Post by leicesterlass on Oct 26, 2006 10:53:22 GMT -1
Time to move on
For a moment we could have been in the late '90s. Leicester City were taking on more illustrious opponents with passion, commitment and skill and, just when you thought time had run out, there they are with a late header to rescue the game.
Foxes never Quit.
On the edge of the pitch there is a familiar figure in his black sweatshirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbow, living every pass, every tackle, every near miss, every goal . . . but Martin O'Neill is now the manager of Aston Villa, leading his team to a 3-2 Carling Cup win at the Walkers Stadium after extra-time.
He has cast a long shadow over the last six years as City have struggled for survival on and off the field. It is only natural for supporters to look back to our golden recent history.
Watching City struggling to overcome yet another unadventurous side at home, as we try to improve on our lower mid-table, second-tier position, the mind can wander . . . to Pride Park, Derby on a Sunday afternoon. City have steamrollered the Rams into the ground. They are 4-0 up within a quarter of an hour. Derby fans are heading for the exits.
Or to Old Trafford on a cold Saturday afternoon in January when Tony Cottee decides his long net-busting career isn't quite over and he scores the only goal of the game against Manchester United. It's amazing how quiet 55,000 people can be.
Or to a steaming hot night in Madrid. After a long afternoon of sangria and tapas we can't quite trust the evidence of our own eyes. Have we really just gone 1-0 up against Atletico Madrid, and was it really that scruffy herbert Ian Marshall who put it over the line?
Or a night in Hillsborough when 20,000 City fans travelled up the M1 to see Steve Walsh lift the League Cup, after Steve Claridge's goal broke Middlesbrough hearts.
Or when that same Super Stevie Claridge shinned the ball over Crystal Palace keeper Nigel Martyn and under the bar to seal promotion in extra-time injury time at Wembley.
There are many other great moments: the annual victories at Anfield and White Hart Lane; Tony Cottee's brace at the Stadium of Light in the League Cup final; Matt Elliott's tour de force against Tranmere as City won the first major honour of the new millennium; the semi-final second leg at Selhurst Park against Wimbledon; the win at Watford where Muzzy Izzet's header took us into the play-offs; the Stan Collymore-inspired 5-2 win at Sunderland which briefly promised that City were ready to move up yet another level.
A lifetime's worth of great football-supporting memories - all somehow crammed into four-and-a-half busy years.
But they are memories and O'Neill's time at Leicester is fading into history.
At the end of Tuesday night's game, O'Neill carefully acknowledged every section of the away support in a calculated manner and then headed for the tunnel. Some City fans were not happy with this, but this is football and Leicester and O'Neill are a long time over.
He is performing his miracles for Villa now. "WE ARE INVINCIBLE!" sang the claret-and-blue hordes as they poured out of the away end; while we need to lose the burden of our recent history and rebuild anew.
We saw enough in Tuesday's performance to believe that we might have a bright future as well as a golden past.
For a moment we could have been in the late '90s. Leicester City were taking on more illustrious opponents with passion, commitment and skill and, just when you thought time had run out, there they are with a late header to rescue the game.
Foxes never Quit.
On the edge of the pitch there is a familiar figure in his black sweatshirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbow, living every pass, every tackle, every near miss, every goal . . . but Martin O'Neill is now the manager of Aston Villa, leading his team to a 3-2 Carling Cup win at the Walkers Stadium after extra-time.
He has cast a long shadow over the last six years as City have struggled for survival on and off the field. It is only natural for supporters to look back to our golden recent history.
Watching City struggling to overcome yet another unadventurous side at home, as we try to improve on our lower mid-table, second-tier position, the mind can wander . . . to Pride Park, Derby on a Sunday afternoon. City have steamrollered the Rams into the ground. They are 4-0 up within a quarter of an hour. Derby fans are heading for the exits.
Or to Old Trafford on a cold Saturday afternoon in January when Tony Cottee decides his long net-busting career isn't quite over and he scores the only goal of the game against Manchester United. It's amazing how quiet 55,000 people can be.
Or to a steaming hot night in Madrid. After a long afternoon of sangria and tapas we can't quite trust the evidence of our own eyes. Have we really just gone 1-0 up against Atletico Madrid, and was it really that scruffy herbert Ian Marshall who put it over the line?
Or a night in Hillsborough when 20,000 City fans travelled up the M1 to see Steve Walsh lift the League Cup, after Steve Claridge's goal broke Middlesbrough hearts.
Or when that same Super Stevie Claridge shinned the ball over Crystal Palace keeper Nigel Martyn and under the bar to seal promotion in extra-time injury time at Wembley.
There are many other great moments: the annual victories at Anfield and White Hart Lane; Tony Cottee's brace at the Stadium of Light in the League Cup final; Matt Elliott's tour de force against Tranmere as City won the first major honour of the new millennium; the semi-final second leg at Selhurst Park against Wimbledon; the win at Watford where Muzzy Izzet's header took us into the play-offs; the Stan Collymore-inspired 5-2 win at Sunderland which briefly promised that City were ready to move up yet another level.
A lifetime's worth of great football-supporting memories - all somehow crammed into four-and-a-half busy years.
But they are memories and O'Neill's time at Leicester is fading into history.
At the end of Tuesday night's game, O'Neill carefully acknowledged every section of the away support in a calculated manner and then headed for the tunnel. Some City fans were not happy with this, but this is football and Leicester and O'Neill are a long time over.
He is performing his miracles for Villa now. "WE ARE INVINCIBLE!" sang the claret-and-blue hordes as they poured out of the away end; while we need to lose the burden of our recent history and rebuild anew.
We saw enough in Tuesday's performance to believe that we might have a bright future as well as a golden past.
