Leicester till I Die: June 2011

Friday, 17 June 2011

KEEP THE FAITH - Transfer activity or lack of it

All clubs have their motto's. Ours as the title suggests is Keep The Faith.
That is something City fans have more than learned to do over the past few decades.

However The Faith is being well and truly tested at the moment.

When Mandaric sold Portsmouth there were big promises made by the new owners. Money was going to be no problem and they planned to take the club to Europe & beyond.....

Sounds familiar?

We were told Sven would be given unlimited funds to get the players he wanted to take us to The Premier League & beyond.
And yet here we are over a month since the season ended and not one new signing in place, no immediate prospect of any of last years loanees returning and to add insult to injury players actually leaving the club!!

So as things stand at the moment our squad is smaller & weaker than the one that failed to get us promotion last term.

Lets face it we shouldn't really be worried, its early days, players and managers are on holiday. But, and its a big but, agents it seems never go on holiday!!
All we keep hearing is that we can't sign The Yak cause of his wage demands, negotiations are stalling over Nugents wage demands, Naughton looks to be staying in London albeit with QPR and its down to wage demands.

Well we should have expected it. The Thai's come in shouting about how they are going to spend to Leicester where they want them, so isn't it only natural agents & players are going to up their demands when Sven comes a knocking?

Look back at the Mandaric / Allen years. Money spent, not very wisely but spent none the less as those players & agents who answered their door to Allen immediately doubled their value, and stupidly looking back Allen paid it.

Allen was like the kid on pocket money day in the sweet shop - thankfully Sven is not like this!

Look back at the Premier League / Taylor years. Having been successful in the top flight winning trophies so with money to spend Taylor went a looking for a new squad. He tried to do a Martin O Neill & find hidden gems in the lower league (Junior Lewis, Trevor Benjamin et al) - he couldn't. What money he spent on great prospects was badly spent - Ade Akinbiyi for example

Taylor was good at coaching but absolutely usless when it came to finding & buying his own players aka managing - thankfully as we have seen Sven is not like this!

Look back at the Championship/Premier League / Martin O'Neill years. A manager who had his players respect. A manager who could get star names to Leicester who could still play (Cottee), a manager who could pluck unknowns from bigger clubs reserve teams (Izzet), a manager who could go digging at less fashionable clubs and find a gem (Lennon).

Sound familiar?

For Cottee read Yakubu. For Izzet read Naughton, for Lennon read Bamba.... well I think you get the picture.

Martin was never one to rush into the transfer market. We learned that. But when he did he bought well.
So lets not shout too loudly at Sven just yet.

Is Sven another Martin? I believe he could be

Yes I am like every other City fan getting impatient at the lack of transfer activity, especially when our so called targets are being snapped up by other teams. Maybe the club bought the fans discomfort on themselves by shouting too loudly about signings.

Yes I am asking myself is the money really there?
But Leicester I am convinced is NO Portsmouth.
They level of commitment from the Thai's since their arrival last term convinces me they do have the money & desire.
Top is at many games and I truly believe that Sven has curbed their enthusiasm to 'spend spend spend' going for a more sensible approach.

You don't I believe win things with expensive over paid has beens.
You have to get the mix right. Youth & experience together ala Heskey & Cottee.

Lets learn from the golden years of Martin O'Neill who DID get the nix right.
Do we have stars coming through the youth academy? After all they didn't have a bad season last term themselves did they?
Yes we are losing players but are they not the players we have been shouting to get rid of all last season ?

This coming season promises to be one of the most exciting season in many a year for Leicester. I haven't felt this excited since Mandaric brought in Martin Allen. But deep down I know that Sven will be sensible and get the right players in at the right price.

Lets not overspend on the house and not be able to furnish it. Spending too much to get to The Premier League could leave us with nothing to send once we get their.
And as teams have found out when you go up to the top division you need TWO teams -
one to get you there & one to keep you up.
So you need to make sure that there is money left for the latter.

QPR one of the richest clubs in the country did not buy their way instantly to the top. Despite having some of the richest owners in the country they bided their time to get promotion. They spent but not madly, they got the right manager who chose the right players to get them

Never has the Leicester City saying be so true - KEEP THE FAITH!!

Thursday, 9 June 2011

2010/11 A roller coaster season

The 2010/2011 season was one to be met with huge expectation at Leicester City.

After returning to the Championship at the first time of asking under a new tenure led by Nigel Pearson, City had narrowly missed out on a back to back feat, losing in a heartbreaking play off semi final penalty shoot out to Cardiff City in South Wales.

The disappointment was overshadowed by pride in what our overachieving team had done though, and under Pearson the Blue Army felt that this team would realise the dream of Premier League football once again.

A summer of turbulence was to follow though.

Over Leicester’s unsuccessful play off semi final fixtures, club Chairman Milan Mandaric had invited Swansea City manager Paulo Sousa as his personal guest. The former Portuguese international was a close friend of Mandaric and Pearson smelt a rat.

Just over a month after the defeat in Cardiff news was spreading that Nigel Pearson had left Leicester City to join recently relegated Hull City as manager.

“I was quite surprised at Nigel Pearson’s departure. But that is in the past and now we have to look for what’s best for this club and to replace a good manager with a good manager” said Milan Mandaric.

Things didn’t add up though and once the information leaked about Sousa being invited as Mandaric’s guest to Leicester’s final two games of the campaign, the realisation set in that Pearson didn’t really leave Leicester on his own accord.

The inevitable appointment was made. On Wednesday 7th July Paulo Sousa was installed as Leicester City manager. A new regime began with the same ambitions as the old one had ended. Promotion was the target.

Sousa employed a new patient style of football at Leicester, totally diverting the team from Pearson’s compact counter attacking system. The new reign at the Walkers Stadium was not hitting the ground running by all means and after an opening day defeat at Crystal Palace, Sousa’s Leicester did not taste victory in the Championship until September 14th, the clubs sixth league outing.

Patience and football do not go hand in hand in English football and that win against Cardiff City on September 14th would be Sousa’s first and last in the Championship.

Inbetween a League Cup victory at Fratton Park against Portsmouth came a 2-0 home defeat to table toppers QPR and an embarrasing thumping at the same ground the club had tasted success on just days before. Portsmouth got revenge for their cup exit, a 6-1 verdict had the knives out. Sousa was on borrowed time.

Four days after the Portsmouth massacre saw Leicester lose again. Norwich City overcame a resiliant Leicester fightback to win 4-3. Leicester had conceded 10 league goals in under a week and Carrow Road was where it ended for Paulo Sousa.

September 28th 2010, Leicester City held up the Championship table, four points from the safety zone. A season that promised so much was rapidly turning into a nightmare.

The new Thai led consortium that had bought into the club in August were seeing their investment flop in a devastating manner. A statement needed to be made to shake up the fortunes of Leicester City.

With Sousa gone, coaches Chris Powell and Mike Stowell took charge for the visit of Scunthorpe United. A 3-1 victory for Leicester at the Walkers, only their second of the campaign, saw the club rise from the bottom. More notably than the result came a face in the crowd. Former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson had been heavily linked with the vacant post at Leicester and the Swede was present for Powell and Stowell’s first and last win in charge at the club.

Eriksson was soon appointed Leicester manager and the clubs fortunes were quick to change with it.

Inbetween cup exits to Premiership sides West Bromich Albion and Manchester City, the latter resulting in a pulsating couple of games ending in a reply at Eastlands, came an unbeaten run at the Walkers Stadium in the league that would stretch for 12 games, 8 of which Leicester won.

The run had catapulted Leicester City from the bottom three into ninth, five points from the play off placings. Sven Goran Eriksson had not only ended any fears of another relegation season to League One, he’d reinstalled the summer hopes of promotion to the Premier League.

Eriksson’s run of form was dented mainly by promotion chasers QPR, Norwich City, Reading and finally Nottingham Forest as the season drew to it’s conclusion. A 3-2 defeat at the City Ground in late April ultimately ended Leicester’s languasing hopes of a top six finish.

A season that started with dissapointment was unfortunately to end in the same manner but the resergance inbetween will surely stand Leicester in good stead for next season. The ambitions of Premier League football will again be the driving force come August and this time the club won’t be starting over again.

With a high profile manager and money to spend, Leicester City have already been installed as second favourites behind West Ham United to win the Championship next season.

Last years hopes and ambitions were pinned on a manager we didn’t know too much about but with Eriksson’s feet now firmly under the Thai bought office table, this summers hopes and ambitions are warranted.

As ever, ‘this could be the year’.

David Cockcroft, June 2011
For Leicester till I Die
Twitter - @DavidJCockcroft

Wednesday, 8 June 2011

Change of Scene for Leicester City

Why a shake-up behind the scenes at Leicester City could lead to success on the pitch......

Leicester City announced today that Lee Hoos had been replaced as Chief Executive Officer of the club after a three year spell with the Foxes. Susan Whelan, the Senior Executive Vice-President of King Power, will replace Hoos, while Simon Capper replaces Mark Johnson as Finance Director as part of a "management restructure".

What does this all mean? Well, all this may not seem as exciting as the speculation surrounding potential big name targets for Leicester City, but these changes off the pitch are just as significant in providing the best possible opportunity for a successful season on it.

The changes at the top could have been forecasted; when Vichai Raksriaksorn became club chairman in August last year following the takeover by Asia Football Investments, it seemed inevitable that King Power would eventually bring in their own backroom staff. The departure of former chairman Milan Mandaric at the end of 2010 was the beginning of the end of these adjustments, and now that the Raksriaksorns have their chosen personnel, it should provide stability - which is what Leicester City needs after a season of adjustments on and off the pitch.

Fans need not be concerned. The restructure is taking place as the most appropriate time. This scenario means that everybody involved in running the club behind the scenes at the Walkers Stadium should be on the same page when it comes down to making decisions that affect the club on the pitch. It also provides Leicester City with a solid level of experience amongst its backroom staff. It is a wise decision made at the right time.

Of course, although it puts Leicester in a good position, it does not ensure anything during the 2011/2012 season. Susan Whelan believes there is still work to be done, telling LCFC.com that "[the club has] the foundations set in place for success, but it is now important that everyone continues to work hard…to deliver success as we enter an exciting new era at Leicester City". It should also avoid any potential mid-season shake-up as experienced last season with Paolo Sousa, Milan Mandaric and even Chris Powell leaving the club in a short space of time.

All of this, combined with Sven-Goran Eriksson as manager of Leicester City, gives Foxes fans a reason to be optimistic. With the preseason fast approaching, the speculation over summer signings is likely to continue. But now, at least, the groundwork has definitely been laid down.

Simon Poole for Leicester till I Die
http://simonpoole84.blogspot.com/