Words by Dhaliwal A.S, Vijhay Vick and Kenneth Ho
Tim Flowers
Flowers ended his playing career at Leicester, three years after lifting the League Cup, and can claim to have a hand in this year’s historic Premier League campaign – the Englishman spent several years training Kasper Schmeichel at Manchester City.
Interestingly, Flowers was part of Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign in the 1994/95 season.
After training keepers at Manchester City and Leicester, Flowers assisted Iain Dowie at Coventry, QPR and Hull before taking up his first managerial post at Stafford Rangers – a stint that only last nine games before he resigned in 2011.
The 49-year-old went on to enjoy coaching roles at Northampton, Nottingham Forest and Kidderminster Harriers. After a six-month sabbatical, he returned to football in March as Fulham’s goalkeeping coach until the end of the season. – VV
Frank Sinclair
Sinclair is one of the more recognisable names from this League Cup-winning squad.
However, part of that was due to his unfortunate knack of scoring own goals, most of which proved costly in terms of points for Leicester (though he remained a popular figure at Filbert Street).
After his Foxes days, Sinclair traipsed around the lower leagues but found success hard to come by. He did play right through until 2015, eventually retiring as a player with Brackley Town in the sixth tier of English football.
During the final years of his playing career, Sinclair also coached some of the clubs he represented. His last stint didn't end happily, after he was sacked at Hednesford Town less than three months into the job.
These days, Sinclair is mainly a television pundit and occasionally provides commentary on Sky Sports. He also participates in charity games. – KH
Matt Elliott
The towering defender not only captained Leicester to the 2000 League Cup title but also scored both goals in the 2-1 win over Tranmere Rovers in the final.
Elliott retired from playing in January 2005 following a brief loan spell at Ipswich Town. After a couple years out of the game, the former Scotland international returned as assistant manager to Northern Premier League’s Hednesford in 2008.
He left the club a year later to pursue business interests but returned to football by becoming assistant manager of Oadby Town in the semi-professional Midlands Alliance league until October 2010. After a short stay with Oadby, he moved to Conference North’s Stafford Rangers, where he joined as an assistant to Tim Flowers before taking over from his former Leicester team-mate in 2011.
Elliott also had a brief spell as coach with the Thai Premier League’s Army United in 2014 but left after six months to focus on his coaching at Leicester’s academy. The 47-year-old also owns the Matt Elliott Football Development Scheme, a football academy project in Leicestershire.
He is the matchday co-commentator covering all of Leicester's matches for BBC Radio Leicester. – DA
Gerry Taggart
Part of a three-man back four at Leicester under Martin O'Neill, Taggart's time at the club came to an end when the Foxes returned to the top flight in 2003/04.
He joined Stoke on loan midway through the season before making the move permanent, retiring at the Potters in 2006. His playing time had already been significantly reduced after he doubled up as a first-team coach.
Taggart returned to Leicester as a coach in 2007 and played a caretaker manager role a few months later until Ian Holloway was appointed (Leicester were relegated to League One that season).
He left in 2010 to reunite with former team-mate Paul Dickov at Oldham and later followed the Scot to Doncaster in May 2015, only to resign five months later following Dickov's sacking.
Today, the 45-year-old commentates on the BBC and dedicates a portion of his time in promoting Leicester Mercury's anti-smoking campaign – a habit Taggart wishes he never picked up during his career. – VV
Steve Guppy
Former England manager Kevin Keegan once described Guppy as a left-sided David Beckham – a tribute to the excellent crosses he could deliver.
He was one of the few who left Leicester and went on to enjoy further success, notably with Celtic, where he won the Scottish Premier League. Guppy rejoined Leicester briefly in 2004 but his career was fairly stop-start thereafter, with injuries curtailing his playing time. A player-coach role at Rochester was his final stint on the pitch, and he retired in 2008.
After hanging up the boots, Guppy moved into coaching full-time, initially as an assistant at MLS side Colorado Rapids. He rejoined his former manager Martin O’Neill at Sunderland and subsequently Ireland, where he is still coaching the attacking players. – KH
Muzzy Izzet
Izzet made Gladys Kenney’s dream come true recently when the former Leicester midfielder visited the club’s oldest season-ticket holder at her daughter’s house, holding the Premier League trophy. The 97-year-old Gladys was star struck, as Izzet used to be one of her favourite players.
The 41-year-old Izzet currently runs a football academy with ex-Leicester team-mate Steve Walsh. Last September, his autobiography Muzzy: My Story was published.
In his heyday, Izzet was known not only for his darting runs, set-piece deliveries and near-perfect reading of the game, but also for scoring brilliant goals. His bicycle kick against Grimsby Town in 2002 is still rated Leicester’s greatest-ever goal (see below).
The former Turkey international, who appeared at the 2002 World Cup, was signed as a schoolboy by Chelsea but never made the first team. He was loaned out to Leicester in March 1996 before the deal was made permanent and he didn't look back, playing for the club until 2004.
Izzet had a couple of injury-plagued seasons with Birmingham before retiring in June 2006 following a serious knee problem. He briefly came out of retirement in 2009, joining Leicestershire Senior League side Thurmaston Town, but made only one appearance. – DA
Robbie Savage
The 2000 League Cup victory ended up being the first and only winners’ medal this former Manchester United trainee picked up during his career.
Unlike David Beckham, Paul Scholes and other members of United’s famous class of '92, Savage didn’t make the grade at Old Trafford and was packed off to Crewe Alexandra in English football’s third tier in 1994.
He returned to the Premier League after signing for the Foxes in 1997 and went on to make 204 appearances in five seasons before moving to Birmingham, Blackburn, Brighton and finally Derby, where he retired in January 2011.
Savage can be considered among the dirtiest players in Premier League history, having been shown 89 yellow cards in his career, although he was only sent off twice with Blackburn and the Welsh national team.
These days, the tough-tackling midfielder is a regular on BBC’s football programmes, a columnist for Mirror Sport and an 'author' of two books. He also finished sixth in television show Strictly Come Dancing in 2011. – VV
Neil Lennon
Lennon played in all three League Cup finals during this stretch with Leicester, earning two winners' medals. He would also enjoy more success after leaving the Foxes, joining Celtic and earning a bucketload of silverware, including five Scottish Premier League titles. His playing career ended in 2008, at Wycombe Wanderers.
Lennon then re-joined Celtic as first-team coach, becoming manager two years later. He led Celtic to three more titles and two Scottish Cups and then joined Bolton, but his results there were mixed. In his first season, 2014/15, Bolton put up a brave fight to escape relegation to the third tier. In March this year, however, he was sacked after the club floundered at the bottom of the Championship.
Lennon could yet make a return to Scotland, as Celtic’s managerial post is vacant again and both parties have repeatedly stated that they are keen on reuniting. – KH
Stefan Oakes
Oakes was regarded as one of the most naturally talented left-footed midfielders in his heyday, but he never really fulfilled his potential.
The 37-year-old started his career with Leicester in 1998, where he remained until he was released in 2003.
He subsequently had stints with Walsall, Notts County, Wycombe, Lincoln City, Tamworth, New York FC and Oadby Town, finally retiring in 2013. In 2005, Oakes’s goal from just inside the opposition half for Notts County against Yeovil Town earned him that season’s League Two Goal of the Year award.
Oakes, whose father Trevor was a guitarist in prominent 1970s pop band Showaddywaddy, pursued a playing and coaching career with now-defunct American side FC New York in 2010.
He briefly returned to Conference National’s Oadby Town three years later before heading back to the US for coaching stints with the Carolina Railhawks and then Archbishop Williams High School in Massachusetts. – DA
Emile Heskey
Leicester born and bred, Heskey moved to Liverpool just weeks after lifting the 2000 League Cup.
He went on to form an effective partnership with fellow England star Michael Owen, as the pair hit form during Liverpool's treble winning 2000/01 season.
Three seasons and six trophies later, Heskey had further Premier League spells at Birmingham, Wigan and Aston Villa.
The former England striker appeared to have called time on his career in England after heading to Australia in September 2012. He spent two seasons with A-League outfit Newcastle Jets before making an unlikely return at Championship side Bolton under Neil Lennon, who he played alongside in the League Cup triumph.
Heskey is about to complete his second year with the Trotters and the 38-year-old – a three-time World Cup participant with England – commented recently that he is considering playing on again next season. – VV
Tony Cottee
Cottee was a fearsome striker in his heyday. He was well known during his West Ham and Everton days, but injury relegated him to a bit-part role in 1996, prompting him to join Malaysian side Selangor for a year.
He then joined Leicester in 1997 and enjoyed a revival of fortunes, famously scoring in a 1-0 win at Old Trafford in January 1998 and, two seasons later, ending the 1999/2000 campaign as the club’s record Premier League scorer in a season with 13 goals. That was until Jamie Vardy broke his record in 2016.
Cottee tried his hands at coaching with Barnet but failed to retain his job. Now the former Leicester marksman is a television commentator for Sky Sports and appears as an occasional pundit for Malaysian Astro TV. – KH
Andy Impey (77' substitute for Oakes)
Impey, who started his professional career with QPR, is now an academy coach at Loftus Road. He joined last year and is currently helping guide the under-18 trainees.
Impey is regarded highly from his playing days at QPR, having won the club’s player of the year award for three consecutive seasons between 1993 and 1995.
He spent just over a season with West Ham before moving to Leicester, where he would secure his only piece of silverware via the League Cup. He also had a brief spell with Nottingham Forest in 2004 and, after a similarly short-lived period at Coventry, he hung up his boots in 2006.
A group of admirers launched a 2010 campaign entitled, 'Andy Impey for a Knighthood’. That honour is not yet forthcoming. After retirement, he spent his time looking after his family and watching his favourite club Arsenal before returning to QPR. – DA
Ian Marshall (89' substitute for Cottee)
Marshall was at the tail end of his career in the 1999/2000 season.
With his League Cup medal in tow, he left shortly after for Bolton and then Blackpool, where he retired following their Football League Trophy win in 2002.
Upon retirement, Marshall relocated to Canada and started the Ian Marshall Soccer School. He eventually moved back to England and joined forces with former team-mates Muzzy Izzet, Steve Claridge and Steve Walsh as part of educational programme PTC Sports Group.
Last year the grouped launched IMFootball, an Ipswich-based football academy that also offers teenagers a chance to complete a diploma in Sports Studies.
Marshall, who occasionally appears on Sky Sports as a pundit, is an ambassador for the Cancer Research UK and last August auctioned off a handful of worn signed shirts from his career to raise funds for the cause. – VV
Martin O'Neill – Manager
O'Neill will always cherish his moments with Leicester, as it was where he won his first major titles as a manager, guiding them to League Cup victories in 1997 and 2000.
The former midfielder, who played with Nottingham Forest and Manchester City as part of a 15-year career on the pitch, was arguably the club’s greatest-ever manager before Claudio Ranieri guided the Foxes to the Premier League title this year. Understandably, he still takes a keen interest in the club.
O’Neill is currently coaching the Republic of Ireland, who will participate in the upcoming Euro 2016, where they have been drawn in Group E with Italy, Sweden and Belgium.
The 64-year-old, who was awarded an OBE for his contributions to sport in 2004, has also spent time as an analyst for the BBC and ITV at the World Cup and on Champions League matches in between managerial gigs. – DA
