It has been rightly called the greatest achievement in English football. A team who were nearly relegated last season have defied all the odds and become Champions of England.
In a Premier league that is full of massive named, historical clubs which have obscene amounts of money to spend, it is such a breath of fresh air to have a team with hardly any finances pick up the biggest prize in domestic football. What Leicester don’t have in the way of money they have compensated with pure fighting, battling qualities and most of all a team spirit which is second to none in in England’s top league.
It has been a wonderful season, not just for Foxes fans but for all of us supporters who do not follow one of the “big teams” watching the multi millionaire clubs like Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United struggle to keep up with the minnows from the East Midlands.
It has certainly been one in the eye for the elite of the Premier League and hopefully this is only the start of a new era of football, where the rich can’t just buy title after title and the smaller clubs can at last start to compete on a level playing field, obviously not on a financial level but, just as Ranieri’s charges have done this season, with a mixture of blood and guts and a team ethic that can defeat those teams that are made up of just highly paid individuals.
For too long the rich boys have had it there own way and at last someone has come along and given those overpaid, underachievers a good smack on the nose.
Having watched Manchester City this weekend be totally dismantled by Southampton it showed me just me just how much football has changed this season. Leicester’s performances this year have looked to have rubbed off on other clubs and no doubt, next season there will be more teams who despite not having the resources of their richer rivals will feel that they too can compete against the very top teams and pull off a similar fairytale of their own.
Next season the pundits and so called experts will write Leicester off again and the favourites for the title will be determined by who has the most money once more. Manchester City with Pep will be odds on to win it closely followed by Chelsea who people will say cannot have another season like this one. Manchester United, with or without Louis Van Gaal will be tipped hotly for a title challenge, as will Liverpool and of course Arsenal. Those who are meant to have the most expert knowledge of the game, given that they have played it at the highest level, have already written Leicester City off next season and have put this year down as a one off. Hopefully the Foxes can add to their squad next term, put up a fight in the Champions League and Claudio Ranieri can continue to get the same level of consistency from his team, if he can who is to say they couldn’t do it again.
If this season has been an amazing one, then next season could be even better. There have been signs that other teams are ready to try and replicate what Leicester have gone on to do this season. The likes of West Ham, Southampton, Stoke and of course Spurs are all capable of doing a similar thing. I would like to think that this year hasn’t been a flash in the pan and that the gap between the multi rich and the others has started to close, in an ideal world every season would have this element of uncertainty, where a massive underdog can out muscle, out think, out fight and in the case of Leicester City, out fox their opponent.
Again congratulations to Claudio Ranieri and Leicester City and thank you for restoring the peoples belief that miracles can really happen. Football shouldn’t be all about money it should be about passion and working as a team to achieve the final result. Leicester City have proved that this season, but not only that, they have won this league on merit as the best team in top flight of English football.
Comparisons have been made with the great Brian Clough and his Nottingham Forest side of 1978, back then they said it couldn’t be done again. Forest of course went on to lift the European Cup twice in two years, after their League victory. Could the likes of Vardy, Mahrez, Drinkwater and Morgan, mirror that achievement of Woodcock, Robertson, McGovern and Burns. One thing is for sure, I bet they won’t be placed at 5000/1 to do it.
Leicester City, European Champions? It only sounds slightly less ridiculous than Leicester City, Premier League Champions, doesn’t it.
It was also great to see Burnley promoted back to the Premier league at the first time of asking, last year I was very impressed with Sean Dyche and his team and it was sad to see them relegated. Hopefully they come back stronger from their experience and I wonder what the odds of them doing a Leicester next year are? After this season who can tell what might happen.
Well done Leicester, sometimes the good guys do win!!
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