Leicester City have the Premier League’s two fastest players this season but it was not Jamie Vardy and Jeffrey Schlupp that their manager Claudio Ranieri mentioned when asked whether the surprise Premier League leaders could last the distance in the title race. Instead the Italian, with a twinkle in his eye, invoked Forrest Gump.

Tom Hanks’ everyman hero in the 1994 Oscar-winning film famously ran across the United States and Ranieri suggested that his Leicester side would “run, run, run” all season long as he cited, as evidence of their staying power, their strong finish last spring when they won seven of nine fixtures to avoid relegation.

When that sequence is added to their results this term, Leicester’s record over the last 26 games reads W18 D6 L2, which supports Ranieri’s suggestion that his leaders should not run out of steam. “Look, I am very confident because if Leicester last season saved themselves in the last two months, that means the stamina is fantastic, and why can’t we continue to run, run, run?” he asked. “We are like Forrest Gump. Leicester is Forrest Gump. I give you the headline there!”

The description of Gump by Robert Zemeckis, the film’s director, as “a completely decent character [who] makes people laugh” could serve for Ranieri himself, who precedes his press conferences by shaking the hand of every journalist. Yet behind the genial demeanour, the Roman is no wide-eyed innocent.

He has been in this position before – a Christmas-time leader in promotion-winning campaigns with Fiorentina in Italy and Monaco in France – and, as he recalled on Tuesday, has also been in a title race right to the last day in Italy, when his Roma side lost out to Internazionale in 2010. “In the last 30 minutes Inter Milan scored a goal and won the scudetto [title],” he remembered.

Looking at Leicester’s prospects, they are on a run of eight wins in 10 matches before their last two fixtures of 2015 – at Liverpool on Boxing Day and at home to Manchester City on 29 December. The record books tell us that five of the last six sides to head the table on Christmas Day won the title, yet they also show that in the Premier League era teams sprinkling a bit of romance at this time have felt reality bite in the new year.

In the inaugural Premier League campaign of 1992-93, Norwich City led by four points yet finished third. In 1995, Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United had a 10-point lead but ended up as runners-up. In 1998, John Gregory’s Aston Villa sat top but fell to sixth – the only Christmas Day leaders to have slipped out of the European places altogether post-1992. On all three occasions Manchester United were champions.

Steve Watson played in both those Newcastle and Villa teams and said “it still haunts me” to have missed out with Newcastle in particular. Kevin Keegan’s team, like Leicester now, were the neutrals’ favourites and Watson recalled to The Independent: “We had a really good start and opened up a gap which normally you’d expect to see out. But Manchester United won something crazy – 13 of their last 15 games.” They also beat Newcastle twice, on 27 December and again in early March.

“When you are top of the league you do believe but there is a very long way to go,” added Watson. “At Villa, we were a very British-based squad and had a good dressing room but we didn’t have the strength in depth or global superstars that United and Arsenal and Chelsea, even, were beginning to have.”

SportFootballPremier League
Claudio Ranieri: Like Forrest Gump, Leicester can run all the way to the title

Leicester boss ‘very confident’ Foxes can keep up the pace at the top of the Premier League table
Simon Hart Wednesday 23 December 2015 18:27 BST

Claudio Ranieri celebrates Leicester City's win at Newcastle United Getty Images
Leicester City have the Premier League’s two fastest players this season but it was not Jamie Vardy and Jeffrey Schlupp that their manager Claudio Ranieri mentioned when asked whether the surprise Premier League leaders could last the distance in the title race. Instead the Italian, with a twinkle in his eye, invoked Forrest Gump.

Tom Hanks’ everyman hero in the 1994 Oscar-winning film famously ran across the United States and Ranieri suggested that his Leicester side would “run, run, run” all season long as he cited, as evidence of their staying power, their strong finish last spring when they won seven of nine fixtures to avoid relegation.

When that sequence is added to their results this term, Leicester’s record over the last 26 games reads W18 D6 L2, which supports Ranieri’s suggestion that his leaders should not run out of steam. “Look, I am very confident because if Leicester last season saved themselves in the last two months, that means the stamina is fantastic, and why can’t we continue to run, run, run?” he asked. “We are like Forrest Gump. Leicester is Forrest Gump. I give you the headline there!”



The description of Gump by Robert Zemeckis, the film’s director, as “a completely decent character [who] makes people laugh” could serve for Ranieri himself, who precedes his press conferences by shaking the hand of every journalist. Yet behind the genial demeanour, the Roman is no wide-eyed innocent.

He has been in this position before – a Christmas-time leader in promotion-winning campaigns with Fiorentina in Italy and Monaco in France – and, as he recalled on Tuesday, has also been in a title race right to the last day in Italy, when his Roma side lost out to Internazionale in 2010. “In the last 30 minutes Inter Milan scored a goal and won the scudetto [title],” he remembered.

Looking at Leicester’s prospects, they are on a run of eight wins in 10 matches before their last two fixtures of 2015 – at Liverpool on Boxing Day and at home to Manchester City on 29 December. The record books tell us that five of the last six sides to head the table on Christmas Day won the title, yet they also show that in the Premier League era teams sprinkling a bit of romance at this time have felt reality bite in the new year.

In the inaugural Premier League campaign of 1992-93, Norwich City led by four points yet finished third. In 1995, Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United had a 10-point lead but ended up as runners-up. In 1998, John Gregory’s Aston Villa sat top but fell to sixth – the only Christmas Day leaders to have slipped out of the European places altogether post-1992. On all three occasions Manchester United were champions.

Steve Watson played in both those Newcastle and Villa teams and said “it still haunts me” to have missed out with Newcastle in particular. Kevin Keegan’s team, like Leicester now, were the neutrals’ favourites and Watson recalled to The Independent: “We had a really good start and opened up a gap which normally you’d expect to see out. But Manchester United won something crazy – 13 of their last 15 games.” They also beat Newcastle twice, on 27 December and again in early March.

“When you are top of the league you do believe but there is a very long way to go,” added Watson. “At Villa, we were a very British-based squad and had a good dressing room but we didn’t have the strength in depth or global superstars that United and Arsenal and Chelsea, even, were beginning to have.”

Ranieri with star striker Jamie Vardy
As for Leicester’s prospects of succeeding where his teams failed, Watson, currently coaching at Macclesfield Town, believes they have a fighting chance because there is no team in the league “that scares you the way that United used to when we were at Newcastle, with Fergie and the quality they had. There is nobody of that calibre chasing them down and they don’t look like stopping.

“They have a very fit squad, a good team spirit, good work ethic. It is about keeping your best players fit – if they can get that luck with Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez there is no reason why they can’t and it would be great for football if they did.