Socks-down striker Claridge has a place secured in City folklore. Before his time at Filbert Street, Claridge had a decent goals-to-games ratio in the lower leagues with teams such as Fareham Town, Bournemouth, Weymouth and Basingstoke Town. He started his career with his hometown club Portsmouth and went on to play for Crystal Palace and Birmingham City, where he caught the eye of Foxes boss of the time Martin O'Neill.
O'Neill snapped-up the striker for a fee of £1 million, which was to rise to £1.2 million - a relatively large sum for a striker who was in his twilight years at the age of 29. His arrival came hot-on-the-heels of the departure of Julian Joachim and his early displays in the blue shirt didn't exactly win over the City fans. However, his first goal for the club, against Charlton Athletic in 1996, somewhat rejuvenated City's promotion bid that season - and they never looked back.
The signing was justified come the end of the season when Claridge scored the extra-time winner against Crystal Palace, a club who'd rejected him without giving him a chance, in the play-off final that saw City promoted at Wembley.
It got better the year after, with City excelling in the Premier League. Claridge was top-scorer, and, not content with helping the club to promotion, he also scored another extra-time winner in the League Cup final against Middlesbrough at Hillsborough. That victory saw Leicester qualify for Europe, and the rugged striker was part of the squad that took on Spanish side Atletico Madrid in european competition.
In '98 Claridge's time at Filbert Street came to an end. He spent a short spell on-loan back at hometown club Pompey before Wolverhampton Wanderers forked out £400,00 for his services - only to see him play six matches at Molineux.
Claridge was a footballer who simply loved playing the game, and even though his spell at the top end of the football pyramid was at an end, he continued to play at a lower level into his 40s. That meant yet another return to Portsmouth, this time as player-manager, as well as Weymouth in the same role. Playing spells at clubs including Brighton, Brentford and Wycombe Wanderers kept the striker in the game before he hung his boots up to take up a media role as a pundit on the Football League Show, amongst others.