The Greatest Of Great Escapes?

So at the beginning of April heading into the game against West Ham, my beloved Leicester were 7 points adrift at the bottom of the league. We had been bottom since November and couldn't seem to buy a win no matter how well we played.

Then it all changed. Out of those last 9 games we won 7 drew 1 and lost 1. The only loss was to eventual champions Chelsea. We somehow managed to finish 14th. Then to top it all off, Nigel Pearson was nominated for manager of the year and Jamie Vardy got called up to the England squad. So was this the greatest turn around in Premier League history? If not what was?

Also how do you think we will do next season? If we can be half as good as we have been these last 9 games (which was title winning form) then we should be fine. We need to keep Esteban Cambiasso and reject an offers for Vardy. We should also sign up Robert Huth from Stoke on a permanent basis. But I think it will be all about Andrej Kramaric next season. I tip him to get 20 in the league.

Being biased this is one of the greatest escapes seen in football, small town club up against the big boys:

IN the inaugural Premier League season, Oldham produced arguably as good an escape as any that have followed subsequently. When Crystal Palace won on the penultimate Saturday, they were so nearly safe.

With an eight-point gap and an inferior goal difference, Oldham needed snookers. First, they won at Aston Villa to hand the title to Manchester United and keep their own race alive.

Then they beat Liverpool and coupled with Palace’s goalless draw at Manchester City, it went to the last day. Oldham had to win and the Eagles had to lose, as well as suffer a swing in the goal difference.

Bingo! The Latics beat Southampton 4-3 at Boundary Park, while Palace were on the end of a 3-0 loss at Arsenal, as two goals in the last ten minutes sealed their fate at Oldham’s expense.

Shot 21 LCFC wrote:So at the beginning of April heading into the game against West Ham, my beloved Leicester were 7 points adrift at the bottom of the league. We had been bottom since November and couldn't seem to buy a win no matter how well we played.

Then it all changed. Out of those last 9 games we won 7 drew 1 and lost 1. The only loss was to eventual champions Chelsea. We somehow managed to finish 14th. Then to top it all off, Nigel Pearson was nominated for manager of the year and Jamie Vardy got called up to the England squad. So was this the greatest turn around in Premier League history? If not what was?

Also how do you think we will do next season? If we can be half as good as we have been these last 9 games (which was title winning form) then we should be fine. We need to keep Esteban Cambiasso and reject an offers for Vardy. We should also sign up Robert Huth from Stoke on a permanent basis. But I think it will be all about Andrej Kramaric next season. I tip him to get 20 in the league.

Pretty well!

Amazing to look back on this thread, especially given the turmoil of the summer when Pearson was sacked. The appointment of Ranieri looked questionable at the time but has proved a master-stroke - perhaps suggests that the board knew they had a better team than they were given credit for last season, and that they foresaw a season of at least being well above the relegation battle. Still, I suspect they were looking at competing with the likes of Stoke or Southampton for those upper mid-table positions rather than the heady heights they have achieved.

Hasn't been about Cambiasso or Kramaric, but Mahrez and Kante plus Vardy and a solid defence built around Huth. Still think that on paper they are a mid-table team, but they've benefited from terrific form and confidence, in parallel with the 'big' teams generally having an off year (no-one would have pencilled in Chelsea to be 9th or 10th...).

It'll be interesting to see how Leicester cope next season with the pressure of being champions if they do what I hope, and win the title.

Atila wrote:It'll be interesting to see how Leicester cope next season with the pressure of being champions if they do what I hope, and win the title.

And CL football. I don't think they'll be too much pressure to be honest. Most people are assuming this is a one off season and are expecting them to fall back down the league.

west brom in 05 was another great escape, afaik the first team to be bottom at Christmas and manage to survive, their points total was also very low as well.

Didn't QPR do it a couple of seasons back and then Wigan had that miraculous run which made people think Martinez would be the ideal man for Liverpool despite evidence to suggest that winning your last eight games counts for little when you do f*ck all in the previous 30.