1985–86 Leicester City F.C. season

During the 1985–86 English football season, Leicester City F.C. competed in the Football League First Division, their third consecutive season at this level since promotion. A 19th-place finish in the final table was just enough to secure a fourth successive top flight campaign.

Leicester City
1985–86 season
ChairmanTerry Shipman
ManagerGordon Milne
First Division19th
FA CupThird round
League CupSecond round
Top goalscorerSmith (19)
Average home league attendance11,792

Season summary edit

In the summer of 1985, the transfer market was dominated by one deal with Gary Lineker's contract at Filbert Street expiring at the end of the last season: Lineker joined Everton in June for a club record sale of £800,000. Leicester started the 1985–86 season terribly with just 2 wins in their first 14 league games. Their only real highlight of the season was when the Foxes did the double over champions Everton and on the final day of the season, Leicester beat Newcastle United 2–0 at Filbert Street and with Ipswich Town losing at Sheffield Wednesday, it kept the Foxes in the top flight and sent Ipswich down.

Final league table edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
17 Coventry City 42 11 10 21 48 71 −23 43
18 Oxford United[a] 42 10 12 20 62 80 −18 42 Disqualified from the UEFA Cup[1]
19 Leicester City 42 10 12 20 54 76 −22 42
20 Ipswich Town (R) 42 11 8 23 32 55 −23 41 Relegation to the Second Division
21 Birmingham City (R) 42 8 5 29 30 73 −43 29
Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Oxford United would have qualified as League Cup winners.

Squad edit

[2] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
- GK   ENG Ian Andrews
- MF   NIR Paul Ramsey
- DF   SCO Bobby Smith
- MF   ENG Rob Kelly
- DF   ENG Russell Osman
- DF   NIR John O'Neill
- MF   ENG Steve Lynex
- FW   ENG Mark Bright
- FW   ENG Alan Smith
- MF   SCO Ian Wilson
- MF   ENG Ian Banks
- MF   SCO Ally Mauchlen
No. Pos. Nation Player
- DF   SCO Tommy Williams
- FW   ENG Robert Jones
- DF   ENG Andy Feeley
- FW   ENG Tony Sealy
- DF   SCO David Rennie
- MF   SCO Gary McAllister
- DF   ENG Simon Morgan
- GK   ENG Jerry Roberts
- FW   DEN Tommy Christensen
- MF   ENG Laurie Cunningham
- DF   ENG Mark Venus
- MF   ENG Paul Reid

Transfers edit

In edit

Date Pos Name From Fee Notes
15 August 1985 MF Gary McAllister Motherwell £125,000 [3]
15 August 1985 DF Ally Mauchlen Motherwell £125,000 [4]

Out edit

Date Pos Name From Fee Notes
5 July 1985 FW Gary Lineker Everton £800,000 [5]
17 January 1986 DF David Rennie Leeds United £50,000 [6]
Transfers in:   £250,000
Transfers out:   £850,000
Total spending:   £600,000

References edit

  1. ^ English teams were banned by UEFA from its competitions from the season 1985–86 on until the season 1990–91 because of the Heysel Disaster in 1985, involving Liverpool fans.
  2. ^ "All Leicester City players: 1986".
  3. ^ "leeds-fans.org.uk: Leeds United Player Profile: Gary McAllister". www.leeds-fans.org.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  4. ^ "MotherWELLnet.co.uk - Ally Mauchlen". Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  5. ^ "Article | the Everton Collection".
  6. ^ "leeds-fans.org.uk: Leeds United Player Profile: David Rennie". www.leeds-fans.org.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2022.