Leicester City win League 1

League 1 (Old Third Division) - 1

The Club have spent just one year outside the top two divisions in England - culminating in the League 1 title in 2008/09.

2008/09 - An instant return

The 2008/09 season was a year of joy for the Foxes faithful as they embarked on a tour of new territory with their team breaking countless records in the process.

It came after perhaps the darkest year in the Club's entire history, as 124 years of history culminated in a decisive trip to Stoke-on-Trent on Sunday 4 May, 2008. Not once since the Club was formed on the King Richards Road in 1884 had City slipped into the third tier of the English football pyramid.

Former Middlesbrough captain and new Leicester manager, Nigel Pearson, meanwhile, operated quietly in the summer that followed. He searched for new signings with a point to prove. The likes of Matt Oakley, Steve Howard and Matty Fryatt remained at the Club too.

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Lloyd Dyer
Lloyd Dyer

Dyer was one of many players to earn cult status at the Club in 2008/09.

Michael Morrison, Lloyd Dyer, Nicky Adams, Aleksander Tunchev and 39-year-old Chris Powell - the Club's oldest-ever player - signed up to the cause on a shoestring budget. Paul Dickov also returned to City, six years after his 17 goals fired Leicester to an instant return to the Premier League in 2003.

From Cheltenham to Hereford, Walsall to Hartlepool, the 2008/09 season became a grand tour of new grounds rather than the nightmarish trap Leicester thought they had tumbled into.

From the final week of November, Leicester took control of top spot, not once letting their grip loosen. Fryatt also netted two consecutive hat-tricks against Dagenham & Redbridge and Southend United.

Perhaps the most memorable moment of the season came on 13 April, 2009 as Leicester welcomed promotion rivals Leeds United, managed by former Fox Simon Grayson, to Filbert Way.

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Steve Howard
Steve Howard

A giant goal from Howard all but secured promotion for the Foxes against Leeds.

A tense affair with the three-time English champions followed, but there was Howard, in the second minute of added time, to nod Oakley's corner past Casper Ankergren to put City on the cusp of promotion.

That feat, plus the League 1 title, was achieved in glorious sunshine in Essex as a brace from Fryatt sealed a 2-0 win over Southend at Roots Hall, another ground the Blue Army had seldom visited before.

City ended 2008/09 having secured their highest figures for league wins (27), points (96), away wins (14), away goals (43) and successive unbeaten games (23). The 27 league goals netted by Fryatt was also the best showing by any Leicester City player since Arthur Rowley's tally of 44 in 1956/57.

Leicester City Crest

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