Why Leicester have taken the attention away from our favourite derbies

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We all love a good old David and Goliath story, and Leicester’s meteoric rise to the upper echelons of the Premier League is perhaps one of the most exciting we’ve witnessed in modern day football. It’s just a shame that, in their wake, they leave a trail of broken dreams and the discarded importance of once-relished derbies.

Perhaps most striking is the fact that the Foxes started this season as one of the favourites to be relegated. At the time of writing, they sit atop the Premier League with star striker Jamie Vardy having scored as many league goals as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi combined. Add to that the fact that Leicester have scored at least one goal in all of their Premier League games and we’re potentially looking at a new dawn for football in the UK.

But where does this leave the old favourites? The ‘big boys’ of Premier League football? If you take one look at the foot of the table, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d inadvertently awoken in an alternate reality this morning. Chelsea practically fighting relegation? Manchester United dropping points quicker than Ronaldo hurtling down the touchline? It really is a funny old game.

Putting Chelsea and Louis Van Gall’s fall from grace to one side, even the significance of teams such as Manchester City and Arsenal has this season paled in comparison to the unexpected success of traditionally less impressive outfits. The big money associated with the big teams and the ‘big’ matches suddenly seems a little extravagant and vulgar (even in today’s game) when the likes of Riyad Mahrez – the Foxes midfielder who has shone this season – cost just £350,000.

Unfortunately, Leicester’s surprise dominance, vibrant displays of exciting football and the revelation of previously unknown heroes has cast something of a shadow over one of the game’s most treasured events: the humble derby. Can you remember the score when Spurs met Arsenal back in November? What about the clash of the Manchester titans in October? You had to Google it, didn’t you? If you didn’t, I’ll save you the trouble – they were both relatively boring draws.

So where does this leave football? Are we really in a new era where we favour the brave and unexpected journeys to greatness from the likes of Leicester, Watford and Crystal Palace? Have the big games with even bigger gates and TV revenues ceased to be of interest? It’s possible. There’s nothing less palatable than the force with which money has taken hold of our beautiful game and the kind of characters it has brought with it – fly-by-night chairmen, players who confuse fortuitous wealth with greatness – have turned Saturday afternoons into commercial entities.

Leicester may or may not win the Premier League this year, but they appear to have achieved a far greater feat thus far; they’ve diverted the spotlight from the ‘big four’ (if you can even remember what that consisted of) and have proved that, above all, football is about grit, determination and a desire to win.

Featured image: All rights reserved by Alex Hannam