honeybradger

Looking at the Ghanians response to Ayew's performance last night, any other set of fans in the world would react the same way to this group of players.

These players and board are embarrassing, and that's not subjective, that is a universal truth. The response from fans has been entirely proportional to what we have seen on the pitch and what has been going on at the operational level of the club.

Are we overreacting to bringing in a manager who struggled to win games with Rangers in the Scottish League (!) and having him oversee the most pivotal season in the club's history? Not at all.

Personally I think Russel Martin will do fine because of the level we are playing at next season. Still you can't blame fans for reacting this way over an appointment that runs an unnecessary risk of being a total disaster and shows that the board has learned very little.

1 hour ago, HankMarvin said:

Pretty irrelevant, given that when we signed him we had just been a prem team for over 10 years. With players on ridiculous salaries.

Good luck signing anyone with any decent experience on 10k at that stage 

It shows that there's a disparity between what the club expected of Winks and what he has delivered.

Yes he was good alongside Dewsbury Hall, Ndidi and a fitter Ricardo but outside of that dominant squad he's been mediocre in the championship, nowhere near the level that his Prem wages would suggest.

2 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

100% the difference between League 2 and 1 isn't thar big so it a real opportunity.

 

I agree if his going to make it at City its next season or never.

 

Same for Alves.

 

Everyone would be happy if we signed the best young midfielder from league two who is also suited to the way our manager wants to play.

We just happen to already have that player on our books so let's make use of him.

12 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

This was debunked in the athletic “less than 45k in the championship”

90k, 60k, 45k, doesnt matter. It's still far more than we can afford and what he deserves.

The average championship wage is £10k a week and the average league one wage is £5k a week so Winks should be somewhere between that.

If he does well he might reignite my faith in god.

10 minutes ago, tomtom said:

I don't think I've seen anyone ever say he's a brilliant player. 

 

Sadly for us he's one of our better players 

We weren't any worse off last season when Winks was frozen out.

It's hard to say we will be fine without him next season but if we struggle it certainly won't be because we moved him on.

It's easy to forget that Winks performed about par in a team that was relegated from the championship last season. James for example clearly demonstrated that he was better than those around him. Based on that Winks is one of the worst players to ever play for this club and will not be missed.

If Martin's system is getting overrun in defence due to lack of support from the midfield and fullbacks then Winks will fit in perfectly.

47 minutes ago, kingfox said:

So you’d be happy with Evans, Hutchinson and Otchere as our striker options for next season then? 
 

And I really don’t know why you include Briggs and Page in the conversation, when they play completely different roles to Archie Collins.

 

We really should avoid signing players like Archie Collins 🙄 https://www.theposh.com/news/collins-triple-award-winner

Yes I'd be happy with Evans, Hutchinson and Otchere. Evans last season is essentially 24/25 Dom Ballard, I expect him to be among the best in the league next season. Hutchinson similarly is further back in his development but has the potential to make a similar leap. Otchere is less talented but has good momentum at the moment.

Aribo plays a different role to Page but he still kept him off the bench last season. They're all fighting for positions in the squad even if they aren't like for like which is why I'm hesitant about being in new players.

I just don't see the point in someone like Archie Collins, yes he was the best player for the 17th best team in league one but Page and Braybrooke should be competing at the top end of the league next season. Archie Collins is currently the better player but he's not worth it if he slows down Braybrooke's development who will be better in the medium to long term.

19 minutes ago, kingfox said:

We have absolutely zero idea how Braybrooke will fare in League 1, but you can guarantee that if Skipp or Winks stick around, then one of them along with Braybrooke will be our 6 options, if both Skipp and Winks leave, then we’ll need to sign someone.

 

You can rack off the likes of BDCR and Ayew as being negatives, but as I’ve stated, you can use many examples where experienced players, especially under Pearson have helped us massively. We’ve lost some very important experienced characters over the years, haven’t replaced them with similar, and it’s left us in the shit. 
 

Look at the squad we had the last time we were in League 1, you could say we struck the perfect balance of experience and youth. The same needs to happen again imo. 
 

All those young players that you mention, how do you know that some of them are even ready for League 1 level? I guarantee a number of our youngsters won’t feature regularly next season, just because they aren’t ready to play consistently at League 1 level yet. 
 

I’d say that Braybrooke, Aluko, Page and Alves will be the four that will likely feature the most, the rest, I’d put a question mark against every single one of them. Presuming most of our CB’s leave, I’d still look at someone like Kevon Gray being 4th/5th choice at this moment in time.

Weren't you the one banging on about how we should loan Eli Kroupi Jr last summer who went on to score 16 goals in the PL? Perhaps you might reconsider that you might be a bit too conservative when assessing whether young players are ready or not.

Realistically if we were looking for loans for the likes of Jayden Joseph, Briggs, Evans, Hutchinson and Otchere we would be looking at league one. Now we are at that level ourselves it's more than worth considering them for ourselves.

Put it this way: I would be far more comfortable going into next season playing the likes of Braybrooke, Briggs, Page than bringing in Archie Collins who is playing league one football at 26. The former 3 will leap frog him ability wise in no time.

1 hour ago, kingfox said:

Because he brings certain qualities that we’ve been missing. 
 

For the type of player he is, his competition would be Braybrooke, you seriously expecting Braybrooke to start 40+ games next season?

I would hope Braybrooke would be starting 40 games next season. Sadly as we have all come to expect with this club our midfield will likely be Skipp and a Morsy equivalent (or god forbid Winks is still here) with Braybrooke struggling to make the bench.

1 hour ago, kingfox said:

 

If Skipp or Winks stay, then we probably wouldn’t need anybody in that position, but if they both go, then Braybrooke would need competition. Personally my first choice would be Archie Collins who’s now a free agent, if Martin gets appointed then he’d be a no-brainer imo.

 

But would  you rather we go down the Chelsea type route, rely heavily on youngsters and hope it sticks? Not done them much good has it.

Interesting how Chelsea is an example of why not to trust young players, but you can't use Cordova Reid, Ayew, Coady etc as examples of banking on experienced players not delivering.

Chelsea also aren't a good example of sticking by academy players, if they had stuck by Guehi, Lewis Hall etc they would likely be far better off, instead they suffer from "grass is greener" syndrome and have to buy the hottest prospect on the market. We are in a similar situation where if we go for the likes of Archie Collins we will regret not simply leaving the pathway open for Braybrooke, Page etc.

1 hour ago, kingfox said:

 

It’s why I mentioned the likes of Brentford and Sunderland in another post, two teams that have recruited sensibly by adding the right experienced players to fairly young squads. 
 

Pearson recruited sensibly while he was here, and imo we need to get back to similar. Were you against the signings of Chris Powell and Kevin Phillips for example?

The difference with Kevin Phillips was that he came in to get a nervous but high performing squad over the line. The squad mentality and hunger was already there.

Our situation is completely different, we need hunger and desire, not a cool head. That hunger can only come from younger players. Bringing in older players for a culture reset does not work.

1 hour ago, kingfox said:

I’d very much rather we go into next season with a pretty young squad, but 2-3 experienced heads have to be added to it whether you like it or not mate 

2-3 experienced heads coming in means 2-3 academy players don't make the bench. We don't have an infinitely large squad, we need to be giving as many of our young talents the best opportunity to succeed here as possible. In Braybrooke, Aluko, Jayden Joseph, Wilson Brown, Page, Alves, Briggs, Cartwright, Evans, Kevon Gray, Hutchinson, Otchere we already have 12 players who should be given a proper chance next season. Considering players like Skipp, Cordova Reid, Choudhury, Vestergaard will probably still be here next season there just isn't room for 2-3 more players.

That's not allowing for the likes of Motsi and Nelson potentially still being here next season either.

3 hours ago, kingfox said:

I really don’t get why some fans are so against signing the odd experienced player. As I said in my previous post, yes we have mental scars over some of our more recent experienced signings, but look at our Nigel Pearson days for example and some of the names he signed. 
 

If we end up appointing Russell Martin, then throughout his career he’s signed some very decent young players, but he even signed the occasional experienced player, Cameron Jerome and Andrew Surman at MK, Joe Allen at Swansea. 
 

A lot will of course depend on departures, but at the end of the day, our leadership group in recent times has been appalling, and imo it badly needs rectifying this summer. 
 

Many players “winding down their careers” are still doing the business in League 1, take Oli Norwood for example.

 

Whether Sam Morsy or someone similar, we are going to need a couple of experienced players walking through the door whether some fans like it or not.

I just can't comprehend how any Leicester fans can see us be outrun by every team in the league last season and think that Sam Morsey would be a good addition.

The question is also where does he fit into the squad, would we want him as a starter? As above we would struggle without bringing in a runner to cover for him in midfield. Does he come off from the bench? If so then who drops out of the matchday squad for him? Probably Braybrooke or Briggs which would be a disaster. If he doesn't make the match Day squad then what is the point of bringing in a player for the dressing room, doubt he would be happy either.

19 minutes ago, kingfox said:

Beat me to it!
 

I know we all have mental scars with the signings of Coady, BDCR and Ayew.

 

But 2-3 experienced signings to get our leadership group right, will be extremely important this summer imo.

 

I’d take Morsy on a one year deal, option of a second, could be an ideal mentor for the likes of Braybrooke.

34 year old who managed 1000 minutes for Bristol City last season?

What does he bring apart from being yet another blocker for the likes of Braybrooke and Page? Let's not forget the likes of Logan briggs either. Especially given we aren't guaranteed to offload Skipp and Winks.

More players winding down their career and being brought in as personality hires is not how we fix the culture at this club, it can only be fixed by trusting young hungry players looking to prove themselves.

If they're so desperate for Man City style football just offer the Pep Guardiola the job and reimburse him by transferring him ownership of the club.

Win-win for everyone.

2 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

Isn't the whole point that he is not the LCFC DOF?

In theory the restructuring means we are now able to move quicker with Mcarron being fully focused on the day to day at LCFC but as of now it feels like nothing has changed.

In terms of Rudkin I was more referring to previous years.

9 hours ago, MPH said:

 Do you think perhaps he’s done all that before he went away? Can’t officially sign players yet anyway.  I’m not  saying he does a good job, or that I appreciate any of his decision making , but I can tell you he does work hard.

Working hard =\= working diligently. Personally I can't stand the workaholic types like him that are always busy but never put any thought into things.

By taking on the OH Leuven and king power racing jobs he has ensured that he will never have the time to do any more than a surface level job here. On first glance it seems commendable that he's covering all these areas but from a Leicester city perspective he is no better than a lazy person who hardly shows up. The Leicester City DoF job alone should take up more time than there is available in a working week.

Rudkin taking on more work than he can handle isn't a good excuse for him going on holiday in the period he is needed most every year.

9 minutes ago, MPH said:

I find it mildly amusing people seem to think a Director of football is not needed during the season.

 

right now, with no football and no players around  no transfer window, what is there for anyone to actually direct?

Scouting and recruitment, pre season plannig, in our case finding a new manager, managing contracts, long term planning.

This is usually the busiest period for directors of football. Sadly in our case May/June is when Rudkin seems to take his yearly holiday which is why we are always so unprepared.

37 minutes ago, Spiritwalker said:

To be fair I think he owes us, we’ve paid him well while he’s been injured,

although I realise modern footballers don’t really think like that.

We've treated him poorly to be fair. He was basically left to rot from when Dean Smith came in to the end of the 23/24 championship season.

Just checking, have we formally parted ways with Rowett yet or are we keeping him around just in case?

1 hour ago, davieG said:

Someone's very optimistic

 

Leicester City can raise £83m from transfer sales this summer as brutal reset needed

 

Leicester City can raise £83m from transfer sales this summer as brutal reset needed
Story by Josh Holland

 

The summer transfer window will open on June 15 and the reset button will be pressed at Leicester City, if it hasn't already. Relegation to League One means the Foxes' squad will go through a much-needed shuffle between now and September.

Frustration among supporters has intensified as May ticked into June over the lack of movement in the window. The club have already confirmed a handful of first-team absentees in their released list, but any further deals have been very quiet.

 

The opening of the window is in just over a week and that means the flurry of announcements will come more frequently. Leicester's back-to-back relegations from the Premier League to the third tier means nearly every player will have question marks over their future.

Discussions between clubs will be stepped up. City's main issue is the uncertainty around their manager. It's understood that once the man in the dug-out is in place, the manager will know which players will be kept, which will be allowed to leave, and who will have no place in that manager's plan.

 

The Foxes will need to clear the gutter of wantaway players to allow youngsters to be bled in. Harry Winks' future does look bleak at the King Power Stadium, while Abdul Fatawu has Premier League interest and Jeremy Monga is being pursued by Arsenal.

But there are still a number of players whose future could be elsewhere and that will come into Sporting Director James McCarron's thinking when the squad overhaul is considered.

 

Jakub Stolacrzyk is no longer an up-and-coming goalkeeper at the age of 25. After coming in for Mads Hermansen in the Premier League, the Pole's last season in the Championship was littered with inconsistency - resulting in him being dropped to the bench by both Marti Cifuentes and Asmir Begovic.

With one year left on his deal, this summer presents a final chance to cash in on him. City have been linked with Sunderland's Matty Young already so it wouldn't be a surprise if Stolarczyk had interesting offers put on the table. A fee of around £4m is realistic for a goalkeeper with Championship experience.

Fran Vieites is one player who will be almost guaranteed to want a move after not playing a single minute for the club last season. The 27-year-old, though, won't cost much and could be an easy sell for City at around £500k.

 

Into defence and there's a number of players who could be sold. Caleb Okoli has been tentatively linked with a return to Italy for the past 12 months and at the age of 24, a season in the third tier of English football won't be on his agenda.
Fiorentina are reportedly keen on him after staying in Serie A last season. After costing £13m from Atalanta in 2024, Leicester could easily ask for £7m this summer due to his age and contract having three more years.

Harry Souttar, who played in the final two games of the season, will put himself in the shop window at the World Cup with Australia this summer. He still has admirers at Sheffield United with Chris Wilder back at the club after previously signing him on loan two years ago.

A torn Achilles has stagnated his career as of late, but the 27-year-old could be an asset if he comes out of the World Cup unscathed. The injury should be a sticking point for any buying club, but £4m would be a decent fee for the Aussie.

Onto our first 'high-ceiling' player on this list and Ben Nelson is someone that has Premier League interest. Chelsea were understood to be keen previously but Manchester United are the latest side to be mentioned.

The 22-year-old is a regular in the England youth set-up and as a left-footed centre-back, he ticks boxes that clubs desire. Having a relegation on his CV won't help him, but £10m is what he should be valued at after his steady rise through the academy.

City's Danish duo, Jannik Vestergaard and Victor Kristiansen, probably should be looking for clubs. Vestergaard's stay in LE2 has been overstayed while Kristiansen's comments on League One last month, whilst true, revealed his stance.

£2m for Vestergaard, 33, and £5m for Kristiansen, who helped Bologna qualify for the Champions League two seasons ago, are no-brainers for City.

 

In the middle of the park, let's start with Winks. It's not an unpopular claim to suggest City accept anything they can get for the midfielder. Fall outs with managers, fans and his wages being a problem point towards him being gone by the time the transfer window closes
On his day, he's exceptional on the ball and in the Championship, he would thrive at a mid-table/play-off contending team. He is 30 meaning any contract offers aren't likely to surpass 2-3 years, so a fee of £3m would be perfect for everyone involved - however the manager's vision could include him and see him stay.

Hamza Choudhury has been on Leicester City's books since he was a kid, with the odd loan spell sprinkled across. But this summer feels like the right time for a new challenge for the Bangladesh international. Again, like Souttar, Wilder signed him at Sheffield United previously and a reunion wouldn't be surprising.

As a player capable of playing at right-back and central midfield, Choudhury offers versatility for any club. £5m would make sense for City, a fee that they would be able to class as pure profit on the books.

Oliver Skipp is another who will feel like it’s time to move on. After signing from Tottenham for around £25m, the 25-year-old has suffered back-to-back relegations.

There were spells last season where he proved his quality in the Championship. He’s also played in the Premier League with Spurs and earned promotion with Norwich City. City will have to take a loss on him, but anything around the £8m mark wouldn’t be terrible.

Monga is edging closer to becoming the first major exit at Leicester with it understood that Arsenal are aiming to secure a deal for the 16-year-old. Talks are said to be underway with it suggested that the Gunners face paying in the region of £10m-£15m.
Ironically, the biggest asset for Leicester is our last one. Fatawu was wanted after his first season in England, he stayed with City before an injury put a stop to any talk of a move.

He started last season on fire and pulled off some wonderful goals. Talk of a late summer move fell quiet and there were fleeting concerns that a bigger club would land him in January.

Now, as a League One club, Leicester can't say no to his sale. Fatawu could cost anywhere between £20m and £40m, depending on his performance at the World Cup. The 22-year-old still has so much to learn but there's not many wingers like him and clubs will have taken notice of that.

Right now, around £25m would be a fair price. Anything less than that and there'd be an argument that Leicester have been schooled.

This has got to be one of the most delusional articles ever written.

£8mil for Oliver Skipp who was one of the worst midfielders in the championship?

£3mil for Harry Winks who is on ludicrous wages for his ability. Ideally we should snap anyone's hands off who are willing to take him on a free. Also Winks thriving at a play off contending team? Did they miss us not winning a game where he started from November till the end of the season?

£2mil for 33 year old Vestergaard and £5mil for Kristiansen, who Bologna wouldn't go over £8mil for when he had just helped them to champions league football.

It's just so far from reality.

14 minutes ago, Dames said:

Nelson, Page and Monga potentially being sold. Fold the club. Absolutely 0 future. 

I'm hoping that Ruskin's incompetence helps us here and he sticks by some ridiculous valuations.

Was hoping Nelson would be here for a few years at least.

Just goes to show how overpaid he is that no matter how much mutual hatred there is between him and the fan base that he's not willing to leave.

Wouldnt be surprised if his best offer was 1/10th of what he is on now.

I hated the idea of Martin in the championship and prem and I hate the possession for possession's sake style but surely he will be fine in league one and at least has a decent track record of playing young players.

I'm not usually one to play devil's advocate but I think he'll be ok for us given where we are at.

30 minutes ago, Officer Doofy said:

Can't believe he can't get better than that. 

 

 

Any team in the top 5 leagues is probably a good option considering the point he is at in his career