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Huth On The Great Escape, Title-Win & Europe

Centre-back Robert Huth, a mainstay in Leicester City’s Premier League 2016 title-winning side, spoke to Club Historian John Hutchinson about his distinguished career in football.

2026-06-15T15:40+01:00

by John Hutchinson

Published

11 Hours Ago

Huth On The Great Escape, Title-Win & Europe

Centre-back Robert Huth, a mainstay in Leicester City’s Premier League 2016 title-winning side, spoke to Club Historian John Hutchinson about his distinguished career in football.

John Hutchinson

2026-06-15T15:40+01:00

Huth On The Great Escape, Title-Win & Europe

Centre-back Robert Huth, a mainstay in Leicester City’s Premier League 2016 title-winning side, spoke to Club Historian John Hutchinson about his distinguished career in football.

John Hutchinson

2026-06-15T15:40+01:00

Huth On The Great Escape, Title-Win & Europe

Centre-back Robert Huth, a mainstay in Leicester City’s Premier League 2016 title-winning side, spoke to Club Historian John Hutchinson about his distinguished career in football.

John Hutchinson

2026-06-15T15:40+01:00

Huth On The Great Escape, Title-Win & Europe

Centre-back Robert Huth, a mainstay in Leicester City’s Premier League 2016 title-winning side, spoke to Club Historian John Hutchinson about his distinguished career in football.

John Hutchinson

2026-06-15T15:40+01:00

Robert describes coming to England as a 15-year-old, and playing for Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Stoke City and the German national side, before talking about joining Leicester, his part in the Great Escape of 2015, memories of winning the Premier League in 2016 and reaching the quarter-finals of Champions League.

Born in East Berlin before the Berlin Wall came down, Robert started by explaining how he came to join Chelsea as a youngster.

“When I was 15, I went on an international schoolboy trip with Germany to a tournament in Ireland,” he recalled. “One of the scouts there got my number and asked me to come to Chelsea for a week’s trial. It went really well and Chelsea asked me to join permanently when I was 16.

“Gianluca Vialli was player-manager when I went there and then, in 2000, he was replaced by Claudio Ranieri.

“It was tough being only 16 and away from my family, but I enjoyed it. I learned many new things. I didn’t speak English but picked it up pretty quickly and I enjoyed being around the pros. I have fond memories of that time.”

Robert made his Chelsea debut as a 17-year-old substitute on the final day of the 01/02 season and was in José Mourinho’s squads which won the Premier League title in both 2005 and 2006 and the subsequent UEFA Champions League campaigns. While he was at Stamford Bridge, Robert also made his international debut for Germany.

“That was in 2004,” Robert remembered. “Germany had done great things in the past so I was a bit overwhelmed to be honest. I was only 19 when I was first called up and I made my debut for Germany on my 20th birthday, against Austria in Vienna, and we beat them. It was a great experience because everyone else had a lot of caps and I was a newcomer from Chelsea. After the game I was given a cake and had to make a speech, which I hated!”

Robert went on to win 19 caps for his country. He was a first choice central defender in the 2005 Confederations Cup and was named in the squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals in his homeland. Soon after returning to England following the World Cup, Robert moved to Middlesbrough in a reported £6M transfer.

“I ended up spending six years at Chelsea,” Robert explained. “But my playing time at Chelsea was limited. I felt that I needed to get a couple of full seasons under my belt. Luckily both clubs agreed. I moved on the last day of the transfer window, which was a bit edgy but we managed to get the deal over the line. I had three mixed years at Middlesbrough but you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth, haven’t you?”

The years at Riverside Stadium were mixed because Robert’s time there was interrupted by injuries. These included a stress fracture to his foot, followed by a recurring ankle injury which required surgery.

“Gareth Southgate was the manager,” Robert continued. “I loved him, I really did. The season I joined Middlesbrough, he’d just finished as a player and took over as manager straightaway. It was good. I learned a lot from him. He was always great with me.”

At the end of Robert’s final full season, 08/09, Middlesbrough were relegated from the Premier League following defeat at West Ham United on the final day of the campaign.

“In the end it just didn’t work out at Middlesbrough and I had to move on,” Robert admitted. “They had a few money problems and sometimes, as a player, you just get sold.”

Robert played five matches for Middlesbrough in the Championship at the start of the next season and then returned to the Premier League in August 2009 after signing for Stoke City for a reported £5M, on a four-year contract.

“Tony Pulis was the manager,” Robert recalled. “I love Tony, because he was really black and white. You knew where you stood with him. If you did well, he played it really cool and if you were rubbish, then he’d let you know. I always really responded to that kind of personality. It wasn’t up and down. It was flatline. He brought my defending on a lot, because he was really focused on defending.”

During Robert’s time at Stoke, he was a mainstay in the Potters team which consistently finished around mid-table in the Premier League. In 2011, he played in Stoke’s first FA Cup Final, finishing as runners-up to Manchester City. He was also named the club’s Player of the Year and featured in the UEFA Europa League for Stoke the following season, before a knee injury ruled him for nearly a year.

“Tony was with me for four years at Stoke until he left (in May 2013) and was replaced by Mark Hughes,” Robert remembered. “I started the season well but then I got injured.

“The team did really well while I was out, and when I recovered I just couldn’t get back in. There weren’t any hard feelings, but it’s the worst thing if you get injured and the team does well, because you know you are going to be up against it.”

In January 2015, Robert decided to join Leicester City on loan, at a time when the Foxes, in their first season back in the top-flight, were sitting at the bottom of the Premier League.

“I was 30 at the time,” Robert explained. “And having been injured for a long time, there weren’t many clubs out there who were interested in me, but Leicester were really keen from the start. I spoke to Nigel [Pearson], with us getting a feeling for each other, and then I drove over to Leicester the next morning, agreed everything and that was it.”

Robert made his debut at Arsenal on 18 February, 2015 and, by featuring in every one of the remaining 14 matches that season, he played a vital role in the famous Great Escape.

His first five matches ended in three defeats and two draws. Relegation looked a certainty. With nine games to go until the end of the season, Leicester were 20th with only 19 points, seven points adrift from safety. Then, unexpectedly, the Foxes won seven and drew one of the last nine games and finished 14th in the table on 41 points.

“The turnaround was due to a number of things,” Robert reflected. “Firstly, we changed to a back three and that made us just a little bit more solid. Also, often in sport, you need just one win under your belt and it makes a difference. We defeated West Ham at home, with Andy King scoring the winner and that kickstarted the whole thing. We just needed that one positive result and then we started eating into the seven-point gap.

“I scored in the next game at West Brom when we won 2-1, with Nuge (David Nugent) and [Jamie] Vardy also scoring and then we just kept winning. When that happens, you come to work on the Monday morning with a completely different mindset, especially with the other teams at the bottom losing.”

Robert also paid tribute to Esteban Cambiasso’s role, saying: “Playing with Cambiasso was great. Individually, he was world-class, but he was a really good team player. He had a very good understanding of the game and understood the dynamic of a team. He was just awesome.”

Following the Great Escape from relegation, having played on loan from Stoke since his arrival at Leicester in January 2015, Robert signed a permanent deal six months later, with little expectation that the Foxes would win the Premier League title the following season.

“I signed a three-year permanent deal with Leicester because of Nigel Pearson, and because I’d had a good time when I was on loan,” Robert explained. “I thought, ‘Why change a good thing?’. However, when Nigel left the Club, two days before we were meant to meet up for pre-season, I was very disappointed because I’d just put all my eggs in one basket for the next three years.

“It was the same for Christian Fuchs and Shinji Okazaki who were also signed by Nigel just before he left, but in football you learn to move on. We just got our heads down. I think we had to wait a couple of weeks before Claudio Ranieri’s appointment was confirmed.

“Claudio had been my manager at Chelsea and had given me my first team debut there. He was very different as Leicester’s Manager than he had been at Chelsea. When he first helped me at Chelsea, he was very strict. It was his way or no way.

“His training was really intense and really hard, with lots of physical stuff. So when he came to Leicester I thought, ‘I can’t do this anymore. It’s over for me’. However, his attitude had done a complete 180-degree turn. He was more relaxed, more experienced and he let us get on with the job.”

Ranieri’s aim at the start of the season was to secure 40 points and avoid relegation. The opening fixture started well with a 4-2 home win against Sunderland. By the end of August, Leicester were in third position in the Premier League table.

There had been a blip in August with a 5-2 home defeat to Arsenal, but this was followed by eight wins and two draws in a 10-match unbeaten run in the league which lasted until Boxing Day. During this time, Jamie Vardy set a Premier League record by scoring in 11 successive matches and by the New Year, the Foxes were second in the table, despite losing only their second match of the season at Anfield on Boxing Day.

“After we lost 1-0 at Liverpool we had a couple of draws,” Robert remembered. “Draws aren’t a bad result but because we were in such good form, a draw at times felt a bit like a loss. We just needed to get another win to get us going again. Then we went to Tottenham, who were flying in second place, and we won 1-0. I scored and it was one of the biggest smash and grabs.”

After drawing the next game at Aston Villa, Leicester went to the top of the table. They then defeated Stoke City and Liverpool at home, before defeating Manchester City at Etihad Stadium when Robert scored twice in a 3-1 victory.

“That was a brilliant game,” Robert continued. “It was an early kick-off. I scored in the first three minutes and then [Riyad] Mahrez scored just after half time to make it 2-0. Then I scored again, heading home a corner from Christian Fuchs.

“The result got people thinking that we might now win the league. I don’t know how the other lads felt at the time, but I didn’t think we could go all the way because, although we had a points difference at the top, there were so many games to go.”

Leicester then lost for the third and last time that season when Arsenal won 2-1 at Emirates Stadium. The Foxes went ahead with a Jamie Vardy penalty, Danny Simpson was sent off in the 54th minute, Theo Walcott equalised, and then Danny Welbeck scored Arsenal’s winner in the 95th minute.

“The way we lost was a bit unjust because I don’t think Simmo deserved to be sent off,” Robert continued. “We played a really good game, with only 10 men for a lot of the time. In hindsight the defeat gave us a bit more of an edge, because it pushed us on.”

Leicester were undefeated for the rest of the season. With three games to go, they went to Old Trafford and a win there would have clinched the title.

“We drew 1-1 at Old Trafford,” Robert recalled. “It’s a shame we didn’t win there as that would have capped the season off really nicely. Shinji had a big chance towards the end when a cross came in. He tried to slide but couldn’t quite get there, but I’m definitely not complaining! The next day at Vardy’s home we all watched Spurs draw with Chelsea which confirmed that we’d won the Premier League title and we all celebrated there.”

The trophy lift was the following Saturday at the last home game of the season, a 3-1 victory over Everton.

“I was suspended for that game and the next one at Chelsea,” Robert remembered, “However the benefit of not playing was that I was able to see (the world-famous tenor) Andrea Bocelli warming up his vocals in the Manager’s office. That was sensational! I thought that the stereo was on because it sounded so clear. I thought ‘wow’. I had a quick look inside the office and there he was, singing. Amazing!”

The following campaign, after a hectic pre-season playing in the International Champions Cup, Robert played in the Community Shield showpiece at Wembley against Manchester United and in eight of the 10 UEFA Champions League games as the Foxes reached the quarter-finals.

“Playing in the Champions League was amazing. I’d played in it before with Chelsea, but walking out to the music with Leicester was pretty special and certainly the supporters got us through the Sevilla game. The atmosphere was amazing. In the Premier League though we were struggling and Claudio was sacked.

“When a team doesn’t perform in the league, it is inevitable that the manager has to go. I could see why the Club made the decision but with the past that he’d had with us, it was surprising. But, deservedly or undeservedly, managers go all the time. Sometimes you need a change of voice.

“Craig Shakespeare, bless his heart, took over. He was a really bubbly character. He was really fun and great to be around with. I’d been with him a couple of years before he became the Manager, so I knew exactly what he brought to the table. His position slightly changed because he was now the Manager, having to make a few more difficult decisions, but I loved him. He was great. He took a lot of stick from me in training.”

Robert missed the whole of the 17 /18 season through injury and he decided to leave Leicester in June 2018, announcing his retirement as a player six months later.

“Age and previous injuries caught up with me,” Robert explained. “Simple as that. Harry [Maguire] was brought in and I just struggled to get fit. I kept going down injured and time was up.”

Reflecting on his time at Leicester, Robert concluded: “It was fantastic playing with Wes [Morgan] but as a defender you are the last resort, so you have to rely on the team-mates in front of you. You must have 11 hard working players. We worked hard and had many hours on the training pitch, making sure we were right, fit and knew what each other was doing.”

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