Tumusiime: Team Leicester City vindicates the Holy Bible

By Tumusiime Kabwende Deo

Thus goes a screamer in the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 20, verse 6, that: ‘So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’ And it’s apparently alarmist statements like these that usually landed the son of God Jesus Christ in deep trouble to the point of being crucified. But who can ever fault Jesus? Every action of his, even the most obviously ‘crazy’, later turned out full of wisdom. And in Leicester City Football Club winning the English Premier League, yet again, Jesus words have come true.

Like many people across the world, I personally did not know much about Team Leicester City until sometime this year. Of course this team has always been among the last on the Premier League table, and in fact came so close to being relegated last season. The first of Leicester City games I watched was against my traditional team Manchester United. That time I was like-this is a small team and United should walk over it. However, as the game continued, I watched a Leicester City team pull off lovely moves, and their star player Jamie Vardy scored an impressive goal. It was then that I appreciated just how good this lowly team was.

For the past 20 years, the Premier League trophy has rotated around the so-called big four teams; Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City. This made sense then, because they are the moneyed teams that could afford to buy the most talented players from anywhere in the world. Team Leicester has demystified the belief that the more money a team has, the more likelihood to win the trophy. Their entire squad is valued at 54 million Sterling Pounds, compared to Arsenal at 251 million Sterling Pounds, Manchester City at 418 million Sterling Pounds. This achievement by an underdog is such a memorable story to tell in the history of the game of Football and certainly a nod of inspiration for anyone that desires it in life.

Team Leicester City, in my view, has completely vindicated Jesus’ teaching that the first will be last and the last first. Yes, last season round, Team Chelsea won the accolade as Leicester was struggling with relegation. This time, Chelsea is nowhere close to the top four teams – and who would have dreamed of anything like this? Yet according to Jesus the son of the living God, everything is possible in God’s name. It may not happen today or tomorrow; but as long as you maintain our faith in God, certainly great things are bound to happen at some point in your life. I am so proud to have lived to see a team from far off at the bottom rise to the helm and deservedly so.

Perhaps focusing on Leicester as a team may overshadow individual stories. We know for sure that their manager Claudio Ranieri was once a coach of Chelsea Football Club before being axed 12 years ago without winning a single trophy. This man did not fold his hands away in frustration as if it was the end of the world, but instead tried his luck in a small team, committing his very best of imagination. A decade later, Ranieri’s name has been registered in the history books as the man that led a small team to an unthinkable dream. And every single player in the Leicester team surely must have their individual story to tell, of how they emerged from grass to Grace. What an inspiration!

One thing though that I have always hated about the culture in the Premier League, is the business of moneyed teams snatching players budding with potential and then ruining their talent. A player that has excelled at Leicester for example joins a team like Manchester City or Arsenal lured by big sums of money, only to find himself on the bench and ending up frustrated. This has happened to the likes of Thiery Henry who left Arsenal for Barcelona, Stewart Downing from Aston Villa to Liverpool, Shaun Right-Phillips from Manchester City to Chelsea, José Antonio Reyes – Sevilla to Arsenal, Nicolas Anelka – Arsenal to Real Madrid, Eric Djemba-Djemba from Nantes to Manchester United, and so on. These players were later labelled flops in their new teams, yet they had potential of growing their talent in their smaller teams, which to me is far more important than money.

A player is as good as he is able to display his talent on the pitch, but when one is unable to have ample game time, they are badly affected professionally, on top of the fact that they don’t be growing any younger. It is against this background that I would love to see the crop of players at Leicester City stick together for more seasons to come. Who knows…they could sustain their success and establish their own football empire.

Bravo Team Leicester! You have made many of us proud.

Tumusiime is an International Communications Consultant