THE MAGIC OF RANIERI

Claudio Ranieri’s side are just one win away from clinching the Premier League title, as a win this weekend against Manchester United would see them crowned champions. But, just what has Ranieri’s secret been this season? The Foxes have undeniably been the best, and most surprising team all year. Who would have thought that at the beginning of the season Leicester, a team who had spent so long glued to the bottom of the table last season and who had only just clung on to Premiership survival, would be three points away from the title? I think that every neutral fan, and probably the majority of supporters up and down the country (although they may not openly admit it), deep down, want Leicester to win it. I know I do, I’m willing them on so desperately to do it. And it’s in the palm of their hands with three games remaining. From third tier football in 2009 to Premiership champions in 2016. You couldn’t have written it. I’m hooked on their success and how they’ve managed to go from relegation survivors to potential champions.

Ranieri fields pretty much the same team week in-week out, a team that at one point in the season, all together, cost less than the money Chelsea spent on Diego Costa. Yes, you read that right; Leicester’s whole team is less expensive than Costa. And they’re 29 points above his side in the table. Praise has to be given not only to the manager, who was in fact sacked by Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich in 2004 who thought he wasn’t talented enough to ever win the Premier League (how wrong he was), but to the man who brought all the talent to the club for such little money. Steve Walsh, Ranieri’s right hand man and head of recruitment could quite possibly be described as the driving force behind Leicester’s success, bringing the likes of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez the club. I’ve brought up these two players because, in my opinion, they’ve been the two stand out players for Leicester this season (alongside Danny Drinkwater who I also think has been magnificent). Where did Walsh find these players and how did he know they would make such an impact on his team and on the Premiership?

As a Halifax Town fan, I remember watching Vardy when he played for us about 5 years ago. He came to us from Stocksbridge Park Steels; he was relatively unknown and my first impressions of him as a person wasn’t great. But then I watched him play. I knew from that moment he was meant for big things. Everything he touched turned to magic; he was rapid and couldn’t half finish a goal. I watched him week in week out, tearing open the opposition’s defence and scoring some absolute belters. I knew we couldn’t keep him for too long, and it pained me the day he left. But I’m content in the knowledge that he made a name for himself at the Shay, so much so that league clubs were breathing down our necks for a long time before Fleetwood signed him. I didn’t know how he’d fair in the higher leagues, whether he’d relish the opportunity or not be up to their standard. He’s done us all proud at Halifax, rising from the Northern Premier League Premier Division to scoring his first goal for England in just 5 short years. He’s a role model for any lower league footballer who has faced rejection and who will keep on battling week in week out. An inspiration that the dream of representing your country and playing in the highest division is possible.

It’s not just Vardy’s story that is completely mesmerising, but Riyad Mahrez’s journey to becoming the PFA’s Player of the Year is also nothing short of outstanding. In 2009, Mahrez began his professional career by signing for a French side called Quimper Kerfeunteun FC. Who are they? I hear you ask. Well, they’re a team now playing in the 4^th division of the French football league system. He stayed there for a season before signing a contract with Ligue 2 side Le Havre AC, where he spent three years moving up through the ranks. It was his performances for Le Havre that caught the eye of Leicester’s management and they sealed the deal in 2014, bringing him into English football for the first time. Like Vardy, Mahrez was relatively unknown with a lot to prove. And proven a point he has. Scoring 16 goals and providing 11 assists so far this season, Mahrez has been named this year’s PFA Player’s Player of the Year. What an achievement. From playing for the reserve team at a French Ligue 2 club in 2010 to (fingers crossed) Premier League champion in 2016. The combined cost of both Vardy and Mahrez is substantially less than one player alone cost teams such as Manchester City and Liverpool. And that can be said for the rest of the team, it’s not just these two stand out players that have taken Leicester to where they are today.

Players such as Danny Drinkwater, Robert Huth and Mark Albrighton, who were all cast aside at their former clubs, have proved a massive point this season. What better way to say a big ‘stuff you’ to their previous teams for not believing in them, than to win the Premier League? The whole Leicester side has gelled together this year, proving that you don’t need to spend the big bucks to be a fantastic side. They were glued to the bottom of the Premiership for the majority of last season, but memorably managed a couple of shock results, like coming from two goals behind against Man U to beat them 5-3, perhaps showing the signs of brilliance to come. After all, it was their first season in the Premier League since 2004 and they had to settle in, right? A change in manager and everything transformed for the Foxes. We all knew Ranieri was a decent manager, but to do what he has done with Leicester is nothing short of magnificent. A win at Goodison Park on December 19 took the blues top of the table, a complete turnaround to what the table had looked like exactly a year earlier. Leicester were bottom that time last year. And from then on, they have ground out results. A lot of people, including myself, believed at some point they’d have to mess it up. I mean, they couldn’t actually win the Premiership could they? How wrong we all were. Three points away from the title with three games to go and I am willing them on with all my heart. Come on, Leicester!