Dean Smith New Interim Manager - Official

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Ultimately all the good work Puel did (Wow! Never thought i'd be saying that during his tenure) off the field (Let me clarify! ) moving players on, bringing playing in, building a team and squad has been ruined and undone, Rodgers went on about a rebuild, I don't subscribe to rebuilds, you should never need a rebuild, it suggests somethings gone wrong (which it has and the club allowed it to), you replace and evolve - He didn't, another reason as to why he had to be sacked, he failed.

 

So now, we need to start again, we need a builder, looking at the job Smith did at Brentford and Villa (Villa much reaping the rewards of Smith's work as we did Puel's) he did a good job in that department.

 

Never need a rebuild? Fergie rebuilt his Man United team at least 3 times! Man City rebuilt their team when transitioning from Mancini to Pelegrini to Guardiola. 
 

I’d agree that no team should have to rebuild the team as much as we are about to do, but I understand why it’s happening. If your team budget is not in the same ballpark as other teams in the division, what do you do? We brought a collection of promising young players like Maddison, Ndidi, Soyuncu then developed them and kept the core. It got us 2 5th places and an FA Cup win, a very good return for a club the size of Leicester. 
 

I think the club are going to try it again, which is why so many contracts are running out at once.  But it was too big of a gamble to make and Top knows it. 
 

Ideal situation is one day we are more like Ajax / Dortmund / Benfica where as soon as one player is sold, there’s a player in the academy that is promoted to replace them. But these clubs have been doing it for years, it’s not an overnight thing to setup. 

[Matt]

14 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Never need a rebuild? Fergie rebuilt his Man United team at least 3 times! Man City rebuilt their team when transitioning from Mancini to Pelegrini to Guardiola. 
 

I’d agree that no team should have to rebuild the team as much as we are about to do, but I understand why it’s happening. If your team budget is not in the same ballpark as other teams in the division, what do you do? We brought a collection of promising young players like Maddison, Ndidi, Soyuncu then developed them and kept the core. It got us 2 5th places and an FA Cup win, a very good return for a club the size of Leicester. 
 

I think the club are going to try it again, which is why so many contracts are running out at once.  But it was too big of a gamble to make and Top knows it. 
 

Ideal situation is one day we are more like Ajax / Dortmund / Benfica where as soon as one player is sold, there’s a player in the academy that is promoted to replace them. But these clubs have been doing it for years, it’s not an overnight thing to setup. 

Obviously rebuilds happen, players have a shelf life but you replace, evolve and develop, adding players. Ultimately it’s terminology.

 

There should never be a wholesale rebuild. Unless, as in our case, something has gone wrong, as in the mess Rodgers (was allowed to) create and has left.

 

Edited 23 April 2023 by Matt

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, Tommy Fresh said:

You don't even need world class analytics for this really, most people were aware of Julio Enciso and his potential way before he joined Brighton.

Disagree with you here, it’s much harder than just loading up Football Manager. On paper Patson Daka was a great player, same with Bouba Soumare. But both have not justified their price tags yet. Look at our own transfer threads and how certain players are shoe-ins to be the greatest thing since sliced bread but then end up like Tete. 
 

Maybe Brighton are just in a lucky streak but the way they replaced Cucurella with Estuvian or sold Trossard but are still great is admirable. 

[Tommy Fresh]

40 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Disagree with you here, it’s much harder than just loading up Football Manager. On paper Patson Daka was a great player, same with Bouba Soumare. But both have not justified their price tags yet. Look at our own transfer threads and how certain players are shoe-ins to be the greatest thing since sliced bread but then end up like Tete. 
 

Maybe Brighton are just in a lucky streak but the way they replaced Cucurella with Estuvian or sold Trossard but are still great is admirable. 

Not said it is that simple have I, but pointing out if you're alluding to those having been a success then it doesn't really require world class analytics. These players are known, it's probably more having the resource to watch them enough to then justify the signing. You've also used Daka and Soumare as examples, these are players who we spent sizeable fees on, the signing of players from the smaller South American leagues aren't going to command anywhere near the same sort of fees and are far less risky anyway in terms of recouping what we've spent, regardless of if they flop or not.

[SafewayFox]

2 hours ago, Tommy Fresh said:

You don't even need world class analytics for this really, most people were aware of Julio Enciso and his potential way before he joined Brighton.

Exactly this.

 

Caicedo and even to a lesser extent Ferguson were linked with some of the “so called big 6” before Brighton took a punt.

 

If anything comes of Toney’s rule breaking, a Toney less Brentford seems very average too IMO.

[Ric Flair]

4 hours ago, Matt said:

Ultimately all the good work Puel did (Wow! Never thought i'd be saying that during his tenure) off the field (Let me clarify! ) moving players on, bringing playing in, building a team and squad has been ruined and undone, Rodgers went on about a rebuild, I don't subscribe to rebuilds, you should never need a rebuild, it suggests somethings gone wrong (which it has and the club allowed it to), you replace and evolve - He didn't, another reason as to why he had to be sacked, he failed.

 

So now, we need to start again, we need a builder, looking at the job Smith did at Brentford and Villa (Villa much reaping the rewards of Smith's work as we did Puel's) he did a good job in that department.

 

Puel gets way too much credit for the squad that Rodgers inherited. The stark difference may well have been Eduardo Macia. Puel had a hand in the recruitment of Ricardo and possibly his links to Monaco for Tielemans on loan but we had a much better head of recruitment running the show than when Rodgers came in and brought Congerton not long afterwards. 

 

Him being responsible for breaking up the title winning squad is also confusing, he pissed Vardy off and was seemingly considering phasing him out and the likes of Fuchs and Morgan made telling contributions under Rodgers in subsequent years than they had under Puel. All he managed to do was tell King, Okazaki and Simpson they were no longer needed. 

 

His lack of minutes for Soyuncu was poor as well given how exceptional he was the following season.

 

He was a shocking manager for us once the first two months honeymoon period was over.

[Blanchflower78]

See a few suggesting if we stay up they may keep him. Two fold, if he pulls this off you'd suspect the players would be right behind the management team so madness to not appoint him. Go down with a fight, again, madness not to appoint him.

Go down pathetically and likely he wouldn't get a stab at it.

 

So for me in reality he's getting it, failing a complete "s******w" 

[LCFCJohn]

7 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Ultimately he got fired after losing 5 in a row. As it turned out Villa then brought in Gerrard but it would be fair to say he underperformed once they got to the Premier League given the investment made. Unai Emery is showing he’s a class above at the moment. 
 

But’s that just my point. If we were to appoint a manager like Emery ourselves now, it would be a waste. The team is miles off being competitive and 8 players are out of contract in the summer. At the start of the season there’s no way anyone on here would entertain the idea of Dean Smith being our manager. But now he’s looking like a pretty solid choice, be it in the Championship or Premier League. 

Ok, I suppose we are looking at the difference between things not working out at all and things just petering out or not taking them to the next level.

 

Gerrard took on that side and did nothing to progress it so that for me would be a case of ‘it not working out’. For Smith, he had some good success but yes, it went downhill and he left. 
 

Ranieri got the boot after a losing run of 5 or 6 but it definitely worked out for him with us!

[Beachyboy]

Phil Giles Brentford director of football "to maintain the high standards and keep changing things, it's about new ideas not getting stale, you don't want the players coming in at pre season going same players same coaches, eventually I think you'll lose a bit of excitement and forward momentum" having been there 8 years, he will of worked with Smith. His attitude to the play off defeat against Fulham, that game was a coin flip maybe we were slight favourites, we have another chance next season. This seems to be Smith outlook, as fans we've focused a lot on, the decision to change the manager being to late. Early signs from Smith our let's deal with the here and now.

Edited 23 April 2023 by Beachyboy

[OntarioFox]

A small thing I noticed at full time was that Smith and the gang kept pretty close to the touchline and let the players revel in the adoration of the crowd.

 

I liked that. Don't get me wrong, would have loved Deano to come over to SK1, fists pumping and all, but it showed an understanding that it's been a long time since the players had a positive connection with the fans. Let them enjoy the moment, then back to work with a vital run of games still to come.

 

Perhaps on the flipside they don't want to foster too much attachment with only eight games at the helm, but I want to believe it was a conscious decision to let the players get the credit.

[The whole world smiles]

13 minutes ago, OntarioFox said:

A small thing I noticed at full time was that Smith and the gang kept pretty close to the touchline and let the players revel in the adoration of the crowd.

 

I liked that. Don't get me wrong, would have loved Deano to come over to SK1, fists pumping and all, but it showed an understanding that it's been a long time since the players had a positive connection with the fans. Let them enjoy the moment, then back to work with a vital run of games still to come.

 

Perhaps on the flipside they don't want to foster too much attachment with only eight games at the helm, but I want to believe it was a conscious decision to let the players get the credit.

Good post, but I disagree with this part, I have no doubt that Dean Smith after previously getting sacked from Norwich would love the chance to take the role permanently so it's actually very much in his intrested to go over to the fans fists clenched build a bit of a rapport and get a bit of pressure from the fans onto the owners to keep him on. 

 

I more saw it as him deliberately making a show of being humble, not making it about him and letting the players bask in the moment which is in stark contrast to his predecessor.

[The_77]

6 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Puel gets way too much credit for the squad that Rodgers inherited. The stark difference may well have been Eduardo Macia. Puel had a hand in the recruitment of Ricardo and possibly his links to Monaco for Tielemans on loan but we had a much better head of recruitment running the show than when Rodgers came in and brought Congerton not long afterwards. 

 

Him being responsible for breaking up the title winning squad is also confusing, he pissed Vardy off and was seemingly considering phasing him out and the likes of Fuchs and Morgan made telling contributions under Rodgers in subsequent years than they had under Puel. All he managed to do was tell King, Okazaki and Simpson they were no longer needed. 

 

His lack of minutes for Soyuncu was poor as well given how exceptional he was the following season.

 

He was a shocking manager for us once the first two months honeymoon period was over.

I agree that Puel’s man and game management were poor. His inability to articulate any tangible goals for the club also left all of us completely baffled during his tenure. 
 

Puel’s clubs are generally decent at recruitment whenever he’s at the helm and I don’t think that’s a complete coincidence. Also, let’s not pretend that Soyuncu hit the ground running when he arrived— he had a very difficult start with us, particularly when defending 1v1s. Soyuncu needed to work an awful lot on his footwork in training and over the offseason before he became the PFA Team of the Season beast that we all know and love. 

[baldeagle]

Didn’t know if to post it in here or the post match thread but something I really noticed was the defence seemed to be springing the offside trap really successfully. We just seemed to catch Wolves offside quite frequently more than I can remember in previous games . 

[BenTheFox]

On 22/04/2023 at 22:22, Corky said:

Bold team selection, good subs, aggression in the side and speaks like an actual human.

This part made be laugh but it's so true! My feelings towards Brendan Rodgers would be so different if he was just a failing football manager and wasn't persisting with the PR/self-preservation act. His press conferences and post-match interviews became exhausting to follow as a fan. 

Edited 23 April 2023 by BenTheFox

[Leicesterpool]

Imagine an interesting scenario where Deano keeps us up, then come the summer gets offered the job long term but turns it down, perhaps due to concern over lack of funds. Be interesting indication of where the club is going and where TOP stands.

[sacreblueits442]

2 minutes ago, Leicesterpool said:

Imagine an interesting scenario where Deano keeps us up, then come the summer gets offered the job long term but turns it down, perhaps due to concern over lack of funds. Be interesting indication of where the club is going and where TOP stands.

...it will never happen!!!

He wants this job, he has done his homework and he would have got a good feel for the whole of this club from Shakey. Like Rodgers, he probably sees a club with a chairman not up with the game and is open to be influenced.

  He will take the role, if it ever gets offered.

[The whole world smiles]

6 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Puel gets way too much credit for the squad that Rodgers inherited. The stark difference may well have been Eduardo Macia. Puel had a hand in the recruitment of Ricardo and possibly his links to Monaco for Tielemans on loan but we had a much better head of recruitment running the show than when Rodgers came in and brought Congerton not long afterwards. 

 

Him being responsible for breaking up the title winning squad is also confusing, he pissed Vardy off and was seemingly considering phasing him out and the likes of Fuchs and Morgan made telling contributions under Rodgers in subsequent years than they had under Puel. All he managed to do was tell King, Okazaki and Simpson they were no longer needed. 

 

His lack of minutes for Soyuncu was poor as well given how exceptional he was the following season.

 

He was a shocking manager for us once the first two months honeymoon period was over.

It's difficult to pin point who is responsible for what transfer as there is usually multiple people involved. But it does make me laugh how when it's a bad signing certain unfavorable managers get all of the blame and when it's a good one other unfavourable managers get absolutely no credit. 

 

but we can say for a fact that he was manager during a period of very good recruitment (Maddison, Ricardo, Soyuncu, Evans, tielemans), we can also say for a fact that he was directly involved in the Ricardo (played under him at nice and quotes from him when he signed) and Tilemans (Monaco links) so even if it's just those two (highly doubtful) it's not a bad record. 

 

He also came with a reputation of developing young players and showed that here persisting with Chillwell over Fuchs dispite most of the blue army's protests the club then reaped the benefits selling him for huge money, he also bought Harvey barnes back from loan early and chucked him straight in the 11.

 

Soyuncu was only given minutes the season after he left because we sold Maguire at the time we had Morgan who was still playing and captain, Maguire and Evans. So you can't blame puel for not using soy more, I think the club signed him with half an eye on Maguire leaving oh for such forward planning now. 

[The Blur]

11 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Never need a rebuild? Fergie rebuilt his Man United team at least 3 times! Man City rebuilt their team when transitioning from Mancini to Pelegrini to Guardiola. 
 

I’d agree that no team should have to rebuild the team as much as we are about to do, but I understand why it’s happening. If your team budget is not in the same ballpark as other teams in the division, what do you do? We brought a collection of promising young players like Maddison, Ndidi, Soyuncu then developed them and kept the core. It got us 2 5th places and an FA Cup win, a very good return for a club the size of Leicester. 
 

I think the club are going to try it again, which is why so many contracts are running out at once.  But it was too big of a gamble to make and Top knows it. 
 

Ideal situation is one day we are more like Ajax / Dortmund / Benfica where as soon as one player is sold, there’s a player in the academy that is promoted to replace them. But these clubs have been doing it for years, it’s not an overnight thing to setup. 

Is that possible?  Forgive me if I am wrong but I do not think any PL sides has really tried that long term expect for maybe Southampton for a bit and now Brighton/Brentford without the academy part.  Even when we were doing it, we do not appear to factor into promoting from within in our thinking.   It is all about short term success in Premier League with the TV money which is probably the reason no one have gave this model a proper go.

[Lcfcman2010]

6 hours ago, Blanchflower78 said:

See a few suggesting if we stay up they may keep him. Two fold, if he pulls this off you'd suspect the players would be right behind the management team so madness to not appoint him. Go down with a fight, again, madness not to appoint him.

Go down pathetically and likely he wouldn't get a stab at it.

 

So for me in reality he's getting it, failing a complete "s******w" 

This. 

 

The job is his to lose really. 

 

Go down with a whimper he won't get it. Everything points to "let's give him a go" if we get relegated but fight and scrap, 100% "the jobs yours" if he keeps us up. 

 

Leeds will be the crunch for him imo. Get them up for a fight and come away with 3 points he'll be at the away end celebrating come full time, knowing he wants the job and has the fans and team on his side. 

 

 

[Phenom]

11 hours ago, Matt said:

Obviously rebuilds happen, players have a shelf life but you replace, evolve and develop, adding players. Ultimately it’s terminology.

 

There should never be a wholesale rebuild. Unless, as in our case, something has gone wrong, as in the mess Rodgers (was allowed to) create and has left.

 

Great clubs reload, they don’t rebuild. 

[Lambert09]

12 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Never need a rebuild? Fergie rebuilt his Man United team at least 3 times! Man City rebuilt their team when transitioning from Mancini to Pelegrini to Guardiola. 
 

I’d agree that no team should have to rebuild the team as much as we are about to do, but I understand why it’s happening. If your team budget is not in the same ballpark as other teams in the division, what do you do? We brought a collection of promising young players like Maddison, Ndidi, Soyuncu then developed them and kept the core. It got us 2 5th places and an FA Cup win, a very good return for a club the size of Leicester. 
 

I think the club are going to try it again, which is why so many contracts are running out at once.  But it was too big of a gamble to make and Top knows it. 
 

Ideal situation is one day we are more like Ajax / Dortmund / Benfica where as soon as one player is sold, there’s a player in the academy that is promoted to replace them. But these clubs have been doing it for years, it’s not an overnight thing to setup. 

the difference is that a large reason for our recent success was simply succession planning. We knew certain players were likely to move on so we had their replacements already on-boarded and ready to go. 

 

I think we did try, but were  well wide of the mark. 

 

daka clearly was lined up to replace vardy and soumare quite possibly was set to replace youri… but neither look close to being ready for it (unless the latest soumare performance turns out to be more than a one off) 

 

Brighton however, have been doing this incredibly well. They’ve just been signing the high quality talent that would still be willing to take time to reach the first team… that’s the perfect way to do it. 

 

They won’t get it right everytime but at the costs they are going in at, it’s not a huge loss when they get it wrong either. 

 

On paper, you’d have expected them to have a tough year. They lost cucurella and bissoma, after a while their manager and you wouldn’t notice anyone had even left them. 

Edited 23 April 2023 by Lambert09

[coolhandfox]

1 hour ago, Leicesterpool said:

Imagine an interesting scenario where Deano keeps us up, then come the summer gets offered the job long term but turns it down, perhaps due to concern over lack of funds. Be interesting indication of where the club is going and where TOP stands.

No chance that happens.

 

[Hirsty The Blue 94]

Unless you're 16 years old, you would have spent most of your years supporting City as largely average, with some shite, some good and one amazing year sprinkled in. 

 

The only thing I expect from us when I head down Filbert Way is to see a team trying hard, giving it their all and playing football in a way that the fans can get behind. There's no sense of entitlement that we should finish in the top 6 or any of that business.

 

What I have seen so far from Dean Smith and his team ticks all of the above for me, and if he kept us up with performance similar to Saturday and even the battling second half away at Man City then he will do for me. Very similar in my mind to Pearson in that he is a straight talker, seems to be a very good man manager from his time at both Brentford and Villa, and more importantly surrounds himself with expertise and people he trusts. 

 

I don't see why if he did the job and kept us up and we put in some decent performances along the way why he shouldn't have a crack at it in the long term. He will know who he wants to keep and who he doesn't already, so would be ahead of the game with regards to an important transfer window. Just because he isn't a sexy name with a big reputation shouldn't discount him, and for us to think we're a bigger club than him is absolute nonsense. Who would have thought Eddie Howe would be doing so well at Newcastle, they were chasing big names and ended up with him and its worked a treat. 

[fuchsntf]

12 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Never need a rebuild? Fergie rebuilt his Man United team at least 3 times! Man City rebuilt their team when transitioning from Mancini to Pelegrini to Guardiola. 
 

I’d agree that no team should have to rebuild the team as much as we are about to do, but I understand why it’s happening. If your team budget is not in the same ballpark as other teams in the division, what do you do? We brought a collection of promising young players like Maddison, Ndidi, Soyuncu then developed them and kept the core. It got us 2 5th places and an FA Cup win, a very good return for a club the size of Leicester. 
 

I think the club are going to try it again, which is why so many contracts are running out at once.  But it was too big of a gamble to make and Top knows it. 
 

Ideal situation is one day we are more like Ajax / Dortmund / Benfica where as soon as one player is sold, there’s a player in the academy that is promoted to replace them. But these clubs have been doing it for years, it’s not an overnight thing to setup. 

..another top post..

 

suprises me how many FTers struggle to read & recognise the game taking into account budgets & its simple history..

Leicester were always going to take the >Also rans, &  occasional irritation roll <<
in any of our potential special eras. KP has given us a. CA: 10 year period,with rebuilds. If we have 2nd Great escape,let’s hope another rebuild is on the cards..

That allows us to chase and compete for those coveted top 6 places..

Me I am happy we play good entertaining football competing around top 8.

This season and PL performance were well below our expectations with our squad,but football carves it’s own stories & not that of the entitled OTT ambitious critical fan..

[HighPeakFox]

3 hours ago, Phenom said:

Great clubs reload, they don’t rebuild. 

I don't understand what this actually means.