Guy

That first season under Taylor was a strange one but ultimately he got found out the following season. Although in his first season we were top by the end of September (2000) going into the international break with a run of a decent few results, complete with a sound defence unit set up (the likes of Gary Rowett, Callum Davidson and having Tim Flowers in goal), we had hardly pulled up any trees - we'd just raised a few eyebrows, while I thought we were poor against Redstar B. over the two legs! We then got truly found out in the league by our then nearest challengers (Man. U) in the game of 1st v 2nd of course when losing 0-3 at home, which then kind of set the theme for the rest of the season. That said, we did flirt with the top 6 right up until that spring in what was a relatively weak Premier league that season : before totally falling away to end up 13th after that infamous Wycombe FA Cup quarters defeat at Filbert of course! Taylor did effectively dismantle O'Neill's legacy by shipping out the likes of Walshy, Cottee, Ian Marshall and Collymore though. I remember that 5-2 win over Sunderland in O'Neill's last season and the future looked rosy but alas! Once he left we were never the same again until the rollercoaster Micky Adams era. Can't say I miss those days of uncertainty and I find being a steady and moderately successful midtable side better - even if it's boring!

There weren't many I admit _ Savage wasn't really an exorbitant purchase, neither was the aforementioned Graham Fenton for that matter - all came at around the £1 million mark or less which although was more than some of his other brilliant buys, still wasn't seen as silly money back then...while I don't recall Darren Eadie costing £3million but just checked and saw so! I was thinking players like Arnie Gunnlaugsson were perhaps more the big money flops, who came along after we'd become established in the Prem. a bit and when O'Neill then had a bit of cash to splash about, albeit money that ended up down the drain essentially! Graham Fenton was the biggest mystery to me : promised a lot, did pretty well at the likes of WBA and Blackburn but was hardly played by O'Neill! As said though, perhaps a bit harsh to judge O'Neill in that way as he didn't make that many 'big money' purchases at all. However then of course Peter Taylor took big money flops to a whole new level when he took over of course - Akinbiyi, Trevor Benjamin, Lee Marshall : to name just three!

Then along came you know who...…..!...…..

57??? That is rank bad for an away following of a Championship side - a bit like some of the post Bradford Fire or Heysel Stadium disaster 80s away attendances the following season! Even if we were back in the Championship now, perish the thought, then you'd like to think we'd take at least 1000 away to Bristol!

As another poster alluded to though, M.O'Neill's 8th-10th place finishes in the late 90s/2000 (and winning a couple of League Cups plus appearances in the UEFA to follow) came along when expectations weren't high, this after years of being mostly in the Championship - save for our one season in the then Premiership which resulted in instant relegation in 1994/95 no less under Little then McGhee. So expectations back then when M.O'Neill was here were nowhere near what they have become since we did the unthinkable three seasons ago, which I guess is why people are perhaps disillusioned that Puel is only achieving what M.O'Neill did in essence - even if the football isn't as enterprising as it was under O'Neill and the fact that we haven't won a cup. I also never rated many of O'Neill's big buy purchases - whereas his bargain basement ones (Kasey Keller, Spencer Prior, Steve Claridge, Steve Guppy, Neil Lennon, Muzzy Izzet, Matty Elliot, etc) all shone! That is also possibly why the O'Neill philosophy would no longer work within the club in it's current capacity, expectation levels included. Who's to say?

That's right, Howe is the perfect fit at Bournemouth and has been for some time now, I doubt he'd ever be lured into coming here for the reasons already said. He perhaps realised his growing credentials at Bournemouth more when returning there for his second spell in 2013/14 or so : after he'd perhaps had false ambition by leaving for that unsuccessful spell managing at Burnley in the Championship in between times. I doubt he'd make such a similar mistake as that again by leaving Bournemouth for us!!

Good point, let's please not get relegated to such a so called 'exciting' league as I fear we may never come back in a hurry if we do like the last time in 2004! Who can ever forget how bad we then became when barely treading water in the Championship season after season in the mid/late 00s under Craig Levein, Rob Kelly and then the ridiculous culmination in one disaster season of a managerial trilogy of Martin Allen/Gary Megson/Ian Holloway - ending in relegation to the depths of League One!! Since then the rest as they say is history but let's try not to go back there anytime soon!! Puel to stay!

I think they might have made an error when appointing Sven re going for a big name who wasn't adept at managing a Championship level team at the time but I think after that they've never really looked back and have got every appointment right at the time since - including when they appointed Pearson for his second spell with us and when sticking by him after the unfortunate nature of the dreaded 'Deeney Day' Watford play offs defeat at the death in 2013. Promotion and then the Great Escape under Pearson then indirectly lead to Ranieri getting it just right in the Prem. winning fairytale season to follow (even if seen retrospectively now as a fluke appointment) - while it was over to Shakespeare to get us back on track and clear up after Ranieri had perhaps lost the plot - then when Shakespeare followed suit then of course Puel - who seems to divide opinion as much as anything else - but I think has done reasonably well! Still only fair to judge how little or how far we've come under him at the end of his first full season this season IMO. In short I think our owners have made great appointments in the main...…….

Fair enough!

Yes, I suppose we've splashed the cash this summer on the likes of Maddison, Pereira and Danny Ward, retained the valuable services of Maguire against sizeable odds as said, plus we've kept Vardy for another season or two (who's still easily good enough for the England set up) - whilst getting rid of the deadwood or surplus players (Ulloa, Slimani, Musa...….) - so I get your drift as regards mildly protesting against it now being a midtable/mediocre squad. However I still wouldn't say we're top 6 material as when you see what the likes of Fulham and Wolves have spent then is our squad much better than either of theirs now? - considering they're newly promoted teams and we're now an established Prem. side? Possibly so but there's not a huge amount in it considering we won the league three seasons too, something both of those teams (and many others similar in stature to us), could only ever dream of....!! As for Puel then I think he's just been lumbered with the millstone around the neck tag of being 'Mr Charisma-less' (just like he was branded at Southampton by all accounts), no matter how well he does for us.....time will tell I guess but I think our owners have a better idea than the likes of the ones at Watford who's perpetual revolving door will remain in full swing, I'm sure! Also nothing we do now from this day forth will ever top winning the Prem.!

In this day and age of virtually every football fan wanting relatively instant success (whilst conveniently forgetting that we were a League One side this time ten years ago!), then a 5th-7th place finish next May would be the expected bare minimum requirement now for a team like us for many delusional fans (albeit after the unprecedented Prem. title triumph of 2016) but reality suggests that with our 'par for the course' squad for a mid table mediocrity finish (despite retaining the services of Maguire for this season), then the chances are that this will not be accepted by a 50% cut of the fans and/or perhaps the owners too - if their heads remain firmly in the clouds after 2016's unbelievable act of God! Puel skating on this ice throughout the entire season it seems, sooner rather than later - especially if we don't get 9 points out of the next available 13......

To be fair I think most of these were as a sub during Pearson's first spell. A very in and out of the first team sort of player : much like some of our team members now!

Who would've said to you in 2008 at Stoke "fear not, we'll be Premier League Champions in 8 years time" - after this lowest ever experience - only Martians with crystal balls surely?! What a fairytale!

Basically the guy isn't the best at post match interviews - and that's about it! He's pulled us around after the mess we were in a year ago in short - after stand in Shakespeare had pulled us out of the 'after the Lord Mayor's Show' quagmire we were in after Ranieri had perhaps lost the dressing room. Also we're never going to win the league again if we're being totally realistic : so I don't see what all the negativity over Puel is by a surprising amount of people on here, I really don't!

Well we've won both games he started I...….I think? : albeit rather fortuitously against Wolves compared to Huddersfield yesterday : and he was being touted as an 18mill target for Man Utd throughout parts of last season so I'm not quite sure why the 'doubters' are already out there!

Like it or not, Leeds are still a sleeping giant and can attract a big name manager - as well as a more than competent manager! Despite us winning the Prem. we seem to have been unable to attract anybody good to the role since Ranieri lost the plot! That said, it's still worth noting that we were unable to beat Bournemouth in our Premier League winning season!

The Pearson haters don't support Leicester, most obviously!

Pearson wasn't particularly entertaining as a person either though, almost the English version of Puel if you like! What NP did for our club overall in his two spells really did put back on the map though, in no uncertain terms - and most, myself included, credit him as the main reason why we won the Prem., thanks to his foundation building in his second spell here...which Ranieri then tapped into and oversaw in all the other depts. too, the media handling and keeping the players' feet on the ground included..... As for the modern day 'hire and fire' happy trend in this country, then some of us on here remember the 80s crystal clear - and we used to reference the word 'madness' as Serie A's attitude to managers.....as regards the instant turnover of club managers in Italy if things weren't going well after one season or less - sadly that attitude amongst the boardroom and over expectant fans (in most cases) is easily more commonplace in the Prem. now than it ever was in the 1980's Serie A for a multitude of reasons! I suppose a club like Leeds is the best example of that here. I guess things have moved on since those 'stick with the manager and give him time' days though and finishing 9th in the Prem. and reaching two cup quarter finals is no longer considered good enough for a team that was beginning life in League One ten years ago - all as a result of a trigger happy chairman of the time the season before then! The fact that we've since won the Championship and Premier League in the decade since then does hugely influence expectation levels and matters I know but even so, a bit of rationale is what is most required here. I can't believe the stick Puel got last season.....ashamed!

He maybe helped slightly with the fine tuning of Puel's modest grasp on the English language with lots of gesticulating and sign language thrown in - and held the fort ok between Shakespeare and Puel but apart from the biceps I don't think he'll go down in LCFC folklore at any point! Will do a good job at wherever he goes next though, most obviously someone in the lower region of the Championship or anyone in League One....

Hamer went on loan to Bristol City when they were struggling in the Championship for a short while 2 seasons ago from memory but didn't do at all well and was back in the reserves here before he knew it, Conrad Logan style! Last season he was only ever really going to be third choice keeper once Jakupovic signed from Hull in the close season.....the latter of which I was surprised didn't start more often than he did in view of it being Kasper's poorest season here to date last season..... Anyway it looks like all has worked out in Hamer's favour going to Huddersfield (where he'll surely be no.2 there too!) - this after four mostly wasted years away from first team action for him here after Charlton. He was obviously seeing out his contract though and was clever there to do so, as had it expired a year ago then he'd probably have been off pretty much straight away then instead. Well done Ben for your few clean sheets during that indifferent early 2015 spell under Pearson in the Prem. shortly before the Great Escape happened...…and good luck at Huddersfield bar the two times we play you!

Always liked County, not Forest!

Oh well - I had a good read of it anyway and reminisce, just a shame I was too late for posting anything on there myself. Like others have mentioned about, mine was Plymouth away in the Championship, November 2005 (match one), which was abandoned at half time when we were 1-0 down - justifiably so too! Best part of it was a Plymouth fan who walked past me coming out the away end with his young son in tow, laughing and saying 'long way home for you - ha ha!' - to which I returned a wry smile as he was oblivious to the fact that I actually lived there too, a mere ten minutes bike ride away from Home Park, although I got drenched cycling home too! The rearranged match the following we January lost 1-0 and Levein got his marching orders the next day of course, just a fortnight after we saw off Spurs in FA Cup! I hope this thread stays open for a while anyway so that others can add their bits - and that 'mods' lightning doesn't strike twice!

As the title says - why??

I personally think playing in the Europa League is seen as being undesirable nowadays and unlike the glamour of the equivalent UEFA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup European competitions years ago, the Europa League is now only seen as a worthwhile exercise if you get to the actual final. Arguably that is very much the same attitude shown towards the League Cup in this country in many regards. As we've also recently featured in the Champions League the season before last then it further erodes what little glamour there is to the Europa League as a competition now for the team. Had we not won the league (nor finished in the top four in 2016), then of course the situation for us would be an entirely different one of course. As regards 'ambition' then by now having to play Europa League games on top of the league and domestic cup games next season then you can bet Burnley won't be faring as well next season in the league as they did this season just gone, especially with what is a lesser squad at their disposal than the teams who finished just behind them like ours and Everton's.

I can't decide on the best outcome for any of them to be honest. King is past his best but still chips in with the odd good game or three throughout the course of a season when need be so it would perhaps make sense to keep him in the squad for next season but I think a change would do him good and maybe Swansea will put in an offer as he's more a Championship standard player now than a Premier League one. Slimani is definitely the most frustrating from five and the argument still stands that he doesn't suit our general style of play, doesn't win enough headers and the link up play is hit and miss with him as the main target man. Also that he and Vardy cancel one another out when they both start together up front. Although I know he hasn't started many games in his two seasons with us, something like two league goals for last season and a couple in the League Cup early rounds says it all! Amartey is still the unknown quantity by and large, I could see him being sold as much as I could still see him staying as a valuable, if injury prone squad player. Simpson and Morgan both produce question marks now too, was Morgan as effective minus Huth last season as with? - I think not. Is Simpson now past his best? He had a decent post title winning 2016-17 season in defence when the likes of Morgan and Huth were unable to replicate their form in the title winning season - but last season he was in and out the team - and found wanting in the main. I can't decide for the best on all five but I think Slimani will be the one most likely to be sold on to a club where he's likely to be a better fit......