Leicester City — heroic and deserving champions

Nine months ago, bookmakers thought Elvis Presley being found alive was more than twice as likely than 5000-1 shots Leicester City being crowned champions of England. That is the magnitude of the Foxes’ remarkable achievement.

Theirs is the most unimaginable triumph in the history of sport. No wonder Hollywood producers are queuing up to make a film about their tale.

Are they among the finest sides English football has ever produced? No, not even close.

Claudio Ranieri’s men do not have the most prolific attack, or the meanest defence — and they are even on course to record the lowest goal difference of any Premier League champion since its inception in 1992.

But, who cares? Leicester City are now the people’s team, and hugely deserving winners.

Team, I think, is the operative word. If you are looking for the secrets behind how they have pulled off the impossible, that is at the crux of the matter.

Assembled for less than £30 million (S$59.2 million), they began the campaign with a squad comprised of players written off earlier in their careers. They were has-beens and rejects. Ranieri himself had just been sacked by Greece for losing to the Faroe Islands.

There were points to prove.

Having no big egos helped them. Treating one another on the same level, the Foxes pooled their individual desires to create a hungry togetherness that no one else could match.

There has not been a match they did not fancy. There has not been a challenge they could not be bothered to overcome. There was not a single day of slacking. Never did they contemplate bottling it. Leicester’s class of 2016 attacked every contest with the same lust, as if it was their last.

It was a formula their title rivals failed to replicate. Shamefully, the big boys were not prepared to work as hard, or as fearlessly, as the underdogs they assumed would crumble. None had the Foxes’ steel.

You do not win leagues without a sprinkling of stardust though, and in Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, Leicester have two heroes who stayed “in the zone” longer than anyone anticipated.

We knew about their exceptional speed (Vardy) and skill (Mahrez), but when those traits were married with spiralling-out-of-control confidence, each rapidly made the step up from decent to deadly.

Every time Ranieri needed one of them to stand up and deliver, they did. Mentally, Vardy and Mahrez showcased a toughness no one could have foreseen. Leicester’s £1.4 million investment in the pair was spare change well spent.

Partnerships are also vital, and I am forever scratching my head as to why more managers do not see it that way. You can field 11 outrageously gifted players, but if only a few can gel with those closest to them on the pitch, the team will stumble and fall.

Robert Huth and Wes Morgan. N’Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater. Shinji Okazaki and Vardy. Christian Fuchs and Marc Albrighton. Danny Simpson and Mahrez. I could list several more duos at the King Power who look like they were born to play next to each other.

Performing unselfishly, Leicester’s players have been on the same wavelength since August — and you cannot buy the chemistry they share.

There will be tears this weekend, and his name will forever be linked with “Dilly Ding Dilly Dong”, but Ranieri is no comedy figure.

At 64, in this, his 29th year as a manager, the likeable Italian has finally come of age.

It is true he inherited good players who had ended last season in wonderful form. It is a fact that the club’s scouting department, in particular Steve Walsh, was more instrumental in signing Kante than he was.

And it is also undeniable the natural dynamics of the side shaped their counter-attacking system, more than he has as a tactician.

But Ranieri’s personality, man-management, sensibility and attention to detail are the outstanding virtues that kept them on course — and that is why he is the Manager of the Year.

Rarely have I seen a set of players make the right decisions more often than the Foxes, and that magnificent in-game management is a testament to their coach’s instructions.

They always had an answer.

When Leicester could not keep clean sheets, they played with a freedom that allowed them to feast on goals.

When the strikes dried up, they tightened up. After keeping only three clean sheets in their first 18 games of the season, Leicester stopped their opponents scoring in 12 of their last 17.

None of this was an accident. The manager and his players changed tack when it was necessary to do so.

With the right people and right attitudes, they proved that a great team CAN overcome a team of great individuals.

This set of players will forever be remembered as true sporting heroes, and rightly so.

They have given football its romance back. And for that, we owe them a huge thank you.

About the author: Adrian Clarke is a former Arsenal midfielder who has played at every level of the English game. Now an experienced sports journalist, he writes for many major football websites and international publications. Follow him @adrianjclarke