So here we are again. Coming into April and the wheels are falling off at the wrong time. Just like last season the fans are understandably anxious for a change. Problem is, just like last time, who is going to want to manage Leicester City at this stage of the season - or infact at all?
The club is starting to fall apart. Mersey ducking and diving around my posts on the match thread tells you everything - even he is starting to see there’s a massive problem with Leicester. If the fans can see it - so can Cooper, Parker and anyone else the fans might be contemplating.
Who wants to take on a job where promotion this season isnt just an aim - it might even be necessary for our short term future. Who wants to take on a job where Leicester will likely be under a transfer embargo AND a points deduction if we don’t go up? Who wants to take on a squad with a bunch of players on short term contracts with little invested in the future? Sound familiar? Who wants to take on a job at a club where the fanbase and the board are so utterly disconnected?
So why are we here once again? Are we just unlucky? We were meant to be fixing everything right? This was the big rebuild after Rodgers - after all relegation was all his fault right as well as the FFP breaches. We’re here because the club are doing precisely what got us into this mess in the first place - they’re gambling
When we got relegated we were estimated to be close to breaching the PLs own PSR legislation. The sale of James Maddison would be the difference and the timing of that is likely to be our mitigation. What the club gambled on however is the fact they would and indeed could breach this seasons EFL allowable losses (by a country mile) and face no major sanctions if they got promoted
It’s why promotion has to happen and why they are fighting so hard against any sort of sanctions this season. In truth the club have kept players on the books they knew would cause them to breach, gained a competitive advantage and have thrown all their chips on Maresca to pass their way through this division. And it almost came off. Except just like 2021 - the cards haven’t fallen our way
Rather than the club turning a corner, it’s continued in exactly the same vein - almost getting away with it by keeping a squad together that is largely too good for this division. And even then, they’ve somehow conspired to hire a manager with no track record to play a style of football that isn’t even working in this division let alone the PL. This club is a basket case. It isn’t learning.
It’s just putting a fresh face on the same old problem - and if we bin Maresca off now, we’ll be back where we were next season - a caretaker manager followed by an interview with Jesse Marsch
It’s time to accept that the King Power is finished as an ownership that can run this club in any kind of sustainable way. We’re likely to be stuck in this division for some time, paying off the points deductions and embargo’s earned through reckless gambling. It’s too late to do anything now, but next season - where ever we are, Leicester fans need to demand a change. The tide is turning against Top - this summer could be the catalyst that changes everything
History Repeating Itself
posted on 29/3/24
comment by Nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 47 minutes ago
Strangely enough, as despondent as you may feel, we've still got a chance to get promoted. It's not looking good at the moment, but we still might get there. Here's hoping for Monday!
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That’s a level of optimism I’m struggling to muster!
posted on 29/3/24
If we don't go up automatically then manager should go before play offs.
He has lost the fans and maybe some players.
If we go into playoffs as a disappointed side then I will have no confidence in manager whatsoever.
From being nailed on for promotion we have now lost more games than others top four teams.
In space of a few weeks we have become a laughing stock.
This just cannot be allowed to happen.
posted on 29/3/24
Totally agree Thorney. This is looking like the mother of all bottlejobs - even if we do go up via the play offs, there will be serious questions asked of a manager contrived to blow a 12 point lead in the championship with this level of talent. Worse still - the performances are getting worse, not better and the players look like they’re losing confidence by the week.
It was a silly appointment in the first place, made by a DoF who shouldn’t be at the club but is being enabled at every turn by Top
posted on 29/3/24
Tell you what - watching Leeds you can see such a difference from watching us. Farke has created a team that has real character - they press, they play with intensity, they never give up - they’ve got character: Enzo on the other hand has in some ways carried on from where Rodgers left off - creating a spineless tepid team that’s petrified of making mistakes, yet constantly does
posted on 29/3/24
comment by 99 Problems (King Power OUT) (U12353)
posted 2 hours, 33 minutes ago
comment by Nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 47 minutes ago
Strangely enough, as despondent as you may feel, we've still got a chance to get promoted. It's not looking good at the moment, but we still might get there. Here's hoping for Monday!
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That’s a level of optimism I’m struggling to muster!
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I may be clutching at straws here. I may also have had too much to drink . But somehow, with the other results not being completely disastrous, we are still in a position that means win our game in hand and we're top.
Monday's game feels like it is season defining. Either put in a good performance and harvest three points to start getting back on track, or continue what will feel like an inevitable slide to losing in the playoffs- it being almost impossible for us to miss out on them.
Whatever happens our recent performances do not bode well for next season.
posted on 30/3/24
And at least we don’t have to worry about relegation this season.
posted on 30/3/24
comment by Itchysnatcho (U22511)
posted 24 minutes ago
And at least we don’t have to worry about relegation this season.
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True, we're safe for the moment, but the way we're performing at present means I've a growing expectation for us to be a Championship side next season unfortunately. Dropping in to the playoffs means competing against a bunch of fully battle hardened, hungry teams when ours is showing zero character and fight under an inexperienced manager who doesn't seem to have a plan B now the whole division have seen what is needed to counter our limited and boring approach.
To be producing relegation form at this part if the season is potentially disastrous for the club, but we'll see on Monday if Enzo and the lads can turn things around. Hopefully they can, despite yesterday's defeat we are still in a very good position.
posted on 30/3/24
Cheesynatchos back Good to see a few old faces again on here
Yeah - to be honest I mean the state of the club at the moment means this seasons promotion would probably be the most pointless in history from a footballing perspective and with the points deduction alongside playing this type of football in the PL would almost certainly see us beat Derbys infamous 11 points
Failing to get promotion effectively finishes us from a financial perspective. Because the club have kept players they shouldn’t have this season and decided to breach the EFL rules on the basis we won’t be in this league - the EFL will throw the book at us.
Great times. I can see why Mersey has unwavering faith in Top
posted on 30/3/24
You know what time it is don’t you? It’s about time that Johngee should reappear things are really that bad!!
There’s no hiding right now. Things are bad and the wheels have come off. Can we find a way to drag ourselves over the line? I really hope so. Do I have any confidence we will? No I do not.
I fear for next season after a failed promotion push. We really could be on the slide where we sell 2-3 players like Faes, KDH and Ricardo and they somehow try to push on. It won’t happen, we’ll slide. The next 8 games might not just define this season but the next 10 years. It’s worrying.
posted on 30/3/24
John Gee has fired up his Windows PC - reaching for a glass of Merlot and firing up his ADSL router as we speak……
Mersey - agree fully on your concerns as you know, and you know the difference between us in terms of whether I think this ownership has the ability to steer us through the on and off field crisis of their creation.
The big worry for me is this. The club are high stakes gamblers. The financial gamble on European football effectively got us into this mess. They gambled on Rodgers getting us out of it and steering us through a season with no signings. They’ve now taken the biggest gamble of all - deciding not to sell players to meet the EFLs allowable losses this season on the basis they won’t be able to touch us if we get promoted
Make no mistake - this gamble has made the EFL ‘really angry’ according to ffp expert Kieran Maguire. The fact the club are STILL gambling rather than rebuilding is what will see us back to the Craig Levein years. We are finished in my view