Guy

Yes, I appreciate that it was the Arsenal game that was our last one at home last season, capped with our first win over them since 1994 into the bargain with a much better display than against the previous Londoners! - although I wasn't sure if the West Ham game final lap of honour was as long after the final whistle until you just said : but even at the time as the last lap it was still surprising to see the ground mostly deserted, even if MOTD put their spin on it by only showing their footage late on......

I have the sense to park a 10 minutes walk away before kick off near Victoria Park, no problems getting out of Leicester/Knighton area for me and heading back to Northants to my folks. Have been doing that for most of the past few years. If people can't afford the time to get to the ground before whatever time KO by parking a mile or so away then fair enough but I guess a lot of people have forgotten they've got legs?

Well Alan Shearer said it best towards the end of last season on MOTD following our defeat at home to West Ham, a team with everything to play for (survival) versus us who were only going to finish one place higher at best had we won....."Leicester fans must have very short memories" - in reference to the ground being 90% empty when the players were doing their last lap of honour at the KP for the season. Spot on in reference to the majority of fans of the team that did the unthinkable and the best thing ever in football just two seasons earlier. Sometimes that Prem title win really has been a subsequent curse! I'm still wandering what most of the 'leave early' LCFC fans are on at times re their expectation levels, space cakes perhaps?!

As others have said, then there are the few who have maybe parked illegally and so are panicking to get back to their cars to minimize risk of getting ticketed so leave early when they think the game is done and dusted, as well as those who genuinely have to catch the train : but it is definitely an increasingly modern day phenomenon sadly - even if it still happened at times back in the 80s. Your description of a 'half empty' ground in the closing stages when 3-1 up under a great new manager is rather worrying though. Maybe the majority of those fans are still disappointed we're not 10 points clear at the top?! As you alluded to, muppets if so! I've never once left a game early in 35 years of going to various games, although have never had an emergencies to encounter....

I very much doubt somebody like Chris Wilder would even be considered, let alone approached by our powers that be as manager potential : as they generally appoint left field style as we know - Ranieri, Puel....! - and even in the unlikely event that he was approached I doubt that he'd come here unless maybe Sheffield Utd failed to get promotion : but a bit like Micky Adams, then as the Blades are 'his' team through and through then he remains a highly unlikely candidate even if approached....Rafa or Rogers seem to be the obvious ones for next season but "anything could happen"....

Very much a case of deja vu for Puel here after his similar treatment at Southampton but it was clearly not working....and it was only going to go backwards I feel, especially as the players seemingly were no longer motivated by him - that's if they ever were! - or indeed playing to their strengths under his ever changing formations and/or sometimes bewildering tactics. I'm not going to completely rubbish Puel here as it was clear that he tried to do some good here with his close summer recruitment and bringing young players through in the way he did during his tenure - including most recently the re-introduction of Harvey Barnes to the front line. However the timing of that decision now starts to look questionable......as does the recent exchange of the 'ill fated since day one' Adrien Silva for Tielemans - something which seemed like a shrewd move but that was before I was privy to his supposed mistreatment of Silva throughout the season until his recent departure to Monaco. His end of time here after yesterday's defeat was 80% likely all the same, regardless of the harsh nature of his sacking at Southampton before us and regardless of what he's done here - including the dignity showed after the helicopter tragedy involving Vichai and the others of course....then to the finer detail such as the first goal being a deflection and other such detail that set us on our way to defeat to Palace yesterday....but as it's a results business of course, more so than ever nowadays, then that was it. Managers who would've been given 3-4 years for doing what Puel has/had with us, have now had their time effectively halved over the last 10 years or so in this 'trigger happy' day and age. I'm not saying he would've gone on to do what Fergie did at Man. Utd had he been allowed to stay for another couple of seasons (as times are very different in football these days compared to Fergie' s well documented dodgy 1986-1990 spell) as he didn't have the charisma to start with, amongst lacking in other crucial things too....still, never a dull moment - although perhaps the past 18 months under Puel mostly were!!

Although a surprise decision and this is showing shades of last season, whereby he came back to us from being successfully on loan at Barnsley - only to start something like two games! - one would hope that he is given more of a first team run this time, especially having been more prolific for West Brom this time around as a loanee.

Met Ian Marshall briefly in the Holiday Inn closest to KP Stadium in the Premier League winning season - he had obviously been watching the 2-2 draw with WBA that Tuesday night and was in the bar/foyer there. Took s picture of my mate I was with shaking his hand. He was totally down to earth as you'd expect any player from the O'Neill era to be!

He'll get the Police onto you if you do

Perhaps why Man City got rid??

Watched this game in my local in Plymouth, The Navy Inn along the Barbican where I've lived since 2005 (when we were shit under Levein!) - some night! Only overshadowed by the fact that we didn't beat the Mancs that game or during that season....although the 5-3 from the Great Escape season a year earlier made up for it....and the fact that was our last win over them four years ago!

I see. I wasn't overly sure of the King of Thailand's intervention as regards that but thought it might have been a factor amongst one or two other possibilities! Thanks :-)

Just noticed in my Peterborough home programme of August 2012 (the 2012-13 season's curtain raiser of the eventually ill fated Championship season) that Vichai's surname was Raksriaksorn back then.....as opposed to the more rather long winded Srivaddhanaprabha. A trivial subject in the light of the present circumstances I know but has anybody else since noticed this?

I didn't see MOTD last night but will catch up on MOTD2 later tonight re the highlights which will obviously show up all the bad defending! With the form Joe Hart's been in this season then their defending must be bad in front of him for them to have conceded so many : unrecognisable from the tight ship that was the Burnley of last season as you say. The perils perhaps of qualifying for the Europa League with a squad the size of theirs....better to finish 8th maybe! I know it's still only early November but...

What a lovely guy and what a lovely message in honour of his father.

From a football perspective then we are a better side than Burnley but as you allude to, our handicap may well be the emotional/mental side of it on the day, especially being at home this time, which will be a mere fortnight on there from the tragedy. None of us truly know the extent of how it has affected the players though really, some may well be over it as such by then.....and very prepared to get back to doing what they do best. Also we won at Cardiff so maybe we're already halfway there in that regard. Best to get behind the lads and let's hope they win it for Vichai and us!

Yes, as great a spectacle as that has proved to be in all the recent Remembrance Day fixtures at the King Power and Walkers Stadium before it too of course, it would probably not be seen as appropriate for this particular fixture this year....

What a very sad time. The mods can delete this in a flash if they think it as inappropriate comment but I have a nagging feeling that if only they had flown over the River Soar side of the stadium whilst leaving (instead of the chosen car park route), that there might have been a greater chance of survival if it had landed in the water. Cannot help but still think that. No negative comments in response please as it was just a 'what if' / 'if only' thought...

Awful news to hear naturally. The whole thing is being broadcast on Radio 5 Live at the mo. Sky Sports News latest said Top and Jon Rudkin weren't on board....

I personally didn't really feel that £1million for a player was an awful lot to lay out back in 1996 ref Claridge being our then record signing.....described by O'Neill as a poor man's Dalglish when he signed him of course - and he really was piss poor for the first few games before he suddenly clicked after his thyroid diagnosis and when he overcame that! That said we were in the second tier when we did signed him of course so maybe that changes things. Zagorakis cost us £750k so was probably the best bargain buy after O'Neill had been here for a season or so. Eadie was his costliest buy and never really fulfilled his potential with us, largely due to injuries of course. I'd also disagree that £3million in 1999 is today's equivalent to £20 million but you might be right......! O'Neill did sign mostly gems at bargain prices though of course and one or two duffers!

O'Neill went to Aston Villa after Celtic and did ok there : think he didn't see eye to eye with the late Doug Ellis though and so resigned....?? Then he foolishly took on the poisoned chalice Sunderland job shortly after I think......!

Same as regards Sinclair's o.g. v his old club Chelsea (which was our first home game of 1999/2000 season at Filbert I think when O'Neill was still here of course), which was a year or so before the 6-1 thumping at Arsenal on Boxing Day 2000 under P.Taylor. I remember them cheering extra loud re Chelsea as it was their former who'd slotted it home right at the death to rob us of an unexpected win! It could only happen to us!

He looked impressive in our final game under Pearson, which of course was our final game of the Great Escape season : a 5-1 win, albeit over a rather hapless and relegated QPR. Even so I thought he was set to sparkle the following season but was hardly played by Ranieri - possibly due to the form of Vardy, Mahrez and others....

Yeah, I remember that defeat - and we still managed to stay in and around the top 5 right up until losing to Wycombe in the cup, which then send the club into a downward spiral no less! A shame as it was only really Man U and Arsenal who were playing good stuff that season, Chelsea were in a transitional phase after Vialli had left and the likes of Liverpool, Spurs and Man City were bang average at that time! The following season was an embarrassment with that losing 0-5 at home to newly promoted Allardyce's Bolton horror show opener then 4-0 away at Arsenal. People calling for Puel now would do well to remember back to those times (if they're old enough to...!!)