Leicester City's Rollercoaster Ride Through English Soccer

I began to follow English Premier League professional soccer in the fall of 2014...its season is like that of basketball and hockey, a hyphenation of two years.  So this 2016-17 season is the third that I've been a fan of this sport as it is played on the most elite level.  And without a doubt, the dominant story so far has been the tumultuous run of the Leicester City Football Club, nicknamed the "Foxes"...although West London's Chelsea team, which stands poised to win its second league title in three years, might want to argue with that conclusion...

In most pro soccer leagues in the world, including here in the United States and Canada, there is a hierarchy of leagues, with the top-flight premier league at the top, naturally sporting the best teams.  Then there are leagues #2, #3, and so forth...depending on how many a country may have.  England's soccer establishment is so entrenched that it has more than 20 levels.  Well, in most countries (but not ours) there is movement between these leagues: for example, each year the three worst finishers in the twenty-team English Premier League are relegated (demoted) to England's second-tier league, which is deceptively called "Football League Championship"...and that league in turn promotes its top three finishers up to the Premier League to replace them.  In the 2013-14 season Leicester City, traditionally a second-tier team, ran away with the Championship title, which earned them promotion into the Premier League the following year.  But in 2014-15, they were struggling greatly, and as late as April were deeply mired in twentieth (and last) place, almost certain to be relegated back to their former league.  And then inexplicably they caught fire and won seven of their last nine games, earning them a 14th place finish and a pass to play again among the "big boys"...

Which brings us to last year: for the 2015-16 season Leicester City hired a new manager, Claudio Ranieri, and they quickly surprised everyone by rising to lead the league from the start.  Part of this early season success was due to a scoring frenzy by their striker, Jamie Vardy, at one stretch having scored 13 goals in 11 games.  Eventually, though, it was thought that the Foxes would finally settle down to a lower place in the standings...instead, their defense took hold and they coasted easily to the title even as their offense cooled off.  And since there is no playoff system in English league soccer, Leicester City won the league championship with 23 wins, only 3 losses, and 12 draws.  And now we come to this 2016-17 season...

With the same manager and core lineup of players, Leicester City has floundered in mediocrity.  The same Jamie Vardy, after 24 games, has only one goal to his credit and, what's even worse, that intimidating defense of theirs has completely disappeared.  They have not only been losing games, but they have been losing them by embarrassing margins.  Leicester City's record at this writing is only 5 wins, 13 losses, and 6 draws.  But even more ominous is that they are in 16th place and only one point ahead of the dreaded relegation zone.  And they are on a four-game losing streak at that...

Next week Leicester City will play Swansea, currently in 17th place.  Should the Foxes fall to them, it is considered a certainty that Ranieri will be fired...and Leicester City may well be on the way to relegation, just one year after they won the entire Premier League championship and three after they were promoted.  What a rollercoaster ride!

You can follow English Premier League soccer on NBCSports and NBC.  Check out your TV schedule for the channels in your area...Gainesville has them on Cox Cable channels 33 and 9, respectively.  The games are shown live on Saturday and Sunday mornings, with another usually shown on Saturday afternoon...