Well, I’m bothered 99.
I had my first season ticket round about 1979-81. Thereafter, work commitments made a continuation untenable.
Managed to get back as a season ticket holder round about 2010ish, but have been a supporter since 1960-61 season. Really hooked after the first matches at Filbert St in November 1961.
It’s fair to say I have witnessed a few ups and as many downs as most; is there anything I could have done about it? I don’t think so. Is it all down to Top? Well, as he is the owner, you would have to say it is, with a proviso or two.
We couldn’t spend on the refresh in the summer apparently because of the previous p1ss poor refresh. Can’t really blame Top for that. Rodgers? Congerton? What we got was Bertrand (still find that hard to believe even now), with whom Rodgers had a previous association. We got Soumare. Whoever thought he was a footballer ought to have their credentials examined and shredded. We got Vestergaard. Reportedly, Rodgers had been chasing him for months before we landed him and then what does Rodgers do? Ignores him. Apparently, the same fate befell Daniel Agger at Liverpool during Rodgers’ tenure.
As regards contracts expiring, people are laying the blame at Rudkin’s door. Not sure how he rose to eminence as a Director of Football, given his previous less than high profile role as academy director.
Should Rodgers have been sacked after the first six matches and his public tantrum? Too right he should. Should he be sacked now? Difficult question to answer with 11 games left.
Mind you, Patrick Vieira is available. I’d have him tomorrow.
Well yes, of course I’m bothered. The club, its players, managers and chairmen over many years have been entrenched in my heart, body, soul, call it what you like. For me, it will never change.
Everything that is wrong about the club in its present form has been highlighted over the course of several months now. On those matters I have nothing to add and so I shall leave it at that. Perhaps I’ll come back to this at a later stage.
Some are, somewhat too late I fear. The atmosphere at the Chelsea match was pretty toxic, numerous times there were significant parts of the Kop calling for Rodgers to go. That didn't happen during the match at Brentford, the team got full support. Interestingly they were applauded afterwards when they came towards the fans, until Brendan appeared when the boos started - he turned tail pretty sharpish then.
I've not been happy with Rodgers since he started calling out the players last season, this is an unusual place for me to find myself, but I don't like that he seems more fixated on the Brendan project than our club. It's not all down to him however, he wasn't given necessary support last summer.
He should have been sacked after the disastrous start to the season - which almost guaranteed this year would be a struggle; with the World Cup break there would have been ample time for Dyche (or whoever) to get properly bedded in before the January window.
Is there sufficient time to make a change now? There are only 11 games left. Perhaps more significantly it would surely take a month for someone to come in and assess the squad and make any significant changes, during which time we play crucial matches against Palace, Bournemouth, Wolves and Leeds. Maybe a caretaker manager could make a difference, but do you have any faith in the rest of the coaching team to make such an appointment? I have a horrible suspicion that the Hammers visit on 28 May might turn out to be a winner takes all scenario!
I doubt if any change will be made at this late stage, we'll just have to hope that Rodgers realises his best legacy would be to keep us up rather than getting a relegation on his CV. Saturday showed a much improved performance in the second half, and a decent point earned away from home to stop the run of defeats, but it may turn out to be a missed opportunity to harvest a win which could cost us dearly at the end of the season.
Rudkin is an interesting discussion point, I've always been dubious about him given his lack of experience in the role. To be fair there have been some good points during his tenure, with some eminently satisfactory signings and disposals, but in addition to some awful recent acquisitions, the current crop of contract issues threatens to be catastrophic.
Although Top may have been let down by his employees, he bears culpability for the situation we find ourselves in as he bears the ultimate responsibility. I suspect that Rudkin might still be employed if Vichai had survived, but I believe Brendan would have been given the boot in the Autumn, and I doubt if the finances would be in such a mess.
Good comments guys thanks. I think it’s probably the lack of action at matches really combined also with the shocking level of complacency from a few fans this season who are only just starting to wake up. The unconditional support of Top - an owner who is speculator failing the basics - just because of the past achievements and legacy of his father is also baffling
The one thing that could influence the board to act is fan pressure. Because there has hardly been any - they haven’t need to act. So Rodgers being in post is also partly down to the fans for failing to stand up at matches and be counted
Am I bothered? Yes, of course. Leicester City has been a big part of my life since I was a kid, I have many happy memories as a supporter. It is painful to see all the years of progress and success going down the toilet because of the bad decisions that have been made, and continue to be made. But my emotional connection to the club is waning, mainly because of the inaction to address our slide towards relegation and not getting rid of the single biggest blockage in our club; which, in my view, is Brendan Rodgers.
Also, I am just a bit tired of feeling tired with Leicester City at the moment. We have discussed what is going wrong at length and it's hard to keep going over the same things when nothing is being done to address the problems. In the absence of any leadership from the board, the void is being filled with apathy. It also feels like, as a fanbase, we have been gaslighted by the football club this season - the manager, board, players, media, even some of the fans. When you keep hearing people saying how our our decline is just a natural, almost spiritual, occurrence, one that was always bound to happen and was completely unavoidable, rather than because of the disastrous decision making that has overtaken the football club in recent years, it is difficult to not let some of that acceptance of our managed decline enter your own personal thoughts.
You are right to say that, once upon a time, the fans would have kicked off and made their thoughts known. Whether that be during the Pleat, Taylor or Holloway eras where our club was on the cusp of collapse. Heck, even Puel got more stick than Rodgers is now; we were never in this position under him, yet certain fans were prepared to dropkick him over the Eiffel Tower if he didn't leave. Now, it feels like the fanbase as a whole has been consumed by a sort of complacency mixed with apathetic content. Some fans are driven by periods of success and demand that it continue. With us, it feels like we have reached our destination and everyone is content that those were the glory years, never to be experienced again. As a result, people are content to experience the decline, because the success we have between 2014 and 2021 was our Nirvana, our end goal, one that we can never aspire to again. I had always hoped that we would never be one of those fanbases, like a Forest or Leeds, that are happy to live off of past glories, yet here we are.
As for the fanbase as a whole, it is just a very underwhelming one that is content to accepting mediocrity. It was shameful to hear that the supporter who took the 'Rodgers Out' banner to Brentford and unfurled it after the game was abused and assaulted because of it. That just sums up certain parts of our fanbase - content with the mediocre, not prepared to rock the boat, happy to live off past glories as we slide to our demise. They aren't even the type of fans who support Rodgers or sing songs about him - they just oppose any signs of discontent as if it is proof that those doing it are ungrateful. The 'Keep the Faith' motto has become a semi-religious, cult-like demand.
From my perspective, whether we stay up or go down, the one thing for me that has to change is the manager. I can tolerate a season or two in the Championship if it means that we are moving forward with a new sense of optimism and hope for the future. I can even accept Top's own failings if it means he finally comes to his senses and addresses his own shortcomings in the process. But what I cannot accept or tolerate is us finishing 17th and Rodgers staying for another season. He needs to go before I can even begin to fall in love with the club again. If he is still here next season, I will have to accept that my support of the club will be much more reserved; still checking results and browsing the forums, but not watching or listening to every match as a permanent fixture in my routine. I am already feeling more disconnected from the club than I have for a long time - Rodgers staying for another season would push that to the limit.
Foxello,
Your last paragraph says it all, agree 100%.
.
if the board had any sense or passion for the club, as we all do on here,then they would get rid of him now and get a new manager during international break.
Should be phoning Veira now.
Agree with 99 & Foxello wholeheartedly but apart from the fact that a lot of supporters seem to be just hoping for the best and not being vocal in their disenchantment of the current state of affairs, I think that there is little more to be said. The bottom line is that those who run the club are like most politicians these days. They just don't care!
My opinions have been very closely aligned to Foxello’s for some time now and that remains the case in this response also.
I want Rodgers gone. The sooner the better. I don’t car if we go down, because I’d rather want to support my club in the championship with a manager and team that I believed in rather than a man who seems to disrespect the club, the players and the fans and seem to think it’s ok to carry on pretending to lead the club.
Top is wrong to have let that happen of course. But my anger still starts and ends with Rodgers as I feel like he’s caused a lot of this season’s struggles with his attitude and the way he handled the squad at the start of the season. He stinks the whole place out.
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 30 minutes ago
My opinions have been very closely aligned to Foxello’s for some time now and that remains the case in this response also.
I want Rodgers gone. The sooner the better. I don’t car if we go down, because I’d rather want to support my club in the championship with a manager and team that I believed in rather than a man who seems to disrespect the club, the players and the fans and seem to think it’s ok to carry on pretending to lead the club.
Top is wrong to have let that happen of course. But my anger still starts and ends with Rodgers as I feel like he’s caused a lot of this season’s struggles with his attitude and the way he handled the squad at the start of the season. He stinks the whole place out.
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You’re part of the problem for me Mersey I’m sorry to say. I don’t think you’re aligned with Foxello who seems to at least understand how useless our board and owners have become. You can’t see past Rodgers and you’re in for a shock when he goes and things don’t improve. This is a club going nowhere with fans such as yourself who can’t see where the real problem lies
For the record, I certainly don't think sacking Rodgers solves all our problems overnight. It might be that the decline is now so terminal that only relegation and a full overhaul from top to bottom can begin to reset the club. But I'll tell you one thing - I'll be happy to not have to put up with Brendan Rodgers, his planet sized ego and his travelling PR circus of sycophants. That, for me, would be the start of the deep cleanse we need. A necessary first step that has no guarantees of turning the tide, but is needed nonetheless.
To coin a phrase - we would still have 99 problems, but Brendan Rodgers wouldn't be one.
Completely agree. The first thing Top can do to show that he’s not the totally incompetent chairman that many of us suspect him to be is to sack Rodgers. What he then has to do is to rectify the damage he (Top not Rodgers) has caused in other areas of the club. He could do that by re-shuffling the equally inept board, starting first and foremost with Rudkin - someone proven to be incapable of being a DoF.
Top then needs to look at bringing in external expertise that have football experience and that needs to be from the top down. An experienced DoF, board room advisors, a revamp of the recruitment and of course a manager that fits the vision of what the club should be. He also needs to rectify the financial mess his family have inadvertently got the club into.
In summary - he has a hell of a lot of work to do and I’m not sure it’s within his DNA to be able to do it
One thing that could force him to wake up and realise how serious the situation has become of course is if the fans stage a protest, make their voices heard, demand change. That is literally the only thing he will understand in my opinion
Once we are actually in the bottom 3, it will kick off big time. It all becomes a "reality" then to the happy clappers in our fanbase.
comment by 99 Problems (Top - invest in the squad and sack Rodgers) (U12353)
posted 20 hours, 49 minutes ago
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 30 minutes ago
My opinions have been very closely aligned to Foxello’s for some time now and that remains the case in this response also.
I want Rodgers gone. The sooner the better. I don’t car if we go down, because I’d rather want to support my club in the championship with a manager and team that I believed in rather than a man who seems to disrespect the club, the players and the fans and seem to think it’s ok to carry on pretending to lead the club.
Top is wrong to have let that happen of course. But my anger still starts and ends with Rodgers as I feel like he’s caused a lot of this season’s struggles with his attitude and the way he handled the squad at the start of the season. He stinks the whole place out.
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You’re part of the problem for me Mersey I’m sorry to say. I don’t think you’re aligned with Foxello who seems to at least understand how useless our board and owners have become. You can’t see past Rodgers and you’re in for a shock when he goes and things don’t improve. This is a club going nowhere with fans such as yourself who can’t see where the real problem lies
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Not sure I am part of the problem 99 as I have very little say in how the club is run other than giving them my money and shouting a bit on a Saturday afternoon.
I agree with everything Foxello says again and feel I am more aligned than you think I am. I think Top’s biggest failing is keeping Rodgers and allowing the slow decline to accelerate this season. He’s accountable for that.
However, where we still differ is I think the club can’t go from being held up as the poster club of how to run things in the premier league to utter hopeless under the exact same management bar Top. I think the answer lies somewhere in between.
Mistakes have been made over the last 2 years and it’s caused financial issues made worse by FFP and our inability to pay our way out of the mess. Massive contracts to new signings that don’t play, long contracts for players on the wane, and allowing players like Tielemans and Soyuncu to leave on a free has caused real issues. That bad management has been down to the execution of the strategy to back Rodgers with a squad for Europe. It all stems from that. Many people are accountable, and many problems exist. There are issues in the club as a result.
For me what is now needed is a fresh start under a new manager with a new plan. back to the strategy that worked - a leaner squad with young hungry talented players complimented by experience. A manager that believes in his players and team.
I totally agree Rodgers is not the only problem, but do you agree with me that he’s the biggest problem at our club right now? Or would you attribute that to another person, namely Top?
I view Rodgers being still in post as a symptom of the way our club is currently run rather than being the sole cause of our rapid decline. The decline is a result of complete mismanagement from chairman and board level.
I’ve made this point about Top over and again but I do think it’s lost on you. The point being that I’ve seen instances in the work place of someone inheriting a very well run operation, the results of which bear fruit under their management. That relates to Leicester being held up as the model club - when in actuality Vichais work was bearing fruit and being credited to Top
What’s happening now - is that Tops true leadership skills are being exposed as woefully inadequate in the face of his first real test. It’s easy when things are going well, when you’ve inherited your dads empire and benefited from the things your dad put in place. It’s easy when you’ve had your dad to rely on when tough decisions are needed. For the first 2 years - Top could effectively keep the motor running. Then came the need for some tough decisions and that’s where we’ve seen the difference
Infact it’s not an insignificant difference - it’s an alarming inability to take decisions in the best interests of the club. He’s so poor he’s single handedly taken us from 5th and FA cup winners to relegation candidates by standing by and watching Rodgers trash the team and spend what little money he’s had very badly.
Foxello in my view understand that Top isn’t cut out for the role - I don’t think you’ve ever understood and I genuinely don’t think you ever will
Let’s ask him then TB.
@Foxello - do you want Top gone?
comment by Foxello (U6985)
posted 2 days, 8 hours ago
I had always hoped that we would never be one of those fanbases, like a Forest or Leeds, that are happy to live off of past glories, yet here we are.
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comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
Let’s ask him then TB.
@Foxello - do you want Top gone?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't go getting me involved in your lovers tiff
In truth, my feelings on Top are a lot more nuanced than they are on Rodgers. Mainly because Top seems to be a genuinely nice guy who has tried his best for the football club but fallen short - whereas Rodgers is an egotistical megalomaniac who's sole interest over the past 8 months has been to try and protect the interests of Brendan Rodgers.
There will always be an emotional connection with Top that simply does not, and will never, exist with Rodgers. He is unavoidably linked to the club through his father's legacy and he did play an able part as the No. 2 during Vichai's successful reign. He and his family will always have a place in the heart of those who lived through the most successful period in the club's history.
Where I have started to fall away in terms of my support for him is in more practical terms - the decisions he has made, particularly so since the FA Cup win (though I'm sure 99 will point to earlier decisions pre-Wembley). This is where I am starting to draw the line between my heart and my head, and my head is telling me that Top is not up to the job and it's hurting the club. This is why I think we have to break up the KP ownership and look at it as two separate periods - the successful Vichai period, and the underwhelming Top period.
Do I want Top to leave the club? In an ideal world, no. I would like him to get better at the job. The problem is that his continued and apparently unmoving support for Rodgers is making me convinced that he's just incompetent. It worries me that he is just not waking up to the immediate dangers and seems oblivious to the mess we are in. His inaction is embodying the complacency that is seeping through the club at every level, leading to a potential date with destiny in the form of relegation.
In short - I would like to see Top remain, but he needs to improve and get his act together. There is still time for him to turn it around for me, but my patience in him is being stretched to breaking point. Unlike Rodgers, who will never turn me around regardless of what he does.
Brendan
2018/19 - 11th to 09th
2019/20 - 05th
2020/21 - 05th & Fa Cup winners
2021/22 - 08th
45.3% win
Is there a statue of Brendan to visit yet?
Fail to see where all the moaning is coming from!
comment by Kebablegs (U17699)
posted 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
Brendan
2018/19 - 11th to 09th
2019/20 - 05th
2020/21 - 05th & Fa Cup winners
2021/22 - 08th
45.3% win
Is there a statue of Brendan to visit yet?
Fail to see where all the moaning is coming from!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Currently 17th with virtually the same group of players that won the FA cup and regressing season upon season. Likely to be relegated and he’s wasted the money he did have to spend before crying he’s got none
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 4 hours, 40 minutes ago
Let’s ask him then TB.
@Foxello - do you want Top gone?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Well that’s a completely different question. I said Foxello understands that Top isn’t up to the job. You’ve twisted that into trying to pin his colours to the mast and show that you are aligned after all
Foxelllo has a level of honest perception about Top that I personally don’t think you’re capable of. You can try and twist yourself in half to show you’re aligned - you’re not because ultimately you can’t see that Top could be the source of the problem. Foxello is reluctantly seeing that to be the case.
comment by Foxello (U6985)
posted 11 hours, 34 minutes ago
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
Let’s ask him then TB.
@Foxello - do you want Top gone?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't go getting me involved in your lovers tiff
In truth, my feelings on Top are a lot more nuanced than they are on Rodgers. Mainly because Top seems to be a genuinely nice guy who has tried his best for the football club but fallen short - whereas Rodgers is an egotistical megalomaniac who's sole interest over the past 8 months has been to try and protect the interests of Brendan Rodgers.
There will always be an emotional connection with Top that simply does not, and will never, exist with Rodgers. He is unavoidably linked to the club through his father's legacy and he did play an able part as the No. 2 during Vichai's successful reign. He and his family will always have a place in the heart of those who lived through the most successful period in the club's history.
Where I have started to fall away in terms of my support for him is in more practical terms - the decisions he has made, particularly so since the FA Cup win (though I'm sure 99 will point to earlier decisions pre-Wembley). This is where I am starting to draw the line between my heart and my head, and my head is telling me that Top is not up to the job and it's hurting the club. This is why I think we have to break up the KP ownership and look at it as two separate periods - the successful Vichai period, and the underwhelming Top period.
Do I want Top to leave the club? In an ideal world, no. I would like him to get better at the job. The problem is that his continued and apparently unmoving support for Rodgers is making me convinced that he's just incompetent. It worries me that he is just not waking up to the immediate dangers and seems oblivious to the mess we are in. His inaction is embodying the complacency that is seeping through the club at every level, leading to a potential date with destiny in the form of relegation.
In short - I would like to see Top remain, but he needs to improve and get his act together. There is still time for him to turn it around for me, but my patience in him is being stretched to breaking point. Unlike Rodgers, who will never turn me around regardless of what he does.
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Foxello, this is wrong about Brendan - you are being too kind. He started his open defence of the Rodgers project about a year rather than 8 months ago, towards the end of last season, when he started publicly criticising the players.
Otherwise your summary about Rodgers and Top is uncannily near to how I feel about the situation. If I'm being as fair as I can about our manager, Brendan has undoubtedly had to deal with a lack of investment over the last year or so, but he seems to have milked that situation for more than it was worth.
I'm also still hopeful that Top is on a steep learning curve and will improve, but the omens are not looking good, he has been in post for over four years now. Again trying to be fair, Top has had to deal with his main business suffering terribly with the pandemic over the last three years. He has however left Rodgers in place until it's pretty much too late to get rid this season, so we're likely to sink or swim with Brendan. I am still convinced that Rodgers would have been long gone if Vichai had survived.
comment by Kebablegs (U17699)
posted 11 hours, 9 minutes ago
Brendan
2018/19 - 11th to 09th
2019/20 - 05th
2020/21 - 05th & Fa Cup winners
2021/22 - 08th
45.3% win
Is there a statue of Brendan to visit yet?
Fail to see where all the moaning is coming from!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Can't believe your guys sacked Jesse Marsch after he saved you from relegation last season. How ungrateful - especially after he turned around the mess Marcelo Bielsa had made.
"Foxello, this is wrong about Brendan - you are being too kind. He started his open defence of the Rodgers project about a year rather than 8 months ago, towards the end of last season, when he started publicly criticising the players."
That's a fair point. Rodgers was certainly in his saving face exercise after the Forest game and publicly slated players like Soyuncu. To be fair, he wasn't wrong to call for a refresh, and it was required last summer - it's the fact he kept banging on about it and tried to hide his own failings when we were bottom of the league that really grinds my gears.
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Are Leicester fans bothered anymore?
Page 1 of 2
posted on 20/3/23
Well, I’m bothered 99.
I had my first season ticket round about 1979-81. Thereafter, work commitments made a continuation untenable.
Managed to get back as a season ticket holder round about 2010ish, but have been a supporter since 1960-61 season. Really hooked after the first matches at Filbert St in November 1961.
It’s fair to say I have witnessed a few ups and as many downs as most; is there anything I could have done about it? I don’t think so. Is it all down to Top? Well, as he is the owner, you would have to say it is, with a proviso or two.
We couldn’t spend on the refresh in the summer apparently because of the previous p1ss poor refresh. Can’t really blame Top for that. Rodgers? Congerton? What we got was Bertrand (still find that hard to believe even now), with whom Rodgers had a previous association. We got Soumare. Whoever thought he was a footballer ought to have their credentials examined and shredded. We got Vestergaard. Reportedly, Rodgers had been chasing him for months before we landed him and then what does Rodgers do? Ignores him. Apparently, the same fate befell Daniel Agger at Liverpool during Rodgers’ tenure.
As regards contracts expiring, people are laying the blame at Rudkin’s door. Not sure how he rose to eminence as a Director of Football, given his previous less than high profile role as academy director.
Should Rodgers have been sacked after the first six matches and his public tantrum? Too right he should. Should he be sacked now? Difficult question to answer with 11 games left.
Mind you, Patrick Vieira is available. I’d have him tomorrow.
posted on 21/3/23
Well yes, of course I’m bothered. The club, its players, managers and chairmen over many years have been entrenched in my heart, body, soul, call it what you like. For me, it will never change.
Everything that is wrong about the club in its present form has been highlighted over the course of several months now. On those matters I have nothing to add and so I shall leave it at that. Perhaps I’ll come back to this at a later stage.
posted on 21/3/23
Some are, somewhat too late I fear. The atmosphere at the Chelsea match was pretty toxic, numerous times there were significant parts of the Kop calling for Rodgers to go. That didn't happen during the match at Brentford, the team got full support. Interestingly they were applauded afterwards when they came towards the fans, until Brendan appeared when the boos started - he turned tail pretty sharpish then.
I've not been happy with Rodgers since he started calling out the players last season, this is an unusual place for me to find myself, but I don't like that he seems more fixated on the Brendan project than our club. It's not all down to him however, he wasn't given necessary support last summer.
He should have been sacked after the disastrous start to the season - which almost guaranteed this year would be a struggle; with the World Cup break there would have been ample time for Dyche (or whoever) to get properly bedded in before the January window.
Is there sufficient time to make a change now? There are only 11 games left. Perhaps more significantly it would surely take a month for someone to come in and assess the squad and make any significant changes, during which time we play crucial matches against Palace, Bournemouth, Wolves and Leeds. Maybe a caretaker manager could make a difference, but do you have any faith in the rest of the coaching team to make such an appointment? I have a horrible suspicion that the Hammers visit on 28 May might turn out to be a winner takes all scenario!
I doubt if any change will be made at this late stage, we'll just have to hope that Rodgers realises his best legacy would be to keep us up rather than getting a relegation on his CV. Saturday showed a much improved performance in the second half, and a decent point earned away from home to stop the run of defeats, but it may turn out to be a missed opportunity to harvest a win which could cost us dearly at the end of the season.
Rudkin is an interesting discussion point, I've always been dubious about him given his lack of experience in the role. To be fair there have been some good points during his tenure, with some eminently satisfactory signings and disposals, but in addition to some awful recent acquisitions, the current crop of contract issues threatens to be catastrophic.
Although Top may have been let down by his employees, he bears culpability for the situation we find ourselves in as he bears the ultimate responsibility. I suspect that Rudkin might still be employed if Vichai had survived, but I believe Brendan would have been given the boot in the Autumn, and I doubt if the finances would be in such a mess.
posted on 21/3/23
Good comments guys thanks. I think it’s probably the lack of action at matches really combined also with the shocking level of complacency from a few fans this season who are only just starting to wake up. The unconditional support of Top - an owner who is speculator failing the basics - just because of the past achievements and legacy of his father is also baffling
The one thing that could influence the board to act is fan pressure. Because there has hardly been any - they haven’t need to act. So Rodgers being in post is also partly down to the fans for failing to stand up at matches and be counted
posted on 21/3/23
Am I bothered? Yes, of course. Leicester City has been a big part of my life since I was a kid, I have many happy memories as a supporter. It is painful to see all the years of progress and success going down the toilet because of the bad decisions that have been made, and continue to be made. But my emotional connection to the club is waning, mainly because of the inaction to address our slide towards relegation and not getting rid of the single biggest blockage in our club; which, in my view, is Brendan Rodgers.
Also, I am just a bit tired of feeling tired with Leicester City at the moment. We have discussed what is going wrong at length and it's hard to keep going over the same things when nothing is being done to address the problems. In the absence of any leadership from the board, the void is being filled with apathy. It also feels like, as a fanbase, we have been gaslighted by the football club this season - the manager, board, players, media, even some of the fans. When you keep hearing people saying how our our decline is just a natural, almost spiritual, occurrence, one that was always bound to happen and was completely unavoidable, rather than because of the disastrous decision making that has overtaken the football club in recent years, it is difficult to not let some of that acceptance of our managed decline enter your own personal thoughts.
You are right to say that, once upon a time, the fans would have kicked off and made their thoughts known. Whether that be during the Pleat, Taylor or Holloway eras where our club was on the cusp of collapse. Heck, even Puel got more stick than Rodgers is now; we were never in this position under him, yet certain fans were prepared to dropkick him over the Eiffel Tower if he didn't leave. Now, it feels like the fanbase as a whole has been consumed by a sort of complacency mixed with apathetic content. Some fans are driven by periods of success and demand that it continue. With us, it feels like we have reached our destination and everyone is content that those were the glory years, never to be experienced again. As a result, people are content to experience the decline, because the success we have between 2014 and 2021 was our Nirvana, our end goal, one that we can never aspire to again. I had always hoped that we would never be one of those fanbases, like a Forest or Leeds, that are happy to live off of past glories, yet here we are.
As for the fanbase as a whole, it is just a very underwhelming one that is content to accepting mediocrity. It was shameful to hear that the supporter who took the 'Rodgers Out' banner to Brentford and unfurled it after the game was abused and assaulted because of it. That just sums up certain parts of our fanbase - content with the mediocre, not prepared to rock the boat, happy to live off past glories as we slide to our demise. They aren't even the type of fans who support Rodgers or sing songs about him - they just oppose any signs of discontent as if it is proof that those doing it are ungrateful. The 'Keep the Faith' motto has become a semi-religious, cult-like demand.
From my perspective, whether we stay up or go down, the one thing for me that has to change is the manager. I can tolerate a season or two in the Championship if it means that we are moving forward with a new sense of optimism and hope for the future. I can even accept Top's own failings if it means he finally comes to his senses and addresses his own shortcomings in the process. But what I cannot accept or tolerate is us finishing 17th and Rodgers staying for another season. He needs to go before I can even begin to fall in love with the club again. If he is still here next season, I will have to accept that my support of the club will be much more reserved; still checking results and browsing the forums, but not watching or listening to every match as a permanent fixture in my routine. I am already feeling more disconnected from the club than I have for a long time - Rodgers staying for another season would push that to the limit.
posted on 21/3/23
Foxello,
Your last paragraph says it all, agree 100%.
.
posted on 21/3/23
if the board had any sense or passion for the club, as we all do on here,then they would get rid of him now and get a new manager during international break.
Should be phoning Veira now.
posted on 21/3/23
Agree with 99 & Foxello wholeheartedly but apart from the fact that a lot of supporters seem to be just hoping for the best and not being vocal in their disenchantment of the current state of affairs, I think that there is little more to be said. The bottom line is that those who run the club are like most politicians these days. They just don't care!
posted on 21/3/23
My opinions have been very closely aligned to Foxello’s for some time now and that remains the case in this response also.
I want Rodgers gone. The sooner the better. I don’t car if we go down, because I’d rather want to support my club in the championship with a manager and team that I believed in rather than a man who seems to disrespect the club, the players and the fans and seem to think it’s ok to carry on pretending to lead the club.
Top is wrong to have let that happen of course. But my anger still starts and ends with Rodgers as I feel like he’s caused a lot of this season’s struggles with his attitude and the way he handled the squad at the start of the season. He stinks the whole place out.
posted on 21/3/23
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 30 minutes ago
My opinions have been very closely aligned to Foxello’s for some time now and that remains the case in this response also.
I want Rodgers gone. The sooner the better. I don’t car if we go down, because I’d rather want to support my club in the championship with a manager and team that I believed in rather than a man who seems to disrespect the club, the players and the fans and seem to think it’s ok to carry on pretending to lead the club.
Top is wrong to have let that happen of course. But my anger still starts and ends with Rodgers as I feel like he’s caused a lot of this season’s struggles with his attitude and the way he handled the squad at the start of the season. He stinks the whole place out.
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You’re part of the problem for me Mersey I’m sorry to say. I don’t think you’re aligned with Foxello who seems to at least understand how useless our board and owners have become. You can’t see past Rodgers and you’re in for a shock when he goes and things don’t improve. This is a club going nowhere with fans such as yourself who can’t see where the real problem lies
posted on 21/3/23
For the record, I certainly don't think sacking Rodgers solves all our problems overnight. It might be that the decline is now so terminal that only relegation and a full overhaul from top to bottom can begin to reset the club. But I'll tell you one thing - I'll be happy to not have to put up with Brendan Rodgers, his planet sized ego and his travelling PR circus of sycophants. That, for me, would be the start of the deep cleanse we need. A necessary first step that has no guarantees of turning the tide, but is needed nonetheless.
To coin a phrase - we would still have 99 problems, but Brendan Rodgers wouldn't be one.
posted on 21/3/23
Completely agree. The first thing Top can do to show that he’s not the totally incompetent chairman that many of us suspect him to be is to sack Rodgers. What he then has to do is to rectify the damage he (Top not Rodgers) has caused in other areas of the club. He could do that by re-shuffling the equally inept board, starting first and foremost with Rudkin - someone proven to be incapable of being a DoF.
Top then needs to look at bringing in external expertise that have football experience and that needs to be from the top down. An experienced DoF, board room advisors, a revamp of the recruitment and of course a manager that fits the vision of what the club should be. He also needs to rectify the financial mess his family have inadvertently got the club into.
In summary - he has a hell of a lot of work to do and I’m not sure it’s within his DNA to be able to do it
posted on 21/3/23
One thing that could force him to wake up and realise how serious the situation has become of course is if the fans stage a protest, make their voices heard, demand change. That is literally the only thing he will understand in my opinion
posted on 22/3/23
Once we are actually in the bottom 3, it will kick off big time. It all becomes a "reality" then to the happy clappers in our fanbase.
posted on 22/3/23
comment by 99 Problems (Top - invest in the squad and sack Rodgers) (U12353)
posted 20 hours, 49 minutes ago
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 30 minutes ago
My opinions have been very closely aligned to Foxello’s for some time now and that remains the case in this response also.
I want Rodgers gone. The sooner the better. I don’t car if we go down, because I’d rather want to support my club in the championship with a manager and team that I believed in rather than a man who seems to disrespect the club, the players and the fans and seem to think it’s ok to carry on pretending to lead the club.
Top is wrong to have let that happen of course. But my anger still starts and ends with Rodgers as I feel like he’s caused a lot of this season’s struggles with his attitude and the way he handled the squad at the start of the season. He stinks the whole place out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You’re part of the problem for me Mersey I’m sorry to say. I don’t think you’re aligned with Foxello who seems to at least understand how useless our board and owners have become. You can’t see past Rodgers and you’re in for a shock when he goes and things don’t improve. This is a club going nowhere with fans such as yourself who can’t see where the real problem lies
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Not sure I am part of the problem 99 as I have very little say in how the club is run other than giving them my money and shouting a bit on a Saturday afternoon.
I agree with everything Foxello says again and feel I am more aligned than you think I am. I think Top’s biggest failing is keeping Rodgers and allowing the slow decline to accelerate this season. He’s accountable for that.
However, where we still differ is I think the club can’t go from being held up as the poster club of how to run things in the premier league to utter hopeless under the exact same management bar Top. I think the answer lies somewhere in between.
Mistakes have been made over the last 2 years and it’s caused financial issues made worse by FFP and our inability to pay our way out of the mess. Massive contracts to new signings that don’t play, long contracts for players on the wane, and allowing players like Tielemans and Soyuncu to leave on a free has caused real issues. That bad management has been down to the execution of the strategy to back Rodgers with a squad for Europe. It all stems from that. Many people are accountable, and many problems exist. There are issues in the club as a result.
For me what is now needed is a fresh start under a new manager with a new plan. back to the strategy that worked - a leaner squad with young hungry talented players complimented by experience. A manager that believes in his players and team.
I totally agree Rodgers is not the only problem, but do you agree with me that he’s the biggest problem at our club right now? Or would you attribute that to another person, namely Top?
posted on 22/3/23
I view Rodgers being still in post as a symptom of the way our club is currently run rather than being the sole cause of our rapid decline. The decline is a result of complete mismanagement from chairman and board level.
I’ve made this point about Top over and again but I do think it’s lost on you. The point being that I’ve seen instances in the work place of someone inheriting a very well run operation, the results of which bear fruit under their management. That relates to Leicester being held up as the model club - when in actuality Vichais work was bearing fruit and being credited to Top
What’s happening now - is that Tops true leadership skills are being exposed as woefully inadequate in the face of his first real test. It’s easy when things are going well, when you’ve inherited your dads empire and benefited from the things your dad put in place. It’s easy when you’ve had your dad to rely on when tough decisions are needed. For the first 2 years - Top could effectively keep the motor running. Then came the need for some tough decisions and that’s where we’ve seen the difference
Infact it’s not an insignificant difference - it’s an alarming inability to take decisions in the best interests of the club. He’s so poor he’s single handedly taken us from 5th and FA cup winners to relegation candidates by standing by and watching Rodgers trash the team and spend what little money he’s had very badly.
Foxello in my view understand that Top isn’t cut out for the role - I don’t think you’ve ever understood and I genuinely don’t think you ever will
posted on 23/3/23
Let’s ask him then TB.
@Foxello - do you want Top gone?
posted on 23/3/23
comment by Foxello (U6985)
posted 2 days, 8 hours ago
I had always hoped that we would never be one of those fanbases, like a Forest or Leeds, that are happy to live off of past glories, yet here we are.
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posted on 23/3/23
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
Let’s ask him then TB.
@Foxello - do you want Top gone?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't go getting me involved in your lovers tiff
In truth, my feelings on Top are a lot more nuanced than they are on Rodgers. Mainly because Top seems to be a genuinely nice guy who has tried his best for the football club but fallen short - whereas Rodgers is an egotistical megalomaniac who's sole interest over the past 8 months has been to try and protect the interests of Brendan Rodgers.
There will always be an emotional connection with Top that simply does not, and will never, exist with Rodgers. He is unavoidably linked to the club through his father's legacy and he did play an able part as the No. 2 during Vichai's successful reign. He and his family will always have a place in the heart of those who lived through the most successful period in the club's history.
Where I have started to fall away in terms of my support for him is in more practical terms - the decisions he has made, particularly so since the FA Cup win (though I'm sure 99 will point to earlier decisions pre-Wembley). This is where I am starting to draw the line between my heart and my head, and my head is telling me that Top is not up to the job and it's hurting the club. This is why I think we have to break up the KP ownership and look at it as two separate periods - the successful Vichai period, and the underwhelming Top period.
Do I want Top to leave the club? In an ideal world, no. I would like him to get better at the job. The problem is that his continued and apparently unmoving support for Rodgers is making me convinced that he's just incompetent. It worries me that he is just not waking up to the immediate dangers and seems oblivious to the mess we are in. His inaction is embodying the complacency that is seeping through the club at every level, leading to a potential date with destiny in the form of relegation.
In short - I would like to see Top remain, but he needs to improve and get his act together. There is still time for him to turn it around for me, but my patience in him is being stretched to breaking point. Unlike Rodgers, who will never turn me around regardless of what he does.
posted on 23/3/23
Brendan
2018/19 - 11th to 09th
2019/20 - 05th
2020/21 - 05th & Fa Cup winners
2021/22 - 08th
45.3% win
Is there a statue of Brendan to visit yet?
Fail to see where all the moaning is coming from!
posted on 23/3/23
comment by Kebablegs (U17699)
posted 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
Brendan
2018/19 - 11th to 09th
2019/20 - 05th
2020/21 - 05th & Fa Cup winners
2021/22 - 08th
45.3% win
Is there a statue of Brendan to visit yet?
Fail to see where all the moaning is coming from!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Currently 17th with virtually the same group of players that won the FA cup and regressing season upon season. Likely to be relegated and he’s wasted the money he did have to spend before crying he’s got none
posted on 23/3/23
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 4 hours, 40 minutes ago
Let’s ask him then TB.
@Foxello - do you want Top gone?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Well that’s a completely different question. I said Foxello understands that Top isn’t up to the job. You’ve twisted that into trying to pin his colours to the mast and show that you are aligned after all
Foxelllo has a level of honest perception about Top that I personally don’t think you’re capable of. You can try and twist yourself in half to show you’re aligned - you’re not because ultimately you can’t see that Top could be the source of the problem. Foxello is reluctantly seeing that to be the case.
posted on 24/3/23
comment by Foxello (U6985)
posted 11 hours, 34 minutes ago
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
Let’s ask him then TB.
@Foxello - do you want Top gone?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't go getting me involved in your lovers tiff
In truth, my feelings on Top are a lot more nuanced than they are on Rodgers. Mainly because Top seems to be a genuinely nice guy who has tried his best for the football club but fallen short - whereas Rodgers is an egotistical megalomaniac who's sole interest over the past 8 months has been to try and protect the interests of Brendan Rodgers.
There will always be an emotional connection with Top that simply does not, and will never, exist with Rodgers. He is unavoidably linked to the club through his father's legacy and he did play an able part as the No. 2 during Vichai's successful reign. He and his family will always have a place in the heart of those who lived through the most successful period in the club's history.
Where I have started to fall away in terms of my support for him is in more practical terms - the decisions he has made, particularly so since the FA Cup win (though I'm sure 99 will point to earlier decisions pre-Wembley). This is where I am starting to draw the line between my heart and my head, and my head is telling me that Top is not up to the job and it's hurting the club. This is why I think we have to break up the KP ownership and look at it as two separate periods - the successful Vichai period, and the underwhelming Top period.
Do I want Top to leave the club? In an ideal world, no. I would like him to get better at the job. The problem is that his continued and apparently unmoving support for Rodgers is making me convinced that he's just incompetent. It worries me that he is just not waking up to the immediate dangers and seems oblivious to the mess we are in. His inaction is embodying the complacency that is seeping through the club at every level, leading to a potential date with destiny in the form of relegation.
In short - I would like to see Top remain, but he needs to improve and get his act together. There is still time for him to turn it around for me, but my patience in him is being stretched to breaking point. Unlike Rodgers, who will never turn me around regardless of what he does.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Foxello, this is wrong about Brendan - you are being too kind. He started his open defence of the Rodgers project about a year rather than 8 months ago, towards the end of last season, when he started publicly criticising the players.
Otherwise your summary about Rodgers and Top is uncannily near to how I feel about the situation. If I'm being as fair as I can about our manager, Brendan has undoubtedly had to deal with a lack of investment over the last year or so, but he seems to have milked that situation for more than it was worth.
I'm also still hopeful that Top is on a steep learning curve and will improve, but the omens are not looking good, he has been in post for over four years now. Again trying to be fair, Top has had to deal with his main business suffering terribly with the pandemic over the last three years. He has however left Rodgers in place until it's pretty much too late to get rid this season, so we're likely to sink or swim with Brendan. I am still convinced that Rodgers would have been long gone if Vichai had survived.
posted on 24/3/23
comment by Kebablegs (U17699)
posted 11 hours, 9 minutes ago
Brendan
2018/19 - 11th to 09th
2019/20 - 05th
2020/21 - 05th & Fa Cup winners
2021/22 - 08th
45.3% win
Is there a statue of Brendan to visit yet?
Fail to see where all the moaning is coming from!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Can't believe your guys sacked Jesse Marsch after he saved you from relegation last season. How ungrateful - especially after he turned around the mess Marcelo Bielsa had made.
posted on 24/3/23
"Foxello, this is wrong about Brendan - you are being too kind. He started his open defence of the Rodgers project about a year rather than 8 months ago, towards the end of last season, when he started publicly criticising the players."
That's a fair point. Rodgers was certainly in his saving face exercise after the Forest game and publicly slated players like Soyuncu. To be fair, he wasn't wrong to call for a refresh, and it was required last summer - it's the fact he kept banging on about it and tried to hide his own failings when we were bottom of the league that really grinds my gears.
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