jeffschlupp

Joined ahead of 2020-21 so just under 2 years, I think

Replaces Bryan English as Head of Medicine. Just in case anyone was still under the assumption Rodgers is calling the shots...Waller has never worked under him

How many times does it have to be said, that whoever some rag links us to on a Sunday morning is not necessarily who we want to sign...

We will spend significantly more than £20m net

Yeah, it is interesting and definitely murky. As I recall from the accounts, LCFC Ltd. pay some sort of 'lease' if you can call it that to a company called K Power Estates Holdings Ltd which owns the freehold interest in the stadium. Whether that is cleaning dirty money and funnelling it through different channels as you suggest, who knows. Belvoir Drive I always heard was part owned by the club and still part owned by the city council, but not 100% on that either

The club accounts suggested a £91m five-year facility from King Power was mainly designated for the training ground, as I recall Having said that, I'm not sure if we know whether LCFC Ltd. actually own the training ground or whether it is owned by the holding company that owns the stadium. It starts to get all a bit foggy in that case

I love the idea that people seriously think Rodgers talking about a rebuild is some sort of 'message to the board'. Top has been in the country and a visible presence at the club for most of the season and pretty much all of the last few months, they have had a number of talks about the future. The club is not poor and they will have significant money to spend even without sales. Top is not the sort of chairman that is going to sit back and say 'suck it up Brendan' if the club he loves needs investment to avoid the dangers of slipping back towards the bottom. This is basic negotiation policy. We all know Arsenal a few summers ago played it superbly ('we've only got £50m to spend' and then went and signed a half a dozen players at big money prices. There will be clever instalments as there were for Daka, Soumaré etc. but as coolhandfox suggests this amortisation and cost-spreading is reflected in the accounts. It's a very, very exciting summer. Lookman for £14m is a no brainer way to start and I think they will get that one done.

Iversen is ineligible

They'll go to Evian rather than Austria

Rodgers will play our best available team and we will win comfortably. Schmeichel Castagne Fofana Evans Justin Mendy Tielemans Dewsbury-Hall Maddison Vardy Barnes Subs: Ward, Soyuncu, Thomas, Soumaré, Albrighton, Lookman, Pérez, Iheanacho, Daka

Again - if we were somehow skint, Rodgers would have made that clear in the answers to the questions he was asked today. We have got money to spend this summer - they are not looking at the likes of de Ketelaere and Gleison Bremer just for a giggle. The squad is 27 large + Praet so we can cut at least two out before we even start, and a squad of 25 would be fine without Europe. I maintain I think it will be 6 in (Lookman being one of them). CB/DM/CM/AM/RW will do nicely and possibly another forward player. That's 8 that can therefore go - Tielemans, Soyuncu, Perez, Mendy, Choudhury, Vestergaard/Amartey are pretty much guaranteed for me, and then it's Bertrand, Iheanacho who are surely at risk too. It isn't until next summer where we will need to assess the goalkeeper situation and replacements for Evans/Vardy in terms of sheer numbers. Notice Rodgers keeps talking about a refresh, not a rebuild. We have got some good players and he knows that. We've just got to a European semi-final and everyone is panicking we are the next Everton. Calm is needed

The club have just closed the job advert for his replacement.

Player - Maddison Young Player - KDH Goal - Castagne vs. Palace

Rodgers is on record as saying he wants 5-6 and we know three of those are going to be major - box-to-box CM, a CB and a right winger. I'd expect Lookman to sign too. I'd be surprised if we're not looking at something close to: Schmeichel / Ward / Jakupovic Ricardo / Justin Fofana / Evans CB / Amartey or Vestergaard Castagne / Thomas / Bertrand Ndidi / DM Dewsbury-Hall / CM to challenge / Soumaré RW / Albrighton Maddison / no.10 Barnes / Lookman Vardy / Iheanacho / Daka I think with the right signings that would be perfectly fine - it's less a 'rebuild' and more a 'refresh' with an injection of something new. The CM alongside Ndidi is always going to dictate the way we play, so that will make a huge difference to the style just as Tielemans did when he first arrived. That's a squad of 26 which would be fine given Thomas is U21 for the upcoming season still. Only question mark would be Iheanacho, for me - if they get de Ketelaere or similar as the competition in the no.10 position, they might let Iheanacho go and retain somebody elsewhere (Perez/Praet/Mendy would be my thoughts). Rodgers was quite content with Vardy/Iheanacho/Perez as his front options for his first 2 years in the job.

Would love to know where the stuff about us being skint is coming from because it isn't true

The consensus view I heard was that Walsh took an awful lot of credit for the background work of an extremely good setup - I've banged the drum a lot but the club's technical scouting has been first class for a long time and it pre-dates even MacKenzie. Walsh left and didn't take Waldron with him, but even when Macia did, the next lot continued the right processes. Callum Smithson was an intern in the title winning season and is now head of that department. The processes continue in that regard and we continue to recruit sensibly if those people are listened to. You have the traditional scouts - Glover is probably one of those, along with others we employ - Philippe Pelluault is one Congerton brought in, others include Sean St. Ledger who does part-time bits, there are a few other names of more permanent scouts that do the rounds. Strong recommendations from them, along with the statistical approach, and you tend to all be singing off the same hymn sheet and interested in signing a player. At Everton Walsh was given free reign to do what he wanted, and seemingly sidelined a lot of good background work in going for players off his own list. Whelan and Rudkin have proved time and again that nobody comes into any job role at LCFC and has freedom to do whatever they like. Rodgers has perhaps steered the closest to that with his staff appointments and supposed pushing for Vestergaard and Bertrand, but let's be clear - the fact a) his head of medicine Bryan English is leaving and b) Martyn Glover is not a Rodgers crony, say to me that the club have wrestled back a little bit of that control and we will see a return to the typical sound structure that has got us to where we are.

With time I think this will sound class. Hope they continue it through every game and it becomes our thing

While I agree the club have done it poorly, I would be interested to know how many of our 23k STHs have bothered either way because it isn't as many as it should be

Some of these posts are genuinely infuriating. The only reason anyone is at all bothered about the league as a Leicester fan is because we might qualify for Europe again - qualifying for Europe and/or winning trophies is literally the pinnacle for a team like us, apart from a one-off, never-to-happen-again event like 2016. European nights under the lights are the very best of football for a team like us. So here's a European semi-final, a chance to win a trophy, a chance to qualify for Europe again next season, a game against a team with huge European stature in one of Europe's iconic football stadiums. And people aren't bothered? It's massively embarrassing and frankly inexcusable we've not sold the ground out (yes cost of living etc. but demand should be outweighing supply for this nevertheless). It's embarrassing the numbers that turned up for Randers, Rennes and PSV at home. This is as good as it gets! We dreamed of playing in Europe when we were stuck playing utter crap under Levein, Holloway etc. for years, and some of us saw the 80s and early 90s too. I think people have genuinely, genuinely lost their minds if finishing 7th in the league (which by the way, qualifies you for this competition again!) matters more than not just a domestic semi-final, but one in Europe. And if the future of the manager (which doesn't need to be considered until the end of the season at the very earliest) is at the forefront of your mind instead, you have got to remember why we are here. We are not here to moan about whoever the club employs and why, we're here to watch 11 blokes in blue try and win for us on a big stage. Anyone who doesn't get that is a very disturbed individual

Danny Ward is back in training this week. No Vardy on the photos though

Wormleighton is an outstanding player, looks a class above going forwards and backwards. I was sat near his family last night, they have got a good one there. Just a shame we have three excellent right-footed full-backs, but he looks far better than Daley-Campbell ever did at PL2 level and he is only 19 in December. If Popov puts in as much effort off the pitch in improving his game as he does in chasing down lost causes, he will also make it. It's a really exciting bunch - last night we played 10/11 starters who had joined us at scholar age (16) or younger, with Brunt clearly a decent, level-headed, experienced player leading them. You have to credit the academy scouting team for that - Bill Wall and co have done an excellent job. And Petty has got them working just as hard as they did under Beaglehole but with more composure and technical quality all the same. I wouldn't be surprised to see any of those that started last night make the first team, but Popov/Wormleighton/Alves/Braybrooke are clearly the standouts at the moment. There was a point where I heard Petty shout for Alves to use his head - he is clearly raw but the kid is still 16 and needs to learn the tactical side, which on last night's performance I think he will do. Braybrooke pinging 40 yarders all night was also a joy, some of the first team could learn a thing or two from that. And I also think the club have finally worked out how best to recruit at U23 level - just bring in a few bodies from other PL2 sides to plug gaps in the squad, and allow your best talents to flourish alongside them. Brunt, Hughes, Spencer-Adams etc. are exactly that. If you can pick off a few others like Suengchitthawon, Young and Richards on the cheap that might make it too, then that is also useful.

Couldn't disagree more...gave it away a couple of times but going backwards he remains solid. No poorer than a 6/10 at the very worst. Didn't let the substitution of Eze get to him either. I think he is a superb talent and is getting to the point where he is a good Premier League player every week.

And suddenly we are back to having 10 potentially unavailable for Brentford - Ndidi, Albrighton, Bertrand, Ward, Vardy, Evans, Castagne, Soumaré, Soyuncu and Daka. Maswanhise, Nelson and Brunt training with the first team and you'd expect them to fill the spare spots on the bench on Sunday afternoon.

I did think this but neither are in the training photos from yesterday morning. You would think that is more illness/injury rather than that they are not vaccinated, no?

No Soyuncu, Soumare or Daka. Hmm