BenTheFox

What a goal

Seen many people have predicted Derby to finish top half. Certainly not on this showing.

Watching Stoke vs Derby. Derby look very bad. Stoke have scored what should surely be a late winner, and they thoroughly deserve it.

Reynolds and McElhenney are both far more likeable than Tom Brady to be fair.

When did Danny Ward decide that he was a professional goalkeeper?

Ipswich were dreadful. Really lucky to get out of there with a point.

I can't help but think you're all exaggerating. I think Birmingham, for a newly promoted side, have been impressive. I get they're not a normal newly promoted side.

I really see it as a 'what might have been'. We lost over two legs in a league cup semi final against Villa who ended up surviving due to a technical fault that season and missed out on top four because we collapsed at Bournemouth and couldn't beat Brighton or Southampton at home. We didn't underachieve the following season though. We had Europe to contend with and won the FA cup. I still wouldn't swap winning the FA cup for top four that season either.

Injuries and the club's overall decline have really done Ndidi and Ricardo a disservice. I don't think anyone believes you when you try to explain just how good they were at that time. Ricardo especially wouldn't have looked out of place playing for any side in the world during that period.

A good servent to the club and was an absolute beast when he was at his peak. 4 or 5 years ago he was a £50 million player. Not only has he not been able to reach those heights in the past few years but I think the way the premier league has gone has somewhat passed him by with many managers now favouring more technical number sixes to be more heavily involved in the build up. It's a shame. Hopefully he can go and be successful at Besiktas. All the best Wilf!

Where I somewhat disagree with the Trust's statement is that the criticism of the Thai military support messaging is that it's a political statement. Politics does have place in football because literally everything is political. The examples you have given I.e. poppies, taking the knee and rainbow laces are political statements, however, not only are they league/nationwide football initiatives, they are also far more applicable to the history of Leicester City and the immediate surrounding environment. The poppy commemorates those that have died in wars involving the country where Leicester City is based. Not only that, Leicester City staff and supporters will have fought and died in those wars, so it is relevant to the history of the club. The rainbow laces is a symbolic gesture to try and promote a safe environment for those in football who are LGBT including those working at the club and Leicester fans inside the stadium. The same applies to ethnic minorities with players taking the knee. Another really key distinction is that the players could opt out if all these initiatives. James McClean doesn't wear a poppy, Wilfred Zaha didn't take the knee and many players have refused to wear rainbow laces or armbands. A clear distinction must be made between these initiatives and Thai milatery support being promoted on behalf of Leicester City. That hashtag leads you to very one-sided information, essentially propaganda. It's completely inappropriate.

The funniest thing about that is the Foxes Trust is a group of Leicester fans. You can join for as little as a fiver and have your say.

I can't blame anyone for having an issue with the club that they've supported for their whole lives being used as a vehicle for foreign state propaganda. We all have our red lines.

Pretty depressing to see people defending this. It's also laughable to see the comparisons with league wide antiracism and antihomophobia initiatives.

It's just so disappointing because I saw encouraging signs on the pitch yesterday and I think the manager has come across very well so far, and I'm left feeling annoyed about this.

In America, wouldn't this be covered under the constitution? Businesses in America literally have human rights, even though Donald Trump is currently riding roughshod over the constitution.

You'd think that we'll have reduced the wage bill quite substantially with Vardy, Coady, Ndidi, Ward and Iverson all going.

Excellent post. Hits the nail right on the head.

I certainly would, yes.

I actually massively disagree with this statement. Some football clubs are naturally political due to the circumstances of their formation, their geographical location or relationship with the establishment. For instance, it's impossible to take the politics out of Celtic, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao etc. Also, football, like anything is directly influenced by government, so ofcourse it's political! However, Thai propaganda has no place at Leicester City. It does not represent the values or the interest of the supporters or the city of Leicester and the club had no history with Thailand pre-Takeover. I remember people used to say 'respect is a big thing in Thailand' (lol!). Well if that is the case, then maybe they should start by respecting this football club and those who follow it.

Fit and proper tests should not only have to be carried out at the point of acquiring shares in a football club. It should be something that is done regularly and the ownership should be scrutinised properly based on their performance at that club.

I hadn't properly listened to The Reytons before, but I heard a few of their songs earlier. I couldn't stop laughing. It sounded like the most brazen ripoff of the first two Arctic Monkeys albums I've ever heard. There are thousands of bands playing in pubs that sound identical to that. How are they so popular?

As someone who is on the left I can fully acknowledge how out of step the left are with the majority of the country on immigration. It's a difficult issue for the left to deal with because, as you've mentioned, we have an ageing population, and a declining birth rate. Someone on the right is going to have to tell me how radically reducing net migration figures wouldn't result in raising the pension age and an even further decline public service provision and what alternatives could be employed to alleviate these problems. One way of addressing our ageing population is to massively increase the birthrate by encouraging people to have children. There are a couple of very big issues here. One obvious issue is that this doesn't address the problems that come with an ageing population is that this doesn't resolve immediate labour shortages. Children also require 16 years + of state investment in the form of education and health care. The even bigger issue is that fewer and fewer people can afford to have children. If you are going to encourage people to have children, you have to introduce policies that make having children more affordable, whether it be state subsidies for childcare, building more social housing, giving workers better bargaining rights for higher wages etc. These are things that the right typically oppose. An argument I hear is that our identity has been somewhat watered down by the influence of immigration with Turkish barbers, Polish butcher shops and foreign takeaways etc. popping up in our town centres. I am actually somewhat sympathetic to this argument. However, many of the people making those arguments don't seem to have an issue with town centres also being dominated by American fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, Starbucks, KFC, Subway etc. For the record, I am not comfortable with that either. However, British town centres are in a dire state and I suppose I'd rather there be fewer empty commercial units and more people out spending money and enjoying themselves. Another thing worth mentioning is that over the past few years, a large percentage of the net migration figures have been foreign students. Foreign students bring in vast amounts of foreign capital to the UK by paying far more for degrees. Our university education is a very large export. This is very good for our economy and wanting to drastically cut these numbers is a very bad idea.

Has there ever been a unified idea of what British culture actually is? People in this country have always had different cultural values depending on age, class, whereabouts in the country they grew up etc.

Oh yeah, I fully agree with this. It is mainly in response to comments such 'we voted, you lost, get over it. After joining the EEC in the 70s euroskeptics continued to make the argument for leaving for decades right up until 2016, which is fine, they were very much entitled to do so. It is pretty mind-blowing looking back that the only options were in or out with several possibilities then seemingly being let up in the air. What's even more insane is that Jacob Rees-Mogg of all people before the referendum literally advocated for a second vote where we'd vote on the specifics of a Brexit deal. Even Nigel Farage initially campaigned on a Norway style Brexit, which is far softer than what we ended up with. Boris Johnson literally prorogued Parliament illegally to try and force his Brexit deal through. Remainers were often criticised for trying to thwart Brexit, but the Brexiteers were constantly moving the goalposts.