# 1960–61 Leicester City F.C. season

The 1960–61 season was Leicester City's 56th season in the Football League and their 18th (non-consecutive) season in the first tier of English football.

## Season summary

Leicester finished in their highest league position since finishing league runners-up 34 years previously. The club also reached the FA Cup final for the second time, eventually losing to Tottenham Hotspur who completed the first double of the 20th century. Though most of the talk about the Leicester cup final side was about the lack of Ken Leek, who had been controversially dropped for his off-the-field antics despite scoring in every round of the club's run to the final.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 4 | Burnley | 42 | 22 | 7 | 13 | 102 | 77 | 1.325 | 51 | |
| 5 | Everton | 42 | 22 | 6 | 14 | 87 | 69 | 1.261 | 50 | |
| 6 | Leicester City | 42 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 87 | 70 | 1.243 | 45 | Qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup |
| 7 | Manchester United | 42 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 88 | 76 | 1.158 | 45 | |
| 8 | Aston Villa | 42 | 17 | 9 | 16 | 78 | 77 | 1.013 | 43 | |
* ↑ Leicester City qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round as the 1960–61 FA Cup runners-up, since the winners, Tottenham Hotspur, had already qualified for the European Cup.

## Results

Leicester City's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League First Division

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 20 August 1960 | Blackpool | H | 1–1 | 27,062 | Appleton |
| 24 August 1960 | Chelsea | A | 3–1 | 24,691 | Wills (2), Walsh |
| 27 August 1960 | Everton | A | 1–3 | 45,215 | Cheesebrough |
| 31 August 1960 | Chelsea | H | 1–3 | 21,087 | Walsh |
| 3 September 1960 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 2–4 | 17,455 | Walsh, Wills |
| 7 September 1960 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 2–3 | 33,313 | Wills, Leek |
| 10 September 1960 | Manchester United | A | 1–1 | 35,493 | Walsh |
| 14 September 1960 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 2–0 | 20,044 | Walsh, King (pen) |
| 17 September 1960 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 1–2 | 25,567 | Riley |
| 24 September 1960 | Newcastle United | A | 3–1 | 21,161 | Leek (2), Cheesebrough |
| 1 October 1960 | Aston Villa | A | 3–1 | 29,623 | Walsh (2), Wills |
| 8 October 1960 | Arsenal | H | 2–1 | 22,501 | Leek (2) |
| 15 October 1960 | Manchester City | A | 1–3 | 30,193 | Leek |
| 22 October 1960 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 2–2 | 20,770 | Lornie, Cheesebrough |
| 28 October 1960 | Cardiff City | A | 1–2 | 19,136 | Walsh |
| 4 November 1960 | Preston North End | H | 5–2 | 16,920 | Leek (2), Walsh, Cheesebrough, Riley |
| 12 November 1960 | Fulham | A | 2–4 | 16,617 | King (pen), Cheesebrough |
| 19 November 1960 | Sheffield Wednesday | H | 2–1 | 25,567 | Walsh, Wills |
| 26 November 1960 | Birmingham City | A | 2–0 | 25,583 | Leek, Wills |
| 3 December 1960 | Nottingham Forest | H | 1–1 | 20,545 | Cheesebrough |
| 10 December 1960 | Burnley | A | 2–3 | 20,640 | Wills, Leek |
| 17 December 1960 | Blackpool | A | 1–5 | 8,752 | Walsh |
| 24 December 1960 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 0–2 | 11,534 | |
| 26 December 1960 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 2–0 | 23,806 | Wills, Keyworth |
| 31 December 1960 | Everton | H | 4–1 | 23,495 | Riley, Walsh, Leek (2) |
| 14 January 1961 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 1–1 | 14,752 | Leek |
| 21 January 1961 | Manchester United | H | 6–0 | 31,308 | Walsh (2), Keyworth (2), Wills, Riley (pen) |
| 4 February 1961 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 3–2 | 53,627 | Leek, Walsh (2) |
| 11 February 1961 | Newcastle United | H | 5–3 | 26,449 | King (2 pens), Cheesebrough, Leek, Dalton (own goal) |
| 25 February 1961 | Arsenal | A | 3–1 | 31,721 | Keyworth (2), Appleton |
| 11 March 1961 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 0–1 | 25,168 | |
| 25 March 1961 | Preston North End | A | 0–0 | 12,567 | |
| 31 March 1961 | West Ham United | A | 0–1 | 22,010 | |
| 1 April 1961 | Burnley | H | 2–2 | 27,838 | Leek, Walsh |
| 3 April 1961 | West Ham United | H | 5–1 | 23,776 | Cheesebrough (3), Riley, McIlmoyle |
| 8 April 1961 | Sheffield Wednesday | A | 2–2 | 29,904 | Walsh, McLintock |
| 10 April 1961 | Cardiff City | H | 3–0 | 32,042 | Walsh (2), McIlmoyle |
| 15 April 1961 | Fulham | H | 1–2 | 30,980 | Walsh |
| 19 April 1961 | Aston Villa | H | 3–1 | 21,219 | McIlmoyle (2), Keyworth |
| 22 April 1961 | Nottingham Forest | A | 2–2 | 25,830 | Cheesebrough, Leek |
| 26 April 1961 | Manchester City | H | 1–2 | 22,248 | Walsh |
| 29 April 1961 | Birmingham City | H | 3–2 | 19,920 | Cross, Riley, Leek |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| R3 | 7 January 1961 | Oxford United | H | 3–1 | 25,601 | Walsh, Leek, Riley |
| R4 | 31 January 1961 | Bristol City | H | 5–1 | 27,701 | Wills, Leek (2), Walsh (2) |
| R5 | 18 February 1961 | Birmingham City | A | 1–1 | 53,589 | Riley |
| R5R | 22 February 1961 | Birmingham City | H | 2–1 | 41,916 | Leek (2) |
| QF | 4 March 1961 | Barnsley | H | 0–0 | 38,744 | |
| QFR | 8 March 1961 | Barnsley | A | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | 39,250 | Riley, Leek |
| SF | 18 March 1961 | Sheffield United | N | 0–0 | 52,095 | |
| SFR | 23 March 1961 | Sheffield United | N | 0–0 (a.e.t.) | 43,500 | |
| SFR2 | 27 March 1961 | Sheffield United | N | 2–0 | 37,190 | Walsh, Leek |
| F | 6 May 1961 | Tottenham Hotspur | N | 0–2 | 100,000 | |

### League Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| R1 | 12 October 1960 | Mansfield Town | H | 4–0 | 7,070 | Cheesebrough, Walsh (3) |
| R2 | 26 October 1960 | Rotherham United | H | 1–2 | 6,244 | King (pen) |

## 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 | Gordon Banks |
| - | DF | ENG | Len Chalmers |
| - | DF | SCO | Richie Norman |
| - | MF | SCO | Ian White |
| - | DF | ENG | Tony Knapp |
| - | MF | ENG | Colin Appleton |
| - | MF | SCO | George Meek |
| - | FW | ENG | Albert Cheesebrough |
| - | FW | ENG | Derek Hines |
| - | FW | SCO | Jimmy Walsh |
| - | MF | ENG | Gordon Wills |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | MF | SCO | Frank McLintock |
| - | MF | ENG | Howard Riley |
| - | FW | WAL | Ken Leek |
| - | DF | SCO | Ian King |
| - | GK | ENG | Rodney Slack |
| - | FW | SCO | Jack Lornie |
| - | DF | SCO | John Sjoberg |
| - | FW | ENG | Ken Keyworth |
| - | GK | ENG | George Heyes |
| - | FW | ENG | Hughie McIlmoyle |
| - | DF | ENG | Graham Cross |

## Club statistics

All data from: Dave Smith and Paul Taylor, Of Fossils and Foxes: The Official Definitive History of Leicester City Football Club (2001) (ISBN 1-899538-21-6)

### Top goalscorers

| Pos. | Nat. | Name | Div 1 | FAC | LC | Total |
| 1 | | Jimmy Walsh | 22 | 4 | 3 | 29 |
| 2 | | Ken Leek | 18 | 7 | 0 | 25 |
| 3 | | Albert Cheesebrough | 11 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| 4 | | Gordon Wills | 10 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
| 5 | | Howard Riley | 6 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| 7 | | Ken Keyworth | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 8 | | Ian King | 4 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 9 | | Hugh McIlmoyle | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | | Colin Appleton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | | Frank McLintock | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| = | | Jack Lornie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| = | | Graham Cross | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Own Goals | Own Goals | Own Goals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |