murphy

I wonder what time those Preston fans that were threatening to sign in to "rub our noses in it" will be arriving?

I wish I;d thought of that! Magcal Mystery Tour is much better! You say you're not a Leicester fan, but I say you're not a fan yet. This is your first step on that journey to becoming a fully paid up bona fide fox. The die is cast. There's nothing you can do about it

To be fair if a Manchester United manager said that to any other Leicester player, do you think any of them would say no?

How dare you There is a line you know. You just crossed it!

You missed the bit when I said by all means give him credit at this level then? I tire of reading that this is a player resurgent because it isn't. It's simply a player playing at a different level.

It feels like a collective amnesia has descended over foxes talk. It's almost as if we have forgotten that we are playing at a lower level and forgotten the carnage that Vestergaard left in his wake as a Premier League player. In his first he was so bad that he became unselectable. That is why he only payed 11 times in the league. You cannot blame Rodgers for him being as weak as a kitten despite his being such a huge lump and you cannot blame Rodgers for him being so bafflingly bad in the air (despite being seven foot three) that he appeared to shrink in the challenge. His lack of pace and mobility we already knew about. This is not a turnaround it is simply a player finding his level as a decent championship player that is not being particularly tested defensively and playing in a dominant team. I'm glad that he is contributing at this level and that we finally get something out of him but at the end of the year when his contract expires and if we do go up, Jannick should be dropped like the hottest of hot potatoes. By all means give him credit for his performances at this level but please don't say he's turned it around as if playing against Rotherham is the same thing as playing against Arsenal. Anyway, I'm off to start a new thread: Danny Ward - was he half decent after all?

I would like to take this discussion on further but I can see that you're getting irritable so I'll leave it.

Harvey Barnes scored 13 goals in 34 league games in a totally dysfunctional side last year. I wonder where you can buy one of those for £40m? Your point that buying cheaper Championship players is somehow better than staying in The Premier League and buying PL ready players seems somewhat back to front. If we were in the PL we would have more money to buy more expensive (ie better) players and if we go up we will have to invest in those players anyway. I had forgotten how low the standard is in The Championship, it is no gauge to how players will perform in The Premier League. Just ask a Blades fan.

I can't agree with this. Even with parachute payments we lose £60m in broadcast revenue straight away. Also, we sold Maddison and Barnes at half their true value imo due to relegation. Yes, we needed a refresh, but I don't see any benefit in going down to The Championship to do it. If we were still a PL team we would have more money to spend and be able to get PL players. If we do go up, we will have to spend big to get PL quality players anyway. In other words, we may have to buy twice in some cases. We threw away ten years of growth in that shambolic last season. If we go up again, we start again, from scratch, at the bottom of the pile. One thing I can't really understand is how we were bottom of the net spend table over the previous five years for clubs that had spent all five years in The PL. I know we paid big wages, but how come we were so skint if our net spend was so low?

Well, you can't argue with the table, but I can always try. I don't think that £14m spent on two players yet to get off the treatment table can be considered good business at this stage and signing a player already injured is just reckless imo. I think that Winks is a great addition and the best bit of business of the summer and Hermansen is also a great buy. Not sure about Akgun or fatawu and I was was wary or Mavdidi but he seems to be growing into the role. I have just seen too many Musas, Diabates and Ghezzals - wingers from weaker foreign leagues that are ineffective over here. Will need convincing. I really believe that we should have pushed the boat out to retain Barnes and I think he would have stayed, not least because he had 2 years left on his contract. He would carve up The Championship and a proven goal scoring winger would be a great asset if we did manage to get promoted. We couldn't afford to buy a player like him. Personally, I would have liked to see players signed with high ceilings that can potentially grow into Premier League players with us. Doyle is one of those. THB could have been one of those, likewise Piroe and McAtee, but the latter chose Sheff Utd. Finally, I don't think that the prices we got for Maddison or Barnes can possibly be considered good business. Ok. I'm ready for the onslaught. Away you go...