Hard_Rom
Northumbrian Skald
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- Apr 24, 2014
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http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/leicester-city-1.3563271
Whenever sporting fans say they dare to dream in the future, Leicester City shows they really can. Sometimes it just takes a long, long time. Leicester has now given hope to sports fans the world over after its astonishing rise to win the Premier League.
Whenever athletes face richer rivals with more talent and vast trophy hauls, the tale of this unassuming soccer club will inspire underdogs to believe they too can achieve the impossible dream. This uplifting tale of underdog vanquishing the mighty will reverberate through the decades. The phrase "doing a Leicester" will now enter the sporting lexicon.
Having only just avoided relegation, Leicester started the season as 5,000-1 outsiders to win the Premier League. The assortment of unheralded bargain-buys was never meant to win the title. But the Foxes accomplished just that on Monday, confirmed as first-time champions of England by second-place Tottenham drawing 2-2 at Chelsea to hold an insurmountable seven-point lead with two games remaining.
Fueling the surge was Jamie Vardy, who scored in a record 11 consecutive Premier League games. This is a 28-year-old striker Leicester spotted at non-league Fleetwood Town in 2012 and who had once been earning only 30 pounds ($45) while combining playing on uneven pitches in front of a few hundred fans with manual labor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leicester_City_F.C.#2015.E2.80.932016:_Premier_League_Champions
Leicester City Football Club /ˌlɛstər ˈsɪti/, also known as the Foxes, are an English professional football club based in Leicester at the King Power Stadium.[2] They play in the Premier League, having been promoted as champions of the Football League Championship in 2013–14, signalling a return to the top flight of English football after a decade away. They are the current Premier League champions, winning the title for the first time in 2015–16.
During the 2014-15 season, a dismal run of form saw the team slip to the bottom of the league table with only 19 points from 29 games. By 3 April 2015 they were 7 points adrift from safety. It seemed that an immediate return to the Championship was on the cards, but an amazing turn of fortune, with seven wins from their final nine league games, meant that the Foxes finished the season in 14th place with 41 points. They finished the season with a 5–1 thrashing of relegated Queens Park Rangers. This completed, mathematically, the best escape from relegation ever seen in the Premier League, as no team with fewer than 20 points from 29 games had previously stayed up. They also became only the third team in Premier League history to survive after being bottom at Christmas (the others were West Brom in 2005 and Sunderland in 2014).
On 30 June 2015, however, Pearson was sacked, with the club stating that "the working relationship between Nigel and the Board is no longer viable." The sacking was linked to a number of PR issues involving Pearson throughout the season, with the final straw involving his son James' role in a racist sex tape made by three Leicester City reserve players in Thailand during a post-season goodwill tour
Leicester City reacted swiftly by appointing former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri as their new manager for the new 2015–16 Premier League season.[44] Under Ranieri the club made an exceptional start to the season. Striker Jamie Vardy scored 13 goals over 11 consecutive games from August to November, breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy's Premier League record of scoring in 10 consecutive games. On 19 December Leicester defeated Everton 3–2 at Goodison Park to top the Premier League on Christmas Day having been bottom exactly 12 months earlier. A 2–0 victory at Sunderland on 10 April, coupled with Tottenham's 3–0 win over Manchester United, ensured Leicester's qualification for the Champions League for the first time in their history.[47]. Leicester won the Premier League on 2 May 2016, after Tottenham Hotspur failed to secure a win against Chelsea.[48] Leicester's title win was secured despite bookmakers offering odds of 5,000-1 for it at the start of the season. Described as one of British sport's biggest surprises, the victory attracted global attention for the club and the city of Leicester.
http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2016/04/02/richard-iii-leicester-soccer-football
For the superstitious types, the reburial of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral is noted as the beginning of Leicester' s run for the title. Facing relegation the club won 7 in a row to remain in the Premier League last season after the re-internment of the 'infamous' king.
Whenever sporting fans say they dare to dream in the future, Leicester City shows they really can. Sometimes it just takes a long, long time. Leicester has now given hope to sports fans the world over after its astonishing rise to win the Premier League.
Whenever athletes face richer rivals with more talent and vast trophy hauls, the tale of this unassuming soccer club will inspire underdogs to believe they too can achieve the impossible dream. This uplifting tale of underdog vanquishing the mighty will reverberate through the decades. The phrase "doing a Leicester" will now enter the sporting lexicon.
Having only just avoided relegation, Leicester started the season as 5,000-1 outsiders to win the Premier League. The assortment of unheralded bargain-buys was never meant to win the title. But the Foxes accomplished just that on Monday, confirmed as first-time champions of England by second-place Tottenham drawing 2-2 at Chelsea to hold an insurmountable seven-point lead with two games remaining.
Fueling the surge was Jamie Vardy, who scored in a record 11 consecutive Premier League games. This is a 28-year-old striker Leicester spotted at non-league Fleetwood Town in 2012 and who had once been earning only 30 pounds ($45) while combining playing on uneven pitches in front of a few hundred fans with manual labor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leicester_City_F.C.#2015.E2.80.932016:_Premier_League_Champions
Leicester City Football Club /ˌlɛstər ˈsɪti/, also known as the Foxes, are an English professional football club based in Leicester at the King Power Stadium.[2] They play in the Premier League, having been promoted as champions of the Football League Championship in 2013–14, signalling a return to the top flight of English football after a decade away. They are the current Premier League champions, winning the title for the first time in 2015–16.
During the 2014-15 season, a dismal run of form saw the team slip to the bottom of the league table with only 19 points from 29 games. By 3 April 2015 they were 7 points adrift from safety. It seemed that an immediate return to the Championship was on the cards, but an amazing turn of fortune, with seven wins from their final nine league games, meant that the Foxes finished the season in 14th place with 41 points. They finished the season with a 5–1 thrashing of relegated Queens Park Rangers. This completed, mathematically, the best escape from relegation ever seen in the Premier League, as no team with fewer than 20 points from 29 games had previously stayed up. They also became only the third team in Premier League history to survive after being bottom at Christmas (the others were West Brom in 2005 and Sunderland in 2014).
On 30 June 2015, however, Pearson was sacked, with the club stating that "the working relationship between Nigel and the Board is no longer viable." The sacking was linked to a number of PR issues involving Pearson throughout the season, with the final straw involving his son James' role in a racist sex tape made by three Leicester City reserve players in Thailand during a post-season goodwill tour
Leicester City reacted swiftly by appointing former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri as their new manager for the new 2015–16 Premier League season.[44] Under Ranieri the club made an exceptional start to the season. Striker Jamie Vardy scored 13 goals over 11 consecutive games from August to November, breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy's Premier League record of scoring in 10 consecutive games. On 19 December Leicester defeated Everton 3–2 at Goodison Park to top the Premier League on Christmas Day having been bottom exactly 12 months earlier. A 2–0 victory at Sunderland on 10 April, coupled with Tottenham's 3–0 win over Manchester United, ensured Leicester's qualification for the Champions League for the first time in their history.[47]. Leicester won the Premier League on 2 May 2016, after Tottenham Hotspur failed to secure a win against Chelsea.[48] Leicester's title win was secured despite bookmakers offering odds of 5,000-1 for it at the start of the season. Described as one of British sport's biggest surprises, the victory attracted global attention for the club and the city of Leicester.
http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2016/04/02/richard-iii-leicester-soccer-football
For the superstitious types, the reburial of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral is noted as the beginning of Leicester' s run for the title. Facing relegation the club won 7 in a row to remain in the Premier League last season after the re-internment of the 'infamous' king.
