Foxes just ‘paupers’ back then
LEICESTER CITY against Blackburn Rovers was once the biggest match in British football.
The two sides clash on Tuesday in the FA Cup Fifth Round, but the prize when they met at Wembley in May 1992 was a place in the first Premier League – and the millions of pounds that would go with it.
Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough had got there by finishing first and second respectively and, on a scorching Bank Holiday, Leicester and Blackburn met to decide who would join them.
The previous season, Leicester only escaped relegation to the third tier on the final day.
Somehow new boss Brian Little used his contacts book of lowerdivision and non-league players to turn the Foxes into promotion contenders. Blackburn boss Kenny Dalglish had Jack Walker’s millions to spend.
King Kenny had been tempted out of retirement by Walker’s bulging bank balance and within five months of arriving, he had spent £5million on players.
One of his signings was striker Mike Newell, who cost £1.1m when he joined from Everton.
Newell had previously been at Leicester, arriving from Luton for a clubrecord £300,000 in 1987.
The final was described as “millionaires against paupers”.
In the dying seconds of the first half, Blackburn were awarded a penalty after David Speedie tumbled under Steve Walsh’s challenge – and every Leicester player and fan was rightly outraged.
Replays showed there was little contact – and anyone who watched Leicester knew that simply was not Walsh’s way.
His fouls usually ended with the striker in Row Z.
Up stepped Newell to score against his former club, and he was only denied a second when Carl Muggleton kept out another spot-kick, but Leicester hearts were to finish broken.