When Claudio Ranieri walked out into the King Power
stadium on the first day of the season, he did so to a large expectant crowd of
whom many were sceptical as to his appointment.
They were hoping the decision to dispense with fan
favourite Nigel Pearson, after he had achieved his own miracle in keeping them
up would not result in them returning to the Championship. His achievement in
doing so against all the odds, was all the more baffling the decision to change
manager in the first place.
As Leicester took to the field on August 8th
to a Sunderland side hoping not to be involved in another relegation battle it
looked for all the world that these two would be competing for survival once again.
Leicester ran out 4-2 winners with Jamie Vardy and
Riyad Mahrez getting on the score sheet.
This would be the start of a truly remarkable season that sees Leicester
heading to Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams, on Sunday knowing 3 points will
make them Premier League champions for the first time having already secured
Champions League football for next season.
No wonder
there is a movie in the process on the rise of Jamie Vardy and Leicester
City. Old Trafford could be the setting
for a remarkable season to come to an incredible conclusion and one many never
would have dared dream.
Claudio Ranieri has to be a certainty for Manager of
the Season while Riyad Mahrez has already picked up Player of the Season.
Ranieri would have been one of the favourites to be
the first manager sacked this season after his disastrous spell with the Greek
national team. Ranieri lost his job as
Greece manager after a humiliating defeat to the Faroe Islands in 2014. Greece were top seeds in their Euro 2016 qualifying
group that also featured Romania and Northern Ireland. Ranieri was sacked and Greece finished
bottom of their group managing one victory, missing out on this summer’s
tournament.
Bringing in Ranieri on the back of his experience in
Greece and into a side who had been rock bottom of the Premier League the
following season, having pulled off the great escape, looked to be a strange
appointment by the Leicester board and indeed for Ranieri to take up the
position having been manager of so called bigger sides in Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Roma and
Juventus his decision to go to Leicester was seen as a massive gamble and
perhaps a chance to restore his reputation after his disappointing spell in
Greece.
Ranieri has more than restored
his reputation in the game and as his side go into the Sundays game the world
of football (apart from Spurs fans) are hoping Leicester can complete the job
and finally get their hands on the trophy nobody believed they could. We have
all been waiting for the bubble to burst for someone to slip up like Liverpool
did in 2014 when that Gerrard slip against Chelsea and the 3 goal collapse to
Crystal Palace saw Liverpool throw away their chance to finally win their first
Premier League trophy.
Leicester survived last weekend’s
game without the suspended Jamie Vardy with some expecting his omission to be
their down fall. Leicester hammered
Swansea 4-0 while Vardy looked on in his box.
Tottenham followed on Monday but failed to get all three points allowing
Leicester to claim the title with another victory.
Sundays game will see Leicester
head to Old Trafford with a squad of 18 players having cost less than £31million in transfer fees, while
Louis van Gaal's cost £328.5m.
It goes to show that
splashing out £50 million on a star player is not enough to win you theleague
anymore. Desire, passion, belief, team
unity, stability on and off the pitch and the support of the fans home and away
are all key ingredients to success in football.
Leicester have all in abundance.
There are better
players in the league in better teams and clubs than Leicester however titles
cannot be won by individuals. Leicester
have a team made up of, with respect, failures in the game, many had been
rejected by their previous clubs. Danny
Simpson was rejected by Manchester United as was Danny Drinkwater, Matty James
and Ritchie de Laat. Marc Albrighton was
let go by bottom club Aston Villa, Kasper Schmeichel was allowed move on by
Manchester City, the list goes on.
Ranieri himself was let
go in the Premier League by Chelsea for the self titled Special One, Jose
Mourinho. Ranieri will ironically take
the crown off Chelsea who won the title under Mourinho last season.
Perhaps the rejection
experienced by some of the players and the manager has spurred them on for what
will be a remarkable success. It is
unfair to call it a miracle as Leicester have worked hard all season to deserve
this success, they deserve their moment in the spot light.
While many Leicester
fans will rejoice at Old Trafford on Sunday knowing the title is so close, the diehard
support would rather wait until the following week when they could clinch the
title in front of their home fans and a sold out King Power Stadium.
No matter which day
they do it, it will be one heck of a party in Leicester and when the title
celebrations die down they can start planning for the likes of Barcelona and
Juventus rolling into town for the Champions League next season.
Leicester have thrown
down the gauntlet to all the other Premier League teams who settle in the
division are happy just to meet their minimum objective each season. Leicester have shown other fans that the
impossible is possible and their clubs should take inspiration from Leicester’s
season.
Leicester City won the
Division one title in the 2008/09 season, they followed that up with winning
the Championship title just two years ago in the 2013/14 season. What an
amazing achievement it would be if they could add the Premier League title to
their list of honours over the course of their remaining three games.
Winning the title in
each of the top three English Divisions within the space of eight seasons would
be truly remarkable.
What a time to be a
Leicester City fan!
Comments
Post a Comment