Remembering The Ice Kings’ White Shirt
Leicester wore a white shirt design in the 1963 FA Cup Final against Manchester United. This was because the black and white television coverage meant that their blue shirts would have been indistinguishable from Man Utd’s red shirts on the nation’s screens.
The current white shirt design evokes memories of some great players from 1963. Playing in front of Gordon Banks, the Leicester City team included John Sjoberg, Richie Norman, Frank McLintock, Ian King, Colin Appleton, Howard Riley, Graham Cross, Ken Keyworth, Davie Gibson and Mike Stringfellow.
These players, managed by Matt Gillies, became known as the ‘Ice Kings’ because of the success they had during the winter of 1963, which was the coldest, most severe winter for over 200 years. Nationwide, there were huge snow drifts, gale force winds, freezing fog, and temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees centigrade. Shortages of coal, gas, water and electricity made conditions particularly harsh.
Many roads and railways were rendered impassable by snow and ice. As the winter conditions dragged on, melting snow caused floods. Due to this big freeze some clubs went two to three months without a home game. The pools companies set up a panel made up of ex-players and other assorted personnel which met weekly to invent results (but not scores) to keep their revenue flowing.
During the three months the winter conditions lasted, between Boxing Day 1962 and mid-April 1963, Leicester City, unlike most other teams, were not only able to keep playing, they also set up a club record by winning 10 successive league and cup matches, in an 18-match undefeated run which not only took them to the top of the old First Division but also to the FA Cup Final where they were favourites to beat relegation threatened Manchester United.
This was largely because during the previous summer, the Filbert Street pitch had been re-laid and the topsoil had been treated with a blend of fertiliser and weed killer, a combination which generated enough heat from the resulting chemical reaction to offset some of the frosts.
Bill Taylor, the groundsman, also placed oil drums filled with burning coke - a coal based fuel - around the pitch to raise the air temperature. These were removed four hours before kick-off. Even so the pitch at the Double Decker end would be frozen.
Two members of the Ice Kings team, Richie Norman and Mike Stringfellow, rarely miss a home game at King Power Stadium and two more, Howard Riley and Davie Gibson, also watch several games a season from the stands.
Richie, together with Mike and Howard, were given a preview of this season’s white away shirt, which was inspired by the white shirts they wore 61 years ago, prompting them to share many memories of the famous 1962/63 Ice Kings season.
In conversation with Club Historian John Hutchinson, Richie cast his mind back 61 years to recall that icy winter and the origins of the famous white shirt worn by the players.
“Well, going back to 1963, we were fancied for the league and FA Cup double,” Richie began. “That winter was shocking. A lot of clubs couldn’t play but we managed to because of Bill Taylor, our groundsman, a local man who always wore a cap. He was a smashing fella who worked day and night to keep our pitch playable.
“He tried everything. He used braziers but they could only heat the area around them. He also sprinkled some chemical mixture which melted the ice on the pitch which he then covered with a flat covering. He settled on this as the pitch started to thaw, which meant we could have a playable pitch but it was a bit messy.
“We benefitted from this though. The opposition teams hadn’t been playing because their pitches were rock hard. This meant that they were a little bit rusty and we took advantage of that. Even so, the sun never got onto the pitch at the Double Decker end. Even when the Filbert Street end had defrosted, the Double Decker end was hard.
“When we played on the frozen ground at the Double Decker end, we wore adidas rubber studded boots but you couldn’t wear those in the mud, where you had to have long studs. We could change boots at half-time, but when a lot of clubs came to Filbert Street, they wouldn’t have rubber boots and they would be slipping and sliding at the hard surface end of the pitch.”
The cold weather that winter also influenced the white shirt design, as Richie explained: “There’s a photograph of the team wearing the white strip in 1963 taken at Upton Park just before a game against West Ham. It’s a great picture. I liked the strip. It was perfect in every way.
Ice Kings - Joined By Three Leicester City Legends
As we launched our 2024/25 third shirt, inspired by the famous Ice Kings in the early sixties, three members of the team, Richie Norman, Howard Riley and Mike Stringfellow, joined us at King Power Stadium.
“You’ll notice that it had long sleeves. Until December that year, our home and away shirts had a very deep v-neck and short sleeves. We were freezing! When I mentioned this to the Manager and Coach, they said: ‘run a bit faster Richie to keep yourself warm!’
“In the end, at the start of the season, me and Frank McLintock, on behalf of the players, went as a deputation to see Matt Gillies. All we wanted were long sleeves and a roll neck collar.
“We also suggested, years ahead of our time, having a sponsor’s name on the shirt but that was turned down on the grounds that the Club didn’t want to degrade itself by having advertising on the front of the shirts. We did get the roll neck collar and the long sleeves though in time for the harsh winter and that’s why the 1963 white shirt has these features.”
Reflecting on the success of the Ice Kings, Richie concluded: “We were very together as a team. After every match, nearly the whole team would go out together for a drink at the Grand Hotel or at the Les Ambassadeurs club.
“Also we had some very good players. Gordon [Banks] was an outstanding keeper. We had a tremendous defence. The tactic of Frank McLintock and Graham Cross constantly switching positions on the pitch also baffled our opponents. Also Bert Johnson was a very good coach. He did all the detailed stuff.”
The 1962/63 Ice Kings season was arguably the third most successful season in the Club’s history, although in the end injuries caught up with them and they finished fourth in the old First Division and were defeated in the FA Cup Final. The other two seasons were the Club finishing runners-up in the top flight in 1928/29 and becoming Premier League champions in 2015/16.