The Last Word

Peter Gilbert 30.12.99

So we have played our last game of the 2nd Millennium, the 20th Century, it's final decade and it's last year.

It was a home game played against Newcastle Utd in the Premiership and unfortunately we lost it with an injury hit team on the Filbert Street pitch.

Football is, so I'm told, all about the next game which will see us in a new Millennium and it is away against Everton on 3rd January 2000.
We will be up for it, we will put out our best side and the selected players will give their all as we have come to expect under the leadership of Martin O'Neill.

But just before we go zooming off into this brave new world perhaps we could take a few moments to look back from whence we came:

The last game we played in the 19th Century was at home to a team called Woolwich Arsenal and we drew 0-0 on the Filbert Street Pitch.

The first game we played in the 20th Century was away to Barnsley and we won 2-1 with King and Dainty netting for us.

Incidentally ,  we were in League Division Two in those days and we finished the season on April 28th 1900 by losing 6-1 away at Grimsby.

We finished 5th in the league that year.

In the FA Cup that season we beat Wellingborough, Burton Swifts and Hucknall Portland but we were knocked out in the 1st round proper by Sheff Utd.

Season 1899 - 1900
The penultimate match of this season at home to New Brighton Tower ended in a 1-2 defeat, Fosse's first home defeat in two seasons.
Some Fosse supporters may have been tempted to blame the club's change of colours for the reverse of fortunes;  this was the first season that the white shirts and black breeches had given way to Cambridge blue shirts and dark blue shorts.

This season saw us do the double on near neighbours Loughborough. The 'Luffs' in fact failed to gain re-entry to the league when they finished bottom and in fact folded two months later with massive debts.   In 5 seasons of Derby games with The 'Luffs' ,  Fosses had taken 19 out of a possible 20 points.

We scored only 1 own goal all season (Frank Sinclair had that record beaten by the end of August)

Two other interesting fixtures during the season were: a friendly encounter with a touring South African side,the Kaffirs which Fosse won 7-3 and secondly the FA's choice to hold the Amateur Cup Final in March at Filbert Street which Bishop Aukland won 5-1 over Lowestoft Town.

During the season we used a total of 20 players.
The Star player around this time was Cecil Wood who made his final appearance for Fosse in March 1900. He had represented Leicestershire at both football and cricket.
The Secretary/Manager was George Johnson.
The Trainers or Coaches of teams at this time were given little or no publicity and it is unclear who was operative in that capacity in 1900.However it was Fosse's policy around that time for it to be the responsibility of one of the senior players.

Martin O'Neill is in fact the 21st manager of Leicester City as we move into the 21st Century.

Close Season 1900 - Ground Improvements were on the agenda during the summer.  The pitch was slightly enlarged and the wooden terracing was replaced by earthwork banking at what would soon become known,  in reference to the hill battle of the Boer War, as the Spion Kop end. We now refer to SK1 SK2 etc but that's where the name Spion Kop or The Kop came from.

In the close season we had three top players leave our ranks when Wragg,McMillan and Henderson were all transferred to Small Heath.

You will of course recall that at the turn of the last century we were called Leicester Fosse, and we didn't adopt the name Leicester City until after WW1 in 1919.
In fact the entire football league programme was suspended from 1915 - 1919.
Similarly the league was cancelled during WW2.

If you want to predict the future you only have to study history.  That being the case we can expect the following in the not too distant future.
1. A new ground.
2. Star Players moving on.
3. Finish mid table.
4. Knocked out of FA Cup in Jan.
5. Win our first match of the new century.
6. Local rivals to be relegated and going out of business.(guess who?)

Whatever happens to us in the near or far future, I for one, look forward to being a supporter of LCFC and I am proud to note that my family has supported 'our' team for more than a century and will continue to do so until the beautiful game ceases to exist.
BEST WISHES TO ALL LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS.

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH US.