The Leicester City Story E-Book

Rob Tanner

• Herausgeber: Icon Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 447

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

**A REVISED AND SIGNIFICANTLY UPDATED EDITION OF ROB TANNER'S 5000-1- NOW COVERING THE FIVE YEARS SINCE LEICESTER CITY'S INCREDIBLE PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE WIN.** On 2 May 2016, English football was spectacularly altered as 5000-1 longshots Leicester City were crowned Premier League champions. Their victory broke a long-standing monopoly at the top of the table, and propelled the club into the Champions League for the first time. In The Leicester City Story: Five Years On, acclaimed Athletic Leicester City correspondent Rob Tanner relives City's title win, their summer of celebration and the highs and lows of the next five years that led to their first FA Cup win in 2021. Detailing the dramatic changes in the club's management since 2016, and reflecting on the great legacy of the club's much-loved owner, Khun Vichai, Tanner tells the inside story of a remarkable team still on the rise.

Leseprobe

An earlier edition of this book was published in the UK in 2016 by Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, 39–41 North Road, London N7 9DP email: [email protected]

This updated edition published in the UK in 2021 by Icon Books Ltd

Sold in the UK, Europe and Asia by Faber & Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House, 74–77 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DA or their agents

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ISBN: 978-178578-780-5

Text copyright © 2016, 2021 Rob Tanner

The author has asserted his moral rights.

Pictures © Neil Plumb/Plumb Images; © Matt Impey/Shutterstock; © Nick Potts/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock; © ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/ Shutterstock; © Kieran Mcmanus/BPI/Shutterstock; © AP/Shutterstock; © Paul Greenwood/BPI/Shutterstock

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Typeset in New Baskerville by Marie Doherty

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rob Tanner is The Athletic’s Leicester City correspondent. He was the Leicester Mercury’s chief football writer from 2009 until 2019, reporting on the club’s rise from the doldrums of League One to the Premier League title. He lives in Tamworth, Staffordshire, with his wife Jayne and his dogs Molly and Max.

Alan Smith is a former Leicester City and Arsenal striker who, alongside Gary Lineker, helped fire the Foxes to the Second Division title in 1984/85. He is a co-commentator and studio pundit for Sky Sports, has been the voice of EA Sports’ FIFA video game series since 2011, and writes regularly for the Daily Telegraph.

To my late mother, Madeline. I hope I have made you proud.

CONTENTS

List of photographs

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Alan Smith

Author’s note

Introduction

Summer 2015

August 2015

September 2015

October 2015

November 2015

December 2015

January 2016

February 2016

March 2016

April 2016

May 2016

Final league standings, May 2016

‘We’re all going on a European Tour’

The dream is over for Ranieri

‘Vichai had a dream’

Following in Ranieri’s footsteps isn’t easy

Rodgers finds City’s Holy Grail

Appendices

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS

Shinji Okazaki steers home his first goal for the club, 15 August 2015

Jamie Vardy scores in his tenth successive match, 21 November 2015

Vardy extends his record to 11 goals, 28 November 2015

Leo Ulloa scores late on against Norwich, 27 February 2016

The Man Utd match ends 1-1 and all eyes turn towards Tottenham, 1 May 2016

Leicester City are crowned Premier League champions, 7 May 2016

Wes Morgan becomes a Premier League champion for the first time, 7 May 2016

Claudio Ranieri celebrates with Kasper Schmeichel, 7 May 2016

Khun Vichai and Wes Morgan lift the Premier League Trophy, 16 May 2016

Captain Wes Morgan scores the opening goal over Seville at King Power Stadium, 14 March 2017

Leicester fans make Tifo displays to create a great atmosphere at King Power Stadium, 18 April 2017

Tributes laid for Khun Vichai and four others after the helicopter disaster outside the stadium, 29 October 2018

Kasper Schmeichel drags chairman Khun Top onto the Wembley pitch, 15 May 2021

Khun Top and manager Brendan Rodgers parade the FA Cup to the Leicester fans, 15 May 2021

Youri Tielemans scores into the top corner of the Chelsea net, 15 May 2021

Brendan Rodgers and his players celebrate a first-ever FA Cup victory, 15 May 2021

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to my wife Jayne; my family and friends for their love and support; my colleagues and journalistic peers for their encouragement and advice; and to the Leicester Mercury for giving me the opportunity to cover this remarkable story for the newspaper.

Above all, thanks to Leicester City for giving me the most unforgettable season of my career.

FOREWORD

by Alan Smith

So much has changed at Leicester City since I first walked through those dressing-room doors. For a start, Filbert Street has been flattened, replaced by a block of flats. A few hundred yards up the road, the King Power Stadium speaks eloquently of the club’s progress.

As part of that, no longer do the players get changed for training at the ground before jumping in cars to drive across town. In my time, Belvoir Drive did not boast much in the way of facilities.

Mind you, neither did the team ever really cause a stir. Sure, we won promotion in 1983 before enjoying some good times in the top flight. But nothing like this. Nothing nearly so momentous. I think the closest we came to upsetting the odds was beating Manchester United 3-0 one memorable afternoon.

For me personally, then, it has been an absolute thrill to witness Leicester’s heroics first-hand, to commentate for Sky on several matches in a season that will clearly find a major place in football folklore.

Chatting to the fans before and after games, they couldn’t quite believe what was going on. A stunned, disbelieving look clouded their features as they looked to me for some kind of reassurance.

Not that I knew. I mean, this was new territory for everyone – when a club outside the established Premier League elite not only gatecrashed the party but completely stole the show.

Make no mistake, these lads have cemented their place in sporting history. Fifty years from now, people will be able to reel off the regular starting XI, from Kasper Schmeichel all the way through to Jamie Vardy.

Supporters will reminisce about key games when somebody stepped forward to make the difference. Vardy’s brilliant goals, the match-winning skills of Riyad Mahrez, the incredible energy of N’Golo Kanté or the inspirational fortitude of captain Wes Morgan: whatever the tale, it will pass into legend.

In the immediate aftermath of victory, you can’t really grasp it. Emotions are running too high, the blood pumping too fast. But as the months and years pass, the players concerned will gradually come to appreciate where this achievement stands in the firmament.

The answer is high, perhaps at the very top, and for that we can all join in the celebrations. The Foxes have confirmed that romance isn’t dead, that the impossible dream can still be realised, just when we thought that money ruled.

Leicester City: Premier League champions. Run that one by me again?

Alan Smith May 2016

AUTHOR’S NOTE

In 2009 I joined the Leicester Mercury as the newspaper’s chief football writer, covering Leicester City Football Club. In the years that followed I have witnessed the club’s rise from League One to the Premier League summit. In 2014/15, as the club battled to avoid a return to the Championship, I started to write a blog for the Leicester Mercury website, covering the team’s fortunes, the goings-on at the club and the feeling throughout the city. I continued to do so long after Nigel Pearson’s men pulled off their sensational survival bid in May 2015.

As the 2015/16 season rumbled on, with the momentum carried forward from the previous campaign showing no sign of slowing, it became clear that this story was one that warranted telling in full, so I began to write a book – this book. There have been so many moments over the past twelve months that have defied belief; moments that, looking back, seem almost unreal. In an effort to capture each twist and turn in this incredible season, I have included blogposts from throughout the season to provide snapshots of the key moments, telling the story as it happened and trying to convince myself that it really did.

INTRODUCTION

Sunday 15 May 2016. Stamford Bridge, London. Leicester City’s final game of the season has been over for some time. The ground is empty and the only sound is the occasional smack of a seat springing back to the closed position as Chelsea staff patrol the stands, picking up litter.

The press bench is empty. The other journalists are either inside, feverishly trying to meet their deadlines, or have already left to catch the trains at Fulham Broadway station. I am, pretty much, alone on the press bench. I have just pressed ‘send’ on my final report of the season. I puff out my cheeks, look around the ground and reflect on what an incredible, almost unbelievable, season it has been.

It is my first chance to take in what I have witnessed over the previous year. I have followed the Foxes every single step of the way, from the incredible fight for Premier League survival the previous season to their astonishing transformation into title challengers and, ultimately, champions of England. It has been a whirlwind.

From the euphoria of City winning seven of their final nine games of 2014/15 to claw back a seven-point deficit to safety and remain in the Premier League, to the disappointment and shock when manager Nigel Pearson was sacked after his relationship with the club’s owners soured, I was there.

From the mixed reaction to the appointment of Claudio Ranieri and the sadness at the departure of star player Esteban Cambiasso, to City’s surprising but delightful start to the season, I was watching, recording every kick and every comment for the Leicester Mercury.

Then, as the season progressed and City edged closer and closer to achieving history, something nearly everyone would have said was completely impossible, I looked on from the press benches of the biggest grounds in England in astonishment, but also delight. Even now, at Stamford Bridge, the home of the dethroned title-holders, who have just warmly welcomed City, the new champions of England, it is hard to comprehend exactly what I have witnessed. How was this possible?

You could have had odds of 5000-1 from bookmakers on City winning a first-ever title, the same odds as finding Elvis Presley alive. The probability of them becoming champions was 0.02 per cent, using the bookmakers’ calculations. There was just no way this was supposed to happen.

Ranieri was an experienced manager having taken charge at some of the biggest clubs in Europe in his time, but he had never won a domestic title before and had previously been sacked after a disastrous spell in charge of the Greek national team. They even lost to the Faroe Islands. His City squad was mainly made up of players who had been rejected and cast aside by other clubs, and players others didn’t want or didn’t rate. They were branded the ‘Misfits’.

Leicester City hadn’t exactly had a trophy-laden history either. In its 132-year existence, the club had never won the league title or the FA Cup. There had been moments of success. City had won three League Cups and reached four FA Cup finals, and there had been some special moments, mainly promotion play-off final wins at Wembley.

Teams like Leicester City are not supposed to challenge the established elite of the Premier League. Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea have dominated the title almost completely in the modern era. Only one other team, Blackburn Rovers, had won the title since the Premier League was formed in 1992.

I have to confess, even as the incredible events of the season were unfolding before my eyes, with City winning week after week, I didn’t think they could win the title. Football is in my blood. It is all I ever wanted to do, play and watch football, but I had become programmed to believe that there was no romance in the game anymore. I was wrong. It wasn’t until the Foxes won at Manchester City in February that I felt this could be possible, that Leicester could challenge for the title.

It is only now, as I look around Stamford Bridge, that I can start to comprehend what has happened. Leicester City have won the Premier League by a huge margin of ten points. They have smashed it. The favourites for relegation before a ball was kicked in August have produced the greatest sporting shock in history.

This has to be the most amazing sporting underdog story of all time. The Premier League will never be the same again.

SUMMER 2015

A SUMMER OF DISCONTENT

At the end of March 2015, Leicester City were seven points adrift of safety and rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, a position they had been in for the previous four months. Nigel Pearson’s side had been written off as relegation certainties. Even Pearson himself was thinking, with nine games left, that the task was just too great, but after one of the most dramatic transformations in English football history, City survived, and with a game to spare.

There were several factors contributing to their recovery, among them the growing influence of loan signing Robert Huth and Pearson’s switch to a three centre-back, wing-back system. The arrival into the team of Marc Albrighton, who had previously been out in the cold for longer than Scott of the Antarctic, had provided some much-needed energy, while Jamie Vardy had been given a run in the team and was starting to display some of the form that would light up the Premier League in 2015/16.

And at the heart of the team was Esteban Cambiasso, City’s talismanic midfielder, the most decorated player in Argentinian football history and the subject of every City fan’s devotion. Not since Roberto Mancini had the Foxes had such an illustrious, internationally renowned player within their skulk. City fans had spent most of the season in disbelief that a player of Cambiasso’s pedigree had chosen to join City’s desperate fight for survival and any concerns that he had done so simply for one last payday had been dismissed by a succession of superb performances.

It was Cambiasso who had set the ball rolling in City’s Great Escape, scoring the first goal in the 2-1 win over West Ham United at the King Power Stadium on 4 April 2015, with late substitute and club stalwart Andy King scoring a dramatic winner. A week later Vardy had scored a last-minute winner at West Bromwich Albion and City were starting to gain belief and momentum. Then it was three wins on the bounce as King again scored late on as Swansea City were dispatched on home soil, before Vardy was again the match-winner in a crucial victory away at relegation rivals Burnley, a defeat from which the Clarets would not recover.

There was the home defeat to eventual champions Chelsea but any concerns that that would trigger another collapse were quickly dispelled as Newcastle United and then Southampton were dispatched in style, setting up a crucial away clash with Sunderland, another side who were mounting a less dramatic but equally effective battle to beat the drop, at the Stadium of Light.

The game was instantly forgettable, but the result, a 0-0 stalemate, was enough to ensure City remained among the elite of Premier League football for another season at least and the scenes at the final whistle would live long in the memory of the City fans who had only dared to dream that what they had witnessed was possible.

Pearson was the toast of English football for masterminding such an extraordinary achievement; although that certainly hadn’t been the case with members of the media during what had been a troubled second half of the campaign, punctuated by touchline spats with first a supporter and then the Crystal Palace midfielder James McArthur. There followed a phantom sacking of Pearson by the club’s owners and further spats with journalists, most notably his branding of Ian Baker, of Wardles news agency, an ‘ostrich’ when the journalist queried Pearson’s claim that the team had its critics.

Pearson is a complex man. Brusque, authoritative and intimidating at times, his public persona was that of a sergeant major figure who didn’t suffer fools gladly and was quick to temper when faced with what he perceived as poorly chosen questions. He could be all that at times. However, over the four-and-a-half seasons I covered Leicester City under his management, I also saw the other side to him, the side that existed away from the microscope of managing a club of City’s size and with the weight of expectation placed upon it.

When I first started covering City, he could be incredibly difficult to deal with. He could stop a press conference with one curt answer. I had to learn, and sometimes I learned the hard way, how to approach him. For instance, he seemed to have a deep-seated mistrust of the media in general and was always on his guard for the question he believed had a hidden agenda. You didn’t try to put words into Pearson’s mouth or offer leading questions. That was pure folly. If a question started: ‘Nigel, would you say …’ then I knew there would be an instant rebuff: ‘Those are your words, your view,’ he would instantly fire back. I learned to keep my questions short, sharp and straight to the point. Don’t beat about the bush. If there was a question that had to be asked, however unpalatable, and Pearson knew it was coming then you had to just ask it. He would lose respect for you as a journalist if you didn’t.

Over time, I could predict how he would approach post-match press conferences. If City had won, he would be downbeat, matter-of-fact in his responses to questions. He often came across as gruff. But when City had lost or were going through a difficult time, he would turn on the charm, and he did have a fair bit of it to turn on. He never seemed completely at ease with the media; it seemed to be an irritant he could have well done without, although he once shocked me during City’s Great Escape season when he declared he was enjoying talking to the media. By then it was no longer just me and BBC Radio Leicester’s Ian Stringer sat around a table down the training ground. The media spotlight of the Premier League was now shining on the media suite at the King Power Stadium, which had now been refitted for the nation’s press pack. Pearson’s pre-match press conferences would last up to 50 minutes and he would give detailed answers lasting several minutes to each question. However, he was reluctant to give the journalists the sound bites they craved

Many thought that Pearson either didn’t know how to work the media or just simply didn’t want to play the media’s game. The latter was more accurate.

One way he did use the media was to create a siege mentality within his squad by fostering the feeling that the media was after them. He got the best out of his players when there was a bubble created around them and the training ground, sheltering them from any perceived negativity either within the media or from the outside world.

Towards the end of his final season, he mentioned negativity towards his players from within the media on more than one occasion, which baffled many of the regulars at his press conferences because they had been regularly praising his players for their performances. Many writers and broadcasters, including myself, were repeatedly pointing out that Pearson’s side weren’t far away from being a team that could pick up results in the Premier League. They had been in every game but were repeatedly being punished for momentary lapses defensively. They were obviously giving their all and fighting for their manager and the club, but were discovering how cruel the Premier League could be at times.

I never questioned him about this media negativity to which he referred, but Ian Baker did, resulting in the now famous ‘ostrich’ rant. Pearson knew he was out of order and apologised to Baker the next day; but such incidents, and the resulting media coverage, were never going to go down well with the City ownership. Likewise when three young City players, including Pearson’s own son, were sacked for off-pitch misdemeanours on an end-of-season tour of Thailand. The owners are fiercely proud of their heritage and their reputation is crucially important to them, especially as they have close associations with the King of Thailand. Their connection with City and ownership of a club in the Premier League, the most watched and popular league in Thailand, had boosted their public status, but this was a bitter blow to their own credibility and image. Action was inevitable, although no one expected it to lead to the departure of Pearson.

The last time I spoke to Pearson as City manager was just before the club’s end-of-season awards dinner. I met him in his office at the stadium, a large room, minimally decorated with large black sofas arranged in squares, giving it more than a passing resemblance to a high-end airport waiting lounge. There was the sense that Pearson didn’t spend a particularly large amount of time in this room. This was where he would entertain opposition managers and coaching staff after matches and on this occasion it was the venue for my last interview with Pearson before the team flew to Thailand.

He spoke of his optimism for the future, the development of his plans and the solid foundations now in place, upon which the club could build. He also spoke of his own public image, his reluctance to be a celebrity and how he would choose to do things differently in certain situations in future; but, fundamentally, he insisted he would not change.

He was true to his word.

Pearson’s sacking came on 30 June and the news came like a bolt from the blue. It had been two weeks since the sacking of the three young professionals and City were set to return to pre-season training the following week. The first inkling of what was to follow late on that Tuesday evening came when the bookmakers slashed the odds on Pearson being sacked, a sure sign that something was happening. Either someone who had an idea about what was taking place had placed a huge bet on Pearson being sacked, trying to make a killing before the news broke, or someone had leaked the information. The bookmakers were to play a major role in the remarkable twists and turns of the search for Pearson’s successor over the next few weeks. Nevertheless, the change in the odds sparked a frenzy among the media and it wasn’t long before the club confirmed that Pearson had been sacked.

There weren’t many City fans who thought it was good news, although there was always a small section of supporters who weren’t Pearson fans because of the way he came across publicly from time to time. The players were due to return to full training and City had already begun their preparations for the new season. Pearson had even made his first signing of the summer, Austria captain Christian Fuchs, who had said it was after a conversation with Pearson that he was convinced to come to the King Power Stadium after leaving Schalke on a free transfer. Pearson had also spent £3 million on the permanent signing of Huth, a deal that City fans had seen as absolutely vital, and £7 million on Japan striker Shinji Okazaki, a long-term target brought in from Bundesliga side Mainz. The early business had stoked the sense of optimism among supporters, but now there was uncertainty: in which direction would City turn now? There was a fear, not just among City supporters, that the foundations which had been laid over the previous three-and-a-half seasons would be ripped up and the progress City had made under Pearson would stall.

City fans had seen it before when Pearson was allowed to leave for Hull City in 2010. Paulo Sousa, twice a European Cup winner as a player, had come in for a disastrous nine-game spell in charge before former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson arrived. After spending millions on over a dozen new signings, he was sacked just 13 games into the 2011/12 season. Now there were fears of another boom and bust scenario.

LEICESTER MERCURY BLOG, 8 JULY 2015

LIFE AFTER PEARSON

In the statement released following the shock sacking of Nigel Pearson, the owners of Leicester City appealed to the fans to trust them.

‘We trust that the club’s supporters will recognise that the owners have always acted with the best interests of the club at heart and with the club’s long-term future as their greatest priority,’ it read.

Trust has to be earned and over the past five years the efforts of the owners in securing the club’s financial position and laying the foundations for the push to the Premier League deserve that trust.

Like their cash, the owners have plenty in the bank when it comes to trust from City fans.

Actions speak louder than words, which is a good job as they have very rarely spoken publicly in that time.

But that trust is not blind faith and City fans will be waiting, like everyone else, to see who will be Pearson’s replacement and whether their judgement over the change of manager has been sound or flawed.

Since sacking Pearson there has been no word from City, not one syllable, about how the hunt for the next boss is going. City have closed ranks, shut up shop and decided to try to identify the next manager in clandestine fashion.

The silence creates uncertainty in the minds of supporters. It creates doubt.

Did they have a plan in place before they sacked Pearson? Did they have an idea of which direction they were about to go in? Will they get the right man in to build on the solid foundations now in place? Are they starting completely from scratch? How long will this process take?

I know fans are asking these questions because they have asked me them on social media. I cannot answer, other than to say I hope they have it all in hand because the longer the process drags on the more disruptive it will be to City’s pre-season.

City have not finished their summer squad strengthening and it is clear from the ongoing attempts to sign N’Golo Kanté and the £12 million offer for Charlie Austin that City are pressing ahead without a manager.

The problem is players are reluctant to jump to sign for a club when there is such mystery surrounding the identity of the next manager. Who would pick City over an alternative club when there is uncertainty over whether the man coming in would actually want them?

The players currently at the club are professional and resilient. This will not be the first time they have experienced a change in leadership.

Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh are likewise stoic figures and will be giving their all on the training ground to prepare the players despite the doubt that must be in their own minds about their own futures.

But the new manager will need time in pre-season to make his own arrangements and set up City how he wants them to play and the longer the current situation drags on the less time City will have to prepare thoroughly.

The uncertainty and instability will impact on City’s start to the season.

City appear to be no nearer to making an appointment. If reports are true, Guus Hiddink is going to take some convincing, while it is believed there has been no approach to Bolton for bookmakers’ favourite Neil Lennon.

In fact, there doesn’t seem to be any hint of an outstanding candidate, which raises the question how far down the line City actually are in identifying the new manager.

I refuse to believe that they didn’t have a plan when Pearson was sacked. Billionaire businessmen don’t become successful by not thinking several moves ahead when they make a big decision.

But only time will tell.

In the meantime, City fans just have to keep the faith.

City were playing their cards very close to their chest in their search for the next manager and that had created a void for supporters who were so hungry for any scrap of information that they, and the bookmakers, would feed on any nonsense. The names linked with the Leicester vacancy ranged from Martin O’Neill to Jürgen Klopp, and at one point the bookies stopped taking bets on Sacramento Republic’s manager Predrag Radosavljević.

Eventually, after two weeks of intrigue and high farce, City’s search for their next manager came full circle with the appointment of Claudio Ranieri. The vastly experienced manager had been quoted by Italian media as saying he would be interested in talking to City about the position right at the start of the process but had never been considered a huge favourite for the job, despite his impressive CV.

However, in terms of what the owners wanted, Ranieri ticked the boxes. He had a proven record at club level, although his previous appointment as head coach of the Greek national team had been a disaster. He had managed some of the biggest clubs in Europe and some of the games’ most high-profile players, and he had enjoyed success. His reputation around the world would raise the club’s profile once again and repair some of the damage done by the events of the summer.

He was the perfect fit for the owners, but the City fans and the media would need a lot more convincing.

LEICESTER MERCURY BLOG, 13 JULY 2015

RANIERI APPOINTED

Claudio Ranieri is the new manager of Leicester City.

City announced this afternoon on Twitter that the 63-year-old Italian is Nigel Pearson’s successor at the King Power Stadium.

Ranieri has signed a three-year contract to lead City into their second season in the Premier League and has met his new squad at their training camp in Austria.

‘I’m so glad to be here in a club with such a great tradition as Leicester City,’ said Ranieri.

‘I have worked at many great clubs, in many top leagues, but since I left Chelsea I have dreamt of another chance to work in the best league in the world again.

‘I wish to thank the owner, his son and all the executives of the club for the opportunity they are giving me.

‘Now I’ve only one way for returning their trust: squeeze all my energies into getting the best results for the team.’

Club vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said it was Ranieri’s impressive CV, having managed some of the biggest clubs in Europe, including Inter Milan, Roma, Juventus, Chelsea and Monaco, which made them decide he was the right man for the job.

‘It is my great pleasure to welcome Claudio Ranieri – a man of remarkable experience and knowledge that will lead us into the next phase of our long-term plan for Leicester City,’ said Aiyawatt.

‘His achievements in the game, his knowledge of English football and his record of successfully coaching some of the world’s finest players made him the outstanding candidate for the job and his ambitions for the future reflect our own.

‘To have attracted one of the world’s elite managers speaks volumes both for the progress Leicester City has made in recent years and for the potential that remains for the Club’s long-term development.’

Ranieri publicly threw his hat into the ring over a week ago following the sacking of Pearson and said the prospect of managing in the Premier League was very attractive to him.

His appointment brings to an end a two-week search for City’s next manager with former Holland boss Guus Hiddink and former City manager Martin O’Neill sounded out for the position, but both declined.

Pearson’s former assistants Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh are currently overseeing the training camp in Bad Radkersburg but it is not yet known whether they will stay on under Ranieri.

THE TINKERMAN

To say that the appointment of Claudio Ranieri received a mixed reaction is an understatement. While the club’s vice-chairman, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, said in a statement announcing Ranieri’s appointment that City had attracted ‘one of the world’s elite managers’, there were many who didn’t share his lofty appraisal of Ranieri’s credentials.

The Italian had been sacked the previous November after a disastrous spell as manager of the Greek national team. He had lasted just four games and suffered the ignominy of a home defeat to the Faroe Islands. One game later – another defeat – his two-year contract had been torn up.

‘Claudio Ranieri? Really?’ tweeted City legend Gary Lineker, who went on to add: ‘Claudio Ranieri is clearly experienced, but this is an uninspired choice by Leicester.’

Lineker’s was not a lone voice on social media. Another former City striker, Tony Cottee said he was ‘astonished’ by the appointment while former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp also tweeted his surprise that Ranieri was back in the Premier League: ‘Ranieri is a nice guy, but he’s done well to get the Leicester job. After what happened with Greece, I’m surprised he can walk back into the Premier League.’

While some posts on fans’ forums and social media seemed happy to have Ranieri as Pearson’s successor, the majority were extremely sceptical. The reign of Eriksson was still fresh in their memory: a period of huge upheaval as millions were spent on dozens of players without the team ever looking like it would become a cohesive unit. Pearson had come in and sorted all of that out, slowly and sensibly building a team that had fulfilled the City fans’ dreams. While many had been irritated by the public spats, they had been willing to accept the negative headlines they caused because they knew that deep down Pearson was a good manager who was able to foster a fantastic team spirit among his troops, and he had a great backroom team too.

It had been 11 years since Ranieri had left Chelsea and despite an impressive looking CV, packed with the names of some of the biggest clubs in Europe, Ranieri had never stayed anywhere longer than two seasons since leaving Stamford Bridge. It felt like, at best, this was a short-term appointment, and at worst a disaster waiting to happen.

When the Srivaddhanaprabha family and their King Power empire had taken over the club in August, 2010, there was a nervousness among the City fans, who didn’t have to look too far to see how overseas ownerships could turn sour. Portsmouth nearly went out of business completely under the ownership of several different foreign investors, while just down the M6, Birmingham City’s owner Carson Yeung was jailed for money laundering and the club was edging towards its own financial crisis. Over in Cardiff, Malaysian Vincent Tan had enraged supporters by changing the club’s traditional colours of blue to red, which was deemed to be a lucky colour in Malaysia.

There were initially fears the Thais would do something similar when they bought the club from Milan Mandarić, that the price to be paid for their huge cash injection into the club would be City’s soul, its heritage, its heart. Those fears were short-lived as not only did the Srivaddhanaprabha family cherish the traditions of the club, they promoted the club’s heritage and fostered its close links with the Leicester community, while still striving to create a club that was ready for the globalisation of the Premier League.

They did introduce elements of their own culture to the club, which are still evident today. The Thai flag flies proudly around the King Power Stadium; blue flags adorned with Buddhist prayers for good fortune are hung like bunting around the stadium and around the tunnel area; and groups of Buddhist monks are regular visitors, at the invitation of the owners. Decked in their traditional orange and tan robes, the monks were brought in to bless Pearson and his team, the home dressing room and even the goalposts. They are reverent figures, but there is also a comical aspect about them as they often cling to Leicester City merchandise bags and have more than a touch of the wide-eyed tourist about them as they are herded through the bowels of the King Power Stadium.

The irony may be lost on them that while they are a long way from their own temple, they are visiting an equally holy place to City fans. This is the place where the folk of Leicester come every Saturday to worship, to sing songs and even say a few prayers to ask for divine intervention. The common link between an English football experience and a religious one is strong so the monks are not completely out of place, although the first time they were seen at the stadium was a surreal moment.

They have become regular visitors now to such an extent that it is no longer a novelty for the players, who have become accustomed to having water thrown at them as they are blessed while getting ready for a game.

But it is through their financial might that the owners have really made their mark at the club. Writing off £103 million of loans into equity demonstrated their commitment to the cause and the owners have become extremely popular with the City fans. However, after Pearson’s departure and the appointment of Ranieri on a three-year contract, some sections of the supporters were starting to question whether the owners really knew what they were doing.

On the face of it, Ranieri was a complete departure from Pearson. Pearson was a players’ manager, a man’s man, a working-class hero who played by his own rules and refused to compromise his views for the media or any employer. He was authoritative, a natural leader.

In contrast, Ranieri is a genial, well-mannered and good natured man, but his inability to master English when he first took over at Chelsea hampered his ability to make a positive first impression on the English football public and his clumsy phrasing of English while at Stamford Bridge contributed to him being seen as something of a comic figure. The fact that Eriksson and then José Mourinho were so publicly courted as replacements by new Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who took over Chelsea in 2003 and immediately looked for a new manager, didn’t help Ranieri, who was seen as a dead man walking, although there was plenty of admiration for him as well because of the dignity he showed throughout that situation.

Closer inspection of his career provided more heart that Ranieri could be the man to take the club to the next level. Early in his coaching career he had forged a reputation for taking smaller clubs and building them up so they could challenge the elite. He had taken Cagliari from Serie C to Serie A. He would confess this had been the most rewarding moment of his career to date. After a two-year spell in charge of Napoli, where he gave Gianfranco Zola his debut, he took Fiorentina up to Serie A and won the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana. At Valencia he put the foundations in place for their future success in the Champions League – but then spent a season at Atlético Madrid, who were relegated amidst mounting financial crisis.

During his time at Stamford Bridge he transformed the team, bringing in youthful players such as Frank Lampard and Joe Cole, while nurturing emerging talent like John Terry, Robert Huth (who would be such a stalwart of his City team) and Carlton Cole, and he led them to a Champions League semi-final and second in the Premier League before he was sacked. The foundations he laid in place would provide the platform for the success Chelsea enjoyed under Mourinho.

After Chelsea he returned to Valencia before heading back to Italy for spells in charge of Parma, Juventus, Roma and Inter Milan, with varying degrees of success, although he was unable to land a league title, before he headed to AS Monaco, taking them back up to the top flight of French football and leading them to runners-up in Ligue 1. As managerial records go, there are not many coaches in the European game who can produce such an impressive CV.

Above all, though, he was renowned as the ‘Tinkerman’ for his constant changing of his Chelsea team.

The concept of squad rotation was alien to English football at the turn of the century. A manager was expected to pick his best team week after week. Only injury or a loss of form would alter how a team would line up. In contrast, Ranieri would make changes on a regular basis; and he was heavily criticised for some of his substitutions in Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final defeat to Monaco in 2004.

As he would later point out, every manager in the Premier League is now a Tinkerman, as squad rotation is now commonplace, but he was the original Tinkerman, the pioneer for all Tinkermen. As a result, many City fans feared he would rip up the team that had finished the previous season so strongly and dismantle the solid foundations that had been laid over the previous three years. There were also concerns that Ranieri would replace Pearson’s assistants, Craig Shakespeare, Mike Stowell and Steve Walsh, the head of recruitment who had unearthed Riyad Mahrez.

The fears proved to be unfounded. On his appointment, Ranieri immediately flew out to City’s Austrian training camp in Bad Radkersburg to meet his new squad and staff. The camp had been set up by Pearson and his staff and in Pearson’s absence City were going about their pre-season preparations quietly in the scenic south-east corner of Austria. The players would cycle from their hotel to the training facilities and back, and the evenings were spent peacefully within the hotel compound. The remote location made it perfect for team bonding as there were no external distractions, although the players would confess that boredom in the evenings was an issue.

City have had bad experiences of training camps in the past, with two trips to La Manga in Spain causing national headlines in 2000 and 2004, but there had been no such controversy on City’s trips with Pearson; even if there had been some shenanigans, there was no one around to witness them.

Pearson’s love of remote scenic places was well documented and he confirmed a rumour that he had been forced to defend himself in the wilds of Romania while on one solo break. While he said the Leicester folklore that he had wrestled a bear was not true, he did have to defend himself against a pack of wild dogs on two occasions, fighting them off with his walking poles before diving into a patch of stinging nettles to deter them a second time.

Ranieri arrived into the oasis of peace and tranquillity to begin his reign as City boss, but while the expectation was that he would immediately dive in and start to stamp his authority on proceedings, Ranieri kept a watching brief for the remainder of the trip. He left all the coaching and conditioning to Shakespeare and the staff while he looked on, assessing each of his players and his new colleagues, flanked by director of football Jon Rudkin and the vice-chairman who had spoken so highly of his appointment.

Ranieri met the media on his return and the charm offensive began. Ranieri’s English had improved dramatically since his Chelsea days, due chiefly to the fact he had retained a home in London and visited often. But it wasn’t how he spoke that surprised many in the room; rather, it was what he had to say.

‘I am sure I don’t want to change too many things,’ he said. ‘I want to change things slowly so that everyone understands me.’

Wait, was this really the Tinkerman talking about not tinkering?

It was. Ranieri said he was impressed by the talent within the squad and the organisation of the club, and he would later state that he genuinely felt the group was strong enough not to face another relegation battle. More importantly, he identified that he had to retain the services of Shakespeare, Walsh and Stowell. Not only were they a well-established team, they also presented continuity for the players from the last few seasons. The players were shaken by the shock departure of Pearson but in Shakespeare, Walsh and Stowell there was a steadying influence, a reassurance that despite Pearson’s departure, the ship was still on course, just with a different captain at the helm.

It was a masterstroke from a manager who immediately demonstrated that he had no ego. This wasn’t about Ranieri making his mark, this was about the evolution of a football team. It might have been understandable had he decided to cast aside all lingering reminders of Pearson’s tenure and stamp his own authority on City but he knew that would be counterproductive. The coaching staff would play a huge part in Ranieri’s transition.

He did bring in two of his own staff, assistant manager Paolo Benetti and fitness and conditioning coach Andrea Azzalin, but they were the only changes, except Kevin Phillips’s voluntary decision to leave to join Derby County as assistant manager, to further his own coaching aspirations.

Ranieri wanted to bring in a couple of new signings before the end of the transfer window, but there was to be no dramatic overhaul of the squad. Evolution rather than revolution was his insightful strategy.

However, there was one issue that Ranieri had to address, and he had to do so immediately – the future of Esteban Cambiasso.

THE SEARCH FOR A NEW ‘CHAMPION’ AS CAMBIASSO DEPARTS

Leicester City fans are used to disappointment. They have experienced it on a far too frequent basis, so they are accustomed to bad news. On the pint pot half-full–half-empty scale, City fans have been almost constantly looking at the bottom of their glass. But still the news that Esteban Cambiasso had decided not to stay at the King Power Stadium was a bitter pill to swallow. Not since Roberto Mancini’s fleeting stay at Filbert Street had Leicester had such an international star, a player of such quality that City fans could salivate at his every appearance.

Cambiasso is the most decorated player in Argentine history. Forget Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, no Argentine player had ever won as much silverware and individual honours as the balding central midfielder. His career had all been about getting the job done, and while Cambiasso may not have been an eye-catching individual player like Maradona and Messi, his record was impressive. He was the cog that every wheel needed to be able to turn. He sprang to prominence in England when he was on the end of the greatest-ever team goal at a World Cup, rounding off a 26-pass move against Serbia in Germany, 2006.

His class remained long after his hair had gone.

City fans couldn’t quite believe he was now pulling on a blue shirt. They worshipped him. He had his own song: ‘He’s magic, you know, Est-e-ban Cam-bias-so’, sung to the tune of ‘Magic’ by Pilot. It reverberated around the King Power Stadium and every ground City visited.

A major part of his appeal was that it soon became apparent he was at City for the right reasons. He hadn’t signed for a big pay cheque; he was at City because of the challenge of keeping a club like City in the Premier League. Cambiasso had never been involved in a relegation dogfight in his career before and this was a challenge he was relishing, and after winning 23 titles during his career the 34-year-old said playing in the Premier League was what he needed to do. City fans hoped it would be the final stop in his glorious journey as a player. It wasn’t to be so.

Cambiasso played a huge role, both on and off the pitch, in City’s remarkable escape from relegation and was crowned the club’s player of the year at the end-of-season dinner. He accepted the award in the same way he played his football, with grace and humility. He bucked the trend of flash footballers. He was the only player to wear a tie at the dinner. Nothing about him personally, or professionally, was flash. He was understated and dedicated.

He had signed a one-year contract with City but long before the end of the season City were trying to get him to commit to a new deal. He said he wanted to wait until the end of the season and focus on keeping City in the Premier League before thinking about the following season.

But the end of the season came and City’s talisman still hadn’t made a decision. Then he left the country and was quoted by Argentine media as saying he was still undecided about his future, especially as the identity of City’s new manager was uncertain, adding to the worry of the City fans. This wasn’t new to City fans. The negotiations to sign him in the first place had been protracted as several people claimed to represent him, with his brother taking the lead in many of the negotiations. It had taken around five weeks of talks before Cambiasso committed to a deal.

A photo of him jogging around Leicester with teammate and fellow countryman Leo Ulloa appeared on social media and that raised hopes that he would sign again, but still there was no news. There were even suggestions he would be offered a player-manager role, but that was unfounded.

Ranieri’s arrival proved to be the deciding factor. The pair had worked together at Inter Milan and it was hoped that their association would persuade Cambiasso to sign his deal. However, when Ranieri said in a press conference that he still wanted to sign Cambiasso but that he couldn’t wait for ever, it seemed to force Cambiasso’s hand. He didn’t like being dictated to and 24 hours later, just before City’s first pre-season friendly kicked off at Lincoln City, Cambiasso announced via Facebook that he had decided not to re-sign. In a statement he said he had only received City’s proposal 24 hours before, around the time Ranieri appeared to make his ultimatum. However, that was just the latest of several offers from City. Negotiations had stretched back to before the final few weeks of the previous campaign.

The news overshadowed City’s first run-out of the summer at Sincil Bank. Riyad Mahrez, Andrej Kramarić and Jamie Vardy were on target in a 3-1 win for Ranieri’s men, but the talk afterwards wasn’t about the debuts of Okazaki and Fuchs, it was about Cambiasso’s announcement. How on earth were City going to fill his boots? Where were they going to find another player of such influence? After the departure of Pearson and the mixed reaction to Ranieri’s appointment, this was another heavy body blow to City’s preparations, and many fans feared it could be the killer blow.

After the game, on the side of the pitch at Sincil Bank, Ranieri responded to the news, thanking Cambiasso for his efforts while wearing a City shirt but declaring he would find another great ‘champion’ to fill the void left by Cambiasso.

His search would eventually lead to the signing of Switzerland captain Gökhan Inler for £5 million from Napoli, but it was two other players, a wide-eyed and fresh-faced youngster from France, N’Golo Kanté, and an underrated midfielder already within the City camp, Danny Drinkwater, who would ensure that Cambiasso would not be missed. That was something many City fans thought impossible.

Kanté had been on City’s radar for some time. Walsh and his recruitment staff had been watching the 24-year-old for quite a while. He may have been only 5ft 6in tall, with the look of an innocent schoolboy off the pitch, but his stats showed he was incredibly competitive on it. He had been told as a youngster that he was too small to make it as a professional and while his use of the ball needed improvement, he always played with total commitment and dedication, and in his first season with SM Caen in Ligue 1 he led the stats for the top five leagues in Europe for ball recovery. In other words he would tackle his own mother if it meant regaining possession for his team.

He wasn’t a complete unknown. Marseille had been trying to sign him, especially after losing Dimitri Payet to West Ham United, but it was City who managed to get the deal done – although not everyone down the training ground at Belvoir Drive were familiar with who he was. After one of his first training sessions with City, Kanté was standing in the car park outside the training ground when one of the security guards approached him. Reacting to Kanté looking a little lost, the security guard asked him: ‘Are you okay? Are you waiting for your parents to pick you up?’

This was City’s new £5.6 million signing, but when you meet Kanté it is easy to see how the mistake is made. He has a childlike quality as he is constantly smiling and has the appearance of someone who is just in awe of what is happening around him. As a result, his teammates have become very protective towards him, but he needs no protection on the pitch, where he is as fierce a competitor as City possess. Drinkwater has named him ‘the Rash’ because of his ability to be everywhere on the pitch, and his stats this season have shown it is an apt nickname. Walsh would later joke that City’s game plan was to play Drinkwater in the middle of midfield and Kanté either side of him. It has felt like there is more than one Kanté at times.

But he has shown he is much more than just a defensive midfielder, more than just a player who can put a foot in and win the ball. Kanté would quickly show the City fans that he can play as well, with his surging runs from midfield a key feature in City’s counter-attacking style. His performances would soon have the pundits, including France international Thierry Henry, declaring him the signing of the summer.