Leicester City have run away with the Championship using almost the same team that could only finish sixth in the league last season. How?

Overview

Now let's get one thing straight right from the very start here. This Leicester City team was not assembled for free, by Nigel Pearson, using only the people who live down his street and the tools he could find in his garden shed. This is, contrary to all the "it's a miracle" themed coverage of the Foxes richly, thoroughly deserved promotion procession, a reasonably expensively assembled side.

They spent £2m on Chris Wood, who rarely starts, £1m on Jamie Vardy from Fleetwood, £1m on Wes Morgan from Forest, and while the fees for Ritchie De Laet, Danny Drinkwater, Kasper Schmeichel and others remain undisclosed — that clubs have to declare how much they paid to the agent involved in the deal but not how much the deal itself was remains an absolute farce — you can bet it wasn't a pint of best and a packet of cheese an onion for the lot.

Leicester, under the ownership of Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, have not been afraid of buying players, paying big wages and generally throwing money around — why do you think Sven Goran Eriksson ended up here for a while? A holistic team of youth teamers and local boys playing for nothing but the love of the club and the shirt on their backs this is not.

Where the story does become remarkable though is in the last two seasons.. Leicester finished ninth in 2011/12 and during 2012/13 added seven permanent signings to their squad — Marco Futacs from Portsmouth , Zak Whitbread from Norwich , Conor Clifford from Chelsea, the aforementioned Wood, Ritchie De Laet and Matthew James from Manchester United and Vardy from Fleetwood.

Only De Laet, James and Vardy can be considered regular starters. Futacs and Whitbread have four Leicester appearances between them this season and have spent the majority of the campaign out on loan. Clifford was released to Southend a year ago. Wood plays most of his football from the bench.

Last season they finished sixth and lost the play off semi final at Watford in incredible circumstances — missing a last minute penalty to win the tie and then allowing the Hornets to storm downfield and win the game with the last kick from Troy Deeney.

Such footballing anguish and heartbreak can often create a hangover effect into the following season. All that work, all the exertion, and an almighty kick in the crotch is your reward and abiding memory. QPR fans will know the feeling, having been dealt a sucker punch in the final minute of extra time in their only appearance in a play-off final to date, against Cardiff at the Millennium Stadium back in 2003. Rangers recovered sufficiently to win automatic promotion a year later, but they signed Martin Rowlands and Gareth Ainsworth that summer to add much needed attacking quality and thrust in the wide areas to do it.

Leicester changed almost nothing. Last summer they signed just three players — Dean Hammond from Southampton, Zoumana Bakayogo from Tranmere and an ever expanding Gary Taylor-Fletcher from Blackpool who looks more like a makeweight in a dads v lads match down the local park than a professional footballer. Again, only Hammond and Taylor-Fletcher can be considered regulars, and both play most of their football from the bench. Kevin Phillips was picked up in January for that little bit extra in the run in but, again, rarely starts.

This is, therefore, as near as damn it, the same Leicester City team that finished ninth, nine points short of the play offs, in 2011/12 and almost exactly the same team that lost in the play offs a year ago. For their first game of the Easter weekend in 2012 Leicester fielded Schemiechel, Morgan, Lloyd Dyer, Andy King, Drinkwater, David Nugent and Jeffrey Schlupp who were all involved at Reading on Monday night. At Watford in May the heartbroken 13 players used included 11 who were involved on Monday. And yet now this side is top, promoted with six games to spare, seven points clear of Burnley in second and 15 away from Derby in third.

So what is this sorcery? How can the same core group of players from two years ago, and basically the same starting 11 from 12 months previous, improve to such an extent? Well, drugs. Or the division has got considerably worse. Or, they've shunned all modern football thinking and decided to stick with a single manager and his philosophy, and work on coaching and improving the players they have rather than constantly looking to spend money on new ones. If you watch only ten minutes of football content this week then make it this BBC East Midlands report from behind the scenes at Leicester's training ground — a state of the art facility chock full of nutritionists, physios, IT geeks, match analysers, masseurs, dieticians, coaches, scouts and more.

When City walked away from Vicarage Road last May they decided to pursue a path more common to cycling than football — one of "marginal gains". Having finished sixth, and gone close in the play offs, they focused on getting a little bit extra out of every existing squad member, to give them that extra push this term. "It soon adds up," says Pearson.

One shudders to think what a similar ten minute piece from BBC LDN would look like down at QPR's rudimentary Harlington training set up (still no spade in the ground at Warren Farm incidentally). QPR are entirely the opposite, always signing more players to cure problems, always replacing managers when it doesn't go well, rarely developing players or improving them at all.

In amongst the ageing big name crocks that became the order of the day once QPR got into the Premier League, Rangers have actually signed some really good, young, promising talents. Matthew Connolly, Hogan Ephraim, Armand Traore and Nedum Onuoha came from excellent Premier League academies, Samba Diakite and Yun Suk-Young came with raw potential from abroad, Angelo Balanta looked promising when he came out of the QPR youth ranks. Not a single one of them has improved at all. In the case of Ephraim and Balanta, they're exactly the same players they were five years ago, now with totally stagnant careers spent picking up big money while never playing any actual football.

Far from getting an extra few percentage points from each player, QPR actually quite often do the opposite, bringing in players like Junior Hoilett only to make them worse and kill their careers before signing another load of players on top of them. How many players have actually improved their game while at QPR in recent years? Jamie Mackie, Ale Faurlin. Anybody else? Really? Players who couldn't take corners two years ago still can't. Players who had a poor first touch when they joined still have a poor first touch. Players who picked up hamstring injuries regularly three years ago still do now. QPR very rarely make any improvement to a player's fitness, ability, game intelligence or obvious weaknesses. They sign a player, sling him into the team, and if he has problems they replace him with another player.

The excuse for a QPR manager is you're only ever five games without a win away from the sack, so why would you make signings or adjust your focus any further than getting points from the next few games? An argument that would hold water in this circumstance, if Nigel Pearson hadn't spent the majority of last season reading that he was about to be replaced as well. Even under that sort of pressure, there was no mass panic buying. He had a plan and he stuck to it.

Another favourite line trotted out at Loftus Road is how "unlucky" Rangers have been with injuries this season. Pearson recently fixed a reporter with a steely glare and replied simply "there's no luck involved" when asked why his team had been so "fortunate" to avoid mass absenteeism this year. Leicester work tirelessly on individual programmes designed to keep their players on the field. Everton boss Roberto Martinez describes muscle strains and pulls suffered by his players as a personal slight on his methods — caused solely by poor preparation either by his coaching staff or the players themselves. QPR watch Armand Traore, Junior Hoilett, Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson troop off early once every three starts and complain about bad luck.

The season may yet end with both sides promoted using their wildly different methods. But surely only one will foster long term success, and certainly only one has a set up that fans of the club can be proud of. Pearson has already said that he intends to change very little with his team ahead of a Premier League campaign and while that may result in relegation, Leicester will be ready and set to go straight back up, with systems in place, and considerably more spending power at their disposal, if that does happen. Hull have shown this year what can be achieved with stable management and intelligent additions when the right player becomes available.

Congratulations to Leicester on a wonderful job done brilliantly well and the very best of luck next season.

Interview

For the second time this season we welcome another of my former colleagues from the murky world of local newspapers Ian Gallagher back to LoftforWords to rub our noses in it while laughing and pointing from his lofty position at the top of the table. Wanker.

After so many years of trying to get back to the Premier League, what has made this season different? What do you attribute the success to?

Everything just seems to have come together this year. Off the pitch, the club seems to be on an even keel for once, with the owners paying off the debts and buying the stadium. On the pitch, we've just been magnificent.

It's the culmination of nearly three years' work by Nigel Pearson and his staff to strip out all the dead wood left behind by Sven, build a team and evolve it into one good enough to be promoted.

We had a decent chance last year, but looking back now it was probably a good thing we didn't go up. Everyone has improved since then, and I think we will be in a far better position to compete in the Premier League than if we'd been promoted last season.

Pearson got quite a lot of flak for not adding to the squad in the summer, but as is usually the case, he was right and the pundits were wrong.

Was there a particular moment or game that springs to mind when you knew you were going up, or at least stood a really good chance?

It started with the game against your lot before Christmas. We'd had a wobble before that, and I remember writing in my rambles for your site at the time that if we won at Loftus Road , it could be a turning point. We did, and Pearson was absolutely nailed on with his tactics that day.

A week after that, we stuck five past Bolton (despite somehow shipping three) and showed so much attacking intent, which made you realise we could blitz anyone on our day.

The eureka moment was the home game against Derby . They were in great form, and we absolutely tore them to shreds. After that I ditched the false modesty - I think it was obvious we were the best team in the league and were going up. I've just been enjoying every minute since, because seasons like this don't come along very often.

What makes Nigel Pearson so good - bearing in mind how dull he comes across on the television?

There was a really interesting piece on Late Kick Off last week (honestly, bear with me...) about how we're seen as one of the best clubs around for keeping players fit and playing. In it, the physio talked about how Pearson treats the players as people first, players second. And whenever the players are interviewed, they can't speak highly enough of him.

To a point you can only guess how he is with the squad, because he gives so little away. But he clearly has a wonderful knack of improving players and giving them confidence to express themselves on the pitch. There's a team spirit and togetherness there which you can't manufacture, and a lot of that has to have come from Pearson and his staff.

It's wonderful to see how much they enjoy playing together and playing for the club.
Also, his number two Steve Walsh (not that one) and the scouting staff need a massive pat on the back. They've plucked the likes of Anthony Knockaert and Riyad Mahrez from the obscurity of second tier French football, and turned them into folk heroes.

The signings he has made have added the nous we lacked last season to close out games. The likes of Dean Hammond, Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Kevin Phillips have all been there and done it. They may not have played much, but when they have, they have almost always made a contribution.

The lack of big names and big egos is crucial to this team - the complete opposite of the Sven era.

Who have been the stand out performers, and where are the weak links (if there are any)?

There have been so many, but the top of the list has to be Jamie Vardy. He's yet another Pearson signing who people have questioned, but has come on leaps and bounds under his tutelage. The guy's been on fire this season - his pace is electric, his finishing has been superb and his work rate is outstanding. He scares defenders, and the number of penalties he's won is testament to that. I expect him to lead the line next season.

Danny Drinkwater has made the team tick every time I've seen us this season. He's happy to sit in and let the forwards do the fancy stuff, but absolutely everything goes through him. Considering the stick ex-Foxes loanee Tom Cleverley has had this season, Alex Ferguson may wonder if he sold us the wrong midfielder.

Apart from that, Kasper Schmeichel and Wes Morgan have been immense, Knockaert has come on leaps and bounds...I could rabbit on all evening.

The biggest weak link for me is Paul Konchesky...he's got a 50 pence for a left foot and you never know what he's going to do. And nor does he, I fear.

What needs doing to the team or the squad to make it fit to compete in the Premier League? Anybody in particular you'd like to see come in?

First we need to get Kasper tied down to a new deal, as he's out of contract. He says he wants to stay and we need to move heaven and earth to keep him. If the worst happens we're apparently lining up Julian Speroni, who would be an excellent replacement.

It's hard to suggest improvements when you have a loyalty to the players that have done so well, but we will need to strengthen. We need a new left back - the thought of Konchesky facing Jesus Navas is terrifying. Neil Taylor is out of contract at Swansea and would be an excellent addition.

I think we'll need another striker to complement Vardy and David Nugent (if he stays). If we persist with four-four-f**ing-two I'd fear for us against the top teams, so we're probably going to have to change the system. Chris Wood plays like he's got lead in his boots sometimes, so I'm not sure he's the answer as backup if we're going to play with one striker.

Off the top of my head, Fabio Borini would be nice. He's not going to stay with Sunderland, and is highly unlikely to dislodge Suarez and Sturridge at Liverpool , so Brendan can send him to us if he likes. He's a workhorse too, so would fit in very well.

We maybe need another centre-half (Hangeland if Fulham go down?) and for all our ability, we're still quite a small team, so I think a big box-to-box midfielder would give us something we don't currently have.

However, I don't think we need to go mad. The Premier League is wonderfully marketed but it's not as good as the PR machine would like you to believe. There's nothing to fear from about Newcastle downwards, and I see no reason why we can't emulate the likes of Southampton and Swansea , given the size of our fanbase and backing of our owners.

I can't bloody wait.

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TacticalR added 01:05 - Apr 21 Thanks for your oppo report and to Ian. I felt the term 'science' in that BBC report was a bit of a misnomer. All the things they are doing looked sensible (and probably more thorough than a lot of other teams are doing), but it seemed to me more craftsmanship than science - basically an improvement to all their existing processes (many of those improvements suggested by the backroom staff). On the 'you're only ever five games without a win away from the sack' point, I guess Pearson was in a very strong position as he'd already parted company with Leicester and then been invited back after the failure of the more glamourous Sven.

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