Kerry Dixon Knihy

A must-read biography of one of the greatest football managers of all time

From the loveable Claudio Ranieri winning the Premier League with the 5,000\-1 underdogs to Brendon Rodgers lifting the FA Cup five years later this is the story of football’s romantics, the archetypal underdogs biting the so\-called Super League elite. If ever there was the perfect riposte to those inflated egos who wanted to take the game away from the people and claim it as their own, then the exploits of Leicester City epitomises the right of the true fans to dream the impossible dream. First Ranieri fulfilled those dreams with he broke the mould of the Big Five and claimed the title, and then, perhaps even more remarkable, to prove it wasn’t just a one\-off, Rodgers ended a long run of FA Cup Final heartaches by claiming the club’s first ever victory in the world’s oldest and most prestigious cup competition. In so doing he became the first manager since Sir Alex to win the cup both side of the border. Between the two highly unpredictable episodes came untold tragedy when the club’s adored owner was killed in a helicopter crash leaving the King Power Stadium. Aiyawatt \x27Top\x27 Srivaddhanaprabha took over the running of the club after his father Vichai died in that tragedy in 2018. The Thai family bought the club in 2010 and have transformed it from a provincial outfit to a global entity.

If three months has seemed like a long time to wait for Liverpool fans to finally, officially, win the Premier League title, it is nothing compared to the 30 years since the Reds last lifted the old First Division trophy back in April 1990.In this, one of the strangest seasons football has known, the identity of the next champions of England has never really been in doubt since; Jurgen Klopp's men have been unstoppable, winning 26 of their first 27 games and stretching into a 25 point lead before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus epidemic. The impact of Klopp on the Anfield club has been nothing short of remarkable. When he arrived in 2015, the club seemed to be in the doldrums and a title seemed decades away with the mega-rich owners of Chelsea and Manchester City set to dominate for years.Now he has won four trophies in just over a year!In 'Champions At Last' former Daily Mirror Chief Football Writer Harry Harris has followed the career of Klopp and analyses what makes the former Borussia Dortmund boss tick and how he has managed the transformation of the club to the extent that he is now seen as a modern incarnation of legendary Liverpool boss Bill Shankly.