The North Stand

Lore & Background

At Filbert Street, the North Stand was the oldest structure on the ground. Built in the early 1920s as a single-tier concrete stand, it was plain, functional, and unglamorous — a long, low slab of concrete with a narrow concourse behind it. The players' tunnel opened at its centre, and for generations the Foxes emerged from that corridor into the thin strip of grass separating the stand from the touchline. The stand was never the most atmospheric end of the ground; that honour belonged to the terraced East Stand, where the loudest and most committed supporters packed in shoulder to shoulder. But the North Stand was the anchor, the first thing built, the one that gave the ground its axis. When the East Stand was re-roofed and the other stands were rebuilt or extended over the decades, the North Stand remained the reference point: this was where the match began, where the teams were introduced, where the manager sat on the bench.

The move to the King Power Stadium in 2002 was, for many long-time supporters, a loss of intimacy. Filbert Street had been a tight, old-fashioned ground where the North Stand was just a few metres from the pitch. The new stadium is a vast, modern bowl, and the North Stand here is a two-tier structure with corporate boxes stacked above the main seating, a wide concourse, and a tunnel that feels more like a cathedral nave than a concrete corridor. Yet the ritual persists: the teams still emerge from the North, the manager still sits beneath it, and on a cold January evening with the floodlights cutting through the mist over the A50, the stand still feels like the front row of the show.

There is a quiet continuity that Leicester supporters value. The North Stand is not the loudest corner of the King Power — that is the East Stand, the modern descendant of the old terrace. But it is the stand that defines the stadium's silhouette from the motorway, the stand that carries the club's crest at its apex, and the stand where the match, in every practical and ceremonial sense, begins. It is the main stand not by volume of noise but by function, by history, and by the simple fact that it was first.

In Their Own Story

The tunnel is dark and smells of deep-heat and wet grass. You can hear the East Stand already, a low tidal rumble that vibrates through the concrete floor under your studs. The gaffer paces the length of the tunnel, muttering, tapping a clipboard against his knee. The physio is checking a bootlace. Outside, the floodlights are on and the pitch is a sheet of green so vivid it looks painted. A steward's torch sweeps across the tunnel mouth. The announcer's voice comes through the tannoy, muffled, distant, building. You step out. The cold hits your face. The North Stand crowd behind the dugout is on its feet, a wall of navy and white, and the sound is not a roar so much as a pressure, a physical push against your eardrums. The ball is placed at the centre spot. The referee checks his watch. And the match, as it has done for a hundred years, begins from the North.

Reader's Guide

Arriving at the King Power Stadium, the North Stand is the most recognisable facade from the A50 and the main car parks. The turnstiles are wide, the concourse is broad, and the corporate boxes sit in a tier above the main seating, giving the stand a layered, stepped profile that is distinct from the more uniform East and West ends.

On matchdays the North Stand is where you will find the players' tunnel at pitch level, the dugouts directly behind, and the main media seating above. If you are a season-ticket holder in the stand, expect a slightly more relaxed atmosphere than the East Stand — the crowd is vocal but spread across a wider seating area, and the corporate tiers add a layer of hospitality activity. The away end is the West Stand, so the North is firmly a home territory.

The chants here are less of a single sustained song and more of a call-and-response rhythm, building around key moments: a goal, a save, a tackle. The 'Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah' and the 'We Are The Foxes' anthem are staples, but the North Stand crowd tends to favour the sustained 'Leicester City' chant over the more percussive terrace-style songs of the East.

The identity of the Leicester supporter in the North Stand is one of pride without pretension. This is a city that built a football club from nothing, that endured a century of lower-league obscurity, and that, in 2016, stunned the world. The North Stand is where that story is told, match after match, in a stand that has been the main stand for a hundred years.

Did You Know?

• The North Stand at Filbert Street was the first structure built when Leicester City took on the ground in 1919, predating the other stands by years.
• For over 80 years (1919–2002), the North Stand at Filbert Street was a single-tier concrete structure, the oldest part of the stadium throughout its life.
• The King Power Stadium, which replaced Filbert Street in 2002, retains the four-stand layout with the North Stand as the main stand, preserving the functional identity of the old ground.
• The players' tunnel and dugouts have always been located in the North Stand, at both Filbert Street and the King Power Stadium, making it the ceremonial starting point of every home match.