The team behind the discovery of Richard III under a Leicester council car-park claim the city's greatest secret may have inspired the club to the English Premiership title.

As congratulations poured in for Claudio Raneiri's side's success - achieved against the odds after nearest rivals Tottenham were held to a 2-2 draw at Chelsea - it emerged that a joint Scottish-English research project may have bolstered the side's confidence at a crucial time.

One year ago Richard III was buried at Leicester Cathedral, after experts from the city's university and Dundee University reconstructed his face.

University of Leicester archaeologist Mathew Morris who worked on the Richard III dig said: "Starting out on that project, we never had any inkling what we were getting us or the city into.
"It's a brilliant coincidence that the sponsorship is King Power and I remember thinking back in 2012 that it can't be that often that you get 500-year-old dead monarchs being used as football chants. You just knew it appealed to everyone at that point.
"It was almost like Leicester took a look at itself and thought 'hang on we've got something going on here'."


Asked how he felt about Leicester being cast into the limelight twice in under five years, Mr Morris said: "It's almost not twice, it's just continued to grow.


"There's this sense of pride in the city that possibly wasn't there as much before. People were proud to be from Leicester but didn't talk about it much, now they are quite happy to proclaim it from the rooftops.


"Spiritual bones, mystical stuff is rubbish obviously, but that new-found confidence the city has had from the Richard III project perhaps has filtered through into the football."


Shawn Odukwe, a student at the University of Leicester, is part of the team which has been measuring the shockwaves caused by the team's success with equipment normally used to detect earthquakes.


The 19-year-old said: "I'm from Cardiff originally and I knew Leicester as another rugby city, now it's as much a football city. There's a sense of pride in what Leicester have done this season."


Mr Soulsby said: "For too long, Leicester people have been modest about their achievements and the city they live in.

"Now - thanks first to the discovery of King Richard III and the Foxes' phenomenal season - it's our time to step into the international limelight.

"We are rightly proud of our football club and our city and now we've got the chance to show it."

Leicester were 5,000/1 odds to be crowned Premier League champions.

William Hill said 25 customers took those odds with the largest stake £20 from a customer in Manchester and the smallest 5p from a woman in Edinburgh. Its biggest winner was a customer from Guildford, Surrey, who staked £75 when the odds were 1500/1 and will win £112,500.

Former Celtic, and Leicester manager, Martin O'Neill summed up the mood when he said: "Not only is it a brilliant story, but it gives everyone that little bit of hope again. That romance has not left football.

"It's been the talk of Europe, there's no question about that. Everything about this season has been remarkable."