How you can help The Fox – The Leicester City Fanzine…

As usual at this time of year The Fox finances are in a parlous state…

 Having followed the fortunes of Leicester City for 26 years we’d rather like to carry on, and here are a few ways you can help us do that.

1. Subscribe… press the big blue button on the right to pay online via Paypal:  You will receive all the issues that have come out to date this season: The Summer Special 2012; FOX 181 and FOX 182,  FOX 183 plus a set of 8 Leicester City postcards). This will be followed by the rest of the season’s issues when they are published in 2013…
If you don’t want to pay on-line you can send a cheque for £15 to: The FOX, PO Box No 2, Cosby, Leicester, LE9 1ZZ.

2. Post Sponsor… now that the price of a second class stamp has gone up to 50p our it costs us £275 to send out our subscriber issues.
We can send your A5 business flyer out to our 550 subscribers for £150 – which helps us meet these costs.

3. Associate Sponsor… you can get the name of your company on the front cover of every issue of The Fox by becoming an associate sponsor. This costs £950 per season. Previous associate sponsors have included ‘Netgear’.

4. Adverts… A full inside page advert in The FOX costs £750 per season. A half page costs £400.

If you are interested in any of these offers then please e-mail us at: garysilke@sky.com

I Felt Your Presents…

Revisiting one of our favourite Christmas articles…

We asked you for your best and worst City-related Christmas Presents – here is a selection box of your stocking thrillers and plum duffs… 

I was about nine when I received the 1984-85 away kit. Dark green and gold pinstripes. Shorts and socks too. Slept in it that night and many nights after. Sad eh…?

My favourite was the signed aerial print of Filbo, just before its demise.  It captures matchday with West Stand and Family Enclosure full, overlooking a perfect carpet of a pitch.
There are thousands of fans outside walking to the match past the little terraced houses that surrounded the old ground.
I’m looking at it on the study wall right now!

I got a framed ‘Leicester’s Sporting Celebration’ picture, with the City, cricket and Tigers – 1997/98 – I think that was the year we all won something. O’Neill, Heskey and Claridge represent the City…. Happy Days!
How long before we have to wait for something like that to happen?

When I was about eight years old I was given a plain blue shirt with a white collar and with a shield badge hand-sewn (nearly straight) on it. Sniff! Proper presents, none of this Playstation megabyte malarkey!

Has to be my copy of ‘Of Fossils & Foxes’  (the one that came out pre-Brian Little era). I didn’t say much that Christmas at all, great reading for a statto…

I seem to remember being thrilled to the core of my very being by getting the Subbuteo Leicester team when they upgraded it to the Admiral kit and we got our own unique number… 192.
I was proud that our Subbuteo team was unique and not lumped in with Everton, Millwall, Chesterfield etc.
But Subbuteo then passed that off as our kit long after the white shoulder stripes had gone. I think it was Roy’s Toys and Sports in Wigston used to have a chart of all the different kits on the wall. This changed periodically and each time there was a new one I was
always dismayed to see the same out of date stripes representing Leicester, when in actual fact we were wearing the all time classic Umbro outfit. Several years ago, well after I had grown out of Subbuteo, some friends gave me a team in the Martin O’Neill era kit with v-neck and red Walkers logo, also a classic.

In a ‘Secret Santa’ prezzie-buying thing at my last workplace, I was bought a Corinthian figure of…. Dennis Wise in the ‘LG’ kit.
The little so and so that bought it for me never owned-up! I did find a use for it for a short while though – the handle for the cord that switched our bathroom light on and off broke, so I tied the cord around Dennis’s neck, and used him as a handle instead.

In 1978 I was 13 and opened up the present from my parents… a Nottingham Forest home kit. Gulp! I didn’t quite understand how bad that present was until my elder brother came round on Christmas afternoon! Lordy, lordy the LANGUAGE! I did get the 1979-80 City kit the year after and still have it in the loft somewhere.

Sadly I got some shares in LCFC plc …the nail clippers in my Tesco’s luxury cracker were worth more.

Christmas 1970, City hat, scarf and rattle, just about broke my wrist trying to crank it above my head.

A bottle of ‘Team Spirit’ aftershave. Given to me as a joke, but I’m not prejudiced and thought the stuff didn’t smell that bad. I wore it when I ran out of my normal stuff, which coincided with me meeting a lovely Italian girl. She was classy, she was beautiful, she was sexy, but she was also a bit of a snob. Two weeks into the relationship she says, “I love the way you smell. What kind of aftershave do you use?” I told her. She laughed and loved me even more for not being bothered about it.
Thanks LCFC. You won’t hear me knocking Fox Leisure products…

My brother got a football-shaped money box that you had to paint yourself. I nicked it once he had painted ‘Leicester’ on it. Happy Chrimbo… A nice framed photo of Filbert Street from the ex. She got the right hump when it took pride of place above the bed!

I had the classic Admiral tracksuit, and wore it for years, long after flares went out of fashion. I also remember getting the all white kit that we experimented with for a couple of years. But my favourite shirt had to be a 1970 round neck ala David Nish which I wore to destruction.

Quite recently I got a framed aerial photo of both Filbo and the Walkers Stadium, taken in that brief period when the Walkers was finished and Filbo was still standing. Unique I believe. It hangs proudly above my monitor.

In the mid-70s I got that Admiral tracksuit with the chevrons and  big Foxes badge and even bigger collars. I also got an LCFC autograph book which seven year old me posted to Filbo with a detailed letter of who should sign it. Shame I didn’t enclose a stamped addressed envelope or even a return address. D’OH!

It was Christmas 1991 when a long time friend presented me with an unlikely City souvenir for a present. It was a bottle of ‘City Ale’ that was a limited production to commemorate City gaining promotion in 1983 and brewed by Ind Coope, the then sponsors. According to label I am the owner of bottle number 1370. The label on the front of the bottle carries the old style City shield and the label on the back declares in no uncertain terms that ‘This strong ale was brewed by Ind Coope Ltd to celebrate the promotion of Leicester City Football Club to the first division of the Football League’. Below that are the signatures of Terry Shipman (then Chairman of City) and JM Race who was the MD of Ind Coope 24 years ago. Oh, and the date ’14th May 1983′ which was the date that we drew 0-0 with Burnley to clinch promotion. Actually the date should really have been about two weeks later when the Football League declared that Fulham’s match at Derby would not be replayed having been abandoned on 88 minutes with the score 2-0 to Derby  which confirmed our promotion. It still sits in amongst my books and programmes gathering dust and, to date, unopened. Heaven knows what the contents would taste like after 24 years (cynics might suggest that it won’t taste much worse than it did after 24 days) but I cannot imagine what kind of occasion would warrant the lid coming off this particular piece of history in a bottle, I mean just how drunk and desperate would you have to be when the booze runs out at the next party? “okay lads we have a choice – 24 year old City Ale or Advocaat?”

Best ever was a Peter Shilton green goalkeepers shirt, made by Admiral with two white stripes running up the sleeves and down the body. It was circa 1972/74 and it was really smart with nothing else around like it. Shame I didn’t do it justice ‘between the sticks’.
Also Cheetah Sports Boots, laced and tied up at the sides, made in Barwell at Wards I think. Everyone got a pair, even the Heathfield High School Rugby Team Players… Poofs

With thanks to: Cosby Fox, NorthLeicsBlue, Walsh5, glosfox, Steve_LE4, HazelGroveFox, JerseyRon, Kekroka,  Charnwood LCFC, roy of wigston, sohfoxy, EST Fox, Isopen, Wessy Boy,  nrsouth_fox, TorpointFox, Mistryman, FoxtonLox, Wallington, custardboy, DubaiFox, & FilbertsDad…

Merry Christmas all…

You probably can’t get any of these things anymore.. but you can give The FOX as a Christmas present to the Leicester City fan in your life this year thanks to our new offer.All the issues that have come out to date this season: The Summer Special 2012; FOX 181 and FOX 182, will be posted along with the December issueFOX 183 just in time for Christmas and will be gift-wrapped (also included will be a set of 8 Leicester City postcards).
The recipient will then receive the rest of the season’s issues when they are published in 2013…

All this Leicester City related fun and games for just £13…

You can either post the form below enclosing a cheque, or use the green button to pay online via Paypal…

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…

Vardy Rescues a Point from Tykes

City 2:2 Barnsley

City were eventually grateful for a point in a contest that should never have been as close as I was and have only themselves to blame for not beating one of the division’s poorer sides.

Nigel Pearson brought Nugent back in to the side at the expense of Vardy but that was the only change from the side that beat Derby last week. City started well with Barnsley on the back foot from the off and could have taken the lead as early as the 3^rd minute as Whitbread saw his header clear the bar by a coat of paint. Waghorn went close before, in the 9^th minute, he provided the cross that was controlled by King who teed up Knockaert who side-footed the ball past Luke Steele from 12 yards.
It was a fully deserved lead but one that lasted only a few minutes before the visitors levelled following some Keystone Kops’ defending by City. A poor Schmeichel clearance didn’t go far enough and fell kindly for Barnsley who played the ball back in to the area. City’s back-pedalling defence were ball watching as Dawson struck finished crisply past Schmeichel from 15 yards.
This knocked City back and the fluent football disappeared to be replaced by a nervous display. It was no surprise when the visitors took the lead. In the 36^th minute a Barnsley corner was fed in to Noble-Lazarus who, unchallenged, hooked the ball over his shoulder and past Schmeichel. This was only the second time this season that Barnsley had scored more than one goal.

The second half saw City dominate possession and spend long periods camped in the visitors’ half but they couldn’t put the ball in the net as Barnsley sat deep and crowded City out time and again. Behind the defence Steele was in impressive form and so it was a huge relief when City finally grabbed an equaliser. Whitbread was the provider when he nodded back a cross in to the path of Vardy who slammed the ball home from just inside the area.

City could even have won the match in the 5 minutes of stoppage time as King saw two headers cleared off the line but it wasn’t to be. City might feel that they should have won this match but they have only themselves to blame; they were below par and gifted the visitors two soft goals and gave them something to defend which they did very well for the most part.

Leicester: Schmeichel, De Laet, Morgan, Whitbread, Konchesky, Knockaert (Marshall 60), King, Drinkwater, Dyer (Futacs 76), Nugent, Waghorn (Vardy 68). Subs not Used: Logan, James, Moore, Lingard.
Barnsley: Steele, Stones (Perkins 80), Cranie, Wiseman, Golbourne, Dawson, Buzsaky (Tudgay 68), Greening, O’Brien, Noble-Lazarus (Etuhu 80), Davies. Subs not Used: Alnwick, Hassell, Foster, Sinclair.

Referee: James Adcock(Long Eaton). Attendance: 23,579.

 

You can give The FOX as a Christmas present to the Leicester City fan in your life this year thanks to our new offer.All the issues that have come out to date this season: The Summer Special 2012; FOX 181 and FOX 182, will be posted along with the December issueFOX 183 just in time for Christmas and will be gift-wrapped (also included will be a set of 8 Leicester City postcards).
The recipient will then receive the rest of the season’s issues when they are published in 2013…All this Leicester City related fun and games for just £13…

You can either post the form below enclosing a cheque, or use the green button to pay online via Paypal…

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…

 

Penalty Leaves Pearson Fuming as City are held by Forest

Leicester City 2:2 Nottingham Forest

City, with Whitbread in for Keane and Schlupp taking on Konchesky’s left back role, started this East Midlands derby brightly and were ahead by the 6th minute. Dyer motored down the left and fired a shot across goal, which was diverted past Camp by Ward when it looked to be heading wide.
Morgan almost double the lead when he was inches short of getting a touch to Waghorn’s free-kick floated over the Forest defence.
However, City looked a bit slack at the back for a period and were eventually carved up by a Forest passing move that ended with Guedioura’s equaliser flying past Schmeichel.
City regained the lead ten minutes later when an ingenious lob from Knockaert fell for Nugent who produced a sublime touch to lift the ball over Camp.
The second half presented City with several chances to wrap the game up, but none of them were taken. Waghorn, with time and space should not have given Collins a chance to clear off the line; and then his header was saved by Camp at full stretch. Dyer’s firm drive then forced Camp into a another fine save.
Lingard came on for the injured Nugent, for a promising debut, but fortune favoured Forest in the 67th minute.

Whitbread got into a tangle with Sharp on the edge of the area but clearly played the ball away from danger. The referee pointed to the spot for the softest of penalties which Cox converted past Schmeichel amid much City protest.
Having been gifted a point Forest were not going to let go of it and City, with Nugent off and Waghorn still struggling to find his form, did not have enough firepower to trouble them. Knockaert’s depature for Marshall also removed City’s ability to produce something special.
Waghorn got a free header to a Marshall corner, but it was well wide and City had to be content with a point.

Not surprisingly Nigel Pearson was not happy with referee Anthony Taylor.

“You can tell I’m not happy about it and I’ve seen on the TV again and basically it’s a good challenge. He gets the ball, the referee is in a good position, full-stop.”

Leicester: Schmeichel, De Laet, Morgan, Whitbread, Schlupp, Knockaert (Marshall 77), King, Drinkwater, Dyer, Nugent (Lingard 59), Waghorn. Unused Subs: Danns, Logan, James, Moore, Futacs.

Forest: Camp, Moloney, Ward, Collins, Halford, Cohen, Guedioura (Jenas 53), Gillett (Blackstock 87), Reid (Lansbury 79), Cox, Sharp. Unused Subs:  Darlow, McGugan, Coppinger, Tudgay.

 

Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire). Attendance: 24,793.

 

…to subscribe to The FOX for the 2012-13 season via Paypal and receive your Summer Special, free set of City postcards, and issue no 181 & 182 by return of post, press this blue button… 

Alternatively you could print off and fill in this form…

 

Last week of FOX Subscription Special Offer for all Leicester fans…

A subscription to The FOX – The Leicester City fanzine for 2012-13 is already a bargain at £15, but now we’ve made it even better…

Take out a subscription to The Fox and you will receive by return of post – The Summer Special and issue No 181 as well as your four free Leicester City postcards…

… and for a limited time you will now also be sent a fantastic set of 30 ‘Fox Favourites’ cigarette cards free…

…to subscribe to The FOX via Paypal, press this blue button… 

Alternatively you could print off and fill in this form…

FOX Subscription Special Offer for all Leicester fans…

A subscription to The FOX – The Leicester City fanzine for 2012-13 is already a bargain at £15, but now we’ve made it even better…

Take out a subscription to The Fox and you will receive by return of post – The Summer Special and issue No 181 as well as your four free Leicester City postcards…

… and for a limited time you will now also be sent a fantastic set of 30 ‘Fox Favourites’ cigarette cards free…

…to subscribe to The FOX via Paypal, press this blue button… 

Alternatively you could print off and fill in this form…

Leicester’s Cup Hopes Go for a Burton…

Leicester City 2:4 Burton Albion

Leicester were humiliated by League Two side Burton Albion in the League Cup 2nd round game at the KPS on Tuesday night, the Brewers winning 4-2…

Nigel Pearson made eight changes to his previously unchanged side but the theme of this season to date – missed chances – continued to haunt them.
Burton, on the other hand, showed great economy of chances to goals.
Gary Rowett’s side went 1-0 up when a Palmer free-kick was defelcted past Schmeichel.
Up until the break City created plenty of chances: De Laet, Schlupp, Gallagher, Waghorn and Knockaert all either missed the target or found Albion keeper Atkins in a defiant mood.
The second half was a different story with Burton moving up a gear and stunning a small KPS crowd.
In the 53rd minute a glaring error from debutant Whitbread allowed Taylor in for a neat finish past the exposed Schmeichel to put Burton two up.
That lead was reduced on the hour when Knockaert, probably City’s best player on a bad night,  fired home a spectacular long-range free-kick.
But the visitors were back in the driving seat just four minutes later when the ref harshly judged St Ledger to have handled when it looked like a yellow shirt had been the offender. Weir fired home from 12 yards to increase Nigel Pearson’s misery.
In the 68th minute Maghoma completely deceived Schmeichel with a fierce shot to make it 4-1 and City fans began to head for the exits.
Futacs, on for Gallagher, pulled a goal back with a looping volley, but City were well beaten by their lower league opposition who gave them a lesson in taking your chances…

League leaders Blackpool are the next visitors to the KPS on Saturday and a vast improvement will be required…

Leicester: Schmeichel, De Laet, St Ledger, Whitbread, Konchesky, Gallagher (Futacs 56), Danns, James, Knockaert (King 73), Waghorn, Schlupp (Nugent 65). Unused Subs: Morgan, Logan, Beckford, Moore.

Burton: Atkins; O’Connor, Diamond, Holness, McCrory, Weir, Bell, Maghoma; Taylor (Dyer 62), Zola (Yussuf 81), Palmer (Kee 86). Unused Subs: Lyness, Corbett, Webster, Richards.

Referee: Darren Drysdale (Lincolnshire). Attendance: 8,560 (662 away).

…to subscribe to The FOX for the 2012-13 season via Paypal and receive your Summer Special and free set of City postcards by return of post, press this blue button…  be quick – we are running out of Summer Specials…

Alternatively you could print off and fill in this form…

The Big Kick Off – Good Omen for Leicester City

Nigel Pearson’s side prepare to entertain Peterborough when league action commences tomorrow afternoon… the last time Leicester City played Peterborough United at home on Big Kick Off Day was the 1993-94 season…

Disorientating times down at old Filbert Street. The 1920s built Main Stand had succumbed to the wrecking ball and the new Carling Stand was growing up in its place but some way off being ready for spectators.
If a three-sided ground, with no away fans to sing at, made for a bit of a bewildering atmosphere, there was also the forbidding prospect of seeing our arch-nemesis pulling on the sacred royal blue Fox Leisure shirt…

Just over a year after his notorious dive for Blackburn Rovers at Wembley in the 1992 Play Off Final David Speedie was a Leicester player.
It was an unthinkable signing at the time and it had divided the opinion of City fans over the summer. The “Cheat Fell Over!” chants from the Kop were met with a theatrical yawn by the pocket battleship and he had won them over within a quarter of an hour. Firstly, by sending Gary Mills in on goal, before he was tripped for a 13^th minute penalty and then setting up a second for Tony James two minutes later.
Speedie was no longer the Devil incarnate, and with his abrasive style, and 12 goals, he went on to contribute as much as anyone to what proved to be a promotion season – ending in victory over Derby County at Wembley…

after nine years outside the top flight, we’ll take any good omen we can get.

This article first appeared in the Leicester Mercury – where you can read the Gary Silke column every Thursday…

The FOX Summer Special 2012 will be on sale before tomorrow’s game – or if you would prefer to let postie take the strain why not subscribe?

…to subscribe to The FOX for the 2012-13 season via Paypal and receive your Summer Special and free set of City postcards by return of post, press this blue button… 

Alternatively you could print off and fill in this form…

 

Leicester City players hit the beach…

Thirty years ago the Leicester City squad were enjoying a post-season jolly in Torremolinos… Gary Lineker & co head for the beach and you can almost smell the Kouros…

(left to right) Andy Peake, Kevin MacDonald, Jim Melrose, Gary Lineker and Stewart Hamill put the short in shorts. Alan Young took the photo.

(left to right) Gary Lineker, Andy Peake, Tommy Williams (with broken leg from the FA Cup semi-final v Spurs), a lady, Larry May, Kevin MacDonald, Ian Wilson, Jim Melrose and Stewart Hamill soak up the Spanish sun.

There are more of Youngy’s holiday snaps in The FOX Summer Special, which will be out later this week…

To get hold of your copy, a free set of postcards, and the rest of the issues as they are published this season,  then subscribe to The FOX via Paypal by pressing this blue button… 

Alternatively you could print off and fill in this form…

Last chance to vote for your Leicester City Player of the Season

We will be counting up the votes for the FOX Subscribers Player of the Season on Friday, so if you want your vote to count then get your subscription in…

The results of Player of the Season (as well as Villain and Goal of the Season) will appear in The FOX Summer Special 2012.
Here’s a reminder of the previous winners…

…to subscribe to The FOX for the 2012-13 season via Paypal and receive your free set of City postcards then press this blue button… 

Alternatively you could print off and fill in this form…