Today’s ‘On This Day’ article looks at Leicester City’s programme from the 1984/85 season. Read our notes on the issue below and click here to see all of the Division One programmes from the season.
The Foxes’ programme was one of the most attractively designed issue of its time, using a consistent colour scheme throughout, except for the opposition section that used the visiting club’s colours to provide a nice contrast. The programme also made use of recurring motifs, carrying forward the slanted design of the front cover as page headers throughout the issue.
The issue opened with ‘Replay’ – a look at a previous game, with match notes, line-ups, and a picture from the match. This was followed by a page of notes from manager Gordon Milne, in which he noted that striker Gary Lineker had won his first full England cap, marking the occasion with the first of the 48 goals he would score for his country. ‘Scene on 1’ looked at all the news from around the First Division, while Alan Bennett penned a column in which he looked at the ongoing challenge of dealing with hooliganism, pointing out the flaws in the government’s proposed identity card scheme. ‘Games of the Century’ was a retro piece that looked at memorable matches from the Foxes’ history. The game covered in the Liverpool issue was a clash against the Reds from 1972, which Leicester won 3-2 with a hat-trick from Keith Weller. ‘At Home’ looked at the off the field life of one member of the Leicester set-up, with the focus in the Liverpool programme on manager Gordon Milne.
The coverage of matchday opponents Liverpool was provided across two pages, nicely presented in the club’s colours. The content included a team group picture, with the league championship, European Cup, and Milk Cup all on display. The accompanying article looked at the incredible run of success that Liverpool had achieved in the previous decade, as well as covering more recent form and transfer news. ‘For the Record’ meanwhile looked at Leicester’s head to head record against their matchday opponents.
In other content ‘Around the City’ and ‘News Desk’ gathered several pieces of news from the club, while ‘Reserves and Youths’ reported on the progress of Leicester’s second string and junior teams. The column included the information that the reserves had won promotion to Division One of the Central League, winning the Division Two title in the club’s first season in the league. There were also two pages of ‘Action’ with pictures from recent games. The programme also included Supporters Club News, details of forthcoming Away Travel, and ‘Birch’s Corner’ – a short column from Alan Birchenall – who was at the time Leicester’s Public Relations Officer. The usual two-page season results, fixtures, and line-ups spread was also present, with the team line-ups on the back page.
This was a fine issue from Leicester, containing plenty of reading as well as action pictures, stats, and news from around the club and its various teams. One of the best issues of the season.