The facts behind Leicester City’s season have been drummed into public consciousness relentlessly – and for due reason.
They were bottom of the Premier League this time last year. Now they’re top with eight games to go.
They signed Riyad Mahrez from the French second tier for $750,000. Now he’s got a price tag of almost $50 million on his head.
The Premier League’s joint top scorer was playing non-league football four years ago. Jamie Vardy has 19 in the top flight this campaign.
Support for Leicester has been immense. People aren’t necessarily jumping on the bandwagon – though the fact the King Power Stadium is packed out every match now suggests some fans have been swayed by success – but it’s a sign of how rare we now find it for the traditional order to be disturbed.
In fact, Tottenham might have attracted the same kind of neutral interest if not for Leicester this season. Mauricio Pochettino’s efforts at White Hart Lane have been downplayed thanks to the more prominent underdogs.
Few expected Spurs to challenge for the top four, and should they win a first league title in 55 years, it would be an incredible feat.
The difference here is that Tottenham’s success has been measured. They’ve been in Division One/Premier League since 1978, whereas since then Leicester have dabbled in England’s top three divisions, and were only promoted two seasons ago.
A more similar story is Nottingham Forest’s glory years under Brian Clough, though the four decades separating that from Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester makes a comparison somewhat redundant.
Under Clough, Forest were promoted from the old Division Two in third place in 1977, won the first division at their first attempt the following season, qualified for and won the European Cup at the first time of asking in 1979, and successfully defended that the year after.
Becoming back-to-back European champions three years after being elevated from the second tier is an achievement we see as impossible in the modern day.
That’s why so many have rallied around Leicester City. In the last decade, the only teams to make the top four have been Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham.
But the Premier League’s incredible TV rights deal is perhaps ensuring the Leicester story can be repeated.
The three-year contract – running from this year – is worth an incredible $9.75 billion, with Sky paying 83 per cent more than they did in the previous deal.
As the below report shows, in the 2014-15 season, only Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus received more revenue from TV rights than QPR – who were relegated in last place that campaign.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”es” dir=”ltr”>Reparto de los derechos de TV 14/15 en las 5 grandes ligas (corregida Serie A)<br>Artículo:<a href=”http://t.co/pB1FWRSLc2″>http://t.co/pB1FWRSLc2</a><br>Tabla: <a href=”http://t.co/MHfqp6vY4k”>pic.twitter.com/MHfqp6vY4k</a></p>— Roberto Bayón (@RobertoBayon_) <a href=”https://twitter.com/RobertoBayon_/status/616160792241676288″>July 1, 2015</a></blockquote>
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British broadcasters Sky and BT are paying a whopping $20 million per match they show, a result of increased demand from overseas bidders.
The Premier League remains adamant that it will use the windfall for ‘good causes’, but as former Tottenham owner Lord Alan Sugar said last year, ‘the more money that is given to clubs, the more money will end up being spent on players’.
Some of the money will filter down to grassroots football and clubs will focus on building infrastructure to maintain their top flight status, but much of the funds will be used on player movement. Suddenly, newly-promoted clubs can afford to splurge in the transfer market as they try to compete with the big guns.
Bournemouth spent a club record $19 million on striker Benik Afobe, Watford have broken their transfer record three times since being promoted via Etienne Capoue, Nordin Amrabat and Abdoulaye Doucoure, while Norwich signed Steven Naismith from Everton for $16.15 million in January. Watford and Bournemouth look safe, while Norwich have some work to do to stay up, but they might become the first set of promoted teams to avoid going straight back down since 2011-12.
There is a valid concern that while the gap between the top and bottom Premier League clubs is decreasing, the one between the Prem and the Football League is increasing. That will be measured by the results of promoted sides over the next few years.
If nothing else, though, Leicester’s performance and the spread of wealth will give fans confidence that the Premier League will maintain it’s status as one of Europe’s most competitive leagues.
PSG clinched the Ligue 1 title at the weekend after just 30 matches – with a 9-0 embarrassment of Troyes. Borussia Dortmund are Bayern’s only challengers in the Bundesliga and despite a poor start Juventus are in pole position to make it five straight Serie A wins.
All three of those leagues have become predictable, so too La Liga. Atletico’s title win in 2013-14 and consistent performances thereafter have moved them into the upper echelon in Spain, alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona. It’s tough to see anyone other than those three winning the league over the next decade.
Barca coach Luis Enrique conceded that’s where the rest of Europe’s ‘big five’ competitions fall behind the Premier League.
“I don’t know if it could happen in the Spanish league,” he said when asked about Leicester’s rise. “It is difficult that the big teams here have a bad season, we are talking about three big clubs – Atletico Madrid are one of them since three or four years ago.
“We have three big clubs here with Atletico, Real Madrid and ourselves – it could happen, but it is hard to see.
“It is unusual to see the big clubs away from the top spots. The circumstances in England are atypical.
“We are talking about Premier League, the league with bigger TV rights income and that makes possible to new teams to appear.”
It will become a significant drawcard for the Premier League. There is perhaps greater quality across the board in the Bundesliga than in England, but promoted sides Ingolstadt and Darmstadt won’t challenge Bayern for top honours next season.
Regardless of where Leicester finish, they’ve busted the myth of the favourites being untouchable. If you want the title, go and get it.
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