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The Cup that Cheers: Leicester City and the League Cup

By Robert Garner

27 Feb 2000: Matt Elliott of Leicester City celebrates scoring the second goal for Leicester City during the Worthington Cup Final against Tranmere Rovers played at Wembley Stadium in London. The Match finished Leicester City 2 Tranmere Rovers 1. Mandatory Credit: Mike Hewitt /Allsport
27 Feb 2000: Matt Elliott of Leicester City celebrates scoring the second goal for Leicester City during the Worthington Cup Final against Tranmere Rovers played at Wembley Stadium in London. The Match finished Leicester City 2 Tranmere Rovers 1. Mandatory Credit: Mike Hewitt /Allsport /
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DONCASTER, ENGLAND – AUGUST 30: Carabao Cup trophy on the pitch before the Carabao Cup Second Round match between Doncaster Rovers and Everton FC at The Eco-Power Stadium on August 30, 2023 in Doncaster, United Kingdom. (Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
DONCASTER, ENGLAND – AUGUST 30: Carabao Cup trophy on the pitch before the Carabao Cup Second Round match between Doncaster Rovers and Everton FC at The Eco-Power Stadium on August 30, 2023 in Doncaster, United Kingdom. (Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images) /

Initially, many of the bigger clubs refused to enter regarding the League Cup as a distraction from what they regarded as the more important league and FA Cup competitions. The Worthless Cup and the Micky Mouse Cup were two less than complimentary labels attached to the competition. By the late 1960s, only Manchester United refused to participate and in 1972 participation was made compulsory. The bigger clubs still tend, in the earlier rounds at least, to field weakened teams.

Although remaining inferior to the other two major competitions, the League Cup has grown in importance. From 1967, clubs have had the incentive of playing the final at Wembley – before that it was a two-leg home and away affair. In addition, from the early 1970s, a place in what was then the UEFA Cup was awarded to the winners. Since the 2020-1 season, the winners have gone into the Europa Conference League.

For medium-size clubs like Leicester, the League Cup has been a Godsend. Until 2016 and 2021 respectively, top-flight league and FA Cup honours had eluded the Foxes. They came close to winning what was then the First Division title in 1929 and agonisingly close again in 1963. Equally, if not more, painful were the four FA Cup final defeats – in 1949, 1961, 1963 and 1969. These nearly moments were rare events though. Much the biggest part of the club’s history has been spent either fighting to stay in the top flight or competing to get into it.

By contrast, the Foxes have won the League Cup three times and appeared as losing finalists twice. They are the eighth most successful club in the history of the competition behind only Liverpool (nine-time winners), Manchester City (8), Manchester United (6), Aston Villa (5), Chelsea (5), Spurs (4) and Forest (4).

In 1964, the team that Matt Gillies built – including such Foxes legends as Gordon Banks, Frank McLintock, Ken Leek, Ken Keyworth, Davie Gibson, Jimmy Walsh, Ian King, Howard Riley, Colin Appleton and Mike Stringfellow – took Leicester, via a semi-final victory over West Ham, to a two-legged final against Stoke City. A 1-1 draw away gave Leicester a great chance of winning some silverware and they duly obliged winning the second leg 3-2 in front of a Filbert Street crowd of around 26,000 with goals from Stringfellow, Gibson and Riley.

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