One question has been asked repeatedly over the past few days and weeks, as the 10th anniversary of Leicester City’s Premier League title coincides with Leicester City’s new record low. If asked this question in 2015, would their supporters have accepted claiming their first top flight title in exchange for hitting rock bottom a decade later?
Naturally, the answer is “yes” without question. The more thoughtful answer is that it’s a meaningless question. There was no Faustian pact. Success and failure do not always come in pairs.
This is not simply a case of football’s natural rise and fall, and a golden age is not necessarily followed by a lean period. Leicester made a series of fatal mistakes, destroying the strong position they had built.
No one expected them to defend the title, but the club had every opportunity to cement themselves as a consistent contender for European football. I ended up throwing it away. Their fall from top flight champions to the third tier in 10 years is the second fastest in English football history, behind Derby’s nine-year collapse.
Nevertheless, there is little value in dwelling on that wasted opportunity. Nothing changes the fact that Leicester will be level in League One next season.
The real question that needs to be addressed is what being 2016 Premier League champions actually means for Leicester City, who are in League One. If you look at it through the prism of pessimism, it can be a millstone. It is the ultimate pinnacle that City or any other club will never surpass. No bookmaker will ever again offer odds of 5,000 to 1 for a Premier League side to win the title.
This insurmountable moment could weigh heavily on the club. We have reached the top. What’s the point in pushing beyond that?
However, if you look at it differently, could it be a source of motivation? This is without a doubt the greatest achievement in English football. Why not take advantage of that?
It was a magical season, as you can see in the new documentary 5,000-1: The Leicester City Fairytale. Every time I reread the story, that feeling comes back to me. Watching the strike, hearing Claudio Ranieri’s words at the press conference, and imagining the atmosphere inside the King Power Stadium and across the city during those nine months sends waves of euphoria through my entire body.
Reflecting on episodes from a campaign, whether they were important to a championship victory or something intimate and personal, can help supporters free themselves from despair and negative feelings.
But they don’t want their happiness to be purely about looking back. They want to live in positive times with those memories. But perhaps the title-winning story can energize future generations of Leicester’s squad.
This is a club and a city that has achieved the impossible. This is a venue where the impossible becomes reality. If there is evidence that it can provide optimal results, why not believe it? For next season, they return to where their title journey began.
In some cases, the road to glory is said to have begun when Ranieri was appointed manager. Perhaps it was Andy King’s late win against West Ham in the opening game of the great escape. Some might argue that Robert Foose joined on loan from Stoke in January 2015.
The acquisition of King Power could be the real beginning. But looking back, the real starting point was when the club dropped into League One for the first time in its history.
Leicester City’s Premier League victory was an upset that no one expected.
Following a series of finishes in the lower leagues of the Championship, relegation provided an opportunity to break everything and start fresh. They were treading water. It’s time to reshape, reorganize, and reconfigure. And that’s exactly what they did.
Eight years after Stoke’s goalless draw saw them drop to the third tier, Andrea Bocelli took to the pitch at the King Power Stadium to perform his Nessun Dolma and Wes Morgan hoisted the Premier League trophy aloft.
This is a story that we are very proud of, and one that we can keep the fire burning. It’s a story that inspires, inspires faith, and helps overcome hardship. Because here it all unfolded.
As Leicester prepare for life in League One and a sense of hopelessness hangs over the club, it’s worth looking back on their Premier League title win. Not in terms of subsequent events or missed opportunities, but in terms of what can be achieved from such an unlikely position.
They find themselves back where it all began. From here you can climb further to the highest heights. After all, Leicester is living proof of that.
