Links With The Past: Sjoberg’s FA Cup Final Shirt & Medal
In the event, Matt Busby’s United, with players such as Bobby Charlton and Denis Law performing at the top of their game, defeated City 3-1. Leicester's right-back that day was John Sjoberg, who had established himself as a first team regular, in place of Len Chalmers, four months earlier.
John, who went on to make over 400 appearances for the Club, many of them at centre-half, wore this shirt in that final. It was white rather than the traditional blue because the match was televised in black and white and United’s red shirts would have been indistinguishable from City’s blue shirts.
Also pictured is John’s gold FA Cup finalists runners-up medal, which has his name engraved on the reverse side.
John’s picture also appears on a plastic rosette, which features pictures of the players in the 1963 FA Cup squad. From left to right, they are: Ken Keyworth, Albert Cheesebrough, Jimmy Walsh, Mike Stringfellow, Davie Gibson, Richie Norman, Colin Appleton, Gordon Banks, John Sjoberg, Frank McLintock, Howard Riley, Graham Cross, Len Chalmers and Ian King.
The final ticket cost 7/6 (37½ p), which would be about £7 in today’s values. The date on the ticket, 4 May, 1963, is misleading.
The freezing winter of 1962/63 caused many games to be postponed. Leicester, nicknamed the ‘Ice Kings’, went to the top of the table during this protracted freezing spell, winning 10 league and cup matches in succession. The season was extended to cater for the backlog of matches.
The stamp, overprinting the ticket in the top left hand corner, reveals that the final was not played until 25 May.