davieG

Made In Leicester Rob Hubble Oxford Street (date unknown).

Ooops, I should never trust my powers of observation, Facebook or it seems Geoff Peters

Geoff Peters Media 25 May at 15:18 · The expectation is that Leicester will announce the departure of Ruud van Nistelrooy and appoint Russell Martin as his successor within the next few days #lcfc

Denis Law, I've never seen any player who could leap as high as he used too.

The Football Community · Follow The FA scrapped FA Cup replays this year, supposedly to ease the congested schedules of big clubs. But in doing so, they stripped vital paydays from smaller clubs like Tamworth, who missed out on a lucrative replay opportunity when they played Spurs. Now, just days after the domestic season ends, Manchester United are off on a money-spinning tour of the Far East. So the issue clearly isn’t player welfare, it’s priorities. Instead of scrapping replays, why not bring them back and simply extend the season by 10 days? That way, the magic and fairness of the FA Cup stays alive.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-city-efl-psr-points-10229486 Leicester City ‘pursued with vengeance’ in football’s rulebook era Leicester City have been stuck in an ongoing soap opera about football's financial rules ByPeter Smith 12:10, 1 JUN 2025 Leicester City's seemingly eternal battle with football's financial regulations is bad news for the English game, it has been claimed. Leicester have spiralled into financial rules chaos after chasing their tails trying to sustain a place in the Premier League's top eight. A shock relegation in 2023 took an almighty whack on their income too - and significantly reduced the amount they are allowed to lose over a three-year rolling cycle. They won promotion in 2023/24 but have now been referred by the Premier League to an independent commission for an alleged breach of profitability and sustainability rules for that season - to cap being relegated back to the Championship. The authorities could now come down on them heavily, with a points deduction likely if found guilty, but leading football writer Martin Samuel claims the rules have become more important than the objective. Leicester, like Manchester United, are not in danger of going bust due to their mistakes, but have their hands tied in terms of trying to put them right. Samuel writes in today's Sunday Times: "Is this what we do now? Pass raft after raft of regulations until clubs bleed out? Like Leicester City? "Theirs was a narrative reverberating around the globe, without doubt they improved the Premier League’s standing. Now Leicester are pursued into the leagues below such is the desire for vengeance having made mistakes. "Think of the most positive stories this year and the clubs involved — Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Bournemouth — all have endured skirmishes and more over financial regulation in recent years. Is this making English football more attractive? As it continues to leak talent to foreign leagues, from Kane to Toney to Michael Olise or Dean Huijsen, it does not look it." He added: "(Manchester United have) been poorly run and it has caught up with them. Mismanagement, weak executive leadership, flawed recruitment, inconsistency in managerial appointments, United have committed all of football’s cardinal sins. "They deserve no better than to be where they are. What they do not deserve, however, what no club deserves, is to be afforded no way back. And this is where the involvement of the Premier League is significant. "In the modern world of sports business, how do you take a club that is a worldwide brand leader, among the most recognisable names on the planet, and allow it to rot, to become a laughing stock, a byword for failure and incompetence? Not that United should be artificially promoted or propelled, not that there hasn’t been ineptitude on an epic scale, but no club should be corralled by regulations that see impoverishment where there is none, trapping them in this puppet-show purgatory." Leicester won the Premier League title in 2016, the FA Cup in 2021 and competed in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League between 2016 and 2022. But they were referred to the commission for the three years up to 2023 - when they allegedly breached PSR limits by £19.5 million - but escaped punishment due to a loophole, successfully arguing they were no longer a Premier League club and not yet a Championship club when they filed their 2022/23 accounts. That loophole has since been addressed by the top flight and EFL. The club has recorded total losses of £201.6m in the most recent three-year cycle - although not all, such as spending on academy and infrastructure, are applicable to P&S calculations - but is only allowed to lose up to £84.5m because one year of that was spent in the Championship. Premier League clubs are allowed to lose up to £35m a year and Championship clubs can lose up to £13m, plus an extra £1.5m for the 2023/24 season due to the rising cost of living.

He also spread rumours that the club was about to disappear which was an outrageous lie and a means of getting the club on the cheap. There was an acceptable rescue plan in place that sadly never really got a chance with his constant denigration of the club. He promised to get us out of the 2nd tier only to take us to the third and we lost the kudos of being one of only 6/7 clubs (can't remember exact number) that had never been below the 2nd tier. A record to be proud of. An absolute business charlatan.

Reports of deaths and injuries 'false and fabricated' - Gaza Humanitarian Foundationpublished at 11:11 11:11Breaking The BBC has just received a response from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation following reports that dozens were killed after Israeli tanks opened fire near an aid centre in Rafah. "It is false and fabricated. All aid was distributed today without incident," the GHF says, adding that there have been no injuries or fatalities. "We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated." As we've mentioned, our colleagues at BBC Verify are trying to establish the facts and we'll bring you the latest information as soon as we get it.

https://the72.co.uk/2025/06/01/wrexham-want-leicester-city-danny-ward-transfer-summer/ Wrexham are keen on departing Leicester City goalkeeper Danny Ward, according to journalist Alan Nixon on his Patreon page. Wrexham are interested in luring the stopper to the Racecourse Ground this summer. They are preparing for life in the Championship following their promotion from League One. Ward, 31, made five appearances for Leicester City this past season, two of which came in the Premier League. He will officially become a free agent at the end of the month. In this latest update regarding his situation by reporter Nixon on Patreon, he has emerged on the radar of the Red Dragons. He will be weighing up his options at this moment in time. Ward was handed an extension at the King Power Stadium back in 2021 running until 2025 and said at the time, as per Sky Sports: “I had a really good feeling the first time around when I signed and, luckily, we’ve been able to grow together as a club and as a team so I’m really excited for what lies ahead. “Even in my short time here, you can see in terms of facilities alone, the step up has been incredible. Step by step, we’re going in the right direction and, as a player, to be involved in that is really exciting.” He has a lot of experience and is a Wales international with 44 caps to his name. He started out in the academy of the Red Dragons but never played for their first-team. Instead, he was loaned out to Tamworth to get some experience under his belt. The ‘keeper then headed out of the exit door in 2012 to join Liverpool and has since played over 100 games in his career to date. Will Wrexham be able to sign Leicester City’s Danny Ward? Ward is likely to be on big wages following his time in the top flight at Leicester City. Nevertheless, Wrexham won’t have to pay a transfer fee to get him. The Wrexham-born man played three times for Liverpool’s first-team. He was also loaned out from Anfield to Morecambe, Aberdeen and Huddersfield Town to boost his development. The Foxes came calling in 2018 and he has since made 52 outings. He helped them win the FA Cup back in 2021 under Brendan Rodgers and the Championship title 12 months ago under Enzo Maresca.

But Daka, for example, arrived for more than £20m and yet has not started more than six league games in a row during four seasons at the club.

Too much tippy tappy football, boring get it forward man!

Made In Leicester Rob Hubble London Road 1961.

We've entered the Twilight Zone

If this is the case it would be good to think they are using that time to make the necessary changes like having a manager ready to take over, lining up players to buy and sell with that manager in mind.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-city-strategy-questions-king-10224563 Leicester City strategy questions King Power must answer as concerning wait extends Leicester City news and opinion as the silence from the club leaves supporters frustrated ahead of a crucial summer of needed change opinion ByJosh HollandFootball Writer 11:00, 31 MAY 2025 The protest banner flies high over the King Power Stadium. Forty days have passed since Leicester City's relegation from the Premier League was confirmed. Realistically, it's been 75 days since the club knew their fate. After beating Tottenham 2-1 on January 26, Leicester lost six straight Premier League games with an aggregate score of 16-0. After weeks of miserable performances, the 3-0 defeat to Manchester United on March 16 felt like the final nail in the coffin. A 2-2 draw with Brighton on April 12 was the only bright spark between then and relegation being confirmed. Over a month since City's second relegation from the Premier League in three years and there hasn't been an ounce of communication. Since the class of 2024 lifted the Championship trophy at the King Power Stadium over a year ago, it's been doom and gloom. The decision to appoint a Nottingham Forest legend went down poorly, only really one out of seven new faces arriving on a permanent deal paid off, and the manner of how the season played out under an inexperienced manager has made many lose interest. So much has gone wrong in LE2 in the past year. The board, Jon Rudkin in particular, have received their fair share of criticism. King Power, despite the glory days in the last decade, are now running the risk of more sections of the fanbase turning on them. The cliched responses of 'we were in League One' or 'we won the Premier League nine years ago' to any criticism no longer wash. Relegation happening so soon meant by the time the season finished, the feeling had worn off. Jamie Vardy's farewell on the penultimate game of the season shrouded the toxicity around the King Power Stadium and even then, Rudkin and King Power received pelters. Forty days have passed since relegation was confirmed and Khun Top has not spoken beyond his usual programme notes. The last time the club found themselves in this grim situation, there was a statement addressing supporters within 24 hours. It's not right to avoid giving clarity to supporters. What's the plan for next season? Will Ruud van Nistelrooy be sacked or kept on? Is there going to be a 'proper' internal review? What do you, the owner, plan to do? It would be hoped that Top and those around him at board level are working hard behind-the-scenes to get aligned before a crucial summer. However, in just over two weeks' time, it will be the two-year anniversary of Enzo Maresca's appointment. The thought of Leicester having some sort of strategy in the public eye by that date this year seems improbable. Van Nistelrooy's constant cry for clarity over his job has been fair and it's poor form, if what the Dutchman repeatedly confirmed in his pre and post-press conferences is correct, that the manager of the football club doesn't know whether he'll be there or not. Van Nistelrooy does not get a free pass in this abysmal season. The former Manchester United forward had a chant from the Foxes faithful for three games, but lost trust from supporters after starting Danny Ward in that defeat to Wolves. The Dutchman has given the club an ultimatum by presenting his vision for next season. This is what he plans to do, loathe it and you need to get rid of him. But, despite being a bad appointment in the grand scheme of things, he is not the biggest problem at the club. Neither are the players, but there have been some embarrassing performances. In years gone by, Leicester have watched on as clubs around England go through these sorts of periods of uncertainty. This time, it's they're the club who appear to be all at sea. Fortunately, there are positives. Jeremy Monga, Jake Evans and Bade Aluko all making their senior debuts means there is reason for optimism. Adbul Fatawu confirming he should be back fit for pre-season, is a huge boost. There's also the confirmation from Sheffield United that Hamza Choudhury and Harry Souttar will return to the club after they blew the chance of promotion at Wembley. Souttar is injured, but Choudhury has a real chance of starting on the first day of the Championship season in August. Taking away the likes of Mads Hermansen, Wilfred Ndidi, Bilal El Khannouss and Wout Faes - players expected to say goodbye - there is still some good Championship players. Jakub Stolarczyk is a starter goalkeeper, he's proven that. Caleb Okoli, Conor Coady and Luke Thomas could be named in the first starting XI and there would not be massive uproar. Ricardo Pereira, on his day, is brilliant. Despite the anger over his signing, Oliver Skipp isn't going anywhere and starts in the level below. Stephy Mavididi and Fatawu tormented defences last season. Throw in the exciting Monga and Evans plus any recruits, they have a good squad to play with. Yet the wait for any communication over short-term and long-term strategy from Khun Top, someone who, despite the club's fall, received a decent reception on the final home game of the season, is concerning. Leicester City fans hold up a banner in the away end at the Vitality Stadium during the 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth (Image: Steven Paston/PA Wire) Supporters deserve to know how the club hopes to correct what's happened over the past year. What's the plan to return Leicester to the Premier League and remove the dark grey cloud of PSR from over their heads? More transparency is required. Some insight into the plans would be a start because this summer has the potential to either return the club back to the top-flight or replicate Luton Town's failure and be relegated down to League One.

Who didn't?

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-city-cusp-something-great-10218216#comments-wrapper Leicester City on cusp of something great with impressive milestone possible next season There were seven academy graduates in the squad for the final game of the season, and there's are plenty of options to take that number even higher in the Championship ByJordan Blackwell 07:00, 31 MAY 2025 With Bade Aluko making his Leicester City debut in the final few minutes of the season, the number of club academy graduates to have played their first Premier League game this campaign rose to five. Jakub Stolarczyk was handed his first outing at Liverpool last December, the same month Will Alves made a brief appearance before he was loaned to Cardiff. Jeremy Monga and Jake Evans’ opportunities first came in April. Five homegrown Premier League debutants in one campaign is a strong amount. In City’s nine-season run in the top flight before their previous relegation, there were 12 homegrown debutants, an average of just over one a season. There are caveats. City had a weaker squad this season than in all of those previous nine top-flight campaigns, while their early relegation allowed greater freedom on squad selection. Both factors were key in Ruud van Nistelrooy turning to academy products. But it still represents a positive and it puts City on the cusp of something great. The rate at which the club’s academy has produced top-level players has improved considerably over the past 15 years. Players worth millions have emerged. Ben Chilwell started for the winning team in a Champions League final four years ago. Harvey Barnes and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall have just qualified for Europe’s top competition. City sold the trio for more than £100m combined. Producing these highly-talented individuals is brilliant, for what they can give City, for the money they can make the club, for the joy it brings fans, and for the kudos. But there’s room for City to be even more prolific. The task is to produce more and more players capable of holding their own in the Premier League, even if they’re not going to be the subject of £30m transfers. The ideal is, as van Nistelrooy put it, to have the foundation of the squad built on those who have come up through the ranks, rather than having academy graduates sprinkled throughout the side. It really feels like City are getting closer to that. It’s hard to imagine this was the season the club’s run of having an academy graduate in every matchday squad ended after five years and 10 months, a streak of 288 games, last October. Because on the final day of the season, seven of the 20 squad members were academy-trained: Stolarczyk, Aluko, Monga, Evans, Luke Thomas, Kasey McAteer, and Sammy Braybrooke. There’s not just those seven who could be permanent fixtures in the first-team squad next term. Ben Nelson, as long as he’s not sold, looks on course to be a starter. Will Alves will be in contention. Hamza Choudhury may stick around after his loan at Sheffield United. The likes of Wanya Marcal and Brandon Cover will return from loan spells too. The likes of Tom Wilson-Brown and Henry Cartwright have been in Premier League matchday squads this season. Louis Page has been starting for England Under-17s this month. A lot of those are young players and not all of them will be ready, but being in the Championship gives City greater opportunities to show trust in them. The club need to be brave. Last weekend, there was the perfect chance to start Monga. Yes, Bournemouth are strong on the flanks, and yes, van Nistelrooy was not given many incentives to look to the future because of the lack of talks on his position, but in a dead-rubber like that, the 15-year-old should not have been overlooked for a left-back playing out of position in Victor Kristiansen. Earlier this year, the CIES Football Observatory published a list of the clubs across England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France that had developed the most big-five league players since 2005. Fifteen English clubs made the top 100, which included all those that had had at least 26 players graduate and play in the top divisions. There was no place for City on the list. But they’re now moving into an era where that can change. There was only one Midlands club on the list – Aston Villa – so it’s not that the region’s best kids are being snapped up by every other club. They have the location and the facilities – and recent success suggests the coaching set-up – to be one of the most prolific producers of top-flight players. It would be great, and it’s something the club should ultimately strive for, for City to become one of the famed academies in the country, like those at Manchester United, Arsenal, and West Ham. If they did, it would provide a permanent source of pride for supporters too, and would make them feel more connected with the club. They look to be on that path and there could be a real milestone next season. There’s potential for City to field a matchday squad where half of the players have come up through their academy. It would be a satisfying moment for everybody associated with the club.

Repeats are being shown on Great! tv Channel 157 It’s actually on now 2 episodes S2 Ep9 &10

OS Foxes Around The Globe – Upcoming International Action One of two Foxes with the Danish squad. by Sam Jones Published 28 May, 2025 Several City players could compete in FIFA World Cup qualifiers, tournaments and friendlies over the course of the next two weeks. Jordan Ayew, Wilfred Ndidi, Patson Daka, Woyo Coulibaly and Bilal El Khannouss among those competing for their respective nations Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard and Kasey McAteer to feature in Europe Hamza Choudhury (Bangladesh) and Brandon Cover (Jamaica) have also been called up Louis Page represented England Under-17s in the UEFA European U17 Championships this week Down in the capital, Jordan Ayew is set to come up against Wilfred Ndidi when Ghana face Nigeria at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium in the Unity Cup on Wednesday evening (7pm kick-off). Ndidi could then be in action again in a friendly against Russia, flying out to Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Friday 6 June (6pm kick-off). Under-21s star Brandon Cover has been called up for the second time to play for Jamaica against Trinidad & Tobago in the same tournament - a 7pm kick-off in west London on Tuesday night. It’s then a busy June for the Reggae Boyz, playing two FIFA World Cup second round qualifiers against British Virgin Islands and Guatemala, before a trio of CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage matches versus Guatemala, Guadeloupe and Panama. Two games to come for El Khannouss. Bilal El Khannouss, meanwhile, may feature in Morocco’s back-to-back friendlies at Fez Stadium, starting by hosting Tunisia on Friday 6 June, prior to tackling Benin three days later (both 9pm kick-offs). There’s also friendly action for Zambia, with Patson Daka in line for minutes against Tunisia on Tuesday 10 June and Woyo Coulibaly's Mali, who face DR Congo at Stade de la Source in France on Thursday 5 June. Collecting one point from their opening Group C fixture, Hamza Choudhury’s Bangladesh have an Asian Cup Qualification Play-Off against Singapore coming up on 10 June (11am kick-off) as they bid to reach the tournament finals. Heading back into Europe, there are FIFA World Cup Qualifiers for Wout Faes and Belgium, travelling to Toše Proeski Arena for a meeting with North Macedonia on Friday 6 June, before hosting Wales at King Baudouin Stadium on Monday 9 June (both 7:45pm kick-offs), kicking off their Group J campaign. McAteer made his international debut against England last year. Elsewhere, Jannik Vestergaard is in the Denmark squad facing Northern Ireland at Parken Stadium on Saturday 7 June and Lithuania at Nature Energy Park three days later (both 6pm kick-offs). Republic of Ireland have a duo of friendlies too, with Kasey McAteer included in the squad to play Senegal at Aviva Stadium on Friday 6 June and travel to Luxembourg four days later (both 7:45pm kick-offs). Development Squad forward Chris Popov is back with the Wales Under-21s squad and hoping to win his 13th youth cap as they take on Norway on Friday 6 June. And fellow Under-21s star Louis Page has been representing England Under-17s in the UEFA European U17 Championships over the course of the last two weeks. .

Sky Sports reporter Rob Dorsett has posted on X that van Nistelrooy is yet to sit down with club bosses to discuss his future, despite pleading for a quick decision to be made on the issue in the aftermath of City’s relegation being confirmed on April 20. Dorsett expects the Manchester United legend to leave the club, but says he is now back in the Netherlands with his family still uncertain about whether he will be kept on in the role or not. Furthermore, Dorsett claims the club have yet to begin “active talks” with possible managerial replacements, despite reports claiming Martin was about to be appointed. He claims Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl and former Derby and Hull manager Liam Rosenior are also on the City shortlist, together with Martin, even though appointing either of the first two could present the club with even more problems. Both Rohl and Rosenior would come with hefty compensation payments for their current clubs, something the Foxes could do without as they prepare to be hit with a points deduction for alleged past player spending infringements while also trying to ensure they are not in breach of financial fair play rules in the future.

Plus 3 different hosts to not even see all the games and if you're not in the top 6 or so you'll be shown much less. The 3 different hosts happened because we were in EU supposedly for the benefit of customers which it clearly isn't because there's no competition. All 3 or however many need to should show all the same games so you would then have genuine competition as the customers can then pick the best provider.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3n7dx2174o Graham Fraser Technology Reporter A lack of action by big tech firms is enabling the "industrial scale theft" of premium video services, especially live sport, a new report says. The research by Enders Analysis, external accuses Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft of "ambivalence and inertia" over a problem it says costs broadcasters revenue and puts users at an increased risk of cyber-crime. Gareth Sutcliffe and Ollie Meir, who authored the research, described the Amazon Fire Stick - which they argue is the device many people use to access illegal streams - as "a piracy enabler". BBC News has contacted Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft for comment. The piracy problem Sports broadcasting is big business, with the total value of media rights across the world passing the $60bn (£44bn) mark last year. The increasing cost of rights deals results in higher prices for fans at home, especially if they choose to pay for multiple services to watch their team play. To get round this, some resort to illegal streams of big events. Enders say there are often multiple streams of individual events - such as high profile football games - each of which can have tens of thousands of people watching them. Bosses of big rights holders, Sky and DAZN, have previously warned piracy is causing a financial crisis in the broadcast industry, external. There is a risk for users too. The Enders report says fans watching football matches, for instance, via illegal streams are typically providing information such as credit card details and email addresses, leaving them vulnerable to malware and phishing scams. Fire Stick in the firing line The researchers looked at the European market and focussed on Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft. While Meta, the owner of Facebook, was criticised for being the source of adverts for illegal streams, the technology of the other three was blamed for the increase in piracy. The Amazon Fire Stick is a major cause of the problem, according to the report. The device plugs into TVs and gives the viewer thousands of options to watch programmes from legitimate services including the BBC iPlayer and Netflix. They are also being used to access illegal streams, particularly of live sport. In November last year, a Liverpool man who sold Fire Stick devices he reconfigured to allow people to illegally stream Premier League football matches was jailed. After uploading the unauthorised services on the Amazon product, he advertised them on Facebook. Another man from Liverpool was given a two-year suspended sentence last year after modifying fire sticks and selling them on Facebook and WhatsApp. According to data for the first quarter of this year, provided to Enders by Sky, 59% of people in UK who said they had watched pirated material in the last year while using a physical device said they had used a Amazon fire product. The Enders report says the fire stick enables "billions of dollars in piracy" overall. Depreciation of tech allows piracy to flourish The researchers also pointed to the role played by the "continued depreciation" of Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems, particularly those from Google and Microsoft. This technology enables high quality streaming of premium content to devices. Two of the big players are Microsoft's PlayReady and Google's Widevine. The authors argue the architecture of the DRM is largely unchanged, and due to a lack of maintenance by the big tech companies, PlayReady and Widevine "are now compromised across various security levels". Mr Sutcliffe and Mr Meir said this has had "a seismic impact across the industry, and ultimately given piracy the upper hand by enabling theft of the highest quality content". They added: "Over twenty years since launch, the DRM solutions provided by Google and Microsoft are in steep decline. "A complete overhaul of the technology architecture, licensing, and support model is needed. Lack of engagement with content owners indicates this a low priority."