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Until the summer of 2007 Leicester City was one of only 9 English football league teams not to grace the level of the games third tier hierarchy. Up until this time the East Midland based club who began life in 1884 As Leicester Fosse, had a proud and successful history which was recently boosted by Martin O'Neill's tenure as manager in the late nineties.

O'Neill installed a work ethic within his side and pulled a few unknown quantities out of reserve and lower league teams such as Muzzy Izzet, Matt Elliott and Neil Lennon turning them into well respected international footballers. His man management skills and touchline enthusiasm grabbed everyone's imagination around the City and helped turn the club into a promotion chasing Division One side to a top 8 Premier League outfit expecting European football after only 4 and a half years work.

After the Play-off final success at Wembley against Crystal Palace in 1996 Martin O'Neill's Leicester took the Premiership by storm and in his four seasons in charge at the penultimate level of English football Leicester finished in the top 10 consistently. Added to this impressive record O'Neill took the club to three League Cup Finals where two of them ended victoriously. Expectations at Leicester City soured toward the end of the twentieth century and due to the clubs success Martin O'Neill became a man in demand with bigger football clubs.

The inevitable happened at the end of the League Cup Winning 1999/2000 season and after O'Neill, who had previously turned down the high flying Leeds United, was eventually lured by the pull of Scottish giants Celtic.

In the summer of 2000 his predecessor was named and Peter Taylor was installed as the new manager of Leicester City. Taylor had been a successful coach for the England under 21s and had impressed during his spell at Gillingham. It was an appointment met with great optimism as Taylor had inherited a confident winning side looking forward to another European adventure in the Uefa Cup. Taylor managed to guide his inherited side to the top of the Premiership in October and building up to the Christmas break had an FA Cup Quarter Final in his sights against lowly Wycombe Wanderers.

With O'Neill moving on to pastures new it inevitably meant certain players would follow him out of the exit door. Neil Lennon namely the biggest loss, left for Celtic in early December. After the opening season success and cup fever hitting the city this was the time for Taylor to add his direction to

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