Eyes fixed on the approaching half-time scores, a lone figure not wearing the FIFA Coins obligatory blue sat at a quiet table in a corner of Leicester’s King Power Stadium on Saturday. Ade Cooper scouts the opposition for Sunderland. He used to do the same at Brighton, hit it off with former manager Gus Poyet and when Poyet moved north, so did he.
Everton, Leicester’s opponents, visit the Stadium of Light on Wednesday. ‘I’m probably the only scout who’s managed to get a ticket today,’ said Cooper. It must have felt strange to be on such a sober mission, amid what amounted to a 40,000 strong street party.
Wes Morgan (right) and Claudio Ranieri lift the trophy after Leicester clinched the Premier League title Leicester defender Christian Fuchs soaks manager Ranieri in champagne during his press conference Fuchs empties a bottle of champagne over the Italian on the day Leicester received the title trophy Leicester talk is unavoidable with anyone in football these days. How? Why? What does it all mean? Where do we go from here?
Everyone has their theories and Cooper was no different. ‘This Buy FUT Coins will change the way we look at games,’ he said. ‘Everything we’ve been told is important - passing statistics, possession statistics, squad rotation, they’re proving it all wrong.’ He said he was talking to one of Leicester’s scouts earlier in the season. ‘And he said: “Everyone underestimates our manager. He’s a lot smarter than people think he is”.’Around five hours later.