Controversial but.........

[Voll Blau]

35 minutes ago, ARTY_FOX said:

Yea a club should win everything it can, but that's not the question that's been put forward here. It's either or and I know which ones more likely to keep your best players and its not the FA Cup. 

 

I we win the FA Cup for the next 3 years and fail to qualify for the champions league do you think the players would be happy or do you think the better ones would be looking for somewhere that plays champs league? 

If the sum of our ambition is to just qualify for things every year then those same players will be leaving for clubs where they can win things too anyway.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Not a doubt in my mind, top 4, lets focus on the cup when we're mired in mid table in another season

[ARTY_FOX]

10 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

If the sum of our ambition is to just qualify for things every year then those same players will be leaving for clubs where they can win things too 

Same goes for an FA Cup win though. If one of the few clubs that consistently win trophies come in sure. But I'm 100% confident we don't have to worry about Arsenal for instance stealing our better players despite the fact they've won the FA Cup alot recently. 

 

Unfortunately, there's always a bigger club though, no matter how well we do. 

Edited 17 March 2021 by ARTY_FOX

[OntarioFox]

We're absolutely capable of both.

 

Weren't there rumblings of limited numbers of fans being allowed back in for the final anyway?

 

Even 5-10,000 Foxes fans getting to see the boys lift the cup after this rotten year on the sidelines would be special. That's more than we get in most away ends at full capacity. I'm aware there's talk of restricting to 'local' fans, but they're having a laugh if they seriously think fans from outside London won't find ways of getting in. We had a couple of hundred lads show up in Athens just to mooch around the city and find bars to watch the game in, for Christ's sake.

 

In a way it would be preferable to the Europa League this season, since there's no way they're going to permit fans travelling out to Poland.

Edited 17 March 2021 by OntarioFox

[Webbo]

This "there won't be any fans to see it". We can win it this year and another year as well. 

[NewEnglandFox]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the champions league will not be as magical next time around:

 

It's not our first.

We're probably going to be in pot 4. 33 coefficient points has only been good for pot 3 once in the last few seasons. Feel free to check both those.

Our group will undoubtedly be more difficult and harder to progress. Maybe the best we can hope for is Europa knockouts?

There will be pressure for re-qualification when last time was a free hit. A few weeks ago very few people cared that we were knocked out in preference of a full weeks rest until the next league game.

 

Frankly the biggest advantage is the money. I've completely bought in to the idea that the difference between the big 6 and the rest is the quality of players and depth of squad to compete on 4 fronts while playing 10+ games more a season. We're not big 6. Even without an injury crisis. With those extra players it becomes easier to give those extra players minutes and progress in the domestic cups as well.

 

Ideal setup to progress this weekend with a full week off and Man U going over to the continent midweek followed by an international break.

 

 

 

 

[Dan]

Any other season it's FA Cup > Top 4 for me.

 

Behind closed doors? Top 4.

 

I can see the benefits of the top 4 over a cup even if I don't necessarily agree with them being the priority. For me though if we win the FA Cup for the first time ever in these circumstances it would be sad in my opinion. We've been robbed of enough as fans this season, this would be the worst of the lot.

 

However next season lets go and get it.

[Lambert09]

7 hours ago, Aus Fox said:

Why does this always have to be one or the other? We win 3 cup games and 5 league games and we have both?

Not as simple as that obviously, but I never understand why it has to be pick one or the other?

We now have a maximum of 12 games left this season, and players returning to fitness, we should be going all out to try and win the FA Cup and finish top 4.

To some people its as simple as resting a few players for this game = guaranteed top 4.  Makes no sense. 

[ARM1968]

Nothing guarantees top 4 except good results. Good results are usually gained by playing your strongest team. Resting players would then allow for a stronger team as well as less chance of injury = greater likelihood of top 4. It’s not really that complicated tbf. 
 

However, I say we play our strongest available side as the team have a decent break coming up and we have a good chance of beating Utd. 

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, Voll Blau said:

If the sum of our ambition is to just qualify for things every year then those same players will be leaving for clubs where they can win things too anyway.

 

If that happens then fair enough. Plenty of big clubs players leave for others. If we could start getting top 4, top 5/6 on a constant basis then the money flows in. Granted we sell players as well. Works perfectly fine for the Dortmunds, Atleti, Sevilla of the world doesn't it? 

 

Honestly think we're capable of Top 4 and winning the FA Cup this year. 

 

If anyone doesn't want us to win anything because fans aren't there then give your head a wobble. 

[RumbleFox]

It’s a funny one because obviously I fully understand the reasons people are saying top 4 and I agree that it would be more beneficial to the club as a whole but then I also think..... In twenty years time no one is going to say “remember that season we finished 4th” whereas an FA Cup win would live forever. Not just for us fans but for the players involved.

 

Answer is a simple one for me.... head says top 4, heart says FA Cup. X 

[Gravel]

Ambition of just getting top 4 would turn us into Arsenal at the end of Wenger's reign.

 

We should aim to be better than that.

[Corky]

4 minutes ago, Gravel said:

Ambition of just getting top 4 would turn us into Arsenal at the end of Wenger's reign.

 

We should aim to be better than that.

They also won three out of four FA Cups at one point.

 

The Champions League financially is huge. The prestige is great. Winning the FA Cup is massive for the fans. Why does it have to be an either/ or?

 

It's not even as though winning the FA Cup is a given, we'll more than likely have to beat Man City to do it. I see no reason to try and do both aims.

[ARM1968]

7 minutes ago, Gravel said:

Ambition of just getting top 4 would turn us into Arsenal at the end of Wenger's reign.

 

We should aim to be better than that.

That ISN’T the ambition though. The ambition is to get CL, not lose anyone, strengthen correctly and push on. 
 

Would you take winning the FA Cup, failing to secure CL and losing Tieleman’s or Ndidi?

[PNM]

We're the only team to have been in the top 4 the whole season. We've won the second most games, got the third best GD, scored the third most goals, and had the third least losses. I need that Champions League football lads and ladies, especially after last season. If we'd been a little lower down the table throughout the season, I think I'd err towards FA Cup. Although I think the way the team is progressing, we'll be in with a shout of both for many seasons to come.

[jerry]

8 hours ago, Walshy5 said:

I'd rather finish top 4 this season than win the FA cup. They'll be other chances in the FA cup and I'd rather we did it in a packed house at Wembley. It would be magical to go back next season (fingers crossed) to champions league football at the King power. Thoughts?

Sums up modern football? All about finance and ability to pay obscene wages to retain your best players. Realise I am a dinosaur but afraid the glamour and magic is or has disappeared from the game when coming 4th supersedes winning a trophy we have never won and I would love us to win before the grim reaper appears🤔

 

[Raw Dykes]

4 hours ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

Choosing to finish 4th over a FA cup win is very short sighted imo. 

 

People say it helps attract players being the CL because the money it brings in but there is still a ceiling on who we will attract with our wage structure.

I can't work out how why you would think that. I think the opposite is true. I think finishing 4th is much better for the future of the club than one FA Cup.

 

It's not just the money it brings that helps attract better players, but also the CL football on offer, and the reputation of the club that it brings.

 

That ceiling you mention is raised by being a CL club. Winning the FA Cup won't affect it.

[Alan Frost]

9 minutes ago, jerry said:

Sums up modern football? All about finance and ability to pay obscene wages to retain your best players. Realise I am a dinosaur but afraid the glamour and magic is or has disappeared from the game when coming 4th supersedes winning a trophy we have never won and I would love us to win before the grim reaper appears🤔

 

Nothing wrong with being a dinosaur, I'm one myself, but even dinosaurs evolved. I would hope with some slim evidence that LCFC growing is maybe one hope of keeping football nearer to the path most fans would prefer, maybe even getting it to retreat a little. 

[Vestan Pance]

8 hours ago, Aus Fox said:

For those saying there’ll be other chances in the FA Cup, or we can save that for another year - We have been around for almost 140 bloody years and still haven’t had that season! 

This is true but generally the bigger and better you become the more chance you have of winning things, another top 4 finish will be a huge step forward.

[Aus Fox]

26 minutes ago, Vestan Pance said:

This is true but generally the bigger and better you become the more chance you have of winning things, another top 4 finish will be a huge step forward.

Tell that to any Spurs fans out there, how many top 4 finishes have they had in the last 20 years?

How many trophies have they won?

[Stuntman_Mike]

36 minutes ago, Raw Dykes said:

I can't work out how why you would think that. I think the opposite is true. I think finishing 4th is much better for the future of the club than one FA Cup.

 

It's not just the money it brings that helps attract better players, but also the CL football on offer, and the reputation of the club that it brings.

 

That ceiling you mention is raised by being a CL club. Winning the FA Cup won't affect it.

I'm on about the outright choice of a FA cup win compared to one season of qualifying for the top four and what I would enjoy more in that moment. Long term 'if' we could carry on making the top four then I agree that would benefit us more financially. As someone mentioned before when we finished top 4 as champions we still lost our best player to a team that finished 10th. 

Edited 17 March 2021 by Stuntman_Mike

[Dahnsouff]

23 minutes ago, Aus Fox said:

Tell that to any Spurs fans out there, how many top 4 finishes have they had in the last 20 years?

How many trophies have they won?

Would expect our opinion and experience of our owners should render this comparison null and void to be honest. 

[Vestan Pance]

41 minutes ago, Aus Fox said:

Tell that to any Spurs fans out there, how many top 4 finishes have they had in the last 20 years?

How many trophies have they won?

Which is why I used the word 'generally'.

I'm not going to answer questions you know the answers to, and to use Spurs as an example as to why we don't need to finish in the top 4 is quite honestly daft, when you know the other 5 teams have pretty much dominated the trophies for 30 years.

Edited 17 March 2021 by Vestan Pance

[Hoopla10]

I think both is possible. But if I had HAD to choose I'd take the FA cup. Finish third or fourth (even second) would be a great achievement quickly forgotten, especially by football commentators, pundits and the rest of other fans. BR wont suddenly be considered a top 4 manager. We'll still be seen as a little club, good ambition but will eventually go back to where we belong. Winning the FA cup is something they can't take away from us or shrug it off. The JOY in winning the cup will be 100000% (math not my strong suit) better than finishing 3rd, 4th or even 2nd. That's what football is all about!! All this is transitory. Last season dropping out of the top four was this existential threat, seeing us lose games, get annoyed, frustrated, for what? Another season started, no CL, was it so bad? Of course not.

 

This idea that our players will actively abandon ship because of no CL is rubbish imo. The big four teams promising huge wage increases and bigger squads that promise the perceived idea of consistent success. That's why they'll go. We won the league and had CL football and we lost Kante and Mahrez would have gone if our club had said no. And our club said no. Those days of bending to the bigger clubs is gone. We can ask for high prices or say no. Our players have a good relationship with BR and this club. If we expect the club and players to shrug off the small club mentality, maybe we as fans should too.     

Edited 17 March 2021 by Hoopla10

[Aus Fox]

15 minutes ago, Vestan Pance said:

Which is why I used the word 'generally'.

I'm not going to answer questions you know the answers to, and to use Spurs as an example as to why we don't need to finish in the top 4 is quite honestly daft, when you know the other 5 teams have pretty much dominated the trophies for 30 years.

It’s not saying why we don’t need top 4, it’s saying why we need to win something, whilst we are at the top.

The comparison with Spurs is a better one than the other 5 simply because like Spurs we don’t have a) a history of winning trophies and b) the mega money of Chelsea and Spurs.

33 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Would expect our opinion and experience of our owners should render this comparison null and void to be honest. 

This will be a valid argument until the day we do win something.

Would you be happy being in the top 6 every year for the next 10 years, but like Spurs have nothing to show for it?

 

Look this isn’t about top 4 vs cup, my argument was we should be looking at both! And if we want to be taken seriously at the top end we need to win a trophy.