gerblod

No sectarian schisms in the East Midlands and South Yorkshire. All CofE. But in places where Catholics and Protestants cohabit there's always a fierce rivalry based on religious intolerance. So Everton and Liverpool, Rangers and Celtic, United and Man City and Glentoran and Glenavon. A lot of Ulster Catholics support United. It's very much less pronounced these days.

I'm Coalville area by birth and grew up amongst pit folk. I had nowt to do with Hinckley growing up although my mum's folks came from Blaby and Countesthorpe. So I had more in common with people bought up in coalfield areas - which included north-west, Warwickshire, South Staffs, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire. But I've allus supported City from when I were a kid and a yoath. But I've lived in Nuneaton and Hinckley and got on awrite wi um. And anyone who's a City supporter is alright with me.

I worked there for twenty years and followed their run and eventual win in the 1987 Cup. I had friends there who were Cov supporters. The whole hate rubbish stemmed from sectarian bigotry between Catholic and Protestant. Derby, Forest and Coventry people ain't different from Leicestershire folks. Besides, I dislike United for becoming a this magnet for transient football supporters. Used to be decent club with Mancunian supporters - now they're mediocre cash cows for billionaire money men. No question for me who I'd support. Man City will stuff them anyway. I don't particularly like them either but fvck United.

I fell asleep when Cov were 0-3 down. Wake up to find it's 2-3. Then 3 all. C'mon Cov !

They've lost the confidence that came with the early wins. That confidence wasn't born out of being a team familiar with itself and its manager - it was a talented, fresh assemblage of players who got on a roll. Maresca is just as at sea with his role. If they win or get automatic promotion then they'll have time to bed in. Oh for another Walsh/Elliot!

Thank f**k!

Nothing worse than a stubborn football manager who can't see what's in front of him. Faes is technically excellent but out to lunch too often. Coady should be given a runout, unless they find there's a curse on the turf where Faes plays. Anyone but Daka. He's off his timing. Cannon to profit off crosses from Stephy and Fatawu - big lad in the centre causing problems. It's on NOW and I'm debating whether to shell out £11.99 as I have whenever it's been broadcast. I suspect that I will - well, I know I will, but they should have given me a refund for some of the nailed on chances they've missed recently. I live in hope with doubt struggling to get out of the box I've shoved it in. We'll see.

Then Vardy told Enzo he was shit. Then Enzo told him he was particularly shit. Faes and Daka admitted they were shit but Enzo told them they weren't shit. So much shit flying around the dressing room they had to use hoses to shower them down.

The blaming of individual players is very easy and doesn't provide any answers. After dominating the league for so long Maresca should have been planning for a dip - either from overconfidence or other teams sussing our methods. The mantra 'only the next game is important' should have been drilled into their thinking. He's failed to adjust the team by failing to adapt himself. Now they've lost that confidence and are fearful of every next match. I'd be loathe to fire him, but, unless he gets it together, we're going into the play-offs. I'd be inclined to make Ricardo player-manager. At least he looks up for every match and has huge experience.

Rantala!

So you believe.

Commentary on BBC stinks of Spurs favouritism.

The commentary is biased too. Very pro Spurs, seeing as we've had the edge over them all second half.

Appears that us, Leeds and Ipswich are all getting the yips. It's beginning to resemble the Monty Python Silly Olympics sketch. No-one appears to want to or be able to find the finish line. If we come top we'll be forever known as 'The Reluctant Winners' or the team that stumbled over the line.

You build on a win by fielding the players who showed most enterprise last game in the positions they started in. I'm beginning to suspect that this f*****g about by Maresca may be a clue to where his loyalties lie. I rate Faes but there's no urgency about him or Vesty. It was obvious just by listening to the commentary that the changes took away the bounce from Saturday. Every time you think the corners turned there's another obstacle. It's like Maze Runner. Put your likeliest lads on in their familiar positions and drop Faes and Vesty for Doyle and Coady. Ricardo never f***s about. We act like we're Man City!

There's a fine line between confidence and overconfidence when this passing between Mads and Faes/Vestergaard in particular goes on. They each have to be ultra careful and precise or emphasise passing out to the wings to Fatawu and Mavididi via the wing backs. There's been too much sloppiness at the back. If Wilf wasn't so important where he is now I'd prefer him playing as a link man between defence and Winks. But you can't have 12 men on the pitch. Although some of the refs we've had might not notice. 😁

Vichai's death is the reason why City is in the state it currently is. Top isn't Vichai and wasn't ready to take on the complex and enormously responsible job of running a Premier level football club. Rodgers was a mistake, but we finally won the Cup so a glorious mistake. However he should have been shown the door a season before he was. His ego was bigger than the club he was employed to manage. Avoiding relegation was more important than avoiding his payoff. Grandiose vanity developments come second to keeping the club in the Premier. That's where the income is. Leicester City is more important to me than its owners - Vichai being the exception. Rudkin and Whelan have been lax in the extreme and I suspect been less than honest, decisive and acting with the club foremost in their advice to Top. Fat salaries and big payoffs from a sucker club mean their incentive for looking after business comes after living the high life. Would Vichai be happy with this - of course not? Did he build up his business by being sloppy? Would he have allowed Rodgers his bumper bundle contract? The short answer is of course not. Now City have to go through all kinds of potential shit because of incompetence at so many levels. I suspect Maresca knew very little of this situation. I'd be mightily pissed off if I were him. If he and the boys can stop the rot and get an automatic place then thanks be to them. But Top and 'the board' need to ask themselves some very searching questions about their performance over the last few seasons of their management.

An intelligent manager will constantly seek strategies to keep the opposition guessing. This guy isn't adapting to the changing challenges he's being presented with. Also, he's allowed the confidence of the earlier part of the season to wither away. That said, all those blaming players like Faes, KDH, Vards and Mavididi are doing what they always do - exaggerating their part in the loss. Vardy made three close chances, KDH is still the most talented technical player at the club and Mavididi and Fatawu are capable of much better. Faes is a more than competent defender. There's a lack of urgency on the pitch - the fires have gone out of their bellies. Yet one more Rodgers-like example of a manager sucking the vital spark out of the team.

Not at all, but isn't VAR a progression in the élimination of mistakes ? As for corruption this isn't Italy or Argentina. We seem to have a higher code of conduct in our protestant based culture.

Strange take on what I wrote. What made you think from my words that corruption was a part of my statement or could be tied into it.

The only solution, although there'll be cries of 'corruption' whatever the situation, is to get VAR in the Championship. Suspect match officials won't want it but generally it would quieten conspiracy theories like this topic. Unless match officials are being bribed in some way or they have a dislike of any particular team (and, on here, it's always City who are 'victims' of injustice) then talk of corruption is nonsense. Incompetence is a matter of opinion but bias of the fans will always exaggerate examples of that and its frequency. The FA/EFL should consider it a priority and fund it. Football is vastly rich in this country so there's no real excuse for not consistently installing it in, at least, the Championship. The other thing is that match officials are human and therefore as fallible as players, coaches and spectators. When all other targets for blame are exhausted they'll get highlighted for any and every 'mistake' they make which could have contributed to our misfortune. But without them the games would be free for alls. They're not a necessary evil - they're an essential part of the game.

I was thinking yesterday about what this current and the preceding teams had all missed since Shinji went. He was the joker in the pack who could introduce the surprise element into the game. We all consider the Kanté, Vardy, Mahrez trio as the guys who gave us that something special, but Shinji was also an integral part of the team. And, possibly, the most likeable. Great guy.

Strictly speaking, you're always 1-0 ahead of Wednesday when your Tuesday. But Leicester Tuesday FC will never catch on.

Ah, thou hast indeed lived the life of an adventurer and free spirit - and express your experiences with the 'pen' of a poet. I doff my cap to you.

You're right about the misquotation. I must have deleted part of your comment while trying to make mine. I apologise for this. Secondly, you weren't quoting "facts" - only an opinion - gleaned from imprecise and unstatistical web roaming. Sure, there are plenty of 'codgers' out there in la-la-Leicester land convinced that they the football they witnessed in their youth was 'better' and, in very limited ways, it was. However, opinion, unbacked by solid fact, has to take a back seat to the obvious. There are also many younger posters on here who allow their prejudices and emotions to outweigh logic. No, I know nothing about you other than what you opined. But, if you're that sensitive to perceived slights, then maybe this forum is too robust for you. Being "ageist" would put you in one of the larger categories of the prejudiced in the country. However, if you believe your comments were justified then who am I to disagree?