The "do they mean us?" thread pt 4

[davieG]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c9w7pj224xeo

 

Cifuentes focused on Leicester form not legal case

Marti Cifuentes has overseen six wins and six defeats from his 19 games in charge of Leicester City

ByAndrew Aloia
BBC Sport, East Midlands

Manager Marti Cifuentes accepts that his job depends on misfiring Leicester City picking up points and halting their slide down the Championship table.

Keeping hold of all those points, however, is something he defers to Leicester's legal team.

The Spaniard is undoubtedly a boss under pressure after Saturday's 3-2 defeat by Sheffield United at the King Power Stadium saw them slip to 16th in the second tier - but the troubles at Leicester extend from the dugout all the way to lawyers' chambers.

Charges for allegedly breaching spending rules when Leicester were promoted as Championship title winners two seasons ago has them locked in a legal battle with the Premier League.

And if found guilty, the English Football League could hit the Foxes with a points deduction.

It is case reportedly being heard now,, external not that the club or football authorities have acknowledged it publicly.

And so, it is left to Cifuentes to field questions about the threat of point deductions when he also finds himself being quizzed about chants of 'you will be sacked in the morning' – a song started by Sheffield United fans and picked up by pockets of Leicester supporters when the Blades were 3-0 up in the first half.

"I'm not a lawyer, so I can't give you details on things that are far away from my competence," Cifuentes told BBC Sport when asked about the ongoing case against the club.

"But what I can say is what I see behind the scenes, that the club is trying to work as hard [as] they can to try to be in the best position on this situation as well."

'Results have been worse than we wanted'

 

After Saturday's defeat, Cifuentes said he always "knew it would not be an easy task" taking charge of a Leicester side that had been relegated from the Premier League twice in three seasons.

But has it been harder than anticipated?

"Obviously, we cannot hide from the fact that the results have been worse than what we wanted," he admitted.

"This is a big club. And at big clubs, the expectations are big and you need to be ready to accept those demands."

When Cifuentes replaced Ruud Van Nistelrooy at the Foxes helm in the summer, he was aware of the charges against Leicester, the threat of a points deduction and the lack of funds at a club attempting to financially right itself - meaning he did not have money to spend on summer signings.

But when asked about how he, his coaching team and players are dealing with the unknown of battling for points that they do not know they will keep, Cifuentes said "it is something we don't try to pay too much attention to".

The 43-year-old continued: "My focus is 100% on trying to win the next game and trying to develop the football side of the club.

"I don't want to turn my energy on those matters when actually there is not much we can do.

"The only thing we can do is try be in the best position we can be in the table and try to improve every week as a team."

And there have been moments for optimism in the early months of the season, with Cifuentes pointing to back-to-back wins against Norwich City and Stoke earlier in November.

There was even "encouraging things" in the second half against Sheffield United on Saturday as they pulled two goals back - through Stephy Mavididi and Jordan James - to set up a tense finish.

Although Cifuentes quickly said "the bar wasn't very high" after a "very frustrating and disappointing first half".

He even said the boos aimed at his side at half-time were merited.

As for having 'you will be sacked in the morning' sung in his direction, it was not something new.

"It's not the first time that I got this song," he said. "Fortunately for me I've always got the confidence to turn things around.

"I understand the frustration and it was completely fair the reaction at half-time because it was absolutely below the level.

"But I'm very committed to try give the fans something back. I just hope they understand that I came here to fix something, and that they let me fix it."

And when asked if he felt that the backing was there from owner Khun Aiyawatt 'Top' Srivaddhanaprabha and director of football Jon Rudkin, Cifuentes said: "We constantly have meetings about how we can improve things.

"It's not an easy moment, of course, but I feel full of confidence about the task that I was signed for, which was to try improve things."

 

[davieG]

ive been to filbert street n stood on the kop those were the days my friend  · 

Carl Nicol ·

Message to LCFC - Player’s & Staff - The below marks out of 10 represent a team effort, that will make the Fans Sing & Applaud & Cheer on the Players.

Leicester’s Team Score’s average around 4/5 which is totally unacceptable for a Professional Team representing LCFC in the Championship, Shocking does not get Close to this sides performance’s.

Any 5 or below should not be selected for the next game, 6+ should be our minimum score with our average nearer 8!! Then we will see a difference  

 

[davieG]

On the other hand

Football Away Days ·

Follow

 

Birmingham City will be asking a lot to fill their 60,000 seater stadium, when this was at St Andrew’s last night.

 

[Gamble92]

19 minutes ago, davieG said:

ive been to filbert street n stood on the kop those were the days my friend  · 

Carl Nicol ·

Message to LCFC - Player’s & Staff - The below marks out of 10 represent a team effort, that will make the Fans Sing & Applaud & Cheer on the Players.

Leicester’s Team Score’s average around 4/5 which is totally unacceptable for a Professional Team representing LCFC in the Championship, Shocking does not get Close to this sides performance’s.

Any 5 or below should not be selected for the next game, 6+ should be our minimum score with our average nearer 8!! Then we will see a difference  

 

Strange post 

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-citys-highs-not-distorting-10685423

 

Leicester City's highs are not distorting reality – this could be a historically bad season
The numbers have been crunched on 120 seasons of Leicester City as a member of the Football League and Premier League to reveal what their average finishing position is

Sportopinion
Jordan Blackwell
07:00, 04 Dec 2025
Updated 07:51, 04 Dec 2025

Leicester City are on course for the 10th-lowest season finishing position in their history(Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
Anybody who has followed Leicester City for the past 20 years will have seen them at their highest peak and their lowest ebb.

In winning the Premier League title, City hit the jackpot. In finishing in the top half of the top flight for five years running between 2018 and 2022, City enjoyed a run among the country’s 10 teams like they never had before.

But it was not much earlier, between 2005 and 2009, where City had their worst run since the end of the Second World War, failing to even finish in the top half of the second tier for five seasons running, with the last of those their sole campaign in the third tier.

For City supporters who had their formative years as fans during that period in the mid-to-late Noughties, or who maybe grew up in a similarly underwhelming time in the late 1980s, the club’s lowly status this season may feel like a return to the norm.

 

There may be a sense that City fans have been treated to their best-ever era and now just going back to what they always were.

Maybe the anger over City’s tumble down the league ladder is an overreaction because it’s in comparison to the recent highs. Maybe those seasons have distorted City’s reality, hence why this campaign feels so underwhelming.

 

But that’s not true. The numbers have been crunched and City are on course for a historically bad season.

City’s first season in the Football League was in 1894-95 and they’ve now completed 120 campaigns. Their average finishing position on the league ladder across all of those seasons is 22nd.

At the minute, by sitting 16th in the Championship, they are 36th. There’s still a lot of the season to go and the tightness of the table means it’s far too early to predict even which section of the standings a club might finish in, never mind their exact position. There’s still the matter of a potential points deduction too.

But if they were to finish 16th, it would be the joint-10th worst season in their history ranked by final positions.

Nobody at the club is satisfied with how this season is going at the moment and it would be viewed as a failure if they ended up where they are now.

But it’s perhaps important to appreciate that it’s not just bad in comparison to the highs of the past decade, but bad in comparison to the whole of the club’s history.

[Stadt]

41 minutes ago, davieG said:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-citys-highs-not-distorting-10685423

 

Leicester City's highs are not distorting reality – this could be a historically bad season
The numbers have been crunched on 120 seasons of Leicester City as a member of the Football League and Premier League to reveal what their average finishing position is

Sportopinion
Jordan Blackwell
07:00, 04 Dec 2025
Updated 07:51, 04 Dec 2025

Leicester City are on course for the 10th-lowest season finishing position in their history(Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
Anybody who has followed Leicester City for the past 20 years will have seen them at their highest peak and their lowest ebb.

In winning the Premier League title, City hit the jackpot. In finishing in the top half of the top flight for five years running between 2018 and 2022, City enjoyed a run among the country’s 10 teams like they never had before.

But it was not much earlier, between 2005 and 2009, where City had their worst run since the end of the Second World War, failing to even finish in the top half of the second tier for five seasons running, with the last of those their sole campaign in the third tier.

For City supporters who had their formative years as fans during that period in the mid-to-late Noughties, or who maybe grew up in a similarly underwhelming time in the late 1980s, the club’s lowly status this season may feel like a return to the norm.

 

There may be a sense that City fans have been treated to their best-ever era and now just going back to what they always were.

Maybe the anger over City’s tumble down the league ladder is an overreaction because it’s in comparison to the recent highs. Maybe those seasons have distorted City’s reality, hence why this campaign feels so underwhelming.

 

But that’s not true. The numbers have been crunched and City are on course for a historically bad season.

City’s first season in the Football League was in 1894-95 and they’ve now completed 120 campaigns. Their average finishing position on the league ladder across all of those seasons is 22nd.

At the minute, by sitting 16th in the Championship, they are 36th. There’s still a lot of the season to go and the tightness of the table means it’s far too early to predict even which section of the standings a club might finish in, never mind their exact position. There’s still the matter of a potential points deduction too.

But if they were to finish 16th, it would be the joint-10th worst season in their history ranked by final positions.

Nobody at the club is satisfied with how this season is going at the moment and it would be viewed as a failure if they ended up where they are now.

But it’s perhaps important to appreciate that it’s not just bad in comparison to the highs of the past decade, but bad in comparison to the whole of the club’s history.

Like a lottery winner that's spent it all frivolously and didn't listen to their financial advisor and accountant.

 

 

This is all fine though because Top's dad died 7 years ago. It's too much to expect us to not be worse than Wrexham or Hull

[Spudulike]

Just to add to this...

 

City are currently in 13th position in the all-time Premier League table. That may be a better indicator of where the club are at present. 

 

https://www.football365.com/premier-league/table/all-time-premier-league-table

 

[Mike Oxlong]

Think we should be more positive. We can finish in 15th place if we pull together 

[LCFCJohn]

3 hours ago, davieG said:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-citys-highs-not-distorting-10685423

 

“Leicester City are on course for the 10th-lowest season finishing position in their history”

 

 

“But that’s not true. The numbers have been crunched and City are on course for a historically bad season.

City’s first season in the Football League was in 1894-95 and they’ve now completed 120 campaigns. Their average finishing position on the league ladder across all of those seasons is 22nd” - so 2nd in this league.

“But if they were to finish 16th, it would be the joint-10th worst season in their history ranked by final positions.”

 

“But it’s perhaps important to appreciate that it’s not just bad in comparison to the highs of the past decade, but bad in comparison to the whole of the club’s history.”

BuT tHiS iS oUr LeVeL…..

[Corky]

Entitled fans complaining. We are only 14 places off our historic position and 23 away from our top flight performance in the last 30 years. Can't expect too much!

[Jimmy]

If you have a salt allergy you might want to avoid the Second Tier pod this weekend if their twitter feed is anything to go by

[Leeds Fox]

On 07/12/2025 at 02:25, Jimmy said:

If you have a salt allergy you might want to avoid the Second Tier pod this weekend if their twitter feed is anything to go by

I have an ‘annoying loser’ allergy, so yes, I’ll give it a miss. 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

On 07/12/2025 at 02:25, Jimmy said:

If you have a salt allergy you might want to avoid the Second Tier pod this weekend if their twitter feed is anything to go by

 

That Ryan lad was a bit whiny and I think he's fundamentally just thick, the other bloke who sounds like he's trying not to wake his parents was actually really reasonable.

[foxfanazer]

They're both a pair of virgins with little to no football knowledge 

[HitchinFox]

11 hours ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

That Ryan lad was a bit whiny and I think he's fundamentally just thick, the other bloke who sounds like he's trying not to wake his parents was actually really reasonable.

Someone over there definitely is thick. They put up a poll on Twitter/X on which is the "best Scandinavian country" – and included Finland in it. 

 

[Bourbon Fox]

On 02/12/2025 at 09:17, davieG said:

ive been to filbert street n stood on the kop those were the days my friend  · 

Carl Nicol ·

Message to LCFC - Player’s & Staff - The below marks out of 10 represent a team effort, that will make the Fans Sing & Applaud & Cheer on the Players.

Leicester’s Team Score’s average around 4/5 which is totally unacceptable for a Professional Team representing LCFC in the Championship, Shocking does not get Close to this sides performance’s.

Any 5 or below should not be selected for the next game, 6+ should be our minimum score with our average nearer 8!! Then we will see a difference  

 

Great analysis.

 

If the players all play 8/10 every week we'd be much better.

 

Why aren't they just playing 8/10 are they stupid?

Edited 9 December 2025 by Bourbon Fox

[st albans fox]

1 hour ago, HitchinFox said:

Someone over there definitely is thick. They put up a poll on Twitter/X on which is the "best Scandinavian country" – and included Finland in it. 

 

Finland should be in Scandinavia 

makes geography more simple 

[Jon the Hat]

15 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Finland should be in Scandinavia 

makes geography more simple 

Probably keep that to yourself when in Finland.  They really hate Russia - 102 years independent this week, but the Swedes are not always too popular either given the 700 years or so Finland was part of Sweden.  The Finnish were treated very much as second class citizens to the Swedish Finns, even more recently the Swedes held a lot of wealth and power in Finland.

[Trav Le Bleu]

13 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Finland should be in Scandinavia 

makes geography more simple 

The population is quite different to the Scandinavian countries, whose languages share a common root, whilst Finnish is almost unique. They also have a lot of influence from Russia, southern parts of Finland having been part of the Russian empire.

[st albans fox]

52 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Probably keep that to yourself when in Finland.  They really hate Russia - 102 years independent this week, but the Swedes are not always too popular either given the 700 years or so Finland was part of Sweden.  The Finnish were treated very much as second class citizens to the Swedish Finns, even more recently the Swedes held a lot of wealth and power in Finland.

 

48 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

The population is quite different to the Scandinavian countries, whose languages share a common root, whilst Finnish is almost unique. They also have a lot of influence from Russia, southern parts of Finland having been part of the Russian empire.

All true but in trump’s world, Finland being in Scandinavia is better because its simpler 😄

and he likes simple 

all of which has sod all to do with the thread!

Edited 9 December 2025 by st albans fox

[Finnegan]

Finland is in Scandinavia. 

 

Denmark hasn't been since 1658.

 

[Guest worth_the_wait]

Don't forget that for many years a Scandinavian capital city was in Czechoslovakia.

[Jonezy]

A confused dane walks into a thread....

Scandinavia is used for Denmark, Norway and Sweden as we share a lot of cultural background and speak very similar languages. Nordic countries includes Finland and Iceland as well. Confusion might arise because the peninsula containing Norway, Sweden and some of Finland is called Scandinavian Peninsula.

[Trav Le Bleu]

As with so many geographic questions, we should let Ticket to Ride games educate us.

 

Which version is this?

 

Why, it's Nordic Countries I see, and it includes Finland

 

Thank you, Ticket to Ride.

[orangecity23]

2 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

 

 

 

Why, it's Nordic Countries I see, and it includes Finland

 

Thank you, Ticket to Ride.

If they hadn't included Finland, then the game might not be suitable for families, bit of a suspiciously shaped map otherwise