smudgerfox

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/wheres-the-money-gone/id1700607219?i=1000736162323 This podcast always worth a listen on football finances and boardroom strategy. This episode isn't about Leicester specifically but the business guy Charlie Methven - who's been on the board of a few clubs and seems pretty honest - says the manager contributes about 15 per cent to the overall performance of a club. Says the technical director and the infrastructure is much more important. Other interesting eps on clubs getting into facial recognition ID - which will make for contentious policing and ticket-swapping issues and another on the fallacy that winning the Championship play offs makes you rich.

Respectfully, I disagree. Coaches do believe they can control the game through possession. It's a widespread belief which underpins much of what we see - playing out from the back, one striker, high pressing, defensive high line, tip-tap passing. As Maresca explained while with us, you wear down the opposition by making them chase the ball, and strike when their guard slips. And attacks are repeatable formulaic exercises which are endlessly rehearsed. But less pretentious opponents anticipate the attacking drills, conserve their energy while you pass the ball harmlessly along the backline, press selectively, and win the ball in dangerous counter attack areas. Ever since late-stage Brendan, we have seen games in which we've controlled possession for the first 30 minutes, no goal has come, and our opponents have scored with their first attack. It is an utterly flawed approach which is being found out and only survives because of the success Manchester City have had. Plus it's boring. Anti-football. Look at what Pep did to Grealish.

Why do the supporters of possession football characterise the only alternative as direct/lump it forward football? It really isn't. Before we had coaches and their football philosophies, we had..well football. Players would weigh up their options and pass, long, short, according to their assessment of what would most likely bring about a goal. Now players move in pre-set patterns as though training ground routines exactly replicate match conditions... What you end up with is a team that occasionally scores the perfect team goal but most of the time struggles to score at all. Indeed they struggle to create chances to score. It's not just us, loads of possession teams have reached this point...Man City included

Can you explain how you think this works ? We pay their humungus wages whether they play or not...what difference does it make if we select them or not...? i can see the players themselves may become disruptive, they'll be fed-up about missing out on win bonuses, it could affect their international careers, and there's the humiliation of losing your place to a teenager... But the manager is perfectly entitled to point to the poor results and performances and say earn your place back... Just to take one example - our vulnerability on the counter is a repeat problem going back many seasons and if deploying the experience of Vestergaard and Faes is to have any purpose it must surely be used to find an on-field solution to this vulnerability. Yet time and time again opponents score near identical goals against us because half our defence is upfield and the rest can't deal with an opponent running at them ... If we could see Faes and Vesty pointing and organising the defence positionally should the worst happen, I could just about stomach their repeated selection.. But as it is, I'd rather see Nelson and Okoli developing a partnership for the future..,

Shilton Whitworth Walsh (c) Fofana Fuchs Kante Cambiasso Mahrez Izzet Heskey Vardy subs Banks Kammark Morgan Lennon Lineker Fatawu Albrighton

Of course it’s not us. We have a driven straight into the financial trap PSR set for clubs like ours and we can’t get out. We can spend as though we are a de facto Prem club, in which case we’ll fall foul of EFL PSR. Or we can sell anyone who anyone else wants to raise money and languish in EFL with a sub prime team. And if by any chance we get promoted, we’ll come straight back down again and start again. The club failed to grasp the significance of PSR and act upon it and now we are royally stuffed. And that’s a footballing scenario that isn’t particularly attractive to watch….

But our lack of recruitment is a direct result of the squad being stuffed with immovable mediocrities like the ones you mention and of course Winks...

Gargantuan levels of incomprehensible forgiveness in this thread... First half injury v Chelsea Copenhagen a few hours later u- Enzo we miss you Babygate Aperol Spritz non celebration of goal under "clean slate" manager Is this the kind of leadership we need at our club?

Trying to steer between the two camps. The player he most resembles to me is David Luiz (ex Chelsea and Arsenal). For large parts of any game he looks class - his interceptions, his passing range, his ability to bring the ball out of defence, his heading are all generally good. But then he makes a calamitous mistake - just one - and when it costs you have to doubt whether all the good bits are worth it. On Sunday he played a really bad ball back to Jakub and put us under real and quite unnecessary pressure at a crucial part of the game. He just doesn't seem to have that safety mechanism which is so important in a modern defender. I'm happy to support him but he has to earn that support. He needs to 1) cut out the errors 2) show the leadership you ought to be able to expect from a defender of his experience and pedigree 3) cut out the ear-cupping when he's scored a free header from five yards - literally unmarked. In short, admit your mistakes and grow up.

That incident yesterday really summed up his lack of mental toughness or game intelligence. He got forced back in possession by the press - all the way to the goal line. Now it's no exaggeration to say that I myself (aged 66) could have won us a goal kick from there. Smack the ball against the opponent's shins, jump out of the way of the rebound and off we go. Another option - to whack the ball out and concede a throw in. Instead he just watches, seemingly hypnotised, as the ball trickles out off his foot for a corner. He really is useless..

Are you serious? Nelson has already proven himself at Championship level. He and Okoli are both young but they need to play first team football regularly to develop. There is no future in Vestergaard - whatever his passing ability his lack of pace is embarrassing.And did you see his shot? Park footballers would have been embarrassed.. As for Faes there is ample evidence he thinks he's too good for us but no club has come in for him to prove that...hes not going to improve - he nearly gave a goal away with a sloppy pass to the keeper yesterday ...

The "clean slate" nailed our relegation when RvN brought in Ward to replace Hermansen. Its a very valid criticism because the role if the DoF is to provide continuity and to prevent different managers making the same mistakes. Once again the route to the first team for Nelson, Aluko, Joseph, Page.Alves and Evans is blocked by players who we already know are not Premier League standard and never will be.

Really? Faes, Nelson, Okoli, Vestergaard, Aluko potentially, possibly JJ. Faes/Nelson combo with Okoli as first replacement - perfectly adequate for Championship season - if we lost Vestergaard and Okoli - we'd need another option for sure . And my hope is we'll never need to call on Vestergaard... As for CC - good riddance - his leadership skills were nothing but the Emperor's Clothes - completely invisible during a wretched season and best summed up by his centre stage role in Copenhagen in the middle of a relegation season ...

I seem to remember Enzo saying we needed more footballing knowledge in the club - and thats what Rudkin lacks - a global perspective with reliable contacts around the world. Thats what helps get deals done quickly and ensures you get value in those deals. A report on Brownhills today sums it up well. On a free at modest wages he's an astute signing, but on 70 grand for four years he's likely to become another sub Premier player we can't sell... And in any case Brownhills is right on our doorstep- there just has to be a 20 yo Academy reject somewhere in the world desperate to prove themselves and who will accept less money for playing a similar role..

Ive only just caught up with the Herald piece which quotes the Mercury (I missed that too) as saying that we'll only let Coady go if we can find an experienced replacement..WTF !! We already have Faes, Okoli, Nelson and Vestergaard with Aluko looking promising ffs..it really beggars belief

We had an offer for Coady - how on earth have we not taken that?

It is simply unbelievable that a relegated club facing PSR issues, needing to raise funds for transfer incomings, with 30 plus contracted senior players, has yet to sell a single player in this summer's transfer window. The club's inability to move on surplus players is an utter indictment of all those in charge.

Every single manager was fired because of poor performances on the field ....that may have haf something to do with the players?

You are joking right? Players got Ranieri, Puel, Cooper and RvN sacked and have a direct line to Top. A whole cohort of players deliberately ran down their contracts to the financial detriment of the club and there are "players" more than happy to take King Power money for walking their dogs around Seagrave. in the match before Copenhagen , Winks mysteriously went off with a first half injury and just a few hours later was seen bouncing ip and down in Copenhagen under that witless sign for Enzo. Add in Aperol Sunday and the babycare brouhaha and to me he self identifies as someone who should never play for us again..

RvN for all his faults, was trying to improve professional standards to the level he experienced under Alex Ferguson and found a group of players glorifying in behaving like a pub team and a club unwilling to support him in addressing the issues he rightly raised. Football is NOT a normal job. The financial rewards mean it can never be so. And the trade-off is that you and your family - who benefit hugely from your earnings - have to accept that occasionally you will have to make personal sacrifices. Winks spent a whole year on loan at Sampdoria, so he knows that full well. Let's be honest he wouldn't have missed the Champions League final because of family commitments... His was a petulant act of defiance at a time when the club needed its senior players to put their shoulder to the wheel. And the Aperol/Copenhagen incidents were the clearest indication of his feelings for our club.

Surely he should never have signed for Leicester then. Watford or Luton a better fit perhaps?

If this is attacking football im david attenborough

No Nelson then

Worth saying that our position partly reflects the utter financial domination of the EPL over the European leagues. When we cant shift a player to Sevilla because they cant afford his salary something is very wrong. The bottom has dropped out of the mid table transfer market in Spain, France and Italy. Ten years ago we'd have been trading regularly with those kind of clubs..

I agree with all that - but the delicate balance is that" it implies we have to be spot on with the man we go with. Or we could be being patient with a man who doesn't deserve our patience and loyalty...