It is the ultimate sporting feel-good story, the team of no-hopers who come from nowhere to claim the prize. It is the perfect illustration of what can be achieved — in sport, in life — when everyone pulls together. Leicester City’s incredible, almost implausible, title triumph is also an example of something else: fantasy football bringing a huge, desperately needed reality check for the Barclays Premier League’s tired, complacent, arrogant elite.
Nobody in their right mind saw this coming — bar that handful of Leicester loyalists whose hearts appeared to have ruled their heads when they placed pre-season bets at odds as long as 5,000-1. What has been apparent for several years now, though, is a growing sense of stagnation among the wealthy clubs, either unwilling or unable to see that others, domestically as in Europe, were progressing as they stood still or, in some cases, went backwards.
Collectively, the self-appointed “Big Five” –— or alternatively the “Dorchester Five”, the clubs whose executives gathered in London in March to discuss ways to generate greater broadcast and commercial revenue from European competition — have been wretched this season. Between them, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United have won only 82 out of 177 Premier League matches, a win rate of 46.3 per cent. Yes, some (notably Chelsea) have been more guilty of underperformance than others, but Arsenal and City should not exactly be crowing, with Leicester and Tottenham Hotspur looking down at them.
Go back even as recently as 2013-14 and the win rate for those five clubs was 63.7 per cent (121 wins out of 190 games). Go back further, to those three seasons when English clubs were progressing to the Champions League semi-finals as a matter of routine and — taking City out of the equation to reflect the “Big Four” as it was at the time — the number of wins peaked at 64.5 per cent in 2008-09. At that time, only Barcelona’s brilliance stood between the “Big Four” and a second consecutive all-English Champions League final.
What has happened in the Premier League this season, with the richest clubs humbled by Leicester, Tottenham and, at times, West Ham United, is simply a reflection of what has been happening in European competition over the past few seasons. Yes, City are playing a Champions League semi-final this evening but too often over recent years they and their fellow English clubs have been outperformed on the European stage by smarter, more energetic teams.
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The intensified competition of the Premier League over the past seven years is indeed a cause to rejoice — particularly at a time when domestic leagues in France, Germany and Italy are being monopolised year after year by Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Juventus respectively — but the perception of a level playing field is an illusion. Leicester’s income this season will be about a quarter of United’s, approximately £125 million to £500 million. Likewise their wage bills: Leicester £55 million, United £220 million. To put that in context, when Leicester won the League Cup under Martin O’Neill in 1999-2000, a time when Old Trafford supremacy was about its zenith under Sir Alex Ferguson, their wage expenditure was 44 per cent of United’s .
Yes, there are more riches in the Premier League than ever before — to the extent that all 20 clubs, including newly-promoted Burnley, will be among the richest 30 in Europe next season — but the financial divide between the wealthy and the rest has by no means shrunk. Yes, Crystal Palace can sign Yohan Cabaye for £12 million and West Ham can buy Dimitri Payet for £10.7 million, but these are players whom the elite could buy to sit on their bench if they wished. Indeed, Manchester United’s seven substitutes on Saturday cost a mindboggling £131 million. Leicester’s entire starting line-up cost £30 million.
Leicester have shown an impressive knack of taking unheralded individuals, improving them and blending them into a team who are so much more than the sum of their inexpensive parts. Their total expenditure on the astounding trio of N’Golo Kanté, Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy is £7 million — half of Chelsea’s outlay last summer on Baba Rahman, a player José Mourinho did not truly fancy as a reserve left back; or it was less than a quarter of Liverpool’s outlay on Christian Benteke, who appeared so unsuited to their style; or, at Manchester United, it was a quarter of Memphis Depay; or at Manchester City it was a fifth of Eliaquim Mangala or a seventh of Raheem Sterling.
Failures in the transfer market are often ascribed to inadequate or lazy recruitment models, but the greater issue, surely, is of training-ground lethargy, whether it is under Arsène Wenger at Arsenal, Manuel Pellegrini at City, Louis van Gaal at United or the way that Chelsea’s players appeared almost to down tools at the start of this season.
Antonio Conte will look to energise Chelsea, likewise Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Jürgen Klopp will hope to build on some early encouragement at Liverpool. Arsenal and United must decide what they wish to do.
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Either way, they need to remind themselves what a team with a cause look like. They look like a well-oiled machine, all the cogs moving, relentless, unstoppable. They look like Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester and, in this season’s Premier League, they stick out a mile.
Can champions persuade key men not to walk away?
Jamie Vardy
Contract expires: 2019
Salary: £70,000-a-week
New contract on offer: New deal signed in February
Transfer value: £25million
Likely to stay: Yes. Tracked by bigger clubs in January but they may look for younger players in the summer
N’Golo Kanté
Contract expires: 2019
Salary: £33,000-a-week
New contract on offer: A new deal is on the table but the France midfielder has not given an assurance he will stay
Transfer value: £20 million release clause
Likely to stay: Slight chance. Paris Saint-Germain are favourites to land him but Chelsea are aware of his release clause
Claudio Ranieri
Contract expires: 2018
Salary: £1.5 million a year
New contract on offer: There have been early discussions on a new deal to double his money
Transfer value: N/A
Likely to stay: Yes. Champions League awaits him
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Riyad Mahrez
Contract expires: 2019
Salary: £35,000-a-week
New contract on offer: Talks and a £70,000-a-week deal until 2021 may be offered at the end of the season
Transfer value: £35 million
Likely to stay: In the balance. Wanted by Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Barcelona
Schwarzer retains title
Mark Schwarzer, the reserve goalkeeper, has won the Premier League two years in a row — without playing a game. The Australian was at Chelsea last season before moving to Leicester last summer. Chelsea commissioned a replica medal for him because he would have needed to have played five times to get a proper one. The 43-year-old may get the real thing at Leicester, however, as they are entitled to 40 medals for their relatively small squad, and can ask for special dispensation on the goalkeeper’s behalf