ALC Fox

Can't wait to see what this lad can do.

If he gets a longer contract in the summer then clearly he and us will have done very well out of the deal. If not, then we're not lumbered with him. Can't argue with it really. We need bodies, especially experienced ones. Can't afford proper signings. It's where both club and player are at right now. I've a little feeling this will work out OK.

Not seen a great deal of him despite him being 29. I know he made it to the Europa League final for Rangers but equally I know that a good amount of Southampton fans are glad he's not in their squad anymore. Will judge him on his performances in a City shirt.

Otchere has to be given a chance off the bench. Surely he can't be too far off Ayew or Daka's current level

Can hold his head up high today. Excellent in possession and broke through the lines. He'll be a real asset for us wherever he plays across the back line.

Fatawu is trying to everything himself, hence why his performances are suffering and he's appearing to be incredibly selfish at times But he's still scoring bangers and his technique is still excellent. He's still capable of beating players on the inside and outside, he's just taking on too much with too little help around him. Plonk him in a good team under a good manager and he'll thrive like he did under Maresca. Bournemouth would be a perfect landing spot for him. We should be holding out for top dollar for him... If we can. Unfortunately our circumstances may mean we accept a lower fee than is ideal.

Surely was only a matter of time before we started seeing if another academy LB could be an improvement on Thomas. Ali was a bit of a golden boy a year or two back wasn't he? Not entirely sure how he's developed since. Anything to get excited about is very welcome.

It's a shame it never worked out with Marti. He made so many of the right noises at the start of the season about the club and about how he wanted to play. But he did have to go. There wasn't a single game where we put together a proper, coherent performance. And in most games, even the ones we won, we were not the better side. I'll thank him for the six points over Derby, though and wish him all the best.

Cooper was miles better than RVN. We were still atrocious but we fought and scored goals. Under Ruud we dropped like a stone and offered no resistance to the inevitable.

I'd say 7 goals in 7 games is enough to give Otchere a shot from the bench. See how his movement is and how he links up. If there are concerns about his all-round game (like supposedly with Hutchinson) it's worth bearing in mind that he is playing with other academy players. And there's an old saying that sometimes you just don't know how a player will do until you throw them in. His form deserves a promotion, especially considering how our first team forwards are currently misfiring.

I'm not sure there's a replacement that can succeed here currently. Not in the manner that we've been used to for the majority of this club's existence: challenging for promotion and re-establishing ourselves as a good top-flight team. Success is negotiating another challenging period of financial instability. Much is speculated about King Power's financial woes since COVID, but I'm not entirely sure that they couldn't put us on an even keel if they really wanted to. The bigger problem is working within the constraints of the differing rules that the EFL and PL have imposed and continue to impose on us while rectifying the situation brought about by the club potentially flouting those rules while chasing Champions League football. Within these restrictions, the academy is reaping the benefit of moving to Seagrave, and now becomes a very realistic resource of regularly producing quality talent that can form the spine of our first-team while also being used to help us get on and even keel through the sale of some of that talent. But all of this is likely to result in a tumultuous period for the first team as we become a mediocre or poor Championship team, perhaps even a League One team, while our young players learn their trade on the job and we're unable to recruit quality experience at this level to push back up towards the top of the second tier. These undulating fortunes will see several managerial casualties, which, if managed incorrectly by the board, could see plenty of players brought in who don't fit subsequent managers' styles of play and we could end up repeating our mistakes of overspending on talent we don't want or need. So, success now, I think, is treading water while the finances are corrected. If that can be done under King Power, then I'll be back on board with them. But right now that doesn't appear to be the case. We need a manager who is willing to accept a longer stint in the division while we correct the club behind the scenes and who can keep us in the league and at a push go for the playoff spots. Who that guy is, I just don't know.

I did the 5K Nike Run Club app a few times over the years as I went quite stop-start with my running. I've managed to form a habit and I had this goal of breaking a 25-minute 5K but have just not been able to do it. I stretch and warm up well. But I've come to know that my body enjoys longer runs much more. When I do one, it feels like my nearly 40-year-old body needs at least 5K to really settle into its rhythm and regulate my breathing. So I've abandoned the 25-minute 5K goal for now. I'll still do a 5K as part of my routine but will just continue to enjoy those longer runs building steadily up to a half marathon distance and hopefully beyond. Maybe a 25-minute 5K will happen out of cause and effect rather than putting the pressure on to do one. Anyone else found anything similar about struggling with 'shorter' distances but loving the longer ones?

You can't just walk back the kind of comments Trump made about NATO soldiers. If he didn't truly believe it, he said it to make a point, and the controversial nature of the initial comments mean that they will travel further globally than the apology. He's besmirched steadfast allies. Allies who answered the call from the US, the only country to have invoked the clause that requires NATO's collective defence of their country. Add that to Saturday's papers in the supermarket. All of them criticised Trump's comments on their front page, except the Daily Mail. Instead, it praised Trump for perhaps delaying or potentially stopping the handing over of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. And also included a headline about Piers Morgan having a poorly hip. A genuinely spineless, bootlicking rag.

He manages the Sweden national team now. I think the Potter to Leicester ship has sailed now, at least for a few seasons. I'd be happy with Pearson-King.

I wonder if this comes with age. The ability to get the power and accuracy from a corner in the manner that Rice and Saka can do, for example. Must be rare to achieve that for a 17-year-old.

Pleased for Kevon Gray. Hope he gets on and a chance to impress.

The only way he stays is if we're able to convince him that the finances have been sorted to a degree where we're able to rebuild and sign some quality to get us back up. At the moment, that looks like a very remote possibility. The Macquarie rubbish, the ongoing issues with the EFL and PL, the lack of investment, all point towards us not being in a healthy position. But we are slowly getting rid of the higher earning, underperforming, wantaway players. So I think there could be a chance he stays and we rebuild. But it is a remote chance. If he doesn't sign, it's such an opportunity missed. He's been our best player by a country mile. And he ACTUALLY WANTS TO BE HERE. Despite the crap. Despite playing with some of the most disinterested bunch of professionals to ever pull on our club's shirt. It would be such a waste of an opportunity if he ends up elsewhere.

I was thinking about this yesterday. UEFA could persuade as many of its teams that have qualified to pull out and take part in an impromptu Euros and fill the gaps with the UEFA teams with the next highest FIFA rankings. The tournament could be held across the continent like the Euro 2020 edition (in 2021 because of Covid), which would mitigate against the sudden costs being incurred by one or two countries. Easy peasy.

Someone check if Jordan James's back is OK from carrying this team all season

Could go either way, this. We could win it 3-0 and only be good for 20 minutes. We could lose 3-0 and only be atrocious for 20 minutes. And any other type of result could happen really. The only thing we can predict is that we won't put together a coherent performance and there will be questions about the team and the manager regardless.

I think just having his negativity out the door is the biggest priority. We need to be sounding out other suitors in case Monaco don't follow through with the option, though. Next up, Winks hopefully

With our academy bringing through multiple top talents at the same time, one thing I guess we need to get used to is that we won't keep all of them until the club decides either they're not actually good enough or that we're ready to get a top fee for them. From a fans perspective, I'd say most of us want as many of them in the first team as possible, but we may lose a few of these kids far too early for our liking. The links are encouraging. We see them doing well in youth football and we get excited. They find the route to the first team tough to break into because of a bloated squad and managers who prefer experience to burgeoning talent. But it's good to know that other clubs are taking an interest. It's confirmation that we can believe our own eyes and that we can reasonably think that if these boys do get a chance, they might be able to succeed here. Thankfully, we're now in a position where more of them are getting a chance. Hutchinson's situation, though, is puzzling in isolation. Otchere is doing well at U21 level. I agree with the call that if Otchere is thriving then he needs men's football either in our first team (we need a striker so why not?) or in League One or Two and then Hutchinson can get a chance to step up at U21 level on a regular basis. But it is currently puzzling why so many of our young players are being promoted early, yet Hutchinson is thriving as a 17-year-old for the U18s and not being given a regular chance at a higher level as a rotation option for Otchere and Richards. If we can move on some of the players who definitely aren't going to make it here (Richards, Wanya, etc.) then maybe the pathway opens up for him here. But while he's finding the route to the first team blocked, interest from the likes of Man Utd and Real will be even more attractive to him than it ordinarily would.

An incredible quality to have. When a player looks like he has loads of time on the ball you know they're a class act. I've been run off the park by good uni footballers. I can't imagine how much less time you have with actual professionals chasing you around

Some of these guys who have got what it takes just suddenly click. It's almost as if men's football looks a massive step up and then they realise that actually they're much better than most of the players they're playing with and against. A famous example is Wayne Rooney when he went from idolising the Everton first team, to being promoted to it and suddenly realising "these are sh!t". Aluko looks like a proper baller of a right-back at U21 level, getting forward and scoring goals. Hopefully it clicks for him quickly and we have a real player on our hands.

Don't forget Corriedale was on the box