Leicester City fans celebrate Chelsea's second goal against Tottenham Hotspur on Monday. ReutersLeicester City are Premier League champions. You just cannot stress that enough no matter whichever way you put it. Over the last eight months football fans around the globe were watching one of the biggest fairy tales ever unfold before their eyes. Some will write books about it. Some will make movies about it. And it will all be worth it because this was truly the mother of all underdog stories in the history of modern day sports.
For the ones who are uninitiated to club football, if you are not one of the top five so-called ‘big clubs’ it’s “impossible” to win the Premier League. To add some perspective, Leicester were rock bottom and fighting relegation to the second tier around the same time last season. And make no mistake, the English top flight is the toughest league to win in all of football; probably one of the reasons why bookmakers placed Leicester at a ridiculous 5000/1 to win it at the start of this season.
So how did this happen? Ironically it all started with an orgy in Bangkok at the fag end of May last year. After Leicester staged a miraculous escape to survive relegation under Nigel Pearson last year, he was all set to lead the team again this season. But as fate would have it, the club’s Thai owners flew the team to their homeland for a “goodwill tour”.
Jamie Vardy was prolific up front for Leicester City. AFPDuring the tour, three young Leicester players - including James Pearson, son of Nigel - were filmed engaging in explicit and depraved sexual acts with group of Thai call girls in a Bangkok hotel. One of the players can be heard calling a woman a “slit eye” as his team-mates snigger at the racist jibe. The tape also features other sickening comments which are too explicit to be printed.
The trio then shared the videos with friends back in the England. The footage eventually reached the British tabloid press, and ended up as a major scandal. As most of you know, if you are a sportsperson or celebrity from the West, you can get away with sex tapes (in fact you can even kick-start a career of your choice with one), but you cannot get away with racism. They will come for you. Leicester gave all three players and Pearson the boot after the scandal and went looking for a new manager. Enter Claudio ‘the Tinkerman’ Ranieri.
Leicester’s win means life has come full circle for their manager Claudio Ranieri. ReutersNow, what is interesting to note that even for a club like Leicester, Ranieri was not the most popular choice at that time. His immediate history did not make good reading and he made a quiet entrance. Several former players and pundits were not convinced, with one calling it “an uninspiring choice” and while another found it a “strange appointment”. But what followed is history.
In retrospect, if it wasn't for the racist sex tape, Ranieri would have never been the Leicester manager. He wouldn't have deployed a system and tactics which would suit Leicester ever so perfectly, defending in numbers, hunting in packs and catching opponents on the counter; or turning Jamie Vardy from a fringe player to the main man and using his pace and ability to run past wing-backs, or creating space for Riyad Mahrez to cut in and shoot.
The signings Leicester made last summer also played a key part in the title tilt. The club brought in Christian Fuchs and Shinji Okazaki during the close season and made Roberth Huth's signing permanent, all of whom who would go on to be key players for the title challenge. But it was Ranieri's decision to rope in anchorman N'Golo Kanté from Caen, which proved to be the genius signing - the missing piece of the jigsaw.
Leicester City's Wes Morgan, right, celebrates after scoring the equaliser against Manchester United on Sunday. AFPLeicester’s win also means life has come full circle for Ranieri. The Italian, who had led Chelsea to second-place finish during the 2003/04 season, had to make way for a more glamorous appointment in Jose Mourinho - fresh off his Champions League triumph with Porto. Ranieri had asked the club for another season, confident of mounting a title challenge with Chelsea’s newly found financial muscle. But new owner Roman Abramovich denied him the chance. And 12 years later, in a season where Chelsea are certain to finish mid-table, and Mourinho was sacked for a second time, the Tinkerman takes home the Premier League title.
