A bid to turn two counties blue in honour of a football club has been launched by a regional daily.

The Leicester Mercury has started its ‘Backing the Blues’ campaign, which aims to get people in Leicestershire and Rutland to wear blue, or decorate their homes in the same colour, to celebrate Leicester City’s current success.

City are presently seven points clear at the top of the Premier League, and with just five games to go stand a good chance of becoming champions of England for the first time in their 132-year history.

Readers are being urged to don blue on Friday 29 April for the campaign, which is being run jointly with BBC Radio Leicester.

The date falls two days before City face Manchester United in what could be a crucial match.

Businesses are also being encouraged to produce blue products, decorate their premises with the colour blue and change their social media accounts to feature blue images.

The campaign was launched in a double-page spread across pages six and seven of yesterday’s edition, pictured above.

Editor Kevin Booth said: “No-one can predict what the league table will look like on 29 April, but whatever the club’s position at that point the idea is to celebrate a season that will live forever in the memory of every single Leicester City fan.

“Working with Radio Leicester, we want to bring the community together in putting on a display that will demonstrate to everyone just how much the city and wider area is behind the football club, its players, owners and officials.

“It’s been a remarkable story which has made headlines around the world. We hope this will be a fitting finale to something that has made everyone sit up and take note.”