5 Years Ago Tomorrow (13th November 2004)

[Profondo Rosso]

One of Leicester's greatest ever players passed away from cancer aged 58.

I'm not old enough to have seen him play, but I grew up on the stories, the guy has such iconic status around the club that only a very few select players can match, and none of them had such fetching white tights. :icon_wink

R.I.P. Keith Weller, 5 years ago tomorrow.

 

[Uncle Connolly]

R.I.P Keith Weller.

What a footballer.

 

[Harbro-Fox]

Heard so many wonderful thing about him, what a legend. RIP.

 

[Motown Fox]

The great man himself talking to Brian Moore just after we had thrashed Luton and Keith had scored one of those great goals http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay...aJm6H2Cg&q=leicester+city+keith+weller&hl=en#

I had the pleasure of playing with Keith, and without doubt as Terri said he was born too soon, If he was playing today he would be one of the top players in the premiership, not only did he have great ability , he often played hurt something that todays players wont or are not allowed to do. I will always remember Keith as a player but more as a great friend Steve Earle, tulsa ok. usa commented on 26-Aug-2009

 

[indierich06]

What an absolutely awesome goal. I'd like to see the portuguese ponce Ronaldo score a goal like that on a pitch in that state!

 

[Profondo Rosso]

His volley against Newcastle wasn't that shabby either, but yeah I doubt a City player has ever scored a better goal than that Luton one, it's just that incredible close control when he gets the ball and he's surrounded in all directions but he still manages to get the ball out of there that seals it.

 

[Motown Fox]

Here is the Luton goal again and the Newcastle goal Profondo Rosso
mentioned and other action including a well taken goal against Arsenal
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gznh2NVLric[/YOUTUBE]

 

[LCFCmonkey]

RIP Keith. Still can't believe it was 5 years ago!

 

[David Gwilliam]

Keith Weller was the most exciting Leicester player I have ever seen. It is worth remembering that he was playing against fullbacks who were allowed to use methods that would never be tolerated today. His point about the muddy pitches was interesting. The Bloomfield team wouldn have flourished on todays pitches. Teams like Liverpool, Arsenal and Leeds seemed to generally adapt to bad pitches better than we did.

Leicester under Jimmy Bloomfield loved to attack and to often they allowed the other team to attack back which when playing against the likes of Shankleys Liverpool or Busbys Manchester United could be fatal. They lacked the ability of Martin O'Neill's side to grind out wins from boring matches.

The goal against Luton was awesome but I remember Keith scoring a goal against Nottingham Forest at their ground that I think was better than that. Perhaps like so many goals of that day it was never shown on television.

There is a reminder of something often forgotten. People think of Birchenall as a striker but Jimmy Bloomfield realised that his best position was midfield.

One thing may confuse people. Do not think of the Luton Town of today. That match was First Division - those defenders were the Premiership defenders of their day.

Thank you for the memories Keith.

 

[Jeff]

One thing may confuse people. Do not think of the Luton Town of today. That match was First Division - those defenders were the Premiership defenders of their day.

The Luton match was in the FA cup, Luton were a second division team at the time.

 

[Dazzler66]

My favourite City player EVER, grew up idolising him.
Cant believe its been 5 years.
RIP

 

[Boy Genius]

The Luton match was in the FA cup, Luton were a second division team at the time.

I don't think a Bloomfield side played against a Busby side either. Busby left his second stint in charge of United before Bloomfield signed for us.

 

[Jeff]

I don't think a Bloomfield side played against a Busby side either. Busby left his second stint in charge of United before Bloomfield signed for us.

Bloomfield's predecessor Frank O'Farrell left Leicester to take over from Busby at Man Utd, so they definitely didn't come up against a team managed by him, although maybe you could still call it his team.

 

[Granite Fox]

Great days, Weller, Worthington and Glover my favourites, but an all round good team (probably lacking 3 or 4 players from being serious contenders) and entertaining to watch.

 

[Motown Fox]

The Luton match was in the FA cup, Luton were a second division team at the time.

Luton did get promoted that season though and we played them the following season. In the game at Luton that season Weller was to score an incredible goal again - trouble was this time it was in his own net!! He curled the ball beyond Wallington into the net to make it 2-0 to Luton. The final score was 3-0 and Luton almost caught up with us at the bottom of the table. A lot of fans tend to forget that in 1974/75 we almost got relegated.

 

[Macky]

...A lot of fans tend to forget that in 1974/75 we almost got relegated.

Yeah, I hear that a lot

 

[Thrax]

The one thing that I admire the most about Weller and that era is that the level of technology in the game.
The ball is heavier, the shirts, well the strip is basic thicker cotton, the boots were heavier, the pitch was a mix of water and sand.
It must have took so much more skill and energy to pull off the kind of dribbles and volleys shown in that video. I bet the majority of alice band wearing spanish/ french/ portuguese arrogant, so called footballers would struggle to pull off anything like that

 

[David Gwilliam]

I don't think a Bloomfield side played against a Busby side either. Busby left his second stint in charge of United before Bloomfield signed for us.

One of the sobering things about Talking Balls is to realise that there are people who know more about Leicester City than I do. I am sure both you and Jeff are right in your corrections.

I remember Best and Charlton playing against the Bloomfield team and took it for granted that it was with Busby. However, O'Farrell had got us promoted from the Second Division and was immediately appointed a Man U manager instead of Busby.
Only then was Bloomfield appointed.

Jeff is no doubt right about the Luton game. I knew that Weller played for us when we were First Division and had not considered it might be in the cup.

I do stick with my main point though: Keith Weller was the most exciting player I have ever seen in a Leicester shirt.

 

[Steven]

The one thing that I admire the most about Weller and that era is that the level of technology in the game.
The ball is heavier, the shirts, well the strip is basic thicker cotton, the boots were heavier, the pitch was a mix of water and sand.
It must have took so much more skill and energy to pull off the kind of dribbles and volleys shown in that video. I bet the majority of alice band wearing, arrogant, so called footballers would struggle to pull off anything like that

The edited version is even better. :icon_wink

 

[David Gwilliam]

Great days, Weller, Worthington and Glover my favourites, but an all round good team (probably lacking 3 or 4 players from being serious contenders) and entertaining to watch.

I remember when Bloomfield came he brought in Birchenall as a centreforward and then when Worthington came Birchenall moved back to become a very effective midfieldc player. But I cannot for the life of me remember who played alongside Birchenall and Worthington as a second striker before Earle came.
We had a very good team but we did not have a good squad. I remember Alan Woollet seemed to cover for any injury at the back but he really was not First Division class. When Glover was injured Tomlin came in and played poorly. The same happened when Carl Jayes covered for the injured Shilton.
The long term problem I remember was that our best players were all around the same age and Bloomfield understandably found it difficult to replace them.