Saturday 16 April 2016 10:59, UK
After 20 years of ups and downs following Leicester City, Jordan Halford considers what it would mean to him and his fellow fans if the Foxes were to complete the greatest achievement in the history of English football...
"It's your fault I support this team."
Those were the first words I reluctantly uttered to my Dad in rather more colourful language after departing Vicarage Road on 12 May 2013, having witnessed the most harrowing 20 seconds in 17 years of following my beloved football team.
There had undoubtedly been worse moments following Leicester City. Neil Young's winner for Manchester City in the 1969 FA Cup final after my then 15-year-old Dad had cycled round to his Uncle's on the Friday night to pick up two tickets to the game, our record fourth FA Cup final defeat in 20 years. Neighbours Nottingham Forest winning the First Division title in 1977/78 and subsequently the European Cup in 1978/79 and 1979/80 and not to mention two agonising play-off defeats against Blackburn Rovers and Swindon Town in the early 90s.
Allan Nielsen's 90th minute winner for 10-man Tottenham Hotspur in the 1999 Worthington Cup final at Wembley, Roy Essandoh's dramatic injury time goal to give lowly Wycombe Wanderers a place in the 2001 FA Cup semi-final at Filbert Street and relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time in our history after a goalless draw at promoted Stoke City in 2008 were all just a sample of the inherent misery of following Leicester in my short lifetime.
But this somehow eclipsed those. After scoring a last-gasp winner at the City Ground on the final day of the season to beat rivals Forest and clinch a play-off spot, Anthony Knockaert looked as though he would again be the hero and fire Leicester to the newly-rebuilt Wembley for the first time.
But after being awarded a dubious penalty, Knockaert stepped up ahead of both regular penalty takers David Nugent and Chris Wood, who had been substituted, only to see his spot kick and tame rebound saved by Watford goalkeeper Manuel Almunia in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
I took my glasses off in preparation so they didn't break and stood next to a friend, who had broken his leg, to celebrate with him. You know what happened next. My Dad proclaimed before the game that he 'had seen it all' following City, but he hadn't seen anything like that. It was the closest thing to a bereavement I have experienced; there was an inconsolable girl in floods of tears next to me, makeup streaming down her face. The away end was like a morgue in stark contrast to the scenes of pure jubilation on the pitch. We didn't leave the ground or speak to each other for what seemed an eternity afterwards. I still to this day haven't watched it back.
Yet almost three seasons later, Leicester City are five games away from being crowned Champions of England for the first time in our 132-year history.
My earliest recollection of falling in love with Leicester coincidentally came at the same ground 17 years earlier, when Muzzy Izzet's header again gave us a play-off spot on the final day of the season. Leicester had been relegated from the Premier League in their only season in the newly-fangled top flight back in 1994/95 after Steve Walsh's brace had made it third time lucky in the 1994 play-off final with a 2-1 win over local rivals Derby and were top of the second tier when Mark McGhee unexpectedly quit to join Wolves in December 1995.
I was told we lost 1-0 to a harsh penalty against Blackburn Rovers in 1992, while a year later in 1993 in true Foxes fashion we somehow managed to come back from 3-0 down in 12 second-half minutes only to again lose to a 84th minute spot kick against Swindon Town. My Dad said after unearthing from celebrating the equaliser, he was several rows away from his seat.
After beating Stoke in the semi-final, we found ourselves in a fourth play-off final in just five years against Crystal Palace in 1996 under the guidance of Martin O'Neill. Having trailed to Andy Roberts' 14th minute strike, City hit back through a Garry Parker penalty to take the game into extra-time and with 6ft 7ins Australian goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac stepping off the bench in preparation for a dreaded shootout, Steve Claridge shinned home the winner with the last kick of the game to send City back to the promised land for the second time. It was my first trip to Wembley and I can still recall singing 'Super Stevie Claridge' walking down the stairs beneath the famous Twin Towers aged just six.
What followed was the most unprecedented period of success in the club's history. Following promotion, City established themselves in the Premiership with four successive top ten finishes while O'Neill also ended Leicester's 33-year wait for a major trophy, winning the Coca Cola Cup with a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough in a replay at Hillsborough.
The Foxes reached the final again a year later only to lose to Spurs, but a Matt Elliott brace in 2000 meant City clinched the Worthington Cup after beating Tranmere Rovers 2-1 to lift their first ever trophy at the old Empire Stadium. I asked my Dad on the coach after the game why he was drinking champagne, 16 years without a domestic trophy later, I understand why.
Leicester also qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1997/98 and 2000/01, the club's first European competition since 1961, where they suffered a 4-1 aggregate defeat to eventual semi-finalists Atletico Madrid and a 4-2 aggregate defeat to Red Star Belgrade respectively. 'This is as good as it gets for Leicester,' proclaimed O'Neill. 'Don't get used to this,' scorned my Dad. But aged 11 I didn't heed their warning, I thought this was normal.
However, shortly after winning the League Cup in 2000 things began to unravel. Academy graduate Emile Heskey signed for Liverpool in March for a club record fee of £11million, before O'Neill himself was lured to boyhood club Celtic that summer. England under-21 coach Peter Taylor was his replacement and after an unbeaten eight-game start to the season City topped the English pyramid in October after a 0-0 draw with Sunderland.
When Taylor's side travelled to Arsenal on Boxing Day, they were fourth in the Premier League, just three points off the Gunners in second but after a 6-1 thumping at Highbury, City went into freefall finishing the campaign with 12 straight defeats on the road and picking up just three points from their final 10 games to slump to 13th. The honeymoon was over.
The following campaign saw City bid farewell to their Filbert Street home of 111 years with just five league wins all season and relegation from the top flight, before moving into the 32,500-seat Walkers Stadium at the start of 2002/03. At a cost of £37million, City were subsequently placed in administration in October before going on to clinch promotion back to the Premier League under Micky Adams.
It proved to be a false dawn rather than the start of a revival and after just a year back in the top flight, Leicester were again relegated to the rebranded Championship. It was a period which saw me fall out of love with my boyhood team, disillusioned with the spiralling direction the club were going under Craig Levein and then Rob Kelly. In February 2007, ex-Portsmouth owner Milan Mandaric bought the club but following a string of managers, City were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in our history in 2008.
It was our lowest ebb in 124 years.
I spent my 19th birthday at Edgeley Park as City were held to a goalless draw with Stockport County in our first away game in League One, sat in the home end at Whaddon Road as we trounced Cheltenham Town 4-0 and travelled to Brighton on a Tuesday night as we squandered a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at the Withdean Stadium. The fog was so thick that night we could barely see the goals at the opposite end.
Despite further setbacks at Swindon and Peterborough, away wins at Hereford and Southend either side of a late Steve Howard winner at home to Leeds saw us bounce back to the second tier at the first attempt. The trips to Edgar Street and Roots Hall still rank among my favourite days following City. We might have been a big fish in a small pond, but it was the first time in my life I had seen my team crowned champions after 13 years of following Leicester.
I remembered once again what it was like to feel proud of your hometown.
Our resurgence continued the following season under Nigel Pearson as we finished fifth in the Championship, only to suffer a heart-breaking penalty shootout defeat in the play-off semi-final against Cardiff after fighting back from 2-0 down on aggregate to lead 3-2. I had to inform my Dad who was hospitalised later that evening that we wouldn't be going to Wembley following his operation after Yann Kermorgant's chipped penalty.
In August 2010, the club embarked on a new era in their history as Milan Mandaric sold the club to a consortium led by King Power's Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha but after winning only one of our first nine games, manager Paulo Sousa was sacked following a humiliating 6-1 defeat away at Portsmouth in front of the Sky cameras and replaced by former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. With Leicester just one point off the play-offs after 13 games in the 2011/12 season, the Swede left by mutual consent and Pearson returned to the helm after a brief hiatus at Hull.
City looked destined for promotion at the end of January, but following a disastrous run of just two wins in 16 league matches Leicester sneaked back into the play-offs after beating rivals Nottingham Forest on the final day with Bolton failing to beat Blackpool. Just eight days later, the season was brought to a shuddering halt in the cruellest of fashions by Deeney's Watford.
Neutrals marvelled at one of the most thrilling climaxes to a game of football ever seen; while Watford fans gloated on the pitch in front of a crestfallen away end and celebrated a trip to Wembley where they would eventually go on to lose to Crystal Palace. On 13 November 2013, City exacted revenge with a 3-0 win to go top of the SkyBet Championship and while my Dad tumbled down the stairs in jubilation breaking his glasses in the process, I still couldn't bring myself to return to Vicarage Road.
After a 3-1 defeat away at Brighton in December, City embarked on a 21-game unbeaten run to return to the top-flight after a 10-year absence and following a 1-0 win against Bolton at the Reebok Stadium, City clinched the second division title for the seventh time in their history when fittingly Lloyd Dyer - one of three survivors from Nigel Pearson's 2008/09 League One title winning squad - scored the decisive goal.
As Wes Morgan hoisted the trophy aloft following the final game of the season against Doncaster, it was difficult holding back the tears as we celebrated the belated return of top-flight football beneath glorious sunshine on the hallowed turf at the King Power Stadium.
On 16 August 2014 I celebrated another birthday with a 2-2 draw with Everton in our first Premier League game in a decade. Things were to get better as City acquitted ourselves well at the start of the season coming back from 3-1 down at home to Manchester United with half an hour left to win 5-3 and becoming the first team to beat United from a two-goal deficit since the league's launch in 1992 in the process.
But a run of just two wins in 24 league games meant that an immediate return to the Championship beckoned with City cut seven points adrift at the bottom with just 19 points from 29 games. Following a miraculous run of seven wins from our final nine games, City completed the greatest escape ever witnessed in the Premier League with a game to spare to ensure survival before Pearson was sensationally sacked following a disastrous pre-season trip to Thailand.
His predecessor Claudio Ranieri was widely ridiculed following his appointment at the King Power Stadium after his spell in charge of Greece and Leicester were heavily tipped for relegation at the start of the season. Odds of 5000-1 to win the Premier League seemed as likely as finding the remains of a King buried underneath a city centre car park, but with a team built under the steady stewardship of assistant manager Craig Shakespeare and football revolutionary Head of Recruitment Steve Walsh, the Foxes require just three more wins to be crowned the most unlikely champions in the history of the Premier League.
Ranieri, dubbed The Godfather at the King Power Stadium, has kept his squad grounded with his charismatic persona and could be given a guard of honour from his former employers under the watchful gaze of Roman Abramovic on the final day of the season at Stamford Bridge if he wins the first title of his career.
Kasper Schmeichel, son of Manchester United legend Peter, could follow in his Dad's footsteps by winning the Golden Glove and establishing himself as Denmark's number one goalkeeper while captain Wes Morgan, who was signed for just £1million from rivals Nottingham Forest and competed in the Copa America for Jamaica, has been Leicester's most improved player and could lift the trophy against Everton on Saturday May 7 live on Sky Sports.
Robert Huth was exiled from Stoke City and his performances have even caught the attention of Germany manager Joachim Löw ahead of EURO 2016 and Danny Simpson, who was cast away by Queens Park Rangers, and Austria captain Christian Fuchs, who joined on a free transfer from German club Schalke 04, have been instrumental in a back four that has kept a remarkable 13 clean sheets from 23 games as the Italian's side close in on the title.
In midfield, Marc Albrighton was deemed surplus to requirements at Championship-bound Aston Villa, while Danny Drinkwater was named man of the match on his England debut against Netherlands at Wembley after having been released from Manchester United and finding his home at Leicester after a series of loan spells. His tireless midfield partner N'Golo Kante cost the Foxes just £5million from French side Caen and has arguably been the player of the season having made the most interceptions in the league while Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez has set the Premier League alight and has been linked with a move to Barcleona, despite having cost Leicester just £400,000 from Ligue 2 side Le Havre.
Striker Jamie Vardy broke Ruud van Nistelrooy's record of scoring in 11 consecutive Premier League games earlier in the season and has gone from Stocksbridge Park Steels to a 21-goal Premier League striker who may lead the line for England at Euro 2016 in France before the release of a Hollywood blockbuster to chart his remarkable ascent to the pinnacle of English football.
If the Foxes go on to clinch a fairytale first ever top flight title in the next month, it would be a glorious vindication for supporters across the country that in an era dominated by the big four and despite years of seemingly relentless misery that the impossible dream can be achieved. In short, it would be a triumph for football.
For my hometown, a proud multicultural industrial landscape in the heart of rural England, Wes Morgan would be welcomed on a trophy parade that would surpass Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas all rolled into one before the club embark on their assault on Europe's elite in the Champions League next season.
It's my Dad's fault I support this team. After 20 years of ups and downs, aren't I thankful now.
