Leicester’s ultimate top ten players ever: Wingers, No.2

Wide men have played a significant role for Leicester City over the years. Here we list the best of them, continuing with number 2.

I first started to watch Leicester play during the era of the Bloomfield ‘entertainers’ in the 1970s. After replacing Frank O’Farrell who was poached by Manchester United, the former Orient boss signed a number of flair players including Jon Sammels, Alan Birchenall and Frank Worthington. The other was Keith Weller, number 2 on our list of the Foxes greatest ever wingers. Starting out at Millwall, Weller then became a pivotal part of the Chelsea side managed by Dave Sexton who, in the 1970/1 season, had finished sixth in the First Division and won the European Cup Winners Cup. Sexton couldn’t guarantee a first team place for Weller in his star-laden side and, according to Ian Davidson’s biography of the Leicester recruit, the Chelsea boss later regretted letting him leave. 

Chelsea’s loss was certainly Leicester’s gain. Weller went on to make 297 appearances for the Foxes on the right wing, scoring 43 times. His turn of pace and close ball skills were a joy to behold. From an autobiographical perspective, Keith played, and starred, in two of my favourite matches as a young Foxes fan. The first was a First Division match against Liverpool under the lights at Filbert Street on Wednesday 30 August 1972. City had had a poor start to the season whereas Bill Shankly’s great side, who would go on to win the league, were unbeaten. The Scousers raced into an early 2-0 lead and our worst fears looked like being realised. That was until Weller exploded on to the scene scoring a hat-trick as the Foxes ran out 3-2 winners. They weren’t tap-ins either but powerful shots from outside the area. There were calls for the winger to be included in Alf Ramsey’s England squad but he had to wait until 1974, and Ramsey’s replacement by Joe Mercer, for his call-up and his only four caps.

The second match I clearly remember was a fifth round FA Cup tie against Luton Town at Kenilworth Road in February 1974. This was predicted to be a tricky tie for the Foxes against a high-flying Second Division side. But, in a match which exemplified Leicester’s ‘entertainers’ tag, the Hatters were simply blown away by a scintillating performance by City who ran out 4-0 winners. The highlight was a goal by Weller which oozed class. Picking the ball up about 30 years from goal, he shimmied past four Luton defenders before unleashing an unstoppable shot with his left foot into the top left-hand corner of the net. Surely one of, if not the, best goal in the history of the club. It can be enjoyed on YouTube.

Weller’s relationship with the club soured towards the end of his time in the East Midlands. Frustrated at the failure to challenge for a trophy, Keith put in a transfer request at the start of the 1974/75 season and infamously refused to appear for the second half of a league match against Ipswich in December 1974 at Filbert Street. He was later integrated back into the side but, suffering a chronic knee injury, Weller never got back to the highs of his earlier Leicester career. After leaving Filbert Street in 1978 he had an impressive playing and coaching career in the United States. Sadly, Keith developed a rare form of cancer and despite undertaking alternative therapies - paid for mostly by City fans answering Alan Birchenall’s appeal - he passed away, at the age of 58, in 2004.

 More on Saturday.