IF we fall short, are we still on the right track?

[cc_star]

It's pretty hard to defend the past quarter of a season, in fact the form and a few of the performances, in particular Derby & Barnsley are completely indefensible so I won't even try.

But...

Obviously we can win some games between now and the end of the season and get in the playoffs a lot of the pressure will be lifted, but if we don't is there still a case that we're in heading in the right direction.

Don't take this as Pearson cheerleading, I'm not delusional to think that Pearson's second coming is... the second coming, but

• In the preseason Pearson made a healthy start on clearing the decks with approximately 30 players being sold on or released since his arrival - there is obviously some more work to do here, especially considering some player's wage deals and the looming spectre of FFP, but on the whole I think we're on the right path.
  

• Players who have come in are generally young and have proven over 3 quarters of the season that they do have both the basics & the skills to be good players. However if the current form continues there's obviously the case that collectively they will have fallen short and further additions to the playing squad of players with a different mentality & complementary skills could be needed.
  Through being young players, they will obviously get better with time and as (and if) they progress they're all generally of the right age to give our club their best years
  
• For the bulk of the season we played great football, dominated games and tore teams to pieces creating chance after chance which at the time we couldn't tuck away and then after a one month spell of tucking them away and rising to the autos our form deserted us leading to our present and hopefully temporary freefall.
  
• With financial rules kicking in, sustainability is key to progression in future, days of wholesale changes could be finished and the signing of players in volume a thing of the past.
  
• The type of players you can attract on the more limited wage bills of next season & beyond won't be Premiership has-beens & benchwarmers like Konch & Beckford but will lean toward younger players like Michael Keane etc and Pearson's record here is better than most.
  

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There is no comparison between Sir Alex Ferguson and any other manager, but the situation in SAF's early years are completely alien to what people know now...

He was in charge for 7 seasons before winning the league title... for his first 4 years there until a cup win he wasn't popular with all the fans and many of them were very vocal about wanting him out, according to Peter Schmeichel, SAF wouldn't have been sacked even if he failed to win that cup in his 4th season leading it to be 7 years in charge before making a breakthrough in major domestic honours.

Before he won the league, SAF finished 11th, 2nd, 11th (surely unimaginable pressure on him being sacked then), 13th (having been 2nd during the season, again the pressure to replace SAF must have), 6th & 2nd.

It's unimaginable to think what might have happened had ManUtd changed course during those 7 season before winning the league at the end of his 7th.

Like I say, there is no comparison from SAF to any manager, but why has no other club learnt that lesson - Spent a number of years turning the club around and creating the sort of club off the field where success on the field is almost inevitable and the club has the courage to stick by their decision, put the hardwork in and over time reaped the rewards of the hardwork & moving in the same direction over a sustained period of time rather than chopping and changing when it appears at first to have fallen short

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I know to some people, the thought of sticking with NP for one more game, never mind the duration of his contract would be horrifying

And even to someone like me (someone who is sick to death of going through transitional season after transitional season) the current plight, well, the manner of it, is more than a bit 'testing' - to put it mildly.

Have the owners & Pearson been naive by constantly talking about being in the Premier League, (even though that is of course the aim) and in doing so piled on the expectation on top of already heightened expectations.

Is there a chance that next season if we can offload the rest of the high owners, Konchesky, Danns, Beckford, Wellens & Gally and add to this young core of a team with a greater number of players to provide us with more options over the season.

So I have 3 thoughts/questions:

1. Is the job only half done? Do we have the right man to bring success over the mid & long term in what will be a relatively financially restricted future for the game/
   
2. Is wholesale change and yet another transitional season inevitable?
   
3. If NP is sacked - who of any real quality would be willing to come to a club and be the 5th manager in 3 years - Surely we'll only be scraping around the dregs and other people's failures, leaving us to be worse off than we are now?
   

[Bayfox]

Why does everyone quote fergie. Yes he had a shit start at utd.

But he had won a european trophy with aberdeen and turned them into contenders in a league dominated by 2 clubs in glasgow.

Where is pearsons track record. A leauge 1 title and saving a club from relegation.

[theessexfox]

I think it would be, if we kept Pearson... but for me that won't happen.

[Matt]

Yes and no.

I have to ask the question, which is the 'real' Leicester City? We had a mixed start to the season, we weren't brilliant, we weren't too bad, then we came really good, but was that just luck and yet another false dawn in the history of Leicester City? Because now we are shocking, absoloutely shocking. So which is the 'real' Leicester City? Granted consistancy isn't renowed in this league hardly any team is consistant throughout but I find ours very alarming.

As for are we on the right track? Well yes, but we can't seem to make the final kick, we can't make the final push, since our return to the Championship from League One I have said every year we are one or two seasons away from being good enough, I still stand by that this year, so going down to League One was IMO a real good thing for us, we came back and rose again, we have improved from season after season of relegation battle in the Championship we are now a midtable to just outside playoff side, but we can't make that final step, we have levelled out and need to do the final push - We can't seem to do it though.

[Guest Col city fan]

Yes and no.

Yes:

- I think the younger players will improve, as in, they will naturally get better (whether Pearson will 'hold their development back' or not is open to debate.

- Pearson has tried as hard as he can, I think, to bring down the wage bill to meet FFP. His next challenge in this respect (should he stay) is to finally get rid of Beckford and Danns.

- I still believe Pearson gets his players as fit as they can be and is a strict disciplinarian.

No:

- Pearson has never sorted out my biggest concern... Recruiting a squad and picking a team to go away from home and look like winning games. THIS is mainly why we are where we are in the division.

- No plan B... According to most reports, our dedicated fans who went away to Barnsley just knew, right from the off, that we were going to lose the game. What did Pearson then do, tactically, to stop this from happening? Where was his tactical prowess to rejig the side to get a result?

I could go on, but these are the main issues for me and have been all season. If Nige stays and continues with a midfield of King and Drinkwater, away from home next season, he will lose my respect still further.

I don't think we've been far off this season. But I'm not at all surprised we are 7th, which is where I predicted we will finish and where I still think we will finish.

[MrsJohnMurphy]

For me Pearson's done a great job, clearing the decks of big earners and getting in young talented players, keeping the team competitive and who will IMO be flying in a year or so.

We shouldn't underestimate the implications of FFP, Pearson's had to make big cuts.

We just have to keep our nerve, like Everton did with Moyes when he had a sticky season or 2.

I'd keep Pearson even if we lose every game til the end of the season.

[Guest Col city fan]

For me Pearson's done a great job, clearing the decks of big earners and getting in young talented players, keeping the team competitive and who will IMO be flying in a year or so.

We shouldn't underestimate the implications of FFP, Pearson's had to make big cuts.

We just have to keep our nerve, like Everton did with Moyes when he had a sticky season or 2.

I'd keep Pearson even if we lose every game til the end of the season.

It would be interesting to see why 'we just have to keep our nerve'?

Pearson isn't David Moyes and, for as many managers who finally succeed when they are given time, others ultimately take you backwards.

Expand your argument rather than just 'hoping' so to speak.

I do agree with you on the financial stuff though. Sven's (and the board's) sweety shop policy made anybody's job to replace him so much more difficult.

[MrsJohnMurphy]

I've seen football this season which has genuinely made me proud to be a City fan, I've also seen football recently thats been truly shocking, but with youth comes inconsistency and I've seen enough good things this season to stick with it. I don't want another change, another manager, another set of players shipped in and out.