An Away Move

I didn’t renew. I didn’t want to be forced into digital ticketing and having to register anyone I want to forward my old ST on to with the club. It’s a long way from having two season tickets in my own name, as used to be the case, and taking whoever I wanted to as a guest - without having to run it by the club. I was forced out of this under Covid because of track and trace. Some personal reasons too. But I did want to send a message to the club that they can’t take my custom for granted. I feel slightly disappointed so many others whinge about the club but still shelled out like it’s business as usual. The club could have received a more serious message if they hadn’t have sold out ST this year. As it is the comms machine is almost gloating in tone. Well done. The club thank you for your ‘loyalty’ and support for what they are doing. That’s how it will be spun.

I blame Brendan Rodgers more than Top or Rudkin. The guy became toxic and we literally couldn’t afford to sack him until we had to come what may re: the financial consequences. The latter are still unfolding.

I found out today that Hamza means ‘Lion’. Now I know this I think it’s possible that he consciously grows his hair to look like a mane.

Yeah. But my point still stands. Buyers and sellers can’t even rely on ‘Guaranteed Next Day’ because that phrase is actually a trademarked product, which is not actually guaranteed next day. It can take days. Just wanted to make people aware.

Sadly Royal Mail are not what they used to be. Look at the small print on 'Guaranteed Next Day' and you'll find that is not actually guaranteed but rather an aspiration and that if it doesn't arrive within a certain amount of days, after 'next day', you can apply for a refund. Sucks!

What would help me fall back in love with Leicester and start going again is if we put a massive focus on our youth prospects and homegrown. Fielding as many as possible in the starting eleven. That would help offset everything I’ve grown to hate. It’s also what we should be doing from a club finances perspective.

Part of me feels exactly the same as this. The difference though is the game in 80s was purer from a sporting perspective. Nottingham Forest getting promoted and winning the European Cup twice being the prime example. It couldn’t happen today. We got the closest to it in an absolute freak season. No one else will IMO. Especially with petro state backed clubs entering the game.

I’m going to enjoy taking a break from it. I think the corporatisation of football has been the biggest factor. Football is more like F1. Less of sport and more about resources. I also hate the new breed of manager implementing their ‘philosophies’ no matter what the results. It’s the cult individualism on steroids in what was once a team game. PSR is awful too - punishing smaller ambitious clubs and protecting the richest. Forced digital ticking systems was the last straw for me. Going to enjoy not travelling up and down to games from London and aligning my life more with family and fitness. My match days weren’t the best re: my health and longevity!

I love Vardy and we’ll never see his like again, but he’s gone now and I’m looking forward to seeing who steps out of his shadow and becomes the main man. Onwards.

This duo could define Leicester’s next chapter — grounded in values, but unafraid to evolve. You’ve broken my trust in ChatGPT!

The second worst thing about our relegation is that we’d have sent Spurs or Man Utd down if we’d have been less shit!

Shit. Spurs have won a trophy!

Brendan Rodgers 2.0 then.

In the words of Amy Winehouse, ‘What kind of ****ery is this?’ 🤦🏻‍♂️

Completed. I think the more that do the survey the better.

The craft beer stall is amazing. It’s that pub in Enderby that sells Leicester named beers. I love it because I love Double IPAs. One of which has the best name ever, ‘Eh up me duck’.

The latest abomination by the club was them running out of programmes an hour before kick off. How could they have not foreseen there’d be greater demand than usual?

That non-TIFO really was shit. I reckon they said ‘no’ because of the ‘Sack Rudkin’ chants.

💯!!! More context here. Made me well up.

My friend, this really isn’t a good look for you. You probably ought to delete it.

Wow!

Good point. My comment about him being our best striker but also holding us back as a team in a sole striker position at his age was more in relation to Premier League football.

I really like Lineker and feel aligned with him politically on most things, but I think he should resign over this for two reasons, 1) It doesn’t matter if it was ‘an accident’. The rat thing is 100% antisemitic. Not knowing is not the point. Maybe I’m being very sensitive about this because my partner and three year old daughter are Jewish. Antisemitic tropes are as harmful as any other form of racism. But somehow there seems to be more tolerance for it ‘because Israel’. Antisemitism is a completely separate thing to the actions of what the Israeli state is doing (horrendous right now IMO). For context, Antisemitism has been around for thousands of years. Israel was created in 1948. I want my daughter to grow up in a world which is less tolerant of antisemitism. Lineker has let himself off too easily by saying ‘ooh sorry mistake’. He wouldn’t get away with that re: other forms of overt racism. 2) He professes to love the BBC. His action and not-resigning over this harms the organisation. It just adds bolster to all those who are ideologically against the BBC license fee and who see it as ‘Leftist’. He’s actively harming the organisation by not falling on his sword.

It’s a paradox. I think Vardy is clearly our best finisher, but insisting on starting him every game, as the sole striker, for the last few seasons has also been holding us back as a team. I think both things can be true.

Better the devil you know. Give him pre-season and the first 10 games in The Championship. He’ll know what we’re about warts and all behind the scenes and a better idea of who to get rid of, who to keep and what he needs. Chopping and changing managers is the real killer. Ipswich are a very well run club with a fantastic manager and we’re basically neck and neck with them. The damage to our club was done under Rodgers. The Prem collectively got stronger at the same time as our unforgivable first relegation. As a fanbase we need to be less toxic and realise where we are and stop carping on about where we ‘should’ be from a sporting perspective. This does not mean letting Rudkin off the hook.