Britain Soccer Football - Leicester City v Everton - Barclays Premier League - King Power Stadium - 7/5/16 Leicester City's Riyad Mahrez celebrates winning the premier league as he kisses the trophy. - Reuters
WHEN Jamie Vardy received a red card in the 2-2 draw against West Ham a few week ago, I thought that Leicester City would throw away their lead at the top of the Barclays Premier League.
I thought that the club would crumble under all the expectations and pressure of winning the biggest prize in English football.
But I was so wrong and to tell you the truth, I have never been happier to have made a mistake.
I am pretty sure that, with the exception of Spurs fans, everyone was just delighted for the Foxes to win.
In a way they have emulated the likes of Montpellier in the 2011/12 season of the French League, Kaiserslautern in the 1997/98 season of the German League, Verona in the 1984/85 season of the Italian League and Bursaspor in the 2009/10 season of the Turkish league.
Montpellier and Kaisersulatern were newly promoted teams when they won their respective leagues while Verona and Bursaspor weren’t really setting their leagues alight.
Winning the league instead of a knock out tournament is no easy feat and you can’t rely on luck the whole season. As they say – the league table doesn’t lie.
It was much easier for an unheralded team to win a league competition back in the day. Not so now when the financial gap between the big teams and others keeps on widening.
So what Leicester have achieved is really unbelievable and great for football. And it couldn’t have happened for a nicer manager than Claudio Ranieri.
It’s a slap in the face for teams such as Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City who have spent big amounts of money to try and ensure success.
Leicester has molded a winning team by taking players who were “rejected” and doing proper scouting work.
But what happens next for Leicester? Will they be able to survive Champions League football and the league next season?
Personally, I don’t think they will be able to finish in the top four and that’s even if they manage to keep the likes of Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’golo Kante.
I feel they will be stretched next season with the many commitments they have and there will be a burden on their shoulders to keep on performing at the highest level.
The teams mentioned earlier were not able to replicate their successes in their respective leagues, and were almost one-hit wonders.
I just hope that this league win won’t end up being a curse for Leicester and that they will be battling relegation in a few years time.
In any case, lets just savour Leicester’s triumph and hope that our very own national team can one day qualify for the World Cup.
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