Leicester City in their own words: Jamie Vardy, Claudio Ranieri and more on why the Foxes are flying high

Leicester’s rise to the top of the Premier League is one of the most heart-warming stories of recent times. But while their success has taken many by surprise those in and around the club insist it is the result of careful planning and hard work

The superstar - Jamie Vardy (Leicester’s leading goalscorer)

Mr Ranieri thinks about it tactically, a bit differently. He will probably look all the way down to the opposition laundry lady to see if he can find a weakness we can exploit. Each player has his own camera on him so he can analyse them and see what they’re doing. We get to watch them on the iPads all week – we have to make sure we watch them and take it on board.

Obviously leading from the front I’ve had to be aggressive because of my size and that’s how I ended up with the nickname Cannon [as in Loose Cannon].

At Fleetwood, I had to do a forfeit [running naked round the pitch]. I can’t remember why I had to do the forfeit. It was usually something silly like being late into training or pulling the worst prank of the day. It wasn’t the best time because it was around winter and it’s freezing up in Fleetwood!

I managed to get my one lap in as quickly as I could and straight into the showers. All the lads were on the balcony giving me the wolf whistles and laughing. I sprinted all the way round. Thank God it wasn’t captured on camera.

When I got released by Sheffield Wednesday I stopped playing for seven or eight months. Ironically, I had a growth spurt a month after they released me. That made it even worse. At the time I think I was 1.4m. All of a sudden I shot up 20cm.


 Jamie Vardy scores his record-breaking goal against Manchester United
 (2015 Getty Images)

I went to college and worked as a carbon fibre technician. My job involved making splints for disabled people with drop-foot. We had to do a lot of lifting into hot ovens and continually lifting things hundreds of times a day was damaging my back. I’d ring work some mornings and tell them I’d got injured playing football so I didn’t have to go to work.

A friend got me playing again for his Sunday side. Sunday league is completely different. Refs let you get away with murder. It was two footed knee-high tackles coming in at you and to be honest you’d rather not be going near the ball.

The talent spotter - Steve Walsh (Leicester’s head of recruitment)

When you go and watch a Riyad Mahrez and get him for quite a small fee [£500,000] it gives you that certain amount of satisfaction and we realise now he is actually worth a lot more than we paid for him, for sure. Part of that is taking a chance and the gut instinct – if you do want that player and really believe in that player. There are so many players that don’t actually aspire to your standards so when you find that diamond, that little nugget, it gives you quite a buzz.

When I first saw Mahrez, I had gone to watch a guy called Ryan Mendes who is now at Forest – he didn’t tick as many boxes as I’d have liked him to on that particular day, but I kept my eye on Mahrez and alerted people to the fact I’d like to go and watch Le Havre again. I watched him another two times and on the second occasion I met the boy afterwards and bonded with him in some way. Then he decided he’d like to come to Leicester City even though he didn’t have a clue where Leicester City was! I first saw Vardy live against Yeovil Town when Fleetwood, as a non-League club, were playing them in the FA Cup. I knew about him because we’d tracked him from Stocksbridge Park Steels then Halifax Town and after Halifax on to Fleetwood.

Once he got to Fleetwood he was going through stages for us, he was filtering himself by going to that next level and still doing well. The biggest call was taking him from non-League to the Championship.


 Steve Walsh is the man who found Riyad Mahrez
 (2015 Getty Images)

It comes back to gut instinct. I saw him in the next round and he played against [Alex] Baptiste from Blackpool and he absolutely ripped him apart and Baptiste is a decent defender.

So once I’d seen him at another level where you have a defender of a higher standard and you can do that to that sort of player… he was always quick and his finishing was decent.

He had confidence and with confidence Jamie can go right to the very top because sometimes he had some self-doubt along the way and maybe he did in that first year in the Championship.

But he was encouraged by Nigel Pearson [the former manager] and Craig Shakespeare [Pearson’s assistant] and myself but he has obviously succeeded and become a very, very good Premier League player now.

The former player - Alan Birchenall (Club ambassador who made 163 appearances for Leicester 1971-77)

I’ve been around the club for around 40 years and the club has been turned on its head since the [new] owners came in. I’ve never seen anything like it in Leicester – it’s a big rugby city but even the Tigers people in my local are talking about Leicester.

Even when we were seven points adrift last season there was still that belief in the club. Because of my longevity in the game I know lots of managers and coaches and the majority after matches were saying, “We can’t understand why you’re down there.” Now we’re playing well and getting the results.

The confidence came flooding back after the West Brom game in April – that was the moment. It was 2-2 in the last minute and all of a sudden Vards broke down the left and rattled it in the far corner.

When he came he was very raw and there was a big question mark but I have to take my hat off, he has worked at his game, he has found what he is good at and utilises it to the nth degree. He is a cheeky chappy, he slaughters me at times – if he catches me on the exercise bike in the gym he says, “What are you doing you old bugger?” – or words to that effect. But he is great to have around.

Another player to mention is little N’Golo Kanté, he is a like a little wasp. You have to give credit to Steve Walsh for spotting him. Drinky [Danny Drinkwater] has become more adventurous because he knows Kanté will wipe up everything that’s loose in the middle of the park. Those two have been a revelation in the middle of the park.

What has impressed me about Claudio Ranieri is he knows the game and he has been in charge of top clubs. When he came he had watched videos of us last year and he carried on the good work Nigel did. I’ve been around 24 managers now and when some have come in, they have wanted to make a statement and ripped out the heart and soul of the club. Claudio is intelligent and experienced enough to know he had some good players and he has done it in a quiet fashion. His man-management is excellent and he has kept a lot of the backroom staff.

The gaffer - Claudio Ranieri (Leicester manager)

When I first met the owner of the club, the sporting director and people in the club, I felt something. Then when I was in Austria with the players for pre-season, and I thought, “this is fantastic”. The unity of the group, the spirit in training, everything was perfect for me.

Since then, I’ve tried to impose my philosophy, my atmosphere. Of course, when we win it is easier but I am an experienced manager and I know the right thing is balance – not too high when you are top, and not too low when you are down. I remember the Kipling poem “If” – it is fantastic. Victory and defeat are the same things.

I love it when the players come to the training session and enjoy themselves. If you go into your job and your colleague is very anxious and there’s not a good atmosphere then you don’t work well. If there is a good atmosphere, you can give more to the team. I think I am a nice man but you have to follow my direction – if not, it’s not good for you.

I’ve felt that we’ve become the neutrals’ favourites and I hope we can be the second team for all fans until the end of the season. What we are doing is good but at the moment it is still too early, we have to go for another 10 matches and stay around the top. You see me smiling but I have two hands. On one hand I’m very careful and on the other I’m very strong.

Scouting is very important in football. If you have money you can buy the best players in the world but it is important to look at which young players have the possibility to reach the top. I work very well with Steve Walsh, who I knew at Chelsea. He’s very important and when we look at football, we share the same ideas. He pushed me when I arrived here – he said, “Kanté, Claudio, Kanté”. He was determined to sign him more than I was. He has been fantastic for us.

Claudio Ranieri continues to defy expectations (Getty Images)

The beat reporter - Rob Tanner (Leicester Mercury)

The interest around the world has been crazy. At the Mercury we’ve been taking phone calls from journalists from all over the world . The other day I was on the top sport radio show in Melbourne. For me this is a culmination of three years of squad building. You think of Danny Drinkwater, who has been there a few years now and is producing the goods, and Wes Morgan and Kasper Schmeichel. They’ve been at the club a number of years and formed a strong spine.

There are two big factors. Vardy and Mahrez have scored 24 goals and contributed eight assists and they cost one and a half million pounds, and that is all down to the recruitment policy Pearson brought in and is masterminded by Steve Walsh.

Then there’s the team spirit. They have clawed back 10 points this season from losing positions. They are always together and when I’m in the mixed zone after games they all come through en masse, which makes it hard to pick out one to come and speak to me. They come through together because they are very close. Another example is they’ve not spoken to a local radio reporter since the spring when they were unhappy with some of the questioning of Nigel Pearson.

The wide boy - Marc Albrighton (Leicester winger)

It is hard to put your finger on it. Last year we were going into games and we didn’t know where the next win was going to come from. This time round we have more or less a similar squad but what we have brought in with players like Kanté and Shinji Okazaki is more energy and more legs over the park and that helps massively when you’re working for each other like this Leicester team does.

The defence have played their part, they will break down opposition attacks and get the ball to us and we have been driving forward with raw pace. But you still need that guile at the end of the move to finish it off and with Riyad, who has been tremendous this year, and Vards we have had that.

The historian - John Hutchinson (Club statistician and long-time fan)

The crowd down here is phenomenal. I was a kid on the terraces 50 years ago and saw them top of the First Division with five games to go in 1963. I’ve not felt this excitement since then. People say new stadiums haven’t got any but you can’t say that here. Also the club fork out a lot of money for 30,000 paper clappers every match – when I first saw them I thought it was really naff but the noise they generate and the rhythm is fantastic.

Why should the bubble burst? It is not just what’s happened this season. Since 4 April against West Ham they have played 24 games and got 54 points and won 16 of them and lost two and they’ve scored in every game this season and have the fastest players. They are extremely effective tactically in terms of the counterattack. I feel optimistic.