The things all students can learn from Leicester City’s remarkable triumph

As some of you may already know, Leicester City Football Club have just won the English Premier League. For those of you who don’t, over the last 10 years, the Premier League has only been won by only three teams.

Last year, Leicester were on the brink of being relegated from the top league, only for a miraculous last-minute escape. This year, they were the least favorite to win the league, with odds of 5000/1, and were predicted to finish in last place. Well, this year, the football world witnessed something unprecedented, and what could be one of the greatest stories in all of sporting history. They defied all odds, rewrote all scripts, and created a fairytale to remember.

And like every good fairytale, there are morals that stem from the story. So here are things that every student can learn from Leicester’s rise to greatness.

Money DOES NOT buy you success

Leicester’s total squad value for this season totaled to 54 million pounds – a trivial value compared to value of the previous two defending champions of Chelsea and Manchester City, both exceeding 400 million pounds. And don’t even get me started on the wage differences between the players of the respective clubs.

So don’t be so preoccupied about picking an area of study just because it leads to lucrative jobs. Money isn’t the only key to happiness and success. Do what you love in the right spirit and you’ll rise to the top.

 Be fearless, but stay humble

Leicester’s target for the season was to stay in the premier league, and that meant setting a goal to reach 40 points by the end. They began their journey, and were flying high at the top of the league for the first few months. But they remained grounded. They began by doing what was necessary. After 20 games, they reached their target, and from there, set the sky as their limit, but took each game one at a time. And before they knew it, they were champions.

What you can learn from this is that success is not given to you on a silver platter. In addition to the core values of determination and teamwork, success requires moderation. It requires a regulation of your ego, and a focus on a step-by-step process to your goals. Nonetheless, you have to be bold too. You have to believe that there is an end-product to your work, and you have to be mentally prepared to take on anything.

Always be yourself

Leicester City Football Club. Probably one of the few teams left in modern football to play with the classic 4-4-2 formation. With most other large and successful clubs adapting 4-2-3-1s, 4-3-3s, and diamond midfields, Leicester stuck to their guns and were simply playing THEIR game. They negated all judgments, acted on constructive criticism (even though there wasn’t much), and became the best team in England.

https://twitter.com/LCFC/status/727272513705639936

You don’t need to confine to norms, or what’s trending. You don’t need to “fake to fit in” Nor do you need to acknowledge prejudice. So long as you be yourself, you’ll be a champion too.

‘Started from the bottom now we here..’

They have players who worked their way up from non-league football to the world stage. They have players who were rejected from multiple big clubs during trials, youth years, and senior careers. They have players who used to be in the craftsmanship industry, and other forms of manual work. They put on display a real rags to riches story.

Hard-work, teamwork, and intelligence, will take you places. It’s cliche, I know. But it’s
true.

Happiness goes a long way

The manager who guided Leicester to the title, Claudio Ranieri, said this: “The key to the Leicester miracle? I LOVE MY PLAYERS as if they were MY OWN SONS & they love me back”. In many ways, Ranieri has been the loved one of the Premier League throughout the season; always buzzing and making jokes during press conferences, sometimes even acting a little childish, but always putting others first, like when he treated his players to a pizza party when they kept their first clean sheet, and popped champagne when they hit 40 points.

With this attitude, in whatever you do, there’s no telling what your limit will be.