World Photography Day – Our Favourite Modern LCFC Images
It was an era which began with Peter Taylor taking over the reins at Filbert Street after Martin O'Neill's halcyon spell at the Club. The Foxes were League Cup holders and in the UEFA Cup, but just two years later, they would find themselves in serious financial peril and back in the old First Division.
Micky Adams was the manager to oversee promotion back to the Premier League, also presiding over the first-ever season at King Power Stadium, then called Walkers Stadium, but an instant return to the second tier would signal the start of a decade-long absence from the 'promised land'.
Managers and players would come and go and, in 2008, the Club would fall to its lowest low, being relegated to League 1, or the old Third Division, for the first time in their history. We didn't know it at the time, of course, but that heartbreak would come to signal the start of a magical change in fortunes.
Under the management of Nigel Pearson, Leicester lifted the League 1 title and would narrowly miss out on successive promotions after penalty despair in the Championship Play-Off Semi-Finals at Cardiff City. The former Middlesbrough centre-back, though, would return to the Club to complete the job.
Now owned by King Power International, the Foxes were serious contenders in the Championship and, in 2014, 10 years after their relegation, City returned to the Premier League as second-tier champions - equalling a record for most titles at that level (7).
Every football fan on the planet knows what happened next. After winning seven of their last nine games in 2014/15, Pearson's men launched a last-gasp dash to survival, before the appointment of Claudio Ranieri accelerated one of the most magical and unbelievable fables in the modern game.
Defying odds of 5,000/1, the Foxes would end 2015/16 as Premier League champions, 10 points clear. Spearheaded by former Fleetwood Town striker Jamie Vardy, with Riyad Mahrez, signed from the French second tier, and N'Golo Kanté also earning headlines, Leicester were an international sensation.
A maiden run in the UEFA Champions League, to the quarter-finals stage, would see City denied a place in the last four by Atlético Madrid on the narrowest of margins. It was a European campaign which included victories over Club Brugge, Copenhagen, Porto and Sevilla.
In 2018, everyone associated with the Football Club were left heartbroken by the tragic death of beloved Chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. It led to an enormous outpouring of emotion as the Foxes family came together as one to remember the kindness and ambition which defined Khun Vichai.
Under the guidance of Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, the Foxes have continued to develop, moving into the truly world-class LCFC Training Ground in Seagrave and more recently announcing plans to redevelop King Power Stadium - including an expansion to 40,000 - and the surrounding area.
Last term, managed by Brendan Rodgers, the Foxes lifted the Club's first-ever FA Cup, beating Chelsea at Wembley Stadium, while also later adding their second FA Community Shield to Leicester's growing honours list. It's been an emotional era to be a member of the Blue Army.
As the Club looks to the future, emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Foxes started the 2021/22 campaign on Saturday with a 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in front of a capacity crowd for the first time since March 2020.
Since 2000, the Club has won titles in the Premier League, Championship and League 1, also lifting the League Cup and more recently adding the FA Cup and Community Shield, while embarking on four European campaigns. As Leicester City navigates the third decade of the 21st century, there is still so much reason for optimism.