If you have only recently become a Riders fan in the past couple of seasons you are probably accustomed to your team walking off their home floor happily signing autographs and high fiving everyone in sight after another win.
Let me tell you something, it hasn't always been like this. Far from it.
The watershed moments in the history of the ballclub came in 2000/01, as a talented team under Billy Mims took the team's first piece of silverware with a National Cup win over former coach Bob Donewald Jnr's London Leopards, they then grabbed the Play Off gold too as they won from the 8th seed seeing off Sheffield at Wembley Arena, despite finishing the regular season below 0.500 (17-19). For the success starved Riders fans, this was unchartered territory and surely we would be able to build on this and become a force to be reckoned with, right?
Wrong.
The next 3 season's saw 19 wins against 89 losses including a 3-37 record in 2002/03 followed by a 5-31 effort next time around.
Yep, you read that right.
The club was treading water now and struggled on and off the floor, the only bright spot being a Trophy Final appearance in 05/06. Trouble was, the brightness was the lights of the train heading down the tunnel as we got whipped by Newcastle in the final and finished 6th in the league that year followed by 7th place finish as the club headed into financial trouble that almost finished BBL ball in Leicester which included a lock out of the building on game night as players hadn't been paid......
Enter local business Jelson Homes, who along with club stalwarts and a team of volunteers kept the team afloat and with a team recruited late, managed a 10th place position in the league but more importantly, kept themselves going with a view to the future.
2008/09 saw a new coach arrive at the club, but he was a familiar face.
Rob Paternostro came in as a rookie coach and from the first pre season friendly, a new purpose seemed to be around the place. Some great recruiting saw a season of new highs, the first winning record in League play since 1993/4 as the team collated a 21-12 return for a tremendous 3rd place finish including a play off semi final appearance and Paternostro claiming the BBL Coach of the Season award, it was the start of the momentum.
09/10 saw another winning record in (21-15), another semi final appearance in the Cup and a 6th place league finish. Injuries crucified the 10/11 campaign but a winning record was again attained (17-16) including a semi final Trophy slot and a narrow two leg defeat to the Play Off winners, Everton Tigers. Riders were no longer a club that other teams marked their calendars with as a gimme.
The 2011/12 team combined swagger with toughness and they almost gave the new era Riders a trophy, a 2nd place league finish and a Play Off final defeat against league benchmarks Newcastle gave the Rob and the club an appetite for revenge and a taste for the winners champagne.
Right now, this current Riders team sit 2nd in the league with a game in hand to go back top and a 16-2 record, they also took out the BBL Cup beating Newcastle in front of 7,500 fans in a thriller, they sit in a Semi Final berth in the Trophy and are currently on a year long unbeaten home stand. Throw in the little matter of a 2,500 seater home arena at an advanced stage too and as the title of this piece says, could this be a breakout year?
All i know is, as i fan i'm enjoying these great times and not for once will i take them for granted, i only have to think back to 2002/03 to remember the dark times........
