OPINION: A former Leicester local turned New Zealand resident reflects on the football club's unlikely journey to the top of the English Premier League.
Leicester fans can celebrate - their side is EPL champions. Photo: Photosport
I still can't quite believe that little ol' Leicester, a modest club from a humdrum city in the East Midlands, has bounced right to the top of the English Premier League (EPL) and is staying there.
Finally, we have a crown! And not one from a king found buried under a car park...
Like Melton Mowbray pies and Mark Morrison songs, a love of Leicester is an acquired taste - a love of the team, nothing short of harrowing.
Tales from old friends who are still hardcore fans back home never convinced me it was anything close to worth it.
Leicester City fans Photo: supplied
The high hopes, the set-backs, wondering whether they'd go the distance, the old feelings coming back, and then more sets backs! Just like a bad relationship.
Why? Big ups to my cousin Eddie who always dared to hope, but it was just too much for me - I've still got my LFC football socks though. I left 20 years ago and they're still great for tramping.
Yet, against all the odds, a motley group of upstarts dressed in blue have seized the glamour clubs' glory.
From 5000-1, outsiders to the club's first victory in 132 years. How fitting that for humble Leicester a blue day is a good thing!
But for me, what best sums up just how jolly chuffed we all are is this (favourite) Facebook post from a friend:
"Leicester: not as crap as you thought"
So I'm calling it. 2016 is officially the year of the underdog.
