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Leicester City title win is impressive, but no fairy tale

Congratulations to Leicester City for their courage, their strength, and above all, their indefatigability, which should be saluted by us all. It is a truly a remarkable achievement to have gone through a season so determined that they never let up with their running, and were so desperate to win a Premier League title that they all made sure they would return from injury as quickly as they possibly could. To do that in a league when Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea had spent hundreds of millions of pounds into their sides in recent years, is quite stunning. With a spend of around 30 million pounds, then few would have predicted that they could have played so brilliantly, for so long.

Leicester deserve praise not just for winning the league, but for the manner in which they have done it, overseen by their manager, Claudio Ranieri. Ranieri’s contribution cannot be discounted, and it hasn’t been, but it’s worth remembering how long it has taken for this triumph. He earlier listed all his achievements as a manager, and while it is true that he didn’t deserve his buffoonish caricature as something of a failure, or a joke figure, there was nothing to suggest that he could do this. Win a title with Chelsea, or Real? Yes, maybe he could do that, and we’d not have been shocked. To do so with Leicester is scarcely credible.

And it wasn’t just with one style, or one simple plan, or one heroic player dragging the rest of the side with him. Manchester United often relied on the exceptional Cristiano Ronaldo, and Liverpool almost managed the same with Luis Suarez in his final season with the club. But while Leicester have had standout performers, no individual contribution from their regular cast has disappointed.

But back to Ranieri. Much smoke has been blown into the intestines of previous managers for magically shifting between three or four at the back. Brendan Rodgers, and before him Jose Mourinho, were noted for their ability to get teams to swap formations during a match, as if that is the height of sophistication. It’s a skill, clearly, but it is the least one should expect when millions are at your disposal. Ranieri achieved something more impressive.

His ability to marshall a side from the start of the season to rip apart teams with incisive attacking and ruthless counterattacking helped the team move up the league from the opening games, but the success this season is not just because of one style of play. As the winter kicked in, teams adjusted to the idea that this was a truly dangerous team, and so decided that safety first play was more sensible as an approach. No matter, Ranieri was able to manage his team to stay patient, to wait until the last minute to score if they had to, and to break down sides with technique and determination, not simply on the break. Few managers can do that with the best players, and few can get the players to keep their heads under pressure.

The biggest success after simply winning the games, then, and perhaps elevating performances so dramatically, is that the manner in which they have gone about their business is so impressive. There has been little panic. When there have been setbacks, such as Vardy’s extended ban or a late loss at Arsenal at a potentially crucial juncture, they just kept going. When Vardy stopped scoring, others started. Or in Riyad Mahrez’s case, he showed why he is by far the best player in the team. When Arsenal lose their heads, they lose them for good. When Leicester faced difficulty, they just won the next game.

Leicester, then, deserve praise. Probably more praise than they will get over the longer term, as football quickly moves onto the Euros and next season’s traditional contenders. But the one thing to remember is that this is no fairytale. It was hugely unlikely and there are some enjoyable characters in the story, but there are reasons to be more considered when celebrating what has happened.

We should not forget the hypocrisy of the club over the summer when they were happy to sack young players who racially abused people on the club tour of Thailand, but were quick to retain Vardy when he also racially abused someone. The fact that the important player was kept but the youngsters weren’t, highlights Leicester as operating within the same bounds of morality as pretty much any big club.

It isn’t just Vardy, either, there is Robert Huth, who indulged in some transphobia earlier in the season, who took less heat for that then he probably should have, because transphobia is regarded as fair game by a dispiritingly large number of people. There is Danny Simpson, convicted of assaulting a woman, too. He served his sentence of 300 hours community service, and Huth and Vardy made brief apologies. This isn’t to continue to attack people for the mistakes they have made, but simply to point out that, in the grand scheme of things, Leicester are no different from most other clubs, off the pitch. And while there’s no point boasting about the state of British politics and capitalism, there’s nothing fantastic about King Power and its association with the unpleasant Thai royal family, either.

It might seem churlish to whizz on some chips so soon, but somebody has to. Leicester deserve praise and credit for what they have done. But they also should not allow that praise to think they are above valid criticism for much of what they do. Deep down, they are a football club like any other.