tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/leicester-city-25481/articlesLeicester City – The Conversation2019-03-07T17:16:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1128112019-03-07T17:16:44Z2019-03-07T17:16:44ZBrendan Rodgers’ Celtic ‘betrayal’ reveals just what football means in Scotland<blockquote>
<p>There was a time when it would have been inconceivable a club of Celtic’s size and history would lose their manager to Leicester City.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That was the verdict of player-turned-pundit <a href="https://www.liverpoolfc.com/history/past-players/jamie-carragher">Jamie Carragher</a> in the Telegraph last week, after Northern Irishman <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/managers/4425/Brendan-Rodgers/overview">Brendan Rodgers</a> departed one of Europe’s most famous and successful clubs for a lacklustre Leicester languishing in the middle of the <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/home">English Premier League</a> (EPL).</p>
<p>As far as Celtic fans are concerned, the real “BR-exit” has not gone down well. It seems the Glasgow club was simply a stepping stone back to England – a career move.</p>
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<p>But what has particularly irked fans is the timing. Rodgers has left Celtic at a crucial point in their campaign to win the “treble treble” – winning the Scottish Premiership, the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup for an unprecedented third time in a row. For a man who professed to be a Celtic man and who dreamed of playing for them as a boy, this has cut deep with fans.</p>
<p>Carragher seemed to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/02/26/sad-brendan-rodgers-move-shows-celtic-cannot-now-match-lure/">imply</a> Rodgers’ new club will never be able to match the “meaningfulness” of Celtic (or Glasgow’s other massive team, <a href="https://rangers.co.uk/">Rangers</a>, for that matter). And there’s little chance, despite its giant-killing <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35988673">premiership title win</a> in 2016, that Leicester will ever be as successful as Celtic at home or in Europe.</p>
<p>One of the key reasons Leicester can’t be compared to the likes of Celtic and Rangers is that it will never denote the same sense of political, cultural and religious identity that forms the essence of Scotland’s two biggest clubs, as well as a <a href="https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwos-50-biggest-derbies-world">number of others</a> around the globe.</p>
<h2>A matter of life and death?</h2>
<p>Football has a very particular place in the social and cultural fabric of Scotland. Its fans have a keen understanding of the things that often constitute a club’s – and even a country’s – relationship with the game, within and beyond stadiums. And this is what Rodgers conveyed to Celtic fans on his arrival. He seemed to understand this particular football community, one that is largely, but not solely, made up of people of Irish immigrant descent. </p>
<p>Many clubs in England certainly acquire similar meaning through family, culture and memory. But Scotland is a different society in many ways. There are <a href="https://www.scran.ac.uk/scotland/pdf/SP2_7migration.pdf">complex</a> ethnic, religious and political dimensions that reach back into particular national, social and community histories.</p>
<p>Such things have rarely, if ever, been unifying forces in England. It is this deeply entrenched cultural history that adds another layer to football in Scotland and helps make the game more appealing and “meaningful” for many. </p>
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<p>In terms of finances and global media profile, Scottish football is a backwater compared to the mega-rich landscape of its English neighbour. But when population size is taken into consideration, attendances in Scotland’s top flight are the <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/scottish-football-attendances-highest-in-europe-based-on-population-1-4662193">highest in Europe</a> on a per capita basis. England, Spain, Germany and Italy (the giants of European and world football) – Scotland outperforms them all.</p>
<h2>Money, money, money</h2>
<p>Still, despite all the attention the game garners in Scotland, the finances of clubs still don’t match <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/782317/la-liga-tv-rights-revenue-received-by-football-teams-in-spain/">those in many other countries</a>. A major reason is that the Scottish game overly depends on gate receipts, while in the “big” football countries, the reliance is mainly on TV, media and advertising incomes, which have been <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/sports-business-group/articles/annual-review-of-football-finance.html">flourishing exponentially</a> for almost 20 years.</p>
<p>Large populations, good football, a large consumer base and sensationalised TV coverage equal more money – for big business, players, managers and agents. When it comes to money and power in football, England and the other big European countries are the places to be. </p>
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<p>But more broadly – and critically – many fans in both Scotland and England fear for the soul of the game their countries invented. Big clubs owned by mega-rich foreign interests, now housed in corporate branded stadiums, have arguably been rendered “souless”. Although for now, they still attract legions of fans faithfully buying into expensive merchandising and sky-high ticket prices.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2015/mar/26/guardian-live-is-big-money-ruining-english-football">Some observers</a> think all this has damaged the game. There is a strange disconnect; while spectator numbers are huge, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/10/england-world-cup-success-for-many-not-few">fewer children</a> are actually playing football. And priced out of these ritzy stadiums, many fans don’t travel to games but turn to live TV coverage instead.</p>
<p>Communities that traditionally based much of their identity around football clubs <a href="https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/while-the-rich-get-richer-other-clubs-are-struggling-to-stay-afloat-36537961.html">are diminishing</a>. Technology is increasingly turning what were once communal experiences with real atmosphere into solitary events, watched on a smart phone or tablet – though Scotland still leads the way when it comes to fans watching their team in person.</p>
<h2>Goodbye to all that</h2>
<p>Carragher wrote of his disbelief that Rodgers could have considered abandoning Celtic for Leicester and along with it the chance to become immortal by winning the “treble treble”. For most Celtic fans, Rodgers has sold his soul and they have been betrayed. But perhaps Rodgers is simply a kind of modern-game pragmatist, a manifestation of what has been going on in the game in England and elsewhere for some time.</p>
<p>His <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/brendan-rodgers-has-tarnished-legacy-by-fleeing-his-dream-job-at-celtic-8f9pwjrcq">desire to spend big</a> to chase success is one of the reasons he left. Club directors have repeatedly stated they will back managers but they will not break the club. Even so, Celtic’s wage bill actually doubled during Rodgers’ time. But he wanted more, it seems, and Leicester City appears ready to spend to match his ambitions.</p>
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<p>Many Celtic fans believe that the one-time golden boy has written himself into and back out of Celtic’s history. Carragher was probably spot on; Brendan Rodgers’ move south, to them, was unthinkable. They don’t like to think of their club, with its pride, identity and historic achievements – not to mention its position at the top of Scottish football – as a small fish.</p>
<p>But this is an era when money and power dominate the game; once again, football is a metaphor for much of the world we have created. Some might yearn for the days of the great managers like <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/the-enduring-gifts-of-three-wise-men-1275156.html">Jock Stein, Matt Busby and Bill Shankly</a> – who uttered the immortal words about the importance of football. But would any of them have wanted to participate in what the modern game has become now?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph Bradley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Compared to its English neighbour, Scotland is a much more complex case, and it’s all about history – and money.Joseph Bradley, Senior Lecturer in Sport, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/809152017-07-14T13:44:13Z2017-07-14T13:44:13ZSing when you’re women: why it’s time to take female sports fans seriously<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178134/original/file-20170713-9618-1sqzaqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to sports, die-hard fans are often thought of as the men in the crowd. But my new research shows, that despite popular stereotypes of women lacking <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1441352312001349">sporting knowledge</a> or only being interested in the sexual attractiveness of (male) star players – female fans are just as passionate and committed to their clubs as the men. </p>
<p>Based on a host of intensive interviews with football and rugby union fans from three generations in one area in the UK (Leicester), my <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Feminization-of-Sports-Fandom-A-Sociological-Study/Pope/p/book/9781138916081">latest findings</a> show that, unlike the stereotypes, sport plays a hugely important role in the lives and identities of many female fans.</p>
<p>Perhaps in part because of these popular (and sexist) assumptions and stereotypes of female fans, very little research has examined women’s experiences as sports fans. <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/football-hooligans-9781859739570/">Most studies</a>
have instead focused exclusively on <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Football-Hooliganism-Policing-English-Disease/dp/1906015058">male supporters</a> and issues of <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0193723508324082">fan rivalry and hooliganism</a>.</p>
<p>My work tackles head-on the lack of research on female sports fans. It also challenges the perceptions of women as inauthentic or inferior fans in comparison to male supporters. </p>
<h2>The female fan</h2>
<p>My own research shows there is a huge diversity of female supporter styles – meaning that there is a need to move away from distinctions between males as “authentic” and “real” supporters and females as “inauthentic” or not “real” fans. </p>
<p>What came through the research was two fan types: dedicated or highly committed “hot” fans, and more casual “cool” fans. Nearly 85% of the football fans and just under half of the rugby union fans I spoke to could best be described as “hot” sports fans. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178138/original/file-20170713-13222-1pllz6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178138/original/file-20170713-13222-1pllz6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178138/original/file-20170713-13222-1pllz6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178138/original/file-20170713-13222-1pllz6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178138/original/file-20170713-13222-1pllz6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178138/original/file-20170713-13222-1pllz6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178138/original/file-20170713-13222-1pllz6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Cheering: not just for the boys.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>For these dedicated fans, sport was an important aspect of their identity. This was often illustrated with mentions of their team on their CV, or by making new people they meet aware they are a fan of a particular club.These female fans invested large amounts of time watching or thinking about sport, with some of the extreme fans confessing that their club or team is almost “constantly” on their mind – as one female football fan explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Football’s always been my life. Like I said, playing it, watching it … I like lots of different sports but football’s always been the one if you like … the love of my life. That’s me, that’s part of me.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For female rugby union fans it was the same. One season ticket holder told me about the role sport plays in her life:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In order of priority, it’s (Leicester) Tigers and then it’s my other half and then it’s the kids and the grand-kids, you know, and everybody, they all know it. They’ve been told that that’s the order of importance.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The highs and lows</h2>
<p>For these fans, sport produces extremes in terms of emotional responses depending on the match day results – and invariably this then impacts on relations with close relatives. For example, because the club formed such a significant part of these fan’s lives, organising other activities became extremely complicated – with some describing how family weddings needed to be planned carefully not to coincide with football matches. </p>
<p>Some of the intense football fans also confessed that they could not enter into a relationship with a supporter who did not follow the same club. As one female fan put it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s a big part of my life, and if he can’t accept me as a Leicester fan then I’m afraid I don’t want to know you, sort of thing. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many fans also reported having rooms or even a home dressed in club colours and products. And some of the football women also reported having tattoos of the club to demonstrate their allegiance.</p>
<h2>A man’s world?</h2>
<p>For the smaller number of “cool” female fans, the research showed sport did not impact upon their lives in the same way. Sport was viewed more as a “hobby” or form of “entertainment” – a leisure choice or “just one of the things I do in my spare time”. </p>
<p>While some female fans were fairly rooted as either “hot” or “cool” female fans, in some cases there was some shifting between these two modes. Having children was shown to be one of the main factors which affected this movement – which is probably representative of the fact that many women are still responsible for the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37941191">main bulk of childcare and housework</a>. </p>
<p>What all this shows is the need to start taking female sports fans more seriously. Because by dismissing women who love their club as much as they love their family, not only are a large number of the fan base being alienated, but ultimately there is a also a risk of sport becoming a male-only pastime.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80915/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stacey Pope received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number PTA-030-2005-00310). She receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant number AH/N004841/1)</span></em></p>The struggles of being a female sports fan.Stacey Pope, Associate Professor in School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/740012017-03-07T16:37:22Z2017-03-07T16:37:22ZBlurred lines: building winning athletes in sport or just plain bullying?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159744/original/image-20170307-14963-wl6ggf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C157%2C2314%2C1474&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-basketball-player-gets-yelled-by-73625269?src=I674ALtngvziV6I9CPCGrw-3-48">ARENA Creative/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bullying can take place in all manner of settings, from the school yard to the boardroom. Recently there has been an increase in allegations associated with sport, particularly around athletes competing at the highest level. </p>
<p>As one <a href="http://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/fulltext/2011/09000/Canadian_Academy_of_Sport_and_Exercise_Medicine.1.aspx">Canadian sporting body put it</a>, bullying is a pattern of behaviour that occurs when there is an imbalance of power between peers, and in the absence of provocation. It is a definition that may make you think cases of bullying in sport are limited to the relationship between coach and athlete. </p>
<p>But it has even been suggested that the behaviour of spectators toward players in the Australian Football League <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/sydneys-goodes-a-victim-of-workplace-bullying-says-lawyer-20150729-gin0wu.html">could be defined as bullying</a>. And although not labelled as such in the media, it wouldn’t be a huge leap to interpret as bullying <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/772388/Martin-O-Neill-slams-player-power-game-following-Claudio-Ranieri-Leicester-sacking-New">the alleged player power</a> that ousted Claudio Ranieri from his managerial role at the English Premier League champions Leicester City.</p>
<h2>Performance enhancing?</h2>
<p>If nothing else, these stories make it clear that we have yet to agree on the limits of acceptable behaviour when managing those whose goal is to be the “best in the world”. Ask athletes, coaches and practitioners if bullying was ever OK in sport and the resounding response is, “no”. But then the caveats start: “well, sometimes, maybe, yes. It depends on what you mean by bullying”. </p>
<p>This may not be surprising. When an athlete pursues a goal which demands total dedication to elite performance, then coaches and team mates will at times take them out of their comfort zone, and deliberately challenge the athlete’s beliefs about their limits. This may even involve them being coerced into something they don’t want to do, or which they think they are incapable of.</p>
<p>It can take many forms, and opens up some ethical questions. Consider that studies have shown that athletes who are told their training session will be shorter than it is actually planned to be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28182509/">will perform better</a> during the session. One study showed that endurance runners given a placebo <a href="https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/a-placebo-can-make-you-run-faster/?ref=health&_r=1">will push harder</a> and improve their times if they are told it is a performance- enhancing drug. Few would support tactics such as deception among the general workforce to make employees work harder. Despite this, their use in sport appears to be accepted despite the fact that athletes appear to have little choice in the matter.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159740/original/image-20170307-14932-q31lf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159740/original/image-20170307-14932-q31lf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159740/original/image-20170307-14932-q31lf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159740/original/image-20170307-14932-q31lf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159740/original/image-20170307-14932-q31lf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159740/original/image-20170307-14932-q31lf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159740/original/image-20170307-14932-q31lf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159740/original/image-20170307-14932-q31lf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Competition for the top step can be brutal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/athletics-podium-three-winners-573891421?src=I1PZYIvKV17rSpO2qohLjw-2-11">Gena Melendrez/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>How many of us would accept being told that our working day was being shortened only to be told it was a ploy to enhance our productivity? To get the best out of athletes, coaches and team mates must strike a balance between reinforcing positive behaviour while challenging aspects which require improvement. At what point the latter becomes bullying may be entirely subject, as uncomfortable as this is, to the individual’s perception – and likely, the results such tactics achieve. </p>
<h2>Something cooking</h2>
<p>We can show the importance of perception when discussing bullying by switching from pitch to the kitchen. We have become used to aggressive and shouty chefs on our TV screens, and this group’s behaviour has led to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517711002159">some surprising findings</a> about conduct we would ordinarily consider unacceptable behaviour in the workplace. Verbal bullying is perceived to be necessary to ensure the kitchen team performs optimally in stressful situations. In fact, the extreme behaviour that characterised the cooking and preparation environment in that study was cited by chefs themselves as a vital step in forming a cohesive team that exhibited high morale, got the job done and communicated effectively. </p>
<p>Acknowledging that this created a stressful environment, those that handled the pressure were idolised. This may ring true with those who have heard athletes extol the virtues of persevering despite setbacks, surviving unsavoury working conditions early in their career and dealing with often harsh criticism. Retired professional footballers have highlighted the benefits of their early career training and the undertaking of jobs <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2012/feb/03/the-secret-footballer">not intrinsically linked</a> to being a footballer, including cleaning boots and sweeping the stands.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159742/original/image-20170307-14966-1x6qi6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159742/original/image-20170307-14966-1x6qi6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159742/original/image-20170307-14966-1x6qi6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159742/original/image-20170307-14966-1x6qi6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159742/original/image-20170307-14966-1x6qi6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159742/original/image-20170307-14966-1x6qi6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159742/original/image-20170307-14966-1x6qi6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159742/original/image-20170307-14966-1x6qi6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Letting off steam.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/motion-chefs-chinese-restaurant-kitchen-587875190?src=Ps9euxpqZupheQeSKdCh-w-1-16">hxdbzxy/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Sporting organisations, however, are not ambitious restaurateurs, so should they be allowed to develop a culture that might deliver success, but which is at odds with what would be considered acceptable within the wider population. This is clearly a particular issue for organisations that receive funding from the public purse. </p>
<p>Governing bodies and those who fund sport should consider what is the stronger governor in terms of investment: the culture of the organisation or its success? The former is sometimes a precursor to the latter, but this may not always the case, especially as by definition, not everyone can be a world champion. Employers must decide whether the pursuit of resilient, and successful athletes may require them to break employment law and employees (athletes) must decide whether they are willing to accept this. The challenge that sport faces is to draw the lines clearly enough for the rest of us to see.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74001/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Methods used to get athletes to their peak would be unacceptable outside of the stadium, but success papers over a lot of cracks.Neil Gibson, Director of Sport, Performance and Health, Heriot-Watt UniversityKevin O'Gorman, Professor of Management and Business History, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/736222017-02-24T13:37:30Z2017-02-24T13:37:30ZClaudio Ranieri: sacking Leicester City’s manager was unceremonious, ruthless and risky<p>It seems barely conceivable, but then it is Premier League football, a realm where almost anything seems possible. Ten months after guiding unconsidered, provincial, 5000-1 Leicester City <a href="https://theconversation.com/leicester-city-are-football-champions-of-england-im-tearful-incredibly-proud-and-full-of-envy-58658">to the Premier League title</a> – arguably the greatest shock in the entire history of the English game – the club’s Italian manager and coach, Claudio Ranieri has been unceremoniously sacked. </p>
<p>Ironically, Leicester had just made a spirited recovery to score an away goal in an honourable 2-1 away defeat in the Champions League last-16 fixture to much praised Sevilla. They might have lost, but Leicester, in the football vernacular, are still “very much in” this tie, and still in Europe’s top competition. Perhaps the club’s owners had left the match at half time? Perhaps they were hoping for a shaming defeat, if only to provide some useful context for selling an unpopular decision, already made.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"834854387700867075"}"></div></p>
<p>After the fact, we were soon given the usual PR flannel from the club’s Thai investors about this <a href="http://www.lcfc.com/news/article/2016-17/club-statement-leicester-city-and-claudio-ranieri-part-company-3591441.aspx">being</a>: “The most difficult decision we have had to make” and having the “club’s long-term interests” in mind. But the radio and TV airways were rapidly filling with the <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/23/leicester-city-sack-claudio-ranieri-and-the-football-world-reacts-with-horror-6469015/">voices of irate and angry Leicester fans</a> – and those from other clubs – incredulous at the decision and the sheer ruthlessness of its conception. </p>
<h2>A troubled season</h2>
<p>Leicester and its players have clearly struggled, mentally and physically, to come to terms with the scale of its achievement in 2016. But who really doubted that this season might be troubled and stressful for City as a result? </p>
<p>A few of Leicester’s star performers from 2015-16 – Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez – come immediately to mind. They had faced difficult decisions about staying or leaving the club after the title win, dilemmas which seem to have played profoundly on the level of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/feb/12/leicester-swansea-jamie-vardy-riyad-mahrez-football">their performance this season</a>. Vardy looks distracted, Mahrez almost disengaged. </p>
<p>The one player who did leave the club, the brilliant, non-stop defensive midfielder N’Golo Kante, appears to be piloting Chelsea to this season’s title. His departure not only left a huge <a href="https://realsport101.com/news/sports/football/opinion/ngolo-kante-and-why-leicester-are-no-longer-the-premier-league-team-to-beat">hole in Leicester’s fuselage</a>, but it also directly hit the performances of City’s ageing defenders and its previously star playmaker, Danny Drinkwater. </p>
<p>Losing Kante, in effect, damaged half the Leicester squad and the club’s entire system of play – and his replacements have not overly impressed (who could replace him?). Leicester seem to have lost their once golden transfer touch. Rival clubs have also learned how to counter City’s main asset – counter-attack, with Vardy’s once electric pace and lethal finish, getting in behind the defence. Goals, especially away from home, have dried up. Only one club has dared to defend high up the pitch against Leicester in 2016-17 – big-money Manchester City were duly routed for their pains – the rest have stayed defensively deep.</p>
<p>Ranieri, so relaxed and genial in the title year, has understandably looked strained this term and has felt forced to tinker with his side to try to find a solution to the club’s slide towards the dreaded relegation zone. He has, on occasions, seemed to be floundering in an unforgiving business in which top players are all too eager to allow “the boss” to carry the can when things go wrong. Whispers that he may have lost the dressing room have become more persistent – conveniently leaked, of course, <a href="http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11712/10779495/leicesters-senior-players-unhappy-with-claudio-ranieri-sky-sources">by some of his players</a>. </p>
<h2>A just dismissal?</h2>
<p>But his Leicester men fought back with courage in Spain and looked energised and motivated once more. Perhaps his famous “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPNzhJQbzJ8">dilly ding, dilly dong</a>” motivational refrain revived them. They are also yet to feature in the Premier League’s bottom three this season. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158301/original/image-20170224-22992-1ig9cgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158301/original/image-20170224-22992-1ig9cgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158301/original/image-20170224-22992-1ig9cgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158301/original/image-20170224-22992-1ig9cgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158301/original/image-20170224-22992-1ig9cgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158301/original/image-20170224-22992-1ig9cgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158301/original/image-20170224-22992-1ig9cgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Happier times.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA</span></span>
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<p>But the icy draught wafting up from the gallows of the league – and the much improved recent performance by clubs in the danger zone – has impelled the City owners to press the panic button. Ranieri probably feared the worst when, in a recent press conference, he insisted that he had been offered chances to leave Leicester on the back of the title win, but he decided to stay loyal because he knew how difficult it might be this season. He gambled and played the loyalty card, but the stakes this time are simply too high: his bosses have refused to play it back.</p>
<p>The atmosphere at City’s next home game is likely to be mutinous, unless the club’s top brass can, in the meantime, explain themselves and bring in a big name that is both plausible and aspirational. This is no easy task, with a thin field. There is a lot at stake here: the owners’ previously good relationship with the Leicester fans and a cool £120m in television money, if the relegation bell does toll.</p>
<p>The 13 remaining games of the season are simply not enough for what could prove to be a very expensive and unpopular experiment at the club. And, for Claudio Ranieri? City fans will never forget his role in 2016, but the news headline will be as obvious as it is crass and hurtful: Dilly-ding, dilly-gone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73622/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ten months after guiding outsiders Leicester to the Premier League title – arguably the greatest shock in the history of the English game – the club’s manager has been unceremoniously sacked.John Williams, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/594772016-05-17T08:46:23Z2016-05-17T08:46:23ZWhat can business learn from Leicester City’s miracle manager?<p>Few things excite the public imagination like the unexpected victory of an underdog. And few underdogs in sport have matched the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-36195239">triumph of Leicester City</a> winning the English football Premier League this year. Their victory has been celebrated widely in and out of the football world, as that of a plucky David putting the game’s big-spending Goliaths to shame.</p>
<p>Sudden successes in sport, like those in business and politics, inevitably prompt questions about the secrets behind them and the lessons that can be <a href="http://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/in-business/five-business-lessons-leicester-football-club-fairytale/">drawn from them</a>. Sport provides countless metaphors for business – “moving the goalposts”, “kicking off meetings”, “touching base” etc – and winning recipes in sport are bound to invite translation into the world of business management. Football teams are, after all, led by a manager and some successful managers, such as <a href="https://hbr.org/2013/10/fergusons-formula">Sir Alex Ferguson</a>, have successfully transferred their skills to business education.</p>
<p>But are there really any lessons that management can take from Leicester City’s triumph? The most obvious message is that leadership matters. Beyond any doubt, City’s success is linked to the management of Claudio Ranieri. A leader can take over a losing and demoralised organisation, a sports team, a business, a political party or a university and turn it around. This does not need emphasising. Everyone takes it for granted. But this is also where the problem lies. </p>
<p>Football managers and leaders in general take exaggerated credit for the success of their teams. This is what leadership scholars call the “<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/1048984395900128">romance of leadership</a>”, the tendency of followers and the wider public to fall in love with leaders. This was already known to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/freud_sigmund.shtml">Freud</a> who placed leader-follower relations somewhere between
hypnosis and infatuation. Leaders are put on a pedestal, one from which most of them will sooner or later fall.</p>
<p>The flip side is that when teams fail, all blame is often attributed to their leaders. Indeed, the ability to sack a leader (which is not always possible with political or business leaders) opens up the space for a new leader to try his or her hand at turning failure into success. </p>
<p>Claudio Ranieri was himself <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/15/greece-sack-claudio-ranieri-faroe-islands">summarily dismissed from his previous job</a>, coaching Greece’s national side, a team that had won the European Cup in 2004 and made the last 16 in the 2014 World Cup. He oversaw just four matches, of which he lost three, including a humiliating defeat to the part-timers of the Faroe Islands. How could the Leicester miracle worker and the Greek fiasco-maker be the same man? </p>
<p>Our preoccupation with the leader underestimates the importance of the leader’s followers and the part played by luck. Luck is especially important in a low-scoring game of 90 minutes. Here, an inferior team can often beat a superior one. It’s partly what makes football such a great game. </p>
<p>Over an entire season, however, luck plays a smaller role and only a fool would argue that Leicester’s success was due to good fortune alone. Yet a whole range of fortunate circumstances and coincidences, including injuries to key players, poor form and crowded fixture diaries of their key rivals, conspired to bring it about. </p>
<p>To their great credit, Leicester players on the field repeatedly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, such as when they scored three goals in the last 20 minutes to <a href="http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/matches/2015-2016/epl.html/leicester-vs-aston-villa">beat Aston Villa</a>, or grabbed three points with last ditch efforts when lesser teams might have settled for a draw, as in their 1-0 wins against Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich. Nobody should diminish their achievements as the manager watched from the sidelines. </p>
<h2>It’s not the winning…</h2>
<p>But beyond the usual platitudes regarding the importance of motivation, teamwork, synergy and the like, the lessons of Leicester City’s great achievement for management are modest. Managing a university, a political party or a business is
very different from managing a football team. Most organisations do not face their rivals on a football field every week. Most organisations are not made up of small groups of <a href="http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/10243227/premier-league-wages-reach-new-record-high-of-1632bn">fabulously paid</a>, under-educated young men, nor are they watched weekly by thousands of fans thirsting for instant success. Most organisations do not play in a winner-takes-all game, where only victory counts. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Management speak.</span></figcaption>
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<p>But let’s give Claudio Ranieri his due. With support from others, not least his players, he contributed to something close to a miracle. Most institutions, such as hospitals, universities, businesses and government departments, however, should neither aim for miracles nor demand them of their leaders. Delivering a sound service to their constituents, respecting their communities and the environment, conducting their business in an ethical manner and supporting their own staff are much more important goals than chimeric ambitions of being Number One in this or World Leader in that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59477/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yiannis Gabriel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The beautiful game is not a normal business.Yiannis Gabriel, Professor of Organizational Theory, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/593462016-05-13T12:36:18Z2016-05-13T12:36:18ZTokyo 2020 facing allegations – but is clean world sport an impossible dream?<p>Say it ain’t so, Tokyo. Those were my thoughts when I saw <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/11/tokyo-olympics-payment-diack-2020-games">the Guardian’s allegations</a> over the Japanese capital’s winning bid for the 2020 Olympic Games: French police are reportedly investigating an alleged €1.3 million (£1m) payment to an account linked to the son of a disgraced former world athletics supremo who was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during the bidding process. The IOC <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/36270719">has declined</a> to comment, though Japan <a href="http://www.sportstarlive.com/other-sports/tokyo-says-2020-bid-clean-after-payment-report/article8589871.ece">has insisted</a> its bid was clean. </p>
<p>It is of course the latest in a very long line of stories questioning the ways in which cities and nations bid for prestigious events, even if the IOC has been relatively trouble free in recent years. After the Salt Lake City Olympics <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/1999/mar/17/ioc-expels-members-bribes-scandal">bribery scandal</a> of the late 1990s, it <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-fifa-ioc-idUSTRE7505J020110601">made some</a> significant changes to stop the worst abuses in a system that certainly needed fixing. Plenty of other international sporting organisations have been keeping journalists much more busy since then, not least <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/03/22/fifa-a-timeline-of-corruption---in-90-seconds/">FIFA</a> and the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/35348906">International Association of Athletics Federations</a> (IAAF). </p>
<p>The Guardian is not particularly gunning for the IOC over the story. As its journalist Sean Ingle <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/11/tokyo-olympic-games-2020-ioc-international-olympic-committee-corruption-bid-scandal">wrote</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It would be churlish to not acknowledge the IOC’s attempts to improve its voting procedures in recent years. They have tried. What the Guardian’s story shows, however, is that it is hard to completely protect such a lucrative and prized event as Olympics from corruption.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet it is hardly a revelation that elite sport often revolves entirely around money. Fictional sports agent <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116695/">Jerry Maguire</a> knew this, I know it, and you know it. Once the rewards become bigger, the kudos shinier and the accreditation badges even larger, corruption is always likely to kick in. We’ve been seeing the results for a long, long time. Sociologists John Sugden and Alan Tomlinson <a href="http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745616605">wrote about</a> bribery and corruption in FIFA some two decades ago. Their work showed how the power structures and hubris surrounding key figures in football reshaped the world game. Around the same time, author and investigative journalist Andrew Jennings <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/489102.The_New_Lords_of_the_Rings">made similar observations</a> with his important work on the Olympic Games. </p>
<h2>Why Tokyo matters</h2>
<p>If this is often the reality, it matters all the more to sports fans that Tokyo not be tainted by allegations of foul play. It is less than a year since Japan became <a href="https://theconversation.com/fairy-tale-expert-leicester-city-win-really-was-magical-58887">the Leicester City</a> of international rugby <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/34269878">when it defeated</a> South Africa on a truly memorable afternoon in Brighton during the Rugby Word Cup. It remains arguably the very best rugby story of all time, and the perfect prelude to the nation moving to the centre of the international sporting world. A year before the Olympics, it is to become the first nation <a href="http://www.worldrugby.org/rwc2019">to host</a> rugby’s premier event outside of the foundation unions. </p>
<p>It is also another major negative very close to the <a href="https://www.rio2016.com/en">Rio Olympics</a> – as if Brazil did not have <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/12/brazil-political-crisis-majority-indicate-vote-for-rousseff-impe/">enough problems</a> of its own right now. </p>
<p>It is important to stress that we are only talking about allegations at this stage and that nobody has been charged with any wrongdoing. The alleged payment was to an account linked to Papa Massata Diack, whose father Lamine was the former president of the IAAF. Diack Sr is under investigation over <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/resources/world-anti-doping-program/independent-commission-report-2">bribery allegations</a> in <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/athletics/article4666117.ece">relation to</a> the Russian doping scandal, while Diack Jr is facing other <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/11/papa-massata-diack-allegations-tokyo-olympics">allegations</a> relating to voting for the 2020 games that do not involve Tokyo. </p>
<p>Whatever the outcome, there is clearly still much work to be done in the ongoing quest to clean up sport. I would argue that those fighting the good fight can only ever achieve so much anyway. Why should sport be any different to other areas of big business or politics where similar tales emerge regularly? </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/gallery/2016/may/02/leicester-city-players-party-at-jamie-vardys-house-as-the-foxes-win-the-premier-league-in-pictures">images of</a> Jamie Vardy and friends having a party as Leicester City picked up the English Premier League trophy should also remind us that sport can be a wonderful thing. Nowhere is this more apparent at the moment than in the sunny surrounds of the ESPN Wide World of Sports and Walt Disney Resort in Florida in the form of the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04hgs2m">Invictus Games</a>, Prince Harry’s Paralympics-style multiple sports event for armed services personnel and veterans. </p>
<p>As fans we need such images and stories. Far too much that is written about sport these days focuses on the bad things. It would be more of a story to find that a large event did not have a whiff of the smelly stuff surrounding it. That’s not meant to excuse everything that has been going on, but just a reminder about the wonderful action on the track, the courts and the fields of play. </p>
<p>Or if that’s too glib for you, it is also important to remember that there are still over four years to go until Tokyo 2020. There is the small matter of Rio 2016, the <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2016/zika-olympics/en/">Zika virus</a>, water quality <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/brazil-faces-slew-problems-ahead-olympics-opening-ceremony/story?id=39072617">at the sailing venue</a>, the jaw-dropping political backdrop and various other challenges for the IOC to navigate first.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Harris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are days when you just want to think about buttercups and Jamie Vardy.John Harris, Reader in Business Management, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/588872016-05-05T09:03:56Z2016-05-05T09:03:56ZFairy tale expert: Leicester City win really was magical<p>Before you read this, you should probably know that I do not claim to be any kind of expert on football. In fact, my level of soccer-related ignorance is such that in order to write this article on Leicester City’s historic win at all, I first had to learn that the Premier League is not, in fact, another name for the First Division.</p>
<p>These “minor” details aside, what I am able to offer with a reasonable level of expertise is an outsider’s perspective, an assessment of Leicester City’s “fairy tale” win. Exactly how does one structurally define a fairy tale, and can we accurately describe The Foxes’ win as such? Or are we simply misapplying a label, leaving us relegated to the – ahem – bottom-of-the-table as far as sloppy metaphors are concerned?</p>
<p>First, we should probably define what we mean by “fairy tale”. For Leicester City, the term is being used to convey the idea that the team won from a position of abject impossibility; it seems their name was initially a “byword for failure” and their chances of winning rated at <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/may/03/5000-1-outsider-leicester-city-bookmakers">5,000–1</a> at the start of the season. To put that into perspective, the USA beating England in 1950 has previously been cited as one of the most unlikely things ever to have happened in football history. The odds of that were <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3570769/Leicester-s-Premier-League-title-win-five-times-likely-man-moon-bookmakers-count-cost-5000-1-outsiders-upsetting-odds-finish-table.html">500–1</a>. </p>
<p>But while other clubs have poured money into the game, winning the league by importing the most expensive players money could buy, Leicester City have won on what seems like a wing and a prayer. But it’s not just this sort of rags-to-riches story that has created the “fairy tale” effect; added to that is the seeming impossibility of the feat achieved and the vaguely uncanny addition of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/richard-iii">Richard III</a>. His skeletal re-internment in Leicester Cathedral last year has led <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/7123643/The-Kings-Power-Did-the-digging-up-of-Richard-III-lead-Leicester-to-the-Premier-League-title.html">some to suggest</a> that the dead King himself had a hand in the Foxes’ turn of fortune.</p>
<p>It may not surprise you to know that there is an entire science devoted to the study of folklore, as if it were a form of archaeology – which, in a sense, it is. Folklore has been collected and dissected from all around the world, broken up, analysed and classified into types, categories and taxonomies. There has never been a 100% fail-safe definition of “fairy tale” as opposed to a folk tale, but since the term “fairy” tends to refer to the elusive fairy folk, fairy tales always seem to refer to a slightly other reality than the one we normally inhabit. Dead kings and impossible odds? That sounds like another reality to me. Check.</p>
<p>But what about the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/science/morphology-biology">morphological</a> (yes, you read that right – told you it’s a science) structure of the Foxes’ fairy tale? According to folklorist Vladimir Propp, true fairy tales can be <a href="http://www.northangerlibrary.com/documentos/AN%20OUTLINE%20OF%20PROPP'S%20MODEL%20FOR%20THE%20STUDY%20OF%20FAIRYTALES.pdf">broken down structurally</a> into 31 discrete elements. </p>
<p>This “morphology” begins with an initial situation that somehow connotes a lack or villainy of some kind, and moves through a series of intermediate functions to arrive at a conclusion of a marriage or some other worldly form of success whereby the initial lack and/or villainy is liquidated. Intermediate functions include meeting the villain, completing the task, leaving home, acquiring a magical agent, defeating the villain, pursuit, rescue and so on and so forth.</p>
<p>It’s hard to grasp in the abstract, so let’s use an example. Take Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack starts out dirt poor (the Lack) and loses the only item of value he possesses – a cow, which he swaps for some beans (the Magical Agent) given to him by a mysterious old man (the Donor). To cut a short story even shorter, tiny Jack defeats the mighty fee-fi-fo-fumming giant (the Villain), obtains the eminently useful gold-laying hen and becomes Lord and Master of all he surveys. Yes, exactly like Leicester City, except Claudio Ranieri is the mysterious old man and the league is the gold-laying hen. And all those big-money clubs? They’re the Giant.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121203/original/image-20160504-5832-1rmqqfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121203/original/image-20160504-5832-1rmqqfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121203/original/image-20160504-5832-1rmqqfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121203/original/image-20160504-5832-1rmqqfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121203/original/image-20160504-5832-1rmqqfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121203/original/image-20160504-5832-1rmqqfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121203/original/image-20160504-5832-1rmqqfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jack.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chelmsfordblue/3823682561/in/photolist-6PTnBp-iUyEyr-iUCs3h-o27Q3-GxUsFX-Dbcqo4-E6gbBU-tWtwcP-mYrvhX-GBnsEN-GxUrqk-8mPewZ-brm5ZS-eL15br-brm1bo-BUQEgK-pEcLh6-CaoU46-qjwmrv-qyFR4L-qjwnPF-AkaKVt-8mSepU-4EiEkF-8mSjp9-nhDkCy-8mP7MM-8mShpm-8mSgB5-cC8DY-8mPizg-r6XBed-oAPUKH-7caY6w-bEfW9z-8mP43k-8mP4Jv-8mSdC9-8mP2vK-8mSf6w-8mP3jn-778Qx4-mA9ZYj-5tCciF-brkZXS-amShLh-8mSieo-7AKpBG-DFtmU1-Dz74T4">chelmsfordblue/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, the Leicester Foxes club nickname exists because Leicestershire is considered the birthplace of English fox hunting. The fox is a <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/643888?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">staple character in English folklore</a> (and indeed, elsewhere) and is typically characterised as a trickster and even a shapeshifter. In the context of the hunt, the fox is the <a href="https://archive.org/details/quornhuntitsmast00blew">ultimate hero</a>: the little guy who outruns and outsmarts the big, bumbling giants on horseback with dogs baying for blood: Jack against a horde of Giants. The Leicester Foxes use a fox as their emblem; a kind of totem, if you will.</p>
<p>But laying Good King Richard to rest in his proper place (rather than below a car park) also fits – not so much with Propp’s morphology, but with mythic structures surrounding the <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/myth-birth-hero">hero’s birth</a> and the death of the Father/King. Fairy tale heroes are typically at least semi-orphaned, but core cultural myths such as Oedipus, Horus, Hamlet – and, uh, The Lion King – also pivot on the Father King’s wrongful death and its attempted resolution by the Hero-Son. Hero-Son? Leicester City. Mufasa? Richard III.</p>
<p>So there you have it, an article which – if football knowledge is anything to go by – should never, ever have happened. But then, impossible tasks are indeed the stuff of fairy tales. Which I think brings us up to: The End.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58887/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Exactly how does one structurally define a fairy tale, and can we accurately describe The Foxes’ win as such?Victoria Anderson, Visiting Researcher in Cultural Studies, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/588402016-05-04T13:40:03Z2016-05-04T13:40:03ZThe six steps to team spirit that helped Leicester win the league<p>Leicester’s story is one of the most, if not the most, remarkable in sporting history. At 5,000/1 to win the Premier League at the start of the season, the bookies <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/36138413/10-things-bookies-thought-more-likely-than-leicester-winning-the-premier-league">thought it was more likely</a> that Elvis would be found alive (2,000/1) or that the Loch Ness monster would turn up (500/1). There has been much discussion about the spirit in the squad, but it’s worth nailing down exactly what we mean here using the latest research in team psychology. It helps tell us how such a long shot can transpire, but only if all the psychological pieces fall into place.</p>
<p>Research I have been conducting with <a href="http://www.sussex.ac.uk/profiles/95042">Rupert Brown</a> and <a href="http://www.sussex.ac.uk/profiles/132528">Vivian Vignoles</a> suggests that team identity can be used to predict perceived and actual team performance. Using a unique sample of amateur and elite level teams including Olympic, military and Premier League squads, we suggest potentially six psychological foundations – or what are termed identity motives – that can cause individuals to identify with a team. Leicester City, knowingly or not, appears to have the lot.</p>
<h2>Distinctiveness motive</h2>
<p>While managers like Manchester United’s Louis Van Gaal fret over <a href="http://www.unitedrant.co.uk/data/data-rant-van-gaals-obsession-with-passing/">pass completion stats</a>, the newly crowned champions play a fast-paced counter-attacking brand of football. Indeed, the Foxes have the worst <a href="http://talksport.com/football/premier-league-stats-best-pass-completion-rate-revealed-death-tiki-taka-160209184414">pass completion rate in the league</a>, but they’re not afraid to play three misplaced passes if the forth one leads to a goal. This distinctive style is part of their identity, which crucially informs how they play on the pitch. </p>
<h2>Belonging motive</h2>
<p>Players, especially in the Premier League, need to feel loved and accepted and view the team as inclusive. Given the alleged <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/34710500">player revolt</a> against manager Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, it’s easy to see how damaging it can be when teams fail to create the inclusive environment needed to build a strong team identity. </p>
<p>Quite how this is done is hard to distil into a single idea. Perhaps the strong bonds between Leicester players were forged during their Christmas night out dressed up as <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3532158/Leicester-s-title-charge-team-bond-says-Kasper-Schmeichel-keeper-claims-nights-helped-spark-success.html">ninja turtles</a>, or perhaps when boss Claudio Ranieri buys them all Pizza for <a href="http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/9994945/leicester-boss-claudio-ranieri-offers-players-pizza-for-a-clean-sheet">getting a clean sheet</a>. Or even, maybe, when left-back joker Christian Fuchs played <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/jamie-vardy-christian-fuchs-playing-7638641">egg roulette with striker Jamie Vardy</a>. Whatever they are doing, it’s certainly working.</p>
<h2>Continuity motive</h2>
<p>Although Ranieri came into the Leicester setup at the start of the season, when the club sought to build on its already remarkable escape from relegation the previous year, he noticed the style and strength of the team. Unlike other managers, he has persisted with most of the first team players he inherited and not tried to drastically alter the team or impose his philosophy. A tip there, perhaps <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/12060918/Louis-van-Gaal-has-to-change-his-philosophy-at-Manchester-United-to-save-his-job.html">for Van Gaal</a>). </p>
<p>Players also know that he will be there next season, which can’t be said for either of the Manchester clubs. This continuity from past to present to future has enabled the Foxes to build on the legacy of the club, another cornerstone of a strong team identity.</p>
<h2>Meaning motive</h2>
<p>Players need to feel they have an important purpose and role in the team. Ranieri has dealt with benching players brilliantly. Leonardo Ulloa was a big deal when he signed from Brighton for £8m in 2013. But with the form of Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, the Argentinian was left on the bench for most of the season. </p>
<p>Crucially though, he wasn’t left out in the cold. Ranieri made sure that Ulloa understood he still had an important role to play in team. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/apr/24/leicester-swansea-city-premier-league-match-report">His recent goals</a>, in Vardy’s absence through suspension, had a big impact on Leicester’s title tilt.</p>
<h2>Efficacy motive</h2>
<p>Our research suggests that if members view their elite teams as capable of achieving their objectives, they are more likely to identify with the team. And what was Leicester’s objective? To <a href="http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/leicester-s-claudio-ranieri-says-his-aim-was-to-avoid-relegation_sto5424274/story.shtml">avoid relegation</a>. Leicester chairman, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, told Ranieri at the start of the season: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Claudio, this is a very important year for the club. It is very important for us to stay in the Premier League. We have to stay safe.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Having seemingly achieved their goal within the first few months, Leicester were then able to play with a freedom and expression not seen by others. Take Chelsea. Once the players realised the title was out of reach (their objective before the start of the season), they appeared to start playing for themselves, rather than the team. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121202/original/image-20160504-11494-7dr9qa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121202/original/image-20160504-11494-7dr9qa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121202/original/image-20160504-11494-7dr9qa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121202/original/image-20160504-11494-7dr9qa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121202/original/image-20160504-11494-7dr9qa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121202/original/image-20160504-11494-7dr9qa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121202/original/image-20160504-11494-7dr9qa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121202/original/image-20160504-11494-7dr9qa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All for one?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/atomicshed/161716498/in/photolist-fhQFu-iNpH9k-gwcgC-gcYGb-nCTzZu-nmBRJw-dxNhMS-p86kzL-bnJLFJ-9E34iB-9E5Vbu-rgULBh-nB4NMQ-8fpnfC">John Cooper/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Esteem motive</h2>
<p>The final identity motive relates to esteem. If team members feel positive and proud to be part the a team, they are more likely to identify with it. Leicester players must be incredibly proud of being part of a unit that has surpassed all expectations. There is no fear of failure, as they never expected to finish in the top half of the table, let alone challenging for domestic honours. </p>
<p>If the likes of Leicester captain and defender Wes Morgan have a bad game, no one will say anything. In contrast, Wayne Rooney was heavily <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/wayne-rooney-tweeted-congratulations-england-7637256%22%22">criticised</a> on Twitter after England’s friendly win over Germany, even though he didn’t kick a ball. Leicester’s positivity underpins a strong team identity.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that Leicester have some good players, but looking at the whole squad and comparing it to the so-called “top” clubs, it’s easy to see why they were such long shots to lift the title. The Foxes’ remarkable triumph demonstrates how six elements of team psychology can build a strong team identity, that in turn can radically transform a collection of players into something far greater than the sum of its parts. Mind you, as a Spurs fan, I can’t help but wish they had chosen a different year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Will Thomas receives funding from Economic and Social Research Council and the Centre for Team Excellence. </span></em></p>Egg roulette, terrible passing stats and the odd pizza. The psychology that builds success.Will Thomas, PhD researcher in elite team psychology, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/588362016-05-04T12:09:27Z2016-05-04T12:09:27ZFive things you need to know about Leicester<p>It would be surprising if you had not been caught up in the fever surrounding Leicester City’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/leicester-city-are-football-champions-of-england-im-tearful-incredibly-proud-and-full-of-envy-58658">fairytale triumph in the English Premier League</a>, defying odds of 5,000-1 to win the country’s most prestigious football competition. </p>
<p>But beyond the fact that the city has scored a sporting success, what else do you know about Leicester? You may have read that historians found the grave of the deposed King Richard III <a href="https://theconversation.com/nine-blows-to-the-head-and-then-he-was-dead-forensics-shed-light-on-killing-of-richard-iii-31751">under a Leicester car park in 2012</a>. But you’d still just be scratching the surface. Here are five things you need to know about Leicester.</p>
<h2>1. It’s pronounced “Lester”</h2>
<p>One of the first things a visitor notices about Leicester is that <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/video-italians-trying-pronounce-leicester-7881159">it isn’t obvious how to pronounce the name</a>. “Leicester” is probably derived from an old word for the local river, although no one knows for sure. It is pronounced “Lester” (not “Lie-Chester” or anything similar), but if you want to fit in with the locals you should aim for a rising inflection on the second syllable to produce something on the lines of “Les-Tah”. </p>
<p>Followers of local rock band Kasabian will have noticed the band sporting “Les-Tah” t-shirts, which are currently available at the tourist information office and are an example of how even a local dialect can be marketed. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121176/original/image-20160504-6918-11me2ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121176/original/image-20160504-6918-11me2ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121176/original/image-20160504-6918-11me2ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121176/original/image-20160504-6918-11me2ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121176/original/image-20160504-6918-11me2ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121176/original/image-20160504-6918-11me2ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121176/original/image-20160504-6918-11me2ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121176/original/image-20160504-6918-11me2ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How to speak ‘Les-Tah’.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another example, which often confuses visitors, is the local pronunciation of “Belvoir” (as in Belvoir Street or Belvoir Castle) as “Beaver”. Although this may seem strange, what is thought of as <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series7/dialect_voices.shtml">Standard English</a> is actually an East Midlands dialect. By the late 14th century, the agricultural wealth of the East Midlands meant local merchants traded with London and took the East Midlands dialect with them, acting as a useful bridge between northern and southern dialects and influencing the way Londoners spoke.</p>
<h2>2. It’s in the middle of England</h2>
<p>Leicester sits in the middle of the county of Leicestershire, which is in the middle of England about 100 miles north of London. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121193/original/image-20160504-17469-16n4k2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121193/original/image-20160504-17469-16n4k2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121193/original/image-20160504-17469-16n4k2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121193/original/image-20160504-17469-16n4k2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121193/original/image-20160504-17469-16n4k2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121193/original/image-20160504-17469-16n4k2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121193/original/image-20160504-17469-16n4k2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Leicester: the centre of Middle England.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">New Tourism World</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Being in the middle, it has always had good transport links and is accessible by road (the M1 and M69 motorways), rail (an hour by train from London), air (East Midlands Airport), and canal (the Grand Union canal, if you have plenty of time). </p>
<p>Although the population of Leicester is around 330,000 it is too small to be a major city such as Manchester (population 2.5m) or Birmingham (population 1.1m) – yet too big to be a small town; it is somewhere in the middle.</p>
<h2>3. It has a diverse population</h2>
<p>Leicester has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-20678326">one of the most diverse populations</a> in the country. The <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011census">2011 census</a> revealed that less than half of the population are “White British”, while 28% of the population identify themselves as “Asian/British Asian: Indian”. </p>
<p>However, the city’s religious makeup shows a balance between Christians (32%), people with “no religion” (23%), Muslims (19%) and Hindus (15%). The arrival of thousands of Ugandan Asian refugees in the early 1970s was the moment when the City Council had to learn to adapt to the demands of a multicultural society, while more recent migration from Africa and the European Union has changed the face of the city again. A recent survey recorded 22 countries of origin among 204 proprietors on <a href="https://files.lsecities.net/files/2015/12/SuperDiverseStreets_Leicester.pdf">Narborough Road</a>, prompting claims that this is the UK’s most diverse street.</p>
<h2>4. Its economy has changed in recent years</h2>
<p>Leicester’s economy has shown a remarkable change in the past 50 years. Throughout the 20th century, the city’s industry was mainly based on clothing, footwear and associated engineering. It was once one of the most prosperous cities in Europe and the boast that “<a href="http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Europe-s-second-wealthiest-city-clothed-world/story-21091126-detail/story.html">Leicester clothes the world</a>” was an indication of its success. However, in the last quarter of the 20th century, the major industries fell victim to the effects of globalisation, particularly those of cheap imports, – and many nationally known names, such as Freeman, Hardy & Willis, are now just memories. </p>
<p>The city <a href="https://www.leicester.gov.uk/media/177365/2011-census-findings-caring-and-earning.pdf">may be poorer than it used to be</a> but it would be wrong to think that nothing is made in Leicester any more. Industries such as <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21656234-unfashionable-contender-be-englands-most-business-minded-city-sweet-spot">fashion, construction and food are still large employers</a>, while the city’s ambitions for high-tech businesses are exemplified by plans for a <a href="http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Leicester-University-announces-plans-multi/story-27845670-detail/story.html">National Space Park</a> around the National Space Centre.</p>
<h2>5. Richard III wasn’t the only royal visitor</h2>
<p>Royal connections in the city go back a long way before recent developments in car parks. By 1068 William the Conqueror had built a castle here and you can still see the mound on which it was built. In 1483 Richard III stayed at the castle and returned again, famously, in 1485 when he spent his last night alive in the Blue Boar Inn before the Battle of Bosworth. </p>
<p>When the victorious Henry Tudor returned to Leicester with Richard’s dead body the city was host to two kings in as many days. What no one could have guessed was that in 2012, over 500 years later, the body of Richard III would be <a href="https://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/">discovered in a car park</a> in the centre of the city. </p>
<p>More recent royal visits have been less bloody and in the heyday of Leicester’s industry no royal visit was complete without a visit to a clothing factory. In 2012 Leicester was chosen as the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/gallery/2012/mar/08/queen-diamond-jubilee-queen">first stop on Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee tour</a> of the UK (although no factories were visited this time the Duchess of Cambridge was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-17291616">presented with a pair of shoes</a>).</p>
<p>Leicester’s motto, “<em>Semper Eadem</em>”, means “always the same”, and for many years the city has had a safe, slightly dull reputation. As many people said during the recent excitement around the success of the football team, this sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen in Leicester. With the discovery of the body of Richard III and the creation of a winning football team local people are having to get used to the idea that perhaps things aren’t always the same, that sometimes things can change dramatically for the better rather than for the worse. </p>
<p>This is a new feeling for the people of Leicester. Although we can’t know what the long-term effect of the last few years will be, or whether there will be any meaningful effect at all, maybe Leicester will learn to expect the unexpected and ask: what next?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58836/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Hyde does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From rock bands to Royal roots, Leicester’s a surprisingly diverse town.Colin Hyde, East Midlands Oral History Archive Researcher and Outreach Officer, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/586582016-05-02T21:05:14Z2016-05-02T21:05:14ZLeicester City are football champions of England: I’m tearful, incredibly proud – and full of envy<p>Let me get this out of the way first off. I am a Liverpool fan, from Liverpool – a season ticket holder – who has now lived in the East Midlands of England, in Leicester, for more than 35 years. I know the route from Leicester to Liverpool’s ground at Anfield like better men know religion: M1, A50, M6, M62, Queens Drive Liverpool ring road, park up. Getting to evening games now is hell: motorway repair madness. But when something extraordinary happens – winning the Champions League in <a href="http://www.liverpoolfc.com/history/the-miracle-of-istanbul">Istanbul</a> in 2005, or the Reds gloriously beating Dortmund 4-3 recently – it all makes sense again. The hours, the money spent, the midnight traffic deadlock, the heartbreak – I will not forget Steven Gerrard’s title-denying slip versus dark-arts Chelsea in 2014. Never.</p>
<p>But mostly, back in the East Midlands, I have had these tortured contemplations of possible renewed football glory all to myself. You see, Leicester is not even really a football city. Rugby union team the <a href="http://www.leicestertigers.com/">Leicester Tigers</a> are more successful, more feted in their own sport, and are well-supported locally. Tigers’ fans often patronise their lowly football neighbours. Jimmy Bloomfield, a much-liked Leicester City manager in the 1970s, complained bitterly that Leicester was essentially a rugby city, and one lacking a strong football identity. He was not wrong.</p>
<p>The city of Leicester’s recent history as a welcoming home for many South Asian people and other migrants has done much to promote <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/02/leicester-minority-immigration-diversity-faith">positive diversity</a>. Now, most South Asian kids grow up playing football – but watching the giants duel it out on television. Leicester remained in the shadow of much bigger domestic and European competitors. So we saw Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United and of course Barcelona shirts on kids of all backgrounds round our way more than we did Leicester City ones. Barring a brief spell of success under Martin O’Neill between 1995 and 2000, the Foxes did little to challenge the idea that Leicester was a second class football citizen. Until now that is.</p>
<h2>Our house</h2>
<p>My own household is full of active City followers – partners, sisters, brother-in-law, mother-in-law, even grandchildren. They have patiently listened to me complain over the years about my ridiculous Liverpool football woes and reminisce about the Reds’ titles and five European cups. Meanwhile City moved to a spruce new ground in 2002 and then lapsed immediately into <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2349397.stm">administration and near-death</a> with a £30m debt. Saved by the fans, the Foxes later slumped into the third tier of English football in 2008. Under manager Nigel Pearson, City eventually made it back into the Premier League, then survived <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/leicester-city-staying-up-incredible-5708532">an impossible relegation scare</a> in 2015. This was their best possible place: Premier League relegation battlers, occasional cup run. Or so we thought.</p>
<p>We (Liverpool and City fans alike) have waited all season for this current preposterous 2015/16 Leicester football story to crash around our heads. We carefully mapped out the places where City would surely be “found out”: they never were. They just got stronger. Now managed by the genial, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3295634/Leicester-City-boss-Claudio-Ranieri-makes-good-promise-provide-players-pizza-keeping-clean-sheet-against-Crystal-Palace-pay-deserve-this.html">pizza-loving</a> Italian technocrat Claudio Ranieri, only we were able to answer the football pundit question of the moment: why did none of the “big” clubs in England have reliable on-field leaders? A: Because Leicester City have them all: Fuchs, Huth, Morgan, Drinkwater, Vardy.</p>
<p>These are all guys who have been undervalued elsewhere, underestimated, waiting their time and a sympathetic formation and boss. Together with the Algerian genius Riyad Mahrez and the diminutive French threshing machine N’Golo Kante they have produced a true collective and a way of playing that no opponent can yet fathom. (Leicester tee-shirt: “70% of the world is covered by water, the rest by N'Golo Kante”). Jamie Vardy’s own story is a Hollywood-outrageous rags-to-King Power epic, but special mention too is due to City’s indefatigable Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. He snarls at his own fans, keeps out opposing forwards and produces drop-kick starts to most of Leicester’s best attacks – and Vardy’s goals. Goalkeeping will never seem the quite the same again.</p>
<h2>A story for the world</h2>
<p>The world’s sporting press has descended on Leicester these past weeks to try to explain this amazing tale, precisely because it is a story for the world and for all its sports. A collection of cast-offs and bargain buys moulded into a team of real skill, resilience and belief: honed into unlikely, yet extraordinary, winners. It even sounds like a movie script. And kids all around the globe might even latch on to “that club” in England that beat up those domestic giants. Of course, there is no point in trying to explain it – we just need to enjoy it, suck it up. Every fan of every club that has ever had its arse hanging out can look at what has happened here, and dream. My own household is just about on the point of joyous implosion. The locals actually <a href="http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2016/april/painting-the-campus-blue-for-leicester-city-football-club">painted Leicester blue</a> over the weekend: I mean it.</p>
<p>And now this wonderful, crazy thing has finally happened, now this unconsidered club from nowhere-place has lifted the trophy and spat in the eyes of all those <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/aug/05/premier-league-2015-16-season-predictions">expert doubters</a> and sporting corporate behemoths, this Leicester-based Liverpool supporter is both tearful and incredibly proud – and chock-full of envy. “Where are you from mate?” “Me? I’m from Leicester!”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58658/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is no point in trying to explain how it happened – we just need to enjoy it.John Williams, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/546052016-03-05T14:40:16Z2016-03-05T14:40:16ZBehind the unpredictable Premier League year that put Leicester top of the pile<p>Few Premier League seasons have produced as many upsets as the one currently unfolding. In August, Leicester City began the English football season at 5,000/1 to win the top-flight league, Chelsea were favourites for the title, while last year’s promoted trio (Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich) were strongly tipped for relegation. Yet with 10 games to go it is Leicester who are (still) top of the league, Chelsea languish in mid-table, while other high profile “mega clubs” have so far failed to sustain a title-push (see Manchester United and Liverpool). </p>
<p>Alex Ferguson famously tried to explain football’s twists and turns with the elegant phrase: “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfDA4pADaWo">Football!? Bloody hell!</a>”. But dig a little deeper and there are concrete factors that can help us to explain this trend to unpredictability in England’s top-flight division.</p>
<p>The most powerful explanation is linked to contemporary patterns of player recruitment, and what appears to be a more even spread of playing talent across the Premier League. Such a trend was, indeed, mooted earlier this season by then Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho in reference to lowly Bournemouth’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/33796997">capture of Ivory Coast winger Max Gradel</a>. With the money on offer from the current/impending Premier League TV deal (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31379128">soon to sit at £5.1 billion</a>) all Premier League clubs, it would seem, are now able to exploit a global labour market of playing talent in ways not previously envisaged. A <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/sep/02/financial-fair-play-manchester-city">relaxation of UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) restrictions</a> also suggests that future spending across the Premier League will remain lavish. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>You can see from the chart that by February this year total spending <a href="http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10152807/premier-league-spending-tops-1631billion-after-deadline-day">passed the £1 billion mark</a> for a single season. While high fees may seem typical for the biggest clubs competing at the top, it is worth noting that within this figure Bournemouth and Sunderland sank around £15m (each), while Norwich spent more than £21m in January’s transfer window alone. Stoke City, a team which has never finished higher than 9th in the Premier League, recently outperformed Italian giants Lazio on the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/deloitte-rich-list-2015-stoke-outperform-lazio-as-tv-riches-and-costly-tickets-put-premier-league-on-9994111.html">Deloitte 2015 rich list</a>. Subsequently, they are now signing players of a higher calibre than before (including <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/02/stoke-city-newcastle-united-premier-league-match-report">Swiss star Xherdan Shaqiri</a>, and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35552774">ex Barca forward Bojan Krkic</a>) while other “mediocre” PL clubs have resisted efforts to prize away their top talent.</p>
<h2>Regulating the game</h2>
<p>The ability of top-flight clubs to spend big on foreign talent, coupled with advances in scouting technology and capacity, has resulted in a league dominated by foreign talent. In recent seasons English players in the EPL have accounted for <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z9wjq6f">less than a third of the total playing time</a>.</p>
<p>As a counter-weight to encourage the uptake of British players, regulatory changes have included the <a href="http://www.premierleague.com/content/premierleague/en-gb/youth/elite-player-performance-plan.html">Elite Player Performance Plan</a>, passed in October, 2011, which allows top-flight clubs to offer standardised (many would say heavily reduced) compensation fees when recruiting young talent from non-elite academies. </p>
<p>This means that even average Premier League clubs operate with incredible resources and recruitment options, resulting in the relentless expansion of top-flight squads, incorporating layers of reserve and youth team football. For the year ended May 31, 2015, Everton’s playing, training and management staff averaged a total of 98 according to data from Companies House, while an average of 38 employees worked in the club’s Youth Academy alone (this for a team that finished 11th out of 20). The FA’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/mar/03/johnstones-paint-trophy-premier-league-b-teams-england-world-cup-wembley-walsall-bristol-city">controversial decision</a> to allow Premier League B teams to compete in lower league competition, the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, indicates the authorities are more willing to accommodate mammoth squads of playing talent rather than impose restrictions on squad sizes and the stockpiling of talent.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Has Billy Beane changed how British clubs look at scouting?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/JEFF KOWALSKY</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The proliferation of star players, or more importantly potential star players, has resulted in interesting moneyball-type twists on this season’s Premier League narrative. <a href="http://grantland.com/features/the-economics-moneyball/">Developed by Billy Beane</a>, moneyball is the theory that sporting data can be used to source, sign and cleverly combine players currently undervalued in the transfer market, thus allowing clubs with less resources to compete.</p>
<p>With enough due diligence (<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/09/forget-2002-this-years-oakland-as-are-the-real-em-moneyball-em-team/279927/">as with baseball’s Oakland A’s</a>), it is possible for clubs to scout and secure the right combination of undervalued talent at the right time, allowing teams to punch far above their expected weight. First perfected in England by <a href="http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892/transfer-zone/2014/12/31/7529012/wengers-arsenal-transfer-strategy-is-sound-insists-grimandi">Arsene Wenger at Arsenal</a>, sophisticated scouting of foreign and local talent is now viable for all clubs in the PL division – not least as even those who finish bottom receive £60m in broadcast revenue. </p>
<h2>Holding on</h2>
<p>Moreover, once stars emerge, healthy revenues have allowed most Premier League clubs to hold out for radically inflated prices on their players, thus allowing them to build in ways not previously possible. West Brom’s <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3424663/Saido-Berahino-Tottenham-drag-final-hours-West-Brom-unwilling-sell-striker-25m.html">resistance to sell Saido Berahinho</a> to Spurs, despite a player protest and a bid in excess of £20m, is a case in point. Accordingly, the efficiency of the market is stalling, and the landscape of successful clubs is undergoing something of a change. </p>
<p>In Leicester’s case their success is largely based upon a squad of previously underrated players who have flourished in a single period: Riyad Mahrez (a reported £330,000 <a href="http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Leicester-City-winger-Riyad-Mahrez-ranked-50/story-28475654-detail/story.html">signing from Le Havre</a>), <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/leicester-city/12021886/Leicester-slap-30-million-price-tag-on-Jamie-Vardy-to-ward-off-interest-from-Chelsea-and-Manchester-United.html">Jamie Vardy</a> (£1m from Fleetwood), Danny Drinkwater (undisclosed) and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3471105/Arsenal-target-Aubameyang-Ighalo-Kante-70m-spree-players-stand-best-chance-signing.html">N’Golo Kante</a> (a still trivial £5.6m) would now command a collective value of somewhere between £50m and £100m. Whether or not Leicester’s title tilt remains a one off remains to be seen, although the potential for such seasons to emerge again should remain intact.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54605/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Hastings does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Moneyball tactics and a deluge of new money have served up a season of shocks and drama.Thomas Hastings, Research Associate in Work, Employment and Political Economy, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.