The "do they mean us?" thread pt 4

[ceebeefox]

On 16/09/2026 at 09:29, AKCJ said:

I'd add El Khannouss and Castagne.

Castagne?????

[dmayne7]

20 minutes ago, ceebeefox said:

Castagne?????

He's a Belgian full back. Used to play for us.

[AKCJ]

39 minutes ago, ceebeefox said:

Castagne?????

Fullback we sold to Fulham when we got relegated. Played about 200 Premier League games. Good player signed for about £14m so decent signing.

[ceebeefox]

1 hour ago, AKCJ said:

Fullback we sold to Fulham when we got relegated. Played about 200 Premier League games. Good player signed for about £14m so decent signing.

Well he’s remained a premier player so fair play to him and Fulham, but at the time I’d have driven him to London myself. Good start at Man City but poor from then on I thought. But we did have a very high bar at the time.

[ceebeefox]

2 hours ago, dmayne7 said:

He's a Belgian full back. Used to play for us.

Yes I know I was just astounded that he was down as a good signing in some eyes, we all se the game different I guess.

[AKCJ]

3 minutes ago, ceebeefox said:

Well he’s remained a premier player so fair play to him and Fulham, but at the time I’d have driven him to London myself. Good start at Man City but poor from then on I thought. But we did have a very high bar at the time.

As I say, he's made nigh on 200 Premier League games. You don't do that if you're a poor player.

 

You don't regularly get that sort of a bargain for a capable mid-table level fullback.

[The Year Of The Fox]

2 hours ago, ceebeefox said:

Well he’s remained a premier player so fair play to him and Fulham, but at the time I’d have driven him to London myself. Good start at Man City but poor from then on I thought. But we did have a very high bar at the time.

I never took to him either 

[ealingfox]

On 19/08/2026 at 15:43, AKCJ said:

Based on the fact we've got one of the strongest sides in the division and a manager that has no real business managing a club this low down the pyramid.

 

One month on - how are we feeling?

[AKCJ]

1 hour ago, ealingfox said:

 

One month on - how are we feeling?

Very confident that if the manager realises the way he's getting the squad to play (or if/when he's sacked and replaced by someone else that will) that we will shoot up the league. The squad doesn't compare with the rest of the division.

 

Martin is clearly a manager with one major flaw, he's wedded to an ideology that relies on your players being consistently exceptional. The goal we scored the other day proves that it can work and it can be devastating. But it relied on the entire squad moving the ball quickly and to the right man. That's why it's so inconsistent.

 

I'd urge Martin to stop playing in a style that's so reliant on the players being exceptional all of the time and appreciate that they only need to be half-decent to win this division. The standard is woeful.

 

 

Thanks for thinking of me on your Sunday evening though.

[honeybradger]

5 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Very confident that if the manager realises the way he's getting the squad to play (or if/when he's sacked and replaced by someone else that will) that we will shoot up the league. The squad doesn't compare with the rest of the division.

 

Martin is clearly a manager with one major flaw, he's wedded to an ideology that relies on your players being consistently exceptional. The goal we scored the other day proves that it can work and it can be devastating. But it relied on the entire squad moving the ball quickly and to the right man. That's why it's so inconsistent.

 

I'd urge Martin to stop playing in a style that's so reliant on the players being exceptional all of the time and appreciate that they only need to be half-decent to win this division. The standard is woeful.

 

 

Thanks for thinking of me on your Sunday evening though.

Outside of the 5 academy lads who in this squad is far too good for this league?

 

Riis maybe but outside of that we have a lot of mediocrity. Burns, Faes, Watson, Okoli, Souttar, Cullen, Thomas, Chaplin etc is a team that on paper looks too good for this league but in practice has a lot of error prone players and players past their sell by date.

 

We are very lucky we have the academy lads coming in otherwise this season would have likely been a horror show. Imagine having to rely on Watson as a starter if we didn't have Alves for example.

[ealingfox]

10 hours ago, AKCJ said:

Very confident that if the manager realises the way he's getting the squad to play (or if/when he's sacked and replaced by someone else that will) that we will shoot up the league. The squad doesn't compare with the rest of the division.

 

Martin is clearly a manager with one major flaw, he's wedded to an ideology that relies on your players being consistently exceptional. The goal we scored the other day proves that it can work and it can be devastating. But it relied on the entire squad moving the ball quickly and to the right man. That's why it's so inconsistent.

 

I'd urge Martin to stop playing in a style that's so reliant on the players being exceptional all of the time and appreciate that they only need to be half-decent to win this division. The standard is woeful.

 

 

Thanks for thinking of me on your Sunday evening though.

 

 So when you said Martin had no business managing in this division that was with the caveat that he had to change his playing philosophy and management style first? Surely your evaluation had to be based on how he actually manages rather than a fictional version of him.

 

Easier to just admit you overestimated his (and the squad's) ability?

[AKCJ]

1 hour ago, ealingfox said:

 

 So when you said Martin had no business managing in this division that was with the caveat that he had to change his playing philosophy and management style first? Surely your evaluation had to be based on how he actually manages rather than a fictional version of him.

 

Easier to just admit you overestimated his (and the squad's) ability?

He's recently managed Southampton to promotion and recently had the Rangers job. No other League 1 manager gets those jobs.

 

Obviously everything I said was "on paper" because that goes without saying. On paper the squad is full of players who have played to a very high level and the manager has managed teams at a much higher level. Did you want me to admit that I don't have a crystal ball? We were/are favourites to win this league because the standard is abysmal. This team shouldn't be in the bottom half of League 1 and it wouldn't be in the bottom half of League 1 if we weren't hamstringing ourselves by playing a style of play that accentuates our flaws and diminishes our strengths.

 

The first goal was everything that the rest of the game wasn't. We were brave on the ball, moved it quickly up the pitch and it resulted in a tap in. The rest of our play was ponderous, predictable and paranoid. It was waiting for a mistake on the ball from one of our defenders instead of forcing the situation upon Barnsley. If the game was played in the same manner of that first goal, we'd have won comfortably.

[davieG]

Leicester City will be 'steamrolling teams' amid rising optimism for Russell Martin | Leicestershire Live

 

Leicester City will be 'steamrolling teams' amid rising optimism for Russell Martin
Leicester City are 13th in League One but former manager claims things are starting to turn for Russell Martin

Brian Dick

Reach Football Correspondent
15:48, 21 Sep 2026
There are ‘shoots of optimism’ around Russell Martin and Leicester City and the Foxes will eventually ‘be steamrolling’ their League One opponents.

That’s according to former Luton Town and Wycombe Wanderers manager Matt Bloomfield and Charlton Athletic winger Harvey Knibbs who have both commented on City’s progress under Martin’s management.

The pair appeared on Sky Sports’ EFL show following the 1-1 draw with Barnsley, a game in which Martin’s side scored a brilliant, almost textbook goal after seven minutes only to succumb to an equaliser from a home side playing with ten men.

The result leaves City with just two League One wins to their name so far this season – and 13th in the table after seven games and attracting criticism from fans.

 

 

However, Bloomfield, who took charge at Kenilworth Road after the Hatters had gone from the Premier League to the third tier in consecutive seasons, sees signs of progress.

“A double relegation, this time last year I was managing through that at Luton,” he said. “And the number of players that are looking to move on, the upheaval in the squad, the number of signings coming in and out the door, there's a lot that you're managing in that situation.

“And with so many new players in the building it's not going to click straight away, but you can see there's definite shoots of optimism – the goal they scored on Saturday.

“I know Russell personally, he's a fantastic guy and he's feeling this and he's so eager to get it right – and he will get it right. The goal on Saturday was a fantastic goal, it's a great goal.

“You can see that his philosophy, his beliefs are starting to come through – and it does take time, especially the way that Russell wants to play. You need to put the building blocks in place, put the processes in place, and it's a fantastic goal.

“They've got some really, really talented players, it's a huge football club, a really proud football club and once it starts to really start moving, I'm sure the momentum will pull in their favour.”

Knibbs, who spent time in the youth set-ups at Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, is part of a Charlton side that is currently ninth in the Championship. He has also spent four seasons in League One and also detects development under Martin.

“When you've got evidence like that that you can debrief the game and go through on a Monday, it certainly gives the players confidence.

“I speak with loads of players who've worked with Russ previously and it’s all glowing reports really, I think the training's intense and they work at that.

“And I think from the game, I know the Leicester fans will be disappointed in the result, especially when Barnsley went to ten men, but I think even from the chances that they created in the game, they should have been out of sight before that, so I think they can take a lot of positives.

“As the season goes on they'll implement that style even more and be steamrolling teams at points.”

[Juan Carrito]

Sad to hear that Matt Bloomfield has seemingly suffered quite a serious head injury.

[Blarmy]

Stopped reading at “knows Russell personally”…

[Bablemikey]

8 hours ago, davieG said:

Leicester City will be 'steamrolling teams' amid rising optimism for Russell Martin | Leicestershire Live

 

Leicester City will be 'steamrolling teams' amid rising optimism for Russell Martin
Leicester City are 13th in League One but former manager claims things are starting to turn for Russell Martin

Brian Dick

Reach Football Correspondent
15:48, 21 Sep 2026
There are ‘shoots of optimism’ around Russell Martin and Leicester City and the Foxes will eventually ‘be steamrolling’ their League One opponents.

That’s according to former Luton Town and Wycombe Wanderers manager Matt Bloomfield and Charlton Athletic winger Harvey Knibbs who have both commented on City’s progress under Martin’s management.

The pair appeared on Sky Sports’ EFL show following the 1-1 draw with Barnsley, a game in which Martin’s side scored a brilliant, almost textbook goal after seven minutes only to succumb to an equaliser from a home side playing with ten men.

The result leaves City with just two League One wins to their name so far this season – and 13th in the table after seven games and attracting criticism from fans.

 

 

However, Bloomfield, who took charge at Kenilworth Road after the Hatters had gone from the Premier League to the third tier in consecutive seasons, sees signs of progress.

“A double relegation, this time last year I was managing through that at Luton,” he said. “And the number of players that are looking to move on, the upheaval in the squad, the number of signings coming in and out the door, there's a lot that you're managing in that situation.

“And with so many new players in the building it's not going to click straight away, but you can see there's definite shoots of optimism – the goal they scored on Saturday.

“I know Russell personally, he's a fantastic guy and he's feeling this and he's so eager to get it right – and he will get it right. The goal on Saturday was a fantastic goal, it's a great goal.

“You can see that his philosophy, his beliefs are starting to come through – and it does take time, especially the way that Russell wants to play. You need to put the building blocks in place, put the processes in place, and it's a fantastic goal.

“They've got some really, really talented players, it's a huge football club, a really proud football club and once it starts to really start moving, I'm sure the momentum will pull in their favour.”

Knibbs, who spent time in the youth set-ups at Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, is part of a Charlton side that is currently ninth in the Championship. He has also spent four seasons in League One and also detects development under Martin.

“When you've got evidence like that that you can debrief the game and go through on a Monday, it certainly gives the players confidence.

“I speak with loads of players who've worked with Russ previously and it’s all glowing reports really, I think the training's intense and they work at that.

“And I think from the game, I know the Leicester fans will be disappointed in the result, especially when Barnsley went to ten men, but I think even from the chances that they created in the game, they should have been out of sight before that, so I think they can take a lot of positives.

“As the season goes on they'll implement that style even more and be steamrolling teams at points.”

All feels a bit Emperors New Clothes.

[davieG]

[Vacamion]

 

Martin Samuel, in an article in The Times about the Manchester City scandal, refers to our troubles.  Accurate and depressing when you reflect  - We are done.

 

[Number 6]

11 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

Martin Samuel, in an article in The Times about the Manchester City scandal, refers to our troubles.  Accurate and depressing when you reflect  - We are done.

 

This is an indictment on the pyramid structure and too much of the wealth remaining in the hands of too few. We had a really dumb period under Sven, but the Pearson/Walsh/Shakespeare era demonstrated what could be done WITHOUT being financially irresponsible. Clubs like Brighton and Brentford (or any Bloom or Bentham club) are demonstrating that it is still possible too.

 

What our ownership showed was that there was always a temptation to just spend spend spend. And not just under Top either. Vichai was also talking about 10 billion baht as soon as we got to the Prem. And yet our greatest success was built on the exact opposite approach.

[AKCJ]

50 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

Martin Samuel, in an article in The Times about the Manchester City scandal, refers to our troubles.  Accurate and depressing when you reflect  - We are done.

 

I'm almost certain that first part isn't true.

 

Our fine came about through a genuine misinterpretation of the rules and the EFL agreed with us on that. I seriously doubt we'd have gotten a points deduction.

[CosbehFox]

Don’t trust Samuel’s words given his son has got a job with the City Group to which unsurprisingly his opinions have pivoted 

[Golden Fox]

On 01/10/2026 at 08:28, Vacamion said:

 

Martin Samuel, in an article in The Times about the Manchester City scandal, refers to our troubles.  Accurate and depressing when you reflect  - We are done.

 

What a load of horses**t.

 

He talks about morals. To my mind, the absolute number 1 rule of any sporting contest is that it should be a level playing field, and once one set of teams start enforcing different rules for different teams, that is where the moral standing breaks down completely. Giving teams in the same league different operating budgets is a complete anathema to what a sporting competition should be.

 

Our squad value that year was estimated at €161m https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/startseite/wettbewerb/GB1/saison_id/2015 compared to Chelsea at €554m, Man City at €499m and another 4 teams over €370m.

 

We won that title facing an uneven playing field. To make an argument that €161m was an overspend and was unfair on the other clubs and so that takes away the feelgood factor is nonsense.

 

It is a little different with Man City as whereas our spending was still nowhere near those clubs, Man City overtook them all. Which is quite amusing as it was these old money clubs that put in the rules to give themselves a baked in advantage, and now they are upset because their rules weren't followed and they didn't get that advantage.

 

I would love for some mechanism to come into place to help level up that playing field (e.g. more even ditrubution of European money - won by clubs that the English FA put forward to represent the league): its not going to happen, but articles that comlpetely ignore there being an uneven playing field and start spouting moral opinions just piss me off.

Edited 2 October by Golden Fox

[filbertway]

52 minutes ago, Golden Fox said:

What a load of horses**t.

 

He talks about morals. To my mind, the absolute number 1 rule of any sporting contest is that it should be a level playing field, and once one set of teams start enforcing different rules for different teams, that is where the moral standing breaks down completely. Giving teams in the same league different operating budgets is a complete anathema to what a sporting competition should be.

 

Our squad value that year was estimated at €161m https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/startseite/wettbewerb/GB1/saison_id/2015 compared to Chelsea at €554m, Man City at €499m and another 4 teams over €370m.

 

We won that title facing an uneven playing field. To make an argument that €161m was an overspend and was unfair on the other clubs and so that takes away the feelgood factor is nonsense.

 

It is a little different with Man City as whereas our spending was still nowhere near those clubs, Man City overtook them all. Which is quite amusing as it was these old money clubs that put in the rules to give themselves a baked in advantage, and now they are upset because their rules weren't followed and they didn't get that advantage.

 

I would love for some mechanism to come into place to help level up that playing field (e.g. more even ditrubution of European money - won by clubs that the English FA put forward to represent the league): its not going to happen, but articles that comlpetely ignore there being an uneven playing field and start spouting moral opinions just piss me off.

Pretty sure he's talking about the dodgy deal we had in 2013/2014 where a company called Trestellar, was created in 2014, bought the marketing/licensing rights to Leicester City and then sold them to King Power, who happened to be our owners.

 

It helped reduced our losses to a level where we could argue we were within the rules.

Leicester City and Football League continue financial fair play talks | Leicester City | The Guardian

 

Leicester City and the strange finances behind their rise to the Premier League pinnacle | Leicester City | The Guardian

[Vacamion]

 

I posted the quote more for the last bit 

 

"Leicester are back in their box.  Leicester are done.".

 

That stings because it's true.

 

 

[HitchinFox]

On 01/10/2026 at 08:28, Vacamion said:

 

Martin Samuel, in an article in The Times about the Manchester City scandal, refers to our troubles.  Accurate and depressing when you reflect  - We are done.