Champions

[tedfoxxx]

So It’s two years ago today that we won the league thanks to Eden Hazard’s goal against Spurs. Blaarev mentioned it in another thread and it’s set me off thinking about it on this rainy morning when I’m alone at work.

I would say that this basically ruined football for me or at least caused me to massively detach from it. Nothing Leicester City achieve now will even come close to the drama and excitement and the raw emotions that we all went through in living that impossible season as fans.

What this did for me on a personal level at the time genuinely changed my life. I was very, very low, going through a terrible, drawn out breakup, living somewhere I hated (Nottingham), death in the family and without two pennies to run together and various other things I just couldn’t deal with. I remember my 24th birthday involved a massive row with my then girlfriend, ending in me getting in my car and driving around crying. Remembering that my team were on a bizzarely good run of form, I parked at the leisure in Southwell (I wasn’t far off driving to Dundee in my bare feet) and tuned in to RL to listen to us thump Newcatle 3-0 at St James’s. Then starting blubbing again.

The smallest act of kindness can mean the world to you when you’re depressed, so the fairytale that was Leicester City helped to pull me out of a really shitty place. They were just about the only thing that made me genuinely happy at the time, gave me hope and motivated me to change for the better. Two years later and we’re shit again..... but now I’m engaged, living in a house I love, with a woman I love and a dog I love, looking forwards and being upbeat and smiling.

I’ll love Claudio and the players forever for what they gave us, it was more than football, it was pure joy.

 

[tedfoxxx]

Didn’t realise this was going to start a new thread, I was posting in the original Champions thread.

Anyways, happy ‘Incredible Leicester City Day’ everybody!

 

[Jeff]

Didn’t realise this was going to start a new thread, I was posting in the original Champions thread

I moved the post to a new thread.

 

[SwedeFox]

What this did for me on a personal level at the time genuinely changed my life. I was very, very low, going through a terrible, drawn out breakup, living somewhere I hated (Nottingham), death in the family and without two pennies to run together and various other things I just couldn’t deal with. I remember my 24th birthday involved a massive row with my then girlfriend, ending in me getting in my car and driving around crying. Remembering that my team were on a bizzarely good run of form, I parked at the leisure in Southwell (I wasn’t far off driving to Dundee in my bare feet) and tuned in to RL to listen to us thump Newcatle 3-0 at St James’s. Then starting blubbing again.

This made me laugh out loud

My relation with my dad has never and probably will never reach the heights that it did during that season. I don't think I'm the first to have that experience

 

[tedfoxxx]

This made me laugh out loud

My relation with my dad has never and probably will never reach the heights that it did during that season. I don't think I'm the first to have that experience

There was a very enjoyable spell where my relationship with complete strangers will never reach the heights it did towards the end of that season!

 

[SJN-Fox]

This just popped up on my Facebook memories page ...

 

[bocadillo]

So It’s two years ago today that we won the league thanks to Eden Hazard’s goal against Spurs.

A pedant would insist that the league was won by Jamie Vardy's first goal at Sunderland. Hazard did nothing more than confirm it. Other than that and the fact that Mrs Boc has been a constant, there's much that I can identify with here.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Orifice]

Tedfoxxx - Wow!
What great post. Really enjoyed reading that.
Glad to hear all sounds good now, shame about that football team nowadays.

 

[Micky]

A wonderful post. As you say, football will never be the same again.

 

[M17TT C]

Crash, Bang, Wallop - what a post!

 

[tedfoxxx]

Crash, Bang, Wallop - what a post!

I’ve bounced back!

 

[pork pie fox]

Thing is though - of course football is never going to be that good again, for us.

Rather than lament it and bemoan the fact that it isn’t as good as “that season”, we should embrace it and remember it for what it was. My kids got to see us win the league. I watched those games with my dad and my brother. I nearly passed out when we scored the late goal against Norwich, such was the tension and rush of blood to my head.

Yes, football isn’t that good any more, but now it’s just normal. We just need to remember it for what it was, the greatest thing (on a football pitch) that many of us will ever experience.

 

[Miles Away]

Lovely, lovely stuff.

I'll never forget the internalised, quiet, nervous breakdown I had when the final whistle went in Sunderland and it finally dawned on me that, yes, this was real.

How lucky we all are....the luckiest fans in the world.

 

[Micky]

Lovely, lovely stuff.

I'll never forget the internalised, quiet, nervous breakdown I had when the final whistle went in Sunderland and it finally dawned on me that, yes, this was real.

How lucky we all are....the luckiest fans in the world.

I agree. Fans of Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and the like will never experience what we did. For them it is an expectation, for us it was pure fantasy and joy.

 

[camberwell fox]

I cried like a ****ing baby.

I am 50.

That is all.

 

[OldGit]

I cried like a ****ing baby.

I am 50.

That is all.

To some of us 50 is a baby

 

[camberwell fox]

I can’t articulate it adequately as it must have been more than football.

The happiest second of my life bar none.

 

[Blue Maniac]

It's easy to forget, looking at today's team, that two years ago we witnessed the biggest upset in the history of sport (don't bother arguing that one, nothing else even comes close. It's bigger than USA beating England in 1950, bigger than Buster Douglas beating Tyson, bigger than Greece 2004 and so on). It's an understatement to say our own club will never match that again; nobody will, in this sport or any other. For me it just added a new dimension to my relationship with the club.

 

[Brown Nose]

Terrific post Ted but football isn't over. For you, football has barely begun. The pleasure and the emotion may never quite match those days but they'll be enough to carry you through, or smash you down, for decades to come. It'll be great.

The passing of time just makes that achievement better for me. The level of pride in my club and respect from genuine supporters from other clubs has been great too.

Just one random example. I was in a sient disco in Newcastle a few weeks back (don't ask). I found myself in the midst of a mob of pissed up young rowdie geordies singing anti-sunderland songs.

In years gone by, I'd have left them to it. But nowadays it's different. I announced my credentials and told them to give Sunderland a break and that their rivals were going through a tough enough time and that they should be bigger people about their respective circumstances.

They then beat the shit out of me of course.

Not really. They listened with a slight reverence and I knew that I had made them think for a minute.

The point is, real supporters know we did something very special. We all grew a bit in the eyes of the footballing world. And I'll be fecked if I ever let go of that.

 

[fitz]

With my proximity to Leicester the only downside to that season is me having to provide detailed evidence of my supporting whereabouts from the 90s until May 2016 whenever I meet someone new.