cityfanlee23

1968!

GET IN THERE LEWIS!!!!

I didn't realise Ferrari brought 8 upgrades here, so they all appear to have worked well, hopefully this has bridged the gap enough to make every race a good fight between Lewis/Charles & Kimi/George

Yep, ground affect really didn't suit him, these snappier and lighter cars are his bread and butter.

This race has been more like a bedtime story, but the ending is looking glorious.

Something I would mention, me more than most doesn't want to see the football I expect RM will bring, but I cannot understand why fans would give Martin anything other than support when he arrives. King Power made this appointment, RM will see us as a project and he will back himself to get the club up and will want a good relationship with fans. If he turns up, stinks the place out and refuses to change, then sure, get on his back. But in the first 8 games or so he should get the full backing of the fans, constructive criticism is fine. Making a manager feel unwelcome before we've kicked a ball because of the actions of the board doesn't feel productive. Right now it's fans vs board, It's better to be fans + manager vs board than the other way around. I appreciate the style, I just hate to watch 95% of managers brand of this style with a couple of exceptions like Pep, Alonso and Motta, who provide a more entertaining version of it. I said earlier on if he's appointed I might be done with the club, that's probably unlikely as I love this club, I might just be a bit distant if we stink the place out early on. But he will get my backing and support, we need him to help us fight against the ownership.

Trying to find positives and negatives in this situation, my gut feeling is that results wise we will be very competitive in L1. Positives: - He will likely try to sign younger players with sell on potential - Being in L1 allows us a bit more breathing room to cast a wider net on players who don't need to be "champ ready" - The sort of players he will try to sign will be able to press, but will also be technically capable, so when RM leaves, he won't be leaving us a load of one-dimension players that the likes of Rowett might. - RM does appear to have a good record building rapport with players (Rangers aside), and I saw somewhere when Still was sacked, Players at Southampton wanted Martin back? Speaks volumes if true - If he fails we can at least move on from being linked every 2 weeks - His system does score goals which we've lacked for 2 years. - RM will be considered one of the best managers if not the best in the division, couple that with our clear facilities advantage, I could see RM getting us some very good loans from the likes of Man City, Enzo will clearly see us as a good pathway to send a player on loan who will be learning a style somewhat similar to his own. - Like Enzo, when it does work and we pick the pace up and play fast flowing football, it really is "the beautiful game" Negatives: - RM's style of sideways ball is Enzo on steroids, will bore me to sleep - His football seems to produce quite a few hammerings - He comes across as stubborn and refuses to change the system even when losing or on a bad run - His style exacerbates the already obvious situation that teams will form a low block against us, slow sideways football gives opponents an incentive to drop deep and not press, Enzo has this same issue, L1 will be worse. - During his Lineker interview, he stated that he was more determined than ever to continue with his style, but he did give the impression he would maybe change a few things

She made an unprovoked comment during the podcast I thought was a dig, I think 5 mins in where he was asked about Italian football Vardy said something along the lines of "The director of football has a say in EVERYTHING" Becky commented "Sounds familiar"

Russell Martin actually has me scared of success right now, because if we get promoted you just know we will panic offer a new 5 year deal and quadruple down on this long after he's gone "we got promoted from League 1 with this style"

As an F1 fan who grew up on the phrase "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast" that first line got me

I'm beginning to think I need to just delude myself that Russell will somehow find the key that allows him to deliver an entertaining version of possession football like Bologna/Leverkusen did. Is it better to be delusional that chronically unhappy at the situation?

Does Martin have the cojones to take the board on once his feet are under the table? Does he have the authority to drive the club forward like Pearson did? We need someone who will grab this board by the scruff of the neck and kick a few tables over. It’s the only way the board will learn.

If we sign Martin we are going to need a new goalkeeper, Stol isn't good enough on the ball to play this style.

The most frustrating part of this potential appointment, is that as a fanbase, for multiple years now it's been King Power vs The fans, they don't give a single shit about what the fans want to see, they put themselves above all. The manager in some circumstances can often form a shield between the circus upstairs and the fans/players on the pitch, take for example Rohl at Wednesday, the club was being run into the ground, but Rohl and the fans formed a partnership, almost a bubble around themselves. We are likely going to need to do that with Russell Martin, the salient fact is this, we NEED promotion, this isn't a 2 season rebuild to get us out of league one, every season we spend in this league is a step towards even more of a financial catastrophe. Russell Martin simply HAS to get us promoted at the first time of asking, no ifs, no buts, he HAS to. And we as a fanbase are going to have to get right behind this snore-fest to secure our immediate future, all we can do is hope and pray that Martin has the balls to stand up against the board. Results wise I think he will do fine. Just wish it was anyone else. Now it feels like the only hope we have is that he's woken up from his last couple of experiences and changes his style. You can have exciting possession based football, just look at Leverkusen 23/24, Cardiff last season or Bologna 23/24, Russell needs to find that balance quick or the majority who gave him the benefit of the doubt will turn whether we are winning or not.

My gut instinct is that results wise he will do fine in League One, and AFAIK he typically signs players with potential, I just cannot stand the sight of us going in a giant horse shoe around the pitch for 5 minutes, with 50 passes going from GK to the CBs, over the the Left Back, who puts it to the Left Winger, who turns back and passes it to the CM, who passes it to the CB, who pass it to the Right back, who passes it to the Right Winger, who turns and passes it to the CB's, all at a snails pace whilst the opposition (who we are supposed to be tiring out) are literally walking around the pitch, and we end up having to face a deep block that we struggle to penetrate all game before finally a bit of class nicks us the points late on. I watch this sport to be entertained. Winning is nice, but if the game was rubbish to watch for 90 minutes, but we nicked a winner at the end, that win doesn't make it entertaining for me.

I feel sick.

I still think if we genuinely want a foundational blueprint built, we should bring in Ralph Hasenhuttl, give him 3-4 years to get back to the prem, and try at the earliest moment to bring in Ralf Rangnick to oversee the club if he decides to step down from Austria.

100% would crawl over broken glass for Wagner over Martin.

Yeah they definitely had a rough patch near the end, he took them from 17 points off top when he arrived to a single point from the top when that form hit though, so he had a sustained upturn in form, not really sure what happened towards the end.

Yep, it's so obvious. He's someone who plays aggressive, attacking football, makes players work for the badge, has done a great job on a budget, and he's someone that could genuinely rally the club back together. Announce Russell Martin.

At this point I might be one of them, simply cannot be bothered anymore, I haven't been to games regularly for a long time, can't see it changing any time soon. I'm a 2 hour one way trip. It's an interesting tactical approach, I get the strategy, but I watch this sport to be entertained. I watch F1 because it entertains me, I don't watch Tennis because it doesn't. For far too long I've planned my weekends around watching a Football club that doesn't entertain me, not sure I can be bothered wasting my time on it much longer if we bring in RM. I've followed F1 since the 90s growing up as a "side sport" but over the last 5-6 years, it's taken a far bigger portion of my attention than it has in previous years. Happy for those that want to watch it, but I'm not tribal enough about the club to waste my weekends watching football I despise. Love this club to death, but I respect my time more. The club right now feels a little bit like that conspiracy theorist relative that you love because they are family but avoid them because of their nonsense.

If he wants to do coaching badges, the club need to contact him asap. We need standards.

I'd rather scattergun than the most likely alternative where we interview 3 or 4 before deciding we wanted Martin all along. Keep the scattergun going

Great Race, the regs feel a little bit manufactured at times with the way the energy deployment/battery works, but the racing this season has been fantastic at times, it's been a while since we've consistently had good quality racing right across the grid week in week out.