Leicester City’s pre-season schedule and stadium expansion plans

This article contains the latest pre-season schedule information and confirmation of stadium expansion intentions. Along with Foxes of Leicester‘s views.

Leicester as a city will only ever have a consistent local support of a certain amount due to only having a population of little over 300,000. Though those faithful fans are loyal and have factually been some of the loudest per head during the Premier League years.

Now with a global fan base which can help contribute in all sorts of ways to the Foxes becoming a sure bet for the ‘best of the rest’ title, things are looking up on Filbert Way. And that has meant many Blue Army folks missing out on tickets, even when not playing the likes of Manchester United, or City etcetera, but mediocre fodder of the premiership.

Due to increased demand and the ambition of late chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha for Leicester City to be a mainstay in European competition, King Power Stadium will be increased. Currently the ground holds 32,312 – the twentieth largest in England. The new work will rocket the club up into the top-ten.

Proposed stadium expansion work was recently detailed by Leicester Mercury:

"City have purchased six-and-a-half acres of land behind the East Stand, which is understood to be the stand that will be developed along similar lines to the Anfield expansion in Liverpool.However, City are still at the very early stages of planning what they will do to increase the capacity, which could see King Power host crowds of around 40,000, and what form the expansion will take, including which facilities and which type of seating will be included.Anfield’s main stand development cost them £110 million but boosted their revenue on matchdays by £12 million per season, due mainly to an increase in hospitality income."

Under Brendan Rodgers Leicester can easily fill 40,000 seats.

Leicester City friendlies

In other news there are now five confirmed fixtures for pre-season, as outlined by Leicester City’s official website lcfc.com:

"Scunthorpe United vs. Leicester CityGlanford ParkTuesday 16 July (7:30pm BST kick-off)Cheltenham vs. Leicester City       Jonny-Rocks Stadium             Saturday 20 July (3pm BST kick-off)Cambridge United vs. Leicester CityAbbey StadiumTuesday 23 July (7:30pm BST kick-off)Stoke City vs. Leicester CityBet365 StadiumSaturday 27 July (3pm BST kick-off)Rotherham United vs. Leicester CityAESSEAL New York StadiumSaturday 27 July (3pm BST kick-off)"

Previous encounters between the Foxes and these four sides are as such: versus Scunthorpe Leicester have won eight and drawn three. When playing Cambridge the Foxes succeeded on seven occasions, drew five and lost two overall.

More from Foxes of Leicester

• Enzo Maresca hails four star Leicester players
• Harry Winks reveals his easy decision to join Leicester
• Southampton 1-4 Leicester City: 3 Foxes positives and negatives
• Southampton 1-4 Leicester: 3 things learned
• Predicted Leicester City starting XI vs Southampton

Stoke City do better when playing Leicester, with both sides winning an equal 33 contests, along with 35 draws. Rotherham have contested the East Midlands outfit eight times and have a good record with three victories, one even game, as well as suffering four losses.

Expect a huge club of note to be confirmed for the final warm-up fixture. Additionally, Leicester City’s annual Service of Remembrance, led by Club Ambassador Alan Birchenall and Club Chaplain Andrew Hulley, is on Sunday 2 June at 13:30 at King Power Stadium.