The Fantastic Foxes are Champions
And Paddy Power is celebrating punters brave enough to back them at massive odds
Punters who pulled Paddy Power’s pants down by landing bets on 5000/1 outsiders Leicester City at the start of the season are to be honoured with an open top bus tour around Leicester city centre.
Celebrations are taking place up and down the country after Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham on Monday night handed the Foxes a remarkable first Premier League title in their 130-year history.
And just like all champions deserve, the sheepish bookmaker is laying on a Jamie Vardy party-inspired open top bus tour for winning punters, or FANtastic Foxes as he likes to call them (Get it? Don’t worry he’s here all week), ahead of the club’s final home game against Everton on Saturday.
The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will see punters hop aboard the 32ft long open top bus, which features congratulatory messages along each side and humble-pie quotes on the rear from football pundits, including Gary Lineker, who doubted Foxes boss Claudio Ranieri’s credentials at the start of the season.
An ‘overjoyed’ Paddy Power will also be riding on the fun bus to hand over the customary giant cheques to some of the bookie’s heftier winners. That includes Paddy Power customer Andrew Pitney from Bristol, who will be joined by his family to pick up a whopping £50,000 after placing a £20 bet at odds of 2500/1 at the start of the season.
Flush punters will be joined on-board by Leicester legend Matt Elliott, who has tasted his fair share of success with the club. Elliott was a key figure in the club’s historic League Cup run in 2000, finding the back of the net twice in the Foxes 2-1 win over Tranmere Rovers in the final.
‘I have some wonderful memories from my Foxes days but I can’t imagine what these players are going through – it’s the biggest football fairytale I can think of’, said the former Leicester man. ‘To go from relegation battlers to champions in 9 months is an unbelievable achievement and fair play to punters who had the courage to bet on them – I’m not sure if Paddy wants to laugh or cry!’
The open top bus tour will be departing from Paddy Power’s Haymarket, Leicester shop at 1.00pm on Saturday 7 May ahead of Leicester’s final home game of the season against Everton. There’s five spots on the bus up for grabs for fans who want to get involved – keep your eyes on @PaddyPower over on the Twitter machine for more info.