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10 years after winning the championship title, Enzo Maresca’s Leicester City have clinched the Sky Bet Championship title yet again to gain promotion to the English first division.
Their last stint in the premier league saw them complete one of football’s most promising stories being crowned premier league champions in 2015/2016 after just narrowly escaping relegation the season prior.
With the side returning to the premier league under Italian gaffer Enzo Maresca, here’s a rundown of their last run in the first division.
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Domestic campaign
Leicester gained promotion after being crowned champions of the EFL championship in the 2013/2014 season.
Their nervy introduction to the premier league in 14/15 saw the side estranged in the relegation waters. A late charge at the end of the season helped them remain as they steered clear of the relegation spot by five points.
The 5-3 victory over Louis Van Gaal’s Manchester United should probably have been a likely indication of what was to come.
The fairytale indeed arrived in the 2015/2016 season under veteran Italian gaffer Claudio Ranieri. For the first time in its history, the club were crowned premier league champions and as at then becoming the 24th team to cart the prized trophy.
This run saw the Foxes amass a whopping 87 points across the 38-game season. Twenty-three wins, twelve draws and a miserly three losses (two of which came in both fixtures to Arsene Wenger’s Gunners).
Topman Jamie Vardy championed the cause in front of goal that season. Going on to break Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of 10 successive games finding the back of the net. Setting his own personal best across eleven games.
Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez, French midfielder N’golo Kante and many of the team’s contingent but on inspiring performances for the course of the campaign.
Cup Inclinations (continental and domestic)
Having won the premier league the previous season, Leicester City were drawn in Group G of the 2016/2017 UEFA champions league with Porto, Club Brugge and Copenhagen.
Riyad Mahrez’s brace either side of a Marc Albrighton goal ensured the club started off their first champions league campaign on a bright note. This followed by two successive wins to keep them comfortable in the log. The Foxes attained top spot in group G and drew Sevilla in the next round.
Sevila won the first leg at the Ramon Sanchez Pijuan stadium two goals to Leicester’s one. The return leg had club captain Wes Morgan and Marc Albrighton hit important goals and a magnificent penalty stop by Kasper Schmeichel to set them for their first ever quarter-final in their inaugural campaign.
Leicester exited the competition after losing 2-1 on aggregate. Jamie Vardy canceled out Saul Niguez’s second leg strike but the damage was already settled with Antoine Griezmann’s controversial first leg penalty.
Subsequent campaigns in the UEFA Europa and conference leagues across the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 seasons didn’t yield any more than knockout berths for the club side.
In addition to earlier PL glory, Leicester added the FA cup to their cabinet in 2021 defeating Chelsea in the final. Youri Tielemans long-range drive went past a helpless Kepa Arrizabalaga in Chelsea goal and a VAR assist helped cancel out Chelsea’s late goal adjudging Ben Chilwell offside.
The ensuing community shield also fell to the Foxes as Kelechi Iheanacho’s 89th minute penalty condemned his former side Manchester City to defeat.
Sales, Recruitment and Managerial Appointments
The very entertaining highlight of this Leicester City period was the behind the scenes. After the title winning campaign, midfield engine N’golo Kante left for Antonio Conte’s Chelsea. Leicester brought in African duo Daniel Amartey and Nampalys Mendy as cover but none of them quite lived up to the hype that accompanied N’golo Kante.
The Foxes hurried into the winter transfer window to acquire the services of Nigerian midfielder Wilfred Ndidi to plug that gaping hole.
Subsequent years saw the departures of Riyad Mahrez, Benjamin Chilwell, Danny Drinkwater and Wesley Fofana to premier league rivals.
In terms of recruitment, James Maddison, Kelechi Iheanacho, Patson Daka, Youri Tielemans, Caglar Soyuncu amongst others all arrived at the club’s coast.
Nigel Pearson, Claudio Ranieri, Claude Puel, Craig Shakespeare and Brendan Rodgers all tended to the club’s premier league campaigns over that stint before eventually relegating with Dean Smith in 2022/2023.
Tragedy
Club chairman Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in a tragic helicopter incident in 2018 during the club’s active premier league years.
The unfortunate incident happened on the 27th of October in the referred year. Reports claimed that the helicopter crashed just outside the King Power stadium moments after taking off from the pitch. It was confirmed the next day the chairman, pilots and two passengers had passed away from the accident.
Srivaddhanaprabha was and is still beloved by Leicester City supporters till date.
The Present
Enzo Maresca’s side will return to the premier league for the 2024/2025 season. The club side dominated proceedings in the current championship season and still had a core of leaders from their previous campaign.
After being crowned champions, Jamie Vardy remarked: “It’s unbelievable. We knew it was going to be a tough game but we got the job done. Celebrating with the fans is great.
“How could you not love scoring goals, especially the second one, scoring in front of the fans – you can’t get a better feeling than that.
“We had a couple of off games earlier in the season and we needed to get back to doing what we were doing best. We had a talk between us and you’ve seen since it’s paid off. We knuckled down and came out firing.”
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