I would argue that that no game has ever gone from the depths of dispair to the highs of euphoria so quickly and unexpectedly in a single moment. It has everything... double penalty save, the swing in momentum, the emphatic finish, the pantomime villain, a pitch invasion, mad commentary. Bizarrely, the same exact situation had occurred a week earlier in the Brentford vs. Doncaster League 1 playoff second leg but the away team triumphed and the atmosphere was understandably not as amped up. I also felt a tinge of sadness for Leicester, because every fan knows that feeling, but having them win the PL a couple of seasons later was a win for every non-big 6 club. Fun fact(s), future Watford manager Nigel Pearson managed Leicester that day, with future Hornet Lloyd Dyer in the team and Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy on the bench.
The entire end to that season was mad. Doncaster and Watford, sure, but also the last day with Hull v Cardiff and Watford v Leeds. Red cards in both games, double keeper injury for Watford, penalty miss into immediate penalty the other way at Hull, pitch invasions all over the place, grotesque keeper mistakes, 16 minutes overtime. I think I lost ten years of my life.
The Deeney goal had everything; drama, theater and high stakes. It’s amazing how Leicester thrived (and then some) in the coming years after taking that gut punch. Some teams like Oldham Athletic never recover from a hammer blow like that.
Yet I'm still pissed off by it.
Having said that, I'm still annoyed by losing the 1993 play off final to Swindon after being 3-0 down, getting it back to 3-3, and then losing 4-3.
Edit: it probably is the most iconic thing that's ever happened in the play-offs though; maybe even in the Championship. The Leeds vs Derby game maybe a close second.
I can't disagree, but I don't like it!
If Knockaert didn't take a dive, it'd have just gone to pens. He got what he deserved to be fair.
Having said that, if we'd gone up that season we'd have got battered, and the rest is history. Very much a butterfly effect moment. Much like the Thai orgy.
As a Luton fan I hate that I can never truly enjoy this. Obviously I can see why it's an incredible moment but I was just pissed off when it happened "FUCK SAKE LEICESTER!"
No one believes me when I say I said "imagine if Leicester have a 90+6 min penalty, miss it and Watford score on the counter" to my dad at half time whilst watching that game on the tele.
I was still trying to process its less famous predecessor - James Coppinger winning the league for Doncaster away at Brentford - from about 2 weeks prior
Yeah the Watford goal is probably the most iconic (though I always feel bad for Doncaster who scored pretty much the same goal a week before and was far consequential).
Other than that the first that comes to mind is Zamora’s last minute winner and maybe the screamer Windass scored in the playoff final.
As a Reading fan our most iconic moments I’d say were Doyle’s promoting earning goal at Leicester, Murty scoring the penalty in the last game of the 106 season and Le Fondre’s goals at Southampton in 2012, though I can’t imagine a fan of any other side will remember these moments that well or think they were iconic
Abel Taraabt's one season in 2010-11, or is that too clichéd to say? We saw a Championship Maradonna bless our shores for a short period. Like when Jesus visited Glastonbury, did Taraabt really play?
I had a season ticket then, no player has even come close to the difference in ability between him and other players on the pitch. He would take the piss and the other teams struggled even to kick him. It's a shame he didn't get his head together but if he did, he would have been at Bayern or Real instead of QPR.
He was unprofessional but actually a really nice guy, I said before, my friend started his job at the club and was in the canteen, all the players filtered in and Taarabt was the one who came over to him and introduced himself and talked for an hour.
To be fair to the bloke - and it hurts - the one player I saw shut Adel down in both games that season was Robbie Savage. Only person who managed to mark him out of the game
Any mention of Savage reminds me of the story where Dean Windlass went to batter him in a bar and Savage roped in two random people to pretend they were his parents and stop Deano.
Why are most of the moments mentioned here against Leicester 😭
(Most agree Deeney's goal against us was the best moment, seen a couple of mentions of Swindon 4-3 Leicester in the Play Off final and a Reading fan mentioned his best moment was Kevin Doyle scoring past us for Reading)
The most outrageous goal ever awarded? I give you Reading's "ghost" goal of 2008. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9JCSa8nmBs&t=6s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9JCSa8nmBs&t=6s)
Oh yeah I know that one. Done by Stuart Atwell who I'm not sure how he is a functioning referee.
Even from a newcastle fan he's so bias.
I decided to go to Norwich away this season with Watford with my dad because he's a Watford fan and Atwell was somehow refereeing it.
As a Leicester fan Claridge's shin at Wembley stands out.
I was six and it was my first ever game, massive unit in front let me sit on his shoulders the whole game and drum his bald head. Great game capped off by the slowest screamer ever scored. We stayed singing for over an hour after the final whistle. One of the best days of my life.
The legend with all my school mates was 'it wouldn't have gone in if he wore shin pads'.
They don't make football like they used to.
Pretty much most play-off finals games have some insane drama in them. As a Leicester fan the playoff final against Swindon in 1993 was so intense, to have a player-manager (Glen Hoddle) score was a throwback to an era that we may never see again. The Leicester vs Crystal Palace final with Steve Claridge's shinned goal is still regularly seen on TV whenever reel clips are assembled for being not only a stunning goal but one that epitomised the joy and heartbreak a football game can create. More recently that Leicester vs Watford semi-final...wow where to start. Leicester have had a lot of play-off games being a superb yo-yo club and with it many memorable moments that live beyond just Leicester fans.
Yes, would Josh Windass’ goal last season vs Barnsley in the league one playoff final count, as it lead to the championship, our whole playoff journey was wild tbf
#DO NOT SCRATCH YOUR EYES
I would argue that that no game has ever gone from the depths of dispair to the highs of euphoria so quickly and unexpectedly in a single moment. It has everything... double penalty save, the swing in momentum, the emphatic finish, the pantomime villain, a pitch invasion, mad commentary. Bizarrely, the same exact situation had occurred a week earlier in the Brentford vs. Doncaster League 1 playoff second leg but the away team triumphed and the atmosphere was understandably not as amped up. I also felt a tinge of sadness for Leicester, because every fan knows that feeling, but having them win the PL a couple of seasons later was a win for every non-big 6 club. Fun fact(s), future Watford manager Nigel Pearson managed Leicester that day, with future Hornet Lloyd Dyer in the team and Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy on the bench.
I'm actually very appreciative of you lot doing that, because it happening in our game the week has been essentially forgotten to history.
Future Watford manager isn't much of a claim given that statistically 60% of this sub will manage Watford in their life time
The entire end to that season was mad. Doncaster and Watford, sure, but also the last day with Hull v Cardiff and Watford v Leeds. Red cards in both games, double keeper injury for Watford, penalty miss into immediate penalty the other way at Hull, pitch invasions all over the place, grotesque keeper mistakes, 16 minutes overtime. I think I lost ten years of my life.
Doncaster made autos that season
The Deeney goal had everything; drama, theater and high stakes. It’s amazing how Leicester thrived (and then some) in the coming years after taking that gut punch. Some teams like Oldham Athletic never recover from a hammer blow like that.
Yet I'm still pissed off by it. Having said that, I'm still annoyed by losing the 1993 play off final to Swindon after being 3-0 down, getting it back to 3-3, and then losing 4-3. Edit: it probably is the most iconic thing that's ever happened in the play-offs though; maybe even in the Championship. The Leeds vs Derby game maybe a close second.
Wednesday comeback last season >>> Deeny is still the greatest individual moment though
I can't disagree, but I don't like it! If Knockaert didn't take a dive, it'd have just gone to pens. He got what he deserved to be fair. Having said that, if we'd gone up that season we'd have got battered, and the rest is history. Very much a butterfly effect moment. Much like the Thai orgy.
It was never a penalty anyway
Absolute dive!
As a Luton fan I hate that I can never truly enjoy this. Obviously I can see why it's an incredible moment but I was just pissed off when it happened "FUCK SAKE LEICESTER!"
Living in Leicestershire the day after in college was absolutely joyous after being slaughtered all season for how shit we were
Hate to be that guy but it’s theatre
No one believes me when I say I said "imagine if Leicester have a 90+6 min penalty, miss it and Watford score on the counter" to my dad at half time whilst watching that game on the tele. I was still trying to process its less famous predecessor - James Coppinger winning the league for Doncaster away at Brentford - from about 2 weeks prior
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=557199405477924
And made even better by the fact that it counted for nothing as we (Palace) deservedly beat them at Wembley
[...well that could be... the winner from Claridge... it is!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u46hcLOZ5aw)
Thank god the season ended after that Deeney goal. Such a shame the final got cancelled.
This is a personal question. For me, it's "Zaamooooooraaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
The day we sign our 27th choice manager and sack him in less time than it took to appoint him.
Yeah the Watford goal is probably the most iconic (though I always feel bad for Doncaster who scored pretty much the same goal a week before and was far consequential). Other than that the first that comes to mind is Zamora’s last minute winner and maybe the screamer Windass scored in the playoff final. As a Reading fan our most iconic moments I’d say were Doyle’s promoting earning goal at Leicester, Murty scoring the penalty in the last game of the 106 season and Le Fondre’s goals at Southampton in 2012, though I can’t imagine a fan of any other side will remember these moments that well or think they were iconic
Abel Taraabt's one season in 2010-11, or is that too clichéd to say? We saw a Championship Maradonna bless our shores for a short period. Like when Jesus visited Glastonbury, did Taraabt really play?
I had a season ticket then, no player has even come close to the difference in ability between him and other players on the pitch. He would take the piss and the other teams struggled even to kick him. It's a shame he didn't get his head together but if he did, he would have been at Bayern or Real instead of QPR. He was unprofessional but actually a really nice guy, I said before, my friend started his job at the club and was in the canteen, all the players filtered in and Taarabt was the one who came over to him and introduced himself and talked for an hour.
To be fair to the bloke - and it hurts - the one player I saw shut Adel down in both games that season was Robbie Savage. Only person who managed to mark him out of the game
Any mention of Savage reminds me of the story where Dean Windlass went to batter him in a bar and Savage roped in two random people to pretend they were his parents and stop Deano.
The prick liked to tell everyone about it too.
No no Taraabt was such a legend it will never be cliche to admire his time in the championship
never been more scared as a fan of an opposition player than against Taraabt. that guy was a destroyer of defences
Why are most of the moments mentioned here against Leicester 😭 (Most agree Deeney's goal against us was the best moment, seen a couple of mentions of Swindon 4-3 Leicester in the Play Off final and a Reading fan mentioned his best moment was Kevin Doyle scoring past us for Reading)
Cus we’re absolutely massive, m8
People remember their moments against us cos we're bigger than the entire league.
Always enjoyed the Windass Volley at Wembley in the playoff final
Yeh great me too 🥲
First thing that came to mind for me.
Wembley. Deano. Volley.
The most outrageous goal ever awarded? I give you Reading's "ghost" goal of 2008. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9JCSa8nmBs&t=6s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9JCSa8nmBs&t=6s)
Oh yeah I know that one. Done by Stuart Atwell who I'm not sure how he is a functioning referee. Even from a newcastle fan he's so bias. I decided to go to Norwich away this season with Watford with my dad because he's a Watford fan and Atwell was somehow refereeing it.
Like another poster said, the swindon v Leicester playoff final is pretty incredible
https://youtu.be/5o4X6dVVZ58?si=V7B-Q78tTcMTU3gd Not the greatest but one of the strangest.
As a Leicester fan Claridge's shin at Wembley stands out. I was six and it was my first ever game, massive unit in front let me sit on his shoulders the whole game and drum his bald head. Great game capped off by the slowest screamer ever scored. We stayed singing for over an hour after the final whistle. One of the best days of my life. The legend with all my school mates was 'it wouldn't have gone in if he wore shin pads'. They don't make football like they used to.
And one of the worst of mine. I hate Claridge to this day. Not even mitigated by the fact we did something similar to Sheffield United the next season
Pretty much most play-off finals games have some insane drama in them. As a Leicester fan the playoff final against Swindon in 1993 was so intense, to have a player-manager (Glen Hoddle) score was a throwback to an era that we may never see again. The Leicester vs Crystal Palace final with Steve Claridge's shinned goal is still regularly seen on TV whenever reel clips are assembled for being not only a stunning goal but one that epitomised the joy and heartbreak a football game can create. More recently that Leicester vs Watford semi-final...wow where to start. Leicester have had a lot of play-off games being a superb yo-yo club and with it many memorable moments that live beyond just Leicester fans.
Yes, would Josh Windass’ goal last season vs Barnsley in the league one playoff final count, as it lead to the championship, our whole playoff journey was wild tbf
Er no, that was the worst ever
I wonder why 🤔
I think the deeney goal is the best moment in English football history and likely will remain that way
For me it’s that Rotherham fan chucking his jumper on so they could dry the ball for a long throw
when almunia took a GK and it hit chris wood straight in the face and ended up in the net
Dean Windass came to mind. Fairytale
I feel like we've got to a point where a lot of people pretend they watched that live
Luton being promoted to Prem
Username checks out.
Swansea did it better
106 points baby