Never meet your heroes - except if your hero is Andy King
We’ve been on the lookout for good news stories to counteract the miserable death by a thousand cuts inflicted by the ongoing financial stories coming out of Leicester City.
This one was previously published on the Union FS website earlier in the season, but they asked us if we wanted to bring it to a wider audience.
Once we knew what it was about, we couldn’t reply yes quickly enough…
“Never meet your heroes,” they say. “It will only disappoint.”
I must be lucky then, because my heroes are Muzzy Izzet and Andy King - and both broke the mould by being an absolute dream to meet.
The back story on UFS meeting Kingy…
2020 was a shit year for everyone with Covid robbing us of much of life's pleasures, including our plan to create a full stand Kop tifo for Kingy down at Filbert Way. King always represented the club and wore the shirt with pride and passion. He was dedicated in years of service and this did not go unnoticed by the Blue Army.
The design was done and pencilled in for the last game of the 2019/20 season at home against Manchester United. The tifo would have been a thank you from all of the support for the many memories and great times King gave us.
Sadly, it was a thank you that we as a fanbase didn't get to give him until years later when he returned as a Bristol City player.
We'd wanted Kingy to know what we had lined up, so we wrote a letter to him - not expecting much in a society where footballers at the top levels in this country can be pretty detached and hard to reach. Nonetheless, we explained how thankful we were for his years at the club and asked if we could meet to show him what we had planned.
Perhaps we should have had more faith in what everyone knew about his status as a club legend and all-round top bloke. Lo and behold, an email landed in our inbox from the man himself! His reply was brilliant. He thanked us for our work and support, said he would keep hold of the letter, mentioned how much he wanted fans back in the stadium and that at the right time would love to meet the group.
For supporters of my age, King was there when we first started going regularly to games and he was there for all the amazing moments on the rise up the leagues. A calming, steady and dependable character who was consistently a positive presence at the club.
Over the next year or so a few emails were exchanged to work out a suitable time to meet. This was not so easy with his move to Bristol and a reunion with another legend of the club, Nigel Pearson.
Fast forward to a month before we were due to play Bristol City at home and Kingy followed up on his word to arrange the meeting.
Two members of the group met with him the evening before the game. Suffice to say, the guy was amazing. He had all the time in the world, signed scarves, posed for photos and chatted about the tifo design that sadly never was.
We also had the added bonus of time with Pearson who also was an absolute hero and was on great form. It shows the measure of the men that they gave up some of their time the night before a game to meet with Leicester fans and chat about the great times both had at our club.
The next day at the match, King, Pearson and Matty James were given the send offs all deserved but for a number of reasons never got upon leaving the club. Poignantly, King came over to the SK1 section at full time and gave a thumbs up as we unfurled a banner reading 'THANK YOU KINGY' - one last small gesture for one of our club's greatest legends.
Andy King.
378 appearances for Leicester City.
The club's all-time leading goalscorer from midfield.
Trophy collector.
Fan favourite.
