1982–83 Leicester City F.C. season

Leicester City

1982–83 season
Chairman	Terry Shipman
Manager	Gordon Milne
Second Division	3rd (promoted)
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	Lineker (26)
Average home league attendance	12,819
← 1981–82 1983–84 →

During the 1982–83 English football season, Leicester City F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Season summary

In August 1982, Gordon Milne left Coventry City to join Leicester as their new boss. The 1982–83 season didn't start well for the Foxes with just 6 wins in their first 16 league games which saw Leicester in 15th and looked like their promotion challenge was over. Then from December onwards until the end of the season, Leicester lost only 4 league games during their impressive league form and finished the season unbeaten in 15 league matches. Heading to the final league game, Leicester were ahead of Fulham on goal difference knowing a slip up would see the Cottagers leapfrog them to automatic promotion. With Leicester only holding relegated Burnley to a 0-0 draw at home, it gave Fulham a chance to do so at Derby County but with only a win required. An incident involving a spectator and a Fulham player led to the game being abandoned 2 minutes away from the 90 minute mark with Fulham losing 1-0 at the Baseball Ground. An enquiry from the Football League was held for a few days and they decided eventually the result from the Derby-Fulham game would stand which meant the Foxes were promoted after 2 seasons in the second tier.

Final league table

Main article: 1982–83 Football League

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts
1	Queens Park Rangers	42		16	3	2	51	16		10	4	7	26	20		77	36	+41		85
2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42		14	5	2	42	16		6	10	5	26	28		68	44	+24		75
3	Leicester City	42		11	4	6	36	15		9	6	6	36	29		72	44	+28		70
4	Fulham	42		13	5	3	36	20		7	4	10	28	27		64	47	+17		69
5	Newcastle United	42		13	6	2	43	21		5	7	9	32	32		75	53	+22		67
6	Sheffield Wednesday	42		9	8	4	33	23		7	7	7	27	24		60	47	+13		63
7	Oldham Athletic	42		8	10	3	38	24		6	9	6	26	23		64	47	+17		61
8	Leeds United	42		7	11	3	28	22		6	10	5	23	24		51	46	+5		60
9	Shrewsbury Town	42		8	9	4	20	15		7	5	9	28	33		48	48	±0		59
10	Barnsley	42		9	8	4	37	28		5	7	9	20	27		57	55	+2		57
11	Blackburn Rovers	42		11	7	3	38	21		4	5	12	20	37		58	58	±0		57
12	Cambridge United	42		11	7	3	26	17		2	5	14	16	43		42	60	–18		51
13	Derby County	42		7	10	4	27	24		3	9	9	22	34		49	58	–9		49
14	Carlisle United	42		10	6	5	44	28		2	6	13	24	42		68	70	–2		48
15	Crystal Palace	42		11	7	3	31	17		1	5	15	12	35		43	52	–9		48
16	Middlesbrough	42		8	7	6	27	29		3	8	10	19	38		46	67	–21		48
17	Charlton Athletic	42		11	3	7	40	31		2	6	13	23	55		63	86	–23		48
18	Chelsea	42		8	8	5	31	22		3	6	12	20	39		51	61	–10		47
19	Grimsby Town	42		9	7	5	32	26		3	4	14	13	44		45	70	–25		47
20	Rotherham United	42		6	7	8	22	29		4	8	9	23	39		45	68	–23		45
21	Burnley	42		10	4	7	38	24		2	4	15	18	42		56	66	–10		44
22	Bolton Wanderers	42		10	2	9	30	26		1	9	11	12	35		42	61	–19		44

• P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Relegated

Results

Leicester City's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
28 August 1982	Charlton Athletic	H	1–2	11,038	B Smith
31 August 1982	Rotherham United	A	3–1	9,254	Melrose, A Smith, Lineker
4 September 1982	Chelsea	A	1–1	14,127	Lineker
8 September 1982	Leeds United	H	0–1	12,963
11 September 1982	Carlisle United	H	6–0	8,440	Lynex (3, 2 pens), Lineker (3, 1 pen)
18 September 1982	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–3	4,963	A Smith
25 September 1982	Queens Park Rangers	H	0–1	10,647
2 October 1982	Shrewsbury Town	A	2–0	5,223	MacDonald, O'Neill
9 October 1982	Grimsby Town	H	2–0	9,640	Lynex, Lineker
16 October 1982	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	3–0	15,782	Wilson, Lineker, English
23 October 1982	Derby County	A	4–0	13,191	Lineker (3), A Smith
30 October 1982	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0–2	17,341
6 November 1982	Cambridge United	A	1–3	5,011	Lineker
13 November 1982	Newcastle United	H	2–2	15,044	English, Lineker
20 November 1982	Crystal Palace	H	0–1	8,616
27 November 1982	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–3	5,060	Wilson
4 December 1982	Fulham	H	2–0	9,082	Buchanan, Lineker
11 December 1982	Burnley	A	4–2	6,503	Lineker, Lynex (pen), A Smith (2)
18 December 1982	Oldham Athletic	H	2–1	8,125	MacDonald (pen), A Smith
27 December 1982	Middlesbrough	A	1–1	12,665	Lineker
28 December 1982	Barnsley	H	1–0	14,838	A Smith
1 January 1983	Crystal Palace	A	0–1	8,801
3 January 1983	Chelsea	H	3–0	13,745	Lineker (2), A Smith
15 January 1983	Charlton Athletic	A	1–2	5,971	Wilson
22 January 1983	Blackburn Rovers	H	0–1	8,361
5 February 1983	Carlisle United	A	1–0	4,402	MacDonald
19 February 1983	Grimsby Town	A	0–2	6,963
22 February 1983	Shrewsbury Town	H	3–2	6,155	Lineker (2), Wilson
26 February 1983	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	5–0	13,530	Lynex (2), A Smith, Lineker, Daly
5 March 1983	Derby County	H	1–1	15,452	Lynex
19 March 1983	Cambridge United	H	4–0	8,305	A Smith (2), Lynex (pen), Wilson
22 March 1983	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2–2	14,036	MacDonald, A Smith
26 March 1983	Newcastle United	A	2–2	22,692	Lineker (2)
2 April 1983	Barnsley	A	2–1	13,278	Wilson, English
5 April 1983	Middlesbrough	H	1–0	12,025	O'Neill
9 April 1983	Queens Park Rangers	A	2–2	16,301	Lineker (2)
16 April 1983	Rotherham United	H	3–1	12,978	Wilson, Lineker (2)
23 April 1983	Fulham	A	1–0	24,251	Wilson
30 April 1983	Bolton Wanderers	H	0–0	13,959
2 May 1983	Leeds United	A	2–2	14,442	A Smith, May
7 May 1983	Oldham Athletic	A	2–1	9,088	Jones, Ramsey
14 May 1983	Burnley	H	0–0	29,453

FA Cup

Main article: 1982-83 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	8 January 1983	Notts County	H	2–3	18,384	A Smith, Wilson

League Cup

Main article: 1982–83 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st leg	6 October 1982	Lincoln City	A	0–2	6,775
R2 2nd leg	27 October 1982	Lincoln City	H	0–1 (lost 0-3 on agg)	10,000

Squad

[1] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player - GK Mark Wallington - MF Paul Ramsey - DF Paul Friar - MF Kevin MacDonald - DF Larry May - DF John O'Neill - MF Steve Lynex - FW Gary Lineker - FW Alan Smith - FW Jim Melrose - DF Bobby Smith - MF Eddie Kelly

No. Position Player - FW Tommy English - MF Ian Wilson - DF Jimmy Holmes - FW Dave Buchanan - DF Norman Leet - DF Tommy Williams - DF Paul Brown - FW Keith Robson - MF Gerry Daly (on loan from Coventry City) - MF Andy Peake - FW Robbie Jones