What’s your most memorable opening day of the season?
2001
I seem to have carved out a niche in picking games I wasn’t at or goals I didn’t see so here’s another one. I was travelling back from holiday on 18th August 2001 which meant the evening newspapers were out before I’d had the chance to see how we’d got on in our opening game of the season.
We were playing newly-promoted Bolton at home. Most of you will know what happened.
I remember the anticipation of seeing how many we’d stuck past them. Then the absolute horror, having run to the newspaper kiosk at Euston Station, of turning over to the back page and seeing a huge image from Filbert Street and the scoreline underneath.
0-5. Yeah. Despite not seeing the game and not following the action as it unfolded, that was memorable.
David Bevan
2003
After surviving part of the previous campaign under receivership, Leicester were back in the big time under the popular Micky Adams. Gordon Strachan’s Southampton were in town on a glorious Saturday afternoon. There was an overwhelming sense of optimism amongst the fans, now under new ownership, and on the back of an ambitious summer window which included the arrival of Les Ferdinand and Keith Gillespie.
Leicester stormed out of the blocks, scoring two inside the first 10 minutes, both down to the individual brilliance of ‘Sir’ Les. The stadium was bouncing, and we appeared to have easily made the step up in quality from the First Division (at least according to a naïve 12-year-old me). At half-time there were disconcerting murmurs around the concourse that The Saints' shiny new signing Kevin Phillips was ready to come on. Half an hour later, he leathered a strike past Ian Walker from 30 yards, before hitting the post to tee up James Beattie’s equaliser.
Unfortunately, this game foretold a recurring theme of 2003-04. Plenty of goals and some impressive displays, but we couldn’t hold on late into games, losing countless points from winning positions. Unverified stat from this season: we’d have finished 8th (instead of 18th) if the games lasted 80 minutes…
Matt Jedruch
2010
The first day of the Sousa Revolution, August 2010. I had convinced myself that we were going to take the league by storm under our new suave sergeant and pass rings around a hopelessly antiquated league.
My secret confession is that I was never a huge fan of Nigel Pearson v1.0. I felt like he had a ceiling as a manager and we needed to go down a fancy modern route to be successful. Sousa was this shimmering beacon of hope; the Third Way of football management.
We kicked off the season away at Crystal Palace. We, or at least I, went there full of hope.
After 45 minutes, hope was being hauled out of Crystals nightclub on life support. We were 3-0 down at half time, Wilfried Zaha had begun his life-long campaign of hate against us, and Steve Howard was hurled on for a back to basics attempt to save the day.
Worst of all, it almost worked.
James Knight
2011
Coventry away in 2011, a great day as 6,000+ Leicester fans travelled to the Ricoh with real optimism for the season ahead. We had spent big that summer under Sven, bringing in marquee signings and hotly tipped as the favourites to win the Championship.
Things didn't start so well when Darius Vassell was sent off for a horror challenge after just ten minutes. Thankfully, Coventry responded and produced one of their own, with both sides reduced to ten men in the first half. A solitary goal was the difference, and it came courtesy of a Lee Peltier header just before the hour mark.
Dante Clarke
2015
There's a few that instantly spring to mind. Steve Corica scoring a screamer at Sunderland for an unexpected win. The excitement and anticipation of our very first Premier League game against Newcastle in 1994. Jamie Vardy getting the promotion ball rolling at Middlesbrough and Chris Wood's equaliser at home to Everton.
I'd have to say that my favourite though is the first game of the title season against Sunderland. I actually did an feature with MOTD2 on matchday and said I thought we'd do well (well = top half!)
However, the usual new-season anticipation was tempered by the fear of the unknown having Ranieri in the dug-out rather than Pearson. We smashed in 4 goals, looked sensational and the rest as they say is history...
Iain Wright
2016
Against all odds... Newly promoted, without a permanent manager, and against a backdrop of fan protests; a humbling of the reigning league champions for the first time in 27 years with the help of a bizarre double-bicycle kick (a tandem, perhaps?). If you've been a fan long enough, it probably shouldn't have been a surprise that the "ever-obliging Leicester City" would be on the receiving end of it.
Maybe it was complacency. Maybe it was a lack of preparation. Maybe it was jetlag from swanning off across the world for glamour ties against Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, or the comedown after the first trip to Wembley for an entirely new generation of the Blue Army. Maybe it was just that, after a season of seemingly sticking with a set formula, the "Tinkerman" had reverted to type, with disappointing results.
After the most unbelievable year, the 2-1 defeat to Hull City on 13 August 2016 was probably the most "Leicester" result of Claudio Ranieri's reign.
Ryan Hubbard
