Premier League

The Long Farewell of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Part 2: Leicester City’s Incredible Run to Win the Premier League in 2016, Against All Odds

Vichai and Leicester City Premier League Champions
Out of nowhere: Vichai’s footmen stunned the world. Credit: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGE

Leicester City is famous for King Richard III, killed in the waning days of the War of the Roses and buried in Greyfriars Friary in Leicester.

But the Shakespearian take on the Leicester City Football Club (LCFC) and its famous run to the Premier League Championship in 2015 is less King Richard III’s “A horse! My kingdom for a horse,” and more King Henry V’s “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”

The untimely death of LCFC’s chairman, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha on October 27, 2018, was a sad story for the fans of LCFC and the community of Leicester City. But the global outpouring of grief for the family of Srivaddhanaprabha and LCFC fans is due to the historic run of the LCFC to the Premier League championship in the 2015-2016 season.

In arguably the most popular football league in the world, England’s Premier League has had, really, only four teams that win the championship: Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal. There has been only two teams outside of those four which have won the championship since the start of the Premier League in 1992. One of those is Leicester City, a team that has historically spent more time in lower divisions, and has never come close to the upper echelons of English football, and was 5,000 to 1 odds to become champions that year.

And yet, the Leicester City Foxes defied those odds.

English football is organized through a series of leagues that form a pyramid, the Premier League showcasing the best teams in England, followed by The English Football League, which has three levels: The Championship, League One and League Two. Based on performance, teams get promoted or demoted into leagues. Part of the incredible story of the LCFC is that Leicester City were in League One in 2008. And yet, in only 7 years, the Foxes climbed through two lower leagues to get to the Premier League in 2014. That season started poorly for Leicester City, and the team was threatened with demotion back to The Championship League, until they staged The Great Escape, winning seven of their final nine matches in 2015 to escape relegation.

Despite their great finish to stay in the Premier League, no one had any idea that Leicester City would become the most talked about football team in the world in the 2015-2016 campaign. Below are the details of Leicester City’s incredible run, which included a change in managers and the record-breaking goal-scoring feats of LCFC striker, Jamie Vardy.

  • Jul 13, 2015: Italian Claudio Ranieri becomes manager of the LCFC after the sacking of Nigel Pearson, whose issues off the field became untenable.
  • Aug 8: Leicester City 4 – Sunderland 2 (W) – first victory of the season
  • Sep 13: Leicester City 3 – Aston Villa 2 (W) come from 0-2 to win, is in second place behind Manchester City
  • Sept 19: Stoke City 2 – Leicester City 2 (T) down 0-2 and comes back to tie
  • Sept 26: Leicester City 2 – Arsenal 5 (L) drops LC to 8th place
  • Oct 3: Norwich City 1 – Leicester City 2 (W)
  • Oct 17: Southampton 2 – Leicester City 2 (T) again come back from 2 down; Jamie Vardy scores both, for goals in sixth game in a row
  • Oct 24: Leicester City 1 – Crystal Palace 0 (W) Vardy connects for 7th game in a row, LCFC climbs back up to 5th.
  • Nov 21: Newcastle United 0 – Leicester City 3 (W) Vardy scores the first goal and ties league record of goals in 10 consecutive games; LCFC moves to third, ahead of Manchester United
  • Nov 28: Leicester City 1 – Manchester United (T) Vardy scores the first goal to break the league record of goals scored in consecutive games – 11
Jamie Vardy
Jamie Vardy
  • Dec 26: Liverpool 1 – Leicester City 0 (L) After winning the next three, LCFC suffers their only their second loss of the season
  • Jan 23, 2016: Leicester City 3 – Stoke City 0 (W) After drawing against Manchester City and Bournemouth to reach 2nd place, LC defeats Stoke City convincingly to assume first place
  • Feb 2: Leicester City 2 – Liverpool 0 (W)
  • Feb 6: Manchester City 1 – Leicester City 3 (W)
  • Feb 14: Arsenal 2 – Leicester City 1 (L) Leicester City loses their third match of the season, but holding onto slim lead over Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. It is the last time the Foxes will lose in 2015.
  • Feb 27: Leicester City 1 – Norwich City 0 (W) in 89th minute Vardy scores the winning goal
  • Mar 1: Leicester City 2 – West Bromwich Albion 2 (T)
  • Mar 5: Watford 0 – Leicester City 1 (W)
  • Mar 14: Leicester City 1 – Newcastle United 0 (W)
  • Mar 19: Crystal Palace 0 – Leicester City 1 (W)
  • Apr 3: Leicester City 1 – Southampton 0 (W)
  • Apr 10: Sunderland 0 – Leicester City 2 (W)
  • Apr 17: Leicester City 2 – West Ham 2 United (T)
  • Apr 24: Leicester City 4 – Swansea City 0 (W) – 7points ahead of Hotspur, need 3 more for the title
  • May 1: Manchester United 1 – Leicester City 1 (T)
  • May 2: Tottenham 2 – Chelsea 2 (T) – Tottenham is up 2-0 at half-time, but Chelsea comes back to equalize, which means The Leicester City Foxes are the champions of the Premier League.
  • May 7: Leicester City 3 – Everton 1 (W)
  • May 15: Chelsea 1 – Leicester City 1 (T)
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What is the Impact of Brexit on Sports in the United Kingdom?

Prime Minister David Cameron
Prime Minister David Cameron to step down.

On Thursday, June 23, we learned of the surprising affirmation by its citizens to remove the United Kingdom from the roll call of the European Union. This monumental vote, often called Brexit, has shaken economists and politicos around the world like a slow-motion punch to the gut, one much of the world watched hit in agonizing disbelief.

I’m not a political scientist or an economist, so I will leave the significantly more important impacts of Brexit on the global economy and political stability to others. I will instead focus on Brexit’s impact on sport. As a few of you may already know, the Ryder Cup, the biennial Europe-vs-US golf tournament, to be held in the US in the Fall, will go on despite the fact that six of the nine players of Team Europe are British.

As was explained in this nifty and swift Ryder Cup press release, “the criteria for being European in Ryder Cup terms is a geographical one (ie from countries who make up the continent of Europe) not a political or economic one (ie countries who make up the EU).”

Whew.

Great Britain balloon
Going it alone.

But in the long-term, there are potential negative consequences of Brexit, particularly on the state of sports in the United Kingdom.

  • Potential Loss of European Stars: Membership in the EU means citizens in member nations can work in any other member nation without a work permit. There is currently speculation that some 400 European players who currently have the automatic right to play soccer in England in the Premier League may have difficulty getting visas to continue their play. If that is the case in the coming years, fewer stars from the Continent may play in GB, thus begging the question, will the quality of play in British soccer gradually diminish?
  • Probable Loss of Funding: The EU has a funding arm to develop grassroots sports throughout the Union called Erasmus+, which splits some €265million across the 28 member nations in the period from 2014 to 2020. According to this article, “British organisations received around €1.3m in Erasmus+ sports funding, a significant amount at the grassroots level.”
  • Possible Loss of Opportunity to Host Premier Sporting Events: More than 500,000 visitors from former fellow EU member countries visited England during the 2012 London Olympics, who spent some 300 million in pounds. Brexit right now makes Great Britain a less attractive venue to host a European or global athletic event as visa requirements will make entry to Great Britain slower, likely encouraging athletes and tourists alike to opt for easier options. Organizers of super sporting events may re-think any plans for London.

With a loss of stars, funding and world-class sporting events, thanks to Brexit, the United Kingdom will likely have to work harder to maintain sporting excellence in the decades to come.

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