[Archived] Theoretical Question!

[T J Hooker]

Simple theoretical question,

If Leicester where to go on and win the premier league this season do people think it would be a bigger, equal or lesser achievement than when we won it why back when and whats your reasoning?

[oldjamfan1]

Leicester would be a much, much bigger achievement in my book. We were spending as much, if not more, than any other club in England in the mid 90s, and were 'in for' any top player that became available. And we had finished 4th and 2nd in the previous two seasons, so were hardly the rank outsiders that Leicester were.

They only avoided relegation with a near-miracle run of wins at the end of last season!

[davulsukur]

Everyone will see it as a much bigger achievement. One of the favourites to go down at the start of the season, bottom at Christmas last season.

This website article compares the squad value with Arsenal, City and Spurs.

http://www.espnfc.co.uk/barclays-premier-league/23/blog/post/2803406/leicester-squad-cost-compared-man-city-spurs-arsenal

Sky do their very best to erase out title win from history, if Leicester win it, our win will probably never get mentioned again.

[Dean]

Much bigger. They don't even compare to be honest. Leicester's starting team cost a tenth that Man City's cost last weekend.

Most people thought they'd one of the teams to go down this year after sacking Pearson and appointing Ranieri.

[tomphil]

The media will be all over it and it will be wrongly portrayed as a bigger achievement when I'd say the truth is in the middle somewhere. History has us down as buying it which certainly isn't true on closer inspection. Both us AND Leicester can certainly be accused of buying our way out of the second tier but that's as far as it goes.

Leicester are a club with a much bigger fanbase, more southernly and slightly viewed as more fashionable. It will be a massive thing if they do it and will be judged alongside when Clough did it will Derby etc. Sadly we get wrongly tarred with being the Chelski / Man City of our day.

[majorstyre]

it will be blown up as a far bigger achievement then we had created...

and it will be the perfect opportunity for Sky and the "Greed is Good" league to erase us from the history books...

[Amo]

It would certainly top our achievement. No question about that.

Leicester might be a 'bigger club' in terms of geography etc. but their dramatic turnaround from relegation candidates to title contenders is almost unprecedented in recent history. We were already challengers the season before we won the league.

Moreover, we were one of the highest spenders in the country at the time, breaking several transfer records, whereas Leicester have only spent a fraction compared to the Premier League's so-called elite.

[FGS5635]

In todays day and age of moneyball if would arguably be the biggest achievement in the history of english football

[Giant]

Leicester winning the Premier will be a brilliant achievement, but I think they are being helped by the relative disarray that the so called "big" clubs are in this season. Ranieri is a great manager, with a superb record. For me, he is the real reason why they are doing so well, tactically he is spot on every week.

[oldjamfan1]

Leicester winning the Premier will be a brilliant achievement, but I think they are being helped by the relative disarray that the so called "big" clubs are in this season.

I think that is a very fair point Giant but you could also argue that when we won it we were helped by the fact that a lot of big clubs were having to spend on their stadia to comply with the Taylor recommendations, rather than on players, whereas Jack had ring fenced a wad of cash to rebuild Ewood.

[Tom]

Much bigger but in no way should it diminish what we achieved nor will it make our memories any lesser.

[Mattyblue]

Couldn't care less about what the rest of football thinks.

The journey we went on as fans is no different to what Leicester's are experiencing now, great memories that can't be erased by anyone.

[Dean]

Leicester winning the Premier will be a brilliant achievement, but I think they are being helped by the relative disarray that the so called "big" clubs are in this season. Ranieri is a great manager, with a superb record. For me, he is the real reason why they are doing so well, tactically he is spot on every week.

I'm not so sure. Don't forget, this run actually started last season when they won seven out of their last 10 to escape relegation.

Ranieri's touch of genius has been to carry on with basically the same team and playing style that Pearson employed in that run.

[T J Hooker]

I agree itdoes seem much bigger but is there not maybe an argument that the league is a bit of a shambles right now and with all the money that premier clubs get there isn't much between most teams starting 11s anymore

I think having a good team spirit and an excellent manager is the biggest deciding factor right now

All the managers of the 'big' clubs are to caught up with their own egos lately.

[oldjamfan1]

I don't think the fact that, by any measurement, Leicester's title win (and remember they haven't actually won the thing yet!) would be a more surprising one than ours would or should detract from what we achieved. And that wasn't just winning the title, it was transforming a lower end second tier club with a dilapidated ground into genuine title challengers for four of the next five years with a state of the art stadium and training complex.

[T J Hooker]

It's as though they're doing what we did, but by accident

[rigger]

I think the funniest thing is that both teams that were in our play-off final, could be champions before Liverpool!

[Salgado Is Still A Hero]

They're still comparable but we certainly weren't 5000/1.

[McClarky]

Biggest ever achievement in English football if they win it. Compared to the top teams the finances make it impossible for lesser clubs to do what we did, or so perceived wisdom tells us. Others I can think of are Ipswich and Forest winning it at the 1st attempt but that was before the big money kicked it and with a good manager you could go far. Leicester would be a miracle. We were probably about 4th favourites to win the league the year we did it and amongst football people only Utd would have been more fancies than us, compare that to Leicester this year. Leicester are also nothing club with little history, compared to us anyway, they have come from nowhere.

[tomphil]

I don't think the fact that, by any measurement, Leicester's title win (and remember they haven't actually won the thing yet!) would be a more surprising one than ours would or should detract from what we achieved. And that wasn't just winning the title, it was transforming a lower end second tier club with a dilapidated ground into genuine title challengers for four of the next five years with a state of the art stadium and training complex.

Good points, whilst you'd never expect Leicester to win it at the beginning of the season they've always been a biggish club. We were staring into the abyss of the lower tiers, potless and no team worth anything. Never even been in the top flight for 25 yrs. A stadium ready to fall down and small crowds on the verge of dwindling even more. 5 years later we were champions of England.

A club like Leicester always had the infrastructure to compete in the top div, add in steady good investment and a big name quality manager or two and you never know. The small town club thing certainly takes some beating looking at the bigger picture.

[McClarky]

Imagine if you had a double on Leicester and Aberdeen. A very strange season if that came in.

[Dean]

Good points, whilst you'd never expect Leicester to win it at the beginning of the season they've always been a biggish club. We were staring into the abyss of the lower tiers, potless and no team worth anything. Never even been in the top flight for 25 yrs. A stadium ready to fall down and small crowds on the verge of dwindling even more. 5 years later we were champions of England.

A club like Leicester always had the infrastructure to compete in the top div, add in steady good investment and a big name quality manager or two and you never know. The small town club thing certainly takes some beating looking at the bigger picture.

I do like how we are either a small club or a big club, depending on what argument needs to be made!

If someone on Sky said that we were a small club and below Leicester in the pecking order, people would be absolutely furious and start pointing to our history compared to theirs. Rightly so too!

[tomphil]

In the general public and medias eyes crowds will always determine the size of a club sadly.

[oldjamfan1]

Imagine if you had a double on Leicester and Aberdeen. A very strange season if that came in.

I think you'd still get an okay price on that, given their respective positions. My money would be on Spurs and Celtic if I were doing a double.

[roverandout]

Why do people insist we spent big on every player, most of our team cost peanuts even by the standards back then