This Leicester Life: Turning from Tottenham to follow the Foxes
What if Leicester City haven’t always been the one true love of your footballing life?
After Tony Barnard wrote for us recently and referenced his switch in allegiance from Tottenham Hotspur to Leicester City, we wanted to find out a bit more about that experience.
What was it like growing up as a Tottenham fan?
It was a whole family thing. My grandfather was on Tottenham’s books back in the early 1920s. My grandparents lived in Bruce Grove, which was within walking distance of White Hart Lane, so obviously my father then became a fan. By the 1950s, we lived in Bishop Stortford and my father and older brother would attend games when the family visited my grandparents.
I went to my first match in May 1965. I’d have just turned nine. Spurs beat Wolves 7-4 and I remember my brother warning me it wasn’t like that every week.
I went to most of the home matches from about 1969/70 onwards and saw a real period of success, winning two League Cups, two FA Cups and two UEFA Cups in the 70s and early 80s. I was fortunate to be a Spurs supporter at the right time.
My wife and I moved out of Hertfordshire in 1985 and we could have gone to a few different places for my work - we could have ended up in Nottingham or Derby - but we chose Leicester because my wife knew the city, having qualified as a teacher at Scraptoft in 1981.
What were your first impressions of Leicester City after you moved to the area?
I didn’t get down to watch Spurs very often and I started reading the Leicester Mercury about how Leicester were getting on. That was the David Pleat era. It took me a while to go to my first match, but it really picked up with my son Jamie showing an interest and wanting to go to the matches.
Initially I’d just had an interest in what was happening locally and I wanted Leicester to do well for my local friends and colleagues. Then knowing this was where Jamie was going to be growing up and he was showing an interest in football, we started to watch Leicester regularly, usually in the Family Stand or the Double Decker at Filbert Street.
But the first time they’d burst into my conscience was much earlier - firstly in the 1969 FA Cup final when they lost to Manchester City, then in 1972 when they came to White Hart Lane for a league game. Spurs won 4-3 but I was really impressed by Leicester, especially by Mark Wallington. I remember thinking “wow, there's some fight in this team”. I also remember the sizeable support that came down from Leicester to White Hart Lane.
Which figures at Leicester made an impression on you in that early period?
Brian Little was having some success and so the greater the local success, the better. It went very quickly to Mark McGhee and then to Martin O’Neill, which is when I started attending with Jamie and feeling really invested in Leicester’s success - or otherwise as it turned out with Peter Taylor’s period of management. I’d actually watched him play at Spurs and I liked him as a player, but I can't say I enjoyed him or liked him as a manager.
I started to really appreciate the stalwarts - Walsh, Taggart, Elliott - because you want your team to fight to the end and they always did that. The Foxes Never Quit mantra was right - that was epitomised by the famous 3-3 draw at home to Arsenal.
Another favourite was Muzzy Izzet, who displayed skill and creativity in matches, but also was really nice to Jamie when he was the matchday mascot.
What was your experience of the 1999 League Cup final?
By that time, we’d been going to so many matches we wanted Leicester to beat Tottenham in the final and, after all, we had tickets in the Leicester end of Wembley!
My brother was still a season ticket holder at Spurs and we met up with him on Wembley Way before the match. My affiliation had already changed from Spurs to Leicester by that point and the loss was disappointing - but not as much as it might have been had it been defeat to another team.
How about… 2016?
If Leicester had been mid-table, I’d have wanted Tottenham to win the league that year. But mentally, I took a step back from those shenanigans - the “we’re coming for you” and all that sort of thing. Although the riposte of “who came third in a two-horse race” showed a lot of humour.
We’d been to the Manchester United match on 1st May and I’d travelled on to Blackpool with my wife due to work commitments, where we watched Chelsea play Spurs on TV.
I didn’t want Spurs to lose because I hate Chelsea, and I would have preferred it if Leicester had won the league by winning a match. Nevertheless, it was a big relief to get over the line with that result.
Obviously with Spurs 2-0 up, it looked like it wasn’t going to happen that night. But then it did, and it’s a once in a lifetime thing and you have to enjoy it. My wife’s cousin had put a bottle of champagne in the fridge in case it did happen, so that was a nice surprise - and I still have the cork!
Was that the highlight of your time supporting either club?
I’ve seen Spurs win trophies and then I’ve seen Leicester win trophies, but the highlight of it all for me has been following Leicester in that Premier League-winning season and then attending Champions League games and other European trips with Jamie to watch Leicester.
Some subsequent Europa League games took place during the Covid lockdowns so we missed out on those and I can hardly remember anything about them at all. I don’t recall anything of the early rounds of the FA Cup-winning run either, just the Southampton semi-final which we had to watch on television and the final which we were fortunate enough to attend. We were right behind the goal for Youri’s shot, and I initially thought the keeper (Kepa) was going to save it: he is… he is…. he hasn’t! Cue mad celebrations.
Those Covid years were lost years for me, because I believe the football experience is all about being there and we were denied that experience.
The best European trip for me was Randers, where we had a great time. I love talking to fans of other teams and they were really welcoming people and it was really good beer. It's having those experiences with Jamie which I really value and long may that continue.
We’re going to the Euros together for 12 days later this month. Football has given us a common interest and it's kept us close.
And the fact that we ended up following a team like Leicester, where it’s never boring, whether it be behind the scenes or on the pitch, means there's always something to keep you coming back for more - whether that’s recovering from abject failure or enjoying the heights of extreme success.
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