At present Leicester are in a 19th position in Premier League and their recent form resulted in a manager change, Brendan Rodgers departed and in to try to save Leicester is former Villa and Norwich boss Dean Smith.
Looking back you have a number of seasons a bit like this one that has resulted in a good outfall and seen Leicester escape relegation from the top tier, the 1974/75 season is one that comes to mind.
The season before was a positive experience for Jimmy Bloomfield as his team reached the semi-final of the FA Cup. In the league they ended 9th and far from the relegation area. The side was well settled and no new signings were done in the summer of 74, just keeping the group together, probably was the idea to make even more progress.
Keith Weller, Peter Shilton and Frank Worthington were all involved with England at full international level at the time and regarded among the best players in the league. But still pressure on the club to keep their best players happy, as it was major news to see Peter Shilton leaving the club for a new world transfer record fee for a goalkeeper, Stoke paying £325.000 for his services.
Mark Wallington was the one to take over from Peter Shilton, but after a just a few games getting an injury which kept him out of the team for a while with loan man John Farmer from Stoke and Carl Jayes brought into action.
Leicester struggled heavily in the winter period and found themselves in great trouble, but still kept faith in Jimmy Bloomfield who had made such great progress with the team over his years in charge.
To avoid more problems Jimmy Bloomfield decided to go into the transfer market and as he had done so many times before, looks for new recruits in London. Bloomfield had previously brought in Alan Birchenall (Crystal Palace), Keith Weller (Chelsea), Jon Sammels (Arsenal) and Steve Earle (Fulham) to join. Two new shrewd moves were made signing up Jeff Blockley (Arsenal) and Chris Garland (Chelsea). It worked wonders as Garland’s goalscoring and Blockley’s defending became vital in the latter games of the season, winning 7, 4 draws and just 3 defeats.
Leicester build on their 74/75 season end, to push for their best position under Jimmy Bloomfield, ending 7th in 75/76. There were added two new players over the summer, Brian Alderson and Steve Kember as both contributed well in the steps up the ladder.
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