 "Leicester City players celebrate their EPL success (pic courtesy: Leicester City's Twitter account)")
It’s still difficult to believe that Leicester City are the English Premier League champions. Read that again, Leicester City are the champions of England. They are supposed to be a “yo-yo” club that swings between relegation and promotion every two years. The league title was meant for clubs who are “brands” or are backed by sheikhs and oligarchs. Perhaps the magnitude of this achievement will take a long time to sink in. This is one of the most absurd, brilliant and greatest team sporting achievement of all-time.
Leicester have scripted a story which raconteurs will narrate for years to come. This is not your regular underdog story where an outsider comes in and upsets the favourite. Sure, it can happen in tennis, like it did when an unknown Boris Becker stunned the world by winning the Wimbledon in 1985 at the age of 17. Or it can happen in cricket – when India beat the all-conquering West Indies team in 1983. Such achievements, however, take place after working hard for two-three weeks playing less than 10 games to do the improbable. Leicester have done it over grueling nine months, competing in 38 games against some of the biggest and richest football clubs. They overcame the might of Manchester, the cash reserves of Chelsea and the tenacity of Tottenham.
What makes their achievement even greater is that they have a team full of journeyman and a manager whose last appointment was terminated in a letter calling him “a most unfortunate choice of coach”. In a league, where money has become by far the most important factor, Leicester have torn the book of clichés and written their own fascinating fairytale.
Those of us who have followed the Leicester story had been waiting for their bubble to burst. They got top of the league in November – most people then were like we’ve seen rank outsiders do well for the first three-four months and then fade away. November went, December came and Leicester refused to budge from the top spot. Barring a weekend in January, they never relinquished the top spot and confounded critics and fans equally. When the 2015-16 season began, Leicester were favourites to be relegated. They had barely managed to stay up by the edge of their teeth previous season and with Claudio Ranieri as their new manager, the best they could’ve done is finish 16th.. Most pundits and fans had listed down Leicester as one of the prime candidates to get relegated.
In so many ways, Leicester’s triumph is delightful but what it does is that it gives so many teams the one thing they lack: belief. Such stories rarely come true and most fans of clubs like Leicester don’t even dare to dream of such an accomplishment. Leicester now have changed that and created a rare moment of purity in a sport – and in a league – where money has unfortunately taken precedence. This was never supposed to happen in English football. The rules were clear: you have the money, you buy the best players and you win the league. Leicester have reminded the big boys of football that the old fundamentals of honesty, hard work and team spirit can script an audacious story.
Two years ago, Atletico Madrid broke the duopoly of Real Madrid and Barcelona and won the La Liga. It was a fantastic achievement and they too did the unthinkable. But Atletico are a club that produces great players, they have a great history and pedigree. Leicester? Not really. Their captain Wes Morgan never played in the Premier League till he was 30. Not many had even heard – forget see him play – of Riyad Mahrez before, and he has been the best player in England by a distance. Jamie Vardy, whose goals have been one of the reasons why Leicester are champions, wasn’t even a professional footballer four years back. Manchester United rejected Danny Simpson and Danny Drinkwater and couldn’t give them a place in the first team after they graduated from the academy. Perhaps next season, Leicester will struggle to replicate such form and the normal service will resume in English football.
The simplicity of it makes it even a better story. No convoluted tactics, no spending crazy amount of money – just get 11 players to work hard, foster a team spirit and get them to play to their potential. Take a bow Claudio Ranieri and Leicester City – you’ve brought romance back in a sport, you’ve given hope and belief to teams and individuals who were perhaps too scared to dream. It has been a remarkable journey and an exceptional achievement.
