre forward Hughie Gallacher, who got both the goals. This was Airdrie's Golden Age, and the achievements of manager Willie Orr were not going unrecognised by the Leicester City directors. In the Scotland - England series overall, the Scots now had 21 wins to England's 14. It would be another 60 years before England caught up and then went ahead.

Finally, you couldn't keep Harold Lineker out of the news. After the exploits with Leicester Boys and the 'pick your own' rumpus on the market, he was announced today as one of the winners in the painting contest at his school, St. George's. What might he have chosen for his subject? His hero Hugh Adcock, flying down the wing at Filbert Street? The new War Memorial on Viccy Park, due to be officially unveiled in a couple of months? Or maybe his father George, allowing customers to choose whichever bananas they wanted. The romantically inclined may prefer to imagine that it was another familiar figure on the market that he portrayed, for it was likely around now, as his father told him he had to help out full time on the stall (rather than take up an offer from Leeds United), that he first met the daughter of Fred Hoare, a fellow fruit and veg seller. Her name was Alice. She would fall for this young man with both sporting and artistic talents, and they would be married eight years later.