An era of great strikers. (6 replies)

In the years between 1961 and 1979 Blues were fortunate enough to have a string of profligate strikers. All were different in style, but what they had in common was the ability to hit the back of the net with regularity.
Starting with Ken Leek, who was one of our best ever buys I thought it might be useful to put a few memories together, before I kick the bucket.
He was slightly built and willowy, even thin, for a centre forward. He was speedy, could score from distance and had that strikers knack of finding space and could score with his head and both feet. His record of 49 goals from 104 appearances between 1961 and 1964 was remarkable and yet he remains one of Blues unsung heroes. Former Leicester team-mate Gordon Banks said of Leek: "He was a terrific player – a great centre forward. He was very elusive and caused a lot of problems for centre halves."
I first saw him playing for Leicester, in an F.A. Cup Semi-final replay at St. Andrews in 1961. I was stood on the Tilton and he scored an absolute thunderbolt for them to seal the match. You can imagine how delighted I was when he joined Blues a few weeks later. Added to his record of nearly a goal every other match for us in the First Division he also scored two of the three goals to win our first major trophy for 126 years in the League Cup Final against the Villa in 1963. Some player, some hero.
Fred Pickering joined from Blackburn and, with thighs like tree trunks ,scored some memorable goals from distance. In particular I remember him scoring straight from the kick off, with a thunderous shot. Is my memory playing tricks or can any of the oldies on the board confirm this? He played for Blues from 1967 until 1969 and his record was 27 goals from 74 appearances.
Barry Bridges, could play at centre or inside forward and joined from Chelsea in 1966 and between then and 1968 scored 36 goals from 83 appearances.
Geoff Vowden joined from Nottingham Forest and largely played centre or inside forward. He had the habit of losing defenders in the six yard box and many of his goals were from headers. He was with us for a lengthy spell from 1964 to 1971 and scored 79 goals from 221 matches. He then joined Villa and averaged a goal every four matches for them.
Then we the had the 24 carrot gold era of Latchford, Hatton Francis and Burns who with talent like the magnificent Roger Hynd and Gordon Taylor whizzing down the left took us to a level which has never been equalled in my time as Bluenose since 1957. When Bob Latchford was sold it was probably a turning point for Blues who at that stage had the potential to be a great side. From then on we became a "selling" club and gave up any aspirations of becoming one of the top sides in the country. The recent departures of Redmond, Gray and Butland for peanuts confirms that lack of ambition.
Anyhow for the record Bob Latchford scored 68 from 160 between 1968 and 1974, Bob Hatton 58 from 175 between 1971 and 1976, Kenny Burns 45 from 170 from 1971 until 1977 ( for many of those games he played as a centre back) TF 119 from 280 from 1971 until 1979.
Great times.