Hazzetta dello Sport: Promotion, Peroni and Preston
Well, it’s been a nice, footballing anxiety-free week at Hazzetta Towers…
The welcome hammering of Southampton had set us to a near certain promotion course with the supercomputers. We were in the realm of needing just a single result to go our way. It seems churlish to say retrospectively but I always felt that the trip to Loftus Road for Leeds was harder than their visit to the Riverside.
In the immediate aftermath of the confirmation of promotion, it was most welcome to sit there viewing social media as Leicester fans ran to the bookmarks and quotes from plenty of ‘poxy pundits’ as one great ex-City manager would say. It’s hypocritical of myself to derive joy from this given I’d previously criticised Stephy Mavididi and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s takes on ‘no-one wants us to go up’.
When you sit down and review it, however, it does indeed speak volumes as we define the promotion vintage of 2024. The reaction of the fans, the club (hello, Twitter admin) and the players are to tell the doubters how wrong they were rather than celebrate the success. Previously, promotions in my lifetime have been either mind-blowing playoff successes from an underdog position or that of 2014, whereby Nigel Pearson’s players were so connected to the supporters and the club felt in a forward motion after years of not being so. It was an outpouring of emotion.
It's mixed this time. Firstly, I am relieved. Even if you scratch the surface of FFP rules, gain an understand of the loss allowances and the three-year window of application, you realise that the failure to be promoted would lead to punishments lasting for at least three seasons. Therefore, that we can take the points deduction in a higher league also means that we can lose more money next season and avoid further points deductions for Season 2025/26 in the EFL – mad really, isn’t it?
Before I fell asleep in the Plymouth bed and breakfast, after that shambles at Home Park, I felt like they had completely broken me. The displays at Coventry, Bristol City, Plymouth and Millwall were utter trash with the urgency of a sloth. While the lack of mental application and football gamesmanship against Leeds in both games really wound me up too. Bizarrely, in April I doubled down. I found it more excruciating being sat at home. So I made every game bar Millwall away. I had declared it the most dislikeable Leicester squad in my history of supporting.
Then you get dragged back in. It’s quite nice seeing Dennis Praet turn up at Seagrave on Saturday morning still looking drunk from the night before (the irony wasn’t lost on me given Hamza Choudhury’s drink driving conviction when a load of the players turn up at Seagrave in its not-so-accessible location mid-Saturday afternoon). Ultimately, it is just nice to be looking forward, dropping concerns about points deductions and the generally poor running of the club for the weekend.
Yet I am brought back to a scene after the Southampton game. When I came down the stairs into the concourse upon departure. Face beaming. Seeing the raw counter-attacking brilliance. Abdul Fatawu putting his promise into action. Jamie Vardy determined to get a goal and set up a couple. There were four or five kids celebrating, chanting. There were another group of children further down the road as well.
You forgot in following a football team, that others haven’t seen this all before. There is an innocence in some supporters who know Leicester City as a top flight club in their time of supporting and this season was about getting back in revenge. It’s a first promotion for someone. When we ape back to “we might not see the success of this like again”, it does apply to being in the top two of the second tier as well.
That could extend further this evening. Three points means Champions. A near 6,000 away end readied with blue and white. Who will be this year’s Lloyd Dyer? It depends if the players can get beyond the Peroni sweats. It would mean Leicester City become the outright most successful club at second tier level with eight championships and it’s probably the prettiest trophy in the domestic game.
The whole premise is in stark contrast to how I feared it two weeks ago. That I had a booked half-day off work, trains and an overnight stay for myself to see Jamie Vardy for a final time. Press say that may not be the case now (Vardy contract extension potentially incoming) and it’s rather that Deepdale will possess a very relaxed away end.
Preston North End are firmly on the beach with their flip flops. Despite their ability to beat teams towards the top of the table, they were very timid when visiting Leicester earlier in the season. Three losses in a row. A concern I had that they may be facing an intoxicated starting eleven have calmed somewhat when a Preston fan told me Sheffield United were in the exact same scenario last season and the Blades won 4-1.
If Leicester fail to win, eyes turn towards Coventry which I am sure their fans will love given the attention they crave. Ipswich visit in their own bid to secure promotion. They require four points which means there will definitely be an element of jeopardy on the final day for them. However, a failure to win would also secure Leicester City the title. Given how this season has progressed, that’s probably the most likely outcome.
As I mentioned on Twitter, if you see someone standing around Preston with bags of cut up newspaper and balloons, it may be myself. I hope there’s a few more than me. I also hope to be hiding in Preston’s pubs from 4 onwards.
