da blaze casino： Claudio Ranieri – tinkerman, nearlyman, Premier League champion and err… poet. Well, not quite. But there has been something notably poetic about the Leicester City manager’s musings this season.
da luck： The calmness and control demonstrated in press conferences has been a subtle yet enormous influence on the Foxes’ miraculous title bid, responding with witty humour just when the world were expecting the Italian and his boys to crack under the pressure of chasing English football’s most prestigious prize.
In case your head’s been trapped in a vase for the last week, Leicester sealed the first top-flight honour in the club’s 132-year history on Monday night, as second-place Tottenham Hotspur were held to a draw by Chelsea in one of the ugliest London derbies seen for years.
In between downing slices of pizza and creating Robert Huth memes, we at Football FanCast have spent the last few days looking back at some of Ranieri’s most captivating quotes throughout the campaign, spanning local cuisine, his side’s incredible energy, the Foxes’ militant support and of course, the Leicester City movie. Dilly-ding, Dilly-dong!
PIZZA BRIBES
“I told them, if you keep a clean sheet, I’ll buy pizza for everybody. I think they’re waiting for me to offer a hot dog too.”
LOCAL HEROES
“I told my players ‘when you go on the pitch and you hear the song from Kasabian, that means they want warriors’. I want to see them as warriors for the fans. Kasabian are a fantastic rock band from Leicester and I think the guitar man, Serge, is Italian.”
ITALIAN PROVERB
“There is a saying in Italy that you do not sell the bear’s skin until you have shot it.”
THE REALITIES OF MANAGEMENT
“We were told that being a manager was like parachuting – sometimes the chute doesn’t open and you splatter on the ground.”
VARDY’S HORSEPOWER
“This is not a footballer. This is a fantastic horse.”
DILLY-DONG PART I
“From the beginning when something was wrong I’ve been saying: ‘Dilly-ding, dilly-dong, wake up, wake up!’ So on Christmas Day I bought for all the players and all the staff a little bell. It was just a joke.”
Run, Leicester, Run!
“Why can’t we continue to run, run, run? We are like Forrest Gump. Leicester is Forrest Gump. I give you the headline there.”
OPERA
“I was like Pavarotti, trying to stimulate my players.”
KANTE STOP RUNNING
“This player [Kante], he was running so hard I thought he must have a pack full of batteries hidden in his shorts. He never stopped running in training.”
ROYAL AIR FORCE
“I say my team is like the RAF, it’s fantastic – whoosh whoosh! – I love it.”
FANTASTIC FOXES FANS
“It’s fantastic when you see before the match, an old lady with a Leicester shirt outside the stadium. I say: ‘Unbelievable. They come from Leicester to support us.’ This is my emotion.”
DILLY-DONG PART II
“Now we go straight away to try to win the title. We are in the Champions League, dilly ding, dilly dong – come on. We are in the Champions League, it is fantastic, terrific. Well done to everybody.”
HOPE TO EVERYBODY
“I told my players: It’s this year or never. In an era when money counts for everything, we give hope to everybody.”
LEICESTER CITY – THE MOVIE
“Robert De Niro would be good. I’ve heard that’s who they want to play me.”
THE SAUSAGE MAN CAN
“I pay for pizza, you pay for the sausage. I am the sausage man.”