davieG

The Gulf Nations will want to set up their own World Super league as they and others have done in other Sports. It'll be down to how FIFA and UEFA respond and as those two are battling each other for supremacy and seemingly hate each other I can't see them having a combined opposition and strength to compete against the richer Gulf Nations.

Leicester City v Manchester City (Leicester City FC, 5.15pm) – live on BBC Two/BBC iPlayer/BBC Sport Website

Campaign for the Reopening of the Ivanhoe Line (CRIL) Douglas McLay · · GETTING TO LEICESTER - THE FULL STORY! This article was triggered by the considerable discussion on our Facebook Page about the government's decision not to reopen the whole of the Ivanhoe Line as part of the Restoring your Railways Programme. Lots of questions were asked and many comments made expressing all sorts of viewpoints. OVERVIEW The DfT announcement that they were going to concentrate on the re-opening of the Burton to Coalville section of the Ivanhoe Line by instigating a Derby to Coalville service caused a lot of discussion and raised many questions about the what, why and when. The purpose of this article is to explain what this decision means and what is behind it. The first thing to say is that CRIL remains committed to getting the whole line from Burton mainline station to Leicester mainline station reopened. However we believe that the partial reopening of the line could be the catalyst to get the whole line reopened. Something is better than nothing. RESTORING YOUR RAILWAYS PROGRAMME The Restoring Your Railways Programme (RYR) is an opportunity to get government funding for reopening the line. Frankly it is difficult to see where else we could have raised the funding from. Our local councils, whilst very supportive of the scheme, are in no position to fund it. Matters are further complicated by the fact that the line serves the areas of four tier 1 local authorities. The RYR programme is a political initiative. Like it or not such political initiatives from governments of all colours come with political objectives which must be achieved to release funding. The RYR Programme is a levelling up initiative and as such the government wants to invest in schemes which will be underway (on a firm timetable to deliver specified benefits) before the next election. After the whole HS2 experience all government programmes they must have a high level of certainty that they can be delivered within the allocated budget. So for the Ivanhoe Line to be included in the RYR programme it must demonstrate that what is planned can be delivered in the required timescale and within the available budget. DERBY TO COALVILLE The costs and benefits of opening a passenger service from Derby to Coalville are well understood and Network Rail have a good level of confidence that these can be delivered within the required timeframe and available budget. The work on the line is limited in scope because the line is already double tracked (apart from the single track bridge over the A42) and it is so lightly used that closing it for the duration of the work is possible. This would mean it can be carried out very efficiently. The extension to Derby minimises the amount of work required at Burton station because turnarounds, crew changing and train stabling would be carried out at Derby where such facilities already exist. COALVILLE TO LEICESTER It is useful to consider the extension from Coalville to Leicester in two parts. Firstly there is the section from Coalville to Leicester South (the proposed station near the Kingpower Stadium) and finally the restoral of the Knighton North Curve and the run into Leicester Main Line via the Midland Mainline. Coalville to Leicester South The first part is quite well understood, however the work is more complex than the Burton to Coalville section. This is because the existing line is single track and it will need to be realigned and doubled. There is enough freight traffic running from the quarries to the mainline to prevent Network Rail from closing the line for an extended period which will put up the cost and the time taken to carry it out. These factors mean that this could not be achieved within the RYR timescales and budget. Leicester South to Leicester Mainline The third part from Leicester South into Leicester Mainline is both the shortest and the most difficult part. There are two things to consider. Firstly the restoral of the North Curve at Knighton, and secondly the connection to the mainline. The restoral of the North Curve will require the acquisition of the old track bed and then restoring the formation and laying the track. It's not far. The freehold of the old track bed land is now owned by Leicester City Council. The land is leased out to a property agent who built the light industrial units which are on the site. The new police station car park does impinge on the track at an extreme corner, but there is plenty of scope to replace the lost car parking spaces if the other tenants are relocated. In short it is doable at reasonable cost but the acquisition of the land could be a lengthy process. The connection to the Midland Main Line (MML) is more problematic. In our SOBC we identified that the MML would need to be realigned to allow an additional track to be restored for the run into Leicester Mainline Station. This would be an expensive task and cause huge disruption to the MML over a considerable period. Very difficult to justify. However we are aware that there is a proposed scheme to remodel the approaches to the southern end of the station as part of increasing MML capacity and/or the electrification of the MML through Leicester. The scheme design we have seen would enable our requirements to be met by a small modification to this scheme. The most realistic solution to the issue would seem to be to implement the restoral of the Knighton Curve and connect it to the MML when the realignment takes place. PRIME MINISTERIAL ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE In his recent speech to the Conservative Party conference the Prime Minister announced that the Ivanhoe Line would be reopened from Burton to Leicester. We understand that this means that if the Full Business Case supports the scheme from Derby to Coalville then Network Rail would have the funding to reopen in 2025/26. At this stage it is unclear what the announcement means for the full reopening to Leicester. However for the reasons explained above CRIL is clear that the scope of work to reopen beyond Coalville is significant Irrespective of whether the necessary funding becomes available this work could not be completed in the RYR timeframes. The promise made in the speech to implement a Midlands Railway Hub seems to include schemes which would require the realignment of the MML south of Leicester. However it may be that a phased approach will be adopted so the current scheme is delivered as described above and that further Development Stages are started for the work needed to re-open all the way to Leicester mainline. This would give the full reopening some status in government and Network Rail and provide a focus for CRILs future campaigning SUMMARY Reopening the line to Coalville is relatively straightforward and can be achieved within the RYR timeframes and budget. The prospects of this being approved and funded are good, especially following the Prime Ministers recent announcement. The extension to Leicester South is also possible to achieve but not within the RYR timetable and budget, The connection into the mainline station is a longer term job because of the extensive preparation time to acquire land and the need to synchronise the work with the planned, but as yet unfunded, upgrade to the MML. CRIL are determined to get the whole line reopened. However we do not want to jeopardise the partial reopening by delaying the work starting with a controversy about it. This partial reopening will provide a focus for the ongoing campaign and real life evidence of the benefits of a passenger railway service in the corridor. We plan to use the Prime Ministers statement as a lever to push for a phased implementation of the reopening with the Development stage for the following phases whilst the first phase is implemented. Please note. CRIL is an apolitical organisation with no affiliation to any political party, but will work with a government of any political pursuation. This page is not an appropriate place to make political points, and any such comments will be removed.

Suggested for you Sholy Nation Sports James Maddison’s impressive stats by Club: Leicester City: 55 goals, 41 assists Norwich: 16 goals, 13 assists Coventry City: 5 goals, 5 assists Aberdeen: 2 goals, 7 assists Tottenham: 2 goals, 5 assists 1x FA Cup 1x Community shield 1x Norwich POTS 1x Leicester POTS Underrated Baller!

FA Cup: Reforms to the English football calendar could see third and fourth round replays scrapped By Simon StoneBBC Sport FA Cup third and fourth round replays and the two-legged EFL Cup semi-finals are expected to be scrapped as part of reforms to the English football calendar. The changes will also see the FA Cup fifth round restored to a weekend slot. Changes have been triggered by pressure on the domestic calendar such as the expansion of European competitions. It is not yet known when the changes could come into effect, though a new TV contract is set to commence in 2025-26. However, the domestic calendar will feel extra pressure from next season when the Champions League and Europa League first phases expand to 36 clubs. Subsequent alterations to the Uefa match calendar mean the opening phase will cover 10 midweeks rather than the current six. With Fifa's international match calendar not due to change until 2026, when the four games currently played in September and October will run across a single 16 day window, it leaves a maximum of 12 spare midweeks for domestic matches to be played if clashes with European club competitions - which Uefa frowns upon - are to be avoided. In their 'invitation to tender' statement released on Wednesday, the Premier League confirmed five midweek rounds per season would be part of their offer to broadcasters for the four-year cycle that starts in 2025. That is one more than this season, when matches are due to be played in November, January and April, in addition to the Boxing Day slot. With spare midweeks needed for matches that have to be rearranged due to clashes with the FA Cup sixth round and semi-finals, plus the EFL Cup final - which are all played on weekends used by the Premier League - there is not enough space for the domestic calendar to remain as it is. BBC Sport understands the answer is set to come through alterations to the two cup competitions. The FA could give up third and fourth round replays in exchange for a return to a weekend date for the fifth round of the competition for the first time since 2019-20. While many observers felt the EFL Cup semi-finals had to be shrunk from their current two-legged format if the competition was to be retained, the loss of FA Cup replays for top-flight teams will be lamented by some, even though they were scrapped in 2020-21 and 2021-22 due to issues created by the coronavirus pandemic. There were six replays in both the third and fourth round of last season's competition. The FA removed fifth round replays from the schedule in 2017-18. The FA has declined to comment. Its current broadcast deal with the BBC and ITV runs to 2025. The EFL has just announced a five-year agreement with Sky that will end in 2029 and align with the next Premier League contract.

We're lucky to still have the tower as that was planned to be demolished until people protested. The sad thing is Lewiss was only built in the 30s and seem to be made of big slabs of stone so not just commercial vandalism but environmental vandalism and I'd say would have outlasted anything they've built since the 60s both physically and stylishly.

I think they only wanted outline planning for the rest as I'm sure it'll change especially now they have the EON building to include

There's not a long wrong with insisting on membership but they only need to charge an admin fee. Unless they change their insistence on expensive membership and buying tickets on the day more last minute walk-ups aren't going to help fill an expanded stadium.

The King Power can hold up to 32,373 supporters for Leicester’s home games, putting the club behind the likes of Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United, among others in the second tier. The average attendance at the Leicester home ground so far this season has seen 31,387 people watching Maresca’s side. Are we missing nearly a 1000 fans on average for each game?

No! you're the legend.

Gerry Daly was a great player and it was a big disappointment that we couldn't sign him permanently

It's really not far off Extortion, buy an over priced membership or we wont let you in. Either that or they just don't need the money and certainly not future long term committed fans. With this approach they wont need a bigger stadium but then these are not the type of fans they're extending it for.

You're efforts have made me give a little more. Keep right on to the end of the road.

I'm a long standing ST holder and I think the paying other than a small admin fee is verging on the criminal and match day prices are unnecessarily too high. I'm just glad I have and can afford a ST.

Born and Raised in Leicester · Leicester's first fire station Bowling Green Street.

Before the Haymarket and Lewis's vandalism and when the Council had money to spend on flowers.

We're likely to have a different government by the time it comes to nailing it down, in fact with the need to buy/compulsorily purchase land, move people out and rebuild the bend into Leicester they'll probably be more than one change of government. It's easier to cancel than it is to give the go ahead for these projects as there's always a justification to save money for more important things

This is the what it's all about. They treat the fans like performing monkeys. Goal music is there to stop any over enthusiastic celebrations as soon as it stops playing everyone sits down Membership is so they can monitor who's attending, I don't even think it's about money although they certainly aren't averse to milking it. No registration = no unknowns = control, hence no match day sales. Selling your ticket on again they're not doing it for fan's benefit it's so they know who's attending + they can make some money on it. I wouldn't be surprised f the Fan Cam isn't used for facial recognition of undesirables. Or maybe I'm just getting paranoid

Didn’t think it was a penalty but easy come

we have zero creativity and are struggling to string passes together to get in their penalty box

Leicester City FC · No player in the Championship has averaged more Progressive Yards Carried per 90 than Wout Faes (243.0 yrds) That's over 2 full lengths of a football pitch, every 90 minutes

Lost Football Grounds and Terraces of the United Kingdom · Join Robert Ford · · Leicester City have won best pitch a few time in recent years but this picture show a different story in a FA cup tie against Bristol City at the old Filbert Street ground.

I said it before and I'll say it again it'll just become, if has not already a clone of the PL with the media, even the BBC flattering the rich 6 clubs.