Ranieri: ‘A legend was born’ with Leicester City triumph 10 years ago
Claudio Ranieri looks back a decade on from the iconic Leicester City Premier League victory, as the Foxes drop into the third tier. ‘I tweaked things, and from there a legend was born.’
It is a decade on since Ranieri made football history by winning the Premier League title with minnows Leicester City, leaving behind clubs with far bigger budgets and glorious trophy cabinets.
As a sign of quite what a sporting miracle that was, Leicester City will play in League One next season, the English equivalent of Serie C, after back-to-back relegations.
To commemorate the anniversary, Ranieri sat down with singer-songwriter Sayf, who made headlines when saying his unexpected hit made him feel like Leicester City.
Ranieri remembers Leicester City success
“There was an incredible positive energy behind the team at that time, but I was only convinced that I would win the Premier League when I actually won the Premier League,” Ranieri told Sky Sport Italia.
“This was considered a yo-yo team, they’d go up and down the divisions, and have just now dropped into the English third tier. When the President hired me, he asked to get 40 points and secure safety from relegation as early as possible. From there, a legend was born.
“I arrived, the team was in a training retreat because they’d sacked the coach, I had two days to prepare watching games from previous seasons. I changed a few things, as they were accustomed to a different system, saw some players who I felt it was right to change, and then the team really started to push.”
When asked if there was a moment or game when he saw the situation change, Ranieri insisted there wasn’t a specific turning point in that remarkable season.
“I started tweaking things because we conceded too many goals. I changed the two wide defenders, and from there the team conceded fewer goals.
“Another potential moment was a series of three games against Manchester City away, Liverpool at home, and Arsenal away, before the break for international duty.
“Jamie Vardy said to me: ‘Mister, shall we get nine points?’ I replied that if they picked up nine points, I’d give them the whole week off for a vacation. We won 3-1 in Manchester, we beat Liverpool, were 1-0 up over Arsenal until going down to 10 men and losing at the 93rd minute.
“Everyone was so sad in the dressing room, so I told them: ‘I always asked you for the maximum in every game. We lost today, but you gave your best, so in my mind you earned three points. So you can have the whole week off.’ That might’ve been another building block in the victory.”
Ranieri also famously did the ‘dilly-ding dilly-dong’ gesture in training, his version of ringing a bell as a wake-up call to his Leicester City players.
“In all my experiences, I tried to keep everyone involved with a smile,” said the coach.