Fearless: The Amazing Underdog Story of Leicester City, the Greatest Miracle in Sports History

by Jonathan Northcroft

King Power Stadium, countdown to kick off. Out on the pitch a lone brass player sounds the haunting Post Horn Gallop, for 80 years the home players' entrance tune. Spines tingle. Air is gulped into opposition lungs. Game time, time to begin the chase. Burning fox eyes peer down from between the decks of one of the stands. On the stadium's outside wall a royal blue LCD display says #Fearless.Welcome to Leicester City. They were always a club with a difference but in 2015-16 they created a story that in modern football stands unique. Who could believe from relegation certainties to champions of England? It was when, on behalf of every small club, dreams were hunted at the King Power, a season where the impossible became merely quarry.5,000-1 shots when the campaign started, Leicester's transformation has been remarkable. This is the most incredible cast of written-offs, grafters, misfits and journeymen, coming together in a special time and place to simultaneously have the season of their lives. Fearless will document Leicester's hunt of their impossible dream. It will tell the greatest football tale of the Premier League era, in loving detail, with the inside track. Now that Leicester have gone all the way and won the title, it is the best story in world sports - for years.Premier League champions. The side who'd been adrift at the bottom 12 months previously, who's started the season as relegation favourites, whose manager was favourite to be the first one sacked once the campaign got underway. A League One side only seven seasons previously. A squad of �500,000 and �1m men. Leicester. Ridiculous. Miraculous. Fearless.

Genres: Sports, Football, Nonfiction, Soccer, Audiobook, History

352 pages, Hardcover

Published September 22, 2016

Reviews

[Bookread2day · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Amazing Underdog Story of Leicester City, the Greatest Miracle in Sports History. Many books examined Leicester City's glorious, unexpected victory but only Jonathan Northcroft's account really understood its significance. Jonathan Northcroft is a football correspondent.  A few lines from the book that I enjoyed reading. Why couldn't you beat a richer club? I've never seen a bag of money score a goal. A bag of money has never scored but plenty have promised assist. And there were Leicester, little Leicester, back in their box. The banknotes of all the big clubs in the world seemed weigh down the lid. Neglected players with nearly a manager from a nonentity city top of the Premier League? Their run had been nice, fun but this was February and football awaited the moment it would end. Now it seemed the moment was here.

[Mahlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only do you get A game by game synopsis of the foxes fairytale season, you also get a sense of what it was like to be a supporter and the way in which sporting success can lift an entire town. Fearless is also full of interviews with the players which are woven into the narrative to give the reader a complete picture.

Perhaps most important thing about this book is that the author doesn't pretend that Leicester city were an overnight success, he carefully chronicles the almost eight year rebuilding project that was started under former manager Nigel Pearson. I know as a big fan of Championship football(Second division) that I was quite happy when they were finally promoted because they had been destroying the rest of teams in the division for way too long!

Destined to become the definitive book on Leicester city's rise to prominence. A must read for any football fan especially with Boxing Day right around the corner.

I think this is Jonathan Norcroft's first book, I hope it's not his last.

[Yousif Al Zeera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forget the Leicester's miracle itself, the book is another miracle. The book is so engaging and thrilling that all you need now is not another Leicester-esque miracle but rather another book written by Jonathan Northcroft.

The book covers Leicester’s sensational 2015-2016 winning season in a heart-racing storytelling way. The owners, coach, staff, players and fans; all combining in a wholesome fashion to produce an astounding nine-month of football from a team about to relegate the season before to humiliate the likes of Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea.

[Greg Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific behind the scenes look at Leicester's historic championship run. Well-researched and written. Loved it.

[Bon Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't follow English football at all, and don't think about football in general. Except in short bursts of glory, like in sweet '18 when we kicked England out of the World Cup.

But what a heart warming, incredible story this is. Very well written, with lot of spirit. Enjoyed it like a pig in a mud from start to end.

[Russ · Rating 4 out of 5]

In all honesty, I'm not sure how much this book would appeal to readers who are not fans of Leicester City Football Club. The majority of this book is about their players and their unbelievable 2015/16 season that ended with them winning the Premier League. As a fan, I loved the additional info about the backgrounds and motivations of the players. I enjoyed the backroom look at Ranieri's managment of the team. And reliving that magical season was fun in and of itself. I think there is some draw for fans of professional soccer, as the author describes some of the unique and even revolutionary methods Leicester used in terms of training and player management. But this is really a book for Leicester fans. So if you are one, this is a fantastic book to read.

[Katy Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read about the Greatest Sporting Event ever - and I'm not even a Leicester fan! An in depth look at the team that defied the odds. If you love football, you'll love this!

[Benny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Leicester City winning the Premier League is one of the greatest stories in sports ever, but this scrappy collection of match reports, in-season articles and anecdotes just doesn’t live up to it, at all.

This is a hurried affair, a quick cash in, it seems. It is badly written, confusing if you didn’t experience the season to begin with and it doesn’t really add anything, if you did experience it. A list of stats at the end of the book could have at least given that bit of extra, but even that is missing.

Surely this makes great reading for Leicester City fans, but then again, I suppose any reminder of that season is great reading for them. (Bless their hearts!) If LCFC played as bad as this book was written, they’d have been relegated.


picture: King Ranieri and Kasper Schmeichel

[Malcolm Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed learning the facts behind the remarkable success. The book captures you with on the ground language.

[Junmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave me facts about Leicester city in 2015/16 season

[Jun Min · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a great book. I would recommend it to others.

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm extremely passionate about creating excellent teams where I can get examples be that in Sport or in the business world of teams that have managed to accomplish something unthought of before. This was done in the 2015 to 2016 football season by Leicester City in the Premier League in England. Someone / something that was truly pivotal behind that success was their manager: Claudio ranieri. The chemistry between him and his players and to a certain degree the way the stars aligned to enable City which on paper did not have the best players in the world playing for them, to come together over the course of an entire season of approximately 38 football games to win the Premier League in the way they did it is an absolute Goldmine for anyone interested in the psychology of how individuals can work together. One thing that stood out above all others was the way Claudio ranieri was able to bring his character and merged that with a group of players while the set up did not need a lot of tinkering with. He was able to create a culture where things just clicked. As most people who play in the Premier League will know, the following season after Leicester City had won the Premier League the subsequent drop down the table that Leicester City suffered was s devastating story but equally interesting from a sports psychology basix understand. They went from winning the Premier League to being very close to being relegated the next season. Claudio ranieri went from being almost a God in Leicester City to being sacked the next year. Some of my best bits from the book:


One key to success was the 96% availability of first team players not just for Matches but training sessions. less is more. Schedules were created to give players more days off and more recovery Sessions. The light load of Leicester's training would raise eyebrows nearly everywhere else in the Premier League.

Professional football players are from broken homes. don't have a dad and that strikes a chord.

What that basically means is that business is influenced by the place it's managers and owners come from. This means both the culture and the country and the Society of the company leader in question. Chelsea? Russian oligarch owner a club with money about but employees do tend to get fired quickly. Arsenal? Manchester United? American sports magnates. Very structured, commercially driven clubs. One reason Louis Van gaal remained popular with the glazer family who owned United long after performances declined was his precision and clipboard and his strict rules for how different football departments should operate and Report. The glazers could identify with this process and measurement driven style which was familiar in the US business. Manchester City? They love building things. Construction projects. Expanding the city football group into other continents and aren't their owners from Abu Dhabi, with it skyscrapers and 7 star hotels and governments with blue chip Investments around the world?

The offbeat statistic categories Leicester use like positive attacking actions attempted. They Met the boy and kind of bonded with him. The transfer was made for €450,000. De bruyne was 157 times as much. They were talking about Riyad mahrez.

Nigel Pearson's insight about Jamie Vardy is that while other strikers have pace Vardy has aggressive pace. He charges straight at goal he accelerates into tackles he explodes into the ball in other words it is speed allied with belligerence and that is such a Potent mix.

Fact: 70% of the earth's surface is covered by water. The other 30% is covered by ngolo kante

A marvellous German Tactics site observed how kante waits always in the right position reading the eyes of the opposition passes similar to a linebacker or safety who reads the quarterback size. When I was younger i remember doing this a great deal.

Trust is always a leap. But when repaid it brings the sweetest landing.

The importance of continuity. Leicester City a total of 184 days out in their 2015 2016 season due to injury. Arsenal and Chelsea lost 465 and 428 days respectively. Aresnal lost 1042. At that point eight Leicester players had played 80% or more of possible minutes in Premier League matches. According to the conditioning professionals website physioroom.com Leicester suffered 16 significant player injuries 41 Tottenham suffered 42 Chelsea suffered 50 Liverpool suffered 58 Manchester United 63 and Manchester city 74.

Leicester were no one man cult. had no Grandiose designs. Had no factions. No commercial distractions. No thought except the football to be played. They had a new manager yet next to no transition because the underlying structures were so strong. Together at this club. A golden threat of trust ran through it. There was a circle from owners to managers to staff 2 players to fans.

Those Leicester players at home the whole day passed, just like the previous evening, without a single one posting a message of support or thanks for the Fallen manager. Not a single one. Et tu lads?

He hadn't lost his acumen. It is just that the Conundrum of leading 25 footballers and then a staff while keeping owners happy is what makes football management the most precarious of jobs.

And some thoughts on why leicester did so bad in the 2016 to 2017 season? The Premier League Giants imported super coaches and mega players to ensure their under performance in the 2015 to 2016 season would not be repeated. Guardiola went to Manchester City followed by 160 million of new Talent. Plus kante plus David Luiz arrived at Chelsea and Jose Mourinho joined Manchester United then signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a world record 89 million pounds Paul Pogba the drama and the cameras had been elsewhere. Until the exit of Claudio ranieri bought them back to Leicester.

[Stu Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't imagine any of the quick take books on the miracle of Leicester City. Leicester was a team that barely survived relegation in 2015, then went on to win the English Preimere League at 5,000-1 odds. An real argument can be made that it's the greatest miracle in sports history. It's a well done book, split between a recap of the season and bits on the cornerstone players of the season. If you like soccer, you love the story. Now read it....

[Leandro Cordobez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente historia sobre un equipo que quedará en el recuerdo. Muy bien documentada y estructurada, con fuentes primarias y excelentes descripciones. Muy recomendable.

[Fritzov · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book about how the foxes when the league. I liked it.

[Junmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book. I love it

[Jakub Karda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Výborný sportovní příběh, který je sám o sobě skvělým románem. Ale autor ho převedl na papír vskutku brilantně a já mohu už jen pouze vřele doporučit

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good account of the sporting miracle that will never be forgotten--Leicester City's 2015-16 Premier League triumph.

Author Jonathan Northcroft takes the reader through Leicester's most important games throughout the season, and in these game snapshots he expertly weaves the stories of those important in bringing success to the club. As such, there are chapters and extended passages dedicated to the major players (Vardy, Kante, Mahrez, Schmeichel); the 'glue guy' (King); the manager (Ranieri); and support staff (Steve Walsh, physios, et al). Each chapter goes into detail about how Leicester's success was not merely down to throwing money at the best players, but engendering a spirit of family and togetherness amongst the players, stretching back to before Ranieri's reign.

'Fearless' is certainly recommended for football fans--and not necessarily just for Leicester fans--for its concise account of Leicester's amazing 2015-16 season. As such, there is relatively little back story about Okazaki, Ulloa, and others that otherwise played a part in that success. There are, however, insightful and interesting accounts of Vardy's, Kante's, and Mahrez's upbringings.

I read this following the tragic passing of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. There are several haunting passages about his helicopter, and how it was used even by the players at times. Reading 'Fearless' after his death really puts into perspective how much he cared about the club, the players, the support staff, and the fans--and shows that he indeed helped to create something remarkable and special.

HIGHLIGHTS: Excellent presentation of player and staff back stories; poeticism of game accounts; insightful interviews

LOWLIGHTS: Leicester City fans may be slightly disappointed with the lack of detail on other squad members that played a part in the success

STARS: 4/5

FULL TIME SCORE: A solid 3-0 win

[Jeremy Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

2016 will be remembered as the Year of Sporting Fairytales. Some teams, like the Cronulla Sharks and the Cleveland Cavaliers, won their first-ever championship after many years of trying. Others, like the Chicago Cubs and my beloved Western Bulldogs, broke long-standing championship droughts. And if that wasn't enough, all victories were achieved in dramatic fashion.
But the greatest fairytale of the year surely had to be Leicester City, rank outsiders at the start of the 2015-16 EPL season, emerging as League Champions with two games to spare, marking their first ever championship at England's top level in 132 years of competition. Football journalist Jonathan Northcote recounts in vivid detail the background leading up to that season, the key moments during the season, and insights from a range of important characters.
I would have given this 5 stars if the editing and proofreading had been done better in a few places. Still, I would say it's a must-read for sports fans.

[Kavinay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not the sort of book that I expected. I was hoping for something more into the details of the x & o's but this book feels more like a collection of in-season articles. It's too bad, a steady unfolding of the season would be a profoundly interesting narrative compared to a collection of hagiography.

[Tyson Amundsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many (most?) soccer books may not be the ideal choice for the general public, and this book falls in line. Unless already a soccer fan who watched the title winning season, I wouldn't recommend it. If you don't know the names of the big players already, probably won't be captivate. BUT if you are a fan, then I found this a delightful and light read.

[Payton Tag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into Leicester’s title winning season. I enjoyed the depth of knowledge and particularly all the components that went into their success. One criticism I would have is that the author seemed to deepthroat the Leicester squad a bit too much which kind of tainted some of the truths. Otherwise an enjoyable read.

[Invervegas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook rather than read a physical copy.

Straight forward reading - written by someone who appears to be a fan. As a neutral , this provided some depth but was essentially looking at the achievement in a positive light so appeared to mainly be a puff piece.

Audiobook was easy listening.

[Andy9562000 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my fave book on the LCFC success.

[Robin Peake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspirational story, but poorly told

[Alejandro Shirvani · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant recollection of the memories of an unlikely success, focusing on the back story of individuals involved and the multicultural community of Leicester.

[Randy Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible insight into one of the greatest seasons by any team in the world.

[Martin Smrz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not enough knowledgeable about Premierships and had difficulty to orient myself in the number of persons involved. Imagine for the residents of East Midlands, all clear. for me not

[Jane Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not a Leicester City fan, but I have visited Leicester several times over the past decade or so, largely due to my interest in Richard III. I’ve become very fond of the city largely due to it’s friendly people and loved the underdog story of the Foxes Premiership triumph in 2015/16, hence picking up this book. To my surprise, I really enjoyed it! It’s easy to read and is full of character - and characters in the form of the individual team members and club assistants. I’ve learned so much more about how a team is put together, and Claudio Ranieri’s somewhat unorthodox, yet effective, training and management techniques - only two days actual training per week! Something of the character of the Leicester people comes across too, and once more I found myself thrilled on their behalf at their teams astonishing achievement. Some of the terminology went over my head - my husband had to explain it to me - but I’ll be watching football matches with fresh eyes in future. Not only Leicester City fans will enjoy this book!

[Zulashraf · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of Leicester City, it's a great book with plenty of info and insights from inside the club during that remarkable season. A once in a lifetime event that the world has to absolutely read about.