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".

Spain's real injuries v fake injuries today do confirm the time-honoured rules. 1. Injured players do not slap the ground repeatedly. 2. Injured players do not roll around, as they want to keep the injured body part still. 3. Non-injured faking players look like they are auditioning for a retrospective documentary on the birth of breakdancing.

Fans bleating about manager loyalty ever happens when a club has been successful and therefore the manager is in demand. The fans have generally not had to show any loyalty themselves because again, it has been a period of success. If Enzo had looked like taking the club down into L1 instead of starting the current climb, would anyone have insisted on being loyal to him? Ultimately, fans prioritize their club (rightly), so they have no loyalty to a manager who may damage the club. Managers know this, so they strike while the iron is hot in their careers, as there may be no tomorrow for them if things go badly. A great recent example of this is Oxford. The following sequence happened: 1. Karl Robinson is doing well - fan loyalty. 2. Robinson stops doing well - fans say "get rid" despite his long tenure. 3. Liam Manning is doing well at MK. 4. MK lose all their loanees and start battling relegation. Fans: "Get rid". Manning is fired. 5. Oxford hire Manning and start off well - fan loyalty. 6. Manning gets great Champo offer - remembers the fickle nature of the sport - leaves. 7. Fans bleat about no loyalty. 8. Oxford hire Des Buckingham. 9. Buckingham starts badly - fans say "get rid". 10. Oxford stick with Des anyway and get promoted - fans crow about how great he is. Football is just a fickle, fickle beast, and fans cannot chide managers for no loyalty when they will want a manager gone as soon as they hit an indifferent patch.

Wycombe fan here. I wrote this for our last fanzine edition ('The Wanderer'). NEWS FROM THE FUTURE: VAR CONTROVERSY FROM 2028 Nov 5th, 2028, Manchester: There was significant controversy during the match between Manchester United and Arsenal today, when a five minute period of non-stop football broke out between VAR checks. The embarrassing incident happened midway through the second half, and resulted in the commentary team awkwardly attempting to pass the time by talking about the unfolding play on the pitch as the pressure grew. “It was completely unacceptable,” said Peter Drury afterwards. “We have now gotten to the point where we have VAR checks for everything, so for the ball to stay in play for that long without a foul, throw-in, corner, or goal needing to be checked as carefully as JFK conspiracy-theorists with the Zapruder film was nothing short of disgraceful. You really feel for the fans in all this, as they are the ones waiting patiently for the next VAR check to happen.” “I wanted to go through the floor, to be honest with you,” added Jamie Carragher, who was on co-commentary duties. “Over the past few years we have made great strides in stamping out long periods of football, so for us to see that much of a gap between VAR uses felt like the dark ages all over again. I have never been known to be one to stand for good football being played, and I can guarantee that I never will be, either – you have my word on that.” The nightmare scenario could have continued for even longer, but thankfully the “satellite look in” element of VAR, brought in just last season, spotted that a single cell on Bukayo Saka’s foot might be out of play when he crossed the ball for the reigning champions, and the TV feed was able to cut to the nine minute analysis of whether a goal kick should be awarded, as scientists from three continents pored over the satellite data at Stockley Park. After the game had finished, the Premier League quickly issued an apology and an assertion that they would work to prevent such scenarios from happening again. “The Premier League understands our duty to the players, the fans, and the television companies, in holding our sport to the highest standards of accuracy and entertainment. We realize that we have let many people down today, and promise to do better in the future. No-one connected to the sport should ever have to sit through a display of free-flowing football by two talented teams when they could be enjoying the high stakes tension of inane pundits watching coloured lines being draw on screens by faceless football officials at a distant location.” The supporters of both teams clearly agreed with the sentiments expressed by the commentary team and the Premier League, as they booed raucously through all nine minutes of the VAR check, presumably to register their displeasure with the five minutes of unbroken action they had been subjected to just before. When the VAR decision was given, the stadium erupted into completely unironic cheers. In response to the controversial scenes, ‘VAR of the Day’ made the bold decision to avoid further offense by only showing highlights of VAR analysis in their famous program, and cutting out any scenes from the match itself aside from the VAR freeze-frames. Afterwards, Gary Lineker fought back tears as he vowed to be a standard bearer for change. “I saw a young supporter outside the stadium today, carrying a sign saying ‘VAR needs to be binned off,’ said Lineker, emotionally. “which in the poor vocabulary of the masses I assume to be a kind of primitive slang for ‘needs to be further enhanced and extended to invade every corner of the matchday experience’. I want to be able to look that young child in the eye and tell him that no matter what, he’ll always have at least eighty minutes of VAR per match. Our children are counting on us, and I for one plan to rise to the challenge.”

I'm a Wycombe fan who has followed this forum since part way through the title season, and it is a fascinating look from the outside. On the one hand, I am massively jealous, as you have reached the pinnacle, both with the league and cup, and in a way that was so incredible that it will be talked about for ever. So on the one hand, you could get stuck in the Champo or even L1, and never die wondering, as it were. No-one can take away your achievements. On the other hand, football is all about recency, and as a fan you can't dine out perpetually on the past if the present is difficult, and the way you barely missed out on the CL twice in 5th, then somehow got relegated last season instead of jammy Everton (who happen to have their points relegation this season in a year where there are abject teams who can barely get past 20 points) then saw a 17 point lead evaporate this season must be an absolutely gut wrenching sequence. I think overall I am still jealous, though - Wycombe's promised land was making it to the Championship, but it happened without fans, we had transcendently horrible refereeing and injuries, still only missed out by a point, and then Derby were not punished in time for us to retain our place. Not only that, but we lost the playoff final v Sunderland the following season and are trending downward. To cap it all, our incredible achievement is itself routinely disrespected by a false narrative that we got into the playoffs on a technicality (we were top longer than anyone that season and only fell out of the top 4 for the first time the final weekend before Covid when we did not have a game - and 3rd through 8th was covered by a single point, except we had played a game less). So even that gets downplayed. The long and the short is, we did not properly "scratch the itch", so unless we ever have a season in the Champo with crowds, we WILL die wondering. I actually still think you are going to go up automatically. You have just gone from hunted to hunter, and Ipswich have a brutal closing schedule. The defeat today will help you get the bit between your teeth, I think. Good luck!