Leicester City

The Premiership history of Leicester City can be roughly divided into two sections, under 
Martin O’Neill, and under others. The former can be deemed successful, the latter, not so.

With Martin O’Neill at the helm Leicester enjoyed a ‘purple patch’ in the Premier League and 
became an established top flight club, with four top 10 finishes in consecutive seasons, the 
highest being in 1999–2000 when they finished eighth, with a goal difference of zero, and 
won the Worthington Cup.

Under Mark McGhee Leicester had an awful debut season in the Premier League, in 1994–95, 
and never made it higher than 18th, in October, spending the bulk of the campaign in the 
bottom two The Foxes only had two spells, each of three games, unbeaten all season and 
were relegated in 21st place.

Returning after a year, via the play-offs, with Martin O’Neill in charge and with a strike pair 
of youth and experience Emile Heskey and Steve Claridge helped fire Leicester into ninth 
place and with perfect timing they hit that finishing spot with victory in their last two 
games after spending most of the campaign in mid-table. In fact a pre-occupation with the 
Coca-Cola Cup almost cost them their Premiership place due to a nine-game winless run 
after they won the trophy.

Leicester then had a couple of seasons of consolidation, with successive 10th place 
finishes. The team actually went third in September 1997 but lacked a consistent run to 
boost chances of a top three finish. A draw at Manchester United and victory over Everton 
saw Leicester second at the commencement of the following season but a poor defensive 
record and a mediocre scoring record meant the team had to be content with another 10th 
place at the end of the campaign.

As the Millennium approached again the League Cup took centre stage and distracted the 
team’s League focus. Before the cup started Leicester were fifth but by the time they beat 
Tranmere, in February, they had dropped to 10th. Only three wins in the last four games 
ensured a more reasonable, and best-ever, Premiership finish in eighth.

But success has it’s price and the price Leicester had to pay was to have their impressive 
young manager wooed by every other club looking for miracles on a tight budget. Celtic won 
that particular contest and O’Neill left Filbert Street for Parkhead.

With O’Neill gone Peter Taylor came in and the effect, initially, was staggering. An unbeaten 
eight-game start saw Leicester top the Premiership by October. A couple of defeats followed 
but Leicester bounced back with three wins and a draw to move back into third place and 
stayed in the top four until Boxing Day but five games without a win saw them slide down 
to seventh. Three wins in four games improved that position to fifth but eight consecutive 
defeats contributed to a disappointing 13th place finish and the departure of Peter Taylor 
and the arrival of Dave Bassett.

Bassett brought Micky Adams to the club and after half a season Adams took over as team 
manager but by then it was ‘Mission Impossible’ as Leicester had long since consigned 
themselves to relegation. Since beating Derby County, in September, the team had slumped 
to the bottom of the table. Seven points from 12 then lifted Leicester up to 17th before the 
damage was done with a 16 game run without a win, including six successive defeats, that 
relegated the club.

Leicester again came back up at the first attempt but it was the manner of the club’s 
return that caused bitterness amongst other clubs, notably those for whom administration 
meant the kind of financial restraints not applied to Filbert Street. Under a new consortium, 
headed by Leicester’s favourite son, Gary Lineker, The Foxes returned to the top flight. But 
it wasn’t to be many happy returns and the team quickly found life at the top, despite their 
brand new Walkers Stadium, not to their liking.

There was just a single victory in the opening five games and after two months Leicester 
were 16th. It got worse by the end of October and the team were in the bottom three but a 
November improvement of three wins and a draw saw the highest position of 13th but it 
wasn’t to last and by the end of January they were back in the relegation zone. Leicester 
never escaped from the drop zone and a run of 10 games and just one win confirmed another 
return to Division One.

Managers

Mark McGhee          1994–1995

Martin O’Neill           1995–2000

Peter Taylor            2000–2001

Dave Bassett           2001–2002

Micky Adams           April 2002–