Artist gives Leicester’s new windows an extra kick

the grounds of Kirby Muxloe Castle, which was owned by Lord Hastings, who was executed after being accused of treason by the king in 1483.

This week former Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri visited the cathedral and was shown how to spot the football. Mr Denny’s inspiration for the image was imagining hot-tempered Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy kicking the ball so hard it flew out of the stadium and landed in the grounds of the castle.

Though he is based in Dorset, Mr Denny became a Leicester City supporter after he was commissioned to do the window – though before, he says, the team’s astonishing season. But this is not the first time his windows have brought luck to a football team.

In 2005 he was commissioned to design three windows for Sunderland Minster. The team had recently been relegated from the Premier League and their 2006-2007 season started badly, with four consecutive defeats in August. But after Mr Denny’s windows were installed they turned the season around and escaped further relegation.

Pete Hobson, the director of the cathedral’s regeneration project, hinted that Leicester may have had an even greater power on their side. “We were in search of donors to support the project and we’d been in conversation with the owners of Leicester City. Fairly late on the owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha made an extremely generous personal donation – and that was also around the time their season began to pick up,” he said.

However, he was more sceptical about any direct link. “My theology does not make me think that either The thumbnail-sized image of the football is in the far right-hand corner of the window and is only visible from the steps leading up to the altar. It was added before Leicester City won the Premier League God or Richard made Leicester City win. Nobody can quite explain why they started winning just as Richard was reinterred.”

The medieval king was found under a city council car park in Leicester in 2012. A group who claimed to be Richard’s descendants wanted him to be buried in York Minster, but Leicester Cathedral was announced as his final resting place in 2014.