Leicester City FA Cup final 'exactly what the city needs'

Their team's first FA Cup final appearance since 1969 has given people in Leicester a buzz they have not felt in more than five decades. BBC News spoke to residents about what the final means to them.

Many would argue that, as Leicester emerges from more than a year of the UK's longest coronavirus restrictions, the team's success is exactly the lift the city needs.

The Foxes face Chelsea at Wembley on 15 May and there are plans to have a 21,000 crowd on the day.

Amy Drucquer who runs This Fan Girl - a forum for female football fans - said the final means even more, thanks to the tough time the city has endured.

"This is massive for Leicester. It feels like it has been a long time coming," she said.

"This year... has been a crazy one for so many reasons, so it means a bit extra."

The city was the subject of the UK's first local lockdown, with a number of measures remaining in place throughout 2020.

Ms Drucquer said the restrictions had been particularly tough for the city.

"We have been in lockdown for the last year and when everyone else was heading to the pubs in July, we couldn't even have people in our gardens," she said.

Since its ascent to the Premier League in 2014, the club has famously seen some spectacular successes.

"In 2016 the Premier League win really changed the city," said Ms Drucquer, 32, a lifelong Foxes fan.

"There was more pride around the city, a great atmosphere and I think the FA Cup will do that too.

"It is another thing for people to get together in their gardens and enjoy. Another thing to celebrate and bring a sense of unity to the city."

Ms Drucquer is hoping to get tickets to the final and said everything the club had achieved had made fans confident of a win.

"This could be our first ever time since the club came into existence," she said.

"That we might be able to lift the cup in a couple of weeks just really solidifies the fact that Leicester are a club that have done so much in half a decade."

Butcher Andrew Walker called the final the "major boost" Leicester needed.

"I have been supporting Leicester City for 50 years and this is magic," said the 58-year-old.

"After the tough year and all the downs we have had - and there have been a lot of downs - it will be a remarkable change."

He said he hoped the success would help people in the city to "start smiling again".

"Hopefully everyone will start coming into town again and that's what we need - a major boost," he said.

"I'm a football fan so this means a lot to me, but if even people aren't football fans it will be a boost for the city."

Leicester's 2016 Premier League title win saw the city's excitement channelled in a number of imaginative ways - among them, the so-called Vardyccino, created in honour of star striker Jamie Vardy.

Lisa Williams, manager at Bru cafe in Leicester which came up with the drink, said it was returning to the menu.

"Last time we did this we had a good response, and everybody loved it, so we decided to bring it back again," she said.

"Everyone is really happy in the city at the moment. There's just something in the air. Maybe it is the football, I don't know, but there is a sense of happiness everywhere.

"Because it has been such a bad year I think [the final] has given everyone hope that things will go back to normal, and there is something to look forward to."

Ms Williams said the city had been in lockdown "for so long".

"This is something positive to come out of such a bad time," she said.

"We're all tired of hearing about Covid so it's nice to talk about something different."

Bethany Boulder, 25, said she felt "so ecstatic" the team was in the final.

"It's something I never expected to see and I'm so excited," she said.

"I'm counting down the days to 15 May already - I can't wait."

She said a win for the Foxes would mean "everything" to residents.

"I think it will mean a lot for Leicester," she said.

"The past year has been a bit naff and it will mean big celebrations in the city, like we had after we won the Premier League."

Leicester's mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said he had been delighted to see the Foxes secure their place in the final.

"It's been a difficult year for Leicester, as it has been for everybody, but we have had it particularly hard here and this is exactly what we need now," he said.

"It's great we have something positive like this to look forward to.

"There's certainly a buzz about the city.

"It's not just that there are a lot more people around and things are happening in the city, I think it is that we have something to celebrate as well as coming out of lockdown."

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