How a party in Thailand gave birth to Leicester City's historic title run

A controversial party in Thailand started a domino effect that led to the most incredible story in English football.

Chapter One: the miraculous escape

It's April 4th, 2014, and Leicester City sit dead last in the Premier League with 19 points from 29 matches, 7 points from safety although with a game in hand against league leaders Chelsea. They've been last since November and they seem to lack what it takes to survive, but Andy King's winner against West Ham gives the side a victory that had been lacking for three months.

Still too little to hope, but a week later the Foxes pull off a massive comeback win away at West Brom thanks to Huth and Vardy, and then defeat Swansea City and Burnley as well. Four weeks after the last international break of the season, Leicester have somehow jumped from dead last to 17th, and despite losing the game in hand against Chelsea they've managed to turn the season around in just a month.

Consecutive home wins against Newcastle and Southampton and a draw away at Sunderland clinch Leicester's spot in the Premier League with a match left, securing one of the greatest relegation escapes in the league's history. Over the last 9 matches of the season, the team won 22 points, three more than those won in the rest of the season.

Mahrez's double won Leicester the match against Southampton [ph: ESPN]

  

Chapter Two: the party 

Partly to celebrate the survival, mostly because they have sponsorship obligations there, Leicester City go on a end-of-season tour of Thailand, home country of billionaire owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. The Sunday Mirror obtains footage from a party which involved some Leicester players and local women, engaged in explicit acts. One of the players referred to one of the women as "slit eye", amongst other offensive comments and racial abuse directed at the women. As a result, Leicester City terminates the contracts of footballers Tom Hopper, Adam Smith and James Pearson.

Leicester City are massive in Thailand thanks to their Thai ownership [ph: AFP]

 

Nigel Pearson, manager of the club and father of James, gets the boot after six years at the club over two spells. In the first spell he brought Leicester from League One to the Championship playoffs, in the second he got them to safety in the Premier League, but this would not be enough to save his job. The club stated that "there were fundamental differences in perspective" between the board and the gaffer, which could mean he wasn't exactly sacked but rather both parties agreed that Pearson's involvement with Leicester City had to be cut off.

After Pearson's departure, Leicester City appoints the Italian Claudio Ranieri, who just came out of a not so brilliant spell as coach of the Greek National team where he managed only one draw in four matches. Regardless of that job, he had proven his quality in some great teams like Napoli after the departure of Maradona, at Fiorentina, at Valencia and at Chelsea just before the money started flowing in, but he never got it all right in order to win a league title.

 

Ranieri appointed as Leicester City's manager [ph: LCFC]

Chapter Three: the start to the season

After appointing Ranieri, the club started making moves in the transfermarket, signing some players that would eventually become club legends. N'Golo Kante joined from Caen, Robert Huth from Stoke City, Shinji Okazaki from Mainz and Christian Fuchs arrived at Leicester on a free transfer, strengthening a team that already featured Riyad Mahrez, Kasper Schmeichel and Jamie Vardy.

On matchday one, Leicester beat Sunderland 4-2 at King Power Stadium, and fans in the stadium ironically started chanting "we're gonna win the league". If only they knew... they probably would have bet a few quid on their 5000/1 odds. A week later, another win at Upton Park against West Ham made some heads turn: people started realising Leicester City were top of the league, although not taking it very seriously.

Student Karishma Kapoor actually bet £2 on Leicester winning it all [ph: Getty Images]

 

The unexpected start to Leicester's season kept them undefeated until late September, when Arsenal handed them their first defeat of the campaign and a heavy one at that, answering Vardy's opener with five goals and a 2-5 win at King Power. Despite the defeat, the striker was on some serious form: at this point he scored in four consecutive matches and was already at five league goals, and wasn't about to stop soon.

Leicester stumbled against Arsenal, but did not fall. Not facing any of the big 6 for a while, they took full advantage of the favourable schedule, amassing 16 points in the next six matches. Oh, yeah, I left out a small detail: Jamie Vardy scored in all six of them, equalling Ruud van Nistelrooy's record for the longest scoring run in Premier League history.

After 13 matches the standings show Leicester City in first place on 28 points, and Manchester United in second place on 27 points. Next match: Leicester City v Manchester United. Need I say anything?

 

The match ended 1-1, but Leicester had survived against a big club and kept their losses column at 1 going into December. Not bad for a side that was supposed to fight for survival.

Vardy's record streak eventually ended with that historic goal, but Mahrez's hat-trick at Swansea kept Leicester going, before both stars partnered up to beat champions Chelsea a week later. A double header in Liverpool over Christmas proved bittersweet: a 2-3 win at Goodison Park and a narrow defeat at Anfield on boxing day were good enough to keep the Foxes top of the table, two points over Arsenal and three over Manchester City.

Mahrez and Okazaki celebrate in the away win against Everton [ph: Getty Images]

 

And it was the Citizens the opposition on the last matchday of 2015. The Sky Blues were at this point even rumoured to be setting up a £30m offer for Vardy, but the match was goalless and all in all a good point for Leicester, who closed the first half of the league campaign on 39 points.

Chapter Four: the escape

January was a good month for Ranieri's side: eight points from four matches, including a win at Tottenham's White Hart Lane, kept Leicester on the right track and, effectively, clinched safety from relegation which was ultimately the main goal of the season. Sensing the chance to achieve a historic result, the club signed promising winger Demarai Gray from Birmingham City and midfielder Daniel Amartey from Copenhagen.

Leicester City, at 47 points and with a 3 point margin over Arsenal and Manchester City, approached the toughest string of matches in the schedule from the top of the table, ready to face the two title contenders and Liverpool, who were in the scrap for a European spot.

The match against the Scousers was decided by who at this point had become a cult hero all over the world, as Jamie Vardy scored a brace including a volley from 30 yards out which instantly went viral and can be found in any compilation produced ever since.

 

On February 6th the team travelled to Manchester to face City, who were now in second place after Arsenal slipped up. Robert Huth instantly set the pace with a header, then Mahrez went through City's defence like a knife through butter and Huth again added a third. Agüero pulled one back but it wasn't enough and Leicester secured the points, going five points clear of North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham, who came back into the picture with four straight wins.

On Valentine's day Leicester City had a date with history. A trip at the Emirates could potentially widen the gap at the top, and a Vardy penalty deceived the travelling fans that it could be happening. Unfortunately, Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck's goal in his first appearance in 10 months blew the title race wide open, as Tottenham beat Manchester City to join Arsenal two points behind the Foxes.

Just like in September, defeat to Arsenal didn't cut Leicester's legs. Ulloa's 89th minute winner against Norwich started a favourable run of games against struggling sides which once again opened the gap at the top. A new found defensive solidity proved vital: Kasper Schmeichel, with help from Captain Morgan, Huth and the fullbacks Simpson and Fuchs, kept a clean sheet in 11 games out of 15 between December and April. Honestly, these are champions numbers.

 

Huth, Morgan and Schmeichel were the backbone of Leicester's defensive structure

In spring Ranieri's men conquered five consecutive wins without conceding once, and by matchday 33 the Foxes had built a 7 point margin over Tottenham and a 10 point margin over Arsenal. At 72 points, they incredibly clinched a Champions League spot with five games to spare, and Ranieri gifted the press his famous "We're in Champions League, man! Dilly ding dilly dong, come on!".

 

Chapter Five: the good ending

On the next match against West Ham, Vardy scored and then earned two yellow cards, leaving his side with 10 men. A penalty from Ulloa in the last minute of added time saved Leicester City from defeat. Tottenham, winners at Stoke, closed the gap to five. Arsenal slipped up once again and were virtually out of the race, with 10 points too much to recover in four matches.

A Vardy-less Leicester didn't tremble: Mahrez and Ulloa ran riots against Swansea. A crucial 4-0 victory, combined with Tottenham 1-1 draw at West Brom, widened the gap to 7 points with just three matches left! A win was all the club needed to conquer its first ever league title, and once again, with history on the line, the opposition would be Manchester United.

 

Leicester 4-0 Swansea [ph: PA]

On May 1st at Old Trafford, before 75,000 spectators, Anthony Martial opened the scoring for the home side within ten minutes, but captain Wes Morgan's towering header equalled the match shortly after. In a tense encounter in which the Red Devils needed points for their European quest, the lock could not be forced open, and the points were shared. 

Tottenham was scheduled to play a day later, on Monday night, at Stamford Bridge against a Chelsea side that had nothing to play for but wanted to spoil the evening for the London rivals. Spurs legendary duo Kane and Son put the visitors two goals up by half time, and Vardy's watch-along party with his teammates seemed to be spoiled.

Gary Cahill, however, pulled one back for Chelsea, giving Leicester fans hopes to secure the title that very night. When Eden Hazard pulled a rabbit out of a hat and put it top bins, Vardy's house and the whole city of Leicester exploded, and when mr. Mark Clattenburg whistled full time on the London derby, the dream became real.

Leicester City, Champions of England. The 5000/1 odds had turned into reality (by the way, some Leicester fan actually won about £70k betting on his team), and football's biggest underdog story of the 21st century had come to life.

Schmeichel. Fuchs, Huth, Morgan and Simpson. Albrighton, Kanté, Drinkwater and Mahrez. Okazaki and Vardy. Manager: Claudio Ranieri. Those who have seen it, will never forget it. Those who haven't, will forever wish they did.

 

Usually I recommend similar articles but nothing comes close to what Leicester have done. However, if you're interested in underdog victories, I've got a Mjällby unpredictable title run and a Cienciano Copa Sudamericana triumph for you!