YOU SAID WHAT?: Phil Helm couldn't resist a few fist pumps after hearing that his beloved Leicester City had captured the English Premier League title.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO
YOU SAID WHAT?: Phil Helm couldn't resist a few fist pumps after hearing that his beloved Leicester City had captured the English Premier League title.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO
LEICESTER City soccer club pulling off the seemingly impossible and winning the English Premier League Championship is a sentence few could ever imagine saying ... but Whanganui man Phil Helm has dreamed of hearing it for nigh on 50 years.
From a young age Helm has supported the Midlands club- known affectionately as the Foxes - but even he concedes that until Tuesday morning there hadn't been much to write home about.
The car valet did a wee jig around his workshop in Heads Rd when news came through that Tottenham Hotspur had drawn with Chelsea to hand Leicester the title, the first in the club's 132-year history.
"I knew the Spurs/Chelsea match was crucial, but all I could do was listen to news updates on radio in my workshop," Helm said.
"When the final whistle blew and the news came through it was a draw I immediately did a jig around the shop coaxing my workmate to dance with me - she obliged. I was elated. It was easily the best result in the nearly 50 years I've been supporting them."
Helm, who played football for the Wanganui Athletic Football Club from 1968 until retiring from the beautiful game in 1996, only picked Leicester as his team to support because his mates hadn't.
"Back when we were all youngsters we picked English teams to support and everyone went for high-profile name clubs. I went for Leicester because they were a lowly no-name club. I've definitely had some bagging for it over the years, but the last 12 months I've been able to give it all back and them some, especially now."
Helm said he was not a betting man so unfortunately did not have a cent on his team to win the English Premier League - even at 1000-1 with the New Zealand TAB.
Helm visited the team's former hallowed ground in Filbert St back in 2001, but didn't go to the match that day.
"It was a pre-season game against an Italian side, so it wasn't that important in the bigger scheme of things. I don't even know the result to this day. I'm just so happy they have made this comeback over the past 12 months after nearly being relegated last year. I will definitely head around to my old mate Les Crossley's place with a bottle in my hand to celebrate. He is as loyal to Leicester as I am."
Helm puts the turnaround in fortunes for Leicester down to a humble club culture.
"They are a team of misfits, cast-offs and no-name players that don't think they're s*** hot like the big name players do. Even their coach seems to be a down-to-earth guy that has gone back to basics. This team only cost $63 million to put together and not $650 million the major clubs spent," Helm said.
In the meantime, he will be doing the rounds in the next wee while making sure all his mates have heard the most unlikely sentence ever put together - Leicester have won the English Premier League title.
