The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

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They know that much of their success this campaign has been down to other sides failing miserably, and that next season offers them all a shot at redemption; Manchester City and Chelsea with incoming managers, Manchester United too if Jose Mourinho gets his way, Arsenal in what might be Arsene Wenger’s final season at the club, and even Liverpool where Jurgen Klopp now has a full summer of fine-tuning ahead. Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham, who ran them so close, are built to last. The truth is, though, it doesn’t even matter. This has been a mentally exhausting season for any Leicester City fan who has chased the dream of this once-in-a-lifetime title alongside their blue-shirted heroes; far more than any relegation battle or second-tier promotion charge could ever be. There have been four standout players in Wes Morgan, N’Golo Kante, Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy, but it goes without saying that this team is so much greater than the sum of its parts. Leicester’s lineup is an electrical circuit that needs all of its components to power on; Ranieri its master technician. In fact, Leicester have won an incredible 14 matches by a single strike this season – seven more than Arsenal, and eight better than Tottenham and Manchester City.

All this is supposed to be satirical but it has little or no resemblance to life as we know it, without which satire is impossible. Just as I was trying hard to become interested in the advertised state-of-the-nation-satirical-political novel, it suddenly turned thriller, and pretty daft thriller at that: the prime minister’s senior private secretary is murdered because he threatens to blow the whistle; two other people from the political classes are hit on the head, one with a wrench and the other, if I remember clearly, with the butt of a gun. The young woman who was hit on the head with a wrench, Jen Lewis, is the daughter of Myfanwy Davies-Jones, who is, I think, supposed to evoke Molly Parkin. Various grandees such as historian Lord Briskett and the mysterious gay fixer and strategist Alois Haydn pop up. Haydn, who is bankrupt, decides that, although he is the chief adviser of the yes camp and the architect of the conspiracy, he will leak what has happened to the opposition and at the same time short Britain, making himself many millions when the markets crash. So this becomes a financial fraud novel as well. Haydn’s Indian partner leaves him in disgust, perhaps to demonstrate that there is some decency and sense in this world. It will surely never happen again – not just the case of a team in such despair as last season reviving themselves to challenge, but bulldozing past not one or two but six footballing giants and beyond to live out the most sensational of storylines. Under the manager who never should have been appointed, they said, Leicester would be relegated. 5,000/1, the bookmakers said.

The ... Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable," 2007 book by author Nassim Nicholas Taleb Crossword Clue Just don’t call it a fairy tale. If the phrase has proved a worn cliché over the last six months anyway, now it’s simply not true. The Collins Dictionary defines ‘fairy tale’ as being “a highly improbable account”– but this has happened. This is very real.

Next season the bigger clubs can reclaim their places atop the pile, and even make their plays at trying to buy Leicester’s best players. They might just succeed. Feels, for the first time, like we're genuinely moving into 'big game' territory here. I don't like it. #lcfc Don't play particularly well. Win 3-2 at Everton. Five points clear. Top at Christmas. Bottom this time last year. WHAT IS THIS. There have been plenty of other heroes along the way – head of recruitment Steve Walsh has crafted an outstanding scouting network so essential to the building of this history-making squad; fans’ favourite midfielder Andy King, meanwhile, has become the first player to win the top three divisions with the same club, and now prepares for a final-day trip to Stamford Bridge – the ground on which he used to be a ball boy in Ranieri’s Chelsea days.

Score for IMPROBABLE

Bit credit to Ranieri as well: subs all made a positive impact, and Dyer in particular just gave us another dimension.