Danny Simpson was an important part of the Leicester City side that won the Premier League in 2015/16, as the Foxes defied all the odds to lift the title.
Claudio Ranieri was the mastermind behind the Leicester City side that lifted the trophy at the end of the season, with many fans in shock at his appointment ahead of the campaign due to the job Nigel Pearson had done to keep them up the year prior.
It was expected that Leicester City would have been relegated back to the Championship that season; however, come May, they had become only the sixth club to lift the Premier League.
Claudio Ranieri poses with the Premier League Trophy while Kasper Schmeichel puts the crown on the head of the manager
Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
In order to achieve this, there needed to be a belief in the squad, and Danny Simpson has opened up about exactly how they managed to achieve this mindset to secure this piece of history.
West Ham draw made Danny Simpson believe Premier League title was coming
Danny Simpson has spoken about the experience of lifting the Premier League and how he knew they were on their way to achieving victory, pinpointing the exact game he believed Leicester were going to succeed.
The former Leicester City full-back spoke about this game against West Ham on the Beyond the Back Four podcast.
He said: “Everyone has their own opinion on when they thought it would happen, but for me, I just didn’t want to believe it. I was too scared to believe it. It’s the old cliche of taking it game by game. But when we beat City 3-1, that’s when my family started thinking it, and in the dressing room we started to believe it.
“For me though, it was the West Ham game; Jamie Vardy got a red card, and we were 2-1 down. Tottenham were playing just after us, looking to close the gap. In the end, Jeffrey Schlupp won us a penalty in the final minute, and Ulloa put it away, and we drew 2-2. And I remember thinking afterwards, ‘No, we can’t lose this now’.”
How Leicester City managed to win Premier League against all odds
Danny Simpson pointed to the quality players that Leicester City had acquired following their survival in the Premier League from the season before under Pearson.
While the signings were important, it was all stitched together by Ranieri, who got the most from his squad and used all his tactical nous.
Jamie Vardy being sent off for Leicester City against West Ham
Photo credit should read ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images
He said: “I think it was belief. We went from fighting relegation and had won eight of our last 11 that season. We said in pre-season, we’ve just done that, why can’t we carry that on? Not arrogance, but confidence and belief, that if we can just outwork teams.
“And obviously we had special players who became Premier League legends in my eyes; Mahrez, Vardy, Kante, those three that took it to the next level, and with the rest of us around them. It was a perfect recipe. We had no fear. Eventually we just felt we could beat anybody. You don’t get that often in your career… it was a nice feeling.”