A secret invite and other 'pinch-me' moments from Leicester's 2016 title as club prepare for League One
Leicester City players, manager Claudio Ranieri and other club figures have recounted the club's Premier League title celebrations on 2 May 2016 — after Tottenham Hotspur's 2-2 draw with Chelsea — in memories resurfacing as Leicester prepare for a League One campaign; those recollections ranged from a covert media invite to match-night hospital scenes.
Ten years on from a season when the Foxes were preparing to defend their Premier League crown and anticipating Champions League football after being 5,000-1 outsiders, those involved say the success still feels surreal, particularly after back-to-back relegations. New manager Russell Martin will be expected to take the club back to the Championship at the first attempt.
Journalists and fans waited at the club's former training ground at Belvoir Drive as celebrations unfolded; one cameraman filmed from a neighbour's bathroom window to catch the scenes and the media were later told to go to the King Power Stadium press room. A handful of British reporters — only eight — were then discreetly invited back to Belvoir Drive, where they were admitted into the family room; Ranieri received an impromptu standing ovation and spoke to that small group for about 45 minutes, and the squad later had a celebratory lunch in an Italian restaurant.
Ranieri had been a left-field appointment, having not managed in England for 12 years since leaving Chelsea in 2004, and some of his early ideas were adjusted with Craig Shakespeare remaining as assistant. Off-field bonding events included the squad making pizza after the first clean sheet of the season against Crystal Palace in October 2015, a move Robert Huth described as breaking down barriers: "It sounds funny - we're keeping a clean sheet and gone for pizza but you then end up speaking to someone in the squad you probably wouldn't have spoken to at training because there's 25 of you," says former centre-back Robert Huth. "You train, but you don't really know the guy. How's he functioning? Does he like me to shout at him? Does he want me to just be quiet? "You talk and go through the game where maybe you wouldn't mention things, like a problem that you see on a pitch, if it's like, a stiff environment. "If you're out and about, and you go: 'When the ball's here, I prefer if you do this' - just like tiny little things and you take criticism on differently when you talk in a social environment. You don't want to sit in a meeting room being told what to do." The approach helped Riyad Mahrez to thrive and Jamie Vardy to score 24 league goals, with Ranieri likening his counter-attacking forwards to the RAF.
Vardy invited teammates to his home to watch the game that confirmed the title and some players had to wait at a local police station because of the crowds outside, but Nathan Dyer missed the celebrations because he was in hospital with his wife Laura following the birth of their second child, Shea, two days earlier. "I had the laptop out watching the game in hospital, the boys were at the party. I wasn't able to make it but I'd never miss the birth of my child," he says. "It was a strange feeling. It was surreal, like it wasn't real at the time but it was. "We had to be put in a room as people were putting their heads round and even then you could see the eyes at the door. People were congratulating me and were really proud. "It was the whole city, even people who were not fans were so happy Leicester had achieved this." Dyer also recounted his dramatic arrival at the club that season after joining on loan from Swansea on transfer deadline day: "My wife was pregnant, we'd just moved into a new house, so everything was in boxes, it was a wild day," he says. "It was exciting for me but also nerve-wracking because it was so intense, to send the helicopter to get me to get it over the line. It was a proud moment for me - I'd always wanted to be involved in a moment like that, watching on the TV - breaking news!"
Leicester clinched the title after a 3-1 win over Everton at the King Power Stadium and finished the campaign 10 points clear of second-placed Arsenal, having been two points behind Arsenal at the turn of the year; they suffered only one defeat in the final 16 games, a late loss at Arsenal in February, on the run that secured the title. The club's rise prompted unusual local interest — a Vardy lookalike in postman Lee Chapman and a Ranieri-themed sausage created by W Archer & Son made headlines — the latter made from free-range pork, fennel, garlic and chilli, winning a Great Taste award and at one point selling 12kg (26.5lb) a day. Owner Sean Jeynes recalled bringing a plate of sausages to the stadium before a news conference, which led Ranieri to declare himself 'the sausageman'. "It was surreal that day. How did that ever happen?" says Jeynes. "We were making sausages two or three times a day, smelling of garlic, smelling of fennel, but it was just a crazy time. It really was a crazy time - you can't quite comprehend what it was like. "It had a massive effect on the city, it had a great effect on everybody. Everyone was much happier. "Nothing can replace the Italian sausage, the recipe, and the pork, fennel, garlic chili and a hint of Champions League. "People would say, why don't you do a [Brendan] Rodgers sausage [after winning the FA Cup in 2021], but it's just not the same."
The sausage still appears occasionally on the butcher's counters and some fans received financial windfalls from that season: "Thanks to Leicester City it meant I could retire at 55 instead of 67," says Foxes Trust co-chair Lynn Wyeth, who placed £2 on the club at 5,000-1 at the start of the season. "It was actually really stressful. A first world problem, isn't it? It was stressful enough, watching them get closer and closer thinking, oh my god, can we do it? But knowing that there was £10,000 riding on it as well, was like, 'oh, no, I almost wish I'd cashed out earlier'. "When I won, I had my account shut for money laundering, I had to prove it was me and that I'd won it. "We managed to clear it up quite quickly, I think it's just an automatic thing. "There you go. Thank you, Leicester."
With those memories revisited, the confirmed next step for the club is competing in League One under Russell Martin, who faces the task of winning promotion back to the Championship at the first opportunity.
