Leicester City: Fairy Tale in the Making
If you aren’t a soccer fan, or pay much attention to the world of sports outside of your regional bubble, I suggest reading the rest of this post. There is a story brewing in the English Premier League, and the story itself is reaching a boiling point of incredible narrative and interest. The story starts in a league that is dominated by the top money makers. It’s a league that’s chewed up and spit out clubs with a lack of financial backing and elite players. Something has changed this season, and it’s made the league the most entertaining it’s ever been.
In all fairy tales there is a hero, and a villain. An unlikely victor surrounded by obstacles that are determined to stop their success and victory. This year in the English Premier League a small club called Leicester City is the hero, and the rest of the top clubs are the obstacles. The 132 year story has been brewing for some time, and it all started a long time ago in England.
Once upon a time in a small English city called Leicester, founded 132 years ago in 1884, they began playing on a small field near Fosse Road. Just seven years later in 1891 the small team moved to Filbert Street and played there for a mere 111 years till 2002. The club moved to Walkers Stadium and renamed it the present day name of King Power Stadium in 2013. They are a team founded upon grit and guile. The Leicester Fosse, as they were originally founded as, were elected to the Football League in 1894.
Years of up and down play led Leicester City to inconsistently being consistent in the top tiers of English football. Floating between the top-tier and the championship. Of course in 2008–09 season, Leicester City were forced to play a season in League One. After the embarrassment of going down to the their tier of English football they sacked their manager Ian Holloway and hired the now often laughed at Nigel Pearson. Of course, what Nigel did was lead the Foxes back to the Championship the next year. After leaving the club amidst some success, Pearson eventually returned to the club and in the 2013–14 season led the Foxes to a first place finish in the Championship and an automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Leicester City’s season in the Premier League went as any newly promoted club’s season in the top flight could be expected to go. The team were the punching bag for basically every other squad. The Foxes put together a mere 19 points in 29 games. No other Premier League team had stayed up with less than 20 points in 29 games. However, Leicester City turned the season around and somehow finished the season in 14th place. It was an incredible turnaround for Nigel Pearson’s Foxes. Unfortunately for ole Nigel, his second run with the team ended once again. This time it wasn’t due to finding a better job, it was due to the club searching for a better manager. The odd thing at the time was that it was unclear as to why they wanted a different manager. Nigel had just managed the Foxes to the greatest relegation escape in EPL history. Why would the Foxes sack Nigel for Claudio Ranieri?
Flash forward to current day in the wild English Premier League. We now know why they sacked Nigel for Claudio. Looking back it seems like Nigel was the negative aspect to what we knew about Leicester. Yes, he brought the Foxes from the bottom of the table to safety. However, for the most part his wild antics and press conferences led people’s eyes away from the players on the pitch and to himself. Unfortunately, that is what Leicester was. A team that escaped relegation who were managed by a man known more for his quotes then his managerial style. His entire reign is highlighted by his rant at a press conference towards reporter Ian Baker.
I think you must have either your head in the clouds, or been away on holiday, or reporting on a different team, because if you don’t know the answer to that question . . your question is absolutely unbelievable, the fact you do not understand where I am coming from. If you don’t know the answer to that question then I think you are an ostrich. Your head must be in the sand. Is your head in the sand? Are you flexible enough to get your head in the sand? My suspicion would be no”
Sadly, that is what everyone was focusing on when it came to Leicester. This season, the narrative is entirely different. With Pearson gone, and Claudio in, Leicester are the story of the Premier League for purely football reasons. Their pace and long ball counter attacking potential makes every single moment watching a Leicester City game entertaining. Which due to their strong defense and better offense, the Foxes are winning games in both a dominant fashion as well as winning games they have no business winning by making one or two amazing plays. The amazing thing about Leicester is the league in which they have done all of this winning and the players they are doing it with.
Their team is led by a group of players cast off and told they couldn’t be the best. They’re a group of footballers that are playing with house money and up until this point in the season have always been the underdogs. The team consists of castoff Jamie Vardy, to the electric Riyad Mahrez and the rest of the Leicester City players defying odds. From Claudio to Vardy, the Leicester City team are made up of players and managers who have been told they aren’t the best of the best, and yet are one of the favorites to win the league from this point on. They keep being told they’ll break, and somehow they keep winning.
The England top flight that is being led by tiny Leicester is a league that was stated to be only winnable by a select tier of teams. Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, and Manchester United. This English Premier League was said to be an unrealistic mountain to climb for a team with a tiny payroll and a lack of bolstering advertising backing. The English Premier League is being led by a Leicester City team that barely avoided relegation last season. The Foxes went on a lengthy 13 match winless streak last season and only managed to stay above the relegation line by a mere six points.
Leicester City began this Premier League season as a 5,000 to 1 underdog by an English based bookey. The Foxes didn’t even play a part in the English Premier League two seasons ago and hence were 2500–1 odds to win the EPL this season according to the Westgate Las Vegas Sports Group. At 5000–1 or even at 2500–1, they would be the biggest underdog to win a top-tier league championship ever. Here are some teams that had incredible odds to win their league, and went on to win it anyways: 2011 St. Louis Cardinals at 999–1, 2013 Auburn Football at 1000–1, 1991 Minnesota Twins at 300–1, 2014 Uconn Men’s Basketball at 100–1, Boston Red Sox in 2004 at 120–1 after trailing 3–0 in the ALCS, and the 1987 Twins at 500–1. An already unbelievable list, that Leicester are absolutely blowing away.
So that’s Leicester City and the story that they’re painting in the Premier League. It’s incredible to put in perspective how unbelievable Leicester City’s run in the Premier League this season really is. Even if they don’t win the league this year, they are still 12 points above Manchester United in 5th place. So there is a very likely scenario where Leicester City will be playing in the UEFA Champions League next season. If you’re a soccer fan, think about that for a moment. Leicester City in the UEFA Champions League.
Whether or not they win the Premier League, or even miss the Champions League for some odd reason, the fairy tale story of Leicester City is a story that begs to be told and begs to be watched. So whether you’re a soccer fan or not, be a fan of narrative and of the Cinderella story that defies a single tournament’s luck. So in the words of the great Martin Tyler: “I swear you’ll never see anything like this ever again. So watch it, drink it in!” Because this Cinderella story is a story that defies luck, and defies odds. Its only quantifiable element is that of heart and of the desire that a tiny team in Leicester, England has displayed in the mighty English Premier League.
