Bernie - A Leicester City Legend, RIP

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

On 16/02/2022 at 02:04, kushiro said:

@lcfcfem Thank you so much for everything you've done. What a gem you are. Good luck putting all these memories together.

 

@Bluetintedspecs  How right you are - there but for the grace of God go all of us. Every morning on my way to work here in Sapporo I pass people who make me think how lucky I am - people who, for whatever reason, have fallen off the rails of regular society. They make me think of all the times when, had the fates been aligned just slightly differently, I too would now be leading a life far less stable than the one I am.

 

Well, here we go. I was thinking of starting a new thread as this is gonna be a long post (bear with me), but maybe it's best to keep all the Bernie stuff in one place. There's a story I'd like to tell.

 

In the clipping from an old programme that @Cardiff_Fox and @kyleolly posted, it says Bernie's first match was a '6-2 win against Leeds after the war'. I wanted to see if I could find details of the game - and here's the story:

 

Bernie's Adventures (Part 1)

 

It's August 21st 1948. The start of a new season, and an historic day for Leicester City FC, for when they run out against Leeds, they have a fox on their shirt for the first time. In the summer, the directors had decided to adopt this new badge, and from that day forward, the club would have a new nickname.

 

 

 

Despite finishing only 9th in Division Two the season before, there was huge optimism among the City fans. Season ticket sales had doubled from a year earlier, and manager Johnny Duncan was hoping this would be the year they got back to the top flight following relegation just before the war. As you can see from this Leicester Evening Mail report, fans were arriving early.

 

 

Somewhere in the queues was 14 year old Bernard Henson, waiting expectantly to see his first Leicester match. We don't know which part of the ground he stood in, or what his reaction was when he first entered the ground - perhaps he had the same sense of wonder as so many others when they see that expanse of green for the first time. It would have been in perfect condition that day, the club having just spent a huge sum to upgrade the playing surface. 

 

However impressed he was by the scene at Filbert Street, the match itself must have made a far deeper impression. City took the lead after only two minutes:

 

 

But then:

 

 

Then in the 12th minute, Leeds went ahead:

 

 

Next:

 

 

It was 2-2 at half time. The reports above are from the late edition of the Evening Mail, which went to press before five o'clock, too early for a description of the second half. But there in the stop press column you see the final score - Leicester City 6 Leeds United 2. 

 

In Monday's paper there was a summary of the second half:

 

 

'A definite promotion stamp', the report says. It would be a historic season, but in a way no City fan could possibly have imagined. 

 

You can imagine Bernie Henson almost flying home on his bicycle after the match, his head already full of glorious memories, knowing that he'd discovered a passion that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

Amazing that his first game was the first time the players wore a fox on our shirt 

[lcfcfem]

On 20/02/2022 at 06:36, kushiro said:

Bernie's Adventures Part 3 

 

December 1962

 

You might have seen the reports this weekend of the guy who traveled all the way from Chile to see Blackburn play, only for his hero to be ruled out by injury and the game then being called off due to snow. It's the sort of adventurous spirit Bernie would have understood, and it's the kind of disappointment he must have experienced numerous times in his lifetime of watching City - the distance of course being much shorter, but going the Bernie way (walking, cycling or hitch hiking) it's possible the energy expended was even greater.

 

Especially in the winter of 1963, it's a problem he would have faced repeatedly. We know Bernie's passion for Leicester was as strong ever that season - according to a post on the Bernie thread on the Bentley's Roof forum, he cycled all the way to Sheffield for the FA Cup semi-final victory against Liverpool. That game took place a month later than scheduled thanks to the severest cold spell anyone could remember. For seven successive weekends between late December and mid February, Leicester's scheduled game was postponed.

 

The first of that sequence was at Forest on December 22nd, the game being called off very late due to fog, with the Leicester Evening Mail describing 'bitterly disappointed groups of City fans turned away from the ground', the reporter saying he hoped they'd get home 'before darkness made traveling conditions impossible'. This would have had a special meaning for Bernie, pedaling back down icy A roads. Back in Nottingham, Forest fans were left to contemplate the mist rolling in from the Trent (though they'd have to wait another 15 years for the melody to set that image to). 

 

Speaking of which, it was an historic day for football chants. 40 miles away at Highfield Road, the game against Colchester was also affected by fog. The match got underway, but when conditions worsened, the referee took the players off, hoping for visibility to improve. Coventry manager Jimmy Hill took the opportunity to introduce a song he'd just written - Play Up Sky Blues - to the crowd, conducting the fans from the touchline. The chant was rapidly taken up (and has been with us ever since), while the fog hung around long enough for the game to be abandoned. 

 

At that time, chanting hadn't really taken off for fans of Leicester (or any club) - though the 'cha cha cha' clapping rhythm was spreading (another thing that crossed the Atlantic from Chile - thanks to the 1962 World Cup). On match footage from that time, all you can typically hear is a general murmur of excitement, punctuated by shouts from individual fans who happen to be standing close to effects mic. 

 

And this is where our hero really takes the stage - for if we rewind a couple of weeks from that Forest match, City were playing at Wolves. You might recall the thread on here recently featuring footage of the game. Well, if you listen carefully, just before we score our first goal, you can hear a voice shout out 'Come on Leicester!!!!!!'

 

It's right here at 2 minutes 5 seconds - I've set it to start just before that. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5O1kPboyJk&t=1m58s

 

It's got to be him, hasn't it??? 

 

It's the same gruff tone you can hear shouting the same thing at 0.29 in this Bernie clip:

https://twitter.com/NoContextLCFC/status/1492103516478976005?cxt=HHwWisC5vcSPgrUpAAAA

 

I can't prove it. But perhaps it doesn't need proving. Perhaps it's enough not to categorically disprove it. Just to have it there as a tantalizing possibility - that we have on film from 60 years ago the true Bernie spirit, giving his all in the Leicester cause. The timing is exquisite - as the voice rings out across Molineux, we string together a gorgeous sequence of passes resulting in Dave Gibson's emphatic finish (Gibson was Bernie's favourite player) - setting up a 3-1 win that kicked off the Ice Kings winter.

 

If you're heading for Molineux today, sing your hearts out for the lads. And for Bernie.

 

Brilliant. I am sure that’s our Bernie. Gave me goosebumps.