Leicester’s ultimate top ten players ever: Wingers, No. 8-7

Wide men have played a significant role for Leicester City over the years. Here we list the best of them, continuing with numbers 8 & 7.

8. A local boy - from Wigston - Harold Riley, number eight on our list, came from a sporting family background. Both his father and grandfather played first class cricket for Leicestershire. Howard played 233 games for City between 1955 and 1965. All but 11 of his 193 league games were in the top-flight. A bit-part player for his first four seasons at the club whilst completing his national service, Howard then established himself in the side between 1960 and 64, the second-best era in the history of the club with four cup finals and the near-miss title run in 1963.

Known as ‘puffer’ Riley because he went like a train down the right wing, Howard also possessed a very hard shot and great crossing ability. He provided impeccable service to Leicester front men such as Ken Keyworth and Mike Stringfellow but also had a good scoring record of his own, netting 47 during his Leicester career which included the winning goal in the 1964 League Cup final.

In 1963, at the age of 25, Howard went part time to train as a PE teacher, a decision which he now thinks shortened his career at the top level He lost his place in the 1964/65 season and moved on to Walsall before a two-year stint in the United States and a return to England to play for Barrow. Riley then embarked on a 27-year teaching career in Leicester before retiring. It didn't mark the end of Howard's football career though. In 1970, his former teammate Richie Norman, then manager of Burton Albion, brought in the winger for a couple of seasons on a part-time basis.

7. Nigel Pearson’s signing of 25-year-old Marc Albrighton on a free transfer from Aston Villa in 2014, as Leicester prepared for a return to the Premier League for the first time in a decade, must rank as one of the best ever pieces of business by the club. Before his retirement at the end of the 1923/24 season, Marc clocked up 313 appearances (all but 12 of his 236 league games in the top-flight) for the Foxes scoring 19 goals. Not possessed of great pace, Marc’s pin-point accurate crosses created many chances for his striker colleagues and most notably Jamie Vardy. He could also be relied upon to pop up with a vital goal or two.

Albrighton has the honour of being the first Leicester player to score in the Champions League when he netted against Club Brugge on 14th September 2016. He played a vital role as a wing back in the ‘great escape’ 2014/15 season and was an ever-present in the 2015/16 title winning team but gradually played fewer games in subsequent seasons (he came on as a 34th minute substitute in the FA Cup final in 2021) before calling it a day after City retained their Premier League place at the end of 2023/24 season.