Leicester’s ultimate top ten players ever: Wingers, No.3

Wide men have played a significant role for Leicester City over the years. Here we list the best of them, continuing with number 3.

Amidst interest from Chelsea and Spurs, Len Glover, number three in our list of Leicester's greatest wingers, was signed for City from Charlton Athletic by Matt Gillies in a £80,000 deal (at the time a British record fee for a winger) in 1967. In an interview with Leicester City historian John Hutchinson, Len says that although moving to Filbert Street was the best thing he ever did, he hated the move at first feeling homesick and fed-up living in a hotel (the Belmont). He used to travel back to London every day after training. Eventually, he got used to life in the East Midlands and rented a flat on New Walk with reserve goalkeeper Colin Mackleworth.

Loved by the fans, Lenny - a skilful and quick left winger - is widely regarded as a Leicester City great. He made 306 appearances for the Foxes between 1967 and 1976 scoring 48 goals. His early career at Filbert Street was marked by injury.

However, he created the winner in a fifth round FA Cup tie against Liverpool in 1969 and played in that year's Cup Final (although he wasn’t fully fit). Glover became a key member of the side that won promotion to Division 1 in 1971, won the Charity Shield and established itself in the First Division also reaching the semi-final of the FA Cup in 1974 (in which the winger scored Leicester’s goal in a 3-1 reverse to Liverpool). The quick-witted Cockney starred in Jimmy Bloomfield’s team of entertainers for four seasons developing an almost telepathic relationship with centre forward Frank Worthington. He was regarded as one of the best uncapped players in England and perhaps the world. 

In 1967, Glover suffered an Achillis injury and Bloomfield bought Brian Alderson as a replacement. This was the beginning of the end for Lenny and he left Filbert Street in 1976 to ply his trade in America (where he played against players of the calibre of Pele and Franz Beckenbauer) before a couple of seasons as a non-league player/manager. Following retirement, he became a landlord of a Leicestershire pub. In 2004, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for laundering profits from the sale of cannabis. This explains the excellent title of his self-published autobiography From Left Wing to D Wing.

More on Friday.