10wks To Define The Club

[Fox1norfolk]

7 minutes ago, smudgerfox said:

I hate to be so negative but I have to agree with the bulk of this. The biggest positive seems to be that the players have understood the Enzo way and are enjoying taking it on board and implementing. But will they be implementing said methods come September? Or will Ricardo, Kelechi, Daka, Praet, Castagne, Faes all disappear in a last minute Fofana-style rush for the door? In which case their induction will have been for nothing. And there’ll be a new group to induct. Which will take time. Which we don’t have. 
 

And as an aside, when will this French winger be announced?  He’s been reported as close to signing for well over a fortnight. 
 

The sleepwalk continues……

I Agee with all of your comments, but what concerns me is some of the young players we have been linked with seem destined for the under 23’s. Surely more urgency should be to select experienced players who are suitable now in the quest for a quick return to the Premier not in 2-3 years time.

[1972 Fox]

2 hours ago, HighPeakFox said:

I strongly advise everyone to look after themselves and not invest too much in this entity we have zero control over.

How correct you are with this approach, but it is so difficult for some (me included) when City have been your everyday passion for so long.

 

Like you say, we have no control but to see how the hierarchy have let the club slide and falter over the past two years is frankly alarming. And from the outside looking in they are seemingly failing to arrest the downward slide IMHO.

[HighPeakFox]

6 minutes ago, Blue Fox 72 said:

How correct you are with this approach, but it is so difficult for some (me included) when City have been your everyday passion for so long.

 

Like you say, we have no control but to see how the hierarchy have let the club slide and falter over the past two years is frankly alarming. And from the outside looking in they are seemingly failing to arrest the downward slide IMHO.

And yet, we can only speculate - none of what you say is definitely fact. It MIGHT be true, I do not deny it, but we are all irrational and probably even more so over LCFC.

[Steve Earle]

2 hours ago, HighPeakFox said:

I strongly advise everyone to look after themselves and not invest too much in this entity we have zero control over.

That, Peaky, is easier said than done for most of us!

 

For myself, having seen my 9th relegation, and watched us last season fall apart like a train crash in slow motion, I'm surprised by three things. One, how little it hurt at the time. Two, how angry I became, and remain. Three, how excited I am by the prospect of a fresh(-ish) start.

[HighPeakFox]

2 minutes ago, Steve Earle said:

That, Peaky, is easier said than done for most of us!

 

For myself, having seen my 9th relegation, and watched us last season fall apart like a train crash in slow motion, I'm surprised by three things. One, how little it hurt at the time. Two, how angry I became, and remain. Three, how excited I am by the prospect of a fresh(-ish) start.

Nothing worth doing ever comes easy. I am on record in saying that I respect people's passion for the club, until it spills over into absuing others - and that sort of thing is tolerated way too much on here because 'emotional'.

 

Sorry, no. I'm an emotional man, I just had (and still have) plenty of words with myself. I steer clear because I don't want to have others wilfully inflict themselves on me because the football team is on the decline.

[Steve Earle]

1 minute ago, HighPeakFox said:

Nothing worth doing ever comes easy. I am on record in saying that I respect people's passion for the club, until it spills over into absuing others - and that sort of thing is tolerated way too much on here because 'emotional'.

 

Sorry, no. I'm an emotional man, I just had (and still have) plenty of words with myself. I steer clear because I don't want to have others wilfully inflict themselves on me because the football team is on the decline.

Good to see you back on the forum!

[HighPeakFox]

1 minute ago, Steve Earle said:

Good to see you back on the forum!

I never went away, fella....I just pick my moments more carefully now, it is all too easy to trigger the many wannabe victims to be found.

[1972 Fox]

16 minutes ago, Steve Earle said:

That, Peaky, is easier said than done for most of us!

 

For myself, having seen my 9th relegation, and watched us last season fall apart like a train crash in slow motion, I'm surprised by three things. One, how little it hurt at the time. Two, how angry I became, and remain. Three, how excited I am by the prospect of a fresh(-ish) start.

I'm more or less the same apart from your last sentence.

[Albert]

2 hours ago, Daggers said:

So there it is.
 

Nine of the ten weeks gone and how have we leapt forward? Poorly. A paltry 4 out of 10.
 

A replacement management team carrying in no history - which could go either way, a couple of signings, an injury, some departures, junk unable to be offloaded, lack of pace and flair signed, and - in true LCFC fashion - an absolute shambles of a preseason with an absence of goals against piss weak opposition. A squad carrying no momentum into the start of the season, just jet lag. 

 

Off the field, zero communication about the review (like we’d expect anything else), a child’s whine from the owner to stop picking on him, a hastily organised fan’s training session to cover up for the fact that the six or seven LCFC fans in Thailand had a PR circus put on for them. But still, at least everyone overseas can save money compared to home fans watching a buffering screen and Marty Fryatt’s exhilarating commentary [Fans? We don’t need fans where we’re going]. Less back to the future and more staying with the past. Woeful. 

 

And we’ve said hello and welcome back to the Rodgers apologists who now have a new ‘stop being negative’ flag to rally around. Back with their resentment of being proved to be so wrong about everything they’re grasping on to hope and hope alone that some kind of miracle is now in the offing - all smug in the knowledge that there’s thousands of them ready with clappers and coconuts in hand. 
 

Maybe we’ll shift the flotsam nobody seems to want and we don’t need, but five will get you ten we’ll say goodbye to our only guarantee of goals in Nacho instead. All of the business we should’ve done - all the business Maresca said himself was best done early - has not taken place. 
 

Maybe the new man really has fired up the squad and reinvigorated those who clearly hated playing football and everything Leicester last season. Maybe - but the signs aren’t there at the moment. 
 

Ultimately, the club appears to be continuing to operate as it has done, with those in charge failing to accept any responsibility, being held accountable or changing - and yet still overcharging for it. 
 

Pfft. 

Do you honestly think the club hasn’t been trying to get business done early & they’ve been sat about twiddling their thumbs? 

The real world isn’t like football manager!
 

[Lcfcwigstonblue]

30 minutes ago, Albert said:

Do you honestly think the club hasn’t been trying to get business done early & they’ve been sat about twiddling their thumbs? 

The real world isn’t like football manager!
 

My cousin is a Premier League player, has a lot of interest from Championship clubs .

He has been on the brink of signing for two different Championship clubs so far this summer and they have fell through due to other club’s business.

it can change overnight, people need to understand this.

[Daggers]

1 hour ago, Albert said:

 

The real world isn’t like football manager!
 

Really? I hadn’t considered that. Thanks for pointing it out. Scrub everything I think about the ongoing decline we’ve witnessed over the last two years, transforming the club is obviously going to take at least another two years and we should all applaud loudly. Where’s my clapper?

[Albert]

1 hour ago, Daggers said:

Really? I hadn’t considered that. Thanks for pointing it out. Scrub everything I think about the ongoing decline we’ve witnessed over the last two years, transforming the club is obviously going to take at least another two years and we should all applaud loudly. Where’s my clapper?

You clearly didn’t consider it if you thought all our transfer business should have been sorted by now.
We’ve banked £80m & signed a GK, CB, CM & LW with 5 weeks of the window left. What more were you expecting? 

 

[Aleksz]

25 minutes ago, Albert said:

You clearly didn’t consider it if you thought all our transfer business should have been sorted by now.
We’ve banked £80m & signed a GK, CB, CM & LW with 5 weeks of the window left. What more were you expecting? 

 

People thought we’d have 10 in and 10 out by the end of July mate. People think a transfer window like having a quick 20 minutes on football manager. 

[inckley fox]

It's hard to compare our transfer activity with other clubs because, looking at the lists of done deals, I don't know which players are signed for first teams, which ones come in for the u-23s etc.

 

But from what I can see, we've been neither exceptionally slow nor busy with our ins and outs. We've made by far the greatest profit, and our outgoings apparently amount to around 40% of the fees for the whole division. But in terms of numbers (not fees!) of signings and sales we're pretty average. Birmingham, Cov, Boro, Plymouth, Stoke and Sunderland have all made a few more. West Brom, Huddersfield, Swansea and Blackburn, and the other two relegated clubs, less. Most clubs are more or less where we are, though it's clear (and unsurprising) from the prices we're paying that we're not fishing in the same pond as our rivals.

 

I thought it was significant that the two other relegated clubs haven't done much business. But they've also had less in the way of departures, financially at least. When I looked at how early sides that have gone down in the past did their business, it seems that Burnley were a lot faster, even though they faced a similar overhaul. I'm sure someone can explain the crucial differences between their case and ours.

 

So I'm not sure, based on that, that we can slate Rudkin for the lack of movement. After all, there are as many angry voices on here saying 'why haven't we got rid of Castagne yet?' as there are saying 'tell Juventus to get lost!' But neither should his work be deemed particularly praiseworthy. And you could argue that, given the money at our disposal (in theory), and the urgency for a rebuild, that more could be done, and earlier.

 

Sadly, we'll have to be very patient with the manager because he hasn't been massively helped by the way the squad has been dismantled and assembled. Hopefully we have a busy week, and month, ahead to make his job a bit easier beyond the first weeks. I do fear that, if this doesn't transpire and we are humbled by Cov (who have been a lot busier than us), then questions will be asked of the club. Some of those questions - the pedigree and type of player we're targeting, for instance, may be reasonable. I don't know to what extent the Thailand trip, and Rudkin's presence on it, or the lack of proactivity in shifting players, should be used against them, though I understand it doesn't look good from a distance!

[Daggers]

51 minutes ago, Aleksz said:

People thought we’d have 10 in and 10 out by the end of July mate. People think a transfer window like having a quick 20 minutes on football manager. 

Go clappers!

 

 

[Bilo]

It feels very black-and-white on here at the moment.

 

Half of the forum seems to think we're going to bag 100 points at a canter and then repeat 2016 once promoted, and the other half seem to think the days of Craig Levein and Rob Kelly are back. 

 

Realistically, we're neither going to spank a league that has so much quality in it nor get relegated from one that has so much dross in it.

 

With the players we have, it would take some fairly catastrophic mismanagement at all levels to finish outside the top 10. I'm talking Maresca being a dud, replaced with Duncan Ferguson, all key players being shipped out on deadline day and panic signings of Danny Drinkwater et al. 

 

On the other hand, to piss the league, we're going to have to see a massive uptick in performance from the club hierarchy between now and the end of the transfer window. Maresca looks an excellent appointment on early evidence, but the incomings that started so well have ground to a shuddering halt.

 

Winks and Coady are easily PL quality, but neither are the creative players we need. What happened to Chair, Borges and Palmer? What's happening with Mavididi? How about Piroe if Nacho is going? We look like we might be a difficult team to beat, which represents progress from last season, but will struggle to score the goals to fire us to automatic promotion. 

 

My prediction right now is top end of the play-offs with automatic promotion a possibility, but we need more firepower to make the latter probable rather than possible.

 

[Lambert09]

6 minutes ago, Bilo said:

 

 

With the players we have, it would take some fairly catastrophic mismanagement at all levels to finish outside the top 10.

 

Catastrophic mismanagement is what we do!!!! 

[Bilo]

Just now, Lambert09 said:

Catastrophic mismanagement is what we do!!!! 

I'm talking the mismanagement of the last two seasons being turned up to eleven.

 

We'd have to be extraordinarily, freakishly bad to finish outside the top 10.

[Muzzy_no7]

Honestly what on earth are we doing? 
 

 

[Sly]

i don’t actually think we’re that far away from the squad which will go into January. That sounds a little painful, as we do lack some attacking creativity. We’re heavy on goalkeepers as well. 
 

I just hope that if we’re in the hunt, we can pull the trigger in January to push for promotion. That’s cost us Champions League football twice, by not reinforcing the ranks when required. 

 

Just look at the biggest expenditure in the Championship by year:

23/24 - €27.3m - Leicester

22/23 - €43.2m - Burnley

21/22 - €22.0m - Fulham

20/21 - €15.1m - Forest

19/20 - €37.0m - Fulham

18/19 - €62.9m - Stoke

17/18 - €55.7m - Middlesbrough

16/17 - €85.5m - Newcastle

15/16 - €34.1m - Derby

14/15 - €20.3m - Norwich

13/14 - €11.8m - QPR

12/13 - €17.3m - Blackburn

11/12 - €18.0m - Leicester

10/11 - €7.2m - Middlesborough

09/10 - €9.9m - Ipswich

08/09 - €8.9m - Wolves
07/08 - €22.2m - WBA
06/07 - €20.4m - Birmingham
05/06 - €6.8m - Sheffield United
04/05 - €4.0 - Leeds United
03/04 - €22.3m - Blackburn
02/03 - €34.0m - Middlesborough
01/02 - €46.3m - Leeds
00/01 - €53.2m - Leeds

 

No surprise we’ve already received one of the largest ever incomes of a team in the Championship. I’d imagine Southampton will surpass us though and we’ll retain more “Players with Premier League Experience”. 
 

Southampton currently have 4 of the 5 most valuable players in the league, with Ward Prowse, Lavia, Livramento and Walker Peters. At least 3 of those will leave. Then they have the likes of Che Adams, Sulemana, Tella, Salisu, Alcaraz etc. I think looking at their squad, we’ll do well currently to beat them to automatic promotion.

 

Bristol City are an injury away in Scott, from struggling, however if he maintains fitness, they’d be my dark horse. 
 

Leeds still look like a box of frogs and need some major squad surgery. 

 

 

[Daggers]

17 hours ago, Bilo said:

It feels very black-and-white on here at the moment.

 

Half of the forum seems to think we're going to bag 100 points at a canter and then repeat 2016 once promoted, and the other half seem to think the days of Craig Levein and Rob Kelly are back. 

 

My point/this thread isn’t about success, more the gastalt - which is probably why the limited BCWYWF happy clappers are completely missing the gist. 

The club had a choice nine weeks ago; it could embrace the catalogue of errors it has made over two years on and off the pitch, enacting sweeping changes, and returning to being a club at the heart of the community of fans. 
 

At the other end of the spectrum of choices, hold on tight to cognitive dissonance, bury collective heads in Big Top’s play area sand pit, maintain the zero comms & 1-way info release model, learn absolutely no lessons. 
 

It has veered much closer to the latter than the former in its decision package. 

 

“Look at us with this monk - don’t look at our excuses for not adopting safe standing or reducing ticket prices to £20.”

 

Ultimately, it appears to have chosen a future of little change which will constantly veer to the narcissistic and incompetent.
 

KPFC über alles. 

[Bilo]

23 minutes ago, Daggers said:

My point/this thread isn’t about success, more the gastalt - which is probably why the limited BCWYWF happy clappers are completely missing the gist. 

The club had a choice nine weeks ago; it could embrace the catalogue of errors it has made over two years on and off the pitch, enacting sweeping changes, and returning to being a club at the heart of the community of fans. 
 

At the other end of the spectrum of choices, hold on tight to cognitive dissonance, bury collective heads in Big Top’s play area sand pit, maintain the zero comms & 1-way info release model, learn absolutely no lessons. 
 

It has veered much closer to the latter than the former in its decision package. 

 

“Look at us with this monk - don’t look at our excuses for not adopting safe standing or reducing ticket prices to £20.”

 

Ultimately, it appears to have chosen a future of little change which will constantly veer to the narcissistic and incompetent.
 

KPFC über alles. 

Yeah, but free donuts and a warm Chang.

 

Seriously though, there are steps in the right direction on the pitch in terms of signings and the managerial appointment.

 

The off-the-pitch stuff stinks though. The club hierarchy might get away with it if we go straight back up, but good luck to them if we finish 8th and have another season of Rotherham and Plymouth.

[SK3Blue]

I'm happy with the players coming in, but even with Mavididi at an expected 7.5m spend it's just creeping over 30m spent when they have pulled in 78m and saved loads on Tielemans and Evans wages too. 

 

To win this league you need 5 players in every line up who can hit the net regularly, we appear to have 2. 

[Foxin_Mad]

On 29/07/2023 at 10:13, Albert said:

Do you honestly think the club hasn’t been trying to get business done early & they’ve been sat about twiddling their thumbs? 

The real world isn’t like football manager!
 

Yes I do believe this, this is the way the club is run, we always do this. Its like Rudkin is waiting for the yellow sticker players at the end of the window. The club should have acted more quickly, the failing senior team should have been in the UK pulling out all the stops, leaving no stone unturned. Instead we look likely to begin the season with a team with zero creativity, too much dead wood.

 

No lessons have been learned. I'd be surprised if we are above midtable this year. Forget promotion. 

Edited 30 July 2023 by Foxin_Mad

[MattFox]

Feels like the business side of the club has put its fingers in its ears and ploughed ahead with the KPFC stuff as before