Ice Kings (football)
| 1962–63 season | |||
| Chairman |
 W.S.G. Needham |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Manager |
 Matt Gillies
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| First Division | 4th | ||
| FA Cup | Runners-up | ||
| League Cup | 2nd Round | ||
| Top goalscorer |
League: Ken Keyworth (21) All: Ken Keyworth (27) |
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| Average home league attendance | 25,841 | ||
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The 1962–63 season was Leicester City's 58th season in the Football League and their 20th (non-consecutive) season in the first tier of English football. Under the management of Matt Gillies and starring players such as Gordon Banks, and Dave Gibson, Leicester sensationally chased the double. Eventually falling short after losing 3-1 to Manchester United in the FA Cup Final and after gaining just one win from their final nine league games their title challenge collapsed and the Foxes eventually finished in a disappointing 4th position.
The horrendous winter of 1962/63 was the coldest winter of the 20th century in England and Wales and saw a plethora of games being called off: there was not a single First Division match played in England during the month of January 1963 and Leicester did not play a single game between Boxing Day 1962 and 9 February 1963.
As games began to start being played again after the lengthy hiatus, Leicester, on the icy pitches, began to gain huge momentum and went on a lengthy winning and unbeaten run which saw them top the table with 9 (and later 5 games) to go and reach the 1963 FA Cup Final. However, as injuries took hold and the ice began to melt Leicester's momentum faded and they ended up winning just 1 of their final 9 games and losing the FA Cup final to Manchester United despite being hot favourites, after a dour performance. Despite chasing the double during the icy period as the season came to a close the Foxes ended up in a disappointing 4th position and as FA Cup runners-up.
Between 10 November 1962 and 8 April 1963, Leicester went on a run of 18 matches unbeaten, earning themselves the nickname "the ice kings" and creating a club record which stood for 46 years, until it was beaten in the 2008-09 season, though Leicester were in a division two tiers lower than that of the 1962-63 side. Their run of 7 consecutive league wins between 9 February 1963 and 9 March 1963 is also a joint club record, though on each of the three other occasions this has been matched, Leicester were in the second tier.
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