Yahoo Finance Leicester City’s fairy-tale Premier League triumph is turning out to be a big win for publishers
It will be very hard to miss the story of Leicester City winning the English Premier League over the next few months. Days after the club’s unlikely title win—the biggest loss by bookies in British history on a single sporting market—at least seven books documenting the phenomenal Leicester City story have been announced by publishers.
First out will be an unofficial biography of Jamie Vardy, Leicester City’s star striker, on May 19. Vardy, 29, was turned down at 16 by Sheffield Wednesday for being ‘too small,’ so he worked shifts at a factory. Despite finding his way back into soccer, at the start of the decade Vardy was still playing non-league football with Halifax Town before joining Leicester City in 2012 for £1 million—a record fee for a non-league player. Central to Leicester City’s success, Vardy has scored 22 league goals and broken a 13-year-old record of scoring in ten consecutive Premier League matches. Vardy’s story will also be documented in his official autobiography, which promises to tell the “story that people don’t know” and is scheduled for an October release.
Out on May 26, 5000-1: The Leicester City Story will cover “the most remarkable underdog story in the history of the Premier League” according to its author. A day later, The Immortals: The Story of Leicester City’s Premier League Season 2015/16 is due to be published. Following in June will be King Power, a story of the club’s shock title win in the words of “the club’s biggest fan.”
On Sept. 22, Fearless: How Leicester City Shook the Premier League, and What it Means for Sport is due out. Also planned is a biography of Claudio Ranieri, Leicester City’s manager. Out on Nov. 3 this year, the book will focus on “the man behind this modern-day footballing fairy tale.” Ranieri’s success at Leicester City is just as shocking as the club’s title win. Fifteen months ago, he was fired as coach of Greece after a humiliating loss to Faroe Islands in the European championship qualifiers.
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