The Championship Thread 2023/2024

[Finnegan]

Just now, The Bear said:

That's over egging the pudding. We got two highly rated young players from CL teams. Ruben Neves was the big one, having captained Porto in the Champions League at a young age, but he still wasn't a regular starter for Porto.

 

Diogo Jota was sent out on loan by Atletico Madrid before he came to us and was just a good young player with potential.

 

Jimenez wasn't any kind of star outside of Mexico and didn't have a great goal record at Benfica, plus we didn't sign him until we got promoted the season after any way. 

 

They were still all far, far too good for the Championship. 

 

Don't take this for a lack of self awareness, by the way, Leicester and Leeds both have players far too good for the second tier this year and have even signed some (eg Winks) since dropping. 

 

But then we also have had the whole Championship moaning about us all year. 

 

People were right to be somewhat bitter about Wolves promotion. It wasn't really "fair." It might have been legal but it wasn't even close to a level playing field just as our title win this year wasn't really "fair" on the average second tier team. 

 

[The Bear]

1 minute ago, Finnegan said:

 

They were still all far, far too good for the Championship. 

 

Don't take this for a lack of self awareness, by the way, Leicester and Leeds both have players far too good for the second tier this year and have even signed some (eg Winks) since dropping. 

 

But then we also have had the whole Championship moaning about us all year. 

 

People were right to be somewhat bitter about Wolves promotion. It wasn't really "fair." It might have been legal but it wasn't even close to a level playing field just as our title win this year wasn't really "fair" on the average second tier team. 

Thing is, other than those two I mentioned the rest of our transfers that year were decidedly average. Maybe Willy Boly aside. The big key was ultimately Nuno and how he got the team playing.

[Finnegan]

5 minutes ago, The Bear said:

Thing is, other than those two I mentioned the rest of our transfers that year were decidedly average. Maybe Willy Boly aside. The big key was ultimately Nuno and how he got the team playing.

 

Tbf that's casually overlooking that two more Benfica products in Helder Costa and Ivan Cavaleiro had turned up the year before

 

[The Bear]

23 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Tbf that's casually overlooking that two more Benfica products in Helder Costa and Ivan Cavaleiro had turned up the year before

 

Neither were ultimately good enough for the Prem though. 

[OntarioFox]

1 hour ago, The Bear said:

Thing is, other than those two I mentioned the rest of our transfers that year were decidedly average. Maybe Willy Boly aside. The big key was ultimately Nuno and how he got the team playing.

I mean, Ben Hamer played Champions League football for us in fairness, it's not exactly a reliable metric for the true standard of players. 

[KFS]

32 minutes ago, OntarioFox said:

I mean, Ben Hamer played Champions League football for us in fairness, it's not exactly a reliable metric for the true standard of players. 

He still would’ve kept us up over Ward  

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/conor-coady-reveals-nightmare-nearly-9296989?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0lyJ903AS6O_YZsLnWxydb-4xHGri-ZgXtgqi1mRQszxVyYfZhRDBn7jE_aem_AdmF2obSYhAKG6s-iv7CbvdnvAAqkn8LlOBu90_f_DFsdld9SMHK7YGp6GghKgcSVn5ygL3sFbtDHSk5EXlrOgG_

 

The defender has said the disastrous run of results from February to April was mentally difficult to deal with, even if the players perhaps didn't show it at the time

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ByJordan Blackwell
12:24, 21 MAY 2024

Conor Coady has revealed that the downturn in form that nearly cost Leicester City their place in the Premier League was a “nightmare” to cope with.

City lost six out of 10 Championship matches in a disastrous run of results from mid-February to mid-April, allowing Ipswich and Leeds to eradicate the Foxes' 14-point cushion inside the top two. If not for their rivals’ own slip-ups after Easter, City could easily have been condemned to the play-offs.

Although they slipped out of the top two at times, City never lost control of their own fate. But they came close to doing so, and it felt like they were destined to miss out when they lost away at relegation battlers Millwall and Plymouth in the space of four days.

 

It was after the defeat at Home Park that the squad held a players-only meeting to try to halt their slide. The squad responded with three wins in a row to earn promotion and win the title.

While City players put on a stoic front at the time, Coady has now explained just how mentally difficult it was during those couple of months as they tried to turn their form around. It wasn’t as comfortable as the seven-point gap to Leeds on the final day suggested.

“The end of the season when we lost a couple of games, but Leeds were losing and Ipswich were losing, I can talk about it now. It’s done and we’ve got ourselves in a position where we’re in the Premier League, but it was a nightmare,” Coady told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club.

“It was tough mentally. We spoke as a group, we spoke as senior players, the leadership group spoke. And the lads reacted. We needed a reaction from players at a certain point and at the end it looked fairly comfortable. But it wasn’t four or five games before the end.

"You need players to step up and leaders to pull players through and the lads certainly did that. It was more relief at the end of the season. We knew for the football club how important it was to be in the Premier League.”

While the players are on holiday for now, having spent some time away together in Monaco to celebrate their Championship title win, it won’t be long before they start to think about the Premier League. Coady says they won’t be swept up by the excitement of returning to the top flight.

He added: “A lot of improvement (is needed) from us as players, from us as a team, from the football club. We’ve got a lot of lads who played in the Premier League before. We understand the demands and what it takes.

“When it’s an unknown, the excitement draws you into it. We understand as players who have played a lot of games in the Premier League, the standards that you need to get to to be in a position where you can do well. We understand that.

“We’ve started thinking about it. We understand the improvement that we need. We can’t rest on our laurels in terms of what we’ve done this season. We’ve done well and we’ve played some good stuff, we’ve got the club back to where it needed to be. But the real work starts now.”

 

[Fox92]

Sad about Mowbray going, hope he’s okay. Always liked him, aways seemed like a nice guy.

[Dahnsouff]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c3ggpj1j4y7o

 

Not great news for Ipswich!

[Corky]

You have to feel for them, genuine excitement at the future and all this within three weeks of promotion.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

49 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c3ggpj1j4y7o

 

Not great news for Ipswich!

They're ****ed if he goes. Their core is largely still their league 1 squad.

[FoyleFox]

13 hours ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

They're ****ed if he goes. Their core is largely still their league 1 squad.

Whilst I can sympathise that this would be very disappointing for Ipswich and I was pleased with their automatic promotion. The good news is, yes, they probably are. And, then we only need 2 other team to be worse than us.

[Leicesterpool]

15 hours ago, Dahnsouff said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c3ggpj1j4y7o

 

Not great news for Ipswich!

Imagine McKenna as contender for the England job. Unlikely but not impossible. 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Feel hugely for Ipswich if he goes, but let's also be real, he's got then back to the promised land, and even if they drop back down, with the parachute money he's established them as a top half Championship side (imo where they should be) rather than a mid table league one side which is where they were when he came in. There can't be too much bitterness from Ipswich fans once they accept he's off 

[KingsX]

4 minutes ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

Feel hugely for Ipswich if he goes, but let's also be real, he's got then back to the promised land, and even if they drop back down, with the parachute money he's established them as a top half Championship side (imo where they should be) rather than a mid table league one side which is where they were when he came in. There can't be too much bitterness from Ipswich fans once they accept he's off 

 

Certainly true - and easy enough to say from the outside.

 

The surprising thing is, scanning their forums, most seem to agree with you.  If Enzo took off this summer ours wouldn't be so philosophical.

[Kasey Keller]

16 hours ago, Dahnsouff said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c3ggpj1j4y7o

 

Not great news for Ipswich!

That reporters name has got to be fake…..

 

Nick Mashiter

Football news reporter

 

 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

4 hours ago, KingsX said:

 

Certainly true - and easy enough to say from the outside.

 

The surprising thing is, scanning their forums, most seem to agree with you.  If Enzo took off this summer ours wouldn't be so philosophical.

Not surprising tbh, he's done wonders for the club and took them out the mire after getting on for 20 years of dross, I'd say in many ways he's their Nigel Pearson, actually even more so as they were in the doldrums even longer than we were and he did it in 2 and a half seasons. Im sure to many younger fans he has a God like status much like NP did / does here and he goes with their gratitude.

[Tuna]

 

[CloudFox]

Colleague at work is a Leeds fan. Really lovely guy, as down to earth as anyone you'll care to meet.

 

However, when I mentioned to the others in our team his team were in the play off final, his response was "We're going up!"

 

Is it just me who thinks this is incredibly hubristic? I wouldn't dare state that if we were in that position, but maybe that's just a Leicester thing 😅

 

Completely baffled me!

[Super_horns]

39 minutes ago, Tuna said:

 

Oh what are they doing ! 

[Corky]

Awful choice.

[The Bear]

WTAF. Did they ever watch Birmingham play is my question? 

[Tuna]

On 21/05/2024 at 17:45, davieG said:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/conor-coady-reveals-nightmare-nearly-9296989?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0lyJ903AS6O_YZsLnWxydb-4xHGri-ZgXtgqi1mRQszxVyYfZhRDBn7jE_aem_AdmF2obSYhAKG6s-iv7CbvdnvAAqkn8LlOBu90_f_DFsdld9SMHK7YGp6GghKgcSVn5ygL3sFbtDHSk5EXlrOgG_

 

The defender has said the disastrous run of results from February to April was mentally difficult to deal with, even if the players perhaps didn't show it at the time

Bookmark
Comments
SPORT
ByJordan Blackwell
12:24, 21 MAY 2024

Conor Coady has revealed that the downturn in form that nearly cost Leicester City their place in the Premier League was a “nightmare” to cope with.

City lost six out of 10 Championship matches in a disastrous run of results from mid-February to mid-April, allowing Ipswich and Leeds to eradicate the Foxes' 14-point cushion inside the top two. If not for their rivals’ own slip-ups after Easter, City could easily have been condemned to the play-offs.

Although they slipped out of the top two at times, City never lost control of their own fate. But they came close to doing so, and it felt like they were destined to miss out when they lost away at relegation battlers Millwall and Plymouth in the space of four days.

 

It was after the defeat at Home Park that the squad held a players-only meeting to try to halt their slide. The squad responded with three wins in a row to earn promotion and win the title.

While City players put on a stoic front at the time, Coady has now explained just how mentally difficult it was during those couple of months as they tried to turn their form around. It wasn’t as comfortable as the seven-point gap to Leeds on the final day suggested.

“The end of the season when we lost a couple of games, but Leeds were losing and Ipswich were losing, I can talk about it now. It’s done and we’ve got ourselves in a position where we’re in the Premier League, but it was a nightmare,” Coady told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club.

“It was tough mentally. We spoke as a group, we spoke as senior players, the leadership group spoke. And the lads reacted. We needed a reaction from players at a certain point and at the end it looked fairly comfortable. But it wasn’t four or five games before the end.

"You need players to step up and leaders to pull players through and the lads certainly did that. It was more relief at the end of the season. We knew for the football club how important it was to be in the Premier League.”

While the players are on holiday for now, having spent some time away together in Monaco to celebrate their Championship title win, it won’t be long before they start to think about the Premier League. Coady says they won’t be swept up by the excitement of returning to the top flight.

He added: “A lot of improvement (is needed) from us as players, from us as a team, from the football club. We’ve got a lot of lads who played in the Premier League before. We understand the demands and what it takes.

“When it’s an unknown, the excitement draws you into it. We understand as players who have played a lot of games in the Premier League, the standards that you need to get to to be in a position where you can do well. We understand that.

“We’ve started thinking about it. We understand the improvement that we need. We can’t rest on our laurels in terms of what we’ve done this season. We’ve done well and we’ve played some good stuff, we’ve got the club back to where it needed to be. But the real work starts now.”

 

Lads made more appearances on Five Live than he did for us this season

[Jattdogg]

1 hour ago, The Bear said:

WTAF. Did they ever watch Birmingham play is my question? 

Whats the median age in Plymouth? Got a good grannie population. He might fit in well.

[fox_favourite]

6 hours ago, Tuna said:

 

How, just how is Rooney still getting linked with manager jobs?! He failed in the US for goodness sake, and failed everywhere else. He's not a manager, and ever will be. 

 

Feel for the Plymouth fans. If I was them, I'd protest 

Edited 24 May by fox_favourite