Claudio Fannieri

I think it’s more what Ruud is saying, he has actually stated that talks about his future and the clubs future should have already started but haven’t. If nothing else it shows the club have zero medium or long term strategy and everything is reactionary.

If the club truly believed Ruud was the right man for the job long term then it would have already been announced that he was staying, the fact it hasn’t says everything, both parties know a parting of the ways is inevitable, the only thing preventing this is our confirmed relegation and the very likelihood that it triggers a reduced pay off or even a break clause. I think he will be gone, it’s just a matter of time.

Never fear Enzo will be back to finish off what he started 😂

Would be good to tag Jason Bourne on X as he has been pretty vocal in his frustrations with how the club is being run, others would be John Percy and Tom Collomose.

Absolutely and making similar if not worst mistakes in paying way over the odds on fees, wages and lengthy contracts to players like Coady, Winks, Ayew , BDCR and Skipp, then there is Vestys 3 year contract extension and the abomination that is the loan of Eduaord, lessons learnt, my arse.

I really cannot see BEK playing for us in the championship next season, for one he is without doubt our most talented player and way too good for that level, really cannot see a player of his calibre hanging about to play the likes of Oxford, Stoke, Hull and PNE on cold wet Tuesday evenings. Also any scouting reports will look beyond what is deemed fairly low goal involvement stats to see for the majority of the season we have been playing largely anti attacking football, on any occasion we have adopted an attacking philosophy he has looked so dangerous and often been the games where he has got a goal or assist. Put him in a half decent attacking structure and he will net 15 goal involvements, rest assured there will be a few clubs prepared to take a punt at probably £30m on him.

I see your point however KDH was £30m, losing Maresca took it to £40m and that was far from in the plan, which means our losses would/should have been £29.4m. The point I was making was in reality little was/is being done to cut our cloth, within those losses was negotiated contract clauses that included % wage deductions, however we should at that point have also looked to promote and sign younger players on a lot lower wages, however we still signed players like Coady and Winks and paid them ridiculous wages for both the championship and now this season in the premier league and then repeated the trick with Ayew, BDCR whilst massively paying over the odds for Skipp and a loan for Eduaord. The club continue to complain that PSR massively hampers our ability to remain competitive and yet continue to make the same mistakes, I have little or no sympathy or confidence in a senior leadership team who repeat the same mistakes whilst failing to take strategic decisions that change the direction of travel, we literally rinse and repeat. The initial relegation and the supposed internal root and branch review should have seen a tangible shift in how we operate and yet here we are on the cusp of another relegation and still carrying a shed load of deadwood on huge and lengthy contracts. Once is forgivable but this continued mismanagement cannot go on without people being held accountable.

I was thinking about this earlier and it’s laughable how the club were almost congratulating themselves on only losing £19.4m in the last year in the championship like they had really got to grips with the deep rooted issues, then you remember within that loss included £10m compo for our manager that we weren’t planing on losing and having to flog our most effective player for £30m so in reality our operating loss to that point was £59.4m ……..WOW and yet people still defend Rudders, Whelan and Top. And last summer just to further prove we had learnt from the harsh realities and getting a grip of our expenditure we spunked money and multi year contracts to the likes of BDCR, Ayew, Skipp, Vesty and then went and paid a shit load for Eduaord on loan and he has literally played as many minutes as me. The level of mismanagement is beyond comprehension and how the ownership haven’t acted and made changes is baffling and is a real red flag to me.

We certainly wouldn’t have back to back relegations with Dyche at the helm although I would have reservations regards the style of play and whether some of our most promising academy and young prospects would necessarily flourish or relish the thought of playing his brand of football.

Ahhhhhhh the Russell Martin derby

Susan thinks he is an arse, Ruud and Enzo wouldn’t trust him to run a bath and Nigel would happily throttle him as much as look at him, hope I haven’t given too much away 😂

It’s so hard to say who will stick around and who will leave. It will very much depend on who is the manager, remember the last time we were relegated and several players looked nailed on to leave but then ended up staying because they liked what Enzo was trying to do. As much as love BEK as a player I really can’t see him staying to play in the championship, he is a Rolls Royce of a player and will no doubt have decent options to stay in the premier league. The basis of my squad would be as follows - GK Stolrcyrk + New, Bausor RB/LB - JJ, Coulibaly, Aluko, Joseph CB - Nelson, Okoli, Souttar + New CDM - Skipp, Cartwright, Braybrooke + New AM / Wingers - Mavididi, Fatawu, McAteer, Monga, Alves + New x 2 ST - Vardy (one more year), Evans + New 6 new signings and a good mix of academy players promoted and a smattering of experienced good professionals to help mentor the young lads.

The reality of life, if you are in a relatively influential position within any organisation. you will undoubtedly have people who speak highly of you, usually people who have benefited directly and then people who have poor opinions, as a consequence of negative experiences. The mark of a truly genuine and respected leader is that even when making tough decisions and in their general demeanour and interactions with people they are always respectful. Given the varied feedback and experiences shared on here, what is fairly clear is that Rudkin will tend to look after his own interests and if you are part of his clique then happy days, if not then you likely see a very different side to him.

I did notice when the Trey Nyoni being poached by Liverpool was raised that Guy did get very protective of the club and whilst I can’t recall his exact words, it was along the lines of the club doing brilliantly to negotiate a great deal that benefits the club and earn millions from future appearances, international caps and trophies. The reality is Jon Rudkin has played a very significant role and part in Guy Branston’s professional life, whilst the man is the devil incarnate to many LCFC fans, there will be people who have had very positive experiences and hold him in high regard for what he has done to help them on a personal level. Many of us will have experienced that within our working lives. I think where it’s difficult for people with a long standing professional and personal relationship, is to then accept and potentially call out that person is now failing or struggling in their role. As I said in an earlier post you cannot blame Guy for not wading in on the club and Rudkin, given his ongoing involvement in the game and close links to the club, but it does also highlight the lack of people ready to challenge what has gone wrong and this acceptance that what has happened in the last 2/3 years is ok. Which does concern me that the general consensus around the hierarchy is nothing to see and let’s carry on regardless.

Agreed, if anything this is starting to feed the narrative to the media that there will be a parting of the ways once relegation is confirmed.

I thought it was really interesting insight and gave a very different viewpoint, I also take some of what was said with a pinch of salt and fully respect the fact that given Guy Branston’s role as a intermediary and his connections with the club, then he is going to be very careful and diplomatic with what he says. He has a deep rooted relationship with Rudkin, the club and some players so he isn’t going to go in all guns blazing. He has professional working relationships that he has to maintain. still thought it was a cracking pod and refreshing to get a different perspective and viewpoint.

Mads and BEK will be the ones to leave to help raise funds and mitigate any PSR risks for this season and next, one will go before the end of June and the other beginning of July. Mads will probably raise £25m-£35m of clear profit whilst BEK will probably bring in £15m-20m of profit. players like Wilf, Faes, Soumare, Daka, Vesty, Winks, VK hopefully due to reducing book values will attract some interest even if it’s for minimal profit but shifts off big wages. With Justin and Riccy P I wouldn’t be shocked if a few mid/lower prem clubs like West Ham, Everton, Palace or even the promoted clubs come in with modest offers up to £5m given they no longer have a book value and would be decent squad options. I would resist the temptation to cash in on any of our up and coming academy prospects unless ridiculous offers come in. I would look to promote from within the academy where ever possible and hopefully supplemented with some clever and shrewd recruitment where possible.

And those first eight games were under Cooper who many like to now paint out to be a decent manager who would have kept us up. Ruud is dog muck but Cooper was utter turd as well, to get two managerial appointments so badly wrong is a new level of ineptitude from a certain board …..

That was my thought yesterday when I saw their result followed by the fact Leeds won. Just got to hope they make it up via the play offs. I also think they are our best opportunity to pay a decent fee for Souttar as well.

Given we won’t have the funds to buy a quality striker, personally if we can get Vardy to accept a greatly reduced contract say £25k - 30k basic and then appearance and performance related bonuses, I would keep him, use him as an impact sub and rotational starter, similarly the way Enzo did, yes his powers are waning but is it any wonder when he is being flogged for 90 minutes most weeks, he has been chronically mismanaged and over used this season, it has been appalling. But I think if managed well, he can still contribute and also act as a great mentor to the youngsters such as Evans so they can be eased into the squad and team. If Vards goes we are really going to struggle as we need to replace him and at a time we have little or no financial headroom to operate, this way if we can navigate our way through next season, we can then potentially invest in a new striker the following season, when we will have more opportunity to spend money.

I really can’t see him staying on, this is one slightly bright spark in what has been a truly horrific run of poor results and terrible performances. Even taking that into account, we could and should have been dead and buried by half time if Brighton had taken their chances. Also at the end of the game, Ruud walked over to the officials shook their hands and then turned back round and went straight back down the tunnel without even an acknowledgment of the travelling fans, that is not the actions of a Manager who is here for the long haul, he knows as soon as we are down he is gone, the only reason he is still here is because Top won’t pay out anymore than the relegation severance package, so it’s just a matter of waiting for the inevitable and everybody can part ways and start to try and move forward.

Wouldn’t be shocked if he resigned and walked away on the back of a bit of positivity and half decent result.

Reckon Brighton put to us to the sword in the 2nd half, they will score 2 quick fire goals and kill the game off, will end up 5-2 to them.

This is probably our best opportunity to break our scoring duck given the injuries and suspensions Brighton are suffering with, wouldn’t be shocked if we do bag a couple but also think we will concede a few, I am predicting 4-2 or 5-2 to Brighton.

All out of work managers talk well to the media, very easy to talk a good game, completely different once you are appointed and the pressure is on to get results. I would rather we appointed a manager based on recent achievements of on basis of good reputation rather than media sound bites or punditry.