OntarioFox

About the closest we've had has been some vague claims that 'Top likes possession football', which I'd question the truth behind given we were willing to A) appoint Cooper and B) shortlist Jesse Marsch. You're right of course. There's absolutely zero direction on a philosophical level, and even if those claims are true it just proves it's being done in the most surface level way possible. Our DOF's depth of long term thinking, it would seem, has only ever extended to the 'sell an asset for massive profit' model, which as we all know goes tits-up when your shoddy recruitment, poor contract management or external factors (be they Covid or relegation) prevent it from happening. There's never been an ounce or resilience in how we operate, just some dumb luck that it kept paying off with the likes of Man Utd and Chelsea overpaying for Maguire and Fofana respectively. By all rights the plan was to continue that with Maddison in 22-23, but we spaffed our load on the negotiating table by going down and Tottenham got him for £20-30 million less than he was worth, at a minimum. The same will happen with Hermansen this summer.

If that is the case and we're sooooo confident in our watertight legal standing, we should have been fine with throwing a bit of money at staying in the league, rather than using PSR as an excuse not to. The basic balance of risk and reward says that staying up even one extra year in the PL, even with a points deduction and guaranteed ticket back to the Championship, would do more for our long term finances than going down while being 'good' but still haemorrhaging money. There's no way those in charge of the club's financial decisions come out of this looking like anything other than incompetent liars. Promising managers reinforcements, only to blame PSR for not funding them. Despite being publicly confident that they can be slippery and avoid consequences and actually quite bullish in doing so. It doesn't add up, and it should be shouted about more by the fanbase. They're taking us - and Ruud, as they did Enzo - for mugs.

"WHY IS THE TRANSFER WINDOW CLOSED?" "How are we supposed to know, we're not supposed to spend, right?" "WHY?!" "We're just sitting here. We're supposed to." "... Who's handling these signings?" "I think PSR had an impact" "It just... closed, sir". "WHO?" *awkward squeaking noises* "We don't talk, sir." "Give us a statement". "I don't have one". "You want me to hire a van and plaster your face all over it?" "I don't have one, deals fall through all the time, the King Power's an imperfect place" "GIVE IT TO ME, RUDKIN." "Excuse me Sir, why would anyone want to sign for LCFC?" "WATCH IT, WHELAN." "The financial situation's way too heavy, sir". and so on and so forth DON'T YOU, FORGET ABOUT ME

Just a side point, don't want to derail the thread - but it was my first time in there today and £6.60 for a pint of Madri at the Local Hero is scandalous.

It actually went up on the stadium screens for a split second before they hastily cut back to the logos. I'm sure they'll be finding a lackey in the media room to sack for letting it slip through. Well done to those who helped make it happen. I was there but mostly kept my head down aside from the 'march'. None of my family or mates were interested so I went solo. Agree that maybe ought to have vetted the van messages a bit more and maybe eased back a bit on the personal attacks, it ended up as more of an anti-Rudkin protest than one about the wider issues with the club. I'm as Anti-Rudkin as the next man, but yeah, needed a little more on other issues. That Internal Review chant is bloody brilliant by the way. It's a shame the group got more or less split in two by the traffic lights on Raw Dykes - maybe one to remember if there are future protests. I don't think the front portion clocked it and carried on - should perhaps have stopped at the away corner to allow us at the back to catch up. But overall, it turned some heads and highlighted the unrest in the fanbase to the general public, so well done.

Am i getting jail time for my profile pic?

We want our Leicester back

He actually mentions the points deduction threat, that was entirely the result of the incompetent way we've managed wages and finances, as a reason we should all suck it up and accept the current situation. Couldn't make it up. Like a few here I'm actually shocked that Cliff is still in post, I haven't heard about him since around the time of the title win! Just another example of how stagnant the 'official' setup has become. And exactly why tomorrow's protest must happen.

What a win for Shamrock Rovers in Molde tonight! Young lad Noonan who scored is the youngest to ever do so in European competition, took that record off Romelu Lukaku.

Madders was far more concerned about arguing with our own fanbase on social media than leading by example on the pitch.

Comes up in my recommended a lot and you're not wrong. But even there the worm is turning a bit now... and the arguments happening within the group are kind of fun to watch pan out. It's like turning the FT clock back to the back end of 21/22 when some folks here couldn't fathom how Rodgers could be the problem. Whatever happens on Saturday, I'm going to enjoy the spectacle. At this point I'm not even bothered about the match, it's everything else that's got me staying up after a 12 hour night shift to attend.

Starting to feel like full boycotts of agreed matches should take place. None of this 'oh i just won't spend a penny in the club shop / concourse'. If you've got a ST, just don't turn up en-masse. Refuse to list it for resale or give it to a mate. Let the world see the whole blocks of empty seats in a ground that, inexplicably given the state of the club, are almost always full and oversubscribed. On a personal level, I'm not in the UFS section but close enough by to know they are the only thing keeping the atmosphere going in the kop and, as their 'quiet protest' showed before, it's dire without them. It's a bit soon for it to happen at Arsenal, but it could be done before the end of the season with a bit of prior comms.

We'll always have the shared moment of that St. Totteringham's day on the final day of 2015/16. Can't agree beyond that though, something in the water in North London makes football fans there insufferable, perhaps it's a sense of entitlement that doesn't match in the slightest what either of them have achieved in the past two decades relative to their supposed size. As a fanbase definitely the lesser of two evils. Though it feels like something has finally broken the Tottenham lot - there's an acceptance there now of just how bad they are, though hard to have any sympathy after a decade of delusion.

I don't want reminding of when we had Centre Backs that gave a shit and led by example, too depressing

Not sure how much truth there is that his pro career is more associated with Stoke and he left us under a cloud over some unpaid wages? I wasn't around back then so couldn't comment, but heard some older heads suggest it. He's still OUR England world cup winner though. All that said, I think the thing I find more remarkable about that point in time is who our second-choice keeper was. It's really something remarkable to say about Shilton's longevity that he was in the same squad as him in 65/66 and was still turning out for England at the 1990 world cup.

Rumours abound that the squad didn't fly out there at all after hearing about state of the art facilities to rent closer to home

He is the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar.

Man City have a few things to blame Wellens for this afternoon

Hahahahahahaa

mcateer winner incoming

Quick simplification for our fans... 'doo-doo-doo, monga'

Ok, this is the hottest take I've seen yet. The man played like a fish on a boat deck.

Here's a follow-on opinion that I don't think is unpopular but fills me with regret - the absolute best we've ever looked as a football team was when Rodgers played Vardy and Iheanacho up front together at Villa. Absolutely tore them apart that day with an old-fashioned 4-4-2. Just imagine if he'd put his ego aside and used that as a blueprint. What if...

I rated Astrit Ajdarević and was disappointed we didn't see more of him.