Review of 2009: Leicester City go from bitter to Champagne
The misery of previous seasons and relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time in the club's history was replaced by hope as the 2008-09 season kicked off and City fans were wondering if Nigel Pearson could take them back to the Championship at the first attempt.
By the start of the year, City were well on course and that hope was replaced with expectation that Pearson's men could complete the job they had started.
They continued their 23-game unbeaten run through to March, when they suffered a rare defeat at Tranmere, but by that time the title was well and truly in their grasp.
As the title race neared its conclusion in April, a last-gasp equaliser earned struggling Carlisle a draw at the Walkers Stadium to put the pressure on the leaders going into Easter, but City fans would not have to wait long to uncork the Champagne.
After a 3-1 win at Hereford and then a stoppage-time winner from Steve Howard against Leeds, the finishing line was in sight.
The stage was set for that trip to Southend where a Matty Fryatt double clinched the title and promotion and sparked wild celebrations that spilled on to the beach long into the night.
The season finished with a draw at home to Scunthorpe but the game was almost immaterial. Everyone was there to see the trophy presented and paraded by the champions and there some memorable scenes.
The only disappointment was the early FA Cup exit at Crystal Palace which came as a double blow as influential defender Aleksandar Tunchev was stretchered off with cruciate knee damage. Despite making a brief comeback in the early part of this season, the Bulgarian has suffered several setbacks and is still battling along the road to recovery.
Fryatt certainly had a campaign to remember. Having become the first player to score 20 goals for the club before Christmas since Derek Dougan in 1966, and the first to score consecutive hat-tricks since Arthur Chandler in 1925, he pushed on.
He scored his 30th and 31st goals against Southend on April 18 to secure the club's promotion as champions and added his 32nd against Crewe on the final day of the season to cap a great campaign.
He was voted the League One player of the year and, at Leicester's end of season awards evening, he was voted the club's players' player of the season.
However, he lost out to Steve Howard for the player-of-the-season award and Andy King won the young player-of-the-year award.
After promotion was assured, there was no time for Pearson and his staff to rest on their laurels and he set about strengthening his squad for the step up to the Championship.
On-loan stalwarts Wayne Brown and Jack Hobbs were signed on permanent deals and formed the central defensive partnership in Tunchev's absence, while experienced full-back Robbie Neilson was recruited from Scottish club Hearts.
Promising forward Dany N'Guessan came in from Lincoln City and fellow Frenchman Yann Kermorgant signed a short-term contract until January, while Martyn Waghorn arrived on loan from Sunderland.
The most notable arrivals were central midfielder Richie Wellens, who signed from Doncaster for £1.2 million and Paul Gallagher, who arrived just before the transfer window shut for an undisclosed fee from Blackburn Rovers.
Because of the changes, City were considered to be an unknown quantity in the division and it was believed the best they could hope for was a mid-table position. Eyebrows were therefore raised when Pearson announced they were aiming for the play-offs and he could see no reason why that would not be possible.
That assumption that City would be happy to just consolidate soon had to be reassessed after they made an excellent start to the campaign.
An opening-day victory over Swansea City set the tone and they followed it up with successive draws on the road at Ipswich and Sheffield United as they took to the Championship like the proverbial ducks to water. The only setbacks came at Newcastle, despite a good performance, and then at home to Preston North End, who had also knocked City out of the League Cup in August.
They also threw away a two-goal lead at Watford and needed an N'Guessan equaliser to salvage a point.
Besides that it was a relentless march into the play-off positions, with Fryatt again proving to be the catalyst, with 10 goals before December.
Suddenly, City were up to third in the table and being talked about as the surprise package of the division until they were brought back down to earth with a bump in spectacular fashion.
A humbling 5-1 derby defeat at Nottingham Forest was followed three days later by another defeat, at home to Bristol City, the first back-to-back defeats of Nigel Pearson's tenure as boss.
But the blip was a fleeting one as normal service was resumed with their biggest win of the season, 3-0 at home to Sheffield Wednesday, followed by a 2-1 success over Sheffield United, and the signs are there is plenty of reason for City fans to be optimistic about a successful 2010.
Comment on this story