An extraordinary lesson of life ...
You think it´s too late to learn Spanish, German, English Chinese? You think you need a miracle for this and that to happen? Then read this ...
"It always seems impossible, until it´s done"
Nelson Mandela
Language Holiday in the south of Spain #GoToSeville
Leicester City did it! Many of those who DON´T even follow football knows what this is about. For those of you who don´t and managed to avoid the news: Leicester City has won the British Premier League, undoubtedly one of the toughest leagues in the world. What is so extraordinary about this and what can we learn then?
Picture taken from Wikipedia (English version)
First of all, almost no one gave a dime for Leicester to win the Premier League at the start of the season. We are talking about a team with the 4th lowest budget in the League (52.8 million GBP). Compare this to "monster teams" like Manchester City (411.0m GBP), Manchester United (391.1m GBP), Chelsea (298.7m GBP) and Liverpool (252.4m GBP).
"The man who is too old to learn was probably always too old to learn"
Henry S. Haskins
Comparison of budgets between teams in the Premier League:
This chart has been taken from The Independent, at this web address:
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/leicester-city-the-chart-that-shows-how-the-champions-transfer-budget-was-dwarfed-by-their-premier-a7011126.html
Secondly, to confirm just how little people believed in them before the season started, the bookmakers gave them an odds of 5,000 to 1. If you want some perspective of this:
The odds for finding the Loch Ness monster was 500 to 1.
And of finding Elvis Presley alive 2,000 to 1. It´s really hilarious! I mean, finding Elvis alive ... I´m quite sure he died in 1977 ...
You can check out more funny examples in this list:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/36138413/10-things-bookies-thought-more-likely-than-leicester-winning-the-premier-league
Yet there were actually people who placed a bet on them, like this Swedish student who placed a bet of 1,000 SEK and won half a million (!!) Swedish crowns on that! You can read about him here:
http://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/uppsala/satsade-pa-leicester-vann-halv-miljon
(in Swedish)
Third: With those odds, you wouldn´t find any start in the Leicester side. And no, there weren´t any. Maybe they are now (Vardy, Mahrez...) but at the beginning the whole squad was relatively unknown. The story of Vardy is in itself quite incredible, he has played for years and years without practically being noticed, in teams like Stocksbridge Park Steels, FC Halifax Town and Fleetwood Town, in very, very modest divisions.
"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible;
and suddenly you are doing the impossible"
Francis of Assisi
Fourth, their manager was at least famous long ago, but he was then long forgotten and nobody gave a dime for him either. Claudio Ranieri has truly performed a miracle in Leicester!
One of the biggest upsets ever
What Leicester City has done is probably the biggest sporting story ever, a true fairytale. It could possibly be the biggest sporting achievement in history. For a football fan is just unbelievable, hard to take in. It´s maybe hard to believe for non-followers but the British Premier League is one of the toughest in the world and the competition is stiff, to say the least. And we are talking 38 games, it´s a looooong and hard season.
The nice thing is that it shows you that money isn´t everything, that you cannot always "buy" victory and fame. It shows that hard work, team spirit and a strong belief can compensate and beat money. It´s just such a relief!
And what about seeing another team up there?! During the last 20 years, the British Premier League was won by one of four teams: Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City or Arsenal. 20 years ... How boring is that?!
What more, it can give millions of football fans hope. What if my team "do a Leicester"? If they did it, why couldn´t it happen again? That my modest team win the league against all odds.
What an extraordinary feat! What a lesson of life! To follow your adventure has truly been amazing. You kept on believing when almost no one else had faith. This is without a doubt an inspiration for all of us.
Thanks Leicester City! #Foxes
"Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done."
Louis D. Brandeis
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