The 1962–63 season was Leicester City's 58th season in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and their 20th (non-consecutive) season in the first tier of English football. Under the management of

Matt Gillies Matthew Muirhead Gillies (12 August 1921 – 24 December 1998) was a Scottish football player and manager who played for, captained, coached and managed Leicester City for a total of 15 years between 1952–1955 and 1956–1968. He is the club's ...

and starring players

Gordon Banks Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...

Frank McLintock Francis McLintock MBE (born 28 December 1939) is a former Scotland international footballer, football manager and businessman. He also worked as a sports agent and football pundit in his later life. He began his career in Scottish Junior footba ...

and Dave Gibson, Leicester sensationally chased the double. After losing 3–1 to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

and gaining just one win from their final nine league games their double challenge collapsed and the Foxes eventually finished in a disappointing fourth position in the league.

Overview

The horrendous winter of 1962–63 was the coldest winter of the 20th century in England and Wales and saw a plethora of games being called off: there was no First Division match played in England during January 1963 and Leicester did not play a game between

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

1962 and 9 February 1963. As games began to start being played again after the lengthy hiatus, Leicester, on the icy pitches, began to gain huge momentum and went on a lengthy winning and unbeaten run which saw them top the table with nine (and later five) games to go and reach the

1963 FA Cup Final The 1963 FA Cup Final was the final of the 1962–63 FA Cup, the 82nd season of England's premier club football competition. The match was played at Wembley Stadium (which was fully roofed for the first time) on 25 May 1963 and contested by Manch ...

. However, as injuries took hold and the ice began to melt Leicester's momentum faded and they ended up winning just one of their final nine league games and losing the FA Cup final to

despite being hot favourites, after a dour performance. Though they were chasing the double during the icy period, as the season came to a close the Foxes ended in a disappointing fourth position and as FA Cup runners-up. Between 10 November 1962 and 8 April 1963, Leicester went on a run of 18 matches unbeaten, earning themselves the nickname "the ice kings" and creating a club record which stood for 46 years, until it was beaten in the 2008–09 season, though Leicester were in a division two tiers lower than that of the 1962-63 side. Their run of seven consecutive league wins between 9 February 1963 and 9 March 1963 was a club record which stood until 8 December 2019 when Brendan Rogers' side won their eight consecutive Premier League game.

Players

Leicester's creative attack was built around the skillful playmaker Dave Gibson who forged a deadly partnership on the left of Leicester's attack with

Mike Stringfellow Michael David Stringfellow (born 27 January 1943 in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire) is an English retired footballer who played 14 seasons as a winger for Leicester City in the 1960s and 1970s. He is the uncle of fellow footballer Ian Stri ...

Ken Keyworth Ken Keyworth (24 February 1934 – 7 January 2000) was a professional association football, footballer in the 1950s and 1960s who played for Rotherham United F.C., Rotherham United, Coventry City F.C., Coventry City and Swindon Town F.C., Swindo ...

was the club's centre forward and prolific goalscorer upfront, while Howard Riley provided balance on the right-wing. Much of the flexibility in the side came from the athleticism of

and

Graham Cross Graham Frederick Cross (born 15 November 1943) is a former professional footballer and cricketer. He is the record appearance holder for Leicester City, making 599 appearances for the club in all competitions. Football career Cross was born in ...

, who regularly changed positions during games which Gillies said "utterly confused heopposition" as opposition players would often be asked to mark "our eicester'snumber eight, so they thought Cross was their man, when McLintock had replaced him" as "players hadn't got beyond thinking about numbers then." In defence, Leicester forged a fearsome half-back line of McLintock, Ian King and club captain

Colin Appleton Colin Harry Appleton (7 March 1936 – 31 May 2021) was an English association football, footballer and manager (association football), manager. He was captain of the celebrated Leicester side nicknamed the "ice kings" which chased the double i ...

with

John Sjoberg John Sjoberg (12 June 1941 – 2 October 2008) was a Scottish footballer who played 15 seasons for Leicester City between 1958 and 1973. Sjoberg joined the Foxes from Scottish amateur side Banks O' Dee in August 1958, and went on to play 413 f ...

and

Richie Norman Richie Norman (born 5 September 1935 in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland) is an English former footballer who is working as a physio at outhern League Premier Central Sideside Nuneaton Borough and been in that role with the club for 27 yea ...

as full-backs and legendary goalkeeper

in goal.

Influence on English football

The Ice Kings were managed by

and his assistant Bert Johnson and were hugely influential in English football for their fluid "switch" and "whirl" systems and playing sequences of short probing passes to unlock defences and establishing the concept of positional flexibility and for their switching of positions, particularly of inside right and right-half

and

, upsetting the tradition 1-11 formations in England and confusing opposition players, who were used to thinking in terms of rigid formations in the English game. Johnson had brought back this system from watching the great

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

sides of the 1950s and he and Gillies developed their own version of the systems with Leicester. Gillies later said it "confused opposition" as opposition players would often be asked to mark "our eicester'snumber eight, so they thought

Cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

was their man, when McLintock had replaced him" as "players hadn't got beyond thinking about numbers then."Leicester City: The Official History DVD (2004)

Results

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

*Leicester City scores given first

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

*Leicester City scores given first

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

*Leicester City scores given first

First Division statistics

First Division table

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Club statistics

All data from: Dave Smith and Paul Taylor, ''Of Fossils and Foxes: The Official Definitive History of Leicester City Football Club'' (2001) ()

Appearances

Starting XI

The following players have been named in the most starting line-ups. This line-up may differ from the list of players with most appearances.

Top goalscorers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1962-63 Leicester City F.C. season Leicester City F.C. seasons

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...