1971–72 Leicester City F.C. season

Leicester City

1971–72 season
Chairman	Leonard Shipman
Manager	Jimmy Bloomfield
First Division	12th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Second round
FA Charity Shield	Winners
Anglo-Italian Cup	3rd
Top goalscorer	League: Brown (7) All: Weller (9)
Average home league attendance	28,536
Home colours

During the 1971–72 English football season, Leicester City F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

In the 1971–72 season, Jimmy Bloomfield was appointed as new Leicester boss for the new season, and kept them in the First Division in their first season back in the top flight after a 2-year absence with a satisfying 12th-place finish. Unusually, due to Division One champions Arsenal's commitments in European competition, Division Two winners Leicester were invited to play FA Cup winners Liverpool in the Charity Shield, winning it for the first time, by 1-0.

Final league table

Main article: 1971–72 Football League First Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification or relegation
10	Sheffield United	42	17	12	13	61	60	1.017	46	Qualification for the Watney Cup
11	Newcastle United	42	15	11	16	49	52	0.942	41
12	Leicester City	42	13	13	16	41	46	0.891	39
13	Ipswich Town	42	11	16	15	39	53	0.736	38
14	West Ham United	42	12	12	18	47	51	0.922	36

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
Notes:

Results

Leicester City's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
14 August 1971	Huddersfield Town	A	2–2	16,285	Brown, Nish
18 August 1971	Nottingham Forest	H	2–1	32,079	Brown, O'Kane (own goal)
21 August 1971	Derby County	H	0–2	35,460
25 August 1971	Stoke City	A	1–3	21,678	Brown
28 August 1971	Liverpool	A	2–3	50,970	Fern, Farrington
1 September 1971	Southampton	H	0–1	22,055
4 September 1971	Manchester City	H	0–0	25,238
11 September 1971	Ipswich Town	A	2–1	18,483	Sammels, Kellard
18 September 1971	Sheffield United	H	0–1	30,143
25 September 1971	Arsenal	A	0–3	40,201
2 October 1971	Crystal Palace	H	0–0	28,493
9 October 1971	West Ham United	A	1–1	31,060	Cross
16 October 1971	Huddersfield Town	H	2–0	22,412	Sammels, Weller
23 October 1971	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–0	23,088	Weller
30 October 1971	Chelsea	H	1–1	36,574	Birchenall
6 November 1971	Leeds United	A	1–2	39,877	Brown
13 November 1971	Newcastle United	H	3–0	28,792	Brown, Sammels, Fern
20 November 1971	Manchester United	A	2–3	48,757	Birchenall, Glover
27 November 1971	Everton	H	0–0	29,662
4 December 1971	Coventry City	A	1–1	26,300	Brown
11 December 1971	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0–1	30,721
18 December 1971	Manchester City	A	1–1	29,524	Weller
27 December 1971	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–2	37,966	Sammels
1 January 1972	Sheffield United	A	1–1	34,406	Sjoberg
8 January 1972	Liverpool	H	1–0	26,421	Brown
22 January 1972	Nottingham Forest	A	2–1	27,250	Weller, Birchenall
29 January 1972	Stoke City	H	2–1	26,931	Glover, Farrington
12 February 1972	West Bromwich Albion	H	0–1	24,225
19 February 1972	Chelsea	A	1–2	38,783	Glover
4 March 1972	Newcastle United	A	0–2	25,256
11 March 1972	West Ham United	H	2–0	23,345	Nish (2)
18 March 1972	Derby County	A	0–3	34,019
22 March 1972	Leeds United	H	0–0	32,152
25 March 1972	Ipswich Town	H	1–0	19,769	Tomlin
1 April 1972	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–0	23,981	Shaw (own goal)
3 April 1972	Crystal Palace	A	1–1	23,736	Fern
4 April 1972	Arsenal	H	0–0	27,431
8 April 1972	Manchester United	H	2–0	35,970	Weller, Birchenall
11 April 1972	Southampton	A	0–1	18,752
15 April 1972	Everton	A	0–0	33,342
22 April 1972	Coventry City	H	1–0	24,254	Glover
29 April 1972	Tottenham Hotspur	A	3–4	19,631	Glover, Sammels (pen), Partridge

FA Cup

Main article: 1971–72 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	15 January 1972	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–1	38,121	Farrington
R3R	19 January 1972	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2–0	37,060	Farrington, Glover
R4	5 February 1972	Leyton Orient	H	0–2	31,402

League Cup

Main article: 1971–72 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2	7 September 1971	Charlton Athletic	A	1–3	11,694	Partridge

FA Charity Shield

Main article: 1971 FA Charity Shield

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
7 August 1971	Liverpool	H	1–0	25,014	Whitworth

Anglo-Italian Cup

Main article: 1972 Anglo-Italian Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
Group 2	1 June 1972	Cagliari	A	0–1	4,000
Group 2	4 June 1972	Atalanta	A	3–5	7,000	Weller, Sammels (2)
Group 2	7 June 1972	Cagliari	H	2–1	16,027	Weller, Nish
Group 2	10 June 1972	Atalanta	H	6–0	10,949	Glover, Nish, Sammels, Weller (2), Farrington

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
-	GK	ENG	Peter Shilton
-	DF	ENG	Steve Whitworth
-	DF	ENG	David Nish
-	MF	ENG	Bobby Kellard
-	DF	SCO	John Sjoberg
-	DF	ENG	Graham Cross
-	MF	ENG	John Farrington
-	FW	SCO	Alistair Brown
-	FW	ENG	Rodney Fern
-	MF	ENG	Jon Sammels
-	MF	ENG	Len Glover
-	MF	ENG	Willie Carlin
-	DF	ENG	Joe Jopling

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
-	DF	SCO	Malcolm Manley
-	DF	ENG	Alan Woollett
-	FW	ENG	Malcolm Partridge
-	MF	ENG	Paul Matthews
-	DF	ENG	Malcolm Munro
-	MF	ENG	Keith Weller
-	MF	ENG	Alan Birchenall
-	MF	ENG	David Tomlin
-	GK	ENG	Carl Jayes
-	GK	ENG	Mark Wallington
-	FW	ENG	Bob Lee
-	DF	ENG	Steve Yates