Hypothetical situation #4568

[Kitchandro]

Until we're an established Premier League side (Stoke, West Ham etc) then we can't afford to decide how we play as long as we win games.

I'd take hoofball if it meant success.

Besides, we didn't exacly play pretty football under Martin O'God.

Quite the contrary, we have to play pretty football to succeed. Remember when we tried an allardyce-esque style last season? It was awful and we kept losing.

But keeping to the question, we still, as with last season, have a squad capable of finishing much better than 17th.

[Captain...]

I know its hypothetical but its still a pointless poll...

 

Not really, I may have misjudged the negative feeling towards Big Sam, but it shows most people will be happy with survival next season, regardless of how.

[Hungry Hungry Fox]

Big Sam wants a break from football, I'm surprised he hasn't retired to be honest

[AKCJ]

Quite the contrary, we have to play pretty football to succeed. Remember when we tried an allardyce-esque style last season? It was awful and we kept losing.

But keeping to the question, we still, as with last season, have a squad capable of finishing much better than 17th.

 

 

You definitely don't have to play pretty football to succeed.

 

Chelsea won the league last season might I remind you?

 

 

I'm merely saying that if I were offered successful football or pretty football then i'd take the former all day long. I'd rather have both of course, and they often do come together. But we're not in a position where we can choose yet. Which is why the favourites for the job are Sam Allardyce, Neil Lennon and Steve Cotterill.

[The Horse's Mouth]

I do find it funny how we've all of a sudden became snobby enough to reject "hoofball" yet were shouting Tony Pulis as successor in december 

[Wilson_6]

Until we're an established Premier League side (Stoke, West Ham etc) then we can't afford to decide how we play as long as we win games.

 

I'd take hoofball if it meant success.

 

Besides, we didn't exacly play pretty football under Martin O'God.

I have to agree with this. You've got to crawl before your walk. so because we stayed up for one season our fans now expect us to finish top 10 and maybe win a cup? teams have been in that league for 5 years plus haven't managed to do that so why should we? 

[davieG]

As am I, what's your point??

 

Surely the best approach is to decide on a playing style strategy that you believe will be successful in the longer term and stick with it. you then ensure that everyone at the club from the juniors through to the seniors is developed to play that way. Hopefully a skill based high tempo attacking passing game.

 

Part of the reason we've struggled in the past wasn't solely down to having a multitude of managers it was because they had a multitude of playing styles which meant we had to completely change the team or as was the case fail time after time.

 

Going from Pearson to Sousa being a classic example.

[Dan LCFC]

My immediate reaction upon Pearson's sacking (after the anger) was that Allardyce was the likely favourite. I didn't find that particularly exciting, but the more I think about it, the more I'd actually take him if offered him now.

 

My reasoning is that I'm worried. I've got a bad feeling that things could go horribly wrong from here. I've covered it in other threads but our owners' track record with manager appointments/offers is actually quite bleak. Consequently, I've little faith in them to pull an upgrade on Pearson out of the bag.

 

Pearson was enormous for us. I can't believe people don't realise it. Pearson revolutionised this club. There's a lot more to him than average Joe realises.

 

People compare us to Southampton and I don't know why. They sacked Adkins for football reasons - having had a better manager in Pochettino lined up, and once he was inevitably snapped up by the bigger club, they had a contingency plan in place to replace both him and the millions of pounds worth of talent that left them. I'm lead to believe most of this is down to their director of football, Les Reed.

 

The closest we had to a Les Reed was Pearson. I'm not claiming he's at Reed's level - but he's the one who's implemented our scouting team, our sports science, and he's the one who has finally managed to put together a team that he can get the best out of - that's a big thing for a small fish like us. Don't go pretending we're a big fish in this league. We aren't. Not yet anyway.

 

We've sacked that off without a contingency plan, for whatever reason, a reason I'm lead to believe isn't in the best interests of Leicester City FOOTBALL Club.

 

Sam Allardyce... old school mentality in some ways and he's not afraid to show it, but not a complete dinosaur. He in my opinion would keep the ship steady - the ship that has lost its captain. He isn't the most inspiring or exciting, but I believe with a pre-season, he would guide us to survival.

 

I don't want us to become what Bolton Wanderers, Fulham, and to some extent Aston Villa, Sunderland & Newcastle United are now - clubs who simply make up the numbers. Our long-term ambition should surpass that.

 

My dream is Klopp, but it won't happen. I would take Allardyce simply because I think there's more chance of it going wrong if we didn't. I'm fully prepared for the Squawka backlash.

[bovril]

No. The squad is good enough to stay up and thrive without a 'survival expert' like Pulis or Allardyce, both of whom are dull as fvck. I'd rather have an up-and-coming manager than Big Sam, I really can't stand the guy.

[Guest bss9401]

No doubt about it I would take big Sam. We need to stabilise in the premier league before we can afford the luxury of trying to become the next Arsenal.

[Dan LCFC]

No. The squad is good enough to stay up and thrive without a 'survival expert' like Pulis or Allardyce, both of whom are dull as fvck. I'd rather have an up-and-coming manager than Big Sam, I really can't stand the guy.

 

So would I. But do you think we'll get one? In your heart of hearts.

[Captain...]

My immediate reaction upon Pearson's sacking (after the anger) was that Allardyce was the likely favourite. I didn't find that particularly exciting, but the more I think about it, the more I'd actually take him if offered him now.

 

My reasoning is that I'm worried. I've got a bad feeling that things could go horribly wrong from here. I've covered it in other threads but our owners' track record with manager appointments/offers is actually quite bleak. Consequently, I've little faith in them to pull an upgrade on Pearson out of the bag.

 

Pearson was enormous for us. I can't believe people don't realise it. Pearson revolutionised this club. There's a lot more to him than average Joe realises.

 

People compare us to Southampton and I don't know why. They sacked Adkins for football reasons - having had a better manager in Pochettino lined up, and once he was inevitably snapped up by the bigger club, they had a contingency plan in place to replace both him and the millions of pounds worth of talent that left them. I'm lead to believe most of this is down to their director of football, Les Reed.

 

The closest we had to a Les Reed was Pearson. I'm not claiming he's at Reed's level - but he's the one who's implemented our scouting team, our sports science, and he's the one who has finally managed to put together a team that he can get the best out of - that's a big thing for a small fish like us. Don't go pretending we're a big fish in this league. We aren't. Not yet anyway.

 

We've sacked that off without a contingency plan, for whatever reason, a reason I'm lead to believe isn't in the best interests of Leicester City FOOTBALL Club.

 

Sam Allardyce... old school mentality in some ways and he's not afraid to show it, but not a complete dinosaur. He in my opinion would keep the ship steady - the ship that has lost its captain. He isn't the most inspiring or exciting, but I believe with a pre-season, he would guide us to survival.

 

I don't want us to become what Bolton Wanderers, Fulham, and to some extent Aston Villa, Sunderland & Newcastle United are now - clubs who simply make up the numbers. Our long-term ambition should surpass that.

 

My dream is Klopp, but it won't happen. I would take Allardyce simply because I think there's more chance of it going wrong if we didn't. I'm fully prepared for the Squawka backlash.

 

Some interesting points in there, but one I will pick up on.

 

Does Pearson really get all the credit for revolutionising this club? He gets a lot of credit, but his style of play in his first spell was functional to say the least, he often sacrificed flair for steady performers and played a big man little man combination and wasn't afraid to lump the ball up.

 

With regard the sport science, is that really down to Pearson, I don't remember much about it before the Thais invested money in the club. Google "Nigel Pearson" and "sport science" and select articles in the range 2009-2011 from his first time at the club, you will find very little. Of course that doesn't mean it didn't happen, but apart from wearing heart monitors to bed I can't find anything that suggests he was a pioneer of sport science before he had the money to do so.

 

The scouting network is largely attributed to Walsh, who will hopefully stay.

 

The academy has been heavily invested in by the owners, if I remember correctly we didn't even have a reserve team/development squad during most of his first spell, it was only after the Thais came in we actually had a reserve team.

 

Pearson with Thai money has helped revolutionise this club, but we will still have the academy and the sport science team, now he has gone, we will hopefully still have Walsh and his scouting network, and Shakespeare and his coaching methods. Hopefully those two and Rudkin, Beaglehole, Phillips and others can help continue the good work.

 

I also hope that one of the reasons they kept faith with Pearson was because he shared their vision of an ambitious progressive well run club, investing in all facets to make it as successful as possible, and will appoint someone with similar if not better ideas.

 

As for our owners track record of management appointments/sackings, they got one thing wrong and that was Sven, but can you really blame them, it was Sven what they got wrong was not giving him more support in terms of staff rather than just throwing money at him, other than that they made one appointment, and that is Pearson, they also made 2 sackings at the right time, Sousa was binned off early rather than hoping he would succeed, and so was Sven, it became clear it was becoming a very costly experiment with success not looking like it was coming any time soon and made a good early call.

 

Time will tell if the decision to sack Pearson was the wrong one, but you have to blame Pearson as much as them for this, whilst we don't know all the details, his public discretions over the course of last season meant he was on a very final warning.

[Hungry Hungry Fox]

We aren't getting big fat Sam

[The God Emperor]

I doubt we'd get him, but Big Sam is exactly what we need right now. All the momentum and positivity from last season is dead in the ground now and we need some one to steady the ship. Allardyce is the only candidate who will garuntee safety with any kind of certainty.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Big Sam! Like a shot. He has the where with all to improve our status.

 

To those who wouldn't take him, if guaranteed survival, you are only a bunch of cretinous dick heads.-- Bloody pathetic, and not true fans of the club.

 

Get used to it, Pearson has gone, and is nothing to do with our club any more.

 

Onwards and upwards.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Personally not, if survival was guaranteed then the season would be too dull and boring unless we also had a decent cup run

 Jesus, give me strength. Some people! 

[sphericalfox]

Big Sam! Like a shot. He has the where with all to improve our status.

 

To those who wouldn't take him, if guaranteed survival, you are only a bunch of cretinous dick heads.-- Bloody pathetic, and not true fans of the club.

 

Get used to it, Pearson has gone, and is nothing to do with our club any more.

 

Onwards and upwards.

 

You have some balls to call people cretinous dickheads that's for sure, but it's not the only totally idiotic and statement you've made just in the last week alone.

 

Allardyce's style is similar to Pearson's and there is a possibility that he could keep us up, but to make a statement that he could improve our status is seriously stretching the imagination. It would be onwards, but very doubtful it would be upwards.

[chicagofox]

I'd take Pol Pot, Josef Mengele, Idi Amin, or worse still, Sean Dyche, if it came with guaranteed survival in the Premier League.

[shailen]

I'd take anyone that would guarantee survival. However this thing about Pulis, Allardyce...etc guaranteeing survival is nonsense. Wasn't Dave Bassett once known for the same thing. These records are there to be broken. What we need is a manager that suits our playing style and I don't think Allardyce does that for me.

[chicagofox]

I'd take anyone that would guarantee survival. However this thing about Pulis, Allardyce...etc guaranteeing survival is nonsense. Wasn't Dave Bassett once known for the same thing. These records are there to be broken. What we need is a manager that suits our playing style and I don't think Allardyce does that for me.

To be fair, and this isn't a criticism, NP's tactics were pretty agricultural at times.

[Dan LCFC]

Big Sam! Like a shot. He has the where with all to improve our status.

 

To those who wouldn't take him, if guaranteed survival, you are only a bunch of cretinous dick heads.-- Bloody pathetic, and not true fans of the club.

 

Get used to it, Pearson has gone, and is nothing to do with our club any more.

 

Onwards and upwards.

 

You don't half revel in reminding us do you. **** off you utter bore.

[shailen]

To be fair, and this isn't a criticism, NP's tactics were pretty agricultural at times.

Agreed. Especially in his first spell, but we didn't have the resources then. Remember when he came back and everyone thought the football would be dull, but in general the football has been excellent. We must be one of the most exciting teams to watch in England over the last 2/3 seasons.

[Dan LCFC]

Some interesting points in there, but one I will pick up on.

 

Does Pearson really get all the credit for revolutionising this club? He gets a lot of credit, but his style of play in his first spell was functional to say the least, he often sacrificed flair for steady performers and played a big man little man combination and wasn't afraid to lump the ball up.

 

With regard the sport science, is that really down to Pearson, I don't remember much about it before the Thais invested money in the club. Google "Nigel Pearson" and "sport science" and select articles in the range 2009-2011 from his first time at the club, you will find very little. Of course that doesn't mean it didn't happen, but apart from wearing heart monitors to bed I can't find anything that suggests he was a pioneer of sport science before he had the money to do so.

 

The scouting network is largely attributed to Walsh, who will hopefully stay.

 

The academy has been heavily invested in by the owners, if I remember correctly we didn't even have a reserve team/development squad during most of his first spell, it was only after the Thais came in we actually had a reserve team.

 

Pearson with Thai money has helped revolutionise this club, but we will still have the academy and the sport science team, now he has gone, we will hopefully still have Walsh and his scouting network, and Shakespeare and his coaching methods. Hopefully those two and Rudkin, Beaglehole, Phillips and others can help continue the good work.

 

I also hope that one of the reasons they kept faith with Pearson was because he shared their vision of an ambitious progressive well run club, investing in all facets to make it as successful as possible, and will appoint someone with similar if not better ideas.

 

As for our owners track record of management appointments/sackings, they got one thing wrong and that was Sven, but can you really blame them, it was Sven what they got wrong was not giving him more support in terms of staff rather than just throwing money at him, other than that they made one appointment, and that is Pearson, they also made 2 sackings at the right time, Sousa was binned off early rather than hoping he would succeed, and so was Sven, it became clear it was becoming a very costly experiment with success not looking like it was coming any time soon and made a good early call.

 

Time will tell if the decision to sack Pearson was the wrong one, but you have to blame Pearson as much as them for this, whilst we don't know all the details, his public discretions over the course of last season meant he was on a very final warning.

 

At the same time - I heard nothing of our sports science under Sven or Sousa either. I think there's a Pearson influence there.

 

Walsh you are correct in saying is the man who is behind the scouting - but who's he worked with at the last few clubs? The new man might have his own staff lined up and Walsh/Shakespeare are binned off to whichever club is lucky enough to get them with Pearson. Pearson's put the same set-up in here twice, with slight tweaks, and both times we have progressed on the pitch and off the pitch.

 

I agree that his style of play wasn't particularly expansive - but look at that group of players that we had. Look at what the likes of Hobbs, Morrison, Neilson, Adams, Fryatt, Weale, N'Guessan, and others have gone on to do since - not one of them has gone onto better than what they were at Leicester, with the exception of Hobbs & Fryatt who have both had a short spell at Hull in the Premier League and have now ended up at Forest, a club destined for mediocrity. We had our limitations and Pearson knew it. Look at how different Sousa was to him with that group of players (and some of his own additions which were by and large awful) - look at that Portsmouth game, they were absolutely destroyed by the most out of form team in the country. Those players weren't that good. It's amazing that they got to the play-offs, and were very unlucky to not end up at Wembley - where they'd have faced a side they beat home and away that year.

 

Our owners have invested, I won't take that away from them, but I'm not convinced they realise what they're chucking away here.

 

I will eat my words if it all goes well, but do you think we'll finish higher than we did last season? Honestly? I'm 95% sure we will regret this decision, just like we did five years ago, and I'm pretty sure he won't be coming back to sort it again if my fears are confirmed.

[chicagofox]

We must be one of the most exciting teams to watch in England over the last 2/3 seasons.

Steady on mate.

[ROB-THE-BLUE]

I'd take guaranteed safety whoever the manager! This season has become almost like a 1st season again, stay up this year and reevaluate next summer!