sven

[Haydos]

He might not have dealt with the money but the manager should judge how much the player is worth to the club.

Absolutely shocking.

[Dan LCFC]

I don't know why any of us expected anything other than players who couldn't give a shit about the club when they were signed by a manager with a similar mindset.

[Dan LCFC]

I think we're failing to appreciate the difference between managers in Britain and coaches on the continent. It's only in the UK that we expect a man whose sole job should be to improve a player and organise a team to also be a business man and financial wizard.

I'm not making excuses for Sven but when he arrived the scouting system consisted of him and the coaching staff consisted of him, Chris Powell and Mike Stowell. Mandaric had gutted the club behind the scenes, consequently when Sven recommended a player there was no buffer between him and the board, no one to appraise his suggestions.

This current side wasn't bought with buttons and string, they cost a hell of a lot by championship standards and, just as with Sven, we should be getting a hell of a lot more from them.

Plenty of coaches have come from overseas and performed in England though. In-fact there are about 4 English managers in the top flight.

[ozleicester]

Sven was told - "get promoted asap!

He sourced players he felt could achieve that.

The club and owners negotiated and paid for them.

He, and the players failed (it could be asked if he was given enough time, but the answer to that will always be dependent on which side of the Sven fence you sit).

the club did not achieve promotion and therefore incurred losses -

Svens fault? - some,

the owners fault? - some

Players fault? - some

Get over it, all that matters now is, will we get promoted this year?

[Dan LCFC]

It's hard to 'get over it' when we're still paying for it ultimately. People under-estimate how much of a fvck up 2011/12 was, we went for broke and got nowhere near - why we're considered a favourite to go up this year is beyond me, we're still almost recovering from that season.

[Leicester_Numan]

It's hard to 'get over it' when we're still paying for it ultimately. People under-estimate how much of a fvck up 2011/12 was, we went for broke and got nowhere near - why we're considered a favourite to go up this year is beyond me, we're still almost recovering from that season.

There's no almost about it, we are still recovering and that recovery is being hindered by players deemed surplus to requirements, on huge contracts still being at the club because no one else will pay their wages. It's probably the biggest reason for not having any strength in depth

[Samwise]

Sven was told - "get promoted asap!

I think this is the key. Sven wasn't told "build a team for long term success", or "bring in good players with the right attitude and we'll push for promotion in 2012/13", he was told "we'll throw some cash around, you find some players that can give us instant success". That's a tall order. It might have had a chance if we had Chelsea/Man City/PSG money, but we didn't. Alternatively he might have attracted better players if we were already playing in the Prem, but we weren't.

When the mandate is to improve rapidly or else, I imagine the qualities looked for in players had a lot to do with on-the-pitch potential and very little to do with not being a massive bell-end. It shouldn't be a surprise that when you try to "grow" like that you end up signing a Beckford for every Nugent. It's short-sighted and, as has proven, costly.

I'm sure Sven knew it was risky and that it probably wouldn't work, but the worst-case scenario for him was that the club pays out his contract and he gets another job somewhere else.

[Captain...]

I think this is the key. Sven wasn't told "build a team for long term success", or "bring in good players with the right attitude and we'll push for promotion in 2012/13", he was told "we'll throw some cash around, you find some players that can give us instant success". That's a tall order. It might have had a chance if we had Chelsea/Man City/PSG money, but we didn't. Alternatively he might have attracted better players if we were already playing in the Prem, but we weren't.

When the mandate is to improve rapidly or else, I imagine the qualities looked for in players had a lot to do with on-the-pitch potential and very little to do with not being a massive bell-end. It shouldn't be a surprise that when you try to "grow" like that you end up signing a Beckford for every Nugent. It's short-sighted and, as has proven, costly.

I'm sure Sven knew it was risky and that it probably wouldn't work, but the worst-case scenario for him was that the club pays out his contract and he gets another job somewhere else.

But Chelsea and man city weren't instantly successful, it took them time and patience, look at QPR 'richest club in the world' and struggled to get out of the championship now struggling in the prem, spunking out 12 million on Samba.

I think the most telling line in that article is at the end, Sven says he recommended lots of players and it was up to the club to sign them. There should have been more control over what players were suggested by Sven and what we paid for them. The good news is the owners seem to have learnt from their mistakes, it doesn't sound like Sven has.

[indierich06]

The bloke is a clown, he clearly just picked players without even remotely looking into what they're like or what their mentality was like. The fact that we signed Johnson on loan for a million quid, with all the problems that he was going through at the time, just sums it up for me. That lad was no way in the right frame of mind for a promotion challenging club.

[Col city fan]

The bloke is a clown, he clearly just picked players without even remotely looking into what they're like or what their mentality was like. The fact that we signed Johnson on loan for a million quid, with all the problems that he was going through at the time, just sums it up for me. That lad was no way in the right frame of mind for a promotion challenging club.

Absolutely spot on...

Fat Johnno and Balls.. And Beckford... And people STILL defend Sven?

Jeez....

[Captain...]

The bloke is a clown, he clearly just picked players without even remotely looking into what they're like or what their mentality was like. The fact that we signed Johnson on loan for a million quid, with all the problems that he was going through at the time, just sums it up for me. That lad was no way in the right frame of mind for a promotion challenging club.

Johnson was worth the gamble, if it was just a fitness problem and all he needed was games then we would have had a real quality player on our hands.

The others like Ball and Pants were awful signings

[Charl91]

Sven never got a full season.

[muzzy1981]

In his day sven was great but as with many managers when he was with us he was out of touch. His little black book had more cob webs in it than dot cotton knickers.

Nige and shakes black book is as up to date as your going to get. Nige imo just lacks a bit if experience having only managed full time 5years. I just hope he is learning fast.

[indierich06]

Johnson was worth the gamble, if it was just a fitness problem and all he needed was games then we would have had a real quality player on our hands.

The others like Ball and Pants were awful signings

With all the stuff that's come out since Johnson's contract was paid up, it seems it wasn't just a fitness problem. He was heavily on the booze, overweight, he'd been to rehab several times and had mental health problems. Even a quick background check would have shown this signing to be a mistake, as Man City were well aware of it all.

[Captain...]

With all the stuff that's come out since Johnson's contract was paid up, it seems it wasn't just a fitness problem. He was heavily on the booze, overweight, he'd been to rehab several times and had mental health problems. Even a quick background check would have shown this signing to be a mistake, as Man City were well aware of it all.

But you can't blame Sven for not knowing all of that, we didn't, and Man City were hardly going to disclose all of that.

Sven worked with him when he was tearing up the Premiership and being touted as future England captain, for 1 million (which we don't know if that includes his wages) we could have had that player for the season, it didn't work out, but it was certainly not known he was as big a risk as it turned out.

[_Fatboyslow_]

Is anyone really surprised he was not let near the money ? Come think about it with his history !

[cc_star]

Sven never got a full season.

thank fvck... what with us facing near ruin whilst never looking like getting out of midtable over the calendar year

[Oxfordfox83]

Not Svens fault whatsoever even if he did negotiate transfers and wages it still would not be his fault the final decision comes down to the club owners and directors to sanction the funds. It was very heavily speculated when Sven left that the owners main concern with why things didn't work out with him is because he didn't attract enough big name players for the plan to work

I can't go for that at all. The idea of a manager is that he understands the football element of the football industry. So when he wants to buy a player, he should know whether £5m and 20k a week is a) a bargain (e.g. Robin Van Persie), b) about right (e.g. Bellamy) or c) ridiculous (e.g. Mills). And then he has to explain to the negotiators exactly what the player is worth to us so they can then avoid us being ripped off.

Unfortunately, the players Sven recommended were not, on the whole, good enough. A couple turned out pretty good, but most were not only below par, we went so hard to get them we now can't get rid of them.

No excuses - money men decide money, managers decide value. We could have afforded what we spent for a high quality first team, but that's not what we got and the fault for that is 100% Sven's.

[David Hankey]

The problem with the Sven era was we and everyone else in football expected LCFC to set the world on fire in terms of automatic promotion, win everything before them and with the massive financial backing buy any player practically who became available. Because of this financial backing transfer fees and wages were inflated but it didn't matter, the Club were on a high and the Premiership door just needed opening. Sadly we all know that wasn't the case. Millwall came along and the rest, as they say, is history.

[Jace]

I can't go for that at all. The idea of a manager is that he understands the football element of the football industry. So when he wants to buy a player, he should know whether £5m and 20k a week is a) a bargain (e.g. Robin Van Persie), b) about right (e.g. Bellamy) or c) ridiculous (e.g. Mills). And then he has to explain to the negotiators exactly what the player is worth to us so they can then avoid us being ripped off.

Unfortunately, the players Sven recommended were not, on the whole, good enough. A couple turned out pretty good, but most were not only below par, we went so hard to get them we now can't get rid of them.

No excuses - money men decide money, managers decide value. We could have afforded what we spent for a high quality first team, but that's not what we got and the fault for that is 100% Sven's.

The way I see it is if he was only trying to bring in as many Premier League standard players as possible as instructed regardless of money as a quick fix to gain promotion. That was what his objective he didn't fail because he had overspent he failed with the owners because they expected him to bring in more expensive quality players.

[Chrysalis]

People forget the season he took over sousa we looked bloody good.

The era when we had yakuba and naughton we were scoring for fun. For a long portion of the season we were 2nd in the form table only behind forest. The problem been tho sven had to recover from sousa's aweful 10 games.

However for whatever reason it didnt work for sven during the summer and after the summer, he couldnt perm sign the likes of yakuba and naughton, or even most of the loanees. Thus I think players like beckford were panic buys. Still tho after the summer we were playing some good football but suffered the arsenal syndrome trying to pass the ball into the net and not scoring.

Now under pearson we cant string 5 passes together but pearson has managed to get us to peak higher, I say peak because it looks like its about to all fall apart.