1962–63 Leicester City F.C. season


The 1962–63 season was Leicester City's 58th season in the Football League and their 20th season in the first tier of English football. Under the management of Matt Gillies and starring players Gordon Banks, Frank McLintock and Dave Gibson, Leicester sensationally chased the double. After losing 3–1 to Manchester United in the FA Cup Final and gaining just one win from their final nine league games their double challenge collapsed and the Foxes eventually finished in a disappointing fourth position in the league.

Overview

The horrendous winter of 1962–63 was the coldest winter of the 20th century in England and Wales and saw a plethora of games being called off: there was no First Division match played in England during January 1963 and Leicester did not play a game between Boxing Day 1962 and 9 February 1963.
As games began to start being played again after the lengthy hiatus, Leicester, on the icy pitches, began to gain huge momentum and went on a lengthy winning and unbeaten run which saw them top the table with nine games to go and reach the 1963 FA Cup Final. However, as injuries took hold and the ice began to melt Leicester's momentum faded and they ended up winning just one of their final nine league games and losing the FA Cup final to Manchester United despite being hot favourites, after a dour performance. Though they were chasing the double during the icy period, as the season came to a close the Foxes ended in a disappointing fourth position and as FA Cup runners-up.
Between 10 November 1962 and 8 April 1963, Leicester went on a run of 18 matches unbeaten, earning themselves the nickname "the ice kings" and creating a club record which stood for 46 years, until it was beaten in the 2008–09 season, though Leicester were in a division two tiers lower than that of the 1962-63 side. Their run of seven consecutive league wins between 9 February 1963 and 9 March 1963 was a club record which stood until the 8 December 2019 when Brendan Rogers' side won their eight consecutive Premier League game.

Players

Leicester's creative attack was built around the skillful playmaker Dave Gibson who forged a deadly partnership on the left of Leicester's attack with Mike Stringfellow. Ken Keyworth was the club's centre forward and prolific goalscorer upfront, while Howard Riley provided balance on the right-wing. Much of the flexibility in the side came from the athleticism of Frank McLintock and Graham Cross, who regularly changed positions during games which Gillies said "utterly confused opposition" as opposition players would often be asked to mark "our number eight, so they thought Cross was their man, when McLintock had replaced him" as "players hadn't got beyond thinking about numbers then."
In defence, Leicester forged a fearsome half-back line of McLintock, Ian King and club captain Colin Appleton with John Sjoberg and Richie Norman as full-backs and legendary goalkeeper Gordon Banks in goal.

Influence on English football

The Ice Kings were managed by Matt Gillies and his assistant Bert Johnson and were hugely influential in English football for their fluid "switch" and "whirl" systems and playing sequences of short probing passes to unlock defences and establishing the concept of positional flexibility and for their switching of positions, particularly of inside right and right-half Graham Cross and Frank McLintock, upsetting the tradition 1-11 formations in England and confusing opposition players, who were used to thinking in terms of rigid formations in the English game. Johnson had brought back this system from watching the great Hungary and Austria sides of the 1950s and he and Gillies developed their own version of the systems with Leicester.
Gillies later said it "confused opposition" as opposition players would often be asked to mark "our number eight, so they thought Cross was their man, when McLintock had replaced him" as "players hadn't got beyond thinking about numbers then."

Results

Football League First Division">1962-63 Football League#First Division">Football League First Division

GameDateVenueOpponentsScoreScorersPointsPosition
118 August 1962AwayFulham1-2Stringfellow015th
222 August 1962HomeSheffield Wednesday3-3Walsh, Stringfellow, Riley113th
325 August 1962HomeNottingham Forest2-1Stringfellow 310th
429 August 1962AwaySheffield Wednesday3-0Stringfellow, Walsh56th
51 September 1962HomeBolton Wanderers4-1Walsh, Cross, Gibson74th
64 September 1962AwayBurnley1-1Gibson85th
78 September 1962AwayEverton2-3Walsh, Riley86th
815 September 1962HomeWest Bromwich Albion1-0Cross106th
919 September 1962HomeBurnley3-3Keyworth, McLintock, Riley115th
1022 September 1962AwayArsenal1-1Keyworth126th
1129 September 1962HomeBirmingham City3-0Keyworth, Cheesebrough, O.G.145th
126 October 1962AwayIpswich Town1-0McLintock165th
1313 October 1962HomeLiverpool3-0Gibson, Cheesebrough, Cross185th
1420 October 1962AwayBlackburn Rovers0-2185th
1527 October 1962HomeSheffield United2-0Keyworth 2, Cross204th
163 November 1962AwayTottenham Hotspur0-4204th
1710 November 1962HomeWest Ham United2-0Stringfellow, McLintock224th
1817 November 1962AwayManchester City1-1Keyworth234th
1924 November 1962HomeBlackpool0-0244th
201 December 1962AwayWolverhampton Wanderers3-1Gibson, O.G.264th
218 December 1962HomeAston Villa3-3Gibson, Stringfellow274th
2215 December 1962HomeFulham2-3Walsh, Stringfellow274th
2326 December 1962HomeLeyton Orient5-1Keyworth, Cheesebrough, Appleton, O.G.293rd
249 February 1963HomeArsenal2-0Keyworth 313rd
2512 February 1963HomeEverton3-1Keyworth, Stringfellow, Graham Cross333rd
2619 February 1963AwayNottingham Forest2-0Keyworth 352nd
2723 February 1963HomeIpswich Town3-0Stringfellow, Gibson, Riley372nd
282 March 1963AwayLiverpool2-0Keyworth, Gibson392nd
299 March 1963HomeBlackburn Rovers2-0Riley, Stringfellow412nd
3023 March 1963HomeTottenham Hotspur2-2Stringfellow, Keyworth422nd
3126 March 1963AwaySheffield United0-0432nd
323 April 1963AwayLeyton Orient2-0Stringfellow 452nd
336 April 1963HomeManchester City2-0Stringfellow 472nd
348 April 1963AwayBlackpool1-1Keyworth481st
3513 April 1963AwayWest Ham United0-2482nd
3615 April 1963AwayManchester United2-2Cross, Norman492nd
3716 April 1963HomeManchester United4-3Heath, Keyworth 511st
3820 April 1963HomeWolverhampton Wanderers1-1Keyworth522nd
394 May 1963AwayWest Bromwich Albion1-2Cross523rd
4011 May 1963AwayBolton Wanderers0-2523rd
4115 May 1963AwayAston Villa1-3Keyworth524th
4218 May 1963AwayBirmingham City2-3Heath, McLintock524th

FA Cup">1962-63 FA Cup">FA Cup

RoundDateVenueOpponentsScoreScorers
38 January 1963AwayGrimsby Town3-1Gibson, Keyworth
430 January 1963HomeIpswich Town3-1Cross, Keyworth
516 March 1963AwayLeyton Orient1-0Keyworth
630 March 1963AwayNorwich City2-0Stringfellow, Gibson
SF27 April 1963NeutralLiverpool1-0Stringfellow
Final25 May 1963NeutralManchester United1-3Keyworth

[1962-63 [Football League Cup|Football League Cup]]

RoundDateVenueOpponentsScoreScorers
226 September 1962HomeCharlton Athletic4-4Gibson, Walsh, Riley
2rep.2 October 1962AwayCharlton Athletic1-2Keyworth

First Division statistics

First Division table

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Club statistics

All data from: Dave Smith and Paul Taylor, Of Fossils and Foxes: The Official Definitive History of Leicester City Football Club

Appearances

Starting XI

The following players have been named in the most starting line-ups. This line-up may differ from the list of players with most appearances.
No.Nat.Pos.NameStarts
1GKGordon Banks46
2RBJohn Sjoberg26
3LBRichie Norman50
4RHFrank McLintock50
5CHIan King47
6LHColin Appleton48
7ORHoward Riley40
8IRGraham Cross37
9CFKen Keyworth40
10ILDave Gibson44
11OLMike Stringfellow35

Top goalscorers