“We took a calculated risk,” says Matthew Constantine, the collections, interpretation and learning manager at Leicester Arts and Museums Service, which manages the New Walk Museum and Gallery, and developing an exhibition that looks at success of the city's football club.
The museum has postponed its summer exhibition, Birds, to make way for a show that will tell the story of how Leicester City Football Club, known as the Foxes, made the extraordinary journey from facing relegation at the bottom of the league last year to becoming this season’s Premier League winners.
The brave decision to stage the exhibition, which will be put together in just 45 days, was taken when Leicester still had several games left, although confidence in the team was high after its surprise-win against Manchester City in February.
On that historic day at the Etihad stadium in Manchester the whole Leicester squad cost less than one of Manchester City’s substitutes – one of many interesting facts that will be presented throughout the exhibition.
“Leicester could have lost all those other matches and come fifth. We took a risk that the story was still big enough,” explains Constantine.
The intense interest in the club became clear, he adds, when Leicester City Council’s media office revealed that it had more international press inquiries about the football club than the excavation of King Richard III.
“You realise the power of the Premier League as an international marketing brand - it is on another scale," says Constantine.
"People were not just interested in the football, they were suddenly interested in where Leicester was and what kind of place it was," he says. "That made me realise that there was a story here and I wanted to try and capture it."
The exhibition will chart the story of the team’s success and explore the lives of the players, who achieved success against all the odds. This will include Jamie Vardy, who four years ago was playing non-league football matches wearing an electronic tag following a conviction for assault. The 28-year-old, who is now playing for England, had to leave matches early so he did not break his curfew.
Visitors to the exhibition will also have the chance to share their own stories about football and Leicester’s win. The museum also commissioned a film, which will capture the reaction of the fans at a number of matches throughout the season. Photographs and items borrowed from Leicester City Football, including scarves and clap bangers and ‘Salt and Vardy’ crisps.
Constantine believes the exhibition will attract more local people into the museum.
“The visitor figures have been holding steady over recent years but the visitor profile has been changing. We are getting fewer local visitors and getting more tourists,” says Constantine.
This, he adds, is likely to be due to the work that has been done on the museum’s German expressionist art collection, which has brought in visitors from London and attracted new sources of funding. Constantine is concerned that this focus has made it appear as though the museum is more catered toward “middle class art lovers” rather than the local population.
“The museum was created in 1849 to be this common community space for everybody,” he says.
“Leicester is a famously a very diverse city and you are actually seeing that on the terraces. People who didn’t have an interest in football before are getting excited and interested in it.
“The museum has always had an interest in the history of football […] one of reasons professional sport takes off in the late 19th century is that it helps unify diverse populations in growing urban centres. Following the local team is a way of creating a sense of a strong identity.”
Fearless Foxes is a partnership between BBC Radio Leicester, the Leicester Mercury, Leicester City Football Club and Leicester City Council. It will open on 4 June and run until, September.
The museum has postponed its summer exhibition, Birds, to make way for a show that will tell the story of how Leicester City Football Club, known as the Foxes, made the extraordinary journey from facing relegation at the bottom of the league last year to becoming this season’s Premier League winners.
The brave decision to stage the exhibition, which will be put together in just 45 days, was taken when Leicester still had several games left, although confidence in the team was high after its surprise-win against Manchester City in February.
On that historic day at the Etihad stadium in Manchester the whole Leicester squad cost less than one of Manchester City’s substitutes – one of many interesting facts that will be presented throughout the exhibition.
“Leicester could have lost all those other matches and come fifth. We took a risk that the story was still big enough,” explains Constantine.
The intense interest in the club became clear, he adds, when Leicester City Council’s media office revealed that it had more international press inquiries about the football club than the excavation of King Richard III.
“You realise the power of the Premier League as an international marketing brand - it is on another scale," says Constantine.
"People were not just interested in the football, they were suddenly interested in where Leicester was and what kind of place it was," he says. "That made me realise that there was a story here and I wanted to try and capture it."
The exhibition will chart the story of the team’s success and explore the lives of the players, who achieved success against all the odds. This will include Jamie Vardy, who four years ago was playing non-league football matches wearing an electronic tag following a conviction for assault. The 28-year-old, who is now playing for England, had to leave matches early so he did not break his curfew.
Visitors to the exhibition will also have the chance to share their own stories about football and Leicester’s win. The museum also commissioned a film, which will capture the reaction of the fans at a number of matches throughout the season. Photographs and items borrowed from Leicester City Football, including scarves and clap bangers and ‘Salt and Vardy’ crisps.
Constantine believes the exhibition will attract more local people into the museum.
“The visitor figures have been holding steady over recent years but the visitor profile has been changing. We are getting fewer local visitors and getting more tourists,” says Constantine.
This, he adds, is likely to be due to the work that has been done on the museum’s German expressionist art collection, which has brought in visitors from London and attracted new sources of funding. Constantine is concerned that this focus has made it appear as though the museum is more catered toward “middle class art lovers” rather than the local population.
“The museum was created in 1849 to be this common community space for everybody,” he says.
“Leicester is a famously a very diverse city and you are actually seeing that on the terraces. People who didn’t have an interest in football before are getting excited and interested in it.
“The museum has always had an interest in the history of football […] one of reasons professional sport takes off in the late 19th century is that it helps unify diverse populations in growing urban centres. Following the local team is a way of creating a sense of a strong identity.”
Fearless Foxes is a partnership between BBC Radio Leicester, the Leicester Mercury, Leicester City Football Club and Leicester City Council. It will open on 4 June and run until, September.