From year to year you get new and exciting teams coming up and rocking the establishment and the so called bigger clubs. We have seen a number of different league winners in the last fifty years as times change these league winners can go up and down between the different divisions.
A number of former and current foxes are all a part of this history and you need to see how this movement comes and goes, season by season, as we are looking back to the year of 1971. Arsenal had gone on to win The Double and had been up there in the top for a number of years, and only managed to win one title, the European Intercities Fairs Cup, but been defeated in the League Cup by Leeds (68) and Swindon (69). They were a bit of a struggling side with that fantastic double act as their monumental happening back in those days.
Frank McLintock, George Armstrong, Jon Sammels, Jeff Blockley and Eddie Kelly all were at Highbury during those years and either making their switch before or after coming to Leicester, but they all played for Arsenal in and around those years of the early seventees.
Embed from Getty ImagesArsenal never managed to defend their league title and also had to see themelves runners-up in the FA Cup the year after, losing to Leeds. Derby and their iconic manager Brian Clough managed to win the league title and among those players were Roger Davies that later played for Leicester. Derby managed to hold their team together with the recruitment of David Nish for a English record transfer fee of £225.000 being paid to Leicester. Clough though had to leave his chair after diagreements with the board and he resigned.
A certain Bill Shankly had been given time to change most of his team from the last league winning side back in 65/66 with only Chris Lawler, Ian Callaghan and Tommy Smith being left in the 73/74 squad from that team group of younger very talented players being given time to gell and finishing that season with their first league win for seven years and from then on league trophies were collected thick and fast.
Leeds with former fox Allan Clarke still in demand managed to turn fortunes around and bring home the 73/74 league title. This was the last year of the Don Revie era, mostly forgotten in these years that he had played for Leicester. Clarke scored 13 goals in 34 league games that season.
Liverpool and Leeds were the dominating sides at the time, but none of them managed to bring home the title that next season with Derby again seen as winners. David Nish and Roger Davies were both key players that season and with new manager Dave Mackay at the wheel, it was a phenomenal and a big surprise to see the Midland club again at the top in that 74/75 season.
This rotation of teams told a story about a number of things, firstly having a quality team of players that knew how to win such a trophy, adding that little special quality as Derby did with Francis Lee, keeping the team almost injury free and at the same time having a manager that also had a feeling of what this was all about from the past.
With Bob Paisley in charge at Liverpool taking over from Bill Shankly in 74, he was ready to bring home yet another league trophy winning it in 75/76, 76/77, 78/79, 79/80, 81/82, 82/83, 83/84 in between Midland clubs Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa managed to get a win each, Forest in 77/78 and Villa in 80/81.
Peter Shilton was a lonely fox among the winners in 77/78 being signed from Stoke who had gone down a division, and really showing the World again that you can go straight from a promotion to a League win if you add the right players and manage to build a team with a balance of perfection.
Liverpool became the super giant and very dominant during those next years and after Aston Villa had won the title in 80/81 only their Merseyside rival Everton managed to snatch the title out of Liverpool hands in 84/85 and 86/87. Kevin MacDonald made the switch to Liverpool from Leicester and made a contribution especially in that 85/86 season when they became they took home The Double.
Everton had Wayne Clarke in one of the teams that managed to win a title. Gary Lineker joined Everton from Leicester, but during his only season at Goodison Park they ended runners-up in both the League and the FA Cup. Colin Gibson won the League with Aston Villa, so did Allan Evans, both played for Leicester later in their career.
Embed from Getty ImagesGoing into the next years you did see Arsenal again lifting the League title it happened in 88/89 and 90/91, with Liverpool winning it in 89/90 and until that 19/20 season they had waited for thirty years to get their hands on the trophy again. Alan Smith and Kevin Campbell were both players that also had been with Leicester and at that time were players at Arsenal.
Leeds went on to win the title surprisingly in 91/92 with Gary McAllister as one of their absolute best players. He had been a record buy when joining from Leicester for a fee of £1million. Leeds stayed in the top flight for the next number of sesons to come before going down together with Leicester in that 03/04 season.
Man Utd and Arsenal became the dominant clubs from then on with the Premier League being formed in that next season, only Blackburn managed to win the title with Mike Newell, Jason Wilcox and Tim Flowers among their players in that 94/95 season.
Martin Keown as we did see in Leicester after his 03/04 Premier League winning season with Arsenal, haven’t seen his fovourite club lift the PL trophy again, and since then Chelsea, Man City and Leicester are the only teams to have lifted the trophy together with Liverpool and of course Man Utd.
Embed from Getty ImagesRobert Huth, Riyad Mahrez, N’Gole Kantè and Mark Schwarzer are players that has felt the experience to date of winning the PL trophy not only at Leicester but with another club as well. Mahrez has lifte the trophy with Man City while the other players have done it at Chelsea.
So what have we learned about this journey, firstly that the changes will come and secondly that a former or Leicester player to be are involved somewhere. Interesting to see how former League winners will return to this table, if it happens and when it will happen, for some it looks like never (Derby, Nott For, Blackburn), for others it could be happening this season (Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd, Leicester) and the third option is also open for some, sometime in the future moving into the top fight again (Arsenal, Everton, Leeds).
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