dmayne7

Ancelotti has basically said he has no set philosophy, or at least he's not wedded to one style of plan. That's probably why he's the most successful manager in Champions League history because he prioritises adaptability above all else. Having a broad philosophy is great as long as you can adapt and make compromises otherwise it's just predictable and will lock you out of success in certain scenarios.

Yeah but you can't get angry about other people's not using facts and then bring your own opinions and biases into an argument that you're claiming is a breakdown of facts

A good post as you're right that they have done enough good to give them the chance to turn it around. I think it was just the spectacular nature of the relegation and slow dismantling of everything good we had done that was so infuriating. The ownership massively culpable for that and it was utterly bizarre to be breaking those things apart. The unforgivable are basically what you have highlighted at the end: - Rudkin was probably fairly logical at first for a bit of inside club knowledge and continuity but how he survived after the Adrian Silva debacle and several other things since is disgraceful. Callous that they binned off Sadler and Stowell (who give you that continuity with minimal interference, especially important in situations like now, i.e. no manager) but Rudkin survived. Others have mentioned it but KP have enough other interests that they could easily move him on to something else if they really don't want to get rid of him. - The commerciality has been pathetic. Felt it at the time but looking back it was absolutely shocking how little we capitalised on the title win. Not saying we'd have been able to get Man United levels of sponsorship but they could have got short term sponsorship, at a premium, during the run in and then surely much bigger deals the next year. I get wanting the KP brand exposure but there were so many avenues to increase revenue. The fact we were so low on the sponsorship for many years, against similar sized clubs (and probably lesser given recent history) was an abject failure. That held us back so much. On top of that, the decision to prioritise the training ground over the stadium was also incredibly short sighted. The stadium development equals more revenue, does more to raise the profile of the club etc. And this is without even mentioning the contracts, fees paid for squad players, letting players go free etc. The fact we are behind a club like Palace (whom we're definitely much bigger than) shows how badly they have messed up. Sadly, we've seen little sign of them actually willing take accountability and give us an action plan of how things are going to be sustainable going forward.

Was very close to my childhood neighbours (in Gillingham) and some of the little things he did for them were absolutely class. He'd lived with them when he played for Gillingham as my neighbour was a coach there, and the guy who picked him out (Micky Adams also lived with them when he played for Gills for a while). Always came back to visit. When I met him once at a party (was probably 14) he was such a nice guy and had some banter with me as we'd just played Birmingham that day and I think Elvis Hammond scored . Said it so many times on here but he rated Muzzy Izzet as one of the absolute best he ever worked with or played with which is some going. He was a really good manager but the game has moved on from guys like him and he's just become tainted unfortunately for him.

We've really declined if that's who we'd be after. Did pretty well at Wednesday but a 4th place finish at Braga is par for the course. Way behind the top 3 in terms of budget but then there's a huge gap between Braga and the rest. It's very much a top 4 there of which they're slightly on the outside. Had a decent career but with all the younger managers out there, he'd be a dreadful choice.

The one after we thrashed them was a a cracker. Absolutely delusional about his side's performance in the first half and then had a total meltdown. He's so overly emotional and not in a fiery way but he speaks with no composure and comes off like a whiny little child

Such an annoying narrative. We were miles clear at that point so even if they hadn't drawn with Spurs, it was still well within our control. In that interview with Kasper, I'm sure Gary L called Hazard a Leicester legend or something like that. If anything, he denied us the joy of winning it ourselves. Though I suppose that means we wouldn't have had that incredible day at KP for everyone who was there, but selfishly, I was on my own when we won the league and wasn't with my old man so didn't get to share the same joy as others, not living anywhere near Leicester

I think that's a massive disadvantage. Everton could really pile on the siege mentality and think, let's get back the points stolen from us (that they had earned). In our case we could take a similar stance but there's so much more negativity at the start of the season and we're already behind. Could have a good start to the season and still be bottom which is a hammer blow for confidence. Another reason these deductions aren't fair since they done in such a scattergun approach.

I've just been in touch with some Algerians on Facebook who were part of the 'free Mehrez' campaign and asked for their help. Starting a 'Justoce fir the bog sax' group

I'm sick of this narrative. They have to graft and work for everything just as much as we do. Name me one time they actually got their own way?

It's even more pointless because we had only 3% more average possession and yet we were patient and they were gung-go... Not sure that stacks up

Pretty poor start, probably a hangover from Wembley to an extent and then the FA Cup run took it out of them. Maybe should have done better but they also have some very average players. That's the championship though, you can underperform a little and finish 10 places lower than you should so all in all, 9th is not a bad finish for them even if they wanted playoffs

I was just making a joke (not at your expense!). I totally get what you are saying as he was actually decent as a number 2 albeit a ridiculous fee paid for him. But, his confidence is shattered from how utterly dreadful he was and there are so many decent keepers you can get to be a number 2, we need to get better if Hermansen did go

What an endorsement. Just kindly ask the opposition if they could keep the shots to a minimum .

No we don't. Even our recent teams were much more aggressive that this one last season. It was horrificly inconsistent. Sometimes a high press, other times not. It certainly wouldn't be a hallmark of this team. And he's not obviously talking about that because he says high tempo and high pressure as though they are 2 separate things, 1 often used for attacking play and 1 for defensive. So he's talking s****

Most games where we didn't do that? You don't have 70% possession playing high tempo football, it doesn't work. The idea is patience above all and then you kick into gear when possible. That's the whole possession philosophy? As for defensively, one of the most frustrating aspects was that we did neither consistently. Games like Southampton, the counter pressing was fantastic and there were other occasions but for the majority of the second half of the season we dropped right off but not in the way we did in our title winning season (where we still counter pressed, then went deep), we just seemed in no mans land. Neither deep, nor aggressive. You'd get 1 player pressing on their own and not very effectively. We were far too passive if the plan was to defend our box at all costs and go from there. Not a stick to beat Enzo with as the results clearly show it worked but it's just a horrible misconception about our style of play. Or at least for the second half of the season where the good work on style of play evaporated.

High tempo, high pressure . Not sure he ever watched us play did he?

Surely they can't be motivated if they do sign though? For Fuchs sake, I'm sure I'm forgetting about somebody...

Contract would be agreed last summer. The clause then activated upon the conditions being met (in this case promotion). What you're talking about is an option to buy. That would be agreeing a set price that can be activated at any time by the loaning club but then you still have to agree terms with the loanee. We had one on Yunus but chose not to activate.

Both right. We desperately need that stability this summers of all summers, even if there are plenty of doubts about Enzo. That unity and spirit could be the difference between staying up. But, he's had 1 season in management, and whilst successful, it wasn't a particularly difficult job so he'd be a fool to turn down Chelsea. Even if it goes wrong, it won't affect his reputation too much so I'd hold no I'll feeling towards him if he took the job

The advantage of just being back up means that as a fanbase, we're a bit more open to a riskier appointment. And because of that, there are so many good decent up and coming managers or very good managers at this level (Moyes for example) that we have so many options. Almost every name on here that gets mentioned would be interesting or at absolute worse, not uninspiring. Watch us get some absolute dross now

Glad you said it. Fine to not think he was an elite keeper but there's some on here that don't think he was very good . Aside from his weakness commanding the box (which as he says, isn't such a thing in modern football) and the occasional long shot, I think he was one of the very best in the world. One on Ones he was incredible as were his general reflexes. And look at how many big errors leading to goals he actually made when he was here? There's really not many at all and I'm pretty sure he was consistently at the top of that metric for the PL. To be fair, goalkeeping is probably the one area of football where the players are objectively better than they were 30/40/50 years ago. Obviously the very best will always be the very best but the general standard is ridiculous. There are so many good number 2's and even clubs in League 1/2 have fantastic shot stoppers. Technically the coaching and training has changed an awful lot. And because the shot stopping is so good across the board, the ability to not make big mistakes is what separates the best from the rest. Was linked to Chelsea, Man U and Real at one point, and even if he wouldn't have been the absolute best keeper they could have got, he would have been great for them, no questions.

He's just different. It's not a case of him being bright for a footballer, he's just a genuinely articulate and intelligent man. He's both a born leader and someone who has developed that aspect of his personality. Losing him was always going to be a huge blow, let alone when we didn't have an adequate replacement there. What a fantastic interview and well done to Gary for shutting up and just letting him talk. Listened last night and there's so much in there to unpack! Absolute legend and very close to being my all time favourite because of how he carried himself.

It's a gift. And one he uses to full effect

If we actually bother