1985–86 Leicester City F.C. season

Leicester City

1985–86 season
Chairman	Terry Shipman
Manager	Gordon Milne
First Division	19th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	Smith (19)
Average home league attendance	11,792

During the 1985–86 English football season, Leicester City F.C. competed in the Football League First Division, their third consecutive season at this level since promotion. A 19th-place finish in the final table was just enough to secure a fourth successive top flight campaign.

Season summary

In the summer of 1985, the transfer market was dominated by one deal with Gary Lineker's contract at Filbert Street expiring at the end of the last season: Lineker joined Everton in June for a club record sale of £800,000. Leicester started the 1985–86 season terribly with just 2 wins in their first 14 league games. Their only real highlight of the season was when the Foxes did the double over champions Everton and on the final day of the season, Leicester beat Newcastle United 2-0 at Filbert Street and with Ipswich Town losing at Sheffield Wednesday, it kept the Foxes in the top flight and sent Ipswich down.

Final league table

Main article: 1985–86 Football League

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts
1	Liverpool	42		16	4	1	58	14		10	6	5	31	23		89	37	+52		88
2	Everton	42		16	3	2	54	18		10	5	6	33	23		87	41	+46		86
3	West Ham United	42		17	2	2	48	16		9	4	8	26	24		74	40	+34		84
4	Manchester United	42		12	5	4	35	12		10	5	6	35	24		70	36	+34		76
5	Sheffield Wednesday	42		13	6	2	36	23		8	4	9	27	31		63	54	+9		73
6	Chelsea	42		12	4	5	32	27		8	7	6	25	29		57	56	+1		71
7	Arsenal	42		13	5	3	29	15		7	4	10	20	32		49	47	+2		69
8	Nottingham Forest	42		11	5	5	38	25		8	6	7	31	28		69	53	+16		68
9	Luton Town	42		12	6	3	37	15		6	6	9	24	29		61	44	+17		66
10	Tottenham Hotspur	42		12	2	7	47	25		7	6	8	27	27		74	52	+22		65
11	Newcastle United	42		12	5	4	46	31		5	7	9	21	41		67	72	–5		63
12	Watford	42		11	6	4	40	22		5	5	11	29	40		69	62	+7		59
13	Queens Park Rangers	42		12	3	6	33	20		3	4	14	20	44		53	64	–11		52
14	Southampton	42		10	6	5	32	18		2	4	15	19	44		51	62	–11		46
15	Manchester City	42		7	7	7	25	26		4	5	12	18	31		43	57	–14		45
16	Aston Villa	42		7	6	8	27	28		3	8	10	24	39		51	67	–16		44
17	Coventry City	42		6	5	10	31	35		5	5	11	17	36		48	71	–23		43
18	Oxford United	42		7	7	7	34	27		3	5	13	28	53		62	80	–18		42
19	Leicester City	42		7	8	6	35	35		3	4	14	19	41		54	76	–22		42
20	Ipswich Town	42		8	5	8	20	24		3	3	15	12	31		32	55	–23		41
21	Birmingham City	42		5	2	14	13	25		3	3	15	17	48		30	73	–43		29
22	West Bromwich Albion	42		3	8	10	21	36		1	4	16	14	53		35	89	–54		24

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

Key
	League Champions, excluded from the European Cup
	FA Cup runners-up, but excluded from the Cup Winners' Cup
	UEFA Cup spot, but excluded
	League Cup winners, excluded from UEFA Cup
	Relegated

Squad

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
-	GK	ENG	Ian Andrews
-	MF	NIR	Paul Ramsey
-	DF	SCO	Bobby Smith
-	MF	ENG	Rob Kelly
-	DF	ENG	Russell Osman
-	DF	NIR	John O'Neill
-	MF	ENG	Steve Lynex
-	FW	ENG	Mark Bright
-	FW	ENG	Alan Smith
-	MF	SCO	Ian Wilson
-	MF	ENG	Ian Banks
-	MF	SCO	Ally Mauchlen

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
-	DF	SCO	Tommy Williams
-	FW	ENG	Robert Jones
-	DF	ENG	Andy Feeley
-	FW	ENG	Tony Sealy
-	DF	SCO	David Rennie
-	MF	SCO	Gary McAllister
-	DF	ENG	Simon Morgan
-	GK	ENG	Jerry Roberts
-	FW	DEN	Tommy Christensen
-	MF	ENG	Laurie Cunningham
-	DF	ENG	Mark Venus
-	MF	ENG	Paul Reid

Transfers

In

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee	Notes
15 August 1985	MF	Gary McAllister	Motherwell	£125,000
15 August 1985	DF	Ally Mauchlen	Motherwell	£125,000

Out

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee	Notes
5 July 1985	FW	Gary Lineker	Everton	£800,000
17 January 1986	DF	David Rennie	Leeds United	£50,000

Transfers in: £250,000

Transfers out: £850,000

Total spending: £600,000