From Premier League Triumph to Championship Challenge - The Foxes' Journey Continues
June 8, 2023 | Ankit Dawadii 17.7K ReadsLeicester City Football Club, commonly referred to as Leicester City or simply Leicester, is a professional football club based in Leicester, England. The club was founded in 1884 and has a rich history in English football. However, it gained significant attention and achieved remarkable success in recent years.
Leicester City's home ground is the King Power Stadium, with a capacity of around 32,300 spectators. The club's traditional colors are blue and white, and their nickname is "The Foxes."
Leicester City has had its fair share of ups and downs throughout its history. They spent many seasons in the lower divisions of English football and even faced financial difficulties at times. However, the club's fortunes turned around dramatically in the 2015-2016 season, making it one of the most memorable campaigns in English football history.
The MIRACLE OF LEICESTER
Leicester City’s rise to success goes back to the year 2010 when King Power International, a Thai retail company owned by the Srivaddhanaprabha family overtook them.The new investors added a good amount of investment to the club and was one of the major reasons for the clubs success in the coming years.
In the 2013-14 season,under Nigel Pearson the team secured promotion to the premier league with an impressive 102 points in the championship and in their first year after promotion they finished in 14th place with 41 points.They were said to be as a lower mid table team and were accomplishing the said prediction
However,in the 2015-16 season Leicester City went against all odds and won the whole league itself.Under Claudio Raineri,the team secured 81 points and defied all the expectations winning the Premier League title.With great performances from Jamie Vardy,Riyad Mahrez,Ngolo Kante and others,Leicester City defied a 5000-1 odds of winning the Premier League.
The team and its players caught everybody’s attention,as a result star players like Kante and Mahrez left the club.
Following their title-winning season, Leicester City continued to perform well in the Premier League. They secured a top-half finish in subsequent seasons and consistently challenged for European qualification. In the 2019-2020 season, Leicester City finished fifth in the league, earning a spot in the UEFA Europa League.The club also experienced success in domestic cup competitions. In the 2020-2021 season, Leicester City won the FA Cup for the first time in their history, defeating Chelsea in the final. It was a significant milestone and further highlighted the club's progress.
How did the foxes go down?
Leicester was getting its success in the years after the premier league triumph,but it could never reach the level it reached in the 2015-16 season.In its ninth year of consecutive premier league season and 49th season in top tier football,the team got relegated from the league.
On paper,the team looked decent,with players like Tielemans,Maddison and others the team was predicted to survive relegation and finish lower middle table,but nothing worked for the team.Under Brendan Rogers,the team looked to struggle in all aspects of the game and even outside the pitch there were reports of internal conflict in the management.
Their “Star” Jamie Vardy was silent throughout the season and probably his age got to him as he scored just 3 goals in a total of 35 appearances for the club.The other reason for the team’s failure could be James Maddison’s small injury in the league.The team,even after injuries had the potential to survive the relegation and as a matter of fact came just two points short of Everton and fell in the relegation place.
Leicester City will now play in the second tier of English football, i.e EFL Championship.The team’s main problem this season was over dependence on the old guns,now for the next season they need to trust the young players and especially find a replacement to Jamie Vardy at the Striker spot.
After the relegation,other clubs will look to buy and bag the stars like Maddison to their team,which will make the effort to come back to the premier league more difficult for Leicester,but with proper support by their fans and proper efforts by their players,they might repeat “The Miracle of Leicester” again.
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