Andy King - Interview in The Times

[LC/FC]

1 hour ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

I think there's been more than usual garbage from people in the press/media this summer over transfers across various clubs.

Those who know me know I don't post swathes of idle football gossip. I was very concerned about the problems within the club and thought fans deserved to know.

I'm sure most are aware I'm fortunate enough to have contacts in the dressing room and around the club (and a club I want to do well, not one I would ever seek to destabilise) and the same goes for the likes of John Percy (who despite being a NFFC fan wants us to do well) so when we're all saying pretty much the same stuff, there's a very good chance info is not far off the mark.

To be fair, all teams have fans who refuse to believe anything is wrong with their own club.

 

One player described it to me that they were playing for the shirt, the fans, their own personal pride. 

There was massive frustration they were being held back.

 

Players couldn't understand why Puel didn't learn and adapt after making mistakes.

 

He arrived after we'd already qualified for the first one of the 2017 EFL quarter finals.

The 2018 FAC quarter final saw us beat Fleetwood (after a replay when we could easily have lost the first game), Peterborough and Sheffield United.

The 2018 EFL quarter final saw us beat Fleetwood (who made 10 changes) and saw us win shootouts after goalless draws with Wolves and Soton, the latter we were especially lucky not to lose in normal time.

The team selections in those quarter finals (plus the line up at Newport last season) should be rightly questioned.

A smidge of perspective is required for those Cup runs.

 

I'm very balanced, chips on both shoulders etc 

 

My life would be easier if I didn't post info/news on here (not that it bothers me unduly when people line up to have a pop) but I'm a fan and I like to discuss stuff with other supporters.

Up the Citeh!

One of us. One of us. One of us. 

[TamworthFoxes]

Really enjoyed this article.  Love hearing accounts and stories from the title winning season. Hopefully they will all be viewed as legends forever more.

Would like to see King and Morgan on the coaching staff after they retire.

[Lionheart10]

He really does epitomise everything that is good about our Club.

[inckley fox]

It's interesting to see what he says about Puel and his poor man-management skills. I can believe that, and have some sympathy with him.

 

However, you can see the crux of the matter when he says that he doesn't see how a guy who's been at a club for five minutes can deem someone who's been there for years to be surplus to requirements. In saying this, King is inadvertently backing up some of the suggestions of 'player power' that have flown around in the past. Somebody needed to move the likes of King on, and even if Puel went about it in the wrong way, we needed to look ahead. And realistically King wouldn't have been a part of any progressive manager's plans. 

 

Perhaps Puel went about it the wrong way - I suspect he did - but it was inevitable, and was always going to cause problems regardless of how the 'outsider' manager went about it.

[Nicolo Barella]

Damn. All that time and effort I put into defending Puel... And he turns out to actually be a dick! I guess i can still say Puel did a good job taking the hit for Rodgers and setting up his sandbox nicely. Really sad to hear about that happening to King though. 

[PaulW]

7 hours ago, inckley fox said:

It's interesting to see what he says about Puel and his poor man-management skills. I can believe that, and have some sympathy with him.

 

However, you can see the crux of the matter when he says that he doesn't see how a guy who's been at a club for five minutes can deem someone who's been there for years to be surplus to requirements. In saying this, King is inadvertently backing up some of the suggestions of 'player power' that have flown around in the past. Somebody needed to move the likes of King on, and even if Puel went about it in the wrong way, we needed to look ahead. And realistically King wouldn't have been a part of any progressive manager's plans. 

 

Perhaps Puel went about it the wrong way - I suspect he did - but it was inevitable, and was always going to cause problems regardless of how the 'outsider' manager went about it.

Seems to be part of Brendan's plans, albeit in a minor role.  AK should remain at this Club for many years yet.  There is more to LCFC than just who gets onto the pitch.

[foxinsocks]

Of all the joints in all the world king ends up at the same holiday hotel as rogers.

This confirms my suspicions that there is some strata in society where all the football guys use the same car dealers...hotels...hookers...... clothing shops... restaurants.... bars.... tax advisors

[Finnaldo]

I personally think there’s more miles in Kingy than people believe, it might be the fact with Vardy & Pearson he’s my Leicester City Trinity but I think he certainly has a role in our squad. 

 

Off the bench he was an active part of both the Great Escape and Title season, scoring goals in both seasons including against Chelsea & Everton. He was in our first team by 17 and banging in goals for fun in the Championship not long after. I honestly think with the right coaching under Rodgers, we could see a more dynamic King who could could do a Milner-type utility role around midfield when we need someone to come on later in the game.

 

And for the record, I hope I die before King so I don’t have to bear the pain, Legend 100% confirmed for telling Forest to stick it.

[OntarioFox]

I mean Kingy also scored in front of the Kop at my birthday game to send Forest packing, so just for that he's one of my heroes.

 

That was 9 years ago and he's still here. Whatever your thoughts on his worth to the team today, that's remarkable. 

He's also surely got another record for us, having scored a competitive goal for us in 11 consecutive seasons with LCFC, though that streak sadly ended last year. That isn't ever being surpassed and is probably up there with a fair few modern era records.

Edited 2 August 2019 by OntarioFox

[Out Foxed]

LEGEND. simple as that.

Edited 2 August 2019 by Out Foxed

[FoxInTheBirstallBox]

I would still say he should be allowed to stay while he is allowed to play, if he is happy with being a rotation player then let this legend stay

 

If he leaves all we will have to do is replace him with another rotation player who won't give a shit about the club. 

 

This interview really does show he loves the club and is truly one of us, he has blue blood. 

[inckley fox]

On 02/08/2019 at 07:39, PaulW said:

Seems to be part of Brendan's plans, albeit in a minor role.  AK should remain at this Club for many years yet.  There is more to LCFC than just who gets onto the pitch.

I totally agree that there's more to us than who gets on the pitch. I thought people would understand that with James too: We thought that, best case scenario, we'd retain the services of a player who'd looked the part against Chelsea and who'd shown potential a few years earlier at a time when we were understaffed in midfield, whereas the worst case scenario was that we'd demonstrate to other players that, no, you might not be at one of the biggest clubs but we'll look after you. Unfortunately some people have understood this principle better with one player than with another.

 

However what I was pointing out was that, where King is concerned, that interview suggests a very clear reason why a manager might need to move him on in order to look towards the future. King said he didn't see how a new manager had the right to move him on, when in truth any progressive manager was going to have to sideline him. He was a guy who went to player-management meetings along with the captain and vice-captain, and clearly Puel saw that as a problem when he hadn't been first choice for several years. Perhaps Rodgers will take a different point of view (you suggest he has already, though I'd say it's too early to be sure of that), but when a manager comes up against player power, and that player power is from such a fringe player, it's unreasonable to expect the manager to buckle. Not if we're going to move on.

 

Like I said, I think Puel went about it the wrong way. But to allow such an influential role for a player like King was never going to last, and it's clear from his interview that he didn't take being pushed aside very well. Considering the extent to which there have been accusations of player power at the club (many of which have been unjustified, but accusations which have surfaced nonetheless in all of the past three managers' reigns) I found it revealing that a player - and especially one who currently had so little to offer - had let something like this slip. It suggests he felt that any manager of the club had to respect a player hierarchy which included him, individually, as part of it, and I think that's totally unrealistic.

[TheLittleBigMan]

I don't think he meant Puel had no right to sideline him, more how it made him feel, rightly or wrongly when it happened. Seems to me he accepts he won't be a starter but loves the club so much he wants to stay on in some capacity. Good for him.

 

He is ace.

[UniFox21]

2 minutes ago, TheLittleBigMan said:

I don't think he meant Puel had no right to sideline him, more how it made him feel, rightly or wrongly when it happened. Seems to me he accepts he won't be a starter but loves the club so much he wants to stay on in some capacity. Good for him.

 

He is ace.

Has anyone suggested he was kicking up about being sidelined? 

 

To me and as basically everyone I've seen comment have all agreed that this was a dig at how Puel handled it.

[TheLittleBigMan]

2 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Has anyone suggested he was kicking up about being sidelined? 

 

To me and as basically everyone I've seen comment have all agreed that this was a dig at how Puel handled it.

Sorry I kinda thought that was what you were getting at when you said  "I found it revealing that a player - and especially one who currently had so little to offer - had let something like this slip. It suggests he felt that any manager of the club had to respect a player hierarchy which included him, individually, as part of it, and I think that's totally unrealistic."

It's impossible to know what it meant without speaking to him anyway. Great article though.