Twenty-nine years ago, The FOX landed its first ever interview, with Youth team player, Ian Baraclough. Over the three decades since then, we’ve racked up 130 interviews with players past and present, with managers, coaches, board members, famous fans, the son of a manager and the daughter of a chairman.
We’ve travelled the length and breadth of the country in search of our quarry. Muzzy Izzet was to be found just a mile down the road at his football academy in Whetstone, but awaydays have carried us as far afield as Torquay down south (home of former boss Frank O’Farrell) and Chester-le-Street up north (to visit Steve Howard). A prestigious international fixture had to be arranged to take on Paddy Byrne with notebook and pint of Guinness.
We’ve sat in the manager’s office at Belvoir Drive faced with ten different City managers, and have stuck a dictaphone next to many a player having their lunch in the canteen after training.
We’ve found a quiet corner in a huge variety of locations over the years, from the Filbert Street dugout with Iwan Roberts to Gary Lineker’s dressing room at the old BBC TV Centre in White City. A squash club on Frog Island (Paul Ramsey), a Pride Park executive box (Roger Davies), the bench at Burton Albion (Mike Whitlow) and Matt Elliott’s open-topped car have all served a purpose.
The more recently retired or those still involved in the game or media tend to prefer to meet in hotels: Gary McAllister, Steve Claridge, Alan Smith, David Nugent, Ian Marshall. Whereas the older chaps are happy to entertain you at home: Davie Gibson, Bobby Roberts, Jon Sammels, Andy Lochhead, Gordon Milne, Jimmy Walsh.
While all were perfect hosts, Mark Wallington went beyond the call of duty, taking us to his local and insisting on buying us dinner. “Your money’s no good in Lincolnshire!”
Not surprisingly, the pub can produce a convivial atmosphere for an interview, and we met Carl Muggleton, Steve Walsh and Lenny Glover in the boozer for a pint or two – or, in Len’s case, his pre-arranged ‘fee’ of a bottle of bubbly.
Having finally decided to collect all these interviews together, we read back through what is now a huge body of work and were struck by the way they form a giant tapestry of first-hand experiences of Leicester City over a period spanning 60 years. This is the inside story of the club from the late ’50s, when a young Gordon Banks first arrived at Filbert Street, right through to the present day and the Premier League title era.
What also hit us was the poignancy of the passing of time. When we think of our heroes, we imagine them as athletic young men in their prime, in royal blue shirts with the fox on their chests. And yet we were often talking to old boys in their 70s or even 80s, and not always in the best of health. But, irrespective of age, every one of our interviewees was happy to recall stories of their glory days – reliving the whole corresponding range of emotions – and we were thrilled to listen
We hope you enjoy this journey through the history of Leicester City in the company of the men who made it.
You can buy the book via the following link http://https://www.conkereditions.co.uk/product/cant-buy-that-feeling-inside-leicester-city-the-best-of-the-fox-interviews/
The Foxes Trust has published a column in the Fox since our launch back in 2002 and we feel it’s a valuable way for the Trust to regularly communicate with fans. Purchasing this book will aid the funding of the Fox for the coming season