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English Coca Cola Championship
England
The English Coca Cola Championship is the 2nd league in England behind the big EPL. Ofcourse it's interesting to watch the teams that might be promoted to the Premier League.
Leicester City vs Sheffield United
Match scheduled:
Date: 26-12-2009
Time:18:00 until 20:00
Week 23 :: English Championship 2009/2010 :: Bet365/Betfair don't have the tv rights for the UK, Ireland, China and Middle East
Brian Little took over in 1991 and by the end of the 1991–92 season Leicester had reached the playoff final to the newly formed Premiership, losing to Blackburn Rovers. The club also reached the playoff final the following year, losing 4–3 to Swindon Town, having come back from 3–0 down. In 1993–94, were promoted from the playoffs, beating Derby County 2–1 in the final.[3] Little quit as Leicester manager the following November to take charge at Aston Villa, and his successor Mark McGhee was unable to save Leicester from finishing second from bottom in the 1994–95. McGhee left the club unexpectedly in December 1995 whilst Leicester were top of Division One to take charge of Wolverhampton Wanderers.[20]
McGhee was replaced by Martin O'Neill.[3] Under O'Neill, Leicester qualified for the 1995–96 Division One promotion playoffs and beat Crystal Palace 2–1 with a last-gasp Steve Claridge goal securing an immediate return to the Premiership. Following promotion, Leicester established themselves in the Premiership with four successive top ten finishes. O'Neill was the first manager to win silverware for 26 years, winning the League Cup twice, in 1997 and 2000, and Leicester were runners-up in 1999. Thus the club qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1998 and 2001, the club's first European competition since 1961. O'Neill's success made him a sought-after manager, turning down Leeds United in 1999, but in June 2000 he was lured to Celtic. He is regarded today as easily the best manager of recent years, and one of the most successful in the club's history.[3]
O'Neill was replaced by former England U-21 coach Peter Taylor. During this time, Leicester's last European appearance ended in a 3–1 defeat to Red Star Belgrade on 28 September 2000 in the 2001 UEFA Cup.[21] After a long run of poor results, Taylor was sacked in October 2001. Taylor was replaced by a management team of Dave Bassett and Micky Adams, but they could not prevent City's last season at Filbert Street ending in relegation from the Premiership.
Leicester moved into the new 32,500-seat Walkers Stadium at the start of the 2002-03 season. Walkers, the Leicestershire based crisp manufacturers, acquired the naming rights for a ten year period.[22] In October 2002, the club went into administration with debts of £30 million. Some of the reasons were the loss of TV money (ITV Digital, itself in administration, had promised money to First Division clubs for TV rights), the large wage bill, lower than expected fees for players transferred to other clubs and the £37 million cost of the new stadium.[23] Adams was banned from the transfer market for most of the season, until the club was rescued by a takeover by a consortium led by Gary Lineker.[3] Adams guided Leicester to runners-up spot in Division One and automatic promotion back to the Premiership with more than 90 points. Leicester only lasted one season in the top flight and were relegated back to the newly labelled Championship, previously known as Division One.
When Adams resigned as manager in October 2004 Craig Levein was appointed boss. This would prove to be an unsuccessful period and after 15 months in charge and flirting with relegation Levein was sacked. Assistant manager Rob Kelly, took over as caretaker manager, and after winning three out of four games was appointed to see out the rest of the season. Kelly steered Leicester to safety and in April 2006 was given the manager's job on a permanent basis.[3]
On 22 November, Ian Holloway was appointed manager. Holloway made history when he became the first Leicester manager in over 50 years to win his first league game in charge, beating Bristol City 2–0.[25] Despite this, Leicester were relegated from the Championship at the end of the 2007–08 season after drawing 0–0 with Stoke City, marking the 2008–09 season as Leicester's first season outside the top two tiers of English football. Their fall from grace would also see Holloway leave by mutual consent after less than a season at the club, being replaced by Nigel Pearson. The club returned to the Championship at the first attempt, finishing as champions.
The club's home colours of royal blue and white have been used for the team's kits throughout most of its history.[26] The first sponsorship logo to appear on a Leicester shirt was that of Ind Coope in 1983. British snack food manufacturer Walkers Crisps held a long association with the club, sponsoring them from 1987 to 2001. On 24 April 2009 the club officially unveiled their new 2009–10 home shirt during the last League One home game against Scunthorpe United. The new shirt will be without a sponsor in honour of the club's 125-year anniversary. The shirt is manufactured by Joma. The new kit features a central crest with "125" below.[27]
An image of a fox was first incorporated into the club crest in 1948, as Leicestershire is known for foxes and fox hunting.[28] This is the origin of the nickname "the Foxes". The club mascot is a character called "Filbert Fox". There are also secondary characters "Vickie Vixen" and "Cousin Dennis".
The current shirt badge has been unchanged since 1992. In another reference Leicestershire's tradition of hunting, the club adopted the Post Horn Gallop in 1941, although the origin is a 19th century coachman's tune to signal mail was arriving.[29] It was played over the PA system as the teams came out of the tunnel at all home games. However the club has replaced it in the past few seasons with a jazzed-up modern version.
In their early years, Leicester played at numerous grounds, but have only played at two since they joined the Football League. When first starting out they played on a field by the Fosse Road,[30] hence the original name Leicester Fosse. They moved from there to Victoria Park, and subsequently to Belgrave Road. Upon turning professional the club moved to Mill Lane.[30] After eviction from Mill Lane the club played at the County Cricket ground while seeking a new ground. The club secured the use of an area of ground by Filbert Street, and moved there in 1891.[30]
Some improvements by noted football architect Archibald Leitch occurred in the Edwardian era, and in 1927 a new two tier stand was built,[30] named the Double Decker, a name it would keep till the ground's closure in 2002. The ground wasn't developed any further, apart from compulsory seating being added, till 1993 when work began on the new Carling Stand. The stand was impressive while the rest of the ground were untouched since at least the 1920s, this led manager Martin O'Neill to say he used to "lead new signings out backwards" so they only saw the Carling Stand.[31]
The club moved away from Filbert Street in 2002 to a new 32,500 all-seater stadium.[32] The stadium was originally named Filbert Way and later renamed to Walkers Stadium in a deal with food manufacturers Walkers.[33] The first match the Walkers hosted was a friendly against Athletic Bilbao, the game was drawn 1–1 with Tiko of Bilbao being the first scorer at the stadium and Jordan Stewart being the first City player to score,[34] and the first competitive match was a 2-0 victory against Watford.[35] The stadium has since hosted an England international against Serbia and Montenegro which finished 2–1 to England, as well as internationals between Brazil and Jamaica, and Jamaica and Ghana. More recently the stadium has been used to host the Heineken Cup European Rugby semi finals for the Leicester Tigers rugby club, itself based within a mile of the Walkers Stadium.
Sheffield United play at Bramall Lane, near the centre of Sheffield. Bramall Lane is the oldest major ground anywhere in the world, having hosted its first game in 1862,[5] a match between Hallam and Sheffield Club. Bramall Lane also hosted the worlds first ever floodlit football match on 14 October 1878 with two teams picked from the Sheffield Football Association. The power for the lights was provided by two generators. The crowd was 20,000 and the score 2-0. It was originally a cricket ground and the first important match played here was between Yorkshire and Sussex in 1855. A cricket club was formed in 1854 named Sheffield United Cricket Club and Bramall Lane was leased to the club by the Duke of Norfolk. The ground was opened with a cricket match on 30 April 1855. Yorkshire County Cricket Club also formed here, and played most of their games in Sheffield at Bramall Lane until the last match on 7 August 1973 against their old rivals, Lancashire. The ground has seen expansion in recent years, and by 2006, on completion of a 3,000 seat corner stand,[6] was an all-seater stadium holding 32,609.[7] In March 2009 the club received were officially granted permission to expand the stadium once again, over two phases. The first phase would see the Kop being extended to increase the grounds capacity up to approximately 37,000. It would see the removal of the main supporting pillars and a giant screen installed as part of the stands roof. The second phase will see the Valad Stand (formerly Arnold Laver Stand) also extended, bringing the total capacity to a 40,000 all seater. The expansion also has a secondary focus of being available for selection for World Cup matches in 2018 or 2022, if England's bid is successful.
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