A little bit disenchanted

[foxes21]

IMO I think the disenchantment is deeper than these past 3 years. We are coming to an end of a erratic 10 year rollercoaster journey..

 

However the ending is just the same as the beginning..

 

We are suffering from the same uncertain, unpredictable, clouded future we had under Rob Kelly, Martin Allen, Megson & Holloway. What direction is our club going in? Are the people behind the scenes right for the job? Do the players want it? These are all questions we find ourselves asking once again.

 

When Pearson came along he gave us stability, structure and more importantly.. Hope. I'll never forget watching Lloyd Dyer destroy MK Dons in the first game of our L1 season & thinking we haven't had such an exciting player since Izzet. After years of turmoil Pearson steadied the ship. Can you remember the sigh of relief when Pearson returned and replaced Sven?

 

Secretly we all yearn for the stability and structure Pearson gave us.. We knew we were progressing each year and understood the direction we were going. Everything felt comfortable, even in our great escape season you could just sense we were going to stay up.

 

However now there is the same uncertain, unpredictable, clouded future as I stated earlier. I'm not saying Shakespeare is on the same level as Kelly or Holloway. But we have no clue how Shakespeare is going to perform this season, or if he's the right man for the job. Again our future is unclear.. We don't know what direction our club is heading in & their is little faith in our recruitment.

 

So this is where I think the disenchantment comes from...

 

We are emotionally drained... Burned out... We've seen everything from the high's to the lows. After tasting the success of not only these past 3 years, but also the stability and comfort of Pearson's era.. The upcoming season just feels like the same uncertain, unpredictable rollercoaster journey again.

 

Edited 31 July 2017 by foxes21

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

1 hour ago, Col city fan said:

Great post this one, it really is. I tell you something that's stuck in my mind. During the great escape season, under Pearson, even though I genuinely thought we were going down (just based on points really), there was always that little glimmer of hope in us all, basically because we weren't playing that badly.

Compare this to last season under Ranners..even when we weren't even in the bottom three (let alone bottom!) and I just kinda knew we were going down. There was nothing left. We had no game plan, we had a rubbish team..I thought we were doomed.

Mad thing to say possibly, seeing as we won the league, but I think it'll take some time to actually undo the bad Ranieri did. Again, I think, like we had to when Sven basically just about wrecked the club. I remember that so well due to so many people on here believing Sven was the answer. Even right up until he got sacked.

i know it's a strange thing to say, but I honestly believe Ranieri was taking us to a whole new world of low, having been in a whole new world of high.

 

Whilst I do agree that our play merited more points than we had on the board by the end of 14/15 - I do think plenty of people forget just *how* bad we were from October-March of that season. The home games against West Brom and Stoke and the aways to Southampton and Swansea stick out. I'm one of Pearson's biggest advocates and wanted him to have the season but he was completely clueless as to the system he wanted to play as well as the people he wanted in it for a massive chunk of that campaign.

 

Regarding the topic - there is something a bit different about it now, almost become completely about the social aspect of it all and I'm not as arsed about results as I once was. Seeing melty little virgin goblins with twitter handles like @FuchsLongThrow (for example) post GIFS about Andy King not being in a starting line up is not what we're about. The money has killed it off a bit as well, I'm not staunchly Against Modern Football but big money signings used to be genuinely exciting (even if, invariably in our case - they turned out to be dogshit) now £20million transfers are par for the course for sides like Bournemouth and Stoke (as well as ourselves).

 

It all needs a lift, a cup run or something. Obviously huge and incomparable but everyone saw how great the Champions League progression was, if we got to the semis of either of the domestic cups it could be something to genuinely get excited about.

[TAFKA Castroneves]

We shouldn't let pre-season cloud us too much, there are many examples of teams having a more tricky time when preping for a new season and then things end up falling into place better than expected. I can understand the feeling though of course as we're staring down at an issue of our only creative player probably being gone before the end of August, that makes me feel disenchanted - especially as there's not much out there in what we are going to do once Riyads gone.

 

However we shouldn't all get pannicky just yet, even if we end up having an average season - we'll still be dining at the top table - and with that comes another round of tv money and another opportunity. If there is one thing we know about our owners - it's that in the worst case scenario they won't stand by and let us slip back into the Championship without a fight, they proved that by doing the right thing and removing Claudio when it had to be done.

 

Shakey has deserved this chance - and more importantly he was a big part of us winning the title - we have ambition and we can't just pass up Shakey with what his history at the club is and what he and his fellow coaches have achieved - if it doesn't work - then it will be time to get in a new manager and move on past this little era we've had, but we need to give him this chance and time to see what he can do. I still have a lot of faith in him.

 

I'll defo feel a bit more disenchanted if we don't get Kelechi now though - it does feel like a lot of hopes are hanging on him even before he's signed

[Dan]

I think as well there's always going to be an element of going into a new season thinking there's no way we can top what happened in 2016. Just how the hell can we ever better that?

[Gaz741]

The truth is that this can happen when you care too much about the club. 

At the end of the day football is about watching 22 men kick a ball around every week for 90 minutes.

It should only really matter then. 

Football is about watching the match once a week, it's not about ambitions of the club, or where we are going to be down the line or who we are signing. 

That's all down to people who are directly involved with the club.

 

At the end of the day supporters can try to get way too involved in there club, it's unhealthy. But addictive I know.

 

But it's not about that, it's about living your life and then watching the match when we play and discussing it after.

 

Okay I'm rambling on now! But yeah basically the point I am making is, the reason passionate supporters feel like this is basically because of an unhealthy obsession with there club.

 

Win, lose or draw, it's just a hobby watching us play and having a laugh. 

Don't bother thinking about what we are aiming for, or 'if we aren't winning the league again then what's the point'. Who cares! Even if we were in league 2, it's still the same..

 

Was it really any less of a laugh or enjoyable when we were in league 1? No not really, you still get the same buzz when win and despair when losing.

 

Thats my take anyway

 

 

[Guest Col city fan]

42 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

I think as well there's always going to be an element of going into a new season thinking there's no way we can top what happened in 2016. Just how the hell can we ever better that?

I remember standing with my mates in the pub after the last match of 2016 (all 40 somethings), saying exactly this. We'll never match it in our lifetime. Perversely it was kinda like the end of our lifelong support of the club. Like we'd done what we thought we never could.

[murphy]

What's wrong with you all?

 

How many other clubs our size can say that within the premiership era they have won league one, won the championship, all the wembley play off finals, won two league cups plus runners up, quarter finalists in the champions league and won the premier league itself?

 

What a ride!  I bet West Brom would love our problems!

[Nod.E]

The sentiment in here is a very human reaction.

"Where next?" 

Unfortunately, the same people with these feelings don't expect that the players may have harbored similar feelings. You can argue that they're professionals and should be above all that until you're blue in the face, but ultimately above all else, they are humans, and the perceived lack of trying, for me, comes down to what last year was a lack of direction. Just look at what happened when we had something to play for vs. when we didn't. (CL & Ranieri sacking)

Winning the league shouldn't take away from the day to day drama that is top flight football, and I think given enough time people will settle back into it. Being grungey, poor and cool is fashionable (the good old days of being in League One and Championship) but I can guarantee that what we're experiencing, and what we're yet to experience, will be looked back upon in history as one of our best periods. Enjoy it.

 

What's the point in getting behind a club working towards being a bigger and more successful club if the moment that becomes reality, you abandon it because it isn't the cool smaller club you used to support anymore, or because 'there are too many plastics'?

 

Plus what makes Leicester City isn't things like clappers or anything like that. It's something you identify with. It's the memories. It's the people. We're in a different ground, with a different playing staff, different non-playing staff and a largely different set of fans than we were 50 years ago, but we're still and always will be Leicester City. If that isn't enough then I'm sorry but you don't understand what it means to support a football club.

Edited 31 July 2017 by Nod.E

[Bayfox]

8 hours ago, Foxes1 said:

This is the most I have ever been disenchanted with the club in the years I have supported them. I mean we didn't win anything last season and struggled for most of it. The European games were a big disappointment we should have beaten Athletico Madrid.

All I can say is bring back the glory days of David Pleat, Mark Mcghee, Bryan Hamilton and the ginger Mourinho 'Gary Megson' and the cold dark days of visiting Yeovil Town on a cold Monday night or the visiting of grounds like the Memorial Ground in Bristol or the Withdean stadium in Brighton.

If I could be arsed I would tear this thread to shreds but I'll leave it at.

 

Some of us enjoyed Yeovil, bristol and Brighton, because that made us who we are and the team was more important than the pound.

 

Like it or not and Whilst I accept it is about being the best we can as a club the pl killed football and for us fans it can hold more.

 

I've enjoyed the grounds you mention and I'll chuck in Southend, orient, Carlisle and torquay more than most the top flight in recent years. Why? Because to some experience matters not cash.

Edited 31 July 2017 by Bayfox

[ozleicester]

Nah you are just getting older and football is taking a back seat to "more important" things in life.

[Nick]

12 hours ago, foxfanazer said:

This is going to sound ridiculous but I'm sure there will be some people that agree with me.

 

The title winning season was out of this world and I'll take memories from it they will stay with me for life, but.......... since then a bit of the romanticism of supporting Leicester has gone for me and I'm feeling a little bit disillusioned with what our club is becoming.

 

We don't see to be following the same blueprint and strong infrastructure that lead us to our unlikely successes. Now I don't want to make this another Pearson debate but it's hard to argue that we had solid foundations and some sort of vision when it came to recruitment under him. At the moment everything seems a bit wishy washy and hoping that if we throw enough shit some will stick.

 

Dont get me wrong I still love the club and come the first game of the season I'll be in attendance but I feel like we've probably peaked and the people at the club don't really know where to go from here.

 

Fully expect to be slated for this but, thoughts?

 

 

We took football heroin.

 

Nothing for a very long time will ever be the same.

 

We have to be okay with that or foxestalks worst sides of us comes out.

 

We completed football and nothing can be the same again.

 

 

 

[Dan]

11 hours ago, Footballwipe said:

See I've felt this for a while too, and I didn't know whether it was me growing up or just the way I've been. Like a few have said a lot of people have made such great points that touch on all my emotions.

 

I've barely missed any aways until last season. I was blessed to have done every PL game in 14/15 and 15/16, but 16/17 took it out of me. I stopped enjoying matches as much. I think heavy losses and football that sucks the life out of you can take its toll, but it wasn't so bad in 14/15. One of the biggest lows for me was the Chelsea game; five minutes in and we'd lost the match, the crowd was dead and I had to watch the team battle uphill for the rest of the game. That wasn't fun.

 

As a result I ended up missing more games than I had in years by the time we got to 2017. I just couldn't justify spending a whole day/all that money travelling to matches when I knew I wouldn't enjoy it. I looked around at the Community Shield and all that excitement, all that buzz I had for that day was swept away with the quiet crowd, sitting down, with the UFS guys making the only effort near me. It sort of summed the rest of the attending season up generally. Flat, tepid. Populist.

 

You obviously make what you can from your own supporting of the club, but people are right, the huge increase in marketing which seems to be detaching me more than anything and the mind-blowing amounts of money on players we're spending now.

 

I think it's entirely indicative of modern football for me. I still enjoy the big matches but I feel a sense of detachment every season, everything needs building, everything is a spectacle.

 

Last season didn't help, of course not. Aside from those incredible European nights, the first 25 games or so were an utter disaster and that never helps. The amount of games I turned up to knowing we'd lost. Negative, yes, realistic, yes. There is the valid point that we'd peaked with winning the title, but if we'd actually gone and done well in the league I probably wouldn't feel this way.

 

I'm really looking forward to the new season, who isn't deep down, but the pre-season wailing from our fans is just so frustrating, and doing a good job of dampening my enjoyment too. I know our away end is likely to be quiet, the negativity will creep in (if it's anything in the stands like it is on here, and it usually is.)

 

Voll is right. We might well finish mid-table this season, we might struggle, but we need something inspirational to lift everything. A fantastic cup run, a push for Europe, it'd do us the world of good.

Your last line speaks volumes to me. We have had literally the best journey of any club in the country and we still need a lift?

 

To me that just makes me feel it's beyond repair. Voll was spot on about Man Utd away earlier in the thread and you're right about the Community Shield. I think it's a bit depressing really - it's the thought of almost... this is as good as it gets... and that's all it is? Where's the atmosphere and excitement?

 

Some of those days should've lived long in the memory but truth be told I saw the Community Shield this weekend and thought "oh bloody hell we were in that last year weren't we". Says it all about the impact it had on me.

[possiblygeorge]

My life peaked when we won the league now not even I know what to do with myself.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

We completed football

Still plenty out there for us to achieve/win before we complete football - Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup................League 2...............
er................Checkatrade Trophy..............er..................

[Nalis]

Maybe we should ask Blackburn fans who who have been fans for over 40 years of their club (albeit they were bankrolled somewhat). 

Edited 1 August 2017 by Nalis

[CosbehFox]

7 hours ago, murphy said:

What's wrong with you all?

 

How many other clubs our size can say that within the premiership era they have won league one, won the championship, all the wembley play off finals, won two league cups plus runners up, quarter finalists in the champions league and won the premier league itself?

 

What a ride!  I bet West Brom would love our problems!

Because football isn't just about winning and glory. Certainly for a good number of people anyway. 

 

 

Edited 1 August 2017 by Cardiff_Fox

[Thorpe_astley_Dan]

I don't think it's a case of the owners not knowing where to go with the club, like all top clubs. Nowadays they have to keep up with the business/marketing side of things or risk falling behind financially, and we all know what happens when that happens, I for one would hate to be back in the lower leagues. Football has changed, not just Leicester city. It is a business now and the money is ridiculous and I'm sure somewhere someone is looking Arne it and can see some sort of financial meltdown like they are having in the Chinese super league.

 

Regarding transfers, this is an area I find disappointing, last summer proved to be a false dawn and was definately a case of "just pay it and hope they turn out ok" so maybe this summer they're being abit cautious, however when teams like West Ham, Everton etc signing proven premier league players we should be competing with them for those signatures, especially javier Hernandez! If the rumours are true and gray wants to leave, mahrez will be gone by September the 1st and now Chelsea are being linked to drinkwater I don't see where any creativity is coming from to feed vardy and potentially iheanacho. I'd like us to bring in Ben Gibson/ Callum chambers. Possibly 2/3 midfielders if mahrez gray and drinkwater do all leave and a striker. Ship out the dead wood and reinvigorate the squad, get them excited again, we all love it when a good youngster comes through, but we need proven premier league players that are the next step up! 

[foxfanazer]

7 hours ago, murphy said:

What's wrong with you all?

 

How many other clubs our size can say that within the premiership era they have won league one, won the championship, all the wembley play off finals, won two league cups plus runners up, quarter finalists in the champions league and won the premier league itself?

 

What a ride!  I bet West Brom would love our problems!

I think it might just be exhaustion making me feel like this

[Clever Fox]

10 hours ago, m4DD0gg said:

Yes i believe i do have a bit of PTW and i am gagging for the start of the season. The only negative aspect of winning the league is we have not capitalised on it the way we should have done and is an opportunity missed for me.

I can't disagree with anything you say. The one I believe to blame is Ranieri with his tinkering behind the scenes.

 

Still, we're nearly there with the new season. I think Shakey want's another couple in but can't do much until people leave.

With people on good salaries there not willing to move and take less. One of the drawbacks of being a bigger club.

[Ric Flair]

I'm very negative about Leicester most of the time and this coming season I'm at my most for several years. Personally hope the season never starts, I'm dreading it. We're dog muck.

[lgfualol]

I'm just not very inspired by the club or our football really. The football doesn't matter if we stay up, but god, I don't think I can handle another season of clueless hoofball shit. 

[Guest MattP]

The one downside of winning the league waw always going to be this, nothing we ever do again can match upto it.

 

Like someone else said, I'm looking forward to the FA Cup mostly, I really hope we try and win it.

 

It will be hard for the players to retain the highest level of motivation possible. 

[Fox92]

49 minutes ago, lgfualol said:

I'm just not very inspired by the club or our football really. The football doesn't matter if we stay up, but god, I don't think I can handle another season of clueless hoofball shit. 

Agree. The only lack of inspiration for me is on field. 

 

I don't think Shakespeare will last the season as I don't think he's good enough. Coming into a team you already know with the objective of staying up is much harder than having a whole summer and somewhat rebuilding. Our football is poor - I agree clueless hoofball - already we've seen it in friendlies. We lack creativity as well.

 

I hope we go far in a cup competition but I don't think we'll do anything special. As I said last month, I'm more concerned with looking over our shoulders at the bottom 3.

[Fox92]

7 minutes ago, MattP said:

The one downside of winning the league waw always going to be this, nothing we ever do again can match upto it.

 

Like someone else said, I'm looking forward to the FA Cup mostly, I really hope we try and win it.

 

It will be hard for the players to retain the highest level of motivation possible. 

See, I don't get this.

 

When you win something, you want to win it again. Retaining any league is harder than first winning it. 

If any player can't retain the highest level of motivation playing, not only football but top flight football, then I would reconsider his position at the club. 

 

But because we are an average side - always were - and we've slipped back into that. Our one World Class player (Kante) moved on and, surprise, won the league again.

Edited 1 August 2017 by Fox92

[Guest MattP]

1 minute ago, Fox92 said:

See, I don't get this.

 

When you win something, you want to win it again. Retaining any league is harder than first winning it. 

If any player can't retain the highest level of motivation playing, not only football but top flight football, then I would reconsider his position at the club. 

 

But because we are an average side - always were - and we've slipped back into that. Our one World Class player (Kante) moved on and, surprise, won the league again.

Deep down I'd imagine the players realise it was a freak season, everything fell into line for us in the most incredible year we will ever see.

 

They know they aren't capable of winning it again.