But former Chelsea manager Ranieri said he would not pay big transfer fees despite the extra demands facing Leicester, who will play in their first Champions League campaign next term.
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The Leicester squad congregated at top scorer Jamie Vardy’s house to watch Chelsea’s second-half comeback and predictably wild celebrations greeted the final whistle.
“Nobody believed we could do it, but here we are – Premier League champions and deservedly so”, Leicester captain Wes Morgan said.
“I said every time I am very happy for the fans, for the chairman and for all the Leicester community”, Ranieri said.
The team had been 5000-1 underdogs after a relegation battle last season, and most pundits predicted they would once again find themselves in the second-tier Championship.
Leicester have been challenging at the top of the table virtually all season but winning the league seemed so improbable that they only recently became title favourites.
“Everyone has been telling us all along that Leicester haven’t got a chance, but they just kept on winning”.
While Ranieri will not upset the squad it is clear they will need to learn to juggle their responsibilities as they head for the Champions League.
“I’ve not (known a bond like it), and I think the rest of the lads would answer the question the same”.
At their training ground in Leicester, sleepless but bright-eyed players continued in party mood as, amid much festivity, training took on a festive air while the club’s Thai owner flew in by helicopter to congratulate them. “It is hard to put over in words”.
VisitBritain’s 2015 report – “Football tourism scores for Britain” – highlighted the valuable role of the Premier League as a global draw for visitors to Britain and its importance in attracting visitors outside the peak summer season. In the United Kingdom, audiences have grown from 785,000 to over one million per game, an increase of 29 percent, whilst in Italy they have doubled, arguably thanks in large part to the success of Italian manager, Claudio Ranieri.
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It was a typical response from Ranieri, who has spent all season dampening down the expectations of supporters only to finally oversee a triumph considered perhaps the most unlikely in the annals of English football. How could a team valued at less than just one of the big-club players snatch the greatest prize of all?
