TeppoPortin

I wish Russell Martin well and hope he succeeds, but I feel this is another wrong move by the club.  At a time when we're desperate for something positive to get behind they appoint the one manager pretty much all fans agree they didn't want.

Martin's hopes of succeeding will depend on whether he can change the culture and improve standards, something Pearson did so well last time we went down to League One.  To do that we still need to clear out a lot of players and bring new ones in, and these new players will also need to fit into his style of play.  I just don't see Rudkin doing that though, he's too incompetent to see what's needed to get the club moving forward again and I see a transfer window like last year's where we're scrambling around at the end of the window selling players before bringing a few in on loan.

This appointment also suggests that McCarron either has no say or thinks the same as Top/Rudkin.  Either way he might as well not be here.

I think the summer of 2021 was when a lot of our problems started.  The club decided not to sell any players and said they wanted to invest in the squad with the aim of finishing in the top 4.  But instead of signing players who improved the first team they signed players who weren't even as good as our backups.  The 3 players we paid money for in that window have all contributed to 3 relegations including this one.  The knock on effect was the 2022 summer window and the decision to keep Rodgers on far longer than he should have been which led to the first relegation, all in an attempt to save money.

Going further back our recruitment started to become a lot more erratic as soon as we didn't have both Pearson and Walsh at the club, even in the successful 2018 window we made some bad signings including Danny Ward.

For various reasons this group of players have got too used to losing and the only way we can turn the mindset in the squad around is with a cull of the squad.  I would therefore tell all of the senior players that they will never get another contract extension at the club and make them all available for transfer to try to force them out.

We then need to recruit intelligently and within our budget, making sure we are clear on the reasons for signing every player, that they fit into a long term plan and that they contribute positively to team spirit as every strong Leicester team I can remember was built around that.  The blueprint for all of this is what Nigel Pearson did when we were relegated to League One before.  The only players that played a significant part in the 2008-09 squad who were part of the relegation team were Howard and Oakley who were only signed in the previous January, Mattock who was a youngster, and Fryatt.  Any others that remained were forced out or played a very minimal part.

Sadly whilst King Power and Rudkin are calling the shots I know none of that will happen.

Rudkin getting a promotion is ridiculous, but sadly predictable.  The club's statement suggests he's going to be in charge of things he's proven to be weak at so I'm not expecting anything to change.

The statement itself is also ridiculous, full of corporate bullshit and in denial about the club's current situation with the way it goes on about wanting to be a sustainable Premier League club.  With the way things are going we probably need to prioritise being a sustainable League One club first.

There's no justification for him to still be employed by the club, there hasn't been for a long time.  I read he's the longest serving DoF in the country, he's surely the worst performing one too.

These interviews confirm a lot of what I suspected, that he doesn't know what he's doing and that there's a culture of complacency and a lack of accountability around the club.  How on earth can he not know why we went down in 2023?  It's as if he thinks it was a freak accident.  Worryingly he seems to think it can't happen this season too when it most definitely can.

And why is Rudkin so untouchable?  He says that he was here when we won the league and FA Cup, as if that's an acceptable defence.  The fact that the manager's that won both of those trophies were sacked when they started underperforming (In Rodgers's case a long time after he started underperforming) seems to have gone over his head.  Ranieri and Rodgers were rightly held to account, why not Rudkin?

I agree with those saying Rudkin should have been doing these interviews too because English is his native language and as the football "expert" on the board he'd be better placed to answer a lot of these questions.

There's so many problems at the club that I don't think changing the manager yet again is going to make much difference.  Those picking the managers also need to go.

I'm definitely not paying £10 to watch any friendlies.

I emailed the club and asked specifically about why this season's cards couldn't carry over to next season to save paying the £25 and the answer given was that the cards will be changed due to a change of sponsorship for the new season.

This is a ridiculous answer and undoubtedly not the actual reason. I'd have understood if new cards were needed because of a change of IT system.

There's nothing to justify the £25 charge though.