23 more chances for calamity: Memories of Leicester City away days
It’s fixture release day! Time to get the map out and plot trips to away grounds up and down the country.
Hopefully you’re not as calamitous as Adam Hodges, who has been reminiscing about away days over the years - with a few standing out, but not necessarily for the obvious reasons.
Grimsby
My first away game was coincidentally Martin O’Neill’s first game in charge two days before Christmas in 1995. When I heard we were going to Grimsby this eight-year-old lad got excited that we would be visiting one of Leicester’s gems, the Grimsby Fisheries chip shop on Welford Road.
But as we drove up the A46 to Lincolnshire I soon realised this wasn’t the case. The game was a memorable one as, clad in Santa hats, we cheered as Steve Walsh rose above a Mariners defender and headed home the equaliser late on. But my hands were numb from the North Sea breeze after what I did at half time.
My dad had kindly lent me his leather gloves during the first half and in the half time break I went to use the facilities in the gents. I put the leather gloves on top of the cistern and to my horror I saw one of the gloves drop into the bowl full of urine. My father begrudgingly retrieved his glove - but I don’t think they were used again.
Scarborough and Sheffield
The mid to late 90s saw many a cup run and we took a trip to Scarborough’s McCain Stadium where the chips didn’t quite match those of Grimsby and the Leicester chip shop. A day of school was skipped to take the trip up to North Yorkshire where we won the League Cup second round first leg (remember them!) 2-0.
Scarborough went bust in 2007 and at the time I was on work experience at ITV Calendar, Yorkshire’s regional TV news. One of my tasks was to monitor the auction website of Scarborough selling off their assets. To my utter surprise one of the lots was a framed Leicester City shirt from the game I saw 11 years earlier. Not wanting to slack off on working I regretfully never put a bid in and I always wonder where the shirt ended up.
That cup run in the 1996-97 season saw us lift the trophy after a Steve Claridge extra-time winner at Hillsborough. My memories of Sheffield that night included riding the tram for the first time and stepping into horse manure outside the ground when the mounted policeman quipped in a thick South Yorkshire accent “You’ve just stepped in it” when I exclaimed “Oh sh…”
Aston Villa
Growing up I was quite clumsy and this continued at a sweltering opening day home game against Aston Villa where I tripped up a step in the upper tier of Filbert Street’s Carling Stand and sent the cups I was carrying full of soft drinks flying.
But I saved my best for another League Cup tie, this time a semi-final first leg away at Villa Park. The game had finished goalless and as my brother and I walked out of the ground to an awaiting coach I missed the kerb and tumbled down onto the floor surrounded by 3,000 Leicester fans, who jeered me as I landed.
The comedy of errors would be replicated on the pitch in future away games I attended. Ahmed Musa sliced a pass out for a throw-in in the League Cup at Bramall Lane in 2017. Manchester City took a 4-0 lead after 25 minutes at the Etihad on Boxing Day in 2021.
Newcastle
My fiancée now accompanies me on away days to places like Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester but our visit to Newcastle in April 2022 was memorable for the wrong reasons for my better half.
As we walked up the hill to St James Park she said “I’m not going up there” as we approached the Gallowgate End.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her we would be sitting at the opposite end of the ground where the Leazes Stand is considerably taller. We then ascended the 18 flights of stairs to the concourse and up to our seats. My acrophobic fiancée was petrified of the view and the stewards very kindly found us seats at the bottom of the away tier.
Now Leicester City are in the Championship we will look to go to new grounds where the calamity will continue – in the stands, if not on the pitch.
