davieG Posted 30 March 2006 Share Posted 30 March 2006 Link Interest in Saturday’s game between Leicester City and Reading at the Walkers Stadium was, quite rightly, largely focused around the visitors and the confirmation of their long anticipated elevation to the top-flight. Even so, not only did Leicester do their best to spoil the promotion party, but in drawing 1:1 with the Champions-elect, they also gave further indication of better things to come next season. Craig Levein came to the club in November 2004 as a highly-regarded manager north of the border, yet never seemed to get to grips with the demands of the English game in his 15-months in charge. When dismissed as manager back in January, he left with the club languishing in the bottom three of the Coca-Cola Championship. Numerous names were linked with the job following the dismissal of the Scot, including Mike Newell, Martin Allen, Ian Holloway, Steve Cotterill, Billy Davies and Gudjon Thordarson, but following an almost immediate upturn in form, the board opted to stick with caretaker-manager Rob Kelly until the end of the season. It has to be said that Levein was working under difficult circumstances given the club’s financial predicament and he did make major changes to the playing staff in a bid to slash the wage bill, significantly bringing down the average age of the squad in doing so. Perhaps his biggest failing was his over-reliance in signing players he knew from his time in the SPL, but overall his permanent successor should certainly benefit from inheriting a relatively young squad with great potential. The Foxes certainly have two of the most promising attacking prospects outside the Premiership in Matty Fryatt and Iain Hume, with the pair already beginning to form a good understanding. Kelly is now seemingly in pole position to take the job on a long-term basis (confirmation could apparently come within the next week), given the improvement in results with virtually the same squad (Rufus Brevett and Andy Welsh have since joined on loan deals) as that available to his predecessor. The players do seem to be behind Kelly and they now appear to be showing the work ethic, motivation and spirit that were evidently missing during Levein’s tenure. It probably helps that Kelly’s line-ups have also had a more settled look about them. Current form of just one defeat in their last 10 Championship matches is that of promotion candidates and with perhaps one or two additions to the squad over the summer, Leicester City could prove to be a team worth keeping an eye on in the race for the Premiership next season. David Hulott 27 March 2006 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 30 March 2006 Share Posted 30 March 2006 A fair and balanced report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babylon Posted 30 March 2006 Share Posted 30 March 2006 Must be city fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rugbyfox jnr Posted 30 March 2006 Share Posted 30 March 2006 sounds like a fair report to me, do hope that he's right about next season too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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