‘We were on a plane to LA and David Beckham was coincidentally there, so we got the trophy out and took some pictures with him!’ Leicester City legend on memorable celebrations following famous 2016 title win

Danny Drinkwater and Danny Simpson of Leicester City pose with Premier League Trophy on May 7, 2016 in Leicester, United Kingdom
Leicester City clinched an unlikely Premier League title in 2016 (Image credit: Getty Images)

Leicester City were given a much greater chance of being relegated than winning the league when the 2015/16 season started.

It was a reasonable position to take, given the Foxes had almost faced the drop the season prior, as the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City battled at the top.

That fact made the Midlands outfit’s win in 2016 all the more special; a feat we’ll likely never see again.

Marc Albrighton on Leicester’s heroes’ parade and showing off to David Beckham

Marc Albrighton smiles while holding the Premier League trophy at Leicester City's title victory parade, 2016

Marc Albrighton was a key feature of the title-winning side (Image credit: Getty Images)

The celebrations matched the scale of achievement, with more than 240,000 people lining the street to watch the parade, which ended at Victoria Park in the city centre.

Marc Albrighton, who featured in all 38 games for the Foxes that season, felt the weight of the achievement not only for the club, but the wider community.

“We were driving through Leicester and saw the fans, the scarves, the flags on lampposts and hanging out of windows,” he tells FourFourTwo now. “I had a bit of a moment.

“This wasn’t just huge for me, my family and the club, it was huge for the city.

“People say it’s a dream to win the league, but I don’t even think it was for me. My childhood dream was to play in the Premier League – to get my hands on the trophy was something that had never even crossed my mind.”

Predictably, the trophy travelled everywhere with Leicester following the win, including on a trip to the United States for pre-season that same summer.

That made for a perfect chance encounter with Premier League legend David Beckham on the journey out there.

English midfielder Marc Albrighton during the English Premier League football match between Leicester City and Manchester United at the King Power Stadium in Leicester on November 28, 2015.

Albrighton was part of a special group of players that year (Image credit: Getty Images)

“I never got bored of that,” he said. “I’d always be saying to security, ‘Can we get it out?’

“We were on a plane to LA for pre-season that summer and David Beckham was coincidentally there, so we got the trophy out and took some pictures with him!

Albrighton had left Aston Villa a couple of summers prior, a side that went on to be relegated that year. As a Villa fan himself, that hurt, but the wideman still feels like someone was looking down on him that year.

“Ten years on, still every single, someone will speak to me about that title win or mention it in some way,” he said. “You appreciate how big a moment it was.”

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Isaac Stacey Stronge
Freelance Writer

Isaac Stacey Stronge is a freelance football writer working for FourFourTwo, Manchester United and Football League World. He has been a season ticket holder at Stockport County throughout the Hatters’ meteoric rise from the National League North to League One and is a die-hard Paddy Madden fan.

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