It cost two old pennies to make a three-minute call (50p in today's prices) and maybe the group of young men who decided to start the football team, were grateful to Alexander Graham Bell for his new invention.
It meant if they were short of a nippy winger, they could phone a few friends.
In those days, most people preferred a different ball game - rugby.
But this group of young men, associated with the old Emanuel Church in New Park Street, preferred the round ball game.
So Fosse was born, but during the first seven years, only friendly matches were played. Leicester Fosse played at the Racecourse, Victoria Park, Belgrave Road and Mill Lane, before ending up at Filbert Street in 1891.
Yo-yo years
In 1908 they were promoted to the First Division - for one year only. Then Leicester City Football Club rose from the ashes of Leicester Fosse in 1919.
And within six years, under the leadership of one Peter Hodge, City won the Second Division and were back in the top flight.
In 1928, a season when City were full of international players - 47,298 fans packed into Filbert Street for an FA Cup tie against Spurs.
They were good years for City who stayed in Division One up until 1935. The yo-yoing began and City were promoted in 1937 only to find themselves relegated again two years later.
After World War Two, City once again had the task of getting themselves back into Division One.
But they struggled and nearly found themselves plummeting into Division Three. It was 1949 when in the last game of the season they avoided that drop.
But it was a good cup year for City - they reached the FA Cup Final only to lose to Billy Wright's Wolves 3-1.
A City star of that time was Don Revie, later to become a legendary manager at Leeds United.
Wembley winners
In the 1953-54 season, City won the Second Division and were back in the top flight, but, yes, you've guessed it, they were relegated the next season.
But City were not destined to become just another Second Division side and in the 1956-57 season were promoted again. Goal-scoring machine Arthur Rowley hit 44 goals and City were at the top to stay - for a while at least, until 1969.
City had manager Matt Gillies to thank for the good times. The club reached three FA Cup finals and two League Cup Finals.
They won the League Cup in 1963-64 beating Stoke City over two legs.
City were known for having great goalkeepers - first Gordon Banks and then Peter Shilton.
City began the 70s in the Second Division but were soon promoted again. During the decade Frank O'Farrell took over as manager, then joined Manchester United and Jimmy Bloomfield replaced him.
Entertainment came to Filbert Street in the shape of Frank Worthington, Alan Birchinall and Keith Weller.
Bloomfield, though, was sacked in the 1977-78 season and Frank McLintock was brought in.
It was an unhappy time for the Scot and City were relegated. McLintock didn't seem to know what he wanted using 40 players in the season. Jock Wallace replaced him and started to re-build Leicester City.
The young Lineker
A young striker called Gary Lineker was given his chance and in the season 1980-81, City were promoted back to Division One.
The pressure was too much for a young City side, and yes, they were relegated again.
But it was a good City side and Gordon Milne, who replaced Wallace, bought Alan Smith to bolster the goal scoring. Smith and Lineker were a potent force.
The yo-yo years continued with Bryan Hamilton and David Pleat taking turns in the managerial hotseat.
Hamilton saw City relegated before Pleat took over.
The early 90s
The early nineties almost saw City slip into Division Three under Pleat. City then appointed the Darlington manager Brian Little - and City were once again to re-build for the future.
1991-1992 saw a Leicester City revival. Brian Little brought in five new faces during the summer for the sum of £160,000. The gamble paid off, as it had with his previous club Darlington who achieved consecutive promtions with from the Conference through to the old Third Division. City started the season very brightly and after the first five games they were sitting in second place with thirteen points and having conceded only two goals. However, a heavy defeat away to Middlesbrough saw City lose confidence, picking up only three points from a possible 18 during a terrible month which saw them drop to 12th place.
Things weren't looking good.
Steve Thompson was brought in by Little in time for the match against Oxford United. Little gave him his debut from the bench, and he scored, automatically earning himself the number eight jersey.
The signing of the influential Steve Thompson helped to stop the season slipping away and they produced a great run of results which saw them second in the table on the last day of the season, vying for automatic promotion into the first ever Premier League season.
They faced Newcastle, who were playing to avoid relegation, at Filbert Street. Steve Walsh was on the scoresheet twice but unfortunately for City, he cancelled his earlier effort out and Peacock grabbed Newcastle United's winner.
City were in the play-offs though and they were drawn against Cambridge. Cambridge were brushed aside 6-1 on aggregate and City were through to the Play-off final against Blackburn Rovers.
It was a tight final but Blackburn nicked it with former City player Mike Newell netting a penalty to take Rovers into the Premiership.
Play-off prize
City started the 92-93 season on a high following their fine form the season before they never dropped out of the top 10 all season and were almost constantly in the play-off positions.
They faced Newcastle United on the last day of the season again, but things were different. Newcastle weren't fighting for their lives this season, they had decimated all the competition and were already declared Division One champions.
City didn't need a win either, they were destined for the Play-offs whatever the outcome, needless to say that City got pummelled by Newcastle 7-1 at St.James' Park.
The Play-offs saw City overcome third placed Portsmouth in a tight contest over two legs (City eventually winning 3-2 on aggregate) and then going back to Wembley for the second season on the trot.
City put up a good fight against Swindon town with both goalies being called into action many times, but mostly for picking the ball out of the back of the net. Swindon eventually got the better of City as they ran out 4-3 winners. Could it be third time lucky?
1993-94 was the season where City gained promotion and, as was the case the season before, City were never really out of the Play-off positions, finally finishing fourth.
Their first opponents in the Play-offs were Tranmere Rovers and after a hard fought 0-0 at Prenton Park, City took their home advantage and made it count with a 2-1 win at a packed out Filbert Street.
The Foxes were at Wembley for the third season running and they were up against East Midlands rivals Derby County. Steve Walsh was the City hero, netting City's two goals in a 2-1 victory.
The promised land
City were in the Premier League for the first time, and with it came great financial reward as major financial backers such as Sky TV increased prize money to a whole new level.
City used this money to smash their transfer record and sign Mark Draper for £1.25 million from Notts County. However, they were unable to bring any other "big" names to Filbert Street other than Nicky Mohan of Middlesbrough.
The season didn't start well for City and they didn't win a game until Tottenham Hotspur came to visit Filbert Street on September 17th 1994. City beat "The Mighty Spur's" 3-1, with Julian Joachim (twice) and with David Lowe getting on the score sheet.
City ended the season in 21st place (one off the bottom) managing only 6 wins all season, also losing Brian Little, who resigned from manager at City before becoming Aston Villa manager, leaving Mark McGhee to piece together a team lacking confidence and morale. It was a harsh reality check but it did the trick for City as they bounced right back into the top flight (through the play-offs yet again) by beating Crystal Palace 2-1 after extra time.
That season wasn't trouble free though. Mark McGhee left City high and Dry after little more than a year and the City board were again on the look out for another manager. They quickly went back to the previous years shortlist. Martin O'Neill resigned from his post at Norwich City and Martin George bagged his man shortly afterwards. It was to be one of the best moves the City board had ever made.
Back in the Premiership, in August 1996. City were joined by Sunderland and Derby as the new boys in the Premiership, but City had been there before, they had that extra bit of experience that set them aside from the other two hopefuls.
The O'Neill era
The Foxes first full season under O'Neill was to be one of their most successful. While many wrote Leicester off at the beginning of the season, O'Neill told the players to stick to their game plan and it paid off. City took on top Premiership teams week in, week out, and took the game to them. The points were building up for O'Neill's men and two wins over Brian Little's Aston Villa only increased their confidence and secured a ninth place finish.
It wasn't only the Premiership where City were excelling either. Martin O'Neill set his eyes on silverware, and he took the Foxes to Wembley again, but this time it was the League Cup final (then the Coca-Cola Cup).
City faced Premiership rivals Middlesbrough at Wembley. The game finished 1-1 after extra time, Emile Heskey scoring a late equaliser with 117 minutes on the clock, and a replay was needed, at Hillsborouugh, 10 days later. Yet again it was a draw after 90 minutes (0-0), but Steve Claridge headed the winning goal on 100 minutes, the stadium was rocking. City defended deep for the last nerve racking 20 minutes, then the final whistle blew. City were in Europe! For the first time in 36 years.
The 1997-98 season didn't quite live up to the expectations of the City faithful. The Foxes finished 10th in the league but it could have been at least two places higher as they lost 4-3 to West Ham at Upton Park.
Then they were knocked out of all their cup competitions (FA Cup, League Cup, and UEFA Cup) early on. It was a tough draw for City in the UEFA Cup as they crashed to Spanish giants Atletico Madrid. The FA cup draw to Crystal Palace was always going to be tough, they eventually lost 3-0 at Selhurst Park, but the League Cup defeat was embarassing. The defending Champions in that competition were comfortably beaten, 3-1, at the hands of Grimsby Town.
The 1998-99 season saw City establish themselves further as a mid-table obscurity in the Premiership, but Martin O'Neill wanted more, Martin O'Neill wanted City in europe again.
After last years embarrassing Coca-Cola Cup display at Grimsby, it was time for City to regain the silverware in the newly named Worthington Cup. They got to the Final where they came up against Tottenham, who they had beaten in the league already that season.
It was a typically tight Cup Final display from both teams, but Spurs edged out City, with Allan Nielsen grabbing the only goal of the game.
The 1999-2000 season was another step up in the increasingly difficult Premiership. Competition for places was really hotting up, City finished 8th, their highest Premiership finish.
They managed the 5th round in the FA Cup losing out to a strong Chelsea side, and they got to the final of the Worthington Cup for the second year running. This time they faced First Division Tranmere Rovers.
Rovers were tough opposition for a tired City team, but City shook off the First Division outfit to record a 2-1 victory, Matt Elliott bagging the two City goals. Martin O'Neill had taken City to the UEFA Cup for the second time during his City career.
However, O'Neill's reign as City manager ended in the summer before the 2000-2001 season, as he took the vacant Celtic job, once again leaving City managerless, but they were a much more stable team than that he picked up 5 years earlier.
Testing times
Peter Taylor was given the task of sustaining what O'Neill had built at Filbert Street, and things started to go his way when City found themselves topping the table on October 1st 2000.
It was the first time City had reached the top of the English game since 1963, they were there for 13 days as there was a week off for International fixtures, but they came back to earth with a bump. Manchester United thumped them 3-0 at Filbert Street but Taylor's side hung on in the top four until the new year.
City couldn't recreate their early season form as the O'Neill magic slowly disappeared and after stalling in all cup competitions, losing to Red Star in the UEFA Cup, Crystal in the Worthington Cup, and losing out to Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup Quarter-Finals. As City lost eight games in a row in the league and finished the season in 13th position.
The next season was to be one of the most forgettable seasons in City's recent history.
The season started poorly and never really showed any sign of improvement. Peter Taylor was shown the Filbert Street door only eight games. However, those eight games produced only five points with one win (over Derby) and two draws against a poor Ipswich Town and an unstable Charlton Athletic.
Garry Parker took over the first team for one game and watched as they were demolished 6-0 by Leeds at Filbert Street. A permanent replacement was needed, quickly. Dave 'Harry' Bassett landed the job, and brought Micky Adams with him as his assistant coach.
Things didn't get much better though, and during Bassett's 26 league games in charge, City picked up just 17 points (half of those points came within his first seven games in charge).
With four games remaining until the end of the season, and City already relegated, Bassett stepped down as manager of City and took up the post of Director of Football, with Micky Adams taking charge of the Foxes.
Adams immediately changed the starting team and set them out for his first game in charge of a Premiership club, against Everton. Brian Deane scored twice in 27 minutes to put City two goals up at half-time, but City let a winning start for Adams slip in the second half as substitute Nick Chadwick and veteran Duncan Ferguson robbed City of a deserved win.
Adams managed to spur City on to getting six points in their last four games, but couldn't pull the club off the foot of the table. His next task, to take City back into the Premiership.
Adminstration & scandals
Putting a disappointing season behind the team, City unveiled the Walkers Stadium, their new 30,000 capacity stadium, complete with state of the art facilities. It was originally designed to bring City up to date with the other Premiership clubs, higher capacities meant more revenue and more money meant more high profile players.
Sadly, with a season in Division One looming it was unlikely that people would want to see the glamour fixtures of Rotherham and Walsall compared to the last seasons Arsenal and Manchester United fixtures.
Lack of ticket revenue linked with the high cost of designing such a venue put City into dire straits, and Adams' hands were tied over buying any new players to help his thin squad through a long First Division season.
That didn't stop the remaining Leicester City players giving it all they had to get back into the Premiership, and the season started excellently with City claiming 54 points in just 26 games.
However, behind the scenes things weren't so good. City were in financial turmoil and the club was put into administration. Adams was told he'd have to sell players to make up the money that the club owed. Out went Matt Piper (£3million to Sunderland), Dennis Wise (Free to Millwall), and Damien Delaney (£50,000 to Hull City). While this only made just over £3million pounds in transfer revenue, more was save on the wages that these players earned.
City weren't in the clear though. More money was needed, and a group of consortiums came forward to offer their proposals for Leicester City Football Club.
The media involved themselves with everything that was happening at the club, and the newly formed Foxes Trust were very influential in the final decision. In the end, the consortium headed by Leicesters own golden boy, Gary Lineker, won and they were given the job of raising the money in time to bring City out of Administration, which they did.
City finished the season in second place behind Portsmouth and automatically qualified for the Premiership.
Micky Adams' first season in charge of a Premiership club was a difficult one with problems on and off the field. Despite bringing in a practically new squad for what is estimated to be under £1 million, City struggled to adapt to the pace of the Premiership and found themselves facing an uphill struggle from day one.
Perhaps 'the' highlight of the season came in City's 4-0 mauling of fellow strugglers Leeds United on the 15th September. It was Citys first win of the season and it was the setting for one of the best goals ever scored by a Leicester City player. Lilian Nalis made his mark with his first goal for the Blues, a stunning 25-yard volley with his left foot - his wrong foot!
However, this wasn't to be a turning point in a poor season as they continously dropped points and slid down to the foot of the table, but worse was to come.
Nine players found themselves at the centre of a "sex scandal" with three accused of rape. The club was struggling on and off the pitch. The three players at the centre of the allegations - Paul Dickov, Keith Gillespie and Frank Sinclair - were later found not guilty but only after they had spent over a week in a spanish jail.
This didn't help the team on the pitch at all, City struggled to keep in touch with the teams directly above them and were already relegated by the last day of the season.
Goodbye Micky
Micky Adams now had a job on his hands to rebuild a team for the new Coca-Cola Championship season.
With the dawn of a new season also came the release of 13 players but this mass exodus was balanced with the addition of some notable footballers including, Leicester-born Dion Dublin, Danny Tiatto (Man City), Joey Gudjonsson (Real Betis), David Connolly (West Ham) and Martin Keown (Arsenal).
Micky Adams resigned as the Foxes boss in October 2004, after collecting 16 points from the first 12 Championship fixtures. As a temporary measure Dave Bassett was brought in as caretaker manager with Howard Wilkinson to assist him.
Craig Levein was then brought to the Walkers from Scottish club Hearts as a permanent replacement for Micky Adams.
Levein brought in ex-City player Rob Kelly as his assistant manager, along with Peter Houston, who was his No.2 at Hearts. Bassett also relinquished the post as director of football.
The Championship year ended badly for Levein with defeats to Sheffield United and rock-bottom Rotherham United.
He dipped into the transfer market, but faced the final two months of the campaign in a relegation battle.
It took a much-needed win over local rivals Derby to be assured of safety.
City fared better in the FA Cup as they progressed to the quarter-finals before losing to Blackburn – and a controversial penalty from old boy Paul Dickov.
Levein’s 2005/06 campaign started unpromisingly with a 4-1 defeat at Sheffield United, and a 4-2 victory in the November return against the Blades at the Walkers Stadium proved to be City’s last league victory under the Scot.
The 1-0 loss at Plymouth on January 24 was their sixth straight defeat and Levein left the following day.
Kelly was appointed as caretaker boss and steered City to Championship safety. He was then given the job on a permanent basis.
The Milan era
City now entered the Milan Mandaric era. The Serbian multi-millionaire admitted he was interested in acquiring the club in October and, after protracted negotiations, he formally took over in February 2007.
Unfortunately, one of his first tasks was to relieve Kelly of his duties in April as the club teetered on the brink of relegation after eight games without a win.
Mandaric admitted that delays in his take-over meant that Kelly was not able to act quickly enough in the January transfer window.
Former Norwich manager Nigel Worthington was appointed caretaker boss for the last five games of the season.
Victories against Preston and Barnsley secured City’s Championship place.
In the close season, Worthington was not offered the job on a permanent basis with ex-MK Dons manager Martin Allen given the job.
Allen brought in 14 players, including £2million man DJ Campbell, but his reign proved to be short-lived and he left by mutual consent after just four games.
City now climbed on a managerial merry-go-round that would conclude with their disastrous relegation to the third tier for the first time in their history.
After Allen’s departure, Gary Megson emerged from the wilderness and guided City to a five-match unbeaten run before making a shock switch to Premier League Bolton.
City favourite Gerry Taggart and Frank Burrows were put in temporary charge and oversaw the season’s highlight – a pulsating 4-3 Carling Cup defeat at top-flight giants Chelsea.
Ian Holloway then became City’s third permanent manager of the season on November 22 and broke a 50-year hoodoo as he won his first league game.
Unfortunately, he had a less enviable record on his CV by the end of a traumatic campaign.
City won just eight of 30 matches and were relegated as they failed to secure the win they needed in their final match at Stoke City.
Mandaric vowed to stay on and resurrect City’s fortunes, but not with Holloway at the helm as his contract was cancelled by mutual consent on May 23.
On June 20, Nigel Pearson was appointed as City’s new manager.
Ironically, he had succeeded where Holloway had failed in keeping Southampton in the Championship, only to be shown the door.
Promotion and records galore
The doom-and-gloom of City’s fall from grace – and fall out of the Championship – dissipated in 10 glorious months.
The team which Pearson rebuilt roared to the League One title with two games still to play, shattering a whole host of records along the way.
They won 27 games on their way to the third-tier prize – one more than the previous best – and a tally of 14 away wins also surpassed the 11 achieved by Micky Adams’ side in 2002-03.
City also suffered their fewest defeats in a season, just four, and their points tally of 96 was the highest in the club’s history.
Star striker Matty Fryatt finished with 32 goals in all competitions - a feat even the great Gary Lineker failed to achieve.
And Pearson then underlined his ambitions for the Championship push by securing on-loan Liverpool defender Jack Hobbs on a four-year deal.
Most fans would have been happy with a mid-table finish in City’s first season back in the Championship, but Pearson’s men exceeded all expectations by going to within a whisker of promotion to the Premier League.
They started the 2009-10 campaign with a 2-1 win over Swansea at the Walkers Stadium, and that set the tone for what was to follow for the following nine months as a series of narrow victories saw them regularly occupy a berth in the top six.
It got a bit fraught in the tail-end of the season, but fantastic wins against QPR (4-1) and Watford (4-0), to name a couple, helped them secure fifth place and a play-off semi-final against Cardiff City.
A 1-0 defeat at the Walkers in the first leg was quickly eradicated in Cardiff when City overcame the odds to win 3-2 thanks to goals from Matty Fryatt, Andy King and a Mark Hudson own-goal. That levelled the scores on aggregate, but what was to follow was sheer agony for City and the Blue Army.
It all came down to a penalty shoot-out for a place in the play-off final. Bruno Berner, Steve Howard and Nolberto Solano scored the first three, as did Cardiff. But Yann Kermorgant's poorly-chosen chip penalty was saved, Mark Kennedy put Cardiff 4-3 ahead and Martyn Waghorn’s vital fifth penalty was also saved, ending City’s hopes and dreams.
To make matters worse, it was Ian Holloway’s Blackpool who earned their place in the promised land, thanks in no small part to on-loan City striker DJ Campbell’s goals as they beat the Bluebirds at Wembley.
But there was a further twist. On June 29, 2010, manager Pearson stunned the City faithful by leaving his post and taking over the reins at Hull, who were relegated from the Premier League. That left City in the hunt for a new manager – their ninth in just over three years.
That man was to be former Portuguese international Paulo Sousa who, on July 7, left Swansea after a season in charge to take over at the Walkers Stadium.
