Shev

As a fan whose club has been in L1 for the last five years (Wycombe) I can offer a positive and a negative to appointing a manager who even crosses the road sideways (and I don't rate at all): Positive: Birmingham absolutely walked this league a couple of seasons ago being very possession based, though it took them half a season to even begin to pull away, and they spent a record amount on players. They were so expensively put together that they were almost promoted in spite of a quite boring style. So maybe you make good personnel decisions, throw a bit of money around (not sure how much you can) and get promoted in spite of the manager. Negative: Generally, trying to play PL-style sideways football - especially the 'bad tribute band' version that Martin employs - simply does not work in L1 as a general rule. You are going to get physically bullied week in, week out, unless you have some serious steel in this division. The two points sound like they contradict each other, but it is basically a case of whether you can spend and wisely transfer your way from the negative to the positive. If not, Luton this past season may be the best comp.

Russell Martin has been stealing a living for years, just because he uses "modern football" buzzwords and "plays the right way" (piddles around at the back). MK Dons - did nothing, midtable finish. Swansea - did nothing, midtable finish. Southampton Year One - came 4th in a three horse race but won the playoffs, which is used as the great justification for his supposed talent. Southampton Year Two - on course to be the worst Premier League team in history before being fired. Rangers - had the Ibrox fans basically building a guillotine for him and gnashing their teeth. There literally has to be a manual somewhere on how to make a fortune by bleeding gullible owners dry: 1. Say the word "bravery" a lot. 2. Use phrases like "the group", "synergy", and "colaberation". 3. When you lose games, passive aggressively blame the players so that the owners know it was the players not taking your amazing instructions on board. 4. When confronted with your diabolical record, put on a show of principles by saying "I believe in playing the right way, and will stand by that." As a fan of a club (Wycombe) who fell for another example of this manager (Mike Dodds) you have my commiserations in advance.

It can get bad, but never in a million years will you go under. There is too much American interest in buying EFL clubs nowadays. Sheffield Wednesday have been a basket case, but they will get sold not problem. Clubs above a certain size always get rescued - Derby, Bolton, Wednesday, Reading, and on and on. So it may be a mess on the field, but there is simply no way with the current buyer demand that a club the size of Leicester would ever actually go under.

Wycombe fan here. In my neutral opinion, no, no, a thousand times no! "Doing a Leicester" has entered the vernacular for any kind of underdog triumph, even outside of sports. What you achieved went far beyond the boundaries and borders of your club. Even those 5th place finishes, though gutting for you (as you should have made the CL both years) were a higher watermark than "amazingly run" clubs such as Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth, Palace etc. have managed. To even continue to be that good when you were at a huge revenue disadvantage was stunning. In a way it is not surprising (from an outside point of view) that things have ended up here, especially given the tragic death of your owner. To achieve the impossible, then stay up there, then follow it up eventually with a Cup win (not to mention CL quarters), is the highest heights, and something fans of all lower league clubs could only dream of. But football is not set up to allow anyone to sustain that unless they are a revenue-producing megaclub, and in a sense, the only way was inevitably downward, with the added kicker of such incredible memories against the backdrop of a more drab current reality. The thought of any of you lot feeling like what you did is tainted is genuinely tragic. That league win was absolutely inspirational - I don't think I have ever been so happy as a neutral over something happening in sports. It was gravity-defying, insane, surreal, through-the-looking glass stuff. Maybe you are paying for it now as a fanbase, having peaked to heights you will probably never get back to, but what a peak! What heights! What a crazy, romantic, brilliant story!

The ITKs from Wycombe side still say he is coming to you. 3m + add-ons is the rumour.

To be fair, we have always had a lot of ITKs at Wycombe for our own club, as we were such a tight-knit club before the new corporate overlords took over. Ozzie is also a great poster - I just can't speak to what level of accuracy this statement would have!

From my (Wycombe) forum today. I don't know about a Wycombe fan's ITK credentials for Leicester, mind!

Koh-nay - or at least that's how our comms and fan base have always said it!

Wycombe fans here. Kone is heading to the top. He is unpolished, but has developed at a scary rate. We picked him up from the depths of non-league January 2024 and he was our undisputed number 9 by the time the next season rolled around. He was immense under Bloomfield, but we have new corporatespeak plastic owners who wanted their own man, so they forced Bloomfield out (you won't see this officially) and treated him terribly before that despite him getting us into the autos playing the best football a Wycombe team ever has. They brought an out-of-his-kiddy-pool-depth "modern coach" in to finish tanking the season (and this one too, no doubt). Very much hoping it is you rather than Swansea who get Rich. He will continue to develop at a torrid rate.

A blue turd and a red turd floating aimlessly in the same bowl.

Both teams are laser focused on passing towards their own goal. Can we just swap shirts and make it a thrilling attacking fest?

And that is why football is becoming unwatchable. If Leicester are winning next week and the other team do the same thing, there will. be massive outrage.

Richard Kone may be the best comp, but Wycombe snapped him up.

England are like that lazy coworker who puts a 45 minute shift in and then decides he can put his feet up in the canteen for the rest of the day.

It's a pity football does not have a rule where you can take some knackered players off and put new players on. We could call it something like "substitutions".