Fantastic foxes

It would be hard to find a sporting success that can match the fairytale run of the newly crowned English Premier League champions Leicester City, and the Thai-owned club are planning celebrations of their epoch-making triumph this weekend in a way that will highlight their connection with Thailand.
Leicester vice chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanapra-bha said the club had asked the Premier League to adorn with blue and yellow ribbons the EPL trophy, which they will lift on Saturday when they host Everton for the penultimate game of the season at King Power Stadium.
The move bucks the normal trend of the English champions picking the ribbons of the club’s colours, but the Leicester hierarchy hopes to pay tribute to His Majesty the King by choosing yellow, the colour of the country’s beloved monarch.
The Leicester boss also admitted that the Foxes’ fairytale triumph was something he had not envisaged when King Power International Group bought the club six years ago.
“When we bought the team, we had so many plans. But to become Premier League champions was not what we dared to dream. When we were in the Championship, our goal was to be promoted to the Premier League and try to stay there.
“Before the Man United game [on Sunday], the Premier League asked us what colours we would prefer for the trophy ribbons. I personally chose blue and yellow, as blue is the team colour and yellow is His Majesty the King’s colour. So when the Trophy is presented to us, blue and yellow ribbons will be used,” Aiyawatt said on the phone during a television interview.
Even die-hard Leicester fans would have chuckled if anyone had suggested a year ago that the club’s revival, after the takeover by Thai duty-free retailers King Power six years ago, would climax with the club’s first top-flight crown in its 132-year history.
Just 12 months ago Leicester fans still had their hearts in their mouths, as the club looked doomed for relegation soon after having made a return to the English top-tier league for the first time in a decade.
However, the Foxes somehow pulled off a seemingly miraculous escape, winning seven of their last nine matches to secure their top-flight status for another season. The euphoria surrounding the survival, though, did not last long as the club soon dispensed with the services of Nigel Pearson, the manager who had overseen the great escape.
When the club drafted in experienced tactician Claudio Ranieri as the Englishman’s replacement, few were convinced that the Italian, whose resume was blotted by the lack of any major success, was the right man to help the team survive in the Premier League for a sustained period.
Lacking the financial clout or a roster packed with world-class talents like the so-called “big” clubs in the league, Leicester simply tasked Ranieri with helping the team stay among the elite in arguably the most competitive and lucrative soccer league in the world.
As the subsequent months bore out, the Thai-owned club’s meteoric rise would not have been possible without the tactical nous of the Italian, better known as the “Tinkerman”. Ranieri, 64, restrained his usual habit of chopping and changing, a tendency that had earned him the moniker during his stint at outgoing champions Chelsea, by sticking to the “core” players of the team. It comes as no surprise that the Foxes have so far used only 23 players, the joint lowest in the league.
The Italian’s man-management skills also came to the fore as he managed to extract the best out of his players, with England international Jamie Vardy and Algerian live-wire winger Riyad Mahrez, who was recently named Player of the Year by the Professional Footballers Association, being the prime examples.
While Vardy and Mahrez grabbed the headlines with their exploits in front of the goal, the unsung heroes – particularly those in the Foxes’ rearguard – have also played a huge part in inspiring the club to the fairytale triumph that has captured the imagination of the world.
Ranieri’s side have so far plundered 64 goals and let in just 34 en route to this historic triumph. The statistics clearly outline the recipe for their success: a solid defence and lethal counterattack. It was a simple but lethally effective strategy that left most of the league rivals clueless.
Leicester’s stunning triumph has earned Thailand the bragging rights. Though no Thai player may have unleashed his skills in the Premier League, at least the Thai owners of a club have won the top crown in English soccer.