nnfox

Can't believe how many people expressing disappointment. We need a full back. This guy plays full back. We have next to no spending power, we're at the bottom of the league, in terrible form. We're not about to sign prime Roberto Carlos

So basically, he's probably the best paid assistant goalkeeper coach in the world.

03:02 Shocking

Sounds more like he wants to buy the whole city, not just the footy club!

Unfortunately this would suit the big clubs better. As fabulously wealthy as Top is, he can't get close to the owners of Chelsea, Man City, Newcastle and others. If a level playing field is what the Premier League want, then salary caps and maybe NFL style drafts could help. Unfortunately, they don't want a level playing field. Having rules that places a limit on your spending tied to your revenue can only stifle ambition of clubs with modest revenues in the long run.

I love a good underdog story. Forest are pretty much trying to do the exact tying that we did in the same way. Isn't imitation the greatest form of flattery or something? Anyway, it isn't us and would never trump our achievement. The Vardy story, the Ranieri story, "that" Gary Lineker tweet, 5000-1, the great escape and so on. NOTHING will come close to the romance of that season. If our league win was a surprising box office smash from a limited budget, Forest feels like a bigger budget sequel with a different writer that wasn't really needed and isn't nearly as good as the original. Good luck to them though. Even if they do win it, they have to follow it up with at least one more trophy in the next 5 years to be in the conversation about who is better.

True, people forget that there's been more than 50 teams to have competed in the Premier League, it's about half of all the current EFL teams. It's noteworthy too, that it's pretty rare to have more than 10 consecutive years in the prem, unless you are in the big 6 (or Everton). In fact, I think it's only West Ham and Palace outside of those 7 that are currently enjoying a run of 10+ years. Maybe they've got it right?

The issue is that there's a ceiling to all this. In theory, I'd suggest that a well run club of reasonable stature could come from anywhere in the football league and with enough time, good strategy and a little luck become an established mid table premier league team. With the TV money, the right sponsorship deals and clever recruitment, there's probably enough revenue available to have a business model that can sustain multiple uneventful premier league campaigns. From that foundation, all you can do is hope that you can have the odd good season, maybe a good cup run or two and maybe a European adventure mixed in. As soon as you try to regularly push for top 6 or top 4, the revenue cannot sustain it. If you want your players to stay, you have to pay them top 4 or top 6 wages, or they'll be off and you'll drop back down. Or, like we did, fund those massive wages gambling on future success and European competition. To really compete at the very top of the richest league in the world, you need globally generated revenues. Outside of the big 6, it's impossible to sustain it. The likes of Bournemouth, Brighton, Fulham, Forest and others are having their time in the sun, but it won't last. How badly they crash is another debate, maybe they'll have a soft landing to mid to bottom half, or maybe they'll suffer from the same busted flush that we did and find themselves on a cliff edge. Time will tell.

When I was around 12-13 years old. I would put ketchup on ice cream. It was the raised eyebrows rather than the taste that stopped me.

I'm going with Bouba. He's starting to look like the player we hoped to have signed all those years ago. Under successive managers it hasn't clicked. On the FoxesTalk barometer of acceptance, when named in the starting line up, it's gone from full on melt down to slight disappointment if he's not named in the team. There are not many players out there who have experienced such a swing. Bilal is also looking very good, but that might be more down to taking some time to settle in to a new country, new language etc. I'm not sure how much credit RvN gets for him, but if he can maintain or improve form then I'll be happy to give credit

It was 80% Stolarcyk error. He could and should have done much better with the initial shot and then he literally dived the wrong way on the follow up.

Love stuff like this. Thanks for the effort, some interesting stuff in there but I'm not having Ayew above Kramaric!

I think this Leicester job can be classed as a baptism of fire foe RVN. If he didn't know what he was getting himself into when he signed, he should do now. He looks a little like a rabbit caught in headlights right now. His managerial career could be short lived if he doesn't get to grips with it soon. He needs to choose his style. Players' best friend or cut throat winner. One is easy and gets results, one is hard but keeps us up.

Genuinely fearing an actual massacre.

He was a nutter. He was responsible for his actions. He takes the blame. You can debate forever and a day about the influence that the far right (whoever they are) had on him but we may never know which came first - did the far right make him a nutter, or was he a nutter in the first place who found solace in the far right? What is dangerous is just writing off as "it was the far right what did it", because with that broad stroke you dilute the blame onto a large section of a nameless society and don't see the specifics. If he's linked to a specific far right group and there's evidence that they conspired to carry out this specific attack, then folk can go to town on them, until then we should all have some patience and not jump to conclusions.

Laphroaig basically tastes of chimney. It's lovely!

The thing is, most clubs have a hit and miss record when it comes to signings. There's so many variables that make a player "click", it's unreal... System, technical ability of teammates, attitude of teammates, coaching, housing, family arrangements, language barriers and more. Apart from a few superstar players that are a cut above the rest, pretty much every player is 50/50 whether they're a "success" at a new club. With that said, what I continually cannot fathom why we buy so many players who don't make the starting line up. Time and time again we spend weeks getting a deal for a player over the line, spending big money, and then put them on the bench. Most seem lucky to get 20 minutes of action in their first few games and aren't given a fair crack. The result is that we sort of strengthen the bench, but not the starting xi. Buy good players and play them. The bench will look after itself.

Bobbie's good, but don't forget Jamie Vardy's contribution!

Are our players unfit? West Ham players seem to be 10% quicker, sharper and stronger all over the pitch.

Or not.

Hard to see JJ getting worse. Hopefully see some progress with him.

Kettering Town away

It needs to be announced before the game. Too much of a distraction. Get it done, out the way, draw a line and begin a new chapter.

I think it's more the case that good managers in lower leagues find it really tough to get a job at the top of the game because big name players wake up one day and decide they want to be a manager and they seemingly walk into the top jobs. There's nothing in the article that suggests Challinor was interested in the job, it's just highlighting a wider trend. Maybe managing a team isn't that difficult and actually, having a big name might make buying new players easier - perhaps that was a factor in our summer recruitment? As for compensation? I'm sure we could meet any compensation clause with Stockport, they're not exactly in the top 1% yet.