The secret of Leicester City’s success: Boardroom stability, astute scouting and an emphasis on youth
Claudio Ranieri has guided the Foxes to the top of the Premier League, but faces a fierce test when Manchester United travel to the East Midlands this weekend
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Your support makes all the difference.There is a gratifying symmetry about Jamie Vardy becoming the poster boy for a football club who have proven to be uncatchable in recent months. The peculiar and remarkable rise of Leicester City, the most unlikely of Premier League leaders, continued on Saturday with the straightforward 3-0 dismantling of Newcastle United at St James’ Park.
As Vardy was hoisted aloft by his peers, after matching a record many thought would forever remain unparalleled, the unexpected inevitability of it all underlined how Claudio Ranieri’s side are quickly shifting from plucky underdogs to fearsome adversaries.
The ex-Stocksbridge Steels striker, rejected by Sheffield Wednesday as a teenager, typifies the intrepid endeavour which has fired Leicester to the top. But to assume Ranieri’s goal-hungry squad are reliant on the England forward would be to misinterpret one of the most unique football fables of recent times.
Described by Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, as having ‘something special’ about them, there is no singular reason why a club who were entrenched at the bottom of the table this time last year have been in title-winning form since April. If the season had started seven months ago, the Foxes would have 50 points to their name, six clear of second-placed Manchester City and a healthy 16 adrift of Chelsea in fifth.
It hasn’t escaped Leicester supporters that Ranieri’s appointment was greeted among many in the media with the sort of enthusiasm usually reserved for ex-partners at an engagement party. Match of the Day host Gary Lineker, the club’s honorary vice-president and most famous son, famously labelled the former Chelsea boss an “uninspiring choice.”
Yet the Italian bit his tongue, bided his time and, most importantly of all, tinkered little. Steve Walsh, Craig Shakespeare and Mike Stowell, the spine of Nigel Pearson’s coaching set-up who helped him to lift both League One and Championship titles, were persuaded to stay, despite the circumstances of their colleague’s dismissal.
Paolo Benetti, Ranieri’s right-hand man at Juventus, Roma, Internazionale and Monaco, appears to be the only major addition to the backroom team, adding invaluable European expertise to an increasingly international dressing room.
“It is to the manager's credit that he did not just come in with all his own people and change absolutely everything,” Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel told the BBC this week.
“He saw that he had a team and a style of play that was working quite well, and he also inherited a backroom team that were very good at what they did too and who knew the players already.”
At the turn of the millennium, Walsh worked part-time as a scout with Chelsea; helping them headhunt the likes of Tore André Flo and Gianfranco Zola for Ruud Gullit, Gianluca Vialli and, eventually, Ranieri himself.
José Mourinho, the 64-year-old’s replacement at Stamford Bridge in 2004, swiftly promoted the former Bury and Chester talent-spotter to full-time European scout, heralding a Russian-funded revolution which would change English football irrevocably.
Without the efforts of Walsh and André Villas-Boas, now Zenit St Petersburg manager, it is possible Chelsea would never have been alerted to the talents of Didier Drogba or Michael Essien. The feat of plucking Riyad Mahrez, currently the second best player in Europe according to Opta, for just £400,000 is suddenly dressed with some degree of context.
Players long forgotten by their previous employers continue to excel also. Danny Drinkwater, outmanoeuvring Gökhan Inler as Esteban Cambiasso’s true replacement, has been dominant in midfield while Marc Albrighton and Danny Simpson are different players altogether. The success stories continue with the free transfer of Christian Fuchs, the shrewd signing of Robert Huth and the discovery of N’Golo Kanté.
Astute scouting is fused effortlessly with an inherent trust in the Category One academy, previously overseen by director of football Jon Rudkin - an important figure in the decision to hire Ranieri in July. Jeff Schlupp and Andy King, full internationals for Ghana and Wales respectively, came through the youth ranks and now often keep big-money additions Andrej Kramarić, Shinji Okazaki and Inler on the bench.
The conveyer belt continues. Joseph Dodoo and Ben Chilwell, who both impressed in the Capital One Cup, are the next bright young things considered by the Leicester hierarchy to be the future of the club. Teenager Hamza Choudhury has also reportedly attracted the attention of Barcelona’s La Masia academy.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the Thai owner who was mocked in 2014 for revealing he wanted the Foxes to become a top-five side in three years, keeps his distance from team affairs. After effectively wiping out £103m of debt and buying the King Power Stadium outright since purchasing the club, Leicester’s pre-promotion value skyrocketed from the £39m he paid Milan Mandarić five years ago to upwards of £100m. It may be about to hike once more.
As Manchester United prepare to visit the East Midlands this weekend, just over year since that humiliating 5-3 defeat, it’s startling to consider that Vardy and Mahrez have scored more goals (20) than the entirety of Louis van Gaal’s squad (19) this season.
Leicester may well crash into English football’s glass ceiling in the coming weeks, a period which sees them take on a host of the league’s big hitters, but the foundations are in place to facilitate for higher ambitions should they take their form into the New Year.
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