EXCLUSIVE: Leicester City stunned the world to win the Premier League at odds of 5000/1 and captain Wes Morgan addressed the ‘secret formula’ to the Foxes’ historic campaign
Wes Morgan was the unlikeliest person to lift the Premier League title at the end of the 2015/16 season as he and Leicester City redefined the definition of impossible.
Having scraped to stave off relegation the previous season and starting the campaign at odds of 5000/1 to win the title, no one in their right mind had Leicester down as title contenders. But by Christmas, no one dared write them off.
Mixing a blend of hungry players playing in a league they barely believed they could compete in, with blossoming superstars from abroad in Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante, and a manager as charismatic as Claudio Ranieri, supported by the Srivaddhanaprabha family owners, who bought the club in 2011, turned out to be the answer to a footballing fairytale.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star Sport via William Hill, Morgan fondly reflected on Leicester’s historic season. “Everyone wants to know what the secret was. I think there was no magic formula that someone could take from us and then put it into a team and for that to be successful,” he said.
“I think I always kind of say, there’s a couple of things: It’s the group of players we had, such a strong team that was so together. And that was not just the team, that goes into the management and the board and the owners as well.
“Everyone was so together in kind of, not even trying to win the league, but just try and stay together in general. The owners had a big part to play with it. They would come and they’ll spend lots of time with us, they would give us challenges. ‘Okay if you get six points out of the next nine points possible we’ll take you to a nice dinner’ or something like that.
“We had that banter back and forth with the ownership. The management was great too. They just supported us and helped us as much as possible.
“The team was together and I think you have to add a bit of luck in there as well. If you look at that season, top teams weren’t performing at their top level.”
Tragically, owner and chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died at the age of 60 when his helicopter crashed outside the King Power Stadium shortly after taking off from the pitch. Vichai died along with the pilots and two other passengers and is still fondly remembered by Leicester fans.
The former Nottingham Forest defender added: “The owners had the type of relationship with the boys. I’ve not heard any players or any clubs speak about how the owners would come down to the dressing room and spend time with the boys and have a laugh, liked to take the boys out, liked to socialise, liked to provide and put things on.”
After their success was confirmed, with the Leicester players gathering round Jamie Vardy’s house to watch Chelsea’s comeback draw against Tottenham to seal the title, the champions had a handful of games to enjoy their football before letting their hair down.
“We were the type of team who know how to enjoy ourselves, and the ownership encouraged that,” Morgan added. “They’re big on you work hard, you achieve stuff and we’ll reward you. So it was a good few weeks of celebrating.
“Obviously we had the open top bus tour throughout the city, and we went to Victoria Park. But every day was a few beers here and there, we have to do this appearance, we have to go there, and it’s kind of just enjoying the moment and the time.
“And then we kind of did it all again in Bangkok, we went to Thailand where the owners are from. We had a right old time over there, same kind of thing, bus tour, appearances, a few drinks here and there. And it was good, it was a whirlwind time. We celebrated hard, we made sure we rewarded ourselves for the achievement.”
Morgan retired at Leicester in 2021, weeks after lifting the FA Cup for the first time in the club’s history as the Foxes beat Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley.
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