Totally Extra: When Leicester were kings of England

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1:18The Athletic FC.

1:26Totally Extra. Today, our show dedicated to yesteryear reaches the Leicester year. A decade on, we salute the side that outfoxed football's finest, its sport's most incredible title campaign, and it was probably even more unlikely than you remember. The scouting, the skittles, the royal stiff. It's Fox Football on this Totally Leicester, Totally Extra.

1:58Unbelievable, unbelievable this. Yep, brand new, totally extra for you. We're recording this on Friday the 20th of March when we're joined by Duncan Alexander of The Athletic. Hello, Duncan. Hello, James. Rob Tanner, also of The Athletic, is with us. Rob, also author of the best-selling book 5001 The Leicester City Story. Hello, Rob. Hiya, how you doing? Very well. Thank you so much for being with us. And thank you too to Jordan Halford, Leicester fan, athletic person, and also part of the Big Strong Leicester Boys podcast. Terrible name, I know, but we'll let it slide. There's a lot of podcasts with bad names that are about football, but we won't get into that.

2:43You could have called it Chat S*** Get Banged, of course. That was probably one that you considered. That would have been better, I have to say. All right then. Rob, looking back as we've been, warming up for this podcast, kind of thinking that 5 ,000 to 1, and she doesn't really cover it, those odds surely weren't long enough. I know, it was ridiculous, wasn't it? I mean, even the bookmakers thought it was ridiculous to put odds of 5 ,000 to 1 on that happening because it just wasn't supposed to be. And especially considering the context of them just surviving the previous season, in their first season, back for a decade in the Premier League.

3:18There was no way they should be anywhere near winning a title. But am I right in thinking that nobody gets 5 ,001? Because they kind of just made that number up and cost them a lot of money. Well, yeah, it did because quite a few people, as tradition, at the start of every season, they put some money on their team and regardless of what the chances are or the odds are, so you'll never get those odds ever again from a bookmaker. They've been burnt. So many things about that season seem unrepeatable. Lots of listeners getting in touch about it because it is for many people their favourite Premier League campaign.

3:50Max says, is it the most supported winner of a Premier League we've ever had, apart from Spurs fans? Charlize asks, whatever happened to the movie? That's a good question, isn't it? And Aaron Casanova says, it was the greatest achievement in sports history. Criminally underrated by US media in particular will literally never happen again, but it might, which is why we watch sports. Very nicely put, Aaron. And if you are listening in the US and this is relatively new for you, then it is a treat that we have in store for you as we get into the incredible story of Leicester in the 2015-2016 season.

4:25Duncan, have you got a quiz question, by the way, for us to be mulling over? I do, yeah. So as we know, Leicester were first-time winners of the English title. Obviously, the previous first-time winners in England were Nottingham Forest. Leicester's friends are from up the road. in 1978 but there have been first-time winners more recently or basically in between Forrest doing it and Leicester doing it in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Scotland and other countries but let's just focus on France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Scotland so if you can name the first-time winners of the title in those countries or the most recent ones then go for it.

5:10Between the dates of what, 79? 1978 when Forrest did it and 2016 when Leicester did it. Okay, we'll come back to that. In France, Italy, Germany, Scotland and Spain. Okay, Spain. A lot of moving parts to this question. Looking forward to bringing some answers to it later on. But this being a totally extra, let's get a little bit of almanac to get us underway.

5:40so this show's going out on the 28th of march and what is this week in football brought us down the years well so much march the 25th 1980 the sportsman known as ian botham made his debut in the football league both of them of course known as one of england's Reasons River cricketers, came off for Scunthorpe United against Bournemouth in a match which ended 3-3 at Dean Court. Did you know that both have made 11 first-team appearances for Scunthorpe United between 1980 and 1985? I did because I was taken to potentially see him play at Aston Villa when they played him in a League Cup game and he didn't play.

6:24That's the only reason I'd be in Villa Park. Wow, Rob, so that was kind of like a celebrity draw was it for the Scunthorpe matches? Yeah he started playing for them I think he was the centre half and he'd played a few games and they got drawn against Villa at Villa Park and my uncle said come on let's have a go and see if Ian Botham's playing so we went down and he didn't unfortunately An unexpected sight of Ian Botham is often something to be feared. I hear what you're saying. I'm going to move on March 26th in the year 2000 brought West Ham Wimbledon and they're in the goal of that season from Paolo Di Canio Bent wide nicely by Mark Vivian Fowett Sinclair's cross over Cunningham Di Canio!

7:14I do not believe that That is sensational even by his standards I'll take a bow son Take a bow You are not going to see a better goal in this. Great ball from Foy, even better ball from Sinclair. But that is just sensational. Outside of the right foot, he's off the ground with both feet when he makes contact. Look at him, up he goes. Oh, that is quite sensational. What a magnificent goal. A moment of striking perfection from Paulo Di Canio. Jordan do you remember that goal? I remember it I felt very young actually when you were talking about Ian Botham but I do remember that goal but I remember Di Canio more for when he was in Rome and he was on the scooter do you remember that?

8:07What did he do on the scooter? He went off on one didn't he? That's my abiding memory of Di Canio rather than that amazing goal or the amazing sportsmanship was just him on a moped There could be worse things that you remember him for so we'll take the scooter March 29th in 2008 was the day that that Derby County side were relegated after a 2-2 draw with Fulham. It is the earliest date that any team has been relegated in Premier League history, but only by the date because actually Southampton in 2025 went down with more of the season still to play. Seven games left as opposed to Derby's six. One more from the history books.

8:49How about the 28th of March 2015 when Harry Kane made his debut for England against Lithuania and 79 seconds later scored his first England goal. That's what Sterling can do here. There's so many players inside that penalty area. Sterling teased it up for Harry Kane! Barely been on the pitch, two minutes. Boys own stuff for Harry Kane on his debut. The chairman applauds and so does the captain. How about that for making your entrance? He'd come on for Wayne Rooney. Rooney's then pictured in the stands, well, on the bench, essentially, in the goals aftermath. And there does seem to be a look on his face, like, I have mixed feelings about this.

9:37Almost like he's got a feeling that one day his goals tally is going to be broken by the nondescript-looking lanky fellow who's just come on for him. Who played for Leicester as well, people forget. Yeah. And was on the bench in the play-off semi-final at Watford. Good Lord. along with Danny Drinkwater and Jamie Vardy. They couldn't get a game for Leicester at that time. Amazing. Amazing. Well, Leicester is our subject today, so let's begin the incredible story of Claudio Ranieri's foxes. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network. I talk to them, Billy Dean, Billy Don, when they are sleeping, no?

10:17And then I talk to them a little bell. a little bit. Riyad Mahrez, total for Vardy, he's in here, he's scored again! Jamie Vardy, he's on fire! Been a bit mental but it's been very enjoyable. Mahrez, yes! And now we go straight away to try to win the title. They really are starting to think it is their destiny! Well, five points clear with nine games to go. This actually might happen, you know. Mare's brilliant.

10:56Team of Coronation Night. Leicester are champions. Leicester City are champions of the Premier League. Leicester Premier League champions 2016. That is how it finished. But how did it start? Well, as Rob was suggesting before, we need to go back to the season before this when Leicester were very much not champions, but in fact the worst team in the Premier League. They'd been bottom of the Premier League table for four months from November all the way till April. Fully 140 days. No team had ever been bottom for so long and not go down. Jordan, those must have been tough times for supporters. Yeah, but I do remember we were actually in most of the games and I think at Queen's Park Rangers was the record for the amount of shocks in a Premier League game I think we lost 3-2 and there was a feeling that we were you know I know a lot of fan bases have probably been the same but that we were quite unlucky in a lot of those games and then we went to Tottenham we we played Robert Huth in a we changed system and played a 3-5-2 and I think we lost that game I think that was the last one we lost that season but there was a glimmer of hope that actually we might be able to start picking up some points.

12:13But yeah, I mean, you obviously don't expect us to then go on this ridiculous run for 18 months. But yeah, we were in most of the games, so we were quite unlucky to be in that position. Even early on that season, Leicester beat Manchester United 5-3 in a brilliant game. And that was the first time United had ever lost after having a two-goal lead in a Premier League match. So there were, yeah, during what was a pretty slow start, like there were glimmers of some magic under the surface. What actually saved Leicester, of course, in classic football fashion, was a corpse in a car park. And for this, we have to flashback a little bit further to August 1485, when Richard III, King of England, met the forces of Henry Tudor at nearby Bosworth Field.

12:58His armies were defeated. He was killed. Tudor's lot dragged the dead king's body back to town, display it to the people who need to see it, then chuck it in a nearby churchyard, Greyfriars Church, I believe. 500 years and change later, there'd been a palais, a bowling alley, and finally a parking lot built on that piece of land. But researchers come along and pinpoint Richard III's body's location. He gets disinterred. And on March 22, 2015, a proper state funeral was held in Leicester. There were thousands lining the streets and that for this.

13:36Did you guys go along, Rob and Jordan? I did. I went to Bosworth. Did you? Yeah, there was a ceremony in a large marquee at the field, which I think is now subject of dispute whether the battle actually took place in this field. But it was really surreal because obviously there was a lot of people who were dressed up, you know, to reconstruct the battle from that day. And everybody was carrying white roses around. And it was, yeah, it was very strange, but enjoyable to be there as well. Right. White Roses, because that was the War of the Roses. Yes, actually, and the White Rose was the House of York.

14:12Nice. So from the day of the reburial, Leicester couldn't stop winning. They won seven of the last nine matches, only lost one of them. Was it coincidence? Maybe. Was it the fixtures turning? Perhaps. But I can't help but think, who were the sponsors of that Leicester team? King Power. King Power. There's a lot of spooky things when you look back at that period, you know, was it meant to be this unbelievable story? There was also around that time Nigel Pearson wrestled James McArthur on the side of the pitch, King Arthur. I mean, I think I was the first person to link the upturned form to the to the burial, reburial of Richard III on social media.

14:54So, you know, my two loves of obscure medieval history and Premier League form combining for once. Well, how very present of you, Duncan. Anyway, between XG and Exhumed, Leicester were safe. If, though, they were hoping to prepare the next campaign in a rather more calm fashion, they were in for a shock.

15:22so Leicester had managed to stay up that summer the club went on a goodwill tour of Thailand organized by their Thai owners three academy players took this opportunity and one of them was Nigel Pearson's son to record a sex tape with local girls a scandal ensued the players were dismissed and so was manager Pearson. Leicester now found themselves in mid-July without a manager. It looked about as bad a way as possible to prepare for the new season but looking back had it not been for that can you imagine a world in which Leicester won the title of the following season under Nigel Pearson? Well he made that team he built that squad there was and some of the additions in the summer were signed under Nigel.

16:07Christian Fuchs for example was signed under Nigel and never really got to play for him. Also, if you actually look at the underlying numbers, and this is one of the first seasons where we can actually look at the underlying numbers, so it's very exciting. Leicester's kind of chance creation and defending and everything that basically powered them to such a great start in 2015-16 was exactly the same in the last quarter of 2014-15. They basically had title-winning form to escape the bottom three and finish 14th. So I sort of agree with Rob. I think Pearson could have carried on and done this. I'm slightly sceptical as to how much influence Ranieri had.

16:49I think it might be slightly overstated. But the pizzas, Duncan. When we make clean sheet, I pay to everybody a pizza. When Ranieri was announced as the replacement of Nigel Pearson, what did you think, Rob and Jordan? I mean, everyone was surprised, I think. he'd been in the cold for quite a long time hadn't he and he is obviously his record was well he's pretty good with Chelsea obviously but I don't I don't think Pearson would have won the league I just I don't want to criticize the great man because he's one of our favorite managers but he was just so conservative and it seemed like everything Claudio touched turned to gold I mean I you may have seen the flag of Ranieri with the godfather I I made that flag and I was delighted when we won the title that was on the tv screens and it got beamed all around the world and i mean i just love claudio so much i think without him and obviously his charisma and his charm in the interviews compare that with pearson's interviews the year before in a slightly different situation i don't know if uh i don't know what nigel would have been like in that cauldron it's it's a fair point you you love claudio now but when he came in he was a manager who'd had what three decades directing teams, never won anything zero tituli, as Mourinho used to say when mocking him in Serie A.

18:12His most recent role that he came into Leicester from was as manager of Greece, a job that he'd lasted just four games in and ended when his Greece side lost to the Faroe Islands. Rob, what did you think? Well, that whole recruitment process was bizarre because he obviously wasn't their first choice. He was the first one publicly to throw his hat into the ring and say be interested in talking to the Leicester owners, but they were talking to Gus Hiddink and they were really aiming high in terms of the appointment they wanted to make, but nobody fancied coming in and taking on Leicester for what was expected to be another relegation battle and potentially a drop into the Championship.

18:48And there was even this bizarre evening when Precky, a former player who was coaching in the third tier of US football, suddenly became the bookmaker's favourite. And there was a live stream of a press conference where he was resigning from his position at his club in America to pursue his dream role, he said, in England. And everybody thought, no, surely not. I mean, Leicester, some bizarre things happen at Leicester, but surely they're not going to appoint this fella. And surely they didn't. But everybody was sort of tuning in to see what he was going to say. And then after about a few weeks of the search for the new man, Ranieri came in and there was the famous quote from Gary Lineker, really.

19:29I think everybody was like this is a bit strange even the players because they were already away at their training camp in Austria when he was appointed and announced and they were all very sceptical about Claudio coming in because obviously he was going to be a big departure from Nigel 5 ,000 to 1 the odds at the time they were seen as the likeliest team to get relegated that's what people thought would be happening to Leicester under Ranieri but it turned out to be the perfect match why do you think that is Jordan? honestly I really don't know because the season was so crazy but if you look at Ranieri's career I suppose he was always the bridesmaid and you know if a fairy tale was going to happen it deserved to happen to someone like Claudio it was almost like a perfect marriage between the underdog club and the underdog manager and I mean how can Mourinho ever goad Claudio Ranieri I mean, he's just the sweetest, nicest man.

20:25But like I say, all his substitutions, I remember in a lot of the games, Stoke away was one of the early ones. He brought, I think he brought Kante on or he played right midfield and then he moved him inside. And it was like, oh my God, who is this midfielder that is like having an extra player? And then from then on, you know, he was incredible. And I think against Norwich, he changed the fullbacks after we lost to Arsenal 5-2 and he went more defensive in the full-back areas and that obviously worked as well. So, like I say, everything he did was incredible and then, as I say, his press conferences are just so memorable now.

21:02Danny Drinkwater has said this week that he was asked about how you are with the players and he says you have an imaginary bell that you shake if you don't think you've got their full attention. Is that right? I don't know. If a drinker says something, it's true. I tell to them, dilly-din, dilly-don, when they are sleeping, you know? And then I buy to them a little bell. Well, we bought you a little bell. Yes. There you go, come on, man. You can use that. Hey, you are sleeping. Come on. But yeah, it was just the perfect, it must have been the perfect marriage, because obviously the season after was a little bit more difficult with European football, and it ended very sourly, unfortunately.

21:46but I guess that's the game, isn't it? I think an underrated element of Ranieri's arrival as well was the link-up with the Mapai Centre in Italy and I think Leicester's kind of fitness was particularly impressive that season. I think they made the second fewest line-up changes of any team to win the Premier League after Manchester United in 1992-93 which was obviously a very different time in terms of squad rotation and stuff and I think the thing you can say about Leicester winning the league is that any football fan can pretty much name their starting XI because it just became so emblazoned and every week they just turned up and did their job and it was super impressive.

22:25Those numbers on the changes in line-up or the lack of, they made 33 or Ranieri made 33 changes to his starting line-up over the course of the entire season. To put that in perspective, the previous campaign, Chelsea, the winners, had made 53. But the really mind-boggling ones are the number of players that were used who had more than three league starts. So players who had a significant number of starts, only 15 that season for Leicester, which is just extraordinary. 11 players had 28 starts or more, but only 15 had more than three league starts. You have to have a lot of luck to keep your squad, your first choice 11, fit enough to do that kind of thing.

23:04But I guess the factors are not having Europe and too many other concerns played into that as well. Let's talk about the squad then, And because while Ranieri was a hero, I imagine that the man who did the scouting, or has always been credited for it, Steve Walsh, Rob, must bear a huge amount of the credit for this incredible story. Oh, absolutely. And some of these signings, people hadn't really heard of. I mean, including Ranieri when he came in and Steve Walsh used to walk past him in the corridor at Beaver Drive, the training ground, and just say, N 'Golo Kante, N 'Golo Kante. And Ranieri didn't really know anything about him.

23:38And eventually they signed him. And even famously, the steward on the gate didn't know who N 'Golo Kante was because he directed him to the academy. He thought he was one of the juniors when he first came in. Riyad Mahrez, another great signing. I don't think Steve has admitted he didn't actually go out to scout Mahrez. It was somebody else at the time that he went to look at. But he just saw this skinny little lad and thought, he's got something about him and had to convince Nigel. and then they brought him in. But yeah, if you look at that squad, the remarkable thing about it, and it just adds to the fairy tale element, is that all of them had something to prove.

24:18All of them had been rejected by other clubs. I mean, Markle Brighton, I remember, interviewing him on the side of the training pitch and he just looked bemused and amazed that he was there at Leicester because he'd been promised a contract to Aston Villa, his beloved club that he'd been at since he was a kid and he didn't want to leave them. and then that offer had been withdrawn and he was there and he was like, I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be at Aston Villa. And they all had similar stories and they all had something to prove and they came together and certainly set that record straight.

24:51I mean, there was so many free signings. Christian Fuchs was a free signing. He played Champions League football to come in and I mean, that squad was put together on peanuts as well. So I think I'm right in saying that Vardy, Mahrez and Kante, probably the three most important players arrived for collectively£7 million is that right? Yes, absolutely I think it was£450 ,000 for Mahrez £1 million for Vardy and the rest was on Kante and the biggest sign in that summer was Shinji Okazaki for£7 million which now you'd think that's nothing for a player in the Premier League but the recruitment was at the very heart of the success story I mean anyone who wants to stretch the medieval king to Leicester analogy Angelo Kante was signed from Cannes which is obviously Cannes Castle built by William the Conqueror and was very much a key location for the Plantagenet Kings so you know there are the more you look into it the more actually you do start to think hang on this is this actually happened and if you're talking Kings don't forget Andy King who went from one league one won the championship won the Premier League and actually scored on the day that we lifted the trophy against Everton so he'd been through all of it and also Rob, you'll probably remember when we had Anthony Nockhart on one side in the Championship and we thought, hey, he's a really good player and then Riyad Mahrez came on against Blackpool and almost straight away scored from about 25 yards and we were like, well, we thought Nockhart was good but this kid, Mahrez, looks twice the player but I mean, we obviously didn't think that he was going to go on to do what he did a couple of years later Both him and Vardy, it was that season when they really announced themselves I know Vardy in the great escape season scored his first Premier League goal against Man United in that amazing moment.

26:41But then he sort of disappeared for the rest of the season. And Leicester did try and bring in other strikers like Kramaric. Because I don't think they thought he was going to be up to that level. But then he just started on that run at the end of that great escape season. And then carried it on the momentum into the title winning season. And became the phenomenon that he has become. Yeah, probably no player symbolises that team, that campaign, more than Jamie Vardy. And without his goals, I don't think there's a way that any of this could have happened. Where did he come from, Rob? Well, he famously came from non-league.

27:17He was rejected at 16 by Sheffield Wednesday, his boyhood club. Even gave up football for a while, then started playing with his mates again. Played for Stocksbridge Park Steels in Sheffield. Was spotted by Halifax. had one season with them, was signed by Fleetwood Town, there was a lot of buzz around him in non-league, and a lot of clubs had a look at him, he wasn't a complete unknown, but nobody would pay the money, the£1 million that Fleetwood wanted for him, and then Nigel Pearson decided to take that gamble, and that's one of the reasons why Jamie throughout his career stayed at Leicester, because it was Leicester that took a chance on him, and Leicester that kept their faith in him, because he did struggle, to start with when he was at Leicester City.

28:03And that's why he felt like he had some loyalty to the club. Yeah, Arsenal came in for him. Was that after the title? Yes, that was. That was summer. We were in LA. They were doing a pre-season tour. This is how everything changed that summer. We normally would go into Swindon or Rotherham or pre-season. We were in LA to play PSG. It was part of the International Champions Cup. We'd already played Celtic at Celtic Park. and yeah, he came very close to joining. They did offer him a huge amount of money but he just made the decision that he didn't want to go. He didn't want to leave the group, Champions League football the following season and he came and he sat down with a couple of the journalists that had travelled over there in a side room in the team hotel and told us and talked about why he decided to turn down Arsenal and he stayed true to that until he left at the end of last season.

28:57Yeah, remarkable. from non-league to becoming the season's deadliest striker, setting a new Premier League record for scoring in consecutive games. Let's get into what happened in Leicester's season against whom and how next.

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31:05This is the Totally Football Show part of the Athletic FC podcast network The Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Phil Hay James Pearce, Olly Kay and the very best football writers around So having stayed up in the 2014-15 campaign the season began well, Jordan for the Foxes. Only one defeat in the first nine matches. And then I think you mentioned Ranieri when he started Simpson and Fox at fullback. They go on this incredible run where they don't concede a goal for over a month and they climb to the absolute top of the division. When did you start to think as a fan we'll be okay this season?

31:46What will stay up? Yeah. To be fair, around about Christmas. I know Claudio kept talking about 40 points, 40 points. and I think we drew nil-nil with Man City in Bournemouth just after Christmas. We lost, we always lose on Boxing Day, but we lost to Anfield and that was only our second defeat. But around about then, I think Bournemouth might have been the game where we got 40 points. So, okay, we're safe now. The pressure's off. But yeah, I mean, like I say, we started well and that Arsenal game, they battered us, to be honest. And then we changed the fullbacks and looked a lot more resolute at the back.

32:23So it looked like a fairly decent side. But obviously you expect us to fade as the season goes on. That early run had been fuelled by the goals of Jamie Vardy. Between August 29th and November 28th, he scored in 11 successive matches, 13 goals all in all, breaking the previous record held by Rudvan Nisseroy and breaking it appropriately enough against Manchester United. Fuchs, rolling for Vardy, onside, Jamie Vardy! history Leicester's number 9 beats 10 and scores 11 in a row lovely Fuchs pass by the way yeah it was one of those moments we were recording this in the week after Max Dalman scored for Arsenal and that had a sort of similar energy where as Vardy ran through everyone kind of knew this record was on the line and he finished in the sort of the fashion that everyone had become accustomed to I thought it was quite amusing at the time that obviously he broke a fan list for his record and I thought it was slightly disrespectful to Leicester that a lot of people then dug up not literally but a player called Jimmy Dunn from the 1930s who apparently had scored in more I think it was like 13 or 14 games in a row and no one had mentioned him when Van Nistroyd set the initial record in the early 2000s so it was almost like people like you know Leicester breaking records that doesn't seem right let's try and sort of devalue a little bit so I was very much in the anti-Jimmy Dunn camp.

33:57What's amazing about that goal is that I was at the game but it's always going to be remembered for the celebration and the commentary which is strange when you're at a game but you can hear the commentary afterwards and I think Rob that Vardy said after he was actually a bit embarrassed by his celebration when he saw it back because he loves to rustle the away fans but obviously he ran over shouting it's all mine it's all mine and then i think after he was a bit embarrassed about it yeah i mean i mean that whole run was incredible i mean i mean i remember i was at newcastle the one where he equaled record and that was an even better goal he stepped inside two defenders and just put it in the bottom corner and then just stood because the away fans atst james's park are way up in the gods he just stood there with his arms up like that and he looked like a god like figure at that moment but then when he uh when he broke the record and he just went berserk um because obviously there was so much talk around it at the time and the build-up to that game could he do it nobody sort of expected him to but the run he'd been on was phenomenal to get one chance put it away it just it was just complete release i mean he's genuine he's a genuine guy there's nothing that's contrived about him and that celebration just poured out of him rob you must have spent a lot of time with Jamie Vardy.

35:15There was so much more than goals to what he brought to that season. The Red Bulls, the Skittle, the quotes, chat, get banged, all that kind of thing. Can you think of any player remotely like him? No, he is unique. I don't think there'll ever be another Jamie Vardy. His story is so remarkable. What he's achieved has been so remarkable. To be loyal to Leicester City in this modern era, it's incredibly rare as well now he was certainly unique i mean when he did interviews you know he was a little bit more reserved and uh he was very careful about what he said but when the microphones were off he was he was i mean the red bull sums him up really i mean he was just ball of energy and i think that rubbed off on all the um the other and they all tapped into that as well around that time and christian fuchs was doing his videos um his challenges with um various teammates and he did egg roulette with Jamie Vardy.

36:12Sorry how does egg roulette work Rob? Well some of the eggs are raw some of them are cooked and you take it in turns to take an egg out and smash it on the other guy's head. Happy Easter everybody. Happy Easter. Happy birthday. I think we should play a little no food skimming game which is Russian eggs roulette. The game is easy whoever gets smashed twice on the head loses. This one in the middle. Please.

36:48Yes! One-nil! Robert Hoof, they took it in turn to stand bent over in the goal mouth. The other one would blast the ball at their backside as well. That was another challenge that Fuchs and Hoof did. But they were doing all these things throughout the season. There was just a really good vibe around the squad. They had a little mantra as well. If they went out, everyone went out. Not just a little group. There was no cliques in the dressing room. They were all together. So they were a very close group. And I think that probably helps as well. We've talked about the figures of how many players actually played that season.

37:22They were so tight because they were a smaller squad. By the start of the new year, they powered into the top positions in the table. And Claudio Ranieri was talking about the Champions League positions. Hey, man, we are in Champions League. We are in Champions League, man. Dilly dilly dilly dong, come on. You forget, you speak about blah, blah, blah, but we are in Champions League. Come on, man. How big an achievement for you. Oh, it's fantastic, fantastic, terrific. What point was it that Jordan, people in Leicester started to think, hang on, we couldn't, could we? I was probably one of the later ones, but I remember when we beat Man City away, my dad was absolutely delirious and he kept saying we're going to win it we're going to win it and I was reminding him how long there is left it should be the other way around really shouldn't it he should know better but I mean Robert Huth scored two on that day and there's a famous tweet from the club account that said if you're just joining us Robert Huth is on a hat trick and Huth is there again and it's three Robert Huth Leicester City are in dreamland here we're next in this astonishing story but then we i think we beat liverpool around that time and obviously vardy scored that incredible goal so the liverpool goal was that week was the week before that and it and it was extraordinary with that being goal of the season most definitely the most memorable and i think more memorable for people who maybe are not necessarily leicester fans because that is the goal that everybody else remembers.

39:00Here's Mahrez. Launch long, trying to set Jamie Vardy away. And he's there. Oh, what a goal! You have just seen something right out of the very top drawer. That is breathtaking. The fairy tale goes on. That is straight out of the realms of fantasy football. and I'm pretty sure Duncan might know is that his only goal outside the box that season? I think it is, yeah I think as a non-Leicester fan that week, because obviously the Liverpool game was on February 2nd and the City game was on the 6th and I remember watching that City game with some friends and to Jordan's point everyone kind of looked at each other and was like oh, they're winning the league this is happening which was funny because obviously the week later they went to Arsenal and lost leading to Arsenal's in no way hubristic dressing room selfie photo.

40:05With that game at Man City actually Mahrez scored a wonder goal which I missed, I was in the concourse which won't surprise many of my friends but yeah the Arsenal game we had 10 men and we really didn't deserve to lose that and I think Ranieri had promised the team a holiday if they didn't lose and even though they did, he gave them a break. And I think that, you know, the players really appreciated that. But also the dressing room photo, as Duncan said, really motivated the team because I remember seeing it myself and being pretty riled up about it. But we did deserve to lose that game either.

40:41That was only the third game we'd lost and obviously they did the double over us that season. And it's funny with the season because everyone, as mentioned earlier, kind of thinks of Tottenham as the team that wasted the chance to win the league. But Arsenal were in the better position for much of the season and, as Jordan says, did do the double over Leicester, but then imploded, as they often did in this era. So, yeah, I think, yes, Leicester were fortunate, I guess, that a lot of the big clubs were in a sort of transitional moment and or having off-seasons, but they still had to go and win all those games.

41:16and they didn't lose, obviously, again after that Arsenal defeat. Rob, what was the moment for you when the title talk ceased being just banter? It was interesting because we started to get a lot of interest from overseas around Christmas into the new year when they were near the top and everybody was wondering what on earth is going on because they're used to seeing the Premier League table and seeing Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea all in there, not Leicester City. and we started getting a lot of phone calls from radio stations, TV camera crews were coming to Leicester and wanted to speak to us as well about that time.

41:52So the interest really started to grow at the turn of the year. But I don't think anybody really thought they were going to... I mean, that's when I started writing the book, but I never thought I was going to get the fairytale ending. But I can remember coming out after the Man City game, like everybody says, and thinking, well, they've got a chance. I'm not going to completely dismiss their chances here. They have got a chance. They've gone and done something remarkable here. But I think it was the one where I really thought they could get over the line was Crystal Palace away. Right. They won at Crystal Palace.

42:24And the away fans wouldn't leave Selhurst Park, the stadium. And they were just chanting, we're going to win the league. So I felt that was the moment when the fans truly thought, yes, we can do this.

42:41We're going to win the league!

42:58But could you please make your way home now? Because the mixed zone where you speak to players after games is outside at Sellers Park so I could hear all this going on at the same time whilst I was waiting for the players and the players had gone by the time, the fans were still there, the players had gone so yeah they were really, I think that's the moment when a lot of Leicester City supporters truly believed. Sam writes in saying Palace away was the best away day ever every one of the fans knew that the league was ours, there wasn't a dry eye in that stand, that was the 19th of March 2016 that's what I was going to say Rob was that Crystal Palace away was also the performance was a gritty 1-0 win and obviously at that time of the season that's exactly what you need but in the away end after obviously a lot of atmosphere is spontaneous but we just sang we're going to win the league on repeat for her like half an hour at least and yeah I remember a few tears of happiness thinking that was almost the moment the penny dropped.

44:04Like, we are actually going to do this. And I guess the players have left, but I'm sure the players could hear us in the dressing room because it was surreal. And I think it was 10 years yesterday at the time of recording and I saw all the videos again and I was like, wow, that really happened.

44:25Well, a couple of weeks later came a match between Chelsea and Spurs, which sealed the title for Leicester. So we'll get on to that and some of the reasons how this extraordinary story came about next.

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46:49You're listening to The Totally Football Show with James Richardson. Now we do four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy seeing glorious Technicolor on YouTube at The Totally Show. Alright, so May 2nd, Arsenal have been contenders but they've fallen by the wayside. It's Spurs now who are the one remaining rivals for Leicester for the title. Harry Kane has tweeted a picture of a pack of lions on the prowl hunting with just dot, dot, dot as the caption. Jamie Vardy will subsequently reply but only I think after Spurs had been to Chelsea in a game that they had to win to keep their title dreams alive they took a two goal lead Rob, Jordan where were you watching this game?

47:33I was at home with my wife and we were watching it we'd been to Man United the previous few days before that where they had the chance to win it at the Theatre of Dreams and make their dreams come true but they managed to get a point there which was a vital point Wes Morgan scored but I thought we would be going to the next game I didn't think that Spurs would mess up especially at half time when they were 2-0 up we thought oh that's it we're definitely going to the next game but yeah it was just remarkable to watch that unfold and the hazard goal felt like seemed like to me it was in slow motion the way it went in

48:33Even in real time it felt like slow motion with the ball just guided into the top corner and then everybody exploded my phone exploded everything just went mad and the party began Alright, and Jamie Vardy's house the TV exploded famously amongst various other things, the entire squad had gathered there to watch this game because with that draw, Leicester were title winners, it is a game that Duncan with his own Wikipedia page Yeah, always a good sign of a game, I've written on that game before, I mean we touched on it in the Eden Hazard podcast we did what I loved about that game other than the kind of the comeback and the just relentless scenes of violence between the players was the fact that Chelsea were the reigning champions and they were fighting like they had the chance to win the league to deny one of their arch rivals.

49:24And obviously there were links between Chelsea and Leicester before and after. So it kind of felt like the right place. If Leicester weren't going to win it on the pitch themselves, I think that was almost like the perfect way for it to be decided. Jordan, where were you? So we'd been to Old Trafford, as Rob said, the day before. And I remember growing up, again, a lot of stick off Manchester United fans. So when we were travelling up to think we can win the league at Old Trafford, it was quite a nice feeling. And we drew, but we should have had a penalty in that game. Not that I'm bitter about it.

49:56But we then went to a place called Sawpoint in Leicester. A lot of the club staff were actually in there. And I remember at half-time I said to my friend, oh, it's your round, mate. And he said, no, no, no, we've got work tomorrow. I'm going to take it easy. and I remember saying to him, they only need to score two. It's not beyond the realms of possibility and we have won the league. And people say, I think, you know, the bigger clubs would say, obviously, it's better to win the league while you're playing. But it made no difference whatsoever. I remember looking at the clock and it must have said something like 94 minutes, 26 or something.

50:29And that was like, they literally have no time to score. It's over. To Hazard. Leicester are champions. Leicester City are champions of the Premier League. The greatest story ever told has its happy ending for Claudio Ranieri and his players. An unhappy ending in many ways for Spurs here, who lost a 2-0 half-time lead. They had to win, but Eden Hazard sparked the second half recovery for Chelsea. They can open the champagne in Leicester. Footballing-wise, that is the happiest I've ever been when that whistle went. I remember hugging my dad and he got some champagne that had already been popped and he made the barmaid get him a fresh bottle so he could pop it himself.

51:19It didn't matter one bit that we didn't win it by not playing at all. And also, we had Everton next, so we knew we'd get the trophy, which made that game... Obviously, the pressure was off then. You could enjoy the day completely without needing a result. Basically, this was a team that had been destined for demotion that instead had upset all the biggest teams in the biggest, toughest league in the world. Has every sports fan's wildest fancy come true? Can anything ever live up? Did it ruin football for you forever? Yeah, I would say it was very difficult after the season. We had the Champions League, but the league games just didn't matter as much.

52:01and obviously the plight that we're in now, it's very difficult because we had completely achieved the impossible. And I think the club themselves almost had a bit of an identity crisis for a long time. It's like, you know, if you're a player, it's like, what do I do now? I've done something that we never thought we'd do. Obviously, Chelsea drew with Tottenham to give us the title and then a few years later, we beat them in the FA Cup final, which again, something else that we never thought would happen is winning the FA Cup. So, yeah, it's still very, very strange. Sometimes I have to pinch myself.

52:35I mean, the room I'm in is just full of Leicester City memorabilia and I have to look around and think, did that really happen? Did Andrea Bocelli really sing at the King Power and we lifted the Premier League trophy? It's mad to think it's already 10 years ago. I want to introduce the great maestro, Andrea Bocelli. He's here for you. and I want to say to you we are champions because you push to match behind us thank you so much thank you, I love you

53:44Rob, what are your standout memories of that? Oh, there's so many. I mean, that final game, when they lifted the trophy, obviously we'll always live in the memory, especially the sight of thousands of Italians that had come over because Claudio, the Emperor of Rome, had conquered England and they all come over to enjoy the celebrations. That was surreal. That game as well, day turned into night. We had extreme weather where it just went black as night at some point and we had a thunderstorm. Henry VII? Yeah, there was loads of strange sort of... I mean, during the campaign there was the earthquake That happened when Leo Joa scored against Norwich and the celebrations was registered on the Richter scale as an official earthquake.

54:32There was moments like that. Again, Leo did it against West Ham. That was a surreal game when Vardy got sent off and John Moss, the referee, was doing John Moss things, as Robert Huth would say. But they managed to get a point, a vital point that day. Rob, the celebrations registered on the Richter scale. Can you just explain? Yeah, I think it was the local university managed to capture that moment in terms of how much the earth shakes when something happens like that. And it was registered officially as an earthquake because the whole of the King Power Stadium just went nuts because it's such a relief to get that goal.

55:12I mean, there was a lot of 1-0 wins in the final few months of the season. and they were really digging in and every single one was celebrated like it was a cup final. Incredible. Well, 7th May 2016, then Leicester at home to Everton at the King Power Stadium. Andrea Bocelli singing Nessun Dorma, as his won't. And Jordan, you were probably there to cheer the team. How was it? We touched on some of the reasons, but how was it that a team that was favourite to go down won the toughest league in the world? There's the brilliant scouting. There's the fact that the rivals, Duncan, you were mentioning, were all off the pace.

55:53Jose had been fired at Chelsea. Brendan Rodgers had got knocked out halfway through the campaign at Liverpool with Klopp coming in. City were before Pep. There was the remarkable fortune with injuries that enabled Ranieri to just keep going with his first choice. Eleven. What else should we put this down to? Oh, and also the dead king, of course. But what else should we put this down to? Well, it was a perfect storm, really, of all those things. But I think if you look back now, it maybe wouldn't be as surprising as it was at the time because you had Kasper Schmeichel in goal, who's a fantastic goalkeeper, very solid back four, N 'Golo Kante.

56:33I mean, the famous quote from Steve Walsh was that we played Danny Drinkwater with N 'Golo Kante either side. And everyone knows what Kante has gone on to achieve. and then you had a sprinkling of world-class talent. I mean, there's always a distinction I'd like to make that Riyad Mahrez is the best player I've ever seen for Leicester City, but Jamie Vardy is the greatest. And I think you can have both of them separate, but you had a sprinkling of two world-class players at the top of their game. So if you look back at the team now, having seen what they all went on to do, you probably wouldn't be as surprised.

57:08But yeah, it was a perfect concoction. just to put it into context if you convert all seasons to three points for a win just to make it fair leicester in 2015-16 are the only occasion in top flight history of a team improving their points per game by over one from one season to the next um the nearest is arsenal in 1930-31 when they came back under herbert chapman and won the title under him for the first time but so you know they obviously finished the previous season well but to add an extra point per game on the following season has never been done before and I'm pretty sure it will never happen again incredible they were great players there and it was very much in the before they were famous phase bit like when you watch an old movie and oh crikey that's what they yeah before they became a star but again Rob Claudio Ranieri's very very back to basics 4-4-2 hit them on the break they were players who were perfectly suited to that approach absolutely were yeah I mean Jordan mentioned about Vardy and Mahrez whenever Vardy didn't score, Mahrez did and those two were like a tag team and I remember Ranieri compared them to the RAF his front three with Michael Brighton as well and Shinji Yacuzaki called them the RAF his red arrows because they're so fast on the counter-attack and that system just suited them because they sucked teams in and then hit them with pace and a fair amount of guile as well from Riyad And this is the thing about Claudio Ranieri, and some people can take a little bit of the achievement away from him, but I think he recognised there wasn't a lot broken.

58:45From the moment he went into that training camp in Austria in the summer, he realised, he looked around and could sense that there was something there. There was camaraderie amongst the players, they had a system that they'd started to believe in, and all he had to do, the tinker man, was just tinker with a few little bits and bobs with it and not completely reinvent the wheel. And it worked perfectly for him. So funny, as you mentioned, that his previous spell in English football had seen him famous for the number of changes he made. Egregiously so, some felt. On this occasion, it was the stability that he brought that was so key.

59:23Drinkwater and Kante in midfield were second and third in the league for ball recoveries. Vardy and Mahrez would get the ball from them and they scored almost two-thirds of all of Leicester's goals that season. It was simple and hugely effective. And then what happened? So you win the title and you go into the Champions League and things start to go wrong quite quickly. Is that a fair summary of the next bit for Leicester? Yes, I mean, they went away to Hull and lost on the opening day of the next season. And I remember I spoke to Danny Simpson afterwards and he was saying, oh, don't read too much into this.

59:59don't read too much into this but later on when I spoke to him again about it looking back on it he said yeah it wasn't quite right we I think Claudio tried to change them a little bit that summer that we did watch an open training session at the StubHub Centre in LA and he was getting really angry with them because he was trying to get them to press high whereas before they used to sit deep and he was trying to get them this coordinated press and he was trying to change and we didn't think that they could carry on playing the same way. Everybody would figure them out and it would be a struggle.

1:00:31And it just didn't suit some of the players. So that was a warning sign straight away, the first game of the season when they lost at Hall. And they just really, really struggled. But then when they got into the Champions League, it was a completely different matter. They looked like the old Leicester again. Having won the title when they'd been tipped for relegation, the following season, they ended up certainly one point above the relegation zone when Ranieri was sacked in February. Jordan, at the start of the campaign, what were you expecting from the season? It was really weird to know what to expect because obviously as the champions, you've got a target on your back and it is completely different to the season before.

1:01:06Obviously, the focus was massively on the Champions League and it's very difficult to balance that with the squad that we had. N 'Golo Kante had left. We didn't get a replacement in. We got Ndidi in, but if we'd have got Wilfred Ndidi immediately, we might have been a bit better. But unfortunately, we couldn't get him in in time. And then I think a few of the signings the club made, they would have made them if we'd finished 14th again. But obviously, when you win the league, those players were probably not quite at that level. But obviously, balancing those huge Champions League nights with playing league games a few days later was new for the whole squad.

1:01:45And obviously, the Champions League kind of takes priority. So it was a very difficult campaign and very sad when Ranieri was sacked. I was actually in Seville because I think they'd flown back from the game and we were still out there. My friends liked to laugh because I said I nearly choked on my paella when I heard that Ranieri had been sacked because it was such a sad ending to what had been... It felt like it was the end of the chapter, really, even though we were still in the competition, but it just felt like the fairy tale had come to an end. obviously replaced by Craig Shakespeare Shakespeare obviously Richard III one of his banging plays so yeah nice to point that out thanks Duncan Leicester actually rallied under Shakespeare a man who knew a thing or two about play and finished 12th in the Premier League the following year 2018 then brought tragedy at the King Power the 27th of October when the owner of Icai Shivadana Pravi and four others died when their helicopter crashed just outside the stadium.

1:02:56Since then, Jordan, you mentioned the current predicament. There have been two relegations since. There's been the revival under Brendan Rodgers with two fifth-place finishes in the Premier League and also that FA Cup triumph. But at the time of recording, just 10 years on from winning the title, Leicester are fighting to avoid a drop to the third division. How football moves. Yeah, if you'd have said that 10 years ago, I don't think we would have believed you. But obviously, missing out on the Champions League in two successive seasons, finishing fifth, was probably pretty terminal for the club, really, because we'd spent massive money on wages, probably expecting that we might get Champions League football.

1:03:36We did win the FA Cup, though, in one of those two years, which was something, again, I never thought I would see. but it's amazing how quickly things have unravelled since and you know these days you get Champions League football if you finish fifth which unfortunately back then wasn't the case but yeah we've never had successive relegations in the club's entire history we've only been in the third tier once in 151 years so if we were to get relegated again would be extremely worrying But Rob you take all that for the season that you had Well, it's been a phenomenal period in the club's history.

1:04:14I always say there's never a dull moment in Leicester City. Every season they're either fighting for something or fighting for survival. There's never any mid-table obscurity about them. And I first started covering the club in 2009 when they just got promoted back to the Championship from League One. And it feels like it's just everything's gone full circle. And where they are now, they shouldn't be where they are now. Now they shouldn't have had their success. They had either. It's just been remarkable how, I mean, there are some key moments. The loss of Kymfi Chai was a massive blow to the football club.

1:04:50Covid coming along at the time and the effect that had on King Power as well as the club's finances. Because at the time they were starting to really spend a lot on contracts under Brendan, putting players on even better contracts to attract what they thought were better players and to pursue regular European football. And their revenues just couldn't keep up with their expenditure. And that's why they got themselves into problems with PSR that they couldn't dig themselves out of because they couldn't move these players on and they had to wait for contracts to run out, which means millions of pounds worth of investment in players was wasted.

1:05:25And it's just been, as much as everything has come together for them to have the success they had, it feels like everything's coming against them now for them to be in the position they're in again. Karma has really got us, I think, at the minute. But I always put it in boxing parlance that I think Leicester City are pound-for-pound champions because they are so entertaining. Do you remember the programme Dream Team on Sky? If this was a Dream Team script, you wouldn't believe it. You wouldn't have been able to write it. Not even Hard Chester United could pull it. No, exactly. And as a fan, honestly, just one season of finishing mid-table and getting knocked out of the cup in the first round of both would be great.

1:06:11Because like Rob said, it's either fighting for a trophy or fighting for survival. There's never an in-between of Leicester. Duncan, you famously say there'll never be another Derby county. Will there ever be another Leicester City? I don't think so. And I do think there's something quite fascinating about that little corner of the East Midlands. because obviously you've got Leicester, we've got Derby, and we've got Nottingham Forest who obviously won the league and then won the European Cup two years in a row. So it's a sort of... The ley lines that run through that bit of the country do have some pretty checkered power, I would say.

1:06:46The other thing as well, as a non-Leicester fan, as a kind of epilogue to the whole thing, was that FA Cup final. Because if you remember, it was one of the first games that fans were allowed back after COVID. and the joy when the goal went in, in the fans, admittedly quite a sparse crowd, I think it was 20 ,000 at Wembley, but it was a kind of reminder of the kind of magic of football and why we love it, and I think it almost acted as a sort of like the full stop on the mad four or five seasons that Leicester had had, so that kind of really resonated with me at the time. Just starting to open up a little here, Blocked there by Perez, maybe with the arm, but we continue.

1:07:30Here's Juri Tielemans!

1:07:35It's a stunning goal from Tielemans! Leicester have the lead and how! And Duncan, you like the strange and spooky, don't you? Well, in that final, the goal was scored in the 63rd minute, which would have been Kunvichai's age that year. and his favourite lucky number from his culture was number eight and the goal was scored by number eight, Juri Tielemans, in the 63rd minute. There you go. It was one of the great FA Cup final goals as well and I think there were only 6 ,000 Leicester fans there but I think that made it almost better because you knew all 6 ,000 deserved their place in that stadium and if you actually watch the celebrations, because there's quite a bit of room in between each fan, You can see sort of each individual supporter going crazy, whereas obviously when it's full, it looks a bit different.

1:08:28So yeah, it was definitely one of the best FA Cup final goals, whether it's remembered like that because of COVID or not. Were you there, Jordan? I was there and I wasn't actually behind the goal, which is where I obviously normally like to go. I was to the side, almost level with the posts. So as Yuri had hit it, I couldn't tell if it had gone in until it actually hit the net, whereas normally behind the goal, you know as soon as it leaves its boot you think that's on its way but yeah I mean again another moment I think we've been to four FA Cup finals in our history and never won one my dad was a couple of those in the 60s and it was always seen as the missing piece of the jigsaw Leicester have had quite a bit of success actually we've won two league cups in my life and obviously the league title but the fa cup was always seen as a mysterious object to us um and i was quite good friends with brendan's daughter because we used to work together and when he got the job i said to her if i have one piece of advice it would be go for the fa cup because you know you'll be remembered forever and i hope in time brendan is remembered for delivering the fa cup because some fans have a checkered history with with rogers i'd say right and you'll be remembered for actually You're suggesting winning the FA Cup term, which...

1:09:43Well, brilliant advice. Well, exactly. It's all down to me. Excellent. Well, thank you so much, Jordan. It's been amazing to relive this most amazing of seasons with you and with Rob. Jordan can be enjoyed on the Big Strong Leicester Boys podcast, of course. And you can relive this story in greater detail in Rob's brilliant book, 5 ,000 to 1, all about that amazing campaign. Rob's also, of course, on The Athletic, as is Duncan Alexander, and regularly on this podcast. Duncan, you've got a quiz question to answer. I do, yeah. So the question was, which first-time winners have there been between Nottingham Forest's first division title in England and Leicester's Premier League title in 2016?

1:10:34So... in the countries france uh germany spain italy and scotland there's obviously lots of others as well that you've got boa vista in 2001 in portugal for instance but yeah we're going for the the big four and scotland as it's known right i think i've got a couple okay is kaiserslautern one no but they i think they did i think they were at one point but there's been someone subsequently. Sampdoria? Correct. And I'm surprised because Verona weren't there. Verona obviously did it in 85, but then Sampdoria did it in 91. Ah, just before. Right, yeah, yeah. And Scotland must be Aberdeen? Nope. It's the other one.

1:11:19Dundee United? Correct, yeah. In 1983. Hamburg? No. No. I'm trying to think of the Bundesliga. I mean, obviously, it's been dominated by Bayern Munich for such a long time. Borussia Mönchengladbach won it in 77, didn't they? 77, 78? Not Stuttgart. Nope. You said Wolfsburg, haven't you? 77 Wolfsburg? Wolfsburg, no. Correct. Oh, there you go. 2009. So we're looking for France and Spain. Well, France would be Lille? Nope. Oh. Lyon? No. More recent and with shades of Leicester, I'd say. or L 'Anse no did they no who was it it wasn't L 'Anse oh yeah yeah Montpellier Montpellier correct in 2012 yeah Olivier Giroud very much the French Jamie Vardy who's left then Duncan Spain in the year 2000 Deportivo La Coruña correct yeah right there we go wow that was brilliant thanks for that Duncan that made staying to the end worth it didn't it listener.

1:12:29We've got more Totally Extras out there for you if you've enjoyed this look back at some of football's special memories. But for now that brings this show to an end. So many, many thanks to Rob, to Jordan and to Duncan, to producer Charlie and producer Jesse too. And we'll catch up with you soon on the Totally Football Show for now from all of us here. It's goodbye.

1:13:07you've been listening to the totally football show part of the athletic fc podcast network for other great podcasts just like this one including the athletic fc and our dedicated club podcasts search for the athletic in all the usual places we're also at the totally show on insta and at the totally show on youtube the totally football show is an athletic media Company production.

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