Confessions of a Leicester City Fan

Peter Gilbert 28.10.99

I was born in Leicestershire, Ashby de la Zouch actually and my family originate from the Hinckley area. They have supported Leicester City since the days of Leicester Fosse but we curiously moved to Nottingham and I spent my formative years there which was OK except for football as I never compromised my stance as a Leicester City supporter and I was inevitably surrounded by F****t fans.

I have a great friend who I never lost contact with. He lives in Southampton now which is great when we play at the Dell, but occasionally our paths cross in Nottingham as we still have family there. Sadly he is a devoted F****t Fan.   As boys we played in the same football team in the Nottingham area.   We would catch the bus home and when possible we'd jump off at Trent Bridge and go to the City ground where they would let you in at half time for nothing.  How times have changed. We saw all the great teams play for free and being just little lads the crowd would part and they'd let us go down to the front where we would dangle our muddy knees over the wall and watch the second half, me with a passion for the opposition to win and he of course coming from a completely different angle.

One of our occasional 're-union' nights occurred recently, Jim rang to see if I was going to Nottingham; I was.

'Hey that's great!' he said 'Do you fancy coming with me to watch F****t against Bolton.'

Well what could I say - he's such a great friend and he always goes with me to watch City play Soton and sits quietly as City fans launch into 'anti F***t' songs.

So I found myself meeting up with him at the Trent Bridge Inn and having a pre-match drink surrounded by the enemy.   Although they are a sad and subdued bunch these days, more to be pitied than hated.  Their latest taunt is 'Derby are going down.' well I can relate to that. In fact they loathe Derby with great venom which is OK by me.

After a drink I couldn't help but launch into my repertoire of jokes:

'So you rang the ground for the tickets and asked what time was the kick off and they said What time can you get here?'

We were a bit late getting in and F****t were just doing a lap of honour after winning a corner. At half time they showed a video 'Our 100 best throw ins.'

I could go on and on, but there is a serious side to this little ditty.

During the second half Jim turned to me and said 'You know there's not one player out there on that pitch from either side who'd even get on the subs bench at Leicester.' There was a sad resignation in his voice.

I looked round at the scene, they undoubtedly have a magnificent ground a beautiful pitch and several expensive signings but Jim was right , and the point he was making was;   it's what happens on the pitch that is the most important thing and that is a department we have got right.

F****t are rotten to the core; they have been infiltrated by 'commercially minded money men' or leeches putting it bluntly and there but for the grace of MON go you and I and with it Leicester City's prospects.

So let's savour these golden days we're having............WE'VE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD.