The confirmation of Leicester’s Premier League title win came in the same kind of subdued fashion with which they have gone about their business throughout the season. With Manchester United holding the Foxes to a 1-1 draw over the weekend, they had to wait until Monday night’s result between Chelsea and Tottenham to know their immediate fate.

While chaos engulfed Stamford Bridge in an ugly tussle between the two sides, Leicester City watched from Jamie Vardy’s house, disconnected from it all. Disconnection is often seen as a bad thing, but in the Foxes’ case, it has been the thing that has kept them going through this whirlwind journey. Through it all, they have torn up reputations and history and achieved something truly spectacular.

What seemed unthinkable just over a year ago has now become one of the most remarkable stories of the English Premier League. A club that barely survived relegation last season and who were 5,000/1 to win the title at the start of it, has captured the hearts of every football fan around the world, even if not everyone will admit it publicly.

While people spewed at Chelsea, grumbled at Manchester City and just felt generally irked at every mention of Manchester United, Leicester are different. There are very few fans, if any, that would begrudge them their success. Despite the fact that they, like many other clubs who have risen from obscurity to the top of the Premier League, have had to rely on foreign investment to get there, there is very little about them that is distinctly unlikable. They do not emit an air of arrogance of a team about the achieve the greatest feat in English league football since Brian Clough led Nottingham Forest to the league title back in the 1970s, and much of that can be down to one quiet and gentle man who has been at the centre of their success: Claudio Ranieri.

Once known only as the man who led Greece to a defeat against the Faroe Islands, there is much more to him than that. Read any interview with players who have served under him in the near three decades he has coached football and the word “grounded” will appear time and again. Players and club staff repeatedly say that he treats everyone the same. Whether you are a youngster coming through the academy ranks, the cashier in the club shop or a senior and established player, before Ranieri, everyone is equal.

Photo: Leicester City’s Italian manager Claudio Ranieri reacts during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Leicester City at Old Trafford in Manchester, Britain, 01 May 2016. The match ended 1-1. EPA/NIGEL RODDIS

But the Italian also has something else which sets him aside: the ability to diffuse difficult situations and disconnect from the noise that can so easily eat you up in a league that demands so much. While Sir Alex Ferguson had a hairdryer, Ranieri has an imaginary bell. That imaginary bell has caused much amusement among the British press corps and Leicester’s players last year when Ranieri revealed that he had brought everyone a bell for Christmas as a joke. The bell, which Ranieri brings out when alertness in training starts to dip and announces by saying, “dilly-ding, dilly dong!”, has become a catchphrase within the Foxes’ squad and they even use it themselves. But this gentle and almost caricature approach is nothing new. In a Guardian interview, players who played under Ranieri as far back as 1988, all remember the bell.

Photo: Thai supporters of Leicester City watch the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Leicester on a huge screen outside the King Power Downtown Complex in Bangkok, Thailand, 01 May 2016. EPA/NARONG SANGNAK

Whatever happens in the fairy tale of Ranieri and Leicester from here, players and fans will all remember that bell. They will remembered him as a man steeped in principle and while those same principles ended in a somewhat hare-brained final few months at Chelsea, it has brought a breath of fresh air to Leicester and the Premier League.

Because in an era of egos and theatrics, the down-to-earth gentility is hard to find. Leicester’s journey to here has by no means been flawless or perfect, but you have to doff your cap and smile to a man who did not watch one of the most important matches of his team’s season because he was on a plane back from having lunch with his 96-year old mother. It also says a lot about Ranieri that, despite having had a few struggles in his last few months at the club, the Chelsea fans still felt compelled to sing: “There’s only one Ranieri” as it became apparent what their former manager had achieved. May that imaginary bell ring forever more. DM

Main Photo: Leicester City supporters react as they watch the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Totthenham Hotspur in Leicester, Britain, 02 May 2016. Leicester was crowned English Premier League champions for the first time in the club’s history clinching the title after a tie between Chelsea and Tottenham. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA