"Dilly ding, dilly dong." The unlikely wording Claudio Ranieri used to describe the impending likelihood of Leicester City qualifying for European football earlier in the season.
It has become the mantra of Leicester’s unlikely title tilt and the jingle that best exemplifies the affable and excitable nature of the manager behind the extraordinary story.
If Ranieri's side beat Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, they will be crowned Premier League champions.
It would be an astonishing accomplishment for all involved, with Leicester on course to end a 132-year wait for a top-flight title and Ranieri set to finally earn a winner's medal after finishing as a runner-up with Chelsea in England, AS Roma in Italy and AS Monaco in France.
The appointment of the veteran Italian, who had most recently been fired by Greece after a disastrous four-month stint in international football, was widely mocked in the summer. Nobody is laughing now.
Beneath the jolly and gentlemanly exterior, there is a steelier edge to Ranieri. He has charmed players, supporters and journalists alike this term, namely through episodes such as employing an imaginary ‘dilly ding’ bell to improve concentration in training, taking his team on a pizza-making exercise after their first clean sheet and turning up to left-back Christian Fuchs’ birthday party a day early.
But the cuddly, even slightly bumbling, public persona should not detract from the intelligence Ranieri has shown throughout a wonderful campaign, in which the relegation favourites have won 22 of 35 games and lost only three times.
• Read more: Stars have aligned for Leicester City, with Kante, Mahrez and Vardy shining brightest
• Also see: Manchester United stall Leicester celebration, but Chelsea stop Spurs – PL predictions
The 64-year-old has been credited with not changing too much at the King Power Stadium upon his arrival last summer, with the best facets of Nigel Pearson’s team built on rather than broken down.
While Ranieri has indeed managed to retain the team spirit and high-energy approach that characterised Leicester in the second half of 2014/15, he has clearly taken the side to another level.
Leicester have kept 12 clean sheets in their last 17 league outings, a remarkable record that demonstrates how well drilled and well coached they are. Defending is a collective art, and Ranieri deserves a great deal of praise for creating a unit that is so difficult to penetrate.
Each player within Leicester’s 4-4-2 knows exactly what is expected of him, with many roles having changed since Pearson’s time in charge.
Last season’s escape act – Leicester won seven of their last nine encounters to avoid relegation – was largely achieved with a three-man backline, Riyad Mahrez in a central role, Marc Albrighton on the right of midfield and, on occasion, Jamie Vardy on the left.
Ranieri has changed all of those things, reverting to four in defence and using Vardy up top and Mahrez and Albrighton as inverted wingers on the right and left respectively.
He has not made unrealistic demands of a group of players clearly suited to the counter-attack, but his subtle adjustments have had a significant effect.
There have been astute in-game alterations too, even if Ranieri has benefited from the luxury of being able to name the same starting XI for the vast majority of 2016.
Leonardo Ulloa was introduced to great effect against Norwich City and Sunderland, while Jeff Schlupp, Demarai Gray and Andy King have also produced impressive cameo performances in recent weeks.
“I do not think it’s a perfect formula,” Ranieri said of his approach in February. “Football is not chemistry, there are no universal rules, you have to take the best from the group you have.”
While that much is true and the Italian has evidently favoured evolution over revolution, his modest personality and courteous conduct should not preclude recognition that he has done far more than simply stand back and allow an already upwardly-mobile outfit to get on with things.
Leicester are on the brink of history and Ranieri on the verge of going down as the manager responsible for the most unlikely title triumph in the history of English football.
His success proves nice guys can win after all, but Ranieri’s laid-back character should not mean his influence is downplayed.
Better too early than too late
The eve of his side’s FA Cup semi-final is not the ideal time for speculation about a manager’s future to intensify, but that was the reality for Quique Sanchez Flores last week.
Watford's 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace at Wembley has only accelerated talk of the Spaniard being moved on this summer, just a year after taking charge with the remit of keeping the newly-promoted outfit in the Premier League.
Having taken 41 points from 34 matches, Sanchez Flores looks to have fulfilled that objective rather comfortably.
Throw in a first appearance in the last four of the FA Cup since 2007 and the former Al Ahli and Al Ain coach would appear to have exceeded all expectations at Vicarage Road.
From that perspective, then, his firing would be harsh, but the logic behind the Watford board’s thinking seems to relate to Watford’s drop-off in the second half of the campaign.
A 2-2 draw at Chelsea in their 18th match of the season kept Watford in seventh place on 29 points – the same total as Manchester United and three fewer than Tottenham Hotspur.
Since then, though, there have been only three Premier League victories, three draws and 10 defeats. Watford have slipped down to 12th ahead of Saturday's clash with Aston Villa and are now just two points above Crystal Palace in 16th.
The concern is that this slump may be replicated in the first few months of 2016/17, potentially leaving Watford in a precarious position towards the bottom of the table. Replacing Sanchez Flores now, the theory goes, would prevent the rot from truly setting in.
Dismissing a manager who has done what was asked of him and more would certainly seem unfair, but the Pozzo family who own the club are popular with supporters and will likely be given the benefit of the doubt.
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