All sporting upsets will be relegated should 5000-1 Leicester City win the EPL, writes Robert Craddock

THE greatest upset in sporting history. These words have been thrown around recklessly since the dawn of sport but they will have a rightful owner if Leicester can do the unthinkable.

CORRECTION - Leicester City's Algerian midfielder Riyad Mahrez (R) celebrates scoring his team's first goal with Leicester City's English midfielder Danny Drinkwater and Leicester City's English defender Danny Simpson (C) during the English Premier League football match between Watford and Leicester City at Vicarage Road Stadium in Watford, north of London on March 5, 2016. / AFP / OLLY GREENWOOD / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. / CORRECTION - Correcting identity “The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by OLLY GREENWOOD has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [Leicester City's Algerian midfielder Riyad Mahrez (R) celebrates scoring his team's first goal with Leicester City's English midfielder Danny Drinkwater and Leicester City's English defender Danny Simpson (C) during the English Premier League football match between Watford and Leicester City at Vicarage Road Stadium in Watford, north of London on March 5, 2016.] instead of [Leicester City's Algerian midfielder Riyad Mahrez (R) celebrates scoring his team's first goal with Leicester City's English midfielder Danny Drinkwater and Leicester City's Ghanaian midfielder Daniel Amartey (C) during the English Premier League football match between Watford and Leicester City at Vicarage Road Stadium in Watford, north of London on March 5, 2016.]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you

THE greatest upset in sporting history.

They were words recklessly thrown around when Steve Bradbury won ice skating gold and Buster Douglas floored Mike Tyson.

But the definitive moment could be fast arriving when we can announce the all-conquering, dam-busting, pick-your-jaw-from-the-floor mother of them all.

Leicester City fans support their team.

If the 5000-1 ranked Leicester City win the English Premier League - and they are five points clear with nine games to play - they will make the Douglas KO look like he was Black Caviar in a Kilcoy Maiden.

The Leicester story is not a one-off blip on the radar, a lucky punch, a fallen field or a sudden starburst.

It will be a 38-game masterpiece in a competition where you might fluke a call, a goal, a win or even a winning streak but never, ever, the championship.

“An upset like this has never happened before in sporting history and it will never happen again,’’ UBET’s Gerard Daffy said.

“When Steve Bradbury won his gold medal at the Winter Olympics people called it the biggest upset of all time. He was 100-1. Leicester were 5000-1 (at the start of this season).

“I don’t think people have really got their heads around the concept of what we might be seeing here. It simply cannot happen. But it might happen.

“If they get there they will make a movie of it and I can’t wait to watch it.’’

To put Leicester’s odds into perspective, English bookmaker Paddy Power currently has it 100-1 that an alien life form will be confirmed on Earth next year.

That effectively is the bookmakers saying we were 50 times more likely to find ET sitting on our living room couch than Leicester were of winning the title.

The reason a Leicester win would be so gobsmacking is that modern sport is not made for stunning upsets.

It’s extraordinary and God give them strength, because if they get there it will prove that sporting success is not all about money.

The total outlay on Leicester players was $99 million and though hot-shot striker Jamie Vardy used to work 12 hour shifts in a carbon fibre factory, it must be conceded they were not recruited from bus shelters around London.

Riyad Mahrez scores a stunner against Watford.

But when you compare it to the chequebook splurges of Arsenal ($400 million), Manchester City ($400 million) and Chelsea ($419 million), the story becomes as unfathomable as watching a fleet of Ferraris being passed on the open road by a cheeky little Volkswagen Polo.

Most significantly, it is an open road without speed limits.

There is no salary cap in the EPL and that surely adds an extra bucketful of wow factor to Leicester’s achievement if they go all the way.

Leicester’s surge has spawned a multide of theories of how it happened and what it all means.

Are they simply a good team playing to the degree of their potential? Is this the ultimate example of what can be achieved by a team who plays for each other? Are some of the super clubs completely overrated?

The most passionate Leicester fan I know (the only one) is the experienced sports journalist Trevor Marshallsea, who occasionally used to sit in his hotel room during cricket tours of India listening to the Foxes do their best.

On Tuesday I asked him to explain what it means to be sitting on top of the mountain after the many years ploughing through the deep revenges.

“Put it this way, I am standing in my backyard in Sydney with my Riyad Mahrez shirt on,’’ Marshallsea said.

“I am 49 and he is 25 but it’s just what you do. It’s just an amazing story.

“I have followed them since I met a mad Leicester fan in a Las Vegas backpackers in 1992 but there are people who have followed them for 70 years who never thought this would happen. Back in 2009 we were in the third tier competition and we all thinking ‘where the hell are we going?’

“I have a pen friend who backed them at 5000-1. She is in a good position because the bookies are offering cashouts everywhere.’’

They are indeed. Facing a collective payout to long shot punters of around $20 million, bookies have offered them the chance to take a smaller payout now or roll the dice.

Most are holding their nerve. If only the Foxes can do the same.

Originally published as All sporting upsets will be relegated should 5000-1 Leicester City win the EPL, writes Robert Craddock