Recalling Leicester City’s EPL triumph
- James M.
- Feb 18, 2017
- 5 min read
Leicester defied all odds to lift the Premier League in 2015/2016
When Claudio Ranieri was announced as Leicester City’s manager in 2015, few took note of it.
Actually, most fans dismissed Ranieri as a day dreamer when he announced that he was preparing to challenge the status quo.
How could they take him seriously when he had just been sacked as Greece’s manager due to poor results?
How could Ranieri win the league yet one of his assistants goes by the name of Craig Shakespeare? Certainly, doubters and cynics compared Craig Shakespeare with literature and not football – (Shakespeare is an SI Unit for literature).
How wrong they were.
Football fans forgot that it was the same Claudio Ranieri who led AS Monaco to promotion from Ligue 2 to the French Ligue 1.
Additionally, either by design or default, football fans turned a blind eye to Ranieri’s influence at Chelsea – Ranieri was responsible for promoting or acquiring some of the most influential figures during Jose Mourinho’s reign that brought instant success.
Leicester's support at the King Power was fanatical throughout.
Ranieri bought Frank Lampard from West Ham United, and promoted John Terry from the academy, he bought William Gallas from Olympique Marseille, Ranieri as well acquired Petr Cech from Rennes, bought Claude Makelele from Real Madrid, and he also recommended the signings of Didier Drogba and Arjen Robben from Olympique Marseille and PSV respectively.
Ranieri was also responsible for the signings of Hernan Crepso, Joe Cole, Emmanuel Petit, Adrian Mutu, Boudejwin Zenden and Jesper Gronkjaer – the man who would score the “billion pound goal” against Liverpool on the final day of the campaign to guarantee Chelsea a place in the prestigious Champions League in 2003.
How is Ranieri not a genius then?
Actually, it can be argued that Jose Mourinho hogged all the limelight by using Ranieri’s signings!
The Italian even dared to venture into lands never visited – he replaced his compatriot and the affable Gianluca Vialli at the Bridge during a time when there was no Roman Abramovich to back him up with insane transfer funds.
Leicester's title win is considered the best sporting achievement.
At AS Monaco, Ranieri was assembling a squad capable of kicking anything kickable, only that the club’s board needed to be patient.
Sample this – Ranieri had a collection that featured James Rodriguez (currently with Real Madrid), Anthony Martial (currently with Manchester United), Dimitar Berbatov, Radamel Falcao, Joao Moutinho, Ricardo Carvalho, Eric Abidal et al.
On the whole, how could Leicester City cynics doubt a manager who has had stints at Juventus, AS Roma, Inter Milan, Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Napoli, Chelsea, Fiorentina and AS Monaco?
Ranieri was simply not fluking with Leicester City last season - he knew whatever he was doing in East Midlands at the King Power Stadium.
Underrated by some of his peers, Ranieri very well knew that an underdog status would perfectly work magic for his team as each and every team would dismiss their effort.
You can be sure that Ashburton Grove brigade was mocking Ranieri when he had established a slim margin over the Gunners in the EPL – lets say they thought Ranieri would bottle it up just as they themselves have perfected over the years.
Mahrez hadn't even heard of Leicester before he signed for them.
How could some fans believe the veteran Italian when Nigel Pearson had only survived relegation by a whisker?
Yet what football fans failed to notice is that the same Nigel Pearson led Leicester City to the Premier League after winning the Football League Championship in 2014.
Nigel Pearson deserves all the plaudits (not sarcastic at all) for guiding Leicester City to the Premier League given that the club had earlier experimented with the highly experienced Sven-Goran Eriksson but still failed to acquire promotion.
Back to Ranieri and his magical plot that won Leicester City the Premier League. Leicester Fosse – as the club was previously known prior to the current name, boasted some of the exciting talents in the Premier League; Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez et al.
In essence, it was not a miracle that Leicester City players dominated the nominations of the PFA Player of the Year last season – half of the nominations were by Leicester City players, and its not wonder that Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez won it.
At 23, Vardy was working in a factory and playing non-league football
Actually, Ranieri’s secret weapon was not the firepower in his forwards but the capabilities and exploits of N’Golo Kante in the midfield - the Frenchman did all the donkey work (pun intended).
Many people were left wondering how Kante made it into the PFA Player of the Year nominations – they couldn’t relate how such an unsung name as N’Golo Kante could feature alongside the likes of Harry Kane, Mesut Ozil, Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and Dimitri Payet in the PFA shortlist!
Weeks later, Kante’s massive contributions to the team’s success had been noticed and he duly earned a transfer to Chelsea.
On the whole, N’Golo Kante was the fortress in the midfield of the defending Champions - his dynamic play had an enormous contribution to Leicester’s performance.
Kante’s influence was easily seen through his impressive stats – effective but underrated.
That goes to prove why his performances at the heart of the Chelsea team has seen the Blues hit a rich form of vein.
Compared to Claude Makelele – another former Chelsea defensive midfielder, N’Golo Kante may just be the ideal solution to Chelsea’s midfield for ages to come.
Leicester City have a rivalry with Nottingham Forest, Coventry City and Derby County but you can be sure that these teams have severally turned the air blue when they witnessed The Foxes slugging it out with other European giants in the Champions League this year.
Prior to lifting the EPL trophy in May, the last time Leicester City had won a trophy was way back in 2000 when the then captain - Matt Elliott, led his lads to a historic win to capture the Football League Cup.
Leicester City had never won a top division title before
Now, it is no longer a mirage as Leicester City beat all the odds and won the prestigious Premier League.
The Foxes had caused one of the biggest shocks in football history as regards minnows going against the tide and toppling the established teams.
In the mix of it all, the title challenge and eventual triumph has been laced with Ranieri’s influence on the team – the pulsating chase and success for the Premiership had N’Golo Kante’s dynamism in midfield written all over it.
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