Leicester’s ultimate top ten players ever: Strikers, No. 10-8

Providing a list of the best strikers is a little easier than doing so for midfielders or defenders in the sense that they can be judged according to how many goals they have scored. That’s not the whole picture of course, but a forward who doesn’t convert chances is unlikely to survive for long. Leicester City have had some great strikers over the years. Today, numbers 10-8 on our list are revealed.

10. In at number 10 is Ken Keyworth who played 215 games for Leicester between 1958 and 1964 scoring an impressive 76 goals. All of his seven seasons for the club were in the First Division. Signed from Rotherham in 1958 for £9,000, the tough Yorkshireman was a centre forward in the great Matt Gillies squad of the era.

Ken was top scorer for three seasons between 1961 and 1964 and scored 21 goals in the season the ‘ice kings’ almost won the double. The number nine scored Leicester’s solitary goal, a brave diving header, in the 1963 FA Cup final (see on a YouTube video). Injuries sustained in a car crash the following year impacted on his performances and he moved on to Coventry City and then Swindon Town before returning to Rotherham where he retired. Ken died, aged 65, in January 2000.

 9.  Number nine on our list of Leicester’s greatest strikers is Alan Smith who played 217 games for the Foxes between 1982 and 1987 scoring 84 goals, an impressive rate of a goal every two and a half games. Signed by Jock Wallace from non-league Alvechurch, Smith made his mark when Gordon Milne took over at Filbert Street establishing himself in the side as Leicester won promotion in 1983 and survived in Division One for four seasons.

In every campaign with the club, Smith’s goal tally was in double figures with a high of 19 in 1985/86. Smith possessed an excellent touch for a big man, and a willingness to graft was coupled with his undoubted talent. He was a perfect foil for Gary Lineker with whom he established a deadly partnership. When Lineker departed for Everton in 1985, Smith played a substantial role with his goals in keeping the Foxes up in the 1985/86 season. Arsenal signed him in March 1987 for £800,000 but he was immediately loaned back to Leicester. He scored 17 goals that campaign for the Foxes but that wasn’t enough to prevent the club being relegated. Smith’s Arsenal career further established his reputation as well as adding trophies - the Division One title in 1991 being the highpoint - and international caps. He retired from football at the relatively young age of 32 having failed to recovery from a knee injury. He is now well-known for his punditry and commentary role on Sky Sports.

 8. Jimmy Walsh was signed by City boss David Halliday from Celtic, where he had struggled to hold down a regular first team place, in November 1956. The inside forward played 199 games for Leicester between 1957 and 1963 scoring 92 goals, a staggering rate of almost one goal every two games.  He is the tenth highest goal scorer in the club’s history.

Even more impressive is that all but one of Jimmy’s 176 league appearances were in the First Division. He was twice, in 1958/59 and again in 1960/61, the club’s leading scorer, as well as being the captain of the Foxes 1961 FA Cup final team. As Leicester City historian John Hutchinson tells us, Jimmy was one of the first professional footballers to play wearing contact lenses. Two other notable firsts are accorded to Walsh. He scored the first ever Leicester goals in European competition (netting twice against Irish side Glenavon in the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1961) and the club’s first goals in the newly established League Cup competition (a hat trick against Mansfield). By 1963, due to injuries and failing eyesight, Jimmy had lost his place in the Leicester team and moved on to be player manager at non-league club Rugby Town. In retirement from football, as many former players then did, Walsh ran a newsagent in Leicester city centre. He died in August 2014 at the age of 83.