1928–29 Leicester City F.C. season

Leicester City
1928–29 season
Manager Scotland Willie Orr
First Division 2nd
FA Cup 5th Round
Top goalscorer League:
Arthur Chandler (34)
All:
Arthur Chandler (34)
Home colours
← 1927-28 1929-30 →

The 1928–29 season was Leicester City's 31st season in the Football League and their 5th in the First Division. Led by their formidable strike force of Ernie Hine, Arthur Chandler and Arthur Lochhead (all three of whom are still placed today among Leicester's top five goalscorers of all-time) and inspirational captain and creative lynch-pin Johnny Duncan, Leicester finished runners-up in the First Division, just one point behind winners The Wednesday. It was the club's highest ever league finish until the 2015-16 Season where the team won their first ever top division championship.

The most remarkable game of the season came on 20 October 1928 in which Leicester thrashed Portsmouth 10-0, which still stands as Leicester's record league victory. The club's all-time record goalscorer Arthur Chandler netted an incredible six goals in the game. A legend surrounding the game says that just after Chandler scored his 5th goal of the afternoon, 5 swans flew over Filbert Street. Several minutes later a further sixth swan flew overhead, to which Chandler promptly responded by scoring his sixth goal of the afternoon.

Overview

The close season saw Leicester hold on to the spine of the team that had helped them to third place in the First Division the previous season. A bid for star man and club captain Johnny Duncan from Everton firmly rejected, while a deal for George Ritchie, who signed from Falkirk remained the major transfer dealing of the summer.[1]

An indifferent start to the season saw Leicester sit 14th after 8 games[2] and the season got worse after both Duncan and Reg Osborne picked up injuries which would see them kept out for lengthy periods of the season soon after.

However, fortunes began to turn on the pitch as Leicester picked up four wins on the bounce, including the legendary 10-0 win against Portsmouth. Leicester, who were being captained for the first time by centre half George Carr, were 5-0 up at half-time, in a first-half which included a 14-minute Arthur Chandler hat-trick. After 70 minutes when Chandler netted his 5th goal, five swans flew over Filbert Street, which led to cheers from the home crowd. A few minutes later, after Ernie Hine had made it 8-0, a sixth swan flew overhead, which caused the crowd to react and call for Chandler to score his sixth, to which Chandler responded by promptly scoring, to equal team mate's Johnny Duncan's record of scoring 6 goals in a single match. Hine rounded up a hat-trick of his own shortly afterwards to make it 10-0 and to round off Leicester's record ever league win.[1]

Inspired by this win Leicester rapidly began to climb the table and by 6 April, Leicester sat in second place 4 points off the lead with a game in hand[3] However, it was ironically defeat against Portsmouth in their game in hand which may have cost Leicester the title as Leicester took 6 points from their final 5 games, they ended up the season as division runners-up, knowing that just one more point would have been enough to clinch the title from The Wednesday, having finished the season with a superior goal average.

Results

Football League First Division

Match Date Opponents Venue Result Scorers Attendance
1 25 August 1928 Manchester United A 1–1 Hine 20,129
2 27 August 1928 Birmingham City H 5–3 Hine, Chandler (2), Lochhead (2) 22,589
3 1 September 1928 Leeds United H 4–4 Barry, Hine, Chandler (2) 27,507
4 8 September 1928 Liverpool A 3–6 Baxter, Chandler, Gibson 26,900
5 10 September 1928 Birmingham City A 0–1 11,449
6 15 September 1928 West Ham United H 5–0 Barry, Chandler (2), Lochhead, Hine 24,654
7 22 September 1928 Newcastle A 0–1 30,816
8 29 September 1928 Burnley H 1–1 Chandler 26,506
9 6 October 1928 Cardiff City A 2–1 Carr, Hine 19,477
10 13 October 1928 Sheffield United H 3–1 Chandler (2), Hine 25,438
11 20 October 1928 Portsmouth H 10–0 Hine (3), Barry, Chandler (6) 23,621
12 27 October 1928 Manchester City A 3–2 Lochhead, Adcock, Hine 33,982
13 3 November 1928 The Wednesday H 1–1 Hine 29,522
14 10 November 1928 Derby County A 2–5 Hine, Lochhead 24,673
15 17 November 1928 Sunderland H 1–0 Chandler 24,178
16 24 November 1928 Blackburn Rovers A 1–1 Hine 10,831
17 1 December 1928 Arsenal H 1–1 Chandler 26,851
18 8 December 1928 Everton A 1–3 Chandler 10,831
19 15 December 1928 Huddersfield Town H 4–1 Hine (2), Chandler (2) 19,528
20 22 December 1928 Bolton Wanderers A 0–5 16,030
21 25 December 1928 Bury A 1–3 Chandler 19,805
22 26 December 1928 Bury H 5–2 Hine (3), Adcock, Lochhead 32,807
23 29 December 1928 Manchester United H 2–1 Hine (2) 21,532
24 5 January 1929 Leeds United A 3–4 Chandler, Lochhead, Hine (2) 18,870
25 19 January 1929 Liverpool H 2–0 Hine (2)(1p) 21,764
26 2 February 1929 Newcastle United H 1–1 Adcock 20,796
27 9 February 1929 Burnley A 1–0 Chandler 14,879
28 21 February 1929 Cardiff City H 2–0 Lovatt, Hine (p) 12,938
29 23 February 1929 Sheffield United A 4–1 Lochhead, Chandler (2), Hine 19,045
30 4 March 1929 West Ham United A 1–2 Lovatt 8,603
31 9 March 1929 Manchester City H 3–2 Hine (2), Lochhead 21,396
32 16 March 1929 The Wednesday A 0–1 30,176
33 23 March 1929 Derby County H 1–0 Hine 23,622
34 30 March 1929 Sunderland A 2–1 Lochhead, Chandler 22,849
35 1 April 1929 Aston Villa H 4–1 Adcock (p), Lochhead, Duncan, Chandler 35,744
36 2 April 1929 Aston Villa A 2–4 Chandler (2) 31,909
37 6 April 1929 Blackburn Rovers H 2–1 Chandler (2) 19,328
38 10 April 1929 Portsmouth A 0–1 21,102
39 13 April 1929 Arsenal A 1–1 Chandler 19,139
40 20 April 1929 Everton H 4–1 Chandler, Hine (2), Lochhead 19,006
41 27 April 1929 Huddersfield Town A 1–1 Duncan 8,778
42 4 May 1929 Bolton Wanderers H 6–1 Lochhead, Lovatt (3), Hine (2) 19,912

FA Cup

Round Date Opponents Venue Result Scorers Attendance
3 12 January 1929 Lincoln City A 1–0 Lochhead 16,849
4 26 January 1929 Swansea Town H 1–0 Lochhead 39,188
5 16 February 1929 Bolton Wanderers H 1–2 Lochhead 30,591

First Division Statistics

Final League Table

Pos Team Pld W D L F A GA Pts
1The Wednesday4221101186621.38752
2Leicester City422191296671.43351
3Aston Villa422341598811.21050
4Sunderland422071593751.24047
5Liverpool4217121390641.40646
6Derby County4218101486711.21146

Club statistics

All data from: Dave Smith and Paul Taylor, Of Fossils and Foxes: The Official Definitive History of Leicester City Football Club (2001) (ISBN 1-899538-21-6)

Appearances

Pos. Nat. Name Div 1 FAC Total
GK Scotland Jim McLaren 34 3 37
GK Scotland Ken Campbell 8 0 8
DF Scotland Adam Black 40 3 43
DF England John Brown 31 1 32
DF South Africa England Reg Osborne 12 2 14
MF Scotland Bill Findlay 19 0 19
MF England George Carr 39 3 42
MF Scotland Johnny Duncan 27 1 28
MF England Hugh Adcock 40 3 43
MF Scotland Jimmy Baxter 2 0 2
MF England Norman Watson 16 2 18
MF Scotland George Ritchie 28 3 31
MF Scotland Pat Carrigan 5 0 5
FW England Ernie Hine 35 3 38
FW England Arthur Chandler 40 3 43
FW Scotland Arthur Lochhead 36 3 39
FW England Len Barry 40 3 43
FW Scotland Tom Gibson 2 0 2
FW England William Bell 2 0 2
FW England Walter Langford 2 0 2
FW England Harry Lovatt 4 0 4

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.

No. Nat. Pos. Name Starts
1 Scotland GK Jim McLaren 37
2 Scotland RB Adam Black 43
3 England LB John Brown 32
4 Scotland RH Johnny Duncan 28
5 England CH George Carr 42
6 Scotland LH George Ritchie 31
7 England OR Hugh Adcock 43
8 England IR Ernie Hine 38
9 England CF Arthur Chandler 43
10 Scotland IL Arthur Lochhead 39
11 England OL Len Barry 43

2–3–5 Formation

Top Goalscorers

Pos. Nat. Name Div 1 FAC Total
1 England Arthur Chandler 34 0 34
2 England Ernie Hine 32 0 32
3 Scotland Arthur Lochhead 13 3 16
4 England Harry Lovatt 5 0 5
5 England Hugh Adcock 5 0 5
6 England Len Barry 3 0 3
7 Scotland Johnny Duncan 2 0 2
8 England George Carr 1 0 1
= Scotland James Baxter 1 0 1
= Scotland Tom Gibson 1 0 1

References

  1. 1 2 3 Dave Smith & Paul Taylor (2010). Of Fossils and Foxes. ISBN 1-905411-94-4.
  2. ↑ English Division One (old) 1928-1929 : Table, 29 September 1928 statto.com, retrieved 4 April 2011
  3. ↑ English Division One (old) 1928-1929 : Table, 6 April 1929 statto.com, retrieved 4 April 2011
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