Euch geschehe nach Eurem Glauben

Eigentlich sollte der nachfolgende Beitrag bereits vor einigen Tagen hier online gehen. Aber der Kollege kam und kommt aus dem Feiern einfach nicht raus. Von meiner Seite gibts trotzdem keine Vorwürfe. Oder was würdet Ihr machen, wenn die alte Hertha mal eben die (laut Pep Guardiola) am schwierigsten zu gewinnende Trophäe der Welt erobern würde?! Hertha 06 Charlottenburg meine ich natürlich – denn kaum bekannter war Leicester City vor einem Jahr und viel mehr als ein paar Auf- und Abstiege hatte der Verein aus den Midlands nicht vorzuweisen. Da sollte für unsere Herzdame erst recht was gehen. Also nicht abfällig mit den Augen rollen sondern immer feste dran glauben. Amen.

Things have been a little weird around town lately. Last year we buried a king who had been found in a car park. If that wasn’t strange enough, two weeks ago something happened that defied all the odds. No, the Loch Ness monster wasn’t discovered (2000-1) or Elvis found on the Moon (5000-1). Leicester City the team of my home city won, the Premier League (odds – also 5000-1).
And since the moment Chelsea equalised against Tottenham to hand the Fearless Foxes the title, it has been one long party. The entire city has come alive and poured into the streets. Everyday feels like summer and every night results in an excuse to sing and dance. Last Monday. 240,000 people piled into the city centre, including myself and my family. The atmosphere was electric. Claudio Ranieri, our enigmatic leader shouted to the crowd: “Keep dreaming! Never wake up!” And he’s right, this whole thing has been like a dream since Christmas time. At first we thought we were top because we were lucky. Games had gone our way, the usual league-challenging suspects Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea just weren’t getting consistent results and new teams – Leicester and Tottenham were amongst the contenders. At Christmas, Claudio said: “lets get the same points again, plus one more in 2016.” Remember this time last year, Leicester had narrowly escaped relegation, having spent most of the season at rock bottom of the table. The team also consists of football’s misfits Vardy – the 29-year-old former non-league striker whose rags-to-riches story is now the subject of a Hollywood movie. Mahrez – the winged wizard who was playing in a reserve team of Le Havre in the French Division Two. Huth – the powerful German defender who wasn’t even getting a game at Stoke, Drinkwater – let go by Manchester United before he had chance to prove himself – the list goes on. A team with something to prove, you might say. A team of players who have turned the idea of what it takes to be champions on its head. Our rivals each spent around £300 million assembling their squads. The Foxes spent £30 million. And this, I believe is the magic of what happened in Leicester. Now every team can believe. Like us, they can dream. Leicester has given hope to every unfashionable team in the game. The strategy for winning leagues has been rethought. Can teamwork really outplay raw talent? The Leicester model proves it can.
Leicester City’s Premier League win has shone new light on the city. We are famous for being one of the most multicultural cities in the world, where people live side-by-side in harmony. Football’s success has only made us stronger.
We were also famous for finding a king in a car park. Now we are the legend of the underdog. We have a team the world believed in. Now you can believe in your team too.

Mark Charlton