ClaphamFox

The Man City verdict is now not expected until the summer at the earliest, and possibly not until some time next season.

I interpreted his Braybrooke comment as being about the level he could play at right now rather than his future ceiling. At least I hoped that's what he meant.

That’s the bit that got me. I’ve no problem at all with him having a positive opinion on Rudkin - if that’s his honest view having worked with him, that’s great. But he seemed to imply that anybody who expresses any doubt Rudkin is either stupid or stepping way out of line, as if Rudkin is some kind of artist whose genius we mere mortals are not able to comprehend. That did make me chuckle.

It already did happen earlier in the season.

We’ll beat our fellow relegated sides at home and the outbreak of emotion arising from those dead rubber victories will carry Ruud safely into next season.

Your confidence is admirable. I wish I shared it. Personally I find it very plausible that they haven’t decided yet and that our results from now until the end of the season may still have a bearing on Ruud’s future with us.

Given how secretive our club is known to be, Branston offered the closest thing to an official line that we're likely to get. He had some interesting things to share about the process of loaning players out and the way different players develop at different times (which is the kind of thing you'd expect him to speak well about), but his comments about the club in general were so onside they could have been drafted for him by the club's PR department.

I noticed that, but my impression was that he was talking about where Braybrooke could get a loan move to now rather than his ceiling in the future.

If we refused an offer to buy him from a big club that he really wanted to join, it's possible he might down tools. But I can't see him throwing his toys out of the pram over a loan move to a mid-ranked PL side. And even if he did have a sulk but we held firm, do you think he'd refuse to play for the entire season? I can't see it - it wouldn't do his career any good at all to get that kind of reputation at such a young age. Nobody was bothered about loaning out Soumare or Kristiansen because they were no losses to the team. I suspect we'd adopt a much tougher stance on Bilal as he could make a massive difference for us next season.

He's under contract with us. If we don't want to sell him on the cheap or loan him out, we don't have to. His agent may agitate for a loan move, but that doesn't compel us to accept one that doesn't benefit us.

Given that there would be zero benefit to us in loaning him out (for all the reasons you describe), what makes you think it's 'very likely' to happen?

We've just been through the worst sequence of results in our history - it's not that surprising that some people want to stay away at the moment. But it wasn't that long ago that the stadium was full every single game and there was a long waiting list for season tickets. If we start well next season, the stadium will be full again and if we get promoted back to the PL, we'll definitely have more demand for tickets than the KP can currently match. If we have any long-term ambition at all, we'll look beyond our current miserable form and build the extension - otherwise other clubs that ARE expanding their grounds will overtake us and leave us behind.

It would be negligent not to do it.

Fascinating interview with Guy Branston in the latest episode. Key talking points: *Rudkin is one of the best DoFs in the business and we're very lucky to have him *RVN was brought in for the long term and should be allowed to carry on next season *Our fans don't understand the huge gap between the Championship and the PL *If we try to build the team around academy players next season we'll get battered every week I anticipate a bit of debate on this thread as more people hear it....

He doesn’t pull any strings - he just does what Top tells him to do.

Given his book value, we won’t be able to raise anywhere near enough from selling Bilal to make it worthwhile from a PSR perspective.

He clearly has not been told he’s leaving yet. Neither does he want to leave because his best chance of reviving his reputation is turning things around with us and leaving with his head held high. RVN will not walk - he will only leave if Top sacks him, and he probably hasn’t made his mind up about that yet.

I think he genuinely believes he will be with us next season and has zero intention of leaving. It will come down to whether the club sees it the same way.

We’re not going to appoint a new permanent manager before the end of the season. Most decent candidates will be in a job and will be highly unlikely to walk out on their clubs at this stage of the season.

The fact that we’re now relegated in all but name seems to have given RVN the confidence to experiment more. It shouldn’t be like that - we needed changes months ago. It doesn’t speak well of him that he’s trying different things when it’s too late for them to make a difference.

Not until 2035 unfortunately.

We had a bottle of very decent Champagne in the cupboard that somebody bought us when our eldest was born. It has a lovely personalised label on it and everything. We were saving it until my lad turns 18, but I’ve just poured half of it into a pint glass and downed it.

Faes is missing and suddenly we have some spirit and confidence. I hope never to see him in a Leicester shirt again, but he’ll probably be straight back in as soon as he’s fit enough.

They played the same way the last time they went up and it didn’t do them any good.

Monga’s gonna bag one today 😉