'I promised the players that after our first clean sheet, I’d treat them all to pizza - but instead of eating them, the boys would have to make their own!' Claudio Ranieri on the evening that inspired remarkable Leicester City Premier League title win

Naturally enough, Claudio Ranieri has nothing but fond memories of Leicester City's incredible 2016 Premier League title win - and he believes that 5,000/1 shot was made possible by his side's incredible team spirit.

Leicester had only narrowly avoided relegation straight back to the Championship the previous season, but were successful in turning their early-season momentum into a sustained push at the top of the table.

But Ranieri told FourFourTwo that bond between the Leicester players did not just come out of nowhere.

Claudio Ranieri: 'I wanted them to bond and understand that everything had to be earned'

With Leicester sitting almost exactly in the middle of England, the Italian manager had to deal with a playing squad who had homes in all different directions.

That meant the veteran manager had to go out of his way to make sure the players still got some quality time together away from the training pitch.

Ranieri told FourFourTwo: "They were all good lads – humble and eager to work. Whether we won, drew or lost, they trained at 100 per cent.

"Many of them didn’t actually live in Leicester, so they didn’t spend a huge amount of time together away from the pitch. Some would head back to London, others to Manchester.

"For example, when we organised team dinners, [Jamie] Vardy never really came along. He was quite a solitary character by nature, but I’ve never been a despot.

"There were rules, of course – as long as those were still respected, everything ran smoothly. There were never any real problems."

Leicester City famously bonded through pizza during the 2015/16 season - a scheme that Ranieri (quite literally) cooked up as an incentive for his side to improve their defensive record.

Leicester did not keep a clean sheet in their first nine games of the season, conceding twice to Sunderland, Aston Villa, Stoke and Southampton, and five to Arsenal - but that 5-2 defeat to the Gunners at the King Power Stadium was nonetheless the only one of those games they actually lost.

Ranieri said: "Things went well from the beginning. Perhaps the only issue during the early weeks was that we conceded a few too many goals. That’s when the idea of the pizza came to me.

"What a laugh that was! I promised the players that after our first clean sheet, I’d treat them all to pizza. When we beat Crystal Palace 1-0 in October, I decided to make it even better.

"Instead of simply eating them, the boys would have to make their own pizzas! More than anything, I wanted them to bond and understand that everything had to be earned.

"So a few evenings after that match, we went to this pizzeria that had a huge room upstairs. The lads thought they were just going to sit down and eat – instead they found themselves having to prepare everything from scratch.

"There was flour everywhere and they were all laughing like mad. It became an unforgettable evening and, more importantly, it strengthened our team spirit even further."