CHAMPIONS: Leicester City’s Greatest Achievement?

A former history teacher who has followed the Foxes through thick and thin for more than half a century, John is perfectly placed to explain just how significant the feats of Claudio Ranieri and his Foxes are.

LCFC.com sat down with John in the wake of Leicester City’s title-win to ask him a few key question about his perspective on this unlikeliest of title triumphs.

Here’s what he had to say:

LCFC.COM: JOHN, DID YOU EVER THINK YOU WOULD SEE LEICESTER CITY WIN THE LEAGUE TITLE?

John Hutchinson:I never thought I’d see Leicester City win the league. I’ve been watching them for 55 years and I was lucky when I first started watching them as a youngster because they had a really good side. This was the famous Ice Kings side from 1962/63. That season, which was only the second or third season I’d been watching, with five games to go they were at the top of the table. They were also FA Cup Finalists and favourites to win that against Manchester United. That is the only time in over half a century of watching Leicester City that I thought they might win the league title. As it happened, of the last five games they drew one and lost four before losing in the FA Cup Final.

At the time, as a youngster, I just assumed they’d do it in another year. I didn’t appreciate the enormity of it. But of course it didn’t happen in the 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s and then into this century. In fact it’s only eight years ago this week that they were relegated to League 1 for the first time in their history, which was our lowest point. Now they’ve won the Premier League title, so in a sense, we’ve got all those ups and downs of half a century of watching Leicester City encapsulated into that eight-year span.

LCFC.COM: IS THIS THE BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE CLUB’S HISTORY?

JH:Definitely. The highest the Club has ever finished in the top flight was second in 1928/29, but it was not as impressive as this. Even if Leicester had finished second this season, it would still be better. In 1928/29 they started slowly, they never once reached the top spot, they just worked their way up and had a chance of catching Sheffield Wednesday with two games to play. In the end they didn’t do enough. That was the best season up until now in league terms.

Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the best. Even if you think of the Martin O’Neill era, that was good, but not like this. They had four top half finishes in the Premier League, three League Cup finals, two League Cup wins and two European campaigns, all in the space of a few years, but again, this season surpasses that easily.

LCFC.COM: WE’VE GOT CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FOOTBALL NEXT SEASON. PUT THAT INTO CONTEXT.

JH:Again, there’s only one word I can think of, and it’s ‘unbelievable’. Like all football fans I’ve been watching the Champions League to see Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. I’ve been to those grounds but it was always detached from Leicester City, like a special treat. But now we’re now actually part of it. It’s unbelievable. Eight years ago this week we were getting ready to play the likes of Hereford and Cheltenham, with all due respect to those teams!

LCFC.COM: HOW HAS YOUR LIFE CHANGED AS CLUB HISTORIAN THIS SEASON?

JH:It has changed in two ways really. Firstly, as a Club Historian I’ve always tended to look backwards and remind people that the Club actually does have a pretty good heritage, even though they’ve not won lots. But we’re a proud Club and we’ve had really good moments and really good players. I’ve always seen it as my job to remind people of that. Now it’s different. This season we’re actually writing history. Throughout the season I’ve been collecting all sorts of memorabilia because it’s special. So instead of looking back, I’m now telling people that we’re writing history. This is unbelievable.

The other aspect is that it’s not only unbelievable for us in Leicester, but it’s also unbelievable for people around the world. The global interest in the club is phenomenal. Even myself as a Club Historian I’ve had requests from all around the world to answer what really is one question – who are Leicester City? I’ve always found myself talking about the Club’s history in the past but now, I’m getting calls frequently about the Club’s present. It’s brilliant. People can now pronounce Leicester!

LCFC.COM: AS A FAN, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT LEICESTER CITY’S SEASON?

JH:It renders me inarticulate. The only word I can say is ‘unbelievable’. You come down here, you see a fantastic side playing, you see superb skill and you see superb players. You’re sitting in a stadium that quite genuinely, after half a century of watching football, is the best I’ve experienced anyway. It’s is unbelievable. The stadium literally rocks. I’m sure the energy from the crowd is translated to the players. The players are phenomenal and I won’t single them out, because they’ve all been amazing.

I’ve waited over half a century for this and I joke with the youngsters that they’ve got this after only a few. It’s fantastic and it’s overwhelmingly unbelievable.

LCFC.COM: WHAT HAS THIS DONE FOR THE CITY?

JH:The city is buzzing. Leicester is almost at the eye of a global media storm. I’ve spoken to foreign and British-based journalists who have come here and found that there’s a lot more to Leicester than they ever realised. The football Club is brilliant, but there’s also the wonderful ethnic diversity, the cultural side, the historic significance and of course Richard III, which also captured global interest. I think everything is dovetailing in to make it an exciting time for Leicester. It has been a bit of a hidden gem. People has a misguided perception that it’s a boring, drab east midlands city, but actually it’s a thriving, buzzing multicultural city. We’ve got a great football team; Leicester City, a great rugby team; Leicester Tigers, a basketball team who have won the league, and a cricket team who have within the last 20 years have been champions as well as in the T20.

Leicester is a great place to live and somehow, the Football Club is at the centre of that. It’s brining people to Leicester and making them realise that the city has so much to offer beyond the football.