ClaphamFox

Right. And if our objective was merely to get somebody in post, regardless of quality, then we could also doubtless have appointed by now. Probably Gary Rowett or Russell Martin. I’m suggesting there may be a trade-off between expediency and quality. And if that’s the case, I’d prefer us to prioritise quality.

Bournemouth are currently a considerably more attractive proposition than us. While it would be great if we could just go into the market and recruit a talented young manager with fresh ideas, I suspect anybody fitting that description will take some persuading before they agree to join us. That’s just the reality for us at the moment.

True, but he did all of that with Adi Viveash as his assistant. My impression is that Coventry fans think that Robins is not much cop without Viveash, and Stoke fans now seem to think the same thing. Personally I hope we steer clear.

Do we really know enough about what's going on behind the scenes to say this? I can't recall a single example of a club publishing a shortlist of managers they're pursuing before they make an appointment. What are you seeing that makes it 'appear' to you that we're going down agent-influenced route again? Is it just the lack of media rumours, or something else? Silence might mean they're making the same mistakes as in the past or it might mean McCarron is working hard to correct those mistakes. No news could be bad news or it could be good news— we'll only find out when the manager is announced. I completely understand why people fear the worst, but I'm not sure the fact that we haven't made an appointment by 22 May tells us a great deal either way.

The fixation with the retained list is bizarre. All it will show is which players remain under contract, which we already know. It's mildly interesting to see which academy players have been let go, but apart from that it's always bit of a non-event—and in previous years has been regarded as such. It's weird how this year it's become such a big thing for some people. Rowett was pitching hard for the job in the last few weeks of the season. If he'd been offered it, he'd have accepted it and we'd know by now. The reason the club hasn't announced that he's leaving is because they're clearly not 100% confident they'll get somebody better in and are keeping Rowett in the background as a back-up plan, which is worrying but not surprising. This managerial appointment is absolutely massive for the club. Get it wrong and the consequences could be very serious. IF the delay is because they're working hard to bring in the best possible candidate, I'm ok with that. If we have to wait until July and it ends up being Russell Martin, I will be very much not ok with it.

Toney is the second best centre forward we have. I can't fathom Henderson or Spence.

It wouldn't. People just want a quick appointment because we all want to move on from last season. That's understandable, but if the club prioritizes getting it done quickly over getting the best candidate we'll just end up sacking again by October.

The recent strategy of only targeting managers who are out of work has been spectacularly unsuccessful. We'll never know for certain what would have happened had we forked out for Corberan in the summer of 2024 or Rohl in the summer of 2025, but it's not unreasonable to assume they might have fared better than either Cooper or Cifuentes. If the best possible candidate we can attract this time happens to be out of work, great; if he's currently employed, we need to do whatever it takes to get him—even if it takes some time. If we carry on shopping for managers in the bargain bin we'll continue to get the same results.

Exactly a decade after our greatest ever season we’ve had our worst ever one. ‘Super sad’ doesn’t even scratch the surface…

Logical or not, I think this is what’s happening.

The only reason that makes sense is is because they want to recruit a stronger candidate but aren't 100% confident in obtaining one, so are keeping Rowett on as a back-up.

Or alternatively, what a horribly malfunctioning club can do to a good player?

Isn’t Robins supposed to be far less impressive when he’s not being assisted by Adi Viveash, with whom he had a major falling out and is therefore very unlikely to reunite with?

We never publish our retained list this early, so it’s not that baffling that we haven’t done so this time. And when it’s published it won’t tell us much we didn’t already know anyway. The lack of announcement re: Rowett’s departure very likely means he’s being considered as a back-up option if none of the club’s preferred candidates works out. He clearly isn’t first choice or he would have been appointed by now, but he’s probably not been completely discarded as a candidate while the club is still in talks with other people. I agree this is worrying, but I think it’s probably what’s happening.

In a shocking development, AS Monaco want to stiff us on the fee for Faes.... https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/leicester-city-wout-faes-transfer-10972960

This lady. I like her style. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYW__BOKFHw/?igsh=Nnp0djl5YnNqNG9t

Yes, it could be this.

You may well be right, so I probably wouldn't take that bet anyway I have a feeling that it's going to be somebody a bit leftfield—ie, a name not currently featured highly in the odds or media talk (not that there is much media talk). Probably an up-and-coming young manager from either the lower leagues or abroad who has done some good early work but is still relatively unproven. On the other hand, now I've said that, it will probably be Tony Mowbray...

Hogg was a free agent. We may be targeting candidates who are currently in a job, some of whom may still have games left to manage this season. If we take ages to appoint and it ends up being somebody who was available all along, it will certainly suggest poor organisation. If we end up with a strong candidate we've had to pluck from another club, it might seem like good sense.

Does the season officially end on a certain date?

He’s apparently turned down Burnley so he can continue with Wales. I doubt if we’d be more appealing.

He’s not managed, nor shown any real interest in doing so. He’d cost a fortune in wages and then in compensation when we inevitably sack him after eight games. It would be a complete disaster. Actually I’ve talked myself into it—gerrimin.

Thankfully we’ll never see either of those in a Leicester shirt again. The only one with an outside chance of being offered one is Lascelles, but even that’s a very remote possibility.

Last year it was released on 28 May. Even if this year’s is released on Monday, I’m not sure that 10-day difference will tell us that much. But I was referring to what’s in the list rather than the timing of it. All it tells us is who remains under contract—it doesn’t tell us anything about which of those players the club wants to sell. It’s mildly interesting to see which development squad players we’ve let go, but that’s about it.

Isn’t £404 our cheapest season ticket?