DODGY PEN WAS MAJOR BLOW TO TORIES

THERE was once an FA Cup clash between Chelsea and Leicester that may have helped bring down the Government!

The sides headed to Stamford Bridge for a fifth-round replay in February 1997, after Martin O’Neill’s Foxes had cancelled out a 2-0 deficit at Filbert Street.

The replay was goalless with only three minutes of extra-time left, and then

Chelsea centre-half Erland Johnsen burst into the visitors’ penalty area.

Leicester defender Matt

Elliott recalled: “I thought I could get there and make the challenge, but realised that I wasn’t going to get there and pulled out.

“Johnsen took a tumble, though. It was never a foul.”

Everyone agreed with him – except referee Mike Reed.

He instantly pointed to the penalty spot, Frank Leboeuf (left) converted and Chelsea

went through. The row about the penalty wouldn’t go away and the Press raged about: ‘The Worst Referee In The World’.

Elliott reckoned it was about rather more than a refereeing blunder.

He said: “There was a little bit of resentment towards Chelsea that they were buying success.

“We were ‘Little Old Leicester’. It was hard to take.”

John Regan, a Leicester fan since the 1950s, could not take it.

He was at Stamford Bridge and said: “A few days later, I thought, ‘I’m going to sue the referee. I’m going to say I had three days off work to recover from the shock and trauma’. I went to the Leicester courts and said, ‘I want to sue a referee’.

“They told me I couldn’t, but I could sue his place of work, the FA. So I sent them a writ.”

That claim for £160 made headlines all over the world and was mentioned in Parliament.

“This MP from Leicester said I was nuts, and [Prime Minister] John Major (above) laughed it off,” said Regan, who is now 69.

“I responded, ‘Do you know how many people have been suffering with shock because of this penalty and you’re doing nothing about it?’ I was telling everyone to vote Labour. Sure enough, they got in.”

Tony Blair was elected PM, replacing Chelsea fan Major, while Regan decided against pursuing his case against the FA.

“The day of the case I didn’t bother going to court,” said Regan, who was at Leicester’s last FA Cup Final in 1969 and has a ticket for Saturday’s final.

“I thought, ‘If I win, there’ll be millions of Germans suing because the ball didn’t cross the line in the 1966 World Cup Final’ – and I didn’t want that!”