Ten years after Leicester City's fairy-tale Premier League triumph, the club is preparing for life in League One following back-to-back relegations. New manager Russell Martin is now tasked with steering the Foxes straight back to the Championship - a challenge that, however difficult, pales in comparison to the 5,000-1 miracle the club pulled off in 2016.
As the anniversary of that unforgettable title win approaches, several figures who lived through it have shared lesser-known memories of the season with a national sports outlet - stories that go beyond the widely told tales of that extraordinary campaign.
How did the title actually get confirmed?
Leicester were crowned champions without even playing on 2 May 2016, after closest rivals Tottenham Hotspur were held to a 2-2 draw by Chelsea. The following day, journalists scrambled to track down the players and staff behind one of football's greatest upsets, only to find them nowhere to be seen.
Reporters and supporters congregated outside the club's old training base at Belvoir Drive, just outside Leicester city centre. One cameraman even talked his way into a neighbouring house so he could film from a bathroom window, hoping to capture the Foxes' celebrations.
Eventually, the media pack was redirected to the King Power Stadium, where a press room was opened up. What should have been a short five-minute journey turned into a 30-minute ordeal as fans flooded the streets in celebration, making it nearly impossible for journalists to reach the ground.
Who received the secret invitation?
While the world's press packed into the stadium press room, only eight reporters were quietly handed a secret invite to return to Belvoir Drive. One by one, these hand-picked British journalists - all regular voices covering the club - slipped away unnoticed and made their way back to the training ground.
This time, they were welcomed in and taken to the family room beside reception. When manager Claudio Ranieri entered, the assembled reporters rose in a spontaneous standing ovation, greeting the man who had guided them through an astonishing season. Ranieri then spent 45 minutes speaking candidly with the small group - a rare, intimate moment given how much the world wanted to hear from him.
What unconventional methods did Ranieri use?
Ranieri's appointment at the start of the 2015-16 season had raised eyebrows, given he hadn't managed in English football for 12 years since his Chelsea exit in 2004. Some of his early ideas, including double training sessions, were quietly dropped with input from Craig Shakespeare, who remained as assistant manager following the dismissal of previous boss Nigel Pearson.
Other changes stuck, however - most notably his decision to take the squad out to make pizza together after they recorded their first clean sheet of the season, against Crystal Palace in October 2015. Former centre-back Robert Huth explained how these gatherings helped build understanding between team-mates that didn't always surface on the training pitch.
"It sounds funny - we're keeping a clean sheet and gone for pizza but you then end up speaking to someone in the squad you probably wouldn't have spoken to at training because there's 25 of you," says former centre-back Robert Huth.
"You train, but you don't really know the guy. How's he functioning? Does he like me to shout at him? Does he want me to just be quiet?"
"You talk and go through the game where maybe you wouldn't mention things, like a problem that you see on a pitch, if it's like, a stiff environment."
"If you're out and about, and you go: 'When the ball's here, I prefer if you do this' - just like tiny little things and you take criticism on differently when you talk in a social environment. You don't want to sit in a meeting room being told what to do."
This relaxed team culture appeared to bring the best out of winger Riyad Mahrez and striker Jamie Vardy, who netted 24 league goals that season. Ranieri famously likened his attacking duo's counter-attacking speed to the Royal Air Force.
Who missed Vardy's title-winning party - and why?
It's well known that Jamie Vardy hosted team-mates at his house to watch Spurs squander a 2-0 lead against Chelsea, the result that handed Leicester the title, with some players reportedly having to wait at a local police station before joining the celebrations due to the crowds outside. But not everyone in the squad was there.
Winger Nathan Dyer spent that historic night in hospital instead, alongside wife Laura, following the birth of their second child, Shea, just two days earlier.
"I had the laptop out watching the game in hospital, the boys were at the party. I wasn't able to make it but I'd never miss the birth of my child," he says.
"It was a strange feeling. It was surreal, like it wasn't real at the time but it was."
"We had to be put in a room as people were putting their heads round and even then you could see the eyes at the door. People were congratulating me and were really proud."
"It was the whole city, even people who were not fans were so happy Leicester had achieved this."
Dyer's arrival at the club that season had itself been dramatic. He joined on loan from Swansea on transfer deadline day, flown in aboard a helicopter belonging to the club's late owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, in order to complete the move before the deadline passed.
"My wife was pregnant, we'd just moved into a new house, so everything was in boxes, it was a wild day," he says.
"It was exciting for me but also nerve-wracking because it was so intense, to send the helicopter to get me to get it over the line. It was a proud moment for me - I'd always wanted to be involved in a moment like that, watching on the TV - breaking news!"
How close was the title race?
At the turn of the year, Leicester trailed Arsenal by two points, but a single defeat across their remaining 16 fixtures - a late loss away at Arsenal in February - kept them firmly on course for the title. As the improbable outcome edged closer to reality, public fascination with the Foxes grew rapidly.
Vardy gained an unlikely double in postman Lee Chapman, who bore a striking resemblance to the striker, while Ranieri found himself immortalised in sausage form.
How did a local butcher become part of the story?
Local business W Archer & Son created "the Ranieri," a sausage made from Packington free-range pork, fennel, garlic and chilli. The product won an award at the Great Taste awards, and at its peak the shop was selling around 12kg (26.5lb) of the sausages daily.
Owner Sean Jeynes once brought a plate of the sausages to a stadium press conference, prompting Ranieri to jokingly declare himself "the sausageman."
"It was surreal that day. How did that ever happen?" says Jeynes.
"We were making sausages two or three times a day, smelling of garlic, smelling of fennel, but it was just a crazy time. It really was a crazy time - you can't quite comprehend what it was like."
"It had a massive effect on the city, it had a great effect on everybody. Everyone was much happier."
"Nothing can replace the Italian sausage, the recipe, and the pork, fennel, garlic chili and a hint of Champions League."
"People would say, why don't you do a [Brendan] Rodgers sausage [after winning the FA Cup in 2021], but it's just not the same."
The sausage still occasionally reappears on the shop's counters, a small but lasting tribute to that unique period in the club's history.
Did anyone profit from the long-odds triumph?
Foxes Trust co-chair Lynn Wyeth was among those who backed Leicester at 5,000-1 odds at the start of the season, placing a modest £2 bet that ultimately transformed her financial future.
"Thanks to Leicester City it meant I could retire at 55 instead of 67," says Foxes Trust co-chair Lynn Wyeth, who stuck £2 on the club at odds of 5,000-1 at the start of the season.
"It was actually really stressful. A first world problem, isn't it? It was stressful enough, watching them get closer and closer thinking, oh my god, can we do it? But knowing that there was £10,000 riding on it as well, was like, 'oh, no, I almost wish I'd cashed out earlier'."
"When I won, I had my account shut for money laundering, I had to prove it was me and that I'd won it."
"We managed to clear it up quite quickly, I think it's just an automatic thing."
"There you go. Thank you, Leicester."
How does this fit into Leicester's recent decline?
The scale of Leicester's fall is stark when set against their current predicament. The club's relegation to League One arrives exactly a decade after their Premier League title win, a gap that underlines just how dramatically the club's fortunes have reversed since 2016, according to Sky Sports.
That decline has been compounded by off-field troubles. Leicester previously lost an appeal against a six-point deduction for breaching EFL financial rules, a penalty that left them 22nd in the Championship with just five games remaining and contributed directly to their second successive relegation. Before that setback, manager Gary Rowett had already been focused on prioritising Championship survival over the financial risks of going down, as the club braced for the possibility of successive drops to League One.
What happens next for Leicester?
Leicester are reportedly undertaking a significant overhaul of their squad ahead of the new season, with reports indicating the club is working through an 11-player rebuild and holding contract termination talks with defender Jannik Vestergaard, according to NewsNow.
The rebuilt side is set to begin its League One campaign away from home, with Leicester's opening fixture of the 2026-27 season scheduled for Saturday, 8 August 2026, against Northampton Town - marking the club's first league match since dropping into English football's third tier, according to Sky Sports.
Key Facts
- Leicester City won the Premier League title on 2 May 2016 at odds of 5,000-1.
- The Foxes finished the 2015-16 season 10 points clear of second-placed Arsenal.
- Ten years later, Leicester face League One football after successive relegations.
- The club lost its appeal against a six-point Championship deduction for breaching EFL financial rules.
- Leicester's League One campaign begins away to Northampton Town on 8 August 2026.
