Right, so leading on from yesterday, I’ve put a bit of text on some of the memes I was messing with.
Let me know what you think?
I’ll be updating them bit by bit today, so keep a check out for new ones.
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Due to work, my commitments to delivering all things stupid have been severely curtailed in recent months. It’s not that I’m not bothered. Just getting the time is the most difficult. Begging and borrowing time tokens to do stupid man-child silliness.
But as I’ve had the day off today, I’ve got bored and thought it’d be wonderful to see some of our players and even our manager bestowed in meme fashion.
Here’s some of my quick efforts:
I know they are not great, so if you can do better, then share back!
If you want to borrow them and add text and what not, then by all means help yourself and share back!
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I’ve been saving this title up, and was waiting for the opportunity to finish this article off, as it’s been knocking about and my inclination to complete it has been waning. So apologies if this is going to come across as critical, rather than celebratory. And sorry for banging the expectation drum once again!
I think we’ve been tainted a lot by the money we’ve had/have spent already under our owners. The immediate prospect of buying the league, and perhaps feeling short-changed by it all on the field, all built an air of expectation. The media seemingly fed so it that any niggle, or disappointment becomes exaggerated due to heightened expectancy.
Pearson has done his best to try and dismantle this piece by piece, maybe even player by player.
We’ve now got players who are hungry, have quality, but have less hanging over their heads of fan’s anticipation and price-tag-doomongery. Yes FFP has a fair amount to the reduction of the squad, but it’s a two-fold project in paring down the team to a solid skeleton of unification.
We’ve just smashed Ipswich Town 6 – 0, a feat of a scoreline not achieved for nearly 30 years!
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to take anything away from the positivity that this win brings, and the fact that Waggy has finally reached the back of the net with his recent accumulating efforts and hardwork. Even Futacs came off the bench and put one away!
So what does this mean? Does it mean we are a demolishing force to be reckoned with that can achieve this feat or similar any and every week?
Well, firstly we were playing at home. We had a record of 5 wins at home prior to this match. Our draw with Forrest and loss with Palace seemingly down to referee decisions which have confounded the team, and the baffling decisions which have lit a fuse under the normally calm exterior of our manager, Nigel Pearson. Did these injustices and Pearson’s reaction set the team up to inflict some due payback?
Ipswich had a goal difference of -19 before the played, and I use that word loosely, yesterday. They hold the worst GD in the league table, which simply says that defensively they are shipping goals for fun.
We surprisingly had a penalty given to us! And thankfully Nugent converted this rare opportunity!
McCarthy said that he holds himself responsible for changing the defence, and he should be held accountable for this fact. Whilst there’s no denying that tactically that seems an odd choice, considering they managed a late winner at home to Burnley, and McCarthy changed his defence back to the same line-up, bar Bradley Orr, who were also smashed by a rampant Palace side 5 – 0. Lesson was not learned by one Mr. McCarthy!
This has been a wonderful positive boost to the squad overall. We’ve finally got some of the players off the line with a goal, and seen our players find the unity that we know they are capable of, but should we be wary of complacency, or will our fans now lose sight of reality, and demand this level of dominance in our games with goals to back this up?
I would hope that Pearson will pat the lads on the back and say a job well done, and plan executed to a tee. All they did was watch the Palace game, no doubt, and observed where Ipswich fell apart, and used our particular strengths to best advantage.
Dyer played one of his best, if not best, games of his Leicester career. Against an ineffectual defence his skills were always going to be cutting, and damaging. All we needed was a bit of hope that he wouldn’t lose position, his crosses would be on target, and we didn’t get a corner from his runs, as we know how they end up!
What was pleasing was a desire, once blood was drawn, to continue pulling for the jugular. Pearson, bar the cautionary change of Nugent, put on players who could do with a boost of confidence, and maybe Pearson saw an opportunity for them to possibly get on the scoresheet, and of course finish the game with a good amount of minutes under their belt with three points already in the bag.
Marshall and Futacs will be buzzing, and hopefully this will make up for the time they’ve been on the bench, and make them eager to try and get off it some time soon.
I’m trying to balance the positivity with the realism that always clouds my vapid brain through my thought sieve.
We should certainly enjoy a win that we’ve not enjoyed for some time, but with caution. How many times have we won a match with conclusive domination to demand the same the week following to come away disappointed or deflated? Playing away is a different kettle of fish, and whilst our away form isn’t awful, it’s not near our home form.
If you read my nonsense blog, often or once in awhile, you’ll know I have a soft spot for the Owls. This goes out the window next week as we aim for the 3 points.
Wednesday’s home form isn’t exactly something we should be worried about. An excellent start to their CCC campaign came crashing to a halt against (at the time) a strong and dictating Huddersfield. Their form has not been consistent, but looking at results, they are capable of scoring goals, even if they’ve dried up at home at the moment.
So do we stand a chance of winning? Absolutely! But we need to put the Ipswich win in perspective, and not get carried away with the epic win, and looking or expecting the epic win.
I would think that from observation that Pearson will tell the players not to carried away, and will try keep a cap on any over-enthusiasm or ego. We’ve seen this in or outgoing loaned players already. There’s no room for big bollocks in the dressing room unless you’re going to show how use them.
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Dear Peasants,
Like an old pair of my briefs, Leicester City Football Club you fit me like a glove. You truly know me and I truly know you.
You and I have been on some adventures, and most definitely could tell some stories.
There for the glories, and there for the disappointments. You never let me down.
When we both hit a brown patch or when an itch needed scratching, you’re there for me.
Worn at the edges and frayed in delicate places, but you are better than the rest.
I had my eyes on the silk ones. Like when I looked at the other teams ahead of us, all lauding it in the Premiership, and was jealous of their comfortableness.
When I was very young man I got my hand some silkens. Pure 100% silk. Existing in these was a like receiving oral congress all day long, but under your trousers away from prying eyes. Almost like sticking your junk in a pig’s ear. Wonderful stuff.
However, nobody told me that these items of pure luxury were tainted with a curse of disintegration. Apparently playing cricket in them is not cricket. Inappropriate. Playing in the field and after daydreaming for 1hr and half I snapped awake when someone finally hit a ball. I went for a spectacular catch, missing the ball, and splitting these silkens to utter shreddies. I learned my lesson after the third time.
As I sit outside my French styled mansion, outside of Smockington, Leicestershire, by the blazing fire, with Vicki, my lower class maid cleaning the fluffies from beneath my bedazzled toenails, I think fondly of Leicester City Football Club’s past present and future, and how that even with all my wealth I much prefer my old boxers, even when I can afford simply the best.
Incidentally I ran out of room for any more fireplaces so I decided to build one outside instead. Architecturally it doesn’t fit, I know, but you can never have enough fireplaces I say! As you can see I’ve hung my stockings up early. I’m hoping the ‘fairies’ at the end of the west wing garden will supply me boxes and boxes of white rum. Otherwise my servants will find themselves short of employment. I’m getting proper smashed this Christmas, and time too, last Christmas resulted in a dry patch of misery, that I could barely eat my quail egg and soldiers for my breakfast.
I’ve never had the opportunity to share my important thoughts with you all, and as I don’t work for a living, I’ll be getting my servants to type me up a word or two about my beloved Leicester City, and my infatuation with Nigel Pearson.
Until then peasants, let us support our blues together!
Adieu,
Lord Foxytoff
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For anyone who reads my blog, or it’s the first time, you’ll notice it’s been another long while once my last one.
The Euros were bitterly disappointing for me, bar St. Ledger’s goal. Ireland were battered in a group of death, and in the end the two finalists came from our group, so it was no surprise really. The only thing for me to be proud of was the Irish spirit, despite a moaney-faced Roy Keane, saying there was no ambition for the players or fans.
Then there was a summer of Olympic sport, where my sporting crevasse was momentarily filled. It satisfied a competitive itch, even though, for me personally Ireland barely got a mention, and when they did it was for claiming a medal winner was actually British. However, I was happy enough for the British to do well and they did.
So during this summer, I’ve spent my time concocting ‘maybe posts’ and ‘almost posts’, but never got around to putting them down. This came down to freshness and being damn busy at work. What possibly can I say that hasn’t been said, as we reached our third cycle of repetition?
I argued with myself, but reason and sense told me to hold fire, see what Nigel’s putting together, and then you’ve got something to talk about.
As we know, this summer was Nige’s opportunity to put his stamp on the team, add hunger, drive, and a bit quality, whilst trimming the wages for the inevitable financial scrutiny of the FFP.
I’ve considered doing a full article on FFP, and how the constraints of this will actually help us in the long run in our possible ascent to the Premiership and the maelstrom impact of those who are paying overinflated wages midtable and below will start to crumble at their edges. However, I didn’t want to bore the arse off you. All I’ll say is that the current over inflated transfer prices of UK players will soon be a thing of the past, yet this does not mean it’s a fair playing field. Those with money have conspired to agree to these measures as they’ve been stung by simply having money to spend.
Mo Money Mo Problems
This season is going to be damn interesting. There’s been another huge injection of cash into the CCC. The down and outs have money, new management, and ambitions! No not us, that was us three years ago. We’ve laid the template of how not to do it, and those who are now financially endowed took notice, and are taking the sensible approach.
The Big Playa Playas
Whilst I appreciate that there’s plenty of lists like this and they’ve actually come out well before the season started, I’ve not read any of them. Not a single one. All the rubbish below is my own assessment, and is probably tinged with biased, misinformation, and facts wide of the mark.
They have quality in their side that most teams in the Premiership would fall over backwards to have in their squad. That’s super great, but I like to think that the Venky’s have not learned their lessons. I understand that the sensible thing is not to throw your toys out of the pram and change managers, especially if you’ve given a long contract to one prior to being relegated, but from my limited understanding of how they’ve gone about things, they haven’t a clue, and Kean for me is not going to provide them the promotion that they desperately need.
They are not loaded, but have just come down from years in the Prem. Bolton must win promotion or they are in the deep do-dos. Financially crippled, they’ve done well to keep good players, though they’ve barely made many moves in the transfer department, they’ll do okay. But the immense pressure might tell both on the players and on Coyle. Desperation may cause them to implode.
Looking at the team sheet, I’d be inclined to say they have the strongest team in the CCC at the minute. They have done exceptionally well to keep their players and may well be down for auto promotion if it wasn’t one thing – Stale Solbakken. This appointment will either go down as a work of genius or will fail disastrously. With little or no knowledge of the CCC, we may have found this year’s Sven.
Wolves are financially with their backs to the wall, and can least afford to not find themselves back in the Premiership with probably the highest wage bill in the CCC. But when prospective managers were queuing up to turn down the job, you know it’s a chalice that is full of poison.
They have big money behind them, yet they’ve purchased sensibly and brought in a manager who has done well with moderate amounts in the past. He excelled at Bournemouth, and did well at times with Doncaster Rovers. They may surprise people with some of their results this season, but for me, they are a year behind us in preparation for ascension. Though I do throw an envious Irish eye over their acquisition of Simon Cox.
For me they are the dark horse. With Zola managing them, and the money and connections they are one to watch out for. They have loaned in some unknowns from foreign lands with their owners happily owning two other clubs (Granada & Udinese), but if you look at their team sheet, it doesn’t read badly even outside these few loaned players.
It seems all you have to do is change your strip to make yourself a marketable and lucky team. Cardiff has a quality side and their Malaysian owners are absolutely no different than our own, and have probably just as much money and ambition. Do they have the players to compete for promotion. Yes, of course they do, but are they auto or playoffs. Hard to tell at this stage, but playoffs again methinks.
The also rans:
I’m pretty sure other fans will take umbrage of this part of my list, but for my they are the teams with potential, who can keep momentum from promotion last year, or the success they had at the end of the season.
I’m sure there’ll be a team I don’t mention who’ll surprise us all (or at least me and a few others)!
Charlton – Might keep the momentum from their excellent season last. All eyes on Powell & Kermogant.
Hull – Have Bruce as manager, have kept most of their best players
Middlesbrough – Started to get in a groove in the final third of the season, perhaps might build on this.
Leeds – As much as I despise Colin, he’ll do a job, as he turns Leeds in to the Leeds of old. Tough, rough, and cheating shits – like he did at Sheffield United.
Where We At?
So at this point your thinking, shit I’ve read about all the other teams before, and in more detail, and with a better assessment than that drivel. You’re probably right. I not even put a pecking order or stated where teams will come in the league at the end of the season! What a shit article, the author won’t stick his flag in the sand, put his balls in the air and come off the fence!
Well I’m reluctant to do so, as last year has proven that it’s impossible to predict this league, as it is every year.
So I guess I should share my feelings on the state of our current squad.
It’s difficult to tell how the team’s work ethic and composure will hold during the season, especially in the final third where points really matter, and injuries and suspensions take hold.
However, it does look promising for us, Nigel has brought in some youthful enthusiasm and skill. Knockaert could well turn out to be our finest acquisitions by the end of the season in a position where we desperately needed a bit of flair and quality.
I am happy we’ve kept Beckford (ok the window is still open, and anything can happen), and I think we’ll see the best of him this time.
With young players also knocking on the door I think there’ll be little time for complacency and laziness, as they aren’t just there for numbers, they are proving quality prospective 1st teamers. (This for me is where Sven doesn’t get credit)
Do I see us as playoff or an auto promotion contender? Well it’s too early to say, and I guess I’m making a sensible assessment of our chances. I think we have fair chance of playoffs at this point, but signs are positive and if we keep up the performances as seen so far then why the hell not?
I’ll go over individuals in another post. It’s not the time.
I know that this is a shoddy piece, but it’s better than nowt! Ha!
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It’s been a while since I last wrote and shared it. I’ve written a couple of things but never put them up. Not that I was afraid of being critical, I just felt that it was negative and perhaps was too over-emotive.
I don’t think things have drastically improved with Leicester City, though the position we are in at the minute flies in the face of those who think this season has been a total waste.
History has shown that those who have made a late run and broke into the playoffs at the last moment have a very good chance continuing that impetus.
There are teams around us that are floundering at the minute. What the reason is for that, I haven’t had time to look at what’s happening individually for each competitor, but I can guess that at this stage of the season that the pressure, injuries, suspensions, and the desperate opposition they play near the bottom, have all conspired to give us the small chance that we’ve got.
Breaking into the playoffs would be some achievement, and having a reasonable squad with strength in depth is starting to pay off. I had hoped, like in ‘The Final Third’, that we would have shown this earlier, but changing manager wasn’t in scope when I wrote that, but I think is still applicable.
We all know what promotion will achieve us financially, but what can we expect should we make not make the playoffs/make the playoffs and not go up?
Owners
I think there’s no doubt that most fans we agree that Top & Co were playing a high-risk strategy up until Pearson was brought back. Some might say that it’s even a higher risk to have done so, but that’s been discussed to a boring death, and is currently irrelevant as progress will be need be based on the stats that are comparable.
It certainly seems that not only due to Fair Play, but due to the outlay and wages that the high-risk expenditure will be coming to an end. It’ll still be high risk to some extent, but we’ll see less of the Pantsils/Johnsons and more of the Marshalls/Drinkwaters joining the squad.
I think the owners will back Pearson, but we’ll see a number of players heading out the door.
Looking beyond next season is too much to consider when it come to our owners.
I think their main priority is to build a club that is making a profit, first and foremost.
What seems to me that is overlooked, is the money spent on the Academy, and the future expense of access to Category A players. No messing, our owners are trying to build a bedrock for future success, or at least an area where we can profit from in transfers. Ideally we won’t be a selling club, but on a business point of view the expense in theory should be less, as we bring quality through the ranks.
Manager
Could Pearson be accused of having a high-risk strategy? Some say that he has the very opposite. An approach so risk-averse that we at times we look like never scoring.
However, looking back, he’s taken the same approach as he did at Hull. They scored goals and were tight defensively.
You could in fact say that whilst away, he had an opportunity to experiment a little and develop a way of producing the goods in a particular way that proved successful.
Hull’s current departure of form perhaps shows that their honeymoon momentum has definitely come its conclusion, and that Pearson definitely brought something out of them that Barmby can’t proceed to match.
Pearson’s manner of dealing with ego and those who don’t tow the line was shown at Hull with Bullard, and he has done the same with Mills.
Not being one to delve into the rumours of what happened, as I’m sure there are two sides to the story, so I won’t. What I will say is that without Mills we haven’t fallen off the boil, and without out captain lost our direction. We were inconsistent with him in the team, and consistently inconsistent whilst he is off on gardening leave.
For me we need another coach to add to Pearson’s looker-room. We seem, in my view, to have a very defensive set-up. We need someone to join with an attacking sensibility to balance things out. Creative ideas to bring to the table. We’ve got talent in the team, but seem to repeat ourselves a lot on the offensive in certain areas. That might be addressed in the transfer market, but if we are looking to bring in bright players to add to the team, it be great to see them grow.
Players
Well, we can’t argue that paying high wages and high fees have been a high-risk affair. Having a team as large as ours was at one stage seemed like a recipe for disaster. It could be said that it has, but I disagree.
I go back to my final third argument. There’s no point going through ifs, buts and maybes, but we are where we are.
In a lot of ways we have underachieved through the club, and the players have a lot to shoulder for the blame of inconsistent performances. A fair few of them have admitted this.
It seems the pressure has been too much for some of them. High price tag, big implications of immediate results, and the media gearing for us to fall flat on our faces.
With the results having gone down hill in Feb/March the media gave up on us and our disheartened fans did too. Expectations have lowered, the pressure is off, as the mountain to climb has to be realistically near impossible to climb. Reliance on those around us to crumble, and for us to pull off form that we’ve been unable to prove consistently this season at any stage the truth.
No one dares to believe. I think the players are showing their relief. The are showing grit, and with a bit of luck, might pull off the miracle of miracles.
Fans
As I’ve said above, we’ve relinquished hope of realistically pushing in on our competitors for a nerve jangling trip to Wembley.
We’ve been appointed high-risk, and I bet the owners were thinking, how appropriate!
We’ve yet to see season ticket prices, because if the club hedge their bets they could have egg on their faces. Until it becomes clear mathematically where we are, or until the playoffs complete, we won’t be hearing about them.
No doubt they’ll post them this afternoon and make a mug of me, but I’ll take that risk, cos I’m part of the high risk army.
Do I think we can do it?
Well it’ll be down to the players.
I am already preparing for next season, so if we manage to do the impossible, yes I’ll be just as ecstatic as everyone else. But with the monkey off our back, the players should be able to look at each game with enthusiasm and show their value and worth to the fans.
Yes I wasn’t pleased about Sven’s departure, and was unsure about Pearson’s return, but I think looking at the positives we might well be standing at the edge of an new era.
Could we soon be worrying less about losing our best players, and more about losing our manager?
If you agree/disagree leave a comment. If you like then do share!
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It recent weeks I’ve been thinking that Neil Danns, not only is a fine addition to our club, but a multi-talent also.
I did a bit of delving into some of the players’ backgrounds and discovered that several of our players have got some hidden talent too.
I’ve pulled together a few examples. I’m sure you might be able to point out some further additions to this collection and I’ll update it in an update article.
Sol Bamba:
A little unknown fact is Sol is actually 45 years of age, but back in the 90’s he was a boy band crooner in the long forgotten New Edition. (top right)
New Edition:
Sean St. Ledger:
When not playing hero at CB for Leicester City and internationally for Ireland, Sean likes to hang out with his boy, Justin, and get his motherloving on. We all know what he does for Valentine’s Day.
Stevie Howard and Paul Gallagher:
Big Steve is well known in the North East in the amateur wrestling circuit, and goes by the name of ‘Howard the Truck’. Inspirationally, Paul likes to part-time manage his career from the sidelines, and was involved in a folding chair incident with the manager of ‘The Beast of Durham’ in an epic no-holds barred event back in the marathon Darlington Rumble 2010.
Bruno Berner:
Not many people know that Bruno is actually not Swiss, but does a great Swiss accent. Prior to his club and international career, Bruno was part of great success that was New Kids On The Block (NKTOB). He didn’t do a lot of singing mind, but was great dancer.
(to the left)
He is apparently a little embarrassed by it all, so if you ask him about it, he’ll pretend he knows nothing about it. Cracking voice, just the solo career didn’t work out for him. Good thing he had football as a fallback! Shame when he scored for us he didn’t do the ‘running man’. That was his signature dance move.
Sven-Goran Eriksson:
Though he’s gone I thought I’d share this with you. A couple of weeks back I saw this article in the Mirror from Dietmar Hamann, discussing his trip to Thailand with Leicester City, and moment he shared with Sven.
If James Bond had been Swedish, he would have been modelled on Sven
Before you think Sven was up for James Bond he wasn’t. But we all know he would have been better than Roger Moore.
Here’s an extract of the article if you didn’t see it:
As the 2007-08 season came a close with Manchester City, we all knew these were almost certainly Sven’s last days as manager, yet during our time on a post-season tour of Thailand, he never changed his demeanour at all.
One morning when I was on a sun lounger by the pool, he walked towards me with a bottle of champagne and two glasses on it.
It was still only 10 in the morning. I looked up and said, ‘Boss, what are we celebrating?’ expecting him to make the triumphant announcement he was staying.
He turned to me and smiled that gentle smile of his and took the air of a Buddhist philosopher, as he said, ‘Life, Kaiser. We are celebrating life’.
With a glass of champagne in hand he stood and looked out towards the horizon, then spoke in that higgledy-piggledy Swedish accent:
‘You know Kaiser, I like this place. I think I will manage for another five years and come back here and live with two women. Yes. I think I need two beautiful women.’
He was a man who loved life and it was impossible not to like him and love being in his company.
Dropped from the final book is the story that straight after this apparently Sven told Dietmar that he cried once openly in public at the end of Gladiator, but it was okay.
Side Rumour:
The rumour that the song below, is the song Sven wanted to play through the King Power tannoy and on the big screens after a win are not grounded. But thanks for asking.
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