Congratulations Leicester

[Jarv]

The Torygraph reports that British bookies are a collective £25million out of pocket. the biggest loss in any single sporting market in sports betting history. that alone shows how massive an achievement this is.

I fail to see how anyone (except maybe spurs, who it must sting a little to) can't be pleased for them and their fans

 

[Smally]

Think Silky is just upset that City didn't get this type of praise when they won it under Mancini. Cos no one likes City even though they should, you see.

Congratulations to Leicester. Ranieri has done superb to get the very best out of each and every one of his players. Never ever would have thought the likes of Vardy, Danny Simpson, Marc Albrighton and Wes Morgan would be regulars in a title winning side.

Be interested to see who they sign in the summer going into Europe next season. Hope they do well

 

[Stocky]

Think Silky is just upset that City didn't get this type of praise when they won it under Mancini. Cos no one likes City even though they should, you see.

Congratulations to Leicester. Ranieri has done superb to get the very best out of each and every one of his players. Never ever would have thought the likes of Vardy, Danny Simpson, Marc Albrighton and Wes Morgan would be regulars in a title winning side.

Be interested to see who they sign in the summer going into Europe next season. Hope they do well

Leicester fans stuck with their club through the bad times. Man City fans claim they did- but didn't. Silkyman is an example of this. If you think they have an empty stadium now, you should have seen it before the Arab came in. They are everything that true football fans detest. Money, no soul, plastic, hollow...

 

[SALTIRE]

Congratulations Leicester, with warmest regards - BlueMoon...

Why do they hate Schmeichel snr? He fucking played for them!

 

[Stevencc]

Why do they hate Schmeichel snr? He fucking played for them!

He was pre-oil mate, therefore he doesn't exist.

 

[rudebwoyben]

He was pre-oil mate, therefore he doesn't exist.

What, plankton?

 

[PaulHaddock]

It's a cracking achievement for Leicester and shows what can be done if you have the players, the manager and a bit of luck.

However, living in Leicester, when you don't support Leicester, and having to living to the completely OTT media wankfest today was pretty unbearable. So many cringe interviews with fans and the reporters constantly getting facts wrong. The city as a whole has been quite unbearable for the entire season really.

 

[JimJams]

Did you just expect a brief mention in the mercury then?

 

[PaulHaddock]

Did you just expect a brief mention in the mercury then?

I was hoping everyone would celebrate last night and we'd all go back to normality. According to the radio, Leicester market is where all the football fans congregate!

Seriously though, pleased for players like Morgan, Fuchs and Kante. Less so for Vardy.

 

[Stevencc]

"Schmeichel's sperm has reached the top of the Premier League since Liverpool's last title win".

Tut tut, who writes this stuff?

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

Behave. Denmark had to get through, what, five games?

Yeah, it was obviously a big upset but if you look at what they actually achieved at the tournament it's really very underwhelming. There were only eight teams competing (!) and the Danes just scraped through the group stage with a win, a loss and a draw before winning their semi on penalties. They lifted the trophy with their second victory of the tournament. I mean, good on 'em but it's not exactly the stunning accomplishment that I once thought it was.

 

[CEngelbrecht]

Yeah, it was obviously a big upset but if you look at what they actually achieved at the tournament it's really very underwhelming. There were only eight teams competing (!) and the Danes just scraped through the group stage with a win, a loss and a draw before winning their semi on penalties. They lifted the trophy with their second victory of the tournament. I mean, good on 'em but it's not exactly the stunning accomplishment that I once thought it was.

Must be so easy to win on penalties against reigning champions Netherlands. AND beat reigning fuckin' world champions Germany in the final.
How far has The Three Lions gone at the Euro so far? Semis?
(Let us have this. We never win bloody anything.)

 

[jacobncfc]

You can't really compare international tournaments to league football anyway. You only need your luck/form to hold for a handful of games and, as Greece showed, it's entirely possible to play completely reactively and rely on scraping wins in extra time and on penalties.

Even something like Forest's European Cup win gets slightly less impressive when you look at the teams they beat to do it. I mean, Malmo in the final...

 

[CEngelbrecht]

You can't really compare international tournaments to league football anyway. You only need your luck/form to hold for a handful of games and, as Greece showed, it's entirely possible to play completely reactively and rely on scraping wins in extra time and on penalties.

Even something like Forest's European Cup win gets slightly less impressive when you look at the teams they beat to do it. I mean, Malmo in the final...

Malmö 1FF was a damn good team back then. This was before all the oil billions. Back then the clubs had to make it on their own. Including N Forest.

 

[Laker]

Yep, shows a total lack of understanding of football back then to suggest Malmo were a weak side.

 

[Stevencc]

 

[St. Juste]

The Torygraph reports that British bookies are a collective £25million out of pocket. the biggest loss in any single sporting market in sports betting history. that alone shows how massive an achievement this is.

I fail to see how anyone (except maybe spurs, who it must sting a little to) can't be pleased for them and their fans

These figures don't make any sense - the bookies would have won big on the colossal amount of losing bets on teams like Chelsea and Man City. This will greatly outweigh any random jobber who put 20p on Leciester winning it.

Of course, the oft quoted 5000-1 odds were offered by, what, one very very stupid bookie? It's absolutely ridiculous odds given Leicester were maybe about 14th favourites at the start of the season.

Of course, in the extremely unlikely event these figures are even remotely accurate, how on earth does that demonstrate achievement?

 

[Veggie Legs]

I believe the 5000-1 odds were commonly on offer at major bookmakers. There are several teams being offered at 1000-1 for next season, and it's reasonable to assume that the bookmakers have reduced these odds compared to last season as a result of Leicester's success.

Here's a piece which suggests that the true odds of Leicester winning the league were more like 50000-1.

 

[nousername]

^ Absolutely. I read somewhere that William Hill had about 15 people putting a punt on Leicester at the start of the season. No way the losses from that can outweigh the tens of thousands who would have bet on Chelsea et al.

 

[nousername]

I wonder if Leicester's win will usher in a new era of management and ownership with transfer and wage budgets being cut, more money being spent on scouting and the like?

Unlikely I know, but it will be interesting to see if their achievement has some longer term consequences on the way clubs are run.

 

[St. Juste]

I believe the 5000-1 odds were commonly on offer at major bookmakers. There are several teams being offered at 1000-1 for next season, and it's reasonable to assume that the bookmakers have reduced these odds compared to last season as a result of Leicester's success.

Here's a piece which suggests that the true odds of Leicester winning the league were more like 50000-1.

But the odds are absolutely ridiculous given it is a 20 team league, and Leicester finished 14th in the previous season. 80-1 (what Montpelier were on) seems like much more sensible odds, the bookies got this horribly wrong.

^ Absolutely. I read somewhere that William Hill had about 15 people putting a punt on Leicester at the start of the season. No way the losses from that can outweigh the tens of thousands who would have bet on Chelsea et al.

A few people betting 50p would easily be outweighed by tens of thousands betting £20+ on more realistic teams. But of course, the bookies are actually loving this, it's free publicity to them and the more fuss they make over the huge sums they "lost" the more gullible fools who will best on West Brom winning it next season.

Anyone who really believes they are either a) devastated or b) in penury as a result of this is deluding themselves. The bookies always win, this is no exception (despite one or two getting their odds horrifically wrong at the start of the season).

 

[Veggie Legs]

But the odds are absolutely ridiculous given it is a 20 team league, and Leicester finished 14th in the previous season. 80-1 (what Montpelier were on) seems like much more sensible odds, the bookies got this horribly wrong.

In a somewhat balanced league, yes, 80-1 seems reasonable. The Premier League is far from a balanced league, and the 5000-1 odds reflect this. You could have bet on Newcastle, Sunderland, Villa, West Brom, Bournemouth, Norwich or Watford at equal or longer odds.

The theory I've seen is that the bookies lost money as a result of mid-season bets, because they didn't reduce odds sufficiently even after Leicester's good start.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

I can agree that there is a lot of bookies taking a PR advantage here, and you always hear from bookies about the odd blokes who win it big and never about the masses of smaller losers. The bookies being seen to lose out is all part of the fairytale.

The theory I've seen is that the bookies lost money as a result of mid-season bets, because they didn't reduce odds sufficiently even after Leicester's good start.

But I also agree here that bookies were slow to react and reduce odds to sensible levels. The assumption that Leicester would fall away was so strong, given Arsenal's resurgence around Dec/Jan time and the track record of City coming on strong eventually.

Leicester were still 100/1 after something like 12 or so games into the season, and were 16/1 at new year. They didn't become favourites for the title until varying points in February for most bookies. All that despite the picture of who would challenge them being so murky. It's not like all season there was a primary rival who you would suggest was most likely to challenge, the options for a non Leicester winner were so split. So looking with hindsight it seems odd IMO that it took so long to make them favourites ahead of that split.

 

[Libertadores FC]

This is not only the biggest shock in Premier League history, but also in the history of sport.

In my lifetime. the biggest shocks in sports have been mostly in one games, such as South Africa losing to Japan in Rugby, Brazil losing 7-1 at home to Germany in the World Cup, the only 2 tournament shocks that have been huge in my lifetime that come up to mind has been Greece winning the Euro's in 2004 and River Plate going to the second tier. This has topped everything that has happened in not only my life time, but also dating back to Giussepe Meazza's time. I kept saying throughout the season that Leicester wouldn't win it, until they beat City 3-1 at the Etihad, that's when I realized "shit they're actually going to do it". Now that they've finally won it, I still can't believe it even though we knew it was going to happen for a while. I'd like to congratulate all Leicester fans, enjoy this moment as you've left a moment of history, and may never see anything like it for decades and maybe even centuries. You've won it deservedly as well.

 

[smat]

What happened in Giuseppe Meazza's time?

 

[Libertadores FC]

What happened in Giuseppe Meazza's time?

I meant in the sense that he played nearly a century ago, he's the oldest footballer I know with a worldwide reputration (unless Santiago Bernabeu played prior to that)

 

[ZianfrancoGoal]

What happened in Giuseppe Meazza's time?

the war

 

[rudebwoyben]

That was a shock to everyone too!

 

[S2_Blade]

First off a massive congratulations to Leicester City, what a great achievement.

Pretty sure the status quo will return back to normal next season but one thing it will do is make the premier league more wide open than ever, hopefully more teams give it a good go and teams continue to take points off each other, what a great season and hopefully more of the same next season.

 

[SALTIRE]