Welcome to the latest installment of the Gloucester Groundhopper blog.
For this chapter, we headed to Leicester City for some Sky Bet EFL Championship action as Leicester City took on Plymouth Argyle at the King Power Stadium.
It's All In The Name
Leicester is well-known for many things, including Walkers crisps, the Attenborough brothers, and football. The fox, known for its agility, cunning, and craftiness, is used to represent Leicestershire's sporting scene, with the fox appearing on the Leicester City logo and Leicestershire's County Cricket Club logo. The nickname "The Foxes" is the club's most popular, and an image of a fox was first incorporated into the club emblem in 1948, as Leicestershire is famous for foxes and fox hunting.
The county is regarded as the birthplace of fox hunting as we know it today. Hugo Maynell, who lived in Quorn and established his pack of hounds here in the eighteenth century, is known as the "Father of Fox Hunting." Some of the most famous fox hunts in the United Kingdom have also occurred in our county. The Quorn Hunt, founded in 1696, is one of the world's oldest fox hunting packs, with three Royal Navy ships named 'HMS Quorn' in honour of the hunt.
Some Notable People From Leicester
Gary Lineker- Footballer
Showaddywaddy- Band
Gok Wan- Fashion Stylist
Emile Heskey- Footballer
Mark Selby- Snooker Player
Some Notable Former Players:
Gary Lineker
Riyad Mahrez
Ian Walker
Robert Huth
Wes Morgan
Tim Flowers
Andy King
Steve Walsh
Robbie Savage
Muzzy Izzet
Les Ferdinand
Tony Cottee
Emile Heskey
A History Lesson From The Gloucester Groundhopper
The club was founded in 1884 as "Leicester Fosse" by a group of Wyggeston School old boys and joined The Football Association (FA) in 1890. Prior to relocating to Filbert Street in 1891, the club played at five different locations, including Victoria Park in the city's southeast and the Belgrave Road Cycle and Cricket Ground. The club also joined the Midland League in 1891 and was elected to the Football League's Division Two in 1894 after finishing second. Leicester's first Football League game was a 4-3 defeat at Grimsby Town, followed by a first League win the following week at Filbert Street against Rotherham United.During the same season, the team recorded its biggest win to date, a 13-0 victory over Notts Olympic in an FA Cup qualifying game.
The club finished second in the Second Division in 1907-08, earning promotion to the First Division, the highest level of English football. The club was relegated after a single season that included the team's record defeat, a 12-0 loss to Nottingham Forest.
Leicester Fosse ceased trading in 1919, when league football resumed after World War I, due to financial difficulties. The club was renamed "Leicester City Football Club," which was especially fitting given that the borough of Leicester had recently been granted city status. Following the name change, the club enjoyed moderate success in the 1920s; under the management of Peter Hodge, who left in May 1926 to be replaced two months later by Willie Orr, and with record goalscorer Arthur Chandler in the side, they won Division Two in 1924-25 and finished second by a single point to The Wednesday in 1928-29. However, the 1930s saw a decline in fortunes, with the club relegated in 1934-35 and, following promotion in 1936-37, relegated again in 1938-39, finishing the decade in Division Two.
Leicester reached the FA Cup final twice more under Matt Gillies and his assistant Bert Johnson, but lost both times in 1961 and 1963. They were England's representatives in the 1961-62 European Cup Winners' Cup after losing to double winners Tottenham Hotspur in 1961.
The club led the First Division during the winter of 1962-63. The team earned the nickname "Ice Kings" after a sensational run of form on icy and frozen pitches, and eventually finished fourth, the club's best post-war finish. Gillies led Leicester to their first trophy in 1964, when they defeated Stoke City 4-3 on aggregate to win the League Cup for the first time. The following year, Leicester reached the League Cup final, but were defeated 3-2 on aggregate by Chelsea. Gillies and Johnson were praised for their version of the "whirl" and "switch" systems, which were previously used by the Austrian and Hungarian national teams. Matt Gillies resigned in November 1968 after a poor start to the season. His successor, Frank O'Farrell, was unable to keep the club from relegation, but the club did reach the FA Cup final in 1969, losing 1-0 to Manchester City.
Leicester were relegated to the Second Division in 1971 and won the Charity Shield for the first time. Due to Arsenal's commitments in European competition, Leicester were invited to play FA Cup runners-up Liverpool, which they defeated 1-0 thanks to a goal by Steve Whitworth. Jimmy Bloomfield was appointed as manager for the upcoming season, and his team remained in the First Division throughout his tenure. In 1973-74, Leicester reached the FA Cup semi-finals.
Bloomfield was succeeded in 1977 by Frank McLintock, a notable player for seven years for Leicester during a successful period from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. McLintock resigned after City were relegated at the end of the 1977-78 season. Jock Wallace continued the Scottish managerial tradition (following Peter Hodge and Matt Gillies) by leading Leicester to the Second Division title in 1980. Wallace was unable to keep Leicester in the Premier League, but the club did reach the FA Cup semi-finals in 1982. Gary Lineker, one of City's most famous home-grown players, broke into the first-team squad under Wallace.
Gordon Milne took over as manager of Leicester after they were promoted in 1983. Lineker helped Leicester stay in the First Division, but he was sold to Everton in 1985; two years later, Leicester was relegated after failing to find a suitable replacement for Alan Smith, who was sold to Arsenal after Leicester was relegated.
Brian Little took over in 1991, and by the end of the 1991-92 season, Leicester had reached the playoff final for a place in the new Premier League, but had been defeated by Blackburn Rovers on penalties scored by former Leicester striker Mike Newell. The following year, the club reached the playoff final, losing 4-3 to Swindon Town after coming back from 3-0 down. City were promoted from the playoffs in 1993-94, defeating Derby County 2-1 in the final. Little left Leicester in November to take over at Aston Villa, and his successor, Mark McGhee, was unable to prevent Leicester from finishing second-bottom in the 1994-95 season.
McGhee unexpectedly left the club in December 1995, while Leicester were top of the First Division, to take over as manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Martin O'Neill took over for McGhee. Leicester qualified for the 1996 Football League play-offs under O'Neill and beat Crystal Palace 2-1 in the final thanks to a 120th-minute goal by Steve Claridge to gain promotion to the Premier League. Leicester established themselves in the Premier League after promotion with four consecutive top-ten finishes. O'Neill ended Leicester's 33-year trophy drought by winning the League Cup twice, in 1997 and 2000, and finishing runners-up in 1999. Thus, in 1997-98 and 2000-01, the club qualified for the UEFA Cup, the club's first European competition since 1961. O'Neill left Leicester City in June 2000 to join Celtic.
Former England under-21 coach Peter Taylor took over for Martin O'Neill. One of Leicester's European appearances during this period ended in a 3-1 defeat to Red Star Belgrade in the UEFA Cup on 28th September, 2000. Leicester started well under Taylor, topping the Premier League for two weeks in the autumn and remaining in contention for a European place for the majority of the season before a late-season collapse dropped them to 13th place.
Taylor was fired after a poor start to the 2001-02 season, and his replacement, Dave Bassett, lasted only six months before being replaced by his assistant Micky Adams, with the change of management announced just before relegation was confirmed. Leicester only won five league games this season.
Leicester began the 2002-03 season at the new 32,314-seat Walkers Stadium, ending 111 years at Filbert Street. Walkers, a Leicester-based crisp manufacturer, purchased the naming rights for ten years. The club went into administration in October 2002, with debts of £30 million. The loss of TV money (ITV Digital, which is in administration, had promised money to First Division clubs for TV rights), the large wage bill, lower-than-expected fees for players transferred to other clubs, and the £37 million cost of the new stadium were some of the reasons. Adams was barred from entering the transfer market for the majority of the season, even after the club was saved by a consortium led by Gary Lineker.
With more than 90 points, Adams led Leicester to second place in Division One and automatic promotion back to the Premier League. Leicester, on the other hand, only lasted one season in the top flight before being relegated to the newly renamed Championship, formerly known as Division One.
Ex-Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric was quoted in October 2006 as saying he was interested in buying the club, reportedly for around £6 million, with the current playing squad valued at around £4.2 million. On 13th February, 2007, the takeover was formally announced. Rob Kelly was fired as manager on 11th April 2007, and Nigel Worthington was appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. Worthington saved the club from relegation but was not given a permanent position. On 25th May 2007, the club announced the appointment of former Milton Keynes Dons manager Martin Allen to a three-year contract. Allen's relationship with Mandaric deteriorated, and on 29th August, 2007, Allen left by mutual consent after only four matches. Mandaric announced Gary Megson as the club's new manager on 13th September, 2007, citing Megson's "wealth of experience" as a deciding factor in the appointment.
Ian Holloway was appointed manager on 22nd November and he became the first Leicester manager in more than 50 years to win his first league match in charge, defeating Bristol City 2-0. This success, however, was short-lived, as Leicester were relegated from the Championship at the end of the 2007-08 season. Holloway left the club by mutual consent after less than a season, and was replaced by Nigel Pearson.
Leicester's first season outside the top two levels of English football came in 2008-09, but they only took seven years before becoming Premier League champions in 2015-16, one of the fastest rises to the top of the English football league system.
Following relegation to the third tier the previous season, Leicester returned to the Championship for the first time in 2008-09, winning League One with a 2-0 win over Southend United with two games remaining. Leicester's revival under manager Nigel Pearson continued in 2009-10, with the club finishing fifth and reaching the Championship play-offs in their first season back in the second tier. Despite coming from 2-0 down on aggregate to take a 3-2 lead away to Cardiff City, they eventually lost a penalty shoot-out in the play-off semi-final. Pearson left Leicester at the end of the season to become manager of Hull City, claiming that the club seemed reluctant to keep him and that Paulo Sousa had been the club's guest at both play-off games, hinting at a possible replacement. Pearson's replacement, Sousa, was confirmed on 7th July, 2010.
Mandari sold the club to Thai-led consortium Asian Football Investments (AFI), led by King Power Group's Vichai and his son Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, in August 2010, following an agreement on a three-year shirt sponsorship deal with duty-free retailer the King Power Group. Mandaric, an AFI investor, was re-elected as club chairman. Paulo Sousa was fired by Leicester City on 1st October 2010, following a poor start that saw the club finish bottom of the Championship with only one win in the first nine league games. Sven-Göran Eriksson, who had been approached by the club after the 6-1 loss to then-bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth two weeks earlier, was appointed as his replacement two days later, signing a two-year contract. After Mandaric left in November to take over Sheffield Wednesday, Vichai, a member of the Thai-based Asia Football Investments consortium, was appointed new chairman of the club on 10th February 2011.
Leicester were considered one of the favourites for promotion in the 2011-12 season, but Eriksson left the club by mutual consent on 24th October 2011, after an inconsistent start that saw the Foxes win only 5 of their first 13 games. Nigel Pearson returned to the club three weeks later as Eriksson's replacement. Pearson would go on to lead Leicester to a sixth-place finish in the 2012-13 season, ensuring the club's place in the Championship play-offs. However, Leicester were defeated 3-2 on aggregate by Watford after Manuel Almunia saved a double penalty from Anthony Knockaertlate and Troy Deeney scored at the other end following a quick counterattack.
Leicester's ascension through the league system reached a tipping point in 2014. Leicester City clinched promotion to the Premier League after a ten-year absence thanks to a 2-1 home win over Sheffield Wednesday and losses by Queens Park Rangers and Derby County. Later that month, Leicester won the 2013-14 Championship for a joint-record seventh time with a win at Bolton Wanderers.
Leicester began their first Premier League season since 2004 with a good run of results in their first five league matches, beginning with a 2-2 draw against Everton on the opening day. The Foxes then won their first Premier League game since May 2004 with a 1-0 victory over Stoke City. Leicester went on to produce one of the greatest comebacks in Premier League history, defeating Manchester United 5-3 at King Power Stadium on 21st September, 2014. They made Premier League history by defeating Manchester United from a two-goal deficit for the first time since the league's inception in 1992.
Nigel Pearson was fired on 30th June, 2015, with the club stating that "the working relationship is no longer viable." Pearson's dismissal was linked to a number of public relations issues involving him throughout the season, the final straw being his son James' involvement in a "racist sex tape" made by three Leicester reserve players in Thailand during a post-season goodwill tour. Leicester City responded by appointing Claudio Ranieri, a former Chelsea manager, as their new manager for the 2015-16 Premier League season.
Despite initially being sceptical of Ranieri's appointment, the club has had an outstanding start to the season. From August to November, Jamie Vardy scored 13 goals in 11 consecutive Premier League matches, breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy's Premier League record of 10 consecutive goals. Leicester defeated Everton 3-2 at Goodison Park on December 19 to take the Premier League lead on Christmas Day, after finishing last exactly a year earlier. Leicester qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history after a 2-0 win at Sunderland on 10th April, combined with Tottenham Hotspur's 3-0 win over Manchester United.
Leicester City won the Premier League on 2nd May, 2016, after Tottenham Hotspur blew a 2-0 lead against Chelsea, drawing 2-2 at Stamford Bridge. Bookmakers thought Leicester's victory was so unlikely that they offered odds of 5,000-1 at the start of the season, resulting in the largest payout in British sporting history with total winnings of £25 million.
Leicester struggled domestically in 2016-17, spending much of the first few months in the bottom half of the Premier League table despite performing well in the UEFA Champions League. Ranieri was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December 2016, and his Leicester City team was named team of the year.
Leicester qualified for European football for the first time in 15 years during the 2016-17 season. Leicester was assigned to Group G of the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League, along with Porto, Copenhagen, and Club Brugge. They went undefeated in their first five Champions League matches and advanced to the knockout stages as group winners. In the round of 16, the Foxes faced La Liga club Sevilla and won 2-0 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate to advance to the quarter-finals. They faced Atlético Madrid in the second leg, drawing 1-1, but losing 2-1 on aggregate after losing 1-0 in the first leg. Leicester's 2016-17 European campaign ended with them finishing as Champions League quarter-finalists. Despite the defeat, Leicester remained unbeaten in the 2016-17 Champions League at home.
The helicopter carrying chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others malfunctioned and crashed outside King Power Stadium shortly after taking off from the pitch on 27th October 2018. Following a home game against West Ham United, all five people on board the helicopter were killed. Following the crash, the club announced plans for a statue as a permanent memorial. One year later, on 27th October, 2019, The Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Memorial Garden officially opened, followed by The Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Statue on 4th April 2022, which would have been Srivaddhanaprabha's 64th birthday.
Leicester won their first FA Cup on 15th May 2021, after losing all four previous finals, securing their second major trophy in five years; Youri Tielemans scored the only goal against Chelsea at Wembley Stadium. They also won the FA Community Shield for the second time in their history in 2021. Leicester qualified for the Europa League for the second year in a row after finishing fifth in the 2020-21 Premier League. Leicester finished third in their group in the 2021-22 UEFA Europa League season and were relegated to the newly formed UEFA Europa Conference League. They went on to reach their first European semi-final, where they were defeated over two legs by eventual winners A.S. Roma.
Rodgers left the club by mutual consent on 2nd April, 2023, with ten games remaining and the team in the relegation zone. Dean Smith was named as his temporary replacement until the end of the season. Leicester City were relegated on 28th May, despite a 2-1 home win over West Ham United, as a result of Everton's 1-0 home win over AFC Bournemouth.
Enzo Maresca was appointed as the club's new manager on 16th June 2023, ahead of the 2023-24 EFL Championship season. Leicester went on to have their best start to a league season in history, and the best since the league was renamed the Championship in 2004-05.
Honours
🏆 Premier League (Winners: 2015–16)
🏆 Second Division (Winners: 1924–25, 1936–37, 1953–54, 1956–57, 1970–71, 1979–80, 2013–14)
🏆 Football League One (Winners: 2008-09)
🏆 FA Cup (Winners: 2020–21)
🏆 Football League Cup (Winners: 1963–64, 1996–97, 1999–2000)
🏆 FA Charity Shield / FA Community Shield (Winners: 1971, 2021)
An Interview With Leicester City Supporter, Dan Hawryliw:
GG: How long have you supported Leicester City and how has your experience been?
DH: I've been a Leicester fan since I was four years old. I'm 33 now, so it's truly all I've ever known. My father introduced me to it. He was a tremendous fan, which is where it originated from. I'd watch his season finales on VHS over and over again. I still have everything. The first was the 1993/94 season, in which we won promotion via the play-offs against Derby. It's strange, but I recall the results, who scored, and some commentary excerpts from these vids. There are two games in particular where you can see my father and grandfather in one of the filbert street stands. So the journey has now lasted 30 years. And it's been an incredible whirlwind. In comparison to many other clubs (excluding the so-called "big 6"), we've enjoyed a lot of success. Two League Cups, an FA cup, the Community Shield, League 1, the Championship, and, of course, the Premier League. There have also been lows. A couple relegations in the 1990s and 2000s, a drop to League One, a relegation last year, and, of course, the helicopter crash. It's been an emotional rollercoaster of delight, fury, frustration, and exhilaration, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
GG: Could you tell us about the Leicester City matchday experience and what we may expect?
DH: It's evolved dramatically in the previous few years. The club is now focusing heavily on the family matchday experience. That element has always existed, but with the present owners, it is now a significant emphasis, and it works. The owners have always maintained the "our club, one family" ethos, and they have done an excellent job with it. Expect free presents, entertainment in and out of the concourses, and a family atmosphere as a home support. As an away fan, you are made to feel welcome...as a rival, you are simply that.
GG: Who has been Leicester City's standout performer this season, and why?
DH: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. He's a local lad who, after last season's heartbreak, has made it his mission to get us back into the Premier League, and he's been a star this season. He plays box-to-box midfield. He may sit when needed and contribute to the score sheet. Can pick up any type of pass and is not hesitant to make a tackle. He's developed a fantastic rapport with Harry Winks and is aided by a great European player in Wilfred NDidi. It's difficult to single out a standout player because they can all deliver a high-quality performance on their day.
GG: How do you feel about your return to the Championship?
DH: It's fantastic. It's real football. I'll be honest: I'd started to lose interest in football over the last two seasons. It all comes down to VAR. I can't tolerate it; it's steadily draining the game's life force. There is none of that in the Championship. You can celebrate when a goal is scored, tackles are harder while there are no checks in play, refs and linemen make mistakes, it's what football is and should be.
GG: Who is your all-time favourite player, and why?
DH: Jamie Vardy, without a doubt. He's a great threat, but more importantly, he's Mr. Leicester. He enjoys the club, and I enjoy him. When we got him from Fleetwood, he came out of nowhere and had a horrific first season. But look at him now, he worked his socks off. When we won the league, he had the option of signing for Arsenal, but he turned them down and stayed with us, where he is still performing at the age of 36. What a gentleman.
GG: What was your favourite Leicester City football match?
DH: Leicester 5, Manchester United 3. What a fun game. We'd just been promoted to the Premier League, and this was our third or fourth league game at home. United had invested a lot of money to get into the season under Van Gaal. We were behind 3-1 when David Nugent and Esteban Cambiasso scored two quick goals to tie the game at 3-3. After 10 minutes, Vardy scored a one-on-one, and Leanardo Ulloa added his second of the game from the penalty spot to put us up 5-3. The entire game was excellent from start to finish, and it was the greatest I've ever seen. Of course, there are the Champions League games and the games from the season we won the Premier League that are up there for various reasons, but for pure entertainment, this is unrivalled.
GG: Which Leicester managers have left the most impressions on the fans?
DH: Let's begin with Claudio Ranieri. Purely, he was a miracle worker, and every Leicester fan admires him for what he accomplished.
Martin O'Neill: During his stay at the club, he was once again a brilliant manager. During his tenure, he brought some relatively unknown players to the club and converted them into club legends. He also has two League Cups to his name.
Brendan Rodgers: Went sour near the conclusion of his tenure, but had a lot of success at the club. Won our first ever FA Cup and guided us to two European seasons.
Peter Taylor: Sent the club down in the early 2000s with some mind-boggling team selections and signings. The ramifications nearly wiped the club off the face of the planet in 2002, when we went into administration.
GG: Who, in your opinion, was the biggest team to play in Leicester's stadium, and why?
DH: Since we've been in the Premier League, we've had a lot of big English clubs come here on a regular basis. We've played friendlies against Barcelona and Real Madrid, as well as Athletico Madrid in the Champions League. However, we held a friendly between Jamaica and a Prime Brazil team that included Ronaldo (the original), Rivaldo, Cafu, Dida, and Roberto Carlos, among others, so I would choose Brazil.
GG: Can you tell us about Leicester's playing style in general?
DH: This season, we've adopted an entirely new look, one that our fans have never seen before. With the way we play, I dare to claim we've become the Championship's Manchester City. It's the Pep effect and a difficult approach to pull off, but Enzo Maresca appears to have pounded it into the team. We keep possession, try to make passes that throw the opponent off guard, and then we attack. It's entertaining to watch, but it can get a little monotonous when we're holding the ball across the back line for 2/3 minutes at a time. But since it works, I can't really complain.
GG: Could you give us a humorous club story?
DH: I don't have a particularly amusing incident in mind, but I recall our keeper, Kevin Pressman, conceding after a clearance from the rival keeper. I was sitting behind it, and I couldn't believe what I'd seen.
Matchday: Leicester City 4-0 Plymouth Argyle
To begin, I'd like to say that navigating the Leicester ticketing system, and thus obtaining a ticket to see Leicester City, is akin to cracking the enigma code. It's nearly impossible to get home tickets at Leicester unless you're a member or have been going for a long time (especially annoying given the number of visible empty seats during the live Watford game). As a result, we were unlikely to be among the Leicester supporters during any visit. However, Plymouth Argyle had a good number of tickets left for the game and were housed with their fans for the day.
We arrived in Leicester in good time so we went for a walk around the city centre. We got some breakfast in the local Wetherspoons (The High Cross) then went to the cathedral to pay our respects to Richard III. After this, we went to the stadium.
In terms of parking, we booked parking via the Just Park app at a local building, which was around a 20 minute walk to the stadium. Upon arriving at the stadium, our initial thoughts were how much effort had gone into the stadium and how aesthetically pleasing it was. There is a statue to Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and a memorial gardens dedicated to him following his passing in a helicopter crash. Again, this memorial garden was beautiful, and a lot of effort and thought has clearly gone into it.
There is a lot of entertainment available at the ground, but none more so in the club shop (which sells pin badges for £3) where Sol Bamba was taking photos with supporters. As Luke the Stuart Dallas Fan is an avid Leeds United supporter, this was quite the moment for him.
After this we headed into the stadium. As stated earlier we were housed with the Plymouth Argyle supporters, who really were a credit to themselves. The majority of the atmosphere score is down to them, and they rarely stopped singing throughout the entire game, and to make as much noise as they did, singing 'Green and White Barmy Army' for nearly twenty minutes straight despite being 4-0 down is a testimony to how good they were.
The food and drink in the ground is pretty limited, with a limited range of pies available. AFC Finners rated his pie as 'great' which is his language means it was average at best. Luke had a Steak and Ale pie which he also thought was okay.
The Leicester fans at the ground and on social media have been lovely to us throughout, helping us find our way into the ground, having a laugh with us outside the ground and inside the ground, and being helpful giving us tips on how to best tackle our day out on social media. It was really was commendable.
Teamsheet
Leicester City
Manager: Enzo Maresca
Mads Hermansen
Hamza Choudhury (c)
Wout Faes
Jannick Vestergaard
James Justin
Wilfred Ndidi ⚽️
Harry Winks
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
Abdul Fatawu
Stephy Mavididi ⚽️ ⚽️
Patson Daka ⚽️
Substitutes
Jakub Stolarczyk
Conor Coady
Harry Souttar
Ben Nelson
Cesare Casadei
Marc Albrighton
Denis Praet
Tom Cannon
Tawanda Maswanhise
Plymouth Argyle
Manager: Steven Schumacher
Michael Cooper
Julio Pleguezuelo
Matt Butcher
Joe Edwards (c)
Morgan Whittaker
Callum Wright
Mickel Miller
Mustapha Bundu
Lewis Gibson
Finn Azaz
Adam Randell
Substitutes
Bali Mumba
Jordan Houghton
Dan Scarr
Ryan Hardie
Conor Hazard
Brendan Galloway
Ben Waine
Luke Cundle
Kaine Kesler-Hayden
The Leicester assault was too much for the Plymouth defenders to handle in the early going. Stephy Mavididi was fouled by Julio Pleguezuelo, allowing Mavididi to put Leicester up from the spot after being tripped by the defender.
Plymouth keeper Michael Cooper saved Ndidi's effort for a second four minutes later, and while Daka threatened for Leicester in the first half, Mustapha Bundu and Calla Wright challenged Mads Hermansen at the other end before the break.
Any dreams Plymouth had of overtaking the Foxes for their first away win were immediately dashed after the break. Abdul Fatawu expertly set up Patson Daka, who finished low into the bottom left hand corner to double the lead.
Mavididi added a third after a fantastic solo run that culminated with a superb finish low beyond the goalie.
Patson Daka then played Wilfred Ndidi through on goal, who slotted low past the keeper and into the goal via the far post to complete the scoring and secure three points for Leicester City.
Scores On The Doors
Atmosphere: 8/10
Food and Drink: 6.5/10
Stadium: 9/10
Welcome: 8/10
Overall Experience: 8.5/10
GG
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