On Easter weekend, the film Eddie The Eagle, starring Hugh Jackman and Christopher Walken, will be released in British cinemas.

The film tells the story of Michael Edwards, who was better known as “Eddie the Eagle” during the late 1980s when he became the first Briton to compete as a ski jumper at the winter Olympics.

This was always a tale made for Hollywood—almost identical to the Jamaican bobsleigh team who inspired the film Cool Runnings at the same Olympics in 1988—of the bullish and plucky underdog, who defied convention and the odds to pursue an unlikely dream.

Spoiler alert: Edwards came dead last and there was no happy ending, but he was still embraced as the ultimate heroic failure.

If Edwards’ ultimately unsuccessful story can make it to the big screen, the story of Leicester City’s 2015-16 season should be coming soon to your local Odeon or multiplex.

The Leicester story shares many of the same elements of the Olympian, but with the crucial difference that they are headed for glory.

What Leicester have already achieved this season continues to defy belief; this only happens in fiction or kids’ cartoons, not real life.

In March 2015, Leicester—in their first season back in the Premier League after a 10-year absence—were bottom of the table and destined to be relegated. 

Now the Foxes are 20 places higher staring down at everyone else from the summit, two points clear of Tottenham in second place with a game in hand and on course to win their first-ever title.

Such a rapid and completely unexpected transformation would be without precedent in the 128-year history of top-flight English football.  

It would probably outstrip Nottingham Forest’s achievement of winning the title and European Cup in the two seasons following their promotion to the First Division in 1977, which was the subject of their own recent film I Believe in Miracles.

This has been another miracle, achieved in a far more difficult era, and Leicester’s success should be celebrated when the title looked to have become the preserve of Russian and Middle Eastern billionaires.

It had appeared that you could only buy the Premier League now, but the east Midlands club are on the brink of proving you can still earn it.

After hauling themselves clear of the relegation zone last year with a run of seven wins from their final nine games, Leicester tapped into that belief and momentum to continue winning this season, but of course, they have done it under a different manager.

When Claudio Ranieri replaced the unfortunate Nigel Pearson in the summer, English football embarrassed itself with its collective smirk and dismissive attitude towards him, while the bookmakers immediately made him one of the favourites to be sacked first.

Here was the return of the Tinkerman, previously sneered at by his graceless successor at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho as a “loser,” and mocked in England for his near misses, while his successes were ignored.

Ranieiri cannot boast of many medals or trophies won, but he has an admirably consistent record of taking some of Europe’s leading clubs close to the summit of their leagues, including AS Monaco, Juventus, Inter Milan, Valencia and AS Roma.

It was an inspired appointment, for he has performed the same feat at Leicester, and there could still be the bonus of the title.

Ranieri returned to English football and quickly banished his Tinkerman reputation as he could see he was taking over a winning team—only a rampant ego would rip it up and start all over again.

Crucially, he also kept Pearson’s backroom staff of Craig Shakespeare, Steve Walsh and Mike Stowell.

Ranieri told Corriere della Sera, via the Daily Telegraph:

When I spoke with the players I realised that they were afraid of the Italian tactics. They did not look convinced, and neither was I.

I have great admiration for those who build new tactical systems, but I always thought the most important thing a good coach must do is to build the team around the characteristics of his players.

So I told the players that I trusted them and would speak very little of tactics. It was important to me that they all ran hard, just as seen I’d running towards the end of last season.

The Italian was astute enough to acknowledge the good work already in place and simply sought to enhance what was there, adding the talents of Christian Fuchs, N’Golo Kante and Shinji Okazaki to what was clearly an impressive foundation.

This continuity allowed Leicester to start the season strongly, and carry on winning, breeding confidence and taking them on a run even they could never have imagined.

Playing a 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2 formation, Ranieiri’s approach has been based on exploiting the stamina and running ability of his side and the raw pace of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez up front.

His side play a pressing game, set a high tempo—with Kante always primed to win the ball back—and seek to break quickly.

Despite their success, as recently as last month, Leicester had the worst statistics for passing accuracy, per BBC Sport, and the second-worst figures for possession and passes per game in the entire Premier League.

They do not want to keep the ball, but rather do something with it—and attack as quickly as possible—which has allowed them to be so prolific in front of goal.

Ranieri has employed a simple approach of trying to win, and as he told the Times after Leicester had beaten Norwich City last month: “We took the risk, the manager is hired for this reason: take a risk.”

This has allowed Vardy and Mahrez to play with freedom, and stage a personal contest for the Player of the Year awards, as between them they have racked up 34 goals and 15 assists in the league.

Will this be enough to carry them to the title? Leicester have not fluked it—they have been the best team this season—and if they go on as they have started, they will soon be champions.

But could they get vertigo and suddenly be gripped by a blind panic? It happened to a better Liverpool side in 2014 after all, but you sense if this was to happen to Ranieri’s side it would have already—especially after that late defeat to Arsenal—but they have instead surged on with wins over Norwich and Watford, and extended their lead.

A glance at Leicester’s remaining fixtures should inspire further confidence—five of their remaining nine opponents are currently in the bottom half of the table, and no one is higher than sixth.

Five of their nine games are also away, but Leicester have amassed the most points of any team on their travels so far this season, and their four home games against Newcastle United, Swansea City, Southampton and Everton all look eminently winnable.

Nine days ago, as Leicester headed towards a victory that placed them five points clear at the top of the table, their fans felt confident enough to indulge in a rendition of “We shall not be moved.”

If Leicester can play with the same intensity, belief and ruthlessness they have shown in the first 29 games they will not be moved, and the prize will not only be this season’s Premier League trophy, but the greatest story ever told in the history of English football.

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