This liveblog is now coming to a close. Thanks for all your emails and posts below the line. You can find full coverage and further updates on Leicester City here.
Pictures just in from Leicester’s squad going out for lunch at the San Carlo Pizzeria in the city. They’re not alone …
Updated
José Mourinho has offered his congratulations to Leicester and Claudio Ranieri, via a CAA Sports UK statement which read:
I want to congratulate everyone connected to LCFC; players, staff, owners and fans. I lost my title to Claudio Ranieri and it is with incredible emotion that I live this magic moment in his career.
A bit different to his comments in 2008, when he described Ranieri as having “the mentality of someone who doesn’t need to win”:
He is almost 70 years of age. He has won a Supercup and another small trophy, and he is too old to change his mentality.
The latest Football Weekly podcast is here, with James Richardson joined by John Ashdown, Paolo Bandini, Philippe Auclair and Iain Macintosh to discuss all things Leicester.
Updated
Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri and his players have been talking after making it in for training today. Ranieri:
It means the job is good. I am very, very happy now because maybe if I won this title at the beginning of my career maybe I would forget. Now I am an old man I can feel it much better.
I said every time I am very happy for the fans, for the chairman and for all the Leicester community. I don’t know the secret. The players, the heart, the soul and how they play. My message to the fans is now to keep going, we want to improve a lot.
Midfielder Danny Drinkwater on watching the title being secured:
It was brilliant, all the lads were together whilst it happened and it kind of sums us up as a group of lads. I’ve not [known a bond like it], and I think the rest of the lads would answer the question the same. It’s a special moment for us lot.
Vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha on what comes next:
We are not a team who produces players to be developed later by other teams. All players want to stay and keep on fighting together to see how far they can go. So selling players is not on our agenda.
Updated
And some more reading/viewing, for you:
Summary
The time has come for me to celebrate Leicester’s win by having lunch. In the past few hours we’ve learned:
- Leicester City’s Thai owners are pledging to do their best to keep their title-winning squad in place for next season.
- Unsurprisingly, the winning team gathered for a mega-party at the home of striker Jamie Vardy last night, documented on Instagram, on Twitter, and, speculatively, by Guardian cricket writer Elizabeth Ammon.
- Peter Soulsby, the directly elected Mayor of Leicester, said the team’s success was a bigger boost to the city than reburial of Richard III.
- Gary Lineker has corrected his earlier scepticism over the appointment of Claudio Ranieri as LCFC boss. It was just a slip of the thumb, honest...
- One Leicester City fan has walked away from a £5 bet on his home team, placed at the beginning of the season, with enough cash for a downpayment on a house.
I just scoured my spam folder and found a whole hidden bunch of Leicester City fans who had sent celebratory emails. In no particular order, let’s start with Simon Lake, from Australia, who for some reason is reminded of Basic Instinct. Why? Read on:
I’m writing from a foxhole in Brisbane having taken an emergency day’s leave to help soak up the events of this morning, along with the previous nine months. I’m currently ‘Home Alone’ with my friends ‘Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner’ (see below). It’s difficult to know where to begin except to say that I’ve felt compelled to utilise the ‘Love’ icon on Facebook for the first time. It’s also the first time I’ve ever submitted an e-mail to a ‘Blog’. Do I get a badge or something? I’m not sure how this area of life operates - must I cough up a special memory to get it published? Would it help if I told you that the first ‘18’ rated film I saw at the cinema was ‘Basic Instinct’ and I had my sleeping bag in tow? The film was utter tosh but it whiled away a couple of hours before heading down to Filbert Street where tickets were going on sale the following morning for Leicester’s 1992 Wembley play-off final against Blackburn Rovers. Arriving at 11pm, I thought we were early, only to find we were still down the street and around the corner. I also thought we were well prepared until a couple rocked up with a double bed and proceeded to assemble it on the pavement. I was mildly surprised that someone didn’t appear in the morning to serve them breakfast!
There have been highs and lows, but as the saying goes: ‘Foxes Never Quit’. So proud of Claudio and team! As an aside, if any of your readers are travelling to Leicester from Brisbane this weekend, have a spare airline ticket and want to talk football all the way, then I’m your man! I’m totally happy to travel economy and am confident that I could offer a ‘good time’. I need to be back for work on Monday though! Is that asking a lot?
Paul Lennon writes from Moscow, where he teaches theory of knowledge at the city’s Anglo-American School. He expects to see Leicester tops cropping up in PE soon:
Working at The Anglo American School here in Moscow means we see all the different football shirts on display every day in PE. To this point not one Leicester top! Soon to change after last night and the season as a whole.
A brilliant example to these young people from 60 odd different countries that leadership, team work, belief, quality, tactical intelligence, speed, movement and fitness can provide a platform for impossible dreams to come true.
Welcome to visit our School any time King Claudio!
Elsewhere in Russia, in the town of Votinsk, in the Udmurt Republic, Andrew Beznosov is celebrating with fish pie. He writes:
Hello from Russian town Votkinsk, where we are celebrating this incredible victory! This is a fishy pie with ‘lavrushka’.
Arne Anka from Sweden says he can finally hold his head up around his friends who support Premier League big dogs like Liverpool and Manchester United:
I started watching English football in the 1970s on Swedish television as a teenager, and then, for some reason, LCFC became my team. I followed them through good and bad, both in England and on TV and thought that the two League cups would be the best they’d ever do. And my Swedish friends, all ManU, Liverpool, Arsenal etc fans...they have always asked me why? Why do you support that team??? Now they know!!!! .I’ve been up all night...Party Vardy Party LCFC!
And finally, a rebuke from one reader who objects to the inclusion of glory-hunting politicians who have appeared on this blog. Marco Grandi writes:
It would be good if you avoid giving coverage to politicians (whether left or right / Labour or tory) who congratulates Leicester or tries to get onto Leicester bandwagon. It is ridiculous and an insult to us fans. Zac Goldsmith as you put it does not even know where QPR plays, and it would probably have no idea what LCFC has achieved. Somebody has written him a script this morning so that he can connects with normal people in his messages. Be adult, be intelligent, and avoid putting that shit up. Thanks.
The news is still sinking in for Leicester fans. This contribution comes from Prakash Shah, who doesn’t give his location but I’m guessing he’s a Leicester man:
I’ve followed Leicester for 37 years. I went to my first game when Gordon Milne was in charge and Steve Lynex and Alan Smith were leading the line. My friends and I used to walk home up the treelined New Walk dissecting the game and dodging the police cordon for the away fans around the station. This was at the old Filbert St and we’d recall moments of games past, always dreaming of this day. This feeling that Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool fans (at least the older ones) and CIty feel is their right was always just a dream for us. Just a dream. It isn’t today. I didn’t go to many games this year, with kids and family and working away it just isn’t possible, but inside, there’s still that hope, then nerves and last night ... realisation. I had a silent mosh pit around my living room (as the family were in bed - it’s a school night) with my arms aloft. That’s the feeling I want as a fan. That’s why I love football. Dreams and feelings. Now we have a title. We made history. We’ll never be forgotten and I’ll remember. I have this. Wow.
And the Foxes’ army of overseas fans are still writing in, as well. Saurav Samaddar, from India, says he hopes the credit for the victory will go to Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri.
I hope this title gives Ranieri his due as one of the great tacticians of the game. Discussions about his (hopefully now dead) reputation as a nearly man have always ignored the fact that in nearly each of those cases, he had his teams punching above their weight, as opposed to underachieving and falling short. Leicester’s team spirit which was carefully maintained and honed is a significant part of this success, but so is Ranieri getting the tactics just right each time.
Also, hope Nigel Pearson is invited to the celebrations to acknowledge his contributions to the making of this team.
More on Jamie Vardy’s Premier League party last night. Admittedly, this one is pure speculation by our cricket writer, Elizabeth Ammon.
The recycling bin outside Jamie Vardy's house this morning pic.twitter.com/iuLXdSuqof
— Elizabeth Ammon (@legsidelizzy) May 3, 2016
Leicester City’s Premier League won led to a near doubling of Twitter activity in the UK, the microblogging service has said.
According to Twitter’s data team, there were 5.5m tweets sent in response to the Foxes’ unexpected victory last night. They have put together this special tribute visualisation made out of congratulatory tweets from fans around the world.
Twitter activity in the UK surged 86% beyond its normal level, Twitter said, with as many tweets mentioning the word “party” as there were at last New Year’s Eve.
Leicester’s own victory Tweet became one of the most retweeted sporting tweets in Twitter history, collecting more than 380,000 retweets by the time of writing.
Leicester City. Champions of England. pic.twitter.com/WRwfysTn2N
— Leicester City (@LCFC) May 2, 2016
Gambling Leicester fan walks away with enough winnings for a house deposit
Life-changing is a bit of hyperbole that gets bandied around quite a lot in sports coverage. But for one Leicester fan, Lee Herbert, the Foxes’ win has quite literally changed his life.
Herbert was prescient enough to lay a £5 bet on Leicester winning the Premier League right at the start of the season, when they were battling odds of 5,000-1. Now, after cashing in part of the bet early, he’s walked away with £20,600, which he says he will use as the downpayment on a house for him and his fiancee.
Asked what spurred him to place the bet, Herbert told Radio 5 Live this morning:
I’d seen them come up from the Championship and they played brilliant in the Championship. They were trying to find their feet in their first season in the Premier League and they pulled off the great escape. And then they got Ranieri in as manager, and I just thought they have got something there, I could tell. I saw the odds at 5,000-1 and just thought however’s put those odds on are not giving them enough credit.
Herbert admitted that he was plagued with the temptation to cash in his bet early, despite early in the season telling himself he would let it ride all the way to the finish. “But when it got to Easter the cash-out value was £14,500, and being a Leicester fan you get let down sometimes,” he said. “I just thought I could lose everything.”
He took two pounds out - netting him winnings of £5,600 - and let the remaining £3 go all the way. Asked what he would do with the cash, Herbert said:
I’m going to enjoy some of it. We are going to have a party next Saturday. But most of the money is going to go towards a deposit on a house for me and Kerry, my fiancee.
Updated
The Leicester City bandwagon is rolling, and politicians are keen to jump on.
Tory London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith, who has taken a hammering over accusations of racial stereotyping in his campaign against Labour rival Sadiq Khan, told LBC News this morning that he is hoping to replicated the Foxes’ unexpected success.
Zac Goldsmith says “I’m hoping to do a bit of a Leicester City, zoom in from behind and win” https://t.co/ccRUGeu5ZW pic.twitter.com/OuMlLVeSxm
— LBC (@LBC) May 3, 2016
As my colleague Matthew Weaver points out, this from the man who man who didn’t know which football team plays at Loftus Road...
Foxes fans from around the World continue to get in touch with their stories, including this beautiful scene described by Leicester City fan Sunil Suri, who was at Stamford Bridge last night. Sunil writes:
I was at Old Trafford on Sunday and thought I’d chance it and get a ticket to the Chelsea-Spurs game. I was sat in Shed End lower tier with the Chelsea fans who made it feel like a Leicester home game. I was wearing my Leicester shirt and so become something of an adopted mascot. Towards the end of the game someone lifted me onto their shoulders and hundreds of fans pointed at me and sang “Leicester City, we’ll win it for you”. It was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, my phone was dead, so I was wondering if you could put this on your live blog on the off chance that one of the many Chelsea fans who filmed the scene/took a photo might send it in to you. If not, never mind, somewhat etched in my memory.
Thanks for the live blog, I’ve barely slept all night and now ran out to get the morning papers. Still real.
Comments and congratulations are coming in from all around the world. Abishek Dubey emailed us from Hong Kong to say:
Been a crazy year. Expected the foxes to reach the Champions league, but this is unbelievable.
Even after watching the players celebrate at vardy’s place, I felt like this is all a dream.
I guess until I don’t see Wes Morgan lifting the trophy, I won’t believe it.
Morgan, the same guy who gave away a penalty at Anfield last year when the ball hit his face. I am not laughing anymore.
Richard Leong emailed with this comment:
Arsenal fan from Vancouver, Canada, now living in Brunei...what an amazing season for the Foxes. Gripping drama this season! A story for the ages.
And Nelson Zacharia, who didn’t give his location, simply said:
The king of the year no one like this :::::yeah I’m very surprised
Updated
BreatheSport points out a curious synchronicity in the careers of Leicester City keeper Kasper Schmeichel and his father, Peter, the great Manchester United goalie.
May 2nd 1993: Peter Schmeichel wins 1st PL title aged 29
— BreatheSport (@BreatheSport) May 2, 2016
May 2nd 2016: Kasper Schmeichel wins 1st PL title aged 29 pic.twitter.com/AzgFQzCNnL
Of course, Peter went on to win a string of other titles with Utd, including the treble in 1999. Will his son go on to have such a glittering career?
Despite the gravitas of yesterday’s Spurs-Chelsea clash, and its implications for Leicester, Claudio Ranieri had chilled day. He told Sky News:
I had lunch with my mother and at 8 o’clock I watched the match
Asked what the first title means to him, Ranieri replied:
It means the job is good. I’m very happy now. Maybe if I had won this title at the beginning of my career I would have forgot. But now I am an old man, I can celebrate
Keith Vaz pops up everywhere.
Keith Vaz is here pic.twitter.com/Rthj9fSvb9
— Paul Kelso (@pkelso) May 2, 2016
More Twitter tomfoolery: Two weeks ago Harry Kane, striker for Premiership runners-up Spurs, posted a picture of a pride of lions, apparently suggesting they would hunt down the Foxes and snatch the title from them.
Then, on Monday night, Tottenham threw away a two-goal lead against Chelsea, sealing Leicester’s spot at the top of the table. Foxes striker Jamie Vardy replied thus:
.... pic.twitter.com/nnwmRyOg6y
— Jamie Vardy (@vardy7) May 2, 2016
Pride comes before a fall...
Here’s a tweet by Guardian sport editor James Dart, showing the two posts side-by-side:
🦁🦁🦁 pic.twitter.com/5Ddv04srwN
— James Dart (@James_Dart) May 2, 2016
Claudio Ranieri’s triumph at Leicester has some of his early critics now doing a quick reverse-ferret.
At the time of Ranieri’s appointment, the former England star turned football pundit and Walker’s Crisps man Gary Lineker tweeted: “Claudio Ranieri? Really?” Now, he claims that tweet slipped out before he had a chance to finish...
Here is a bit more cribbed from Radio 4’s coverage this morning by Matt Weaver:
Sir Dave Brailsford, the former performance director of British Cycling, said Leicester’s success is a “fantastic case study in sport” that all sports teams can learn from.He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that British Cycling has been trying to analyse how it can follow Leicester’s example as it prepares for the Olympic games.
“Our sports science guys were up here a month and a half ago meeting with the guys here and having a look at what’s going on - that’s sport we all trying and learn from each other,” he said.
Brailsford added: “The refreshing thing about this particularly story is that it just goes against every thing – the established norms and the conventional wisdom about how to win the premier league. It just shatters everything that everybody has established. So it just an exciting opportunity to learn.
“There’s an old saying in sport that the star team will always beat the team of stars. You quite often hear people saying that, and it’s very rarely seen in fact, but this is a really good example of that.’
“They obviously had the talent, but the recruitment of that talent, how did they identify that talent, how did they pull it together, how did they developed goal clarity. The journey they went through was exciting, they built momentum, Vardy’s run of scoring goals, that gave them belief and you could see the belief growing all the time. So it is just a fantastic case study in sport.”
My sports desk colleague Stuart James has written the inside story of Leicester’s improbable season, including details of Claudio Ranieri’s appointment, the club’s unorthodox training and injury-recovery regimens, and the tricks that brought them the Premier League title. Here’s a taster:
In July last year Claudio Ranieri was enjoying a break in Italy when he received a phone call from Steve Kutner, his agent, that would end up changing the face of English football in a way no one could have imagined. Kutner had been attempting to convince Jon Rudkin, Leicester City’s director of football, that Ranieri was worth considering as the Premier League club’s new manager and finally there was news of a breakthrough.
Ranieri was out of work at the time but keen to return to management, in particular in England, where he had fond memories from his time in charge of Chelsea and still owned a property in London going back to those days at Stamford Bridge more than a decade earlier. Several Championship clubs had been sounded out without success when Nigel Pearson’s sacking at Leicester presented Kutner and Ranieri with a window of opportunity.
Kutner sensed that Leicester were sceptical about Ranieri, yet he refused to be discouraged. He submitted Ranieri’s CV, listing the distinguished clubs the 64-year-old had managed, together with his record – a Copa del Rey and Super Cup winner with Valencia, Coppa Italia winner at Fiorentina, plus second-place finishes in the Premier League, Ligue 1 and twice in Serie A – and kept chipping away. “I just wanted to get Claudio in front of them, because I was sure that they would be impressed,” Kutner says.
Leicester mayor: Premier League win a bigger boost than Richard III reburial
Peter Soulsby, the directly elected Mayor of Leicester, said the team’s success was a bigger boost to the city than reburial of Richard III.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he said:
Barely 12 months ago we were reburying Richard III in our cathedral and we thought it couldn’t get any better we had the eyes of the world on us at that time. And that has made a major boost to the economy - they reckon many tens of millions of pounds have come in on the back of that. We didn’t think it could get any better, well it has, the premier league is even bigger than that...
It has been said that we are somehow being repaid for having reburied King Richard with dignity and honour in our cathedral. I suspect the reality is that it is down to a brilliant team and amazing leadership from two managers - Nigel Pearson and now Claudio Ranieri.
Soulsby also portrayed Leicester’s success as a victory for multiculturalism.
It is probably the most diverse city anywhere in Europe and many people in Leicester see the team as a metaphor for the city, showing what you can achieve when you bring together a very diverse group of people who others have written off.
Updated
More details are emerging of the Leicester squad’s big party last night. It looks like it was a good one. Here’s Wes Morgan, Leicester’s captain, who is so delighted he has had to have a lie down.
MUST WATCH: Wes Morgan, Leicester City's captain, at Jamie Vardy's party last night 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/Mn054McVHq
— Copa90 (@Copa90) May 3, 2016
Explaining the gravity of Leicester City’s win to those ignorant of football needs some creative thinking. Siddarth Upasani, of India, was on the phone to a London-based friend last night when he came up with a world-class comparison outlining just how unlikely it was. He told me in an email:
I was on the phone last night, talking to a friend studying in London, while watching Chelsea-Spurs. She isn’t interested in football amazingly. Anyway, once Hazard scored, I interrupted her rather rudely and said: ‘Listen, you need make sure you keep this in mind for tomorrow so that you don’t feel left out. Leicester City, a football club, have won the Premier League.’
She asked if this was big news. Exasperated, I explained as follows: ‘Imagine Afghanistan winning the Cricket World Cup. And we are still nowhere near describing Leicester’s victory.’
How do you party when you’ve just won the Premier League? Becky Vardy, wife of Foxes striker Jamie Vardy, has given us a bit of insight with this Instagram snippet of the celebrations in Leicester last night.
Leicester City’s Thai owners are hoping to resist attempts by bigger teams to pick off the cream of their league-winning squad, according to AP.
Big-money suitors are expected to come calling for star players including midfielders Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante, striker Jamie Vardy and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. But, speaking on Thai television, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, son of club chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, said:
We are not a team who produces players to be developed later by other teams. All players want to stay and keep on fighting together to see how far they can go. So selling players is not on our agenda.
Aiyawatt said that when his father bought the Foxes, winning the league “was not what we dared to dream”. He went on:
He was already proud of being the owner of an English Premier League team. Now he has owned an English Premier League Champion team, he can’t be prouder. I have to say on his behalf that he has managed the club with his heart and he just hopes to gain a reputation for the country.
The owners are already planning a visit to Thailand, even though a a similar visit last year resulted in some youth team players involved in a scandal which contributed to the firing of manager Nigel Pearson. Aiyawatt said:
They are coming to Thailand very, very soon. This is unbelievable. Thai people should be given a lot of credit as all players acknowledge how much support they have been given.
Updated
Leicester City are minnows in the Premier League, but they still have fans all over the world. The Indo Foxes are the LCFC’s Indonesian supporters club, and they are delighted that their team has finally lifted the trophy.
In an email, they write:
This Incredible great, we can not express in words. Leicester is the greatest underdog I’ve ever seen during our life. We enjoyed every match and our dreams will come true. Unbelievable
Good morning! Damien Gayle here picking up the live blog reins.
As football fans and family around the world celebrate the unlikely Premiership win by Leicester City, it seems that some can’t resist a bit of schadenfreude:
Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has told BBC Radio London that he's happy to have ruined Tottenham's chances of winning the Premier League.
— BBC London Sport (@BBCLondonSport) May 3, 2016
Summary
I’m passing over the live blog, seamlessly, to my colleague Damien Gayle in London. It’s been a pleasure steering you through from Sydney; thanks again for all your messages.
Oh, and in summary:
Leicester City have won the Premier League title.
Bye for now.
The emails from happy-crying readers keep coming and before I hand over to a London colleague, there’s time for another best-of round-up.
(Thanks to all of those who’ve contacted me, it’s been a joy reading your messages. Sorry I couldn’t feature them all.)
Pater Edmund Waldstein messages to say:
I’m a Cistercian monk in Austria, and a Liverpool fan, but I am so pleased about Leicester. I’ve even written a blogpost about it.
Now, I don’t write football live blogs very often, but I’m going to stick my neck out and say a contribution from a Cistercian monk is a first. Welcome!
Gaurav Pandit emails:
Congratulations to Leicester City from someone born in India, living in the US and vacationing in Mauritius, and is a Chelsea fan. Not that Chelsea should get any credit for their great achievement, but I am glad we did our bit.
It feels great to hand over the trophy to City - there is no shame in it. Given how Chelsea season unfolded, this is the best outcome we could hope for. A fairytale to remember for years!
Tom McMahon drops into my inbox from Pinawa, Manitoba, Canada:
Every true sports fan in the world must have been cheering for “Lester” and Vardy and “soccer”! We love sports because we believe miracles do happen! Today, Leicester is king of the world!
And Deepak Nandhakumar adds:
12 noon here in Kerala, India. Have just woken up after watching the match till 2am (its all right, I’m on study leave!). Just sitting here reading all about Leicester with a big, stupid smile on my face. Lifelong Man U fan but have been rooting for the Foxes from the start of the season. Finally found my 2nd team (Soon to be first if Man U continue the decline).
Wanted to write loads more about the incredible stories surrounding this season, but I’m ending it with this: Well done, the Foxes. Champions League awaits …
Updated
Because today is going to echo to the sound of people saying “dilly ding, dilly dong”, you might as well find out what it means:
Aha, here’s that Richard III Leicester tribute from the front of Tuesday’s Guardian print edition. A snippet here but click below for the full experience:
Since Leicester was my final resting place,
Following my reverse at Bosworth Field,
The Foxes have became my second love,
A steady passion for my vulpine ways.
And after last year’s fight with relegation
How sweet the plaudits of a smitten nation.
Someone give Gary Lineker a pinch:
I had this incredible dream last night. It was a dream, wasn't it?
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) May 3, 2016
A mood-lifting round-up here from my global colleagues featuring some of the stories from this blog as Leicester’s win reverberated from Dunedin to Dhaka, from China to Canada:
As daylight moves west, the world has woken up to a miracle in the British Midlands, gradually celebrated across the Earth by millions who love English football. Or indeed any football.
Read it all here:
Tuesday’s Italian newspapers join in the general adulation for King Claudio. I mean, Emperor might have been a better gag. But it’s their call:
Italian papers hail "King Claudio" #LCFC pic.twitter.com/CRvXDnVoas
— Richard Conway (@richard_conway) May 3, 2016
Updated
Readers, with these emails you are spoiling me. Here’s some more of your messages.
Saurya Sengupta writes from Kolkata, India:
Leicester’s win has pretty much all of us here who’ve ever watched a game of football in bawling like babies. My girlfriend who doesn’t follow football made it a point to keep track of their matches and hope and pray that they’d win. I don’t think India’s ever come together in such alliance for any football team (since our national team does nothing) – and that’s A LOT of support.
This win is definitely one for Ranieri, the perennial nice guy of management … But, it’s also a message to journalists across the world (looking at you, Guardian :P) to stop trying to predict outcomes in football, especially in leagues. It isn’t even as if Leicester were an exception. Spurs were given no shouts of finishing in the top four, very few thought Newcastle would be battling against the drop, and the less said about Chelsea, the better.
Point taken.
Basnet Govinda, who runs the Leicester City Nepal fans Facebook page, has been in touch to say:
I’m being a great fan of Leicester City football club … So I can proudly said that the offiical fan club from Nepal was managed by me … hurrayyy.”
Robben, also in Nepal, has dropped me a line too:
As a lifelong Chelsea fan from Nepal, with the earthquake and the poor season I had to endure, today’s fight by our team to hand Leicester the title was simply glorious. Tears rolling down with every story people are sharing on your feed!
And John Palethorpe messages from New Zealand:
Blimey! Kids at the school I teach at in Auckland have slowly been learning about Leicester this season – we’ve gone from them pretending to be Rooney and Hazard to Jamie Vardy and Mahrez. Not seen a shirt yet, but it’s only a matter of time …
I saw Wes Morgan play for Forest against Northampton in League One 10 years ago – if you’d told me then that he’d captain a Prem winning side, I’d have laughed.
I’m still laughing now though. What a story. Nice one Claudio.
Dilly dong: the wisdom of Claudio Ranieri
Courtesy of Press Association, here are the Leicester boss’s most … characterful quotes of the season. Somebody get this man on Twitter, sharpish.
I told them, if you keep a clean sheet, I’ll buy pizza for everybody. I think they’re waiting for me to offer a hot dog too.
On being told a Leicester butcher had created a sausage in his honour:
I pay for pizza, you pay for the sausage. I am the sausageman.
On his distinctive catchphrase:
From the beginning when something was wrong I’ve been saying: ‘Dilly-ding, dilly-dong, wake up, wake up!’ So on Christmas day I bought for all the players and all the staff a little bell. It was just a joke.
On Jamie Vardy:
This is not a footballer. This is a fantastic horse.
On LCFC and Tom Hanks:
Why can’t we continue to run, run, run? We are like Forrest Gump. Leicester is Forrest Gump. I give you the headline there.”
On Leicester’s run for the title:
Now we go straight away to try to win the title. We are in the Champions League, dilly ding, dilly dong – come on. We are in the Champions League, it is fantastic, terrific. Well done to everybody.
Updated
Sam Roe, a Leicester fan in Daegu, South Korea, sends this snap of happy students at Gyeongshin high school in Daegu, South Korea:
For context, each class chooses a different team for their PE kits every year. This class chose very well indeed!
Newspaper front – and back – pages
The front and back pages of the UK newspapers today have something of a theme about them…
The Guardian
Tomorrow's Guardian front page in print #Leicester pic.twitter.com/4jhFPcoWT9
— Katharine Viner (@KathViner) May 2, 2016
Tuesday's Guardian Sport:
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) May 2, 2016
Leicester in dreamland#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #LCFC pic.twitter.com/GoOok39K8R
Telegraph sport
Tuesday's Telegraph Sport:
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) May 2, 2016
Champions!#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #LCFC pic.twitter.com/4zu1TNJl6y
The i
Tuesday's i front page -
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) May 2, 2016
Leicester: 5,000-to-1 champions#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #LCFC pic.twitter.com/VzttAxUdUD
The Mirror
Tuesday's Daily Mirror front page:
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) May 2, 2016
Health MoTs a waste of time & money#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/7swhgwNbs8
The Times
Tuesday's Times front page:
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) May 2, 2016
PM plans new laws to stop Muslim extremists#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/JfIm7Wtnhv
The Sun
Tuesday's Sun front page:
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) May 2, 2016
Blue done it#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #LCFC pic.twitter.com/R1ReJwS3s6
Christy Yao in our Beijing bureau has been talking to one of China’s biggest Leicester fans.
Wang Song Ao Han, a 26-year-old from Inner Mongolia, became a Foxes fan back in 2014 when he was studying at the University of Leicester for a master’s degree in media and advertising.
Wang was a regular at the King Power stadium and said Monday night’s victory had left him on the verge of tears.
“I have no words to express how I am feeling. It’s probably one of the best feelings I have ever felt in my entire life,” said Wang who lives in Beijing but is originally from Tongliao, a city of about three million inhabitants towards China’s border with Mongolia and Russia.
“I watched Leicester when they were virtually unheard of. Hardly any Chinese journalists knew about them. Even in UK, it isn’t a well-known city. It’s a very small,” Wang went on.
“It is really hard to express the feeling of seeing a team go from being a complete nobody to being today’s Premier League champion.”
Wang said he would organise a celebratory dinner in Beijing on Saturday night to watch Leicester’s last home game of the season, against Everton.
“I am so excited. I hope the dream will last a long time. I can’t get enough of it,” he said.
I suspect that readers are now engaged in some concerted effort to get a name-check for every country in the globe on this blog. Undaunted by the strength of the Australian and Canadian contingents, you’ve sent messages from far and wide.
From Honduras, Dominic Fleming writes:
As an Everton fan since I was seven years old I’m so relieved I will be able to follow my team with no guilt next weekend. Watched the Tottenham game in Utila, Honduras, today and the place erupted when Hazard grabbed the equaliser. The mosquitos are being ignored as we currently toast the upset of all upsets.
Ben Daggers emails from Japan:
The Osaka branch of the Leicester City fan club (population: 3) had a delirious Monday night. With a 4am kickoff there were no bars showing the game – we had to settle for a flurry of mildly-panicked, expletive-filled first half of text messages, followed by a euphoric, expletive-filled second half … Finally got to sleep at 7am and will be spending today smiling.
And from Iran, Hugo Corden-Lloyd sends this:
Just woken up in Tehran to see that Leicester are the champions! Everywhere I’ve been in the city over the last month as soon as I tell people I’m English the response has been ‘Jamie Vardy, Khoob!’ Which means Jamie Vardie, good! Some things just seem to generate universal excitement, which is a great thing to see.
Ruby Dean has had a late night/early start in Nigeria:
Words can’t describe how ecstatic I am by 4am in the wee hours of the morning in Nigeria! … Hard work surely begets success! Congrats to the new kings!
And Mark Hannant seems to be having a tough night in Saudi Arabia but we’re here to help:
My wife and I and two small children are stuck in Jeddah airport for 12 hours en route from Mumbai to Manchester. ‘Happy Hammer’ all my life so fully understand the disappointments of supporting unfashionable clubs. The Guardian’s rolling coverage is making a rather grim night into something memorable. Thanks.
If you’re just joining us/waking up/hearing the word Leicester for the first time, welcome! And also, what kept you? Here’s a great explainer of why everyone is very excited about a team that many expected to be facing relegation but that is instead getting its hands on the Premier League trophy:
Updated
My colleague Oliver Holmes in Bangkok has been checking out Leicester City’s Thai Facebook page, where many are hoping the team’s success could be translated to Thai football.
“Goosebumps! Cheering on Leicester City is like cheering on the Thai national team. Foreigners say it’s a Thai team – not Mr Vichai’s team,” writes user Imnanmanas.
“Congrats from my heart … even though I’m a Liverpool fan … because you are team of Thais,” writes user Gaoten, who wears a Liverpool shirt in his Facebook profile.
“This has created the new page of history in the world of football around the world that you don’t have to invest mega amounts of money by buying expensive players to be champions. It’s about thinking and the management within the club. Absolutely the best! I would love to see Thai players get experience and prove their place with Leicester City,” writes user Winyool Yasrakool.
Updated
I have had lots of emails from readers in Canada, which is always a joy whatever the reason, but right now makes me wonder if there is a great undiscovered Leicester diaspora there.
Francesco emails to say:
I am a life-long Arsenal supporter (now living in Canada having left my home in Ireland a few years ago). I have to say I am delighted with Leicester winning the title. I was always very impressed with the way Ranieri conducted himself at all the clubs he managed and he deserves all the praise he is receiving at the moment …
Many years ago he saved Parma football club (Parma is the place where I was born) from certain relegation when he took over the team mid-season, an incredible feat at the time. His tactical acumen came in very handy towards the end of the season when the team needed points desperately.
Christine Welch is one of a number of readers who’ve contacted me today to say their fathers would have been celebrating the victory:
WOW. This makes me feel so good. My Dad used to take me to Filbert Street in the early 50s, he was a number one fan, no way could they do any wrong, he always blamed the ref.
After every season he would always say ONE DAY WE WILL. He used to drive me crazy but he never wavered, he would have loved this day.
Gavin Wightman checks in from Belle River, Ontario:
I have been a Leicester fan for over 30 years especially since my Dad used to take me to games as a teenager. Moved here in 2008 and haven’t seen another Leicester fan. My nine-year-old son wears his Leicester shirt to school with pride, with the other kids in ignorance in their Barcelona/Messi shirts – perhaps now they will realise the significance. What an awesome achievement!
(Gavin, as you can see, you are definitely not Canada’s sole Leicester fan!)
Nick Grayson, also from Ontario, shares this tale:
My father was born in Leicester on Brandon Street in 1929, we emigrated to Canada in 1973 when I was 13 … He hated football though and thought it was a total waste of time, (at least that’ s what he told me). Of course I loved the game and can still name all of the player’s from Leicester’s FA Cup team …
He died just shortly after they found King Richard’s body. On his own death bed we talked about everything Leicester, even down to the parking lot where they found him … His final comments went to football, something he never brought up first. He asked me how Leicester were doing and that he had seen them play many times as child. I wasn’t expecting this confession and that’s where his life ended, with him saying that King Richard might bring the city luck.
I never thought of my dad as a prophet – smart, but not a prophet. Tonight though my dad, King Richard and Leicester are bending their elbows and toasting those who believe and the underdogs, the strength of teamwork over straight-up dollars and buying success. I love it and long may they run.
I’m hoping Nick’s dad would have appreciated Tuesday’s Guardian print front page:
Tomorrow's Guardian front page in print #Leicester pic.twitter.com/4jhFPcoWT9
— Katharine Viner (@KathViner) May 2, 2016
Updated
It’s nearly dawn in Leicester and I strongly suspect some fans will be up to see the sun rise. Obviously all workplaces and schools in Leicester are giving everyone the day off on Tuesday*.
(*You might need to check this because I have just made it up and I’m not the mayor or anything like that.)
Maybe it’s the Schwarzer effect, but I’m hearing from plenty of Leicester fans in Australia today. Here are a couple:
Jo Staniforth emails to say:
I got up at 4am to watch the Chelsea game in Adelaide … I just can’t get my head around anything else at the moment.
I rang my brother in the UK at the final whistle and all we could manage was ‘fucking hell!’
Kevin Wesson had a good start to the day too:
In almost 40 years of following Leicester City, I have never even day-dreamed of this. Sure I have imagined us winning the FA Cup on a sunny day in May or even European success on a balmy night in foreign climes, but never the Premier League!
Got up this morning just in time to see Eden Hazard score Chelsea’s second and decisive goal.
My seven-year-old son insisted on calling Grandma in the UK to share (who lives in the same town as Jamie Vardy) to share the wonderful news! Although he couldn’t wear his Leicester kit to school I borrowed his scarf to fly from my car window on this morning commute.
Just finalising the post Mother’s Day pass-out to be in the UK for the final game at Chelsea and the open-top bus parade!
Updated
Will the Leicester City and Australia goalkeeper end his season with a winner’s medal?
Leicester’s victory has lent some weight to the theory that Mark Schwarzer is a Premier League lucky charm.
While the former Socceroo did not play a single league match for the Foxes this season, he became the first goalkeeper to be involved in back-to-back title victories with separate clubs.
Schwarzer, who was with Chelsea last season, does not meet the official criteria to qualify for a winner’s medal, which stipulate a player must have made at least five appearances to receive one.
The veteran did not play a league match during Chelsea’s title run last year either, yet he still pocketed a medal after then-Blues manager Jose Mourinho decided to buy him a replica in recognition of his efforts from the bench.
There has been no indication yet from the victorious Leicester camp as to whether Claudio Ranieri will follow suit this year and make Schwarzer the first player since Eric Cantona (Leeds United-Manchester United in 1992 and 1993) to win back-to-back top-flight titles with different clubs.
Updated
Reader Andrew Marshall emails to suggest that my esteemed Guardian football colleague Daniel Taylor deserves to lose extra points for his “Most excited about” prediction (made in August 2015).
What do we think?
Most excited about: I Believe in Miracles, the Jonny Owen documentary-film about Nottingham Forest, 1975-80, and the kind of implausible success story that could never happen again.
In case anyone thinks I am enjoying this period of gloating at my colleagues: a) yes, yes I am, rather; and b) I’d never have predicted a Leicester City win either, so I am an enormous hypocrite.
Even in China football fans are celebrating Leicester’s victory, which a report by state broadcaster CCTV described as being less likely than finding the Loch Ness monster or discovering that Elvis was alive.
One message left on the club’s official Weibo account this morning reads: “I am so happy to witness Leicester’s fairy tale! Thanks Leicester City for showing me how charming football can be again! It is so great for people who have dreams!”
"The cheering was loud enough to wake even King Richard III!" - China's official news agency on @LCFC triumph https://t.co/cShAYq3J4e
— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) May 3, 2016
I’m sure my UK sports colleagues will take this in the spirit it’s intended (mild-ribbing-verging-on-outright-mockery), but given it’s 4.15am there and they’ll be asleep, let’s go for it.
Here are their predictions for the 2016 EPL, made at the start of the season:
I count 10 votes in there for Leicester to be among the teams relegated. Zero for title winners. And a couple of comments that I’m sure their originators have already eaten with a side helping of humble pie:
Relegated: Watford and Norwich, just because they go up and they go down. And probably Leicester too. No Nigel, no party.
How Claudio Ranieri continues to land good jobs is a mystery.
Relegated: Leicester, Sunderland and Norwich. I fear that Claudio Ranieri will struggle at Leicester.
Relegated: Watford, Leicester and Newcastle all for the same reason: the manager.
I’m going to give Louise Taylor a bonus point for caveating her expectation that Leicester would find themselves in the relegation zone:
… but Claudio Ranieri may just exceed expectations.
Still, wouldn’t it be boring if football followed all the predictions? And most of them were backing Leicester by February:
More reader emails! This is the best bit of my job today, I’ll be honest.
Rob Newton messages to say:
Two weeks ago I was in Hsi Paw, a small town in Shan state, Myanmar. Hsi Paw is mostly notable for its tea, its trekking, and the occasional flare-up of the decades-old conflict between Shan rebels and the Myanmar army.
I walked into a pancake shop, where they were playing the premier league. The owner asked where I was from. I said Leicestershire. And he proudly declared his allegiance to Leicester City. Free pancakes in Hsi Paw tonight!
Chilima Chola says hi from Lusaka, Zambia:
Leicester’s story is our story. Everyday we get beaten down and slammed to the ground by life and our realities. But today, Leicester showed me and Zambia that no matter what the odds are in life, hard work and persistence is all you need to succeed in life.
Joe Nhodza, from Zimbabwe, is warming to the fairytale theme:
I’m a Man U fan but for some reason I’m up at 4.30am in this part of the world called Zimbabwe. And I’m finding it rather impossible not to be happy for Leicester.
I feel Leicester’s story proves just how much everyone loves a good fairytale ending. I could compare Leicester’s triumph to that moment when Anna managed to thaw queen Elsa’s frozen heart, by getting her to believe in love again: marvellous!
Well done Leicester for being our modern-day fairytale.
Guru Singh is setting Leicester’s sights even higher:
I am at the moment in Boston, USA. As a lifelong Nottingham Forest fan I can applause Leicester’s fantastic achievement having lived through similar emotions many times with Forest. Well done The Foxes! Now go and win the European Cup!
It’s a happy morning in Bangkok, Oliver Holmes reports:
The Spurs match was at 2am, so only the most dedicated fans in Thailand watched, but many are waking up to the news now.
Many supporters here were hoping that Leicester would win it at the weekend in the game against Manchester United, which was at 8pm.
I was at King Power HQ, a huge duty-free outlet in central Bangkok, that night speaking to fans about why they loved Leicester. The club’s owner, billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, had treated hundreds to free beer, fresh prawns and a huge screen under the palm trees.
One fan, Akapong Nutthawute, said he had won a competition on Leicester City’s Thai Facebook page to get a seat at the showing. He has been watching English football since his childhood, mainly because that was the only choice.
“Twenty or 30 years ago the only league that we could watch in Thailand was British. The other leagues weren’t on television, so Thais support British teams,” said the 37-year-old engineer from the country’s north.
He said that he still has love for Liverpool, the team his parents have supported for decades, saying that Leicester was an “alternate team”.
“This team have the team work. They played together last year and each player knows the skills of the other,” he said. His friend, the other lucky draw winner, nodded his head in approval.
The second biggest question of the day (after Where is Claudio Ranieri?) is – for those newer to LCFC’s meteoric rise – the challenge of pronouncing Leicester.
Google’s suggested search reveals that it has certainly had a few queries (seriously, though, who doesn’t know how to pronounce “Lego”?):
US broadcaster NBC came prepared:
a napkin made by US television network (and EPL broadcast rights-holder) NBC two years ago https://t.co/nTgaQ40MOE pic.twitter.com/fVB6QU9uYK
— Tiger Webb (@tfswebb) May 2, 2016
Oliver Holmes reports from Bangkok that many supporters on Leicester City’s Thai Facebook page, which has nearly 600,000 members, are sharing photos of themselves holding up talismanic cloths, which are blessed by Buddhist monks.
Also doing the rounds is a photoshopped image of Claudio Ranieri with Buddhist tattoos on his chest. The text of the tattoos reads: “Brave and unyielding over any team. If you have this, your fortune will send you to be champions.”
Updated
More emails from fans all over the globe, and this first one, from Riley Strother, might win today’s prize for the most farflung location:
I’m alone at the Race Rocks lighthouse, which is situated on a tiny island on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada, and I am ecstatic about Leicester becoming champions!
I’m a Newcastle fan, but since the start of the season I have been pulling for Leicester to pull off this incredible upset, and for the last few months I’ve been following every game out here on this rock.
Even though there are only seals and sea lions to confirm it, I am indeed dancing for joy!
Riley, please ask a marine mammal to take a photo to verify your claim.
Diego García pops up with a message:
Writing from the Dominican Republic just to let you know Leicester’s story and success were followed and celebrated here too. This is what makes sports so beautiful.
Sveinn Sigþórsson says hello from Iceland:
Earlier this evening I was at a game between KR Reykjavik and Vikingur Reykjavik in the Icelandic Premier League. The stadium announcer usually announces other goals around the Icelandic league and then the MOTM, but I’ve never heard him comment on matches abroad.
Tonight, he excitedly announced “Chelsea and Tottenham have drawn 2-2, Leicester are champions!”, which drew wild celebrations from the crowd all around the stadium.
As the match finished with a 0-0 scoreline that was just as boring as it sounds, this provided the only excitement of the game.
And a magnanimous email from Jarrod Wilkinson-Smith, self-styled “Spurs fan in NZ”:
So happy for Leicester – the table doesn’t lie.
Also really happy Spurs are going to Champs League again – if we get one more star player and don’t lose the main guys we will be a real force for the next decade.
Thanks to all of you who are emailing me. I’m reading them all and will feature as many of them as I can on here.
Eleanor Ainge Roy sends this jolly dispatch from New Zealand:
At the bottom of the world, in Dunedin, Hayley Stirling spent Tuesday morning glued to her phone. Her internet was out, but her friend Maria in Yorkshire texted her minute-by-minute updates of the match, and she was “on tenterhooks” waiting to hear if Leicester City would prevail.
[3/5 8:09 AM] Hayley: Fuck it, spurs are up by 2... damn.
[3/5 8:11 AM] Maria: I know!!! I’m fuming. Chelsea better score 2 and quick!
[3/5 8:18 AM] Maria: 2-1!!! Game on!
[3/5 8:21 AM] Hayley: Woop woop, come on gus this is the one time im rooting for you!
[3/5 8:22 AM] Maria: Same here!! Come on Chelsea
[3/5 8:43 AM] Maria: 2-2!!! 7 minutes to go!! A draw is all they need!!! Come on!!
[3/5 8:56 AM] Maria: Yes Leicester!!!! Amazing!
[3/5 9:04 AM] Hayley: Oh my god!!!!!!!! Waaaaahhhhhoooooooo!!!! Foxes foxes foxes foxes!!!! Ranieri for president!
[3/5 9:12 AM] Maria: Haha I’d vote Ranieri for President.
“When I got into work, we didn’t say anything at all, we all just started high-fiving and hugging each other,” said Stirling, who is the women’s football development officer for Football South.
“Usually we’ve all supported the big teams, but this season all of us have gone for Leicester. I think it’s a timeless thing anyone can relate to – we all want the underdog to have a chance for success, in sport and life.”
Today Stirling and her colleagues have been too excited to concentrate on work, and have instead spent hours outside in the autumn sunshine, kicking a football back and forth “pretending we’re Jamie Vardy”.
“We’ll go out tonight for a couple of drinks. We all can’t stop smiling. It’s really a great day here.”
Updated
People “take to Twitter” for anything these days, I know, but UK football fans really did hit those 140 characters last night:
Wow.
— Twitter UK (@TwitterUK) May 2, 2016
Leicester winning the league triggered an 86% increase in normal Twitter activity in the UK...#havingaparty pic.twitter.com/vGTmtqwq2E
Here’s the Twitter moment – you know, that bit at the bottom of the app that you never click on – on Leicester’s victory:
The big question now is: where is Claudio Ranieri?
Press Association reports that his “whereabouts during the evening remain unknown”:
He said after Monday’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United he would be heading back to Italy to fulfil a lunch date with his 96-year-old mother and as such would be flying to England when the full-time whistle was blown.
Footage showed him leaving Rome Ciampino airport ahead of schedule, so it is likely he was able to see his old club do him the greatest of favours.
Earlier, Ranieri told reporters:
I’m so proud. I’m happy for my players, for the chairman, for the staff at Leicester City, all our fans and the Leicester community. It’s an amazing feeling and I’m so happy for everyone.
I never expected this when I arrived. I’m a pragmatic man, I just wanted to win match after match and help my players to improve week after week. Never did I think too much about where it would take us.
The players have been fantastic. Their focus, their determination, their spirit has made this possible. Every game they fight for each other and I love to see this in my players. They deserve to be champions.
My colleague Richard Smart sends this dispatch from Tokyo, where there is much jubilation today:
NHK, Japan’s official broadcaster, called Leicester’s achievement “a miracle first championship”. The broadcaster singled out Shinji Okazaki for praise.
“He worked tirelessly in front of the goal, and was devoted to protecting his defence,” NHK wrote. “Goals such as his exquisite overhead kick in March helped Leicester keep up a momentum they never lost.”
“How to pronounce Leicester, a guide: Lee stir? Le ice seater? Leeeestire shyer? No. It’s pronounced ‘Champions,’” Patrick Sherriff, a Leicester fan living near Tokyo tweeted.
How to pronounce Leicester, a guide: Lee stir? Le ice seater? Leeeestire shyer?
— double r double f (@PatrickSherriff) May 2, 2016
No. It's pronounced "Champions."#LCFC
“I’ve been a Foxes fan all my life, but only through an accident of birth,” Sherriff told the Guardian. “I had lapsed in my devotion, bemoaning money and crass commercialism as destroying the beautiful game. You know, the usual. And then to see them keep defying the odds, game after game, I started to follow again. Sometime around Christmas I decided Leicester we’re going to do it.
“I have a warm glow,” Sherriff added. “I’d say smugness, but we don’t do smug in Leicester. Just a little sad to be so far from home on a day like this. Well, there hasn’t been a day like this for Leicester. Ever.”
Many Japanese football fans, loyal to other teams, tweeted their congratulations. “You do not have to be a fan of Leicester to be crying with joy today,” wrote @hargreeeeaves.
レスターファンじゃなくても嬉しいし涙出てくるね😂😂😂
— はーぐさん (@hargreeeeaves) May 3, 2016
The unofficial Leicester supporters club in Japan offered thanks for messages from all over the world. “We live Japan but, our hearts are always together!!!,” the account tweeted.
Thank you for all congrats messages from all over the world!
— Leicester City Japan (@Leicester_CityJ) May 2, 2016
We live Japan but, our hearts are always together!!! pic.twitter.com/RCqDeQUQMc
In Okazaki’s home town, Takarazuka in Hyogo prefecture, people spoke of their pride. “I’m bursting with happiness that Okazaki plays for this team,” one resident wrote. “Takarazuka pride! Wherever Okazaki plays, he wins.”
レスター優勝！！！！！🏆💙
— chinatsu (@cntnskdr8) May 2, 2016
2年前のシーズンは2部やったし今年の目標は1部残留って言ってたのに、プレミアで優勝なんかほんますごすぎる………
なによりそこに岡崎がいることが嬉しすぎる！ほんまに宝塚の誇り！ほんまサッカーってどこが勝つって決まってへんから面白い！好き！！！😚😚😚
I now have an inbox full of messages from happy people, and it’s not often that happens.
David Lee emails from Singapore:
I’m a supporter of Chelsea … But I woke up today at 3am to support my team for only one reason. To see Leicester city win the title. Congratulations!
Mike Brooks messages from Chicago:
I’m a lifelong Palace fan but (or perhaps and) this is by far the greatest footballing moment I have experienced. In the ruins of the oligarchical tyranny of the ‘big four’, I think the smoke of tribalism is clearing and we’re all remembering that, perhaps first and foremost, we’re fans of football. In fact, I’m feeling so sentimental I’m putting off the first beer for fear of tears!
Rashed, from Dhaka,Bangladesh, is ahead of you, Mike:
I’m crying continuously after reading this news as Leicester wins the Premiership title. I think they are also win Champions League in next season.
After 20 round I thought Leicester can get highest 10th position but it was completely wrong … I think now if it is possible that Leicester’s title then I can do everything in my life.
But Michael Clifton in Auckland, New Zealand, is wondering what he’ll do now with his Monday mornings:
With the last 5 Leicester games played Sunday UK time this translated to Monday morning NZ time, giving me a shot of adrenaline to kick start my week. I guess today you could call these shots my campione-chino!! Ha Ha sign me up to the nearest Fringe festival.
(Steady on, Michael.)
The Leicester boss has a decent stab at summing up their season in three words:
Claudio Ranieri sums up his season in three words...
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 2, 2016
Now you try:
1 _______ 2 _______ 3 _______https://t.co/H7maW2J9Jq
Most of the responses to the tweet contain the word “unbelievable”. But there was also:
@premierleague Thank You Chelsea
— benno_36 (@Benno_36) May 2, 2016
It’s good to start ’em young, so here is baby Millie, said by the Leicester City Sydney Supporters Facebook page to be Australia’s newest Fox. Welcome Millie and congratulations to parents Chris and Katie Marriott, who are presumably well fixed to be watching football matches in the middle of the night right now.
Lance!, Brazil’s daily sports paper, think it’s a fairy tale ending to the season too:
'Fairy tale!' - the land of the beautiful game toasts Leicester's victory via @GuilhermeGomes pic.twitter.com/ZhcBCYyO26
— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) May 3, 2016
I know you’ll have been wondering what is trending on Twitter in Indonesia. Would you have guessed it’s Leicester City?
1. Leicester City
— Trendinalia ID (@trendinaliaID) May 3, 2016
2. #ICUPro2FMxOnceMekel
3. #MetGala
4. Hazard
5. Chelsea 2-2 Tottenham
2016/5/3 06:54 WIB #trndnl https://t.co/OMCuQPRWwL
A bold claim from reader Joanna Towers, who emails in to say she has identified the happiest Leicester fan in Australia:
My Dad was born and bred in Leicester and has been a Foxes fan since he was a little boy, so that is over 70 years. We moved to Australia over 30 years ago, and he has religiously followed his team, every game, every season.
Today, he is the happiest man in the world with his heart bursting with pride.
My Dad and my sister have got their flights booked and tickets to see Leicester’s last game, they fly out next Sunday. My Dad, God love him, will cry his eyes out when he sees them with that trophy. He never ever believed that this would happen in his lifetime, if ever at all. What a great day!
Have a fantastic trip, Joanna’s dad!
Meanwhile, Niall Curran emails from South Korea to switch allegiances:
Can I become a Leicester fan now? I was hoping they’d beat the team I ostensibly support – Man Utd. Watching the TV after 11pm on Sunday with the baby in bed. Jumping up n down in front of the TV … as silently as possible.
From Ranieri’s first match as manager in July last year to what looks like a very lively party at Jamie Vardy’s house right now, here’s Leicester’s season in pictures. Warning: features frequent air-punching.
Well, isn’t this nice – no sore losers today on Twitter, which is usually terribly good at the sore losing thing:
Congratulations to @LCFC on winning the @PremierLeague.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 2, 2016
Thanks, @SpursOfficial. An amazing season. https://t.co/FDylMDQQDQ
— Leicester City (@LCFC) May 2, 2016
Hello, this is Claire Phipps in Sydney picking up the live blog of triumph, and as you can see, Leicester City fever has made its way right around the globe:
'Shakes head' @9NewsAUS 😳 pic.twitter.com/4279dy2s7j
— Fuss (@FN343) May 2, 2016
As my colleague and Guardian Australia sports editor Mike Hytner points out:
When a national broadcaster sees fit to tweet on an overseas sport, it’s a pretty clear indication of the size of the story. Sadly, Australia’s Channel Nine didn’t appear to be fully across the details.
Full marks for effort, though.
My colleague Claire Phipps will take over this liveblog now for more reaction from around the world to Leicester’s incredible title win. Thanks for reading so far.
Send her your messages from wherever you are in the world, particularly if you’re a Leicester fan in a far flung place: claire.phipps@theguardian.com
It’s probably not the main focus, given Leicester’s remarkable title triumph, but here are five talking points from a fullblooded, firecracker of a match at Stamford Bridge - the result of which led to Leicester winning the Premier League.
Barney Ronay’s excellent piece on Leicester’s title - a triumph that was never supposed to happen - is here.
The bald facts of the Leicester Supremacy are brilliantly stark. This is a club whose previous highest league position was a runners-up spot in 1929, who have been relegated or promoted 22 times in all. Too small to stay up, too big to stay down, Leicester are instead the ultimate ballcock team, clunking up and down between the divisions with reassuring regularity, an inbetweener club in a city on the way to somewhere else.
Updated
For a timeline on quite how far Leicester have come in the past five years, you could do worse than this (which was prepared for Sunday, when Leicester could have won the title against Manchester United but drew 1-1).
Stuart James, our Midlands football correspondent, has followed Leicester all season long. He reports on the Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri’s reaction to a fairytale title victory.
Claudio Ranieri has described winning the Premier League title as an “amazing feeling” and paid tribute to his Leicester City players for completing one of the most remarkable stories in the history of English football. The Leicester manager, who flew back to England on Monday night after having lunch in Italy with his 96-year-old mother, Renata, admitted his players had surpassed all expectations and praised them for their spirit and determination.
Read the full story here:
It got pretty tasty at the end of the Chelsea v Tottenham match, with players from both sides involved in ugly scenes as they left the pitch (and, to be honest, throughout the match). Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Spurs handed the title to Leicester and deprived Tottenham of the chance to be named champions.
The Tottenham manager Mauricio Pohettino refused to criticise his players and had this to say about it:
It was a derby, we were fighting to win the title and Chelsea were fighting to try and win. We were all involved. When you play for the title and play a big team like Chelsea, they want to win. It was normal emotion, fighting on the pitch is not a good example, for both teams.
The Chelsea interim manager Guus Hiddink said this:
I took Fàbregas, I tried to get him down [the tunnel], because there were some words in Spanish and I understand Spanish. Threatening a bit. There became more people involved and we shuffled around.
James Riach has filed this story:
A tweet from the deputy editor of our US sports desk, Bryan Armen Graham that goes some way to summing up what Leicester have achieved:
Here's what the English Premier League table looked like 381 days ago. pic.twitter.com/1HxgjFOKZg
— Bryan Armen Graham (@BryanAGraham) May 2, 2016
Leicester City’s striker, Jamie Vardy, recently crowned the Football Writers’ player of the year has said of the title win:
“It’s an unbelievable feeling I’ve never known anything like it. We were scrapping to stay in the league last season and on Saturday we’ll be lifting the trophy. That gives you an idea of how much hard work has gone into this season from every single player and member of staff.
“It’s the biggest achievement in the history of a great club and we all feel privileged to be part of it. It’s even more special to have done it with these lads. Every minute of hard work we’ve put in on the training pitch has been worth it for this moment.”
The midfielder Andy King, who has now won League One, Championship and Premier League titles with Leicester City said:
“I thought I’d seen everything with this club, but I never thought I’d see this. It’s difficult to put into words. The players deserve it, the gaffer and the staff deserve it, and the fans deserve it. It’s been an unbelievable season.
“The story of where this team has come from to get to this point has been all over the world recently and I think the lads deserve great credit for the way they’ve taken it in their stride, stayed focused and kept delivering results - especially with a great side like Spurs chasing us so hard.
“We’ve been so consistent and just determined not to let the opportunity pass us by. We deserve this.”
Amid Leicester celebrations, it is easy to forget that Tottenham blew their chance of winning a first title since 1961. Simon Burnton was at Stamford Bridge, and reports on how they lost their chance to do it again tonight - and lost all control while they were at it. It was a hell of a match in west London on Monday evening - a snarling, furious, wildly attacking, brilliant game of football.
Well, you can’t say they didn’t go down fighting. It took until the final half-hour for Tottenham Hotspur’s title challenge to finally, definitively unravel, but from the seventh minute, when Mousa Dembélé initiated a snarling squabble with Mikel John Obi, to the seventh minute of stoppage time, when the final whistle blew and players and managers brawled on their way down the tunnel, this was a display full more of malice than of merit.
Owen Gibson has written a detailed profile of the Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri.
As well as being a master tactician Ranieri has also perfectly judged the psychology. He kept things simple, lifting the pressure from his side and focusing relentlessly on the next game, admitting only recently that the title was in sight with his “Dilly-ding, dilly-dong” rallying cry.
In the age of the individual’s veneration in football Ranieri, like Diego Simeone at Atlético Madrid, has made teamwork fashionable again. And, paradoxically, in the process he has made unlikely stars of Vardy and Mahrez.
Ben Quinn has the latest reaction from Leicester:
Steve Robinson, 26, told reporters: “This year I got married and had a baby, but this tops it all.”
Read the full story here:
Talking of Kasper Schmeichel, a recent question to our Knowledge column asked this: “If Leicester win the league, will Kasper and Peter Schmeichel be the first father and son to win Premier League titles?” asked Hannah Skolnick. “And can you think of any other goalkeeping father and son duo to win the same league as each other?”
For the answer, scroll halfway down this article here:
And there is an update in this piece too:
The Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has tweeted of his love for his team-mates:
Words can not describe the love I have for my teammates. I dreamt of this since i was a boy and i will be forever grateful to you all ❤️
— Kasper schmeichel (@kschmeichel1) May 2, 2016
Here’s James Riach’s full story on Claudio Ranieri’s emotional phone call to thank the Chelsea manager Guus Hidink for masterminding the draw that sealed Leicester’s title:
Hiddink: “I didn’t see any tears because it was not a Facetime conversation but his voice was trembling a bit. He said five-times thanks, his emotion was going up.”
Leicester fans from all over the world are emailing in:
Max Bourne somewhere over Canada: “I’ve been a Leicester fan all my life but due to my plane from Toronto to Vancouver boarding I was forced to leave the game at half-time. With Spurs 0-2 up I was pretty convinced we’d have to wait until next week. I logged onto the plane’s wi-fi and saw we’d won, I shed a tear and now I think I’m the happiest man at 30,000ft anywhere in the world. Let’s hope we can hang onto our players for next year. What a team.”
Tony O’Brien in New Zealand: “I’ve just bought the entire company morning tea, tonight at a Trigg point overlooking the town a Leicester City flag will be flying.”
John Perry in Nicaragua: “Here in rural Nicaragua I’ve been watching the Chelsea game with my wife Abi and sharing tears of joy and sadness. I’ve supported Leicester City for over 30 years, mainly because my late son Joss dragged me to the games when he was about 10 years old. It’s fantastic to see a team that you’ve watched being relegated to League One having such an amazing season. What a team, what a manager, what a club, what a city!”
Claudio Ranieri has released a statement, via Leicester City:
“I’m so proud. I’m happy for my players, for the chairman, for the staff at Leicester City, all our fans and the Leicester community. It’s an amazing feeling and I’m so happy for everyone.
“I never expected this when I arrived. I’m a pragmatic man, I just wanted to win match after match and help my players to improve week after week. Never did I think too much about where it would take us.
“The players have been fantastic. Their focus, their determination, their spirit has made this possible. Every game they fight for each other and I love to see this in my players. They deserve to be champions.”
Gary Lineker, the former Leicester City striker and Match of the Day presenter, has spoken to Radio 5 Live:
“It’s extraordinary. Sat watching with three of my boys. Couple of Leicester fans they are. It was just so emotional, so incredible.
“It looked like it was going to go to next Saturday. Then that extraordinary second half. I just can’t get my head round it.
“I just think it’s generally the biggest sporting shock. I can’t think of anything that surpasses it. When it’s your own team it’s too extraordinary. Too difficult to put over in words.
“To be honest I got a bit emotional at the end of the game. I just couldn’t hold it back. It was quite hard to breathe the last few minutes to be honest.
“I’ve followed them since I was a little kid. I was a season-ticket holder until I was seven years old. I saw them in a cup final - lose - that was the closest we ever got to big glory. Won the league cup a couple of times but this is just something else. This is actually impossible.
“There were no odds that I would have taken at the start of the season. No odds. You could have given me 10 million to one and I’d have said ‘Nah, it’s a waste of a quid’.
“It’s extraordinary. I’m from there and I went to play for them for a couple of years. I even kind of part owned them for a while when they were in trouble. To see where they are now and to enjoy this moment especially with my family, it’s incredible.”
Another poem, this one from Harley Quinn:
The warning signs were showing,
T’was April and snowing,
The hunt was still going,
Their horns were still blowing,
‘Cause the Foxes were still running free,
They raced blinding bright through the Palace of Light,
Drew the Red Devils well on a cold day in hell,
Though Spurs dig deep in and Lions chase, neither win,
So the Foxes are still running free,
We know you don’t believe us,
We know you don’t believe us,
We know you don’t believe us but…
THEY WENT AND RAN THE LEAGUE!!!
Lots of people are getting in touch from New Zealand to tell Dahya and Suresh Rama (see earlier) that there are plenty in the country who not only care, but are delighted by Leicester City’s win.
“Tell Dahya and Suresh Rama that there are people in NZ who care - a lot more younger people than their generation, but a lot of us love football and are loving this fairy-tale,’ emails Andrew Bunyan. “Their’s is a fantastic story to find amidst Leicester’s triumph”
A report on Leicester’s other big title winner tonight, Mark Selby, can be found here
Ladrokes says they will never again offer odds of 5,000/1 for an underdog after paying out on incredible Leicester’s title win.
Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: “We may be paying out record sums to Leicester backers but we do so with a smile and we have to applaud the handful of fans who took the mammoth odds at the start of the season.
“The days of 5000/1 are over. We’ll never be so generous with odds again for an underdog.”
One punter, Karishma Kapoor, a student and lifelong Leicester fan, won £10,000 while the company also paid out £100,000 (from a £20 stake), £73,500 (from £10 each way)
Kapoor said: “I’m just ecstatic, not just due to the bet but for the team and the entire city. I’m on cloud nine as a Leicester fan as it is and the bet is the icing on the cake. I’ll pay for the drinks tonight.”
Here’s more on the sad news about the bookies
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Claudio Ranieri called Guus Hiddink to thank Chelsea for their role in handing Leicester the Premier League title.
James Riach reports:
Claudio Ranieri made an emotional phone call to Guus Hiddink to thank Chelsea for handing Leicester City the title, after a tumultuous night when the Italian’s name was sung loud at Stamford Bridge.
Ranieri, who managed Chelsea before Jose Mourinho was first appointed manager in 2004, telephoned Hiddink after flying back from Italy where he had been lunching with his 96-year-old mother.
Tempers flared at the final whistle as Tottenham and Chelsea players and staff became embroiled in a mass brawl by the tunnel, but after Eden Hazard’s equaliser Ranieri’s name was sung by the delighted Chelsea fans who were desperate to end Spurs’ title hopes.
Hiddink said: “Just after the final whistle, a few minutes after the judo, I got a call from Ranieri, he thanked us especially for what we did in the second half and I congratulated him for being champions. They deserved it, it may be a bit of a shock for the established clubs that they did so well. They didn’t implode, there was no tension when they started smelling the title.
“I didn’t see any tears because it was not a Facetime conversation but his voice was trembling a bit. He said five-times thanks, his emotion was going up.”
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Here are those scenes of the Leicester team celebrating in Jamie Vardy’s house:
Leicester City fans from all over the world are celebrating. Here’s an email from two fans, Dahya and Suresh Rama, who write that they are Indian and now live in New Zealand.
“My brother and I have been loyal Leicester City supporters since 1965 , when we first came from Kenya. Our first home was at 68 Walnut Street, one street from Filbert Street. We started watching and following City since then.
“I went to Wembley to watch the FA Cup match against Manchester City, we lost, most disappointing. We even had an off licence shop on Filbert Street for a couple of years.
“We moved to New Zealand in 1977, soccer was not big here then however we have stuck to our team, through thick and thin, never supported any other major teams and today, it’s our turn to be in the sunshine .
“I went to Moat Boys school in Leicester, City of Leicester Boys and I played soccer with Carl Jayes, Leicester reserve goalkeeper. I qualified as a pharmacist, worked in Leicester for six months, moved to London for two years and moved to New Zealand in 1977. I have been here since then.
“We loved our beloved Leicester. Players like Jackie Sinclair, Peter Rodgers, Len Glover, Gordon Banks ,Derek Dougan, Peter Shilton heroes of our days .
“Would love to be with the boys and fans to celebrate this amazing mile stone after 123 years, would love The Guardian to shout us trip back home? Now we can go to our graves happy and meet our maker to talk to him about it. A great Leicester City team, all credit to the manager, players and fans. May we have many more wins and we do well in Europe. I can’t wipe the smile off my face, no one in NZ cares.”
Worth a punt? Bet365 said it was now pricing Leicester at 100/1 to win the Champions League, report Press Association. Spokesman Steve Freeth said: “The dream has become reality and Leicester City will be the toast of a number of punters after pulling off the biggest sports betting shock of all-time - to the tune of over 3m in our case.”
Leicester’s win has cost the bookies William Hill £2.2m, their worst individual day in two decades.
“Leicester’s 5,000/1 victory has smashed all bookmaking records and in the process cost us a £2.2m loss - our worst individual day’s result on a single sport since Frankie Dettori rode all seven winners at Ascot in September 1996 and cost us over £8m and the industry 50m.” said William Hill’s spokesman Graham Sharpe.
William Hill are pricing Leicester at 25/1 for the title next season and at 16/1 to go down. The bookmaker added that its largest bet on Leicester was £20 at 5,000/1 and the smallest 5p at the same price.
The Leicester City captain, Wes Morgan, has spoken about winning the Premier League title:
It’s the best feeling of my career and I couldn’t be prouder that it’s as part of this team. Everyone’s worked so hard for this, nobody believed we could do it, but here we are, Premier League champions and deservedly so.
“I’ve never known a spirit like the one between these boys, we’re like brothers. People saw it last season when everyone expected us to be relegated, but we fought back to prove people wrong. This season’s been a continuation of that. We’ve built on the momentum, but I don’t think anyone believed it would come to this.
The Chelsea captain John Terry has been talking to Sky Sports.
Congratulations to Leicester because they have been superb this year. The rivalry with Tottenham means a lot but that still hurts us tonight losing the league title after the way we won it last year.
“It hurts passing the Premier League title to Leicester but credit to them, they’ve been superb. We’ve not been good enough but we’ll be back next year.
“Claudio Ranieri is different class and I’m pleased for him 100%. I spoke to him pre-season and wished him well and to do what they’ve done this season has been unbelievable and given hope to the smaller sides.
“Credit to Claudio because he’s a great manager and a great person. Congratulations to Leicester and all their players because all season long everyone has been saying they’d lose the next one, they’ll lose the next one but they never did and they’ve kept churning out results.”
Ben Quinn is the Guardian’s man in Leicester. He has been talking to the city’s mayor
As car horns hooted outside his window, Leicester’s mayor, Peter Sousby, told the Guardian “We thought it couldn’t get any better 12 months ago when the eyes of the world were on us as we reinterred the bones of Richard III, but this is even better.”
“We are very proud of what is probably the most diverse city in Europe and in fact many people see the team as a metaphor because it shows what you can really achieve when you bring a diverse group of people together,” he said.
He added that the official celebrations will take place after the end of the season “although we will have two weeks of parties before then of course.”
Pictures are filtering in from Jamie Vardy’s house, where the Leicester side gathered to watch the Chelsea v Tottenham draw which secured the club their first Premier League title.
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The Leicester City right back is in ebullient mood (contains swearing):
I swear to god I fucking love this team. You don't understand. No one does. Fucking unreal. I don't know what to do. #vardyparty 💙💙💙💙💙💙
— Danny Simpson (@dannysimpson) May 2, 2016
Our interactive team have put together an absolutely fabulous package on how Leicester win the title. There are moving graphs and everything, it’s genuinely fantastic:
Tottenham’s Harry Kane has been talking to Sky. He paid tribute to Leicester, congratulating them on their title win. Then he said: “We’re gutted and in the manner that it happened. We’re gutted we haven’t kept the two goal lead. It hurts and it will probably hurt for the next two weeks.
“We’ve got to learn to finish teams off. We had a couple of chances second half and we didn’t do it. Chelsea were fighting and had the crowd on their side. It’s a point at Stamford Bridge, and that’s never a bad thing, but we’re disappointed we haven’t won.”
Gary Lineker, of course, promised to present Match of the Day in his underwear if Leicester won the title.
YES! If Leicester win the @premierleague I'll do the first MOTD of next season in just my undies.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) December 14, 2015
There is a precedent for this sort of thing, as Philip Cornwall points out. When Bernie Slaven predicted Middlesbrough would not beat Manchester United on the radio in 1999 he promised to show his backside in the window of the local department store Binns if he was proved wrong. Boro won 3-2, Bernie’s bum was duly aired.
More on the sad news that bookies are taking a hammering. Here’s PA’s take:
Bookmakers were left counting the cost of Leicester’s Premier League title on Monday night.
City, 5,000-1 outsiders at the start of the season, claimed the crown on Monday night as rivals Tottenham failed to win at Chelsea.
Stories have slowly emerged of those once optimistic punters who put the odd pound on their side to win the Premier League, in nothing but hope.
And now, that hope is returning riches.
Sky Bet said it had paid out a record £4.6m to gamblers, saying it was an industry loser with 128 people backing City at the longest price.
Sky Bet’s Sandro Di Michele said: “The unthinkable has become reality and we’re facing a paying out the sort of liability that you joke about at the start of the season.
“We’re now bracing ourselves for more punters looking to get on long-price outright odds, but Leicester certainly won’t be 5,000/1 next season!”
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Here is the latest from the pubs of Leicester:
The Kasabian guitarist and Leicester City fan Serge Pizzorno is delighted:
There have been so many great moments. Jamie Vardy making history with the goal against United was such a special moment. When he did it there was the kind of cheer you hardly ever hear – everyone knew it was special. And beating Manchester City away 3-1 and the manner in which we did it – that was when you felt the bubble wasn’t going to burst.
He has written this for the Guardian
Updated
Manchester United have spent more on new players in the two-year reign of their current manager than the new champions have in their entire 132-year existence. Barney Ronay on Leicester here:
In further good news for the city of Leicester, the Leicester-born snooker player Mark Selby has won the World Snooker Championship. Catch up on events at the Crucible here:
Our picture editor, Jim Powell, has pieced together the story of Leicester’s remarkable season in pictures. It’s great: have a look at it here
The party is just getting started in Leicester
Updated
Hubert O’Hearn has emailed in with a poem he has just dashed off to celebrate the Leicester title win:
Well done Leicester
You are champions
Breathe deep this rarest air
Drink you long and toast the night
But yet a moment spare
To hold each thought, each sight each word
For mark you the day shall come
When you are old, so grey the hair
And you ask a nurse, ‘Please, was I there?’
Claus Stroander has a fairytale to compare to Leicester’s title win (again, in a cup competition, which I think is more set up for shocks, while a league is not).
“Another fairy tale that compares well is Denmark winning the Euros in 1992. We had the most tanned team, as most players had gone on holiday, before Uefa replacing Yugoslavia with the Ugly Ducklings. And with another Schmeichel family member in the team!”
You can read much more about that here:
Philip Cornwall, our production editor, has unveiled a fantastic stat (via some wikipedia research:
Roy Bailey, Larry Carberry, John Elsworthy, Ted Phillips, and Jimmy Leadbetter became the first, and remain the only, players who have won First, Second, and Third Division Championship medals with the same club (Ipswich). Leicester City’s Andy King became the only player to win League One, the Championship and the Premier League with the same club today.
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Tributes from top managers are pouring in for Leicester City and Ranieri: here’s the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and PSG manager Carlo Ancelotti
Congratulations to both Leicester and my friend Claudio Ranieri for their historic win of the Premier League https://t.co/WWGPAVNp1E
— Carlo Ancelotti (@MrAncelotti) May 2, 2016
The bookies are about to take a hammering. Leicester were written off as 5,000/1 outsiders at the start of the season:
@WillHillBet got myself a winner over here, now where is that oversized cheque?? #lcfc #champions what a ride pic.twitter.com/seVE7RXwOr
— leigh herbert (@herb1977) May 2, 2016
Mauricio Pochettino has given a dignified interview to Sky: “I’m disappointed because we fought. 2-0 up in the first half, we have to control and try to score the third. When we conceded the first goal, always something can happen. I’m disappointed but very proud. The season was fantastic and we will still fight for second place. We need to feel proud of the players, we are fighting for that.”
On the team losing their cool: “Well, it was a derby. We fight to win the title and Chelsea fight for ... for ... to try to win. I am very proud of our players and our season. Chelsea showed big respect to us.”
Did it get personal? “No, no, no. Nothing to say, we respect them [Chelsea], we have full respect for them. It’s a competition, it’s football. We are always trying to show we are strong. It was a good lesson for us. We are the youngest squad in the Premeir League. We are disappointed and sad. My message to my players was how proud we are of them. We have massive potential for the future - this is our first step.
“I congratulate Claudio and Leicester, a massive amazing season for them. They deserve it.”
A lot of people wrote Ranieri and Leicester off, including former Premier League managers who should have known better:
Ranieri is a nice guy, but he's done well to get the Leicester job. After what happened with Greece, am surprised he can walk back into PL
— Harry Redknapp (@Redknapp) July 13, 2015
Our video dept have created a fantastic short film about the title race. Refresh your browser, and it will appear at the top of this blog. Or, simply watch it here:
The reaction at Vardy’s house is completely chaotic. Players piling on top of each other, screaming, shouting, howling. “Championes! Championes!” they chant. That party is going to continue all night.
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It’s very hard to think of another story in football to compete with this. Perhaps Greece winning Euro 2004 (read about that here). But a cup competition is always primed for an upset. A league? Never.
On Sky, Jamie Carragher says: “This story will be told in 50 years time. These [Leicester] players are legends now.” Scott Parker, who played under the Leicester manager Ranieri at Chelsea, says the Italian is an emotional man. “He’ll be crying when he gets off that plane”.
This is the scene inside Jamie Vardy’s house, where the Leicester players have gathered to watch the Chelsea v Tottenham game:
CHAMPIONS!!!! pic.twitter.com/pFtvo5XUNx
— Christian Fuchs (@FuchsOfficial) May 2, 2016
Here’s our Midlands correspondent, Stuart James’s, take:
Leicester City have completed one of the most remarkable stories in the history of English football by winning the Premier League title. Written off as relegation candidates at the start of the season, when the bookmakers made Leicester 5,000-1 outsiders to be crowned champions, they secured the first top-flight title in the club’s history after Tottenham were unable to beat Chelsea on Monday night.
Barney Ronay has written about Leicester’s sensational title win:
Do not adjust your reality: this really is happening. For the last three months Leicester City’s gloriously bold progress towards a first English top-flight title has unfurled like a slow breaking wave. A draw against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon left Claudio Ranieri’s collection of off-cuts and rising talents a step closer. Tottenham’s failure to beat Chelsea on Monday night was the final nudge. The wave has finally broken on a Premier League title some are already calling the most unlikely sporting victory of all time.
Here is Amy Lawrence’s match report from an absolutely incredible game of football:
Ranieri was not spotted at Stamford Bridge, so that rumour that he might have been there seems to have been nonsense. Perhaps this is the scene playing out in mid-air somewhere as he flies back from taking his 96-year-old mother out to lunch in Italy
"This is your captain speaking....we're currently flying at 30,000 feet. Oh, and Claudio, you are the champion"
— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) May 2, 2016
Here is our first take on the news of Leicester’s incredible title win, courtesy of Chelsea’s draw with Tottenham:
There is bedlam in Leicester, absolute bedlam. Here is Iman Amrani’s latest video. Look at those scenes!
What an incredible game of football that was, a fitting finale to the incredible story of Leicester City’s season. Played at breakneck speed, full to bursting with passion. The goals were wonderful - particularly Hazard’s - the attitude was confrontational, and the crowd were sensational. Couldn’t have asked for a better game to decide the title - except, of course, for Leicester City being in it.
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Tottenham’s players look sick. Their manager looks ashen. There are players in each others’ faces, it’s getting ugly on the pitch at Chelsea. Michel Vorm, the reserve Spurs keeper, is at the heart of it. This is a melee.
But in Leicester, there are wild celebrations.
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LEICESTER CITY ARE CHAMPIONS
The referee blows the whistle. It’s the greatest fairytale in Premier League history. In football history!
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90min+6: How are there still 11 players on each side?
90 min+6: Lamela attempts to build an attack, but Chelsea nick the ball. Dier reacts by absolutely clattering Fabregas. Up the other end, Mason assaults Hazard. Tottenham have lost their heads. Yellow for Mason.
90 min+4: Willian races forward across the centre circle and is chopped down by a frustrated Harry Kane. It leads to another big row in the centre of the pitch, all the players getting involved. As it stands Leicester are winning the title.
90 min +3: Hazard, in acres of space charges forward. He aims a wicked shot at goal from distance but hits Oscar on the back of the head. Spurs goal kick.
90min+3: A full blooded challenge on Vertonghen puts sufficient pressure on the defender for him to put the ball straight into touch when looking for a team-mate.
90 min +2: There is a lot of messing about and not very much football going on at the moment. Could well get more than six minutes extra time.
Updated
90 min +1: Chelsea’s fans are just chanting “Leicester! Leicester!”
90min +1: Chadli is brought on for Spurs, he replaces Alderweireld, injured after that tangle with Costa.
90 min: Diego Costa wins a corner after chasing down a lost cause and putting in a sensational tackle on Alderweireld. THe referee neglects to give it though. Six minutes added time.
88 min: Fabregas takes it, but it is a poor ball in - Willian can do little with it. Chelsea fans are singing ‘Over Land And Sea’, their chant that makes fond reference to Leicester.
88 min: Kyle Walker is on the touchlines, wiping blood from his face. John Terry, meanwhile, has been booked for his reaction to the foul on Hazard. Chelsea line up a free kick 40 yards out.
87 min: Tottenham have lost it: Dier absolutely clatters Hazard, a furious tackle. He gets a yellow but Chelsea’s players have once again surrounded the referee. This is a sensational game of football.
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86 min: Clattenburg tells the players to get on with it.
86 min: The game has flared up again, Fabregas insisting that Lamela stamped on his hand, I think. THe players are in a huddle, rowing furiously. Clattenburg is keeping his counsel for now but Lamela is on a yellow.
85 min: As it stands Leicester are champions.
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84 min: What an impact he has had since coming on. He runs up the left, finds Costa - who is incredibly strong to hold challenges - then finds Hazard again, who curls an immaculate finish into the top corner. What a goal! This incredible game entirely deserves that sort of quality.
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GOAL! GOAL!! GOAL!!! Chelsea 2-2 Tottenham (Hazard, 82)
Eden Hazardddddddd!!!!!!
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81 min: And a minute later, Chelsea rampage forward on the attack. Diego Costa not able to get a proper shot away. Danny Rose has gone down injured and Ben Davies will replace him. Pochettino attempts to tell his players to calm down, but he does on his knees and pounding the pitch which sends a somewhat mixed signal.
78 min: Danny Rose rakes a ball from the centre of the pitch, straight through the Chelsea defence and into the box. He’s looking for Walker - left back to right back high up the pitch - but Willian (a wing) is back to deal with it. Mad stuff from a breakneck game.
78 min: Hazard diddles about with the ball up the Chelsea left. He is patient, waiting for an opening, but can’t find it. He passes to Mikel, who is not patient and lumps a woeful ball straight into the box which Lloris catches easily.
77 min: A moment after that fluffed chance, Eriksen shot but a brilliant block by Ivanovic denied him. Matic is coming off, Oscar coming on for Chelsea. An attacking change from Hiddink.
76 min: How does Mason not score? Walker, so threatening up the right, finds Mason on the edge of the box. Cahill had been dragged out of position by Kane’s run and so Mason had the entire goal to aim at. He fluffs his lines though. Poor.
74 min: Spurs have got Chelsea pegged back now, the home side’s revival after their goal flagging. The heat’s gone out of the match once more, which will suit Tottenham. Having said that, Hazard and Costa’s neat interplay nearly sends the Belgian into the box. It wakes Chelsea up and Willian jinks through the box, finds Hazard, who fizzes a low cross across the goal - a boot attempts to make contact but can’t connect. Walker clears for a corner, which Chelsea waste.
Updated
72 min: Ivanovic earns himself a yellow for an oafish challenge on, I think, Lamela. Free kick to Spurs 10 yards from the corner of the box. The ball in is good, but there are no Spur players to meet it. Azpilicueta heads it out for a corner. Eventually, Spurs win another corner from it.
Iman Amrani has the reaction in Leicester to Cahill’s goal:
Updated
69 min: Kane, battling hard, edges backwards into the Chelsea box but is met with two Chelsea defenders who clear (with a high boot). It’s worth saying that Chelsea’s defender have been all over Kane, but he has yet to react with anything more than a wry smile. Eriksen is booked, Spurs’s fifth of the night.
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68 min: The mood inside Stamford Bridge:
Stamford Bridge, home to champions 1yr ago, desperately willing its team on to a draw against a side they've not lost to in 26yrs. Brutal.
— Dan Levene (@danlevene) May 2, 2016
67 min: Diego Costa gets on the end of the corner, but heads it back out for another one. Eriksen is not hurrying over these corners and abbregas gets the second away. But still Tottenham stay on the attack, Vertonghen lofting the ball to the back post but Begovic getting in the way of the subsequent header at goal.
66 min: Tottenham, very sensibly, are putting a metaphorical foot on the ball. Passing it about the back, taking the heat out of the game. Or so it seems until suddenly they pounce - Eriksen finds Mason, whose shot is poor but rebounds for Kane to have another crack: corner.
63 min: Hazard is again racing up the middle, but he’s closed down before being able to get a shot away. Hard to know if he is playing so well because he wants to beat Spurs (as he said), is attempting to prove something to fans who have been on his back, is back in form, is looking to impress potential suitors. Ryan Mason comes on for Son.
62 min: Hazard has woken Chelsea up. He charges forward, finds Costa then goes for the return pass. Costa doesn’t give it to him, finding Willian instead. His shot is tame though and easily saved.
It’s not all doom and gloom in Leicester. Here’s the latest from our video reporter there:
61 min: Chelsea have pressed forward now, putting the pressure back onto Spurs. Willian is clattered, and frmo the free-kick Chelsea pour forward again. Hazard finds Costa, who passes the ball back to him. Hazard then finds Ivanovic, who fizzes a ball into the box - Costa handles it in attempting to control it.
59 min: Costa finds himself in the clear, he is through on goal and charges into the box … then slips over. Alderweireld clears.
59 min: That’s woken the crowd up. The roar is back at Stamford Bridge, but it doesn’t stop Walker from motoring down the right wing and whipping a high cross across the box. There is nobody there to meet it. This game is furiously alive again.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-2 Tottenham (Cahill, 58)
From the corner, Cahill takes a touch to control the ball and, from about the penalty spot, clatter home a left foot volley. Chelsea back in it! Leicester back in it!
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57 min :Hazard flicks the ball to Fabregas, striding forward from midfield. His attempted ball back to the left wing would have sent him clear but for the fact Demebele was in the way. A moment or two later, Chelsea win a corner.
56 min :Matic, in what is one or the more unlikely things to type, wiggles his way to the byline up the Chelsea left and clumps a cross in to the Tottenham area. Lloris claims. The momentum very much feels in Tottenham’s favour at the moment.
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54 min: A Tottenham corner comes to nothing and Chelsea spend a little time diddling about in the Tottenham half. When Spurs have had enough of that, they race up the other end, Kane finds Rose clear on the edge of the box. Instead of hitting a ball begging to be hit, he passes to Son whose shot is weak and wide. Rose takes a blow to the face in the midst of all that.
Iman Amrani’s latest video from Leicester is here: a sad Leicester fan speaks
52 min: Kane fizzes a ball across the Chelsea box, a ball just dying for a Spurs fot to tap it home. None arrive.
51 min: Even Lamela’s getting in on the act. Entirely needlessly, he goes in studs up on Fabregas and flattens him. He gets a yellow. Tottenham may be lucky to end this match with 11 on the pitch. Meanwhile, Hazard - who has been very busy since coming on - clips a shot in, attempting to beat Lloris at the near post. He can’t do it.
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49 min: Lamela clips a lovely ball into Kane, who again breaks the offside trap on the left of Chelsea’s area. He angles a good shot across Begovic, aiming for the far post, but the keeper is good enough to stop it.
“Why does Diego Costa on a football field always resemble a werewolf who finds himself stranded on Jupiter on a night when all 67 moons are shining brightly?” writes Justin Kavanagh, before pointing out (perhaps needlesly): “He’s a very angry man.”
48 min :Hazard, again, does good work up the left wing. He cracks a cross into the box but sees it come straight back out again off a Tottenham head.
47 min: Hazard finds Azpilicueta brilliantly and the left back attempts to whizz the ball into the middle for Costa. Walker gets a good block in and the ball goes out for a corner. Chelsea can do nothing with it.
47 min: Kane tries to get past Ivanovic but can’t. What he can do, though, is hoof the ball hard against him to win a corner. Lamela delivers it, with Kane dropping back to meet it. But he can’t get power on the header and Begovic claims.
The second half is under way
Peep, peep: Tottenham kick off.
Nick Honeywell emails: “Quote: ‘Can’t see Dembele avoiding a retrospective ban for that gouge on Costa. His temper is so high, that there’s a chance he’ll get himself sent off in the second half anyway. If I was Pochettino, I’d take him off now.’
“I was thinking he should take Walker off now before he gets a second yellow. So if he does both that’s two of his three changes gone already. A full three out of three if Rose also looks like he needs protecting from himself.”
Here comes the second half and Pedro has been replaced by Hazard for Chelsea.
This is a fair point:
Diego Costa is a strange fella. Has his jersey pulled, acts like he's been eye-gouged. Is eye-gouged, acts like he's had his jersey pulled.
— Eoin McDevitt (@EoinMcDevitt) May 2, 2016
Football Weekly regular Ian Macintosh is in Leicester (and has been since yesterday) to capture the mood there. It’s not gone according to plan.
Mood in the Slug & Lettuce: Subdued. pic.twitter.com/JEjUOGAfEL
— Iain Macintosh (@iainmacintosh) May 2, 2016
The view from Newcastle: “As a Newcastle fan,” emails Shaun Wilkinson, “can I just say I appreciate Spurs’ efforts to get all their players suspended by the FA before the last game of the season.”
Party-pooping dept: “Well I, for one, am over the moon so far. While the world is falling in love with Leicester’s fairy tale, I would like nothing more than to see Robert Huth fail to get a winner’s medal,’ writes Matt Dony. “He is comfortably my least favourite footballer, and I have a lot of hate for a lot of players! Harsh on Ranieri, but the heart wants what it wants.”
There’s a chance this title race will go to the final day - and who wouldn’t want that? Here’s some light reading on title finales from the aforementioned Rob Smyth:
Can’t see Dembele avoiding a retrospective ban for that gouge on Costa. His temper is so high, that there’s a chance he’ll get himself sent off in the second half anyway. If I was Pochettino, I’d take him off now.
Half-time
Peep, peep: That’s half-time. Spurs have been patient and impressive, Chelsea have been threatening and angry. A great half of football, a brilliant one for Tottenham, a bad one for Leicester.
“Was that sex masochism from Dembele?” emails Rob Smyth, of this parish.
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46 min: Rose, who wasn’t on a yellow as I thought, is now on a yellow after his involvement in that. As is Willian.
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45 min: That was shocking from Ivanovic - a square pass in front of goal, which is intercepted. But never mind that: it’s all kicked off. Rose and Willian clash, and Willian shoves the Spurs man. He does so right in front of Pochettino, who charges onto the pitch and gets involved in the tussle. Suddenly, all the players are involved and both benches get stuck in as everything flares up. Eventually Pochettino apologises to Willian. But, in the midst of all that, Dembele scratched Costa in the eye. That would have been a red if the referee has seen it.
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GOAL! Chelsea 0-2 Tottenham (Son, 44)
Son is played in on the edge of the Chelsea box after an error from Ivanovic. Eriksen passes to Son and he strokes it home from 10 yards. Mood in Leicester: bad.
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43 min: Rose clatters Pedro. Fabregas takes the free-kick, catching Tottenham out. Costa attempts to bicycle kick the ball into the net, but is offside.
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42 min: Costa is knocked to the ground again but Clattenburg - who has let a lot go - finally whistles. Fabregas hoists the ball to the back post, but there are no Chelsea players there to send the ball home. Lloris claims easily.
40 min: Chelsea living dangerously here. Walker pulls the ball back to Lamela, who shoots hard at goal. The ball rebounds and falls to Son, who also gets a shot away. Cahill gets in a despairing block. Chelsea race up the other end and Willian fires a shot wide. This is breathless.
39 min: Fabregas is sharp - hanging around in what would have been an offside position, except this was a throw-in. He goes hurtling into the Tottenham box but is challenged before getting a decent shot away.
38 min: It was lovely buildup play from Eriksen and Lamela that led to the goal. Meanwhile, Chelsea have reacted badly to going behind: their already roiling temper has gone up a notch. Vertonghen grabs a handful of Costa’s shirt, and the referee gives Chelsea a free-kick, which doesn’t stop Costa from furiously having a go at the Spurs defender.
Oof...deathly silence here in #Leicester. Still some way to go yet. Compelling #CFCvTHFC
— Christina Macfarlane (@chrissymacCNN) May 2, 2016
35 min: The mood in Leicester just took a turn for the worse.
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GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Tottenham (Kane, 33)
Kane breaks clear of the Chelsea back four, springing the offside trap perfectly. He takes two touches in the Chelsea box, goes past Begovic and knocks it into an open goal. Chelsea thought he was offside. He wasn’t.
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33 min: Matic and Mikel, stationed in front of the Chelsea back four have done a much better screening job than has been seen in the Chelsea midfield in recent weeks. Doesn’t feel like it’s a coincidence that Terry is back in the back four telling them what to do and where to be.
31 min: Kyle Walker is slack, playing a poor pass to Alderweireld. But Costa nips in and steals the ball then whistles a powerful shot at goal. Lloris knocks it over for a corner, which Chelsea waste.
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29 min: Kane stands over a Tottenham free-kick, about 40 yards out. Ridiculously, Kane goes for goal and, though the ball wobbles all over the place, Begovic watches it go high over the bar.
“This is set up for John Terry to be the villain of the piece,” emails Andy Gordon. “An own goal in the 89th minute tonight followed by a winning goal against Leicester in the 89th minute followed by Christopher Walken playing him in the Jamie Vardy movie. Trust me.”
28 min: It’s only a few seconds later that a long ball from the Tottenham defence falls to Lamela. He hits the deck and the ball rebounds to Son who is in acres of space just outside the D. He whistles a shot wide, when he really should have scored. Pochettino goes mad in the technical area.
27 min: There’s a right old battle up the Tottenham left, with Willian, Ivanovic and Mikel all kicking lumps out of Eriksen. Finally, Ivanovic clears and Pedro attempts to turn Walker up the Chelsea left. Walker flattens Pedro, the referee plays advantage, and Costa passes to Fabregas just inside the box. He has a fantastic chance to score, but scuffs his shot wide of Llloris’ right hand post. Walker gets a yellow.
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25 min: “I know he hasn’t really been involved in much of the aggro so far,” writes JR in Illinois, “but this is shaping up to be one of those games where Costa will do something preposterous. Whether he gets caught will be the question.” He has just gone mildly feral after being flagged offside.
24 min: Kane and Mikel tussle, with Kane ending up flat on the floor. The Spurs fans howl, but nothing (rightly) is given. A moment later, there is confusion in the Chelsea defence and Son gets clear enough to shoot - he earns a corner. Azpilicueta clears, but only to Eriksen, but his shot is high and wide.
22 min: Dier clumps a ball into the Spurs box from midfield, looking for Kane. A diving header from Cahill sends the ball straight back out. Kane has been quiet so far. Too quiet ...
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21 min: Dembele lingers on the ball for too long, and Fabregas nips in and takes it off him. Fabregas doing a tackle there, one for the collectors. Fabregas finds Costa, but Dier gets in and heaves the ball out for a corner. Willian can’t find a Chelsea man from it, but the ball is flung back into the box by Pedro. Fabregas attempts to get on the end of Pedro’s ball but Rose slips in front of him, blocking him, and Lloris claims the ball. There’s a lone Chelsea fan, holding up a small banner reading “Let’s do it for Ranieri”, Chelsea’s former manager.
18 min: There are further handbags as Chelsea claim they should have had a throw-in which goes Tottenham’s way. With tempers high, Walker then shoves Pedro to the floor. Then get this: Diego Costa acts the peacemaker.
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16 min: It’s Ivanovic’s turn to clatter a Tottenham player, and he repays Danny Rose’s compliment to Willian by going in studs up on the left-back. He too gets a talking to from the referee who won’t keep his cards in his pocket for much longer if this carries on.
15 min: Fabregas clips over a very decent free-kick, the ball arcing over the penalty spot. Several Chelsea heads go up for it, but none connect. A moment later Ivanovic gets clear up the right, before Willian rakes a low cross over. Vertonghen knocks it out for a corner, which Fabregas connects with but knocks out for a goal kick. This match is furiously high octane so far.
13 min: Mikel plays a scandalous ball to Willian on the very edge of Chelsea’s box, putting the Brazilian in all sort of peril. He manages to get the ball away, but is flattened by Danny Rose in the process. Rose is warned that, next time, he’ll get a yellow. Clattenburg treading a fine line in a match this heated but probably right to keep his cards in his pocket at this early stage.
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12 min: Tottenham are on top at the moment, Eriksen scittering around outside the box menacingly. He finally flings over a cross to Walker coming in from the right. He hits it too high for the Spurs right-back though.
11 min: Tottenham quickly rush up the other end, and some smart work near his own goalline from Azpilicueta tidies things up. Still, Spurs keep possession and Danny Rose lines up a long range screamer, whizzing the ball slightly high and slightly wide. Begovic, in the Chelsea goal, is not too concerned.
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9 min: Lamela clatters Ivanovic and Chelsea have a free kick, which Willian swings long into the box. Matic is about to go up for it, but the big midfielder is nudged hard in the back by Walker and cannot jump. The Chelsea players appeal for a penalty, which they don’t get.
8 min: Dembele, Lamela and Eriksen flick the ball between themselves, all one touch passes, all very quick. Finally, Kane attempts to spring past Cahill with the ball being dinked in over Terry and into the area. Cahill is alive to the threat and heads clear.
7 min: Lamela negotiates his way out of trouble deep in the Tottenham half and Spurs attack, attempting to spring Kane clear. Chelsea regroup and force the visitors back to refrains of “Chelsea! Chelsea!” around the ground. The atmosphere is beginning to get the players worked up and, after Mikel pushes Dembele, the Spurs man gives him a shove back. Clattenburg tells everyone (but the crowd) to calm down.
5 min: Diego Costa is sent to the pitch again, and complains to the referee about it. Mark Clattenburg could not care less. Again Azpilicueta goes on a promising run up the left, but runs into a Spurs defender who locates Row Z.
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4 min: Corner to Chelsea, swung over to the back post. Cahill arrives late in a penalty area marked by players grappling with each other. The defender sends his header wide though.
“Dramatist to immortalise the goings-on at Jamie Vardy’s house party: Leicester’s very own Joe Orton,: writes Charles Antaki. “He probably hated football, so there would be extra sizzle in the dialogue.But probably not a happy ending.
3 min: Dier lets Diego Costa what he’ll be in for tonight and gives him a little tap. Chelsea play across the back four before Azpilicueta goes on a run up the left that amounts to little. The crowd at Stamford Bridge are in rare form: a really noisy atmosphere in west London tonight.
2 min: Eriksen goes on a run down the Spurs right wing and makes it to the edge of the box. He can’t find space for a cross though and Chelsea retain possession. He’s playing down the right, with Son in the hole as a No10.
Peep, peep!
We’re off: strap in. Chelsea, in blue, kick off against Tottenham in white to potentially determine the destination of the Premier League title.
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Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo’s still not popular in certain quarters of Stamford Bridge, then:
Chelsea fans chant 'We Hate Tottenham' over the Liquidator. There's an 'EMENALO OUT' banner in the Harding Lower pic.twitter.com/6xnZRApqsq
— Liam Twomey (@liam_twomey) May 2, 2016
A slight revision to the normal Liquidator from the Chelsea fans this evening.
A special Liquidator tonight: "Diddley-diddley-diddley-diddley - WE HATE TOTTENHAM - CHELSEA!"
— Dan Levene (@danlevene) May 2, 2016
Clickety clack, clickety clack: The teams are down the tunnel and out onto the pitch. First come Chelsea, led by John Terry. Then come Tottenham. The Liquidator blares out of the PA:
The latest from our writers at Stamford Bridge:
At Stamford Bridge, where the PA man is doing his utmost to gee up the home crowd. Tottenham's away corner pretty raucous.
— Amy Lawrence (@amylawrence71) May 2, 2016
“I think Chelsea already suffered the results of moral Hazard when they gave him a new contract and he promptly stopped trying,” replies Peter Wahlberg to Peter Oh, further involving me in a discussion I’m not sure I understand.
With 10 minutes to go until kick-off, more players are arriving at Jamie Vardy’s house in Melton Mowbray to watch the match - and are now being greeted by a gaggle of fans too. Here’s Wes Morgan pulling up:
The Guardian’s Iman Amrani is on the street of Leicester with a video camera in hand. This is what she’s discovered:
I don’t understand a word of this, if I’m honest.
“I’m not an economist but have heard of a concept called moral hazard, characterised by increased risk-taking when the costs of the risk is borne by someone else,” writes Peter Oh. “Could it be that Chelsea will pour forward tonight (risk getting caught on the counter) because the cost (failure to end Spurs’ hopes) is spread out among Leicester’s remaining opponents? Or am I overthinking things, and the only moral hazard is the wisdom of leaving Hazard on the bench, if this is indeed a must-win(-to-deny-Spurs) match for Chelsea?”
Stamford Bridge looks a little like this at the moment:
Terry did some jogging alone when he first came out. Now with the team. Looks to be moving well #cfc #thfc pic.twitter.com/ktLKEdUNde
— Liam Twomey (@liam_twomey) May 2, 2016
Guus Hiddink on dropping Eden Hazard: “He has come back from a long period of absence and has struggled and fought back. He will probably get his time but I am being careful with him. Pedro and Willian have done their jobs really well. We have a good luxury problem. Never guarantee but he might come in later.”
Hiddink says John Terry and Gary Cahill are back in the squad because they know the significance of the match. “We have nothing to fight for regarding silverware but the players know they have to end the season really well.”
On stopping Tottenham: “There’s a lot of fuss about this game, but it’s another game. It’s a tense game, and within the rules of sportsmanship it’s an exciting game for everyone.”
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“Oh what would I not give to be a fly on the wall of Jamie Vardy’s living room this evening,” emails Michael Cosgrove. Well, according to our picture desk, a photographer from a Leicester picture agency is supposed to be there. So you might be able to see it after all.
Here’s Press Association Sport’s man at Chelsea. He says Ranieri is not on any official guest list:
Ranieri not on any guestlists for West Stand corporate boxes at Stamford Bridge. Doesn't mean he's not coming
— Matt McGeehan (@mattmcgeehan) May 2, 2016
Mark Selby, the Jester from Leicester, is hoping to give the city something else to celebrate. Join Stuart Goodwin for live coverage of the World Snooker Championship final: Mark Selby v Ding Junhui is live on the other side of this link!
Mauricio Pochettino on the match: “It’s a game we must win. If we want to be alive in the race for the title, this is a game we must win.”
On Chelsea players’ comments on wanting to beat Tottenham: “It’s good motivation for us. It’s normal they want to stop us. We need to be focused on our game, we know this is very important and we know we must win this game to be in the race for the title. We need to believe in ourselves.”
On Son being in the side for the suspended Alli: “He’s very fast, he’s trained very well in the last few weeks, we have different options and we say why not Son?”
The talk before the match is how up for this the Chelsea team will be, desperate to beat Tottenham, desperate not to give them a sniff of winning the league.
The converse point hasn’t been made all that much, however: that Tottenham are hardly going to be taking it easy. They are in the hunt for a first title since 1961, it seems unlikely they won’t be up for it too. What it means is, this match could be a belter.
A rumour is doing the rounds that Claudio Ranieri is not, in fact, in Italy but is currently at Stamford Bridge having changed his flight plans. No confirmation of that, though, just a rumour.
Also, failed to spot this earlier, Hazard on the bench. Interesting.
Here’s (one of our) men at the Bridge:
I'm at Stamford Bridge, where Asmir Begovic has just won the first-player-out-to-warm-up award
— Simon Burnton (@Simon_Burnton) May 2, 2016
Team news
Chelsea: Begovic, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Mikel, Matic, Willian, Fabregas, Pedro, Costa.
Subs: Baba, Oscar, Hazard, Traore, Kenedy, Amelia, Loftus-Cheek.
Terry returns from injury, Cahill returns from illness and Ivanovic moves to right back.
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose, Dier, Dembele, Lamela, Eriksen, Son, Kane.
Subs: Mason, Vorm, N’Jie, Chadli, Wimmer, Carroll, Davies.
Dier is fit to start, and with Alli out, Son comes in
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)
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Chelsea find themselves in an unusual position tonight: they have most of the country backing them. This time a year or so ago, as Chelsea were poised to win the Premier League, it would have been perfectly valid to point out that the club were likely to again hold the destination of the title in their hands come May 2016. No one thought that these would be the circumstances, however.
For a team that were such dominant champions in 2014-15, it is just one more curiosity of a wild season that Chelsea find themselves both washed up but also potential kingmakers.
For the modern Chelsea, this has been the most un-Chelsea-like of seasons. In recent years, and perhaps as a consequence of José Mourinho’s sprawling influence, their success has been underpinned by a furious rage. Under their most successful manager, they swept to titles with confrontational obstinacy, their team spirit built on an attitude fostered by the coach that everyone was out to get them. When, under André Villas-Boas, there was outright rebellion in the ranks, the team reacted to his sacking with screw you vindication. They won the Champions League almost out of spite and with a team featuring those who were accused of undermining Villas-Boas – Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba, with John Terry in full kit in the stands.
Under Hiddink in 2009, they won the FA Cup with similar defiance following the sacking of the unpopular Luiz Felipe Scolari. The run to the Champions League final under Avram Grant in 2008 was built on fury at Mourinho’s first sacking and the spirit fostered by the core of Terry, Petr Cech, Drogba and Lampard rather than much nous on Grant’s part. The Europa League final victory under Rafael Benítez in 2013 was once again underpinned by irritation bubbling beneath the surface, Lampard and Terry aggrieved at being sidelined by the Spaniard. Perhaps only under Carlo Ancelotti recently did Chelsea succeed without temper, and it was both something the Italian once bemoaned and probably something which contributed to his dismissal by an owner used to something more ruthless from his side.
This season? The anger has come from the stands alone – directed, rightly or wrongly, at those the fans feel were responsible for Mourinho’s sacking in the brooding, bitter days of December. The team’s response to that sacking has not been the ire of old, or even relief, but mere halfhearted revival. Of the old warriors, only Terry remains but his rage now exists against both the dying of the light and the club for their refusal to offer him a new deal yet. His diminishing status highlights another issue Chelsea have yet to address. Ever since the chaotic Terry-free defences (by injury as well as design) of Villas-Boas’s reign, when Gary Cahill attempted to figure out just what David Luiz was going to do next, it was clear there was no one in the side able to direct the players on the pitch as well as Terry did – and the supine loss against Manchester City, with no one in the back four demanding more from the ineffectual Jon Obi Mikel in midfield made it clear little has changed four years on.
What a shame for Chelsea’s legions of kids out on loan that they are not here to push their case. For the likes of Nathan Ake (impressive at Watford), Andreas Christensen (so disillusioned at his limited opportunities in London he doesn’t much want to return), Todd Kane (outstanding at NEC), Nathaniel Chalobah (kicking his heels in Naples), Lewis Baker (promising in Arnhem), Tomas Kalas (much loved in Middlesbrough) or Fikayo Tomori, Patrick Bamford or Isiah Brown, it is their misfortune to be absent at a time when they might have hopes of a run in the first team. Their desire to impress might shake some life into Chelsea.
But enough about that: no one really cares about Chelsea tonight. This evening is all about Spurs and Leicester.
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The mood in Leicester, or at last in one particular house if not most of the city, will be tense this evening. Leicester City’s striker, Jamie Vardy is having a party, and he’s invited all of his friends. The squad are gathering at his place to watch the Chelsea v Spurs match where they could celebrate winning the Premier Title for the first time.
Claudio Ranieri, however, will not be there. He flew back to Italy following the 1-1 draw against Manchester United in order to take his 96-year-old mother out to lunch. He is flying back to the UK tonight, as the Chelsea match plays out, and will not know until he touches down whether his side will have won the league.
Meanwhile, in Bangkok:
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Preamble
It’s simple enough: if Tottenham want to stop Leicester City from winning the title tonight, they will have to do something they have not done in the Premier League era. Spurs’s last victory at Stamford Bridge came in the old Division One in February 1990, and Chelsea have not been beaten in the following 25 matches (17 wins, eight draws). A draw tonight will do Tottenham no good, they need three points or Leicester are champions.
That said, Chelsea are a rabble. They’ve not managed to keep a clean sheet in 10 matches, and have not won at home in their last three fixtures. However, after such a disappointing season, Chelsea’s players know that beating the fans’ hated rivals, Tottenham, would at least provide a crumb of comfort. As such, it’s been interesting to see the two players who have been banging the ‘we must beat Spurs’ drum the hardest: Cesc Fàbregas and Eden Hazard. Both players were labelled “rats” by Chelsea fans following the departure of José Mourinho, and both have had poor seasons.
“The fans, the club, the players, we don’t want Tottenham to win the Premier League,” Hazard said. “We hope for Leicester because they deserve to be champions this season.”
“I don’t want Spurs to win it - I want to be honest and clear,” said Fàbregas, honestly and clearly enough.
It’s not gone down well at Spurs, where Mousa Dembélé’s cage has been properly rattled as a result of their comments. “I am surprised at what Eden has said. He is not the type of person to normally make those types of comments or to envy other people’s success,” said Dembélé. “I won’t pay too much heed to his comments and those from Cesc Fàbregas, who has said similar things. People come up to me in the street and say: ‘Did you hear what Hazard said? What’s his problem?’”
It is, as they say, on. Kick off: 8pm
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