To reach the financial cliff edge Leicester have this season indicates that something has gone very wrong at the club. Sensible planning and smart recruitment has always been the foundation of success at Leicester and the principle of selling one major asset every summer has enabled the club to keep investing in the squad and to keep growing.
15 months ago we were FA cup winners and pushing for the champions league. A little over a year later and we have a bloated squad of players not good enough who can’t be moved on, a frustrated manager who tactically looks lost, players coming to the end of their contracts who will walk away for free, no money for new players and staring the bottom 3 in the face
How can that happen in the space of a year? And what can Top do about it? I believe a number of mistakes by people Top has trusted for years have been made;
1. First and foremost, last season the club took an unwise financial gamble on getting Europe. They broke their model of selling a major asset and undertook the biggest net spend since the return to the PL, despite knowing how close to FFP they already were. Tielemans should have been sold when he had 2 years left and the money used to invest in an alternative
2. Rudkin and Whelan dropped an almighty clanger in letting Rodgers bring Lee Congerton to the club. Congerton was underwhelming at Celtic and presided over a shambolic summer window signing Soumare, Vestergard and Bertrand. In short, money we didn’t really have being spent on inferior players with the gamble of European football paying for it
3. Rodgers was awarded a new contract way too early and subsequently given too much power at the club. Rodgers started with a bang bit to be given a new contract as quickly as he was and on the wages he has been felt premature at the time. Meanwhile Rudkin was doing nothing to address certain player contracts that were starting to wind down. Rodgers was subsequently given carte Blanche to bring in his own head of recruitment, his own club doctor (binning off Dave Rennie in the process) - all of which has begun to unravel
4. Top is running out of money. This isn’t a mistake as such just a sad fact. To compete in the premier league you need money. We don’t have it. His personal wealth as gone from £5.2 bn before Covid to £1.7bn. He’s been hit harder than most and has no money to put into the club at a time we desperately need it
So what do Leicester do now? Well first and foremost - any manager that comes into a club wants to be backed. If we bin off Rodgers, it’s not as if Potter will be chomping at the bit to leave Brighton and join a club that is unlikely to be spending in January or possibly even the summer. We need investment but I don’t see that happening any time soon
So what about Rodgers? Well given the priority is now survival, I do think the club has to consider his position and act sooner before we’re too far adrift. We all remember what happened when Taylor got binned and we had to rely on Dave Basset to keep us up. We could use some of the Fofana money, pay off Rodgers and move for someone like Bielsa - someone who is going to get these players running their socks off and putting in the absolute maximum. We need a reaction
We need a new DoF. I believe Rudkin has failed badly in the last 24 months, both with his premature contract for Rodgers, letting player contracts wind down and appointing a poor head of recruitment. Top needs to change the top brass at the club and Rudkin, who has no DoF experience I should add, should step down and return to the academy. We need a DoF who has the experience to navigate this situation
Finally, we need to get back to buying good players again! Fofanas replacement is crucial for our survival and I would hope the club have a very good CB lined up. Any other money we can scrape together needs to be spent a hell of a lot better than it has been recently
We are at a pivotal moment in the history of this club. We either return to being Leicester City - the championship yo yo team of yesteryear or Top gets hold of this situation, stops the rot, hopefully gets some investment in and starts re-building a squad that desperately needs an overhaul
Thoughts?
So how do we fix this?
posted on 28/8/22
Totally agree Ace, the Southampton match was the time to act and they don’t look like acting in the transfer window either - it’s a very messy situation. My worry is that the club actually think that we’ll be fine without Fofana and the players will pick themselves up after the window shuts. That’s a big mistake and relegation is definitely on the cards due to some piiisss poor management and a complete lack of direction at the club.
posted on 29/8/22
I’m not sure it’s apathy 99, True, we’ve lost a few stalwarts with a good record of meaningful posts, but there’s still a few left!
Furthermore, this particular board is notable in that the participants aren’t always slagging each other off, as is the case with a good many boards.
As regards your own observations, you could well be right, although I would tend to think that a replacement centre back is probably identified. Nobody can say that Fofana legging it (ungrateful scrote) was unexpected and we’ve known for ages that we need a proper right winger.
I do expect at least two new players incoming. As regards your observations on last summer’s window, I totally agree, although I wouldn’t give Daka as much credit as you do. I’m put in mind of headless chickens.
Doesn’t look like Soumare and Vestergaard want to go anywhere soon, more’s the pity. Tielemans’ position is a bit fifty fifty unless it’s just Arsenal introducing their own brand of gamesmanship into the transfer market. Either way, he’ll be gone soon enough. Just a question of where, although on his recent performances, he’s not exactly enhanced his standing, so it’s understandable that nobody is bashing our doors down.
posted on 29/8/22
You’re quite correct there (dare I address you by your former calling), it is rather desolate on here at the best of times but welcome back after a 2-year sabbatical (for want of a better word. Yes, I’m fully aware of why you left the site a couple of years ago). You may well have elevated yourself to the position of “head honcho” on the weary subject of the club’s current plight as a few of those names mentioned have all but disappeared. They haven’t lead the way for some time now. Dubs continues to be the standard-bearer on match days with his refreshing column.
As for me, I know naff all about Congerton, Rudkin, whoever the club doctor is now plus what’s going on day-to-day, but, along with many others, could see the club heading up a dangerous path many months ago with virtually zilch going on in the transfer market.
Apathy? Yes, I’ve seen it all before and there will be thousands before me who can share the impassiveness it brings. The tide will turn, inevitably, it has to, but I’ve glanced over the forthcoming fixtures and it doesn’t bode well…need I tell you.
posted on 29/8/22
Hey Warwick, Downsouf, good to hear from you both. It’s a real shame to have seen a few others leave as well, it’s definitely a much quieter place on here than it used to be. I also think people are probably a bit bored of the one way traffic on Rodgers and also the club in general - there’s not a lot of positivity around Leicester currently. Let’s hope they come back, because the place is poorer without them and it’s certainly proving much more challenging than it used to be to have a good old debate on all things City.
I hope you’re right on the transfer side and we get a couple in. I haven’t seen us strongly linked with anyone though which is a worry - seems to be really quiet on that front and the window is about to shut. Perhaps that’s why Fofana hasn’t gone yet - conditional on us getting a replacement?
posted on 29/8/22
Great post and I think you’ve articulated the situation really well. Whilst the mistakes you highlight are all mistakes, I do understand why they were made, and in some cases fans will have wanted the club to make them.
The main case in point is the investment to go after Europe. Fans would not have wanted us to stand still and Rodgers plan was to invest for growth. You’ve then perfectly described the problem - we invested and got it wrong and now it’s all unraveling.
We need to get a grip on the situation quickly and for me, that means Rodgers needs to go. I think the current squad are starting to lose faith in him and he’s not getting the best out of key players in the squad.
However that’s a huge gamble. If the players reacted badly or the new manager didn’t get a change in attitude from players it could be relegation looming. That is a massive concern. I now feel our bloated squad and wage structure means that any relegation will take a long time to come back from.
Let’s hope whatever short term decision is needed to fix this is made. If it does mean Rodgers stays, let’s get behind him and the players, because they need our support to get out of this. The quicker the window closes and we know where we are the better. Then let’s get on with it.
posted on 29/8/22
Thanks Mersey and totally agree with everything you’ve said there. It feels like the time for decisiveness. Personally I think the club needs to move Rodgers on if he doesn’t want to be here and is frustrated and go for a manager who can prioritise work ethic and squad unity. Steve Cooper at Forest (not that we’d get him now!) is a great example of the kind of commitment he gets from his players on the pitch. Compared to Leeds and Forest we look laboured and unmotivated right now - that needs fixing.
If Top comes out and backs Rodgers, I agree - we all need to get behind him. My worry, once the window closes, is the personnel in defence we’re going to be left with. If Evans picks up an injury I just can’t bear the thought of Soyuncu and Amartey being the central defensive partnership with Vestergard coming into a back 3 cos we have limited quality out wide and need to play with wing backs
In short - if we don’t sign anyone, we need a manager that can get these players grafting and very quickly
posted on 29/8/22
By the way has anyone heard from Dunge lately?
posted on 29/8/22
Not heard from Dunge no. Miss his player ratings posts which were excellent. Hopefully he’s ok and just taking a rest from posting. It’s sad to see a few other great posters disappear over the years too.
On Rodgers, my concern is that if he stays it’s all got a bit toxic with the fans. We really need a couple of results and performances to get everyone back pulling in the same direction. Fingers crossed.
posted on 29/8/22
Very insightful article 99! I am sad to say I wholeheartedly agree with all your points and am fearful of what this season will bring but hope decisions will be made sooner rather than later before it's too late. I have to say that as soon as I heard that we had signed Vestergaard I already had great misgivings about our recruitment strategy and things have certainly gone from bad to worse since then! I don't profess to know the answers but just hope that those in charge of our club won't let things get any worse before taking action. I am encouraged by you and others, better placed than I, with a lot of sensible suggestions and hope that somehow or other we will have something more positive to share in the coming weeks and months.
posted on 29/8/22
I don't usually bother checking the site much due to the lack of postings. Save for the Prediction League and the match thread there isn't usually much on here. It would be good if that changed.
Dunge gradually eased down, posting less over the last couple of years, withdrawing from the Prediction League but still doing the excellent after-match assessments last season. Hopefully he has decided to retire from this board - rather than any awful alternative scenario!
Nev gave up posting a year or so ago although I may have heard him on the RL moan-in.
I've set out my thoughts on Rodgers a couple of times, usually I'm not in favour of changing the Manager this early in the season but it seems like he's seen the writing on the wall; if so it may be better to make the change now by agreement.
One of the problems we have is the disastrous change in recruitment personnel with lack of availability of the incoming chap until the window has closed.
If Fofana is going why haven't we heard anything? It's leaving it very late for us to do anything worthwhile and increasing the chance of picking up more expensive dross in a panic buy.
Incidentally, who thought it would be a good idea to buy two players whose defensive audition against us included a 9-0 thrashing?
Rudkin is a bit marmite, he has presided over some success in the transfer market but seems to have struggled over the last couple of years. Replacing him at this stage probably suffers from the same issues as replacing the manager - who will come to the club when we are apparently in a mess with little/no money available for transfers?