Enzo Maresca New Leicester Manager

[filbertway]

2 hours ago, Lillehamring said:

Spot on - unfortunately the mentality here seems to be that the quicker we sign players, the better it will be in the long run.  unfortunately, too many fans have locked into the idea that the people running our club are suddenly moronic and ineffective, just like that, over the period of one summer.

You seem incredibly obsessed with trying to argue that things were class and then one summer out of nowhere caused the issues. It's clearly been a downward trend for 3 seasons off the pitch. We've been hiking up our spending whilst somehow simultaneously seeing the value of the squad drop and quality stagnate if not drop off.

 

Rudkin is massively out of his depth and somehow looked himself into one of the most important jobs in football. Quality people running things would not have let things escalate and spiral out of control. They run without a plan and bury their heads in the sand when things aren't going well.

 

I agree with the first part, the past week week and this coming week should be about planning our moves and how to give ourselves the best balanced squad. We'll hopefully see a flurry of activity in a few weeks. I'd still like Rudkin to be shown the door to be honest and someone who has their head screwed on given a chance to run the club on a day to day basis.

 

I really do not understand how you think all of this has happened because of one summer of miscalculation though haha.

[brookfox]

I have a tiny bit of sympathy with Rudkin and co. with regards to our business this summer (it'd be more but it's their mess their lying in!). We basically won't know where we are financially. We could easily offload some players on the relative cheap (Maddison; £30m, Ndidi; £12m, Nacho; £12m, Castagne; £10m etc.) and while that would allow us to move forward knowing what we're dealing with it'd also sell us cheap and leave the rebuild kitty short. The alternative is hold our for fairer prices... but other clubs know this and won't be in a rush to pay fair fees. So I imagine we're basically stuck in a massive global game of poker with nobody in a rush to show their hand. While it's not ideal I imagine we'll be doing our business right up to the last day.

[Guest Col city fan]

1 hour ago, filbertway said:

You seem incredibly obsessed with trying to argue that things were class and then one summer out of nowhere caused the issues. It's clearly been a downward trend for 3 seasons off the pitch. We've been hiking up our spending whilst somehow simultaneously seeing the value of the squad drop and quality stagnate if not drop off.

 

Rudkin is massively out of his depth and somehow looked himself into one of the most important jobs in football. Quality people running things would not have let things escalate and spiral out of control. They run without a plan and bury their heads in the sand when things aren't going well.

 

I agree with the first part, the past week week and this coming week should be about planning our moves and how to give ourselves the best balanced squad. We'll hopefully see a flurry of activity in a few weeks. I'd still like Rudkin to be shown the door to be honest and someone who has their head screwed on given a chance to run the club on a day to day basis.

 

I really do not understand how you think all of this has happened because of one summer of miscalculation though haha.

This all day long.

I’m always bewildered how some people see football and football clubs. Literally, some of the strangest opinions I read are on FT.

Anyone looking can, of course, see how LCFC has been regressing over the last two or three years. 
If you want stats, they are there… but we’ve done these to death, in terms of goals conceded, points lost from winning positions and all that. 
The u21’s were relegated, the ladies were very nearly relegated etc etc…

But all you have to do is watch a game last season to see how devoid of confidence we were, how easy we were to break down, how we were consistently playing players who were not good enough at Premiership level. Add into that mix the signings we made, none of which improved the first team. 
This is what caused relegation. It wasn’t a case of not being cope with getting into Europe, it was brought to bear by a complete downward spiral in just about every aspect of the club, such that it actually became quite ‘toxic’ at the end to be honest. Smith actually brought a little bit of normality back, but by then, it was all too late. The rot had set in months and months beforehand. 
This is what worries me mostly. Exactly the same administration who oversaw this collapse (because that’s what it was, there is no getting away from it) are now charged with putting it right.

The main thing I wanted to see at Leicester over the last few weeks was a total revamp. The new manager will have fresh ideas and, hopefully, a fresh squad that he can instill those ideas into. But the club, minus the manager, remains pretty much the same.

I’m not sure that’s wise, given our state of regression.

But this has been coming for years. I maintain that the tragic death of Vichai was the start. A day that gets marked into the annals of LCFC as being a very very grey day.

Edited 25 June 2023 by Col city fan

[SheppyFox]

1 hour ago, brookfox said:

I have a tiny bit of sympathy with Rudkin and co. with regards to our business this summer (it'd be more but it's their mess their lying in!). We basically won't know where we are financially. We could easily offload some players on the relative cheap (Maddison; £30m, Ndidi; £12m, Nacho; £12m, Castagne; £10m etc.) and while that would allow us to move forward knowing what we're dealing with it'd also sell us cheap and leave the rebuild kitty short. The alternative is hold our for fairer prices... but other clubs know this and won't be in a rush to pay fair fees. So I imagine we're basically stuck in a massive global game of poker with nobody in a rush to show their hand. While it's not ideal I imagine we'll be doing our business right up to the last day.

[Lako42]

2 hours ago, Gamble92 said:

So you can plan your tactics for the new season? There's a lot of negatives for signing a player at the last minute as well. For the sake of 10 million or so it might be a bad move by Spurs. 

He's still here and no bid received so... 

[Gamble92]

46 minutes ago, Lako42 said:

He's still here and no bid received so... 

I wanted to have a pop back but your display picture is so brilliant that i can't be mad at you

[Lillehamring]

2 hours ago, filbertway said:

You seem incredibly obsessed with trying to argue that things were class and then one summer out of nowhere caused the issues. It's clearly been a downward trend for 3 seasons off the pitch. We've been hiking up our spending whilst somehow simultaneously seeing the value of the squad drop and quality stagnate if not drop off.

 

Rudkin is massively out of his depth and somehow looked himself into one of the most important jobs in football. Quality people running things would not have let things escalate and spiral out of control. They run without a plan and bury their heads in the sand when things aren't going well.

 

I agree with the first part, the past week week and this coming week should be about planning our moves and how to give ourselves the best balanced squad. We'll hopefully see a flurry of activity in a few weeks. I'd still like Rudkin to be shown the door to be honest and someone who has their head screwed on given a chance to run the club on a day to day basis.

 

I really do not understand how you think all of this has happened because of one summer of miscalculation though haha.

I've watched this club for decades and the first seasons under BR were without doubt the best football i've ever seen us play - even the third season, by our historical standards was a very good season - and throughout all of this we've at times had to cope with large numbers of first team players absent through injury, and we managed this because, appearing regularly in europe, we adopted a policy of trying to double up in every position (which, yes, required us to 'hike up our spending') - but it was absolutely necessary to do so.

 

I totally disagree that the value of the squad has been dropping for three seasons - (according to transfermarkt, for example, castagne's value has not dropped until relegation, ndidi's valuation didn't drop until the start of 22-23,  KDH peaked march 23, maddison's value has been up and down but has generally been on the up for the last two years, barnes is still valued at his peak level - so, it's only really youri who's value fell, but that's not the clubs fault, he just wanted a move).  As far as the quality dropping, well yes it did this year (it's hard to argue 21/22 because we lost so many key players that year) - but this year's drop in quality was the result of a large number of factors (that we as fans will never fully understand), enough in fact that it's hard to imagine the outcome having been anything but a relegation.

 

As far as Rudkin is concerned, i'll wager that you know absolutely zero about his job, how he does it and what is expected of him; you know nothing about why contracts weren't renewed - you simply see a situation and assume that it was due to incompetence - to argue that a man who has held a DoF job in the PL for 10 years is 'massively out of his depth' and only got his job by 'luck' is the height of ignorance - sure, he's not perfect but he was offered the job by Vichai when we were a PL team, i'm sure that Vichai didn't give him the job for fun or to be nice? If he was as flakey as you suggest how come the players that were brought in under his regime include Huth, Fuchs, Okazaki, Kante, Ndidi, Maguire, Iheanacho, Evans, Maddison, Ricardo, Soyuncu, Youri etc - doesn't really sound like the decision making and transfer activity of someone who is 'out of their depth'?

Unless you can categorically prove that Rudkin and Top were grossly negligent and consciously made decisions to threaten the security of the club, then all these insults and contumely towards them is really just guesswork scapegoatism - no one on this forum knows what really happened and we probably never will.  Prsonally (and not, i assure you, with 'incredible obsession') i'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt rather than make wild accusations without foundation and throwing around petty insults to cover my frustration regarding not knowing why we find ourselves back in the championship.

[Lillehamring]

6 hours ago, mozartfox said:

Shame that the people charged with running the Club had no alternative plan B  in place - i.e.  financing the team without European Football.  That seems somewhat incompetent……..or am I missing something???

It's easy to say that in hindsight - I'm sure at the start of the season they weren't expecting to lose their star defender, or for BR to down tools and start slating his own players - at the end of the day (season) it isn't incompetence to believe that we had a side more than capable of staying up, risky, perhaps, optimistic, maybe, but not incompetent - and it's true, despite the lack of signings, how many of us at the start of last season honestly expected us to get relegated?  It shouldn't have happened - that it did wasn't helped by the club's situation, but it had more to do with BR not dropping Ward, or persisting with weird teams and formations and so on.

Sure, it wasn't the best 'plan B', it's barely even a plan, but we went down because we didn't play as well as we were capable of and that's what the manager and the players  are ultimately responsible for - as fans we need to accept that and stop blaming the board, because they ain't going anywhere.

[Ric Flair]

3 hours ago, filbertway said:

You seem incredibly obsessed with trying to argue that things were class and then one summer out of nowhere caused the issues. It's clearly been a downward trend for 3 seasons off the pitch. We've been hiking up our spending whilst somehow simultaneously seeing the value of the squad drop and quality stagnate if not drop off.

 

Rudkin is massively out of his depth and somehow looked himself into one of the most important jobs in football. Quality people running things would not have let things escalate and spiral out of control. They run without a plan and bury their heads in the sand when things aren't going well.

 

I agree with the first part, the past week week and this coming week should be about planning our moves and how to give ourselves the best balanced squad. We'll hopefully see a flurry of activity in a few weeks. I'd still like Rudkin to be shown the door to be honest and someone who has their head screwed on given a chance to run the club on a day to day basis.

 

I really do not understand how you think all of this has happened because of one summer of miscalculation though haha.

I sometimes wonder if we're the ones who are out of touch and unreasonable. So every so often I like to means test the theory it was a freak season of failure in an otherwise well oiled machine.

 

Our average wage as at the 2021/22 set of accounts had spiralled to £94k a week and a shocking 80+ % wage/turnover ratio.

 

Our chronic injury issues can be traced back not to 2021/22, not to 2020/21 but to the latter part of 2019/20. Less than a full year in to the Brendan Rodgers regime. We have never recovered. We were told it would be much improved once we didn't have Europe to deal with. That has not been an obvious improvement in 2022/23.

 

We went from having the best metrics defensively in 2019/20 to the worst. That wasn't a stark change that suddenly occurred in 2022/23 but had steadily got worse each season. In 2021/22 our xG was borderline relegation material and what was keeping us away from the relegation zone was above average finishing and Kasper Schmeichel. 

 

Ever since late 2020/21 it became clear we had a number of players that needed to be moved on, 2 years later and the same players are still here or walked away on a free. Players we were told were surplus to requirements, players we as a club last summer at a time when we simply had to raise funds to buy anyone and yet turned bids down for such players. The mind boggles. We've since found it wasn't finances that were the main issue here, therefore not accepting bids because they didn't match our asking price is quite something.

 

Lee Congerton was told his contract would not be extended, alluding to a dissatisfaction with his performanceas head of recruitment. Dr Bryan English left after a year of being here, suggesting it didn't work out in the midst of a worsening injury crisis. 

 

Not every signing works, we've had disaster transfer windows in the past, see 2016/17 but the difference between then and in recent years is those players tended to be easily moved on, often for what we paid for them (Kramaric, Musa, Iborra) but again, due to the wages we offered straight off the bat meant we have struggled to shift players on.

 

Yet despite the struggles of last summer, the warnings of what Rodgers destructive comments and attitude might do to a team that knew the manager no longer had faith in them, yet when was neither backed nor sacked, the club continued to not learn from past mistakes. Only on transfer deadline day at the end of January have we been told by reporters close to Leeds Utd that we had a £100k a week offer on the table for Jack fcukin Harrison. It's beggars belief.

 

Our defensive set piece record went from one of the best in the league to one of the worst in a few years, steadily getting worse each year until we got a set piece coach in nearly a year after it was abundantly clear it was causing a large part of our decline.

 

The Athletic reported this year that due to frustrations and disillusion for their analysis and recommendations not listened to, analysts and scouts have requested moves away from the club. A club that over the last decade has been the envy of many for our innovation, sports science, recruitment and methods. If these staff weren't leaving because they were being ignored, they've also left in other areas because we have absolutely no appetite to promote from within. So many scouts and analysts got promotions elsewhere, whilst we were busy giving jobs to Rudkin's disciples and anyone Brendan suggested. Many of which have been moved on either before or certainly not had their initial contracts extended. 

 

It's when I consider all of this, I get even more angry by our decline. It could have been prevented, it could have been stopped, yet we've nose dived straight in to oblivion and yet some still think it's just one of those things that happen. Bollocks

 

 

 

 

[LinekersLugs]

On 22/06/2023 at 01:34, fox_favourite said:

I have no idea.

Gommorah : Enzo fashions himself on one the characters and is known to quote him 😂😂 

[Lillehamring]

  6 hours ago, inckley fox said:

I don't believe that there was a sudden onset of incompetence either. But it's very hard to argue that there wasn't a gradual descent into being poorly run.

 

What you say is true, in that we were stumped last summer because of the lack of European football. Our relegation was not because we had an inadequate squad, but more as a result of a manager who refused to react positively to a fairly predictable set of circumstances. This much is true.

 

But you can't overlook the catalogue of poor decisions at club level. There's got to be some degree of debate about how expertly run we've been since the title. Perhaps we always overstated the board's role, and the warning signs were there when we approached the post-title investment with no Head of Recruitment, signing players based on them looking alright on TV for a game or two. Starting a season while still jetlagged from another ill-advised summer tour. Or maybe the Silva debacle. Or sacking a manager only ten or so games after giving him a lengthy extended contract. Some might point to the length of certain player contracts. Or the bumper contract for Rodgers, and allowing him to clear out members of the backroom staff in favour of his own men. Perhaps the decision to go with his much-maligned recommendation for the scouting department was another critical mistake. But since the FA Cup it's less a matter of debate, and there have been very solid grounds to be critical of the board.

Sure, but every club makes poor decisions - but nothing you really mention should or likely was a catalyst for the form of the last two years (and don't forget, 8th place with all those injuries was still one of best ever seasonsn, even if it felt like a downturn). it's easy to forget, post-title, that there were salary restrictions on us due to our short time in the league so we couldn't just go out and buy whoever we wanted, but granted those we could afford perhaps weren't always the best. 

 

The money we did spend in 2021 was arguably as damaging as what we didn't spend a year later. Contingencies for replacing the manager should have been looked at in the aftermath of the Europa League exit and Forest defeat, and clearly weren't. When the decision was made to stick with Rodgers, the club had to make him abundantly clear of the limitations at hand, and apparently didn't. Outgoings had to be actively encouraged, with realistic asking prices, earlier in the window so that business could be done later. They weren't. We needed a PL-standard keeper, having let one go for nothing. When the season began as chaotically as it did, the board found themselves in a such a situation of decline that each week BR remained in situ was, effectively, another glaring error on their part. When they did sack him - just after an international break(!) - there was still no effective contingency. Nobody waiting in the wings. We dithered, and lost a couple of games, then got relegated. It remains to be seen whether we've learnt lessons, or whether the inexperienced manager that they've appointed will turn out to be the right man. But the noises coming from the club (e.g. Top's message) suggest that they've opted not to reflect humbly on their mismanagement.

Again, all valid reasons for complaint, but a lot of these issues are BR related - we don't know why he seemed to have or was given so much influence (other than he didn't a very good job his first two years) - i've said elsewhere that my feeling is that they wanted to keep him on til the end of the season and hope that he'd leave or be poached, but their hand was forced when the fan hatred towards him became unmanageable (as was the case previously with Puel) - if that is so it would explain the lack of immediate contingency - i don't know - but there's so much more to this than simply boxing it all up as 'mismanagement' - at the end of the day, we're still a relatively young club when it comes to sitting at the top table, and we lost our main man - that fans on here expect everything to be wonderful is not realistic, to expect the board to get every decision right is not realistic - and to blame everything on rudkin and top is miles wide of the mark - especially as we have so little insight into what is going on.

 

It's early days, but the signs are that they are still learning - letting Waller go, bringing in a manager that has immediately and fantastically changed the entire mood at the club (let's all look at Leeds for a moment before we start slagging off our board) suggests that they aren't stupid, that they haven't given up.

Edited 25 June 2023 by Lillehamring

[inckley fox]

10 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

I've watched this club for decades and the first seasons under BR were without doubt the best football i've ever seen us play - even the third season, by our historical standards was a very good season - and throughout all of this we've at times had to cope with large numbers of first team players absent through injury, and we managed this because, appearing regularly in europe, we adopted a policy of trying to double up in every position (which, yes, required us to 'hike up our spending') - but it was absolutely necessary to do so.

 

I totally disagree that the value of the squad has been dropping for three seasons - (according to transfermarkt, for example, castagne's value has not dropped until relegation, ndidi's valuation didn't drop until the start of 22-23,  KDH peaked march 23, maddison's value has been up and down but has generally been on the up for the last two years, barnes is still valued at his peak level - so, it's only really youri who's value fell, but that's not the clubs fault, he just wanted a move).  As far as the quality dropping, well yes it did this year (it's hard to argue 21/22 because we lost so many key players that year) - but this year's drop in quality was the result of a large number of factors (that we as fans will never fully understand), enough in fact that it's hard to imagine the outcome having been anything but a relegation.

 

As far as Rudkin is concerned, i'll wager that you know absolutely zero about his job, how he does it and what is expected of him; you know nothing about why contracts weren't renewed - you simply see a situation and assume that it was due to incompetence - to argue that a man who has held a DoF job in the PL for 10 years is 'massively out of his depth' and only got his job by 'luck' is the height of ignorance - sure, he's not perfect but he was offered the job by Vichai when we were a PL team, i'm sure that Vichai didn't give him the job for fun or to be nice? If he was as flakey as you suggest how come the players that were brought in under his regime include Huth, Fuchs, Okazaki, Kante, Ndidi, Maguire, Iheanacho, Evans, Maddison, Ricardo, Soyuncu, Youri etc - doesn't really sound like the decision making and transfer activity of someone who is 'out of their depth'?

Unless you can categorically prove that Rudkin and Top were grossly negligent and consciously made decisions to threaten the security of the club, then all these insults and contumely towards them is really just guesswork scapegoatism - no one on this forum knows what really happened and we probably never will.  Prsonally (and not, i assure you, with 'incredible obsession') i'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt rather than make wild accusations without foundation and throwing around petty insults to cover my frustration regarding not knowing why we find ourselves back in the championship.

It's inevitable, though, that football fans will make inexpert judgements of managers, players and backroom staff. We might have limited information, but I don't think it's a stretch to say that there have been problems with Leicester City at the highest level. When a side which was established in the upper echelons goes down, that in itself is a fairly damning bit of evidence.

 

You're probably also fairly safe in saying that something was amiss when going into a season with a manager publicly claiming that he'd not been given the resources they'd promised. Equally, I don't think you need to be furnished with any great knowledge of a football club's inner workings to surmise that sacking a manager with Rodgers' record that late in a season, after an international break and without having a replacement lined up, is a pretty strong indicator that mistakes were being made. And when the outcome is what the outcome was, well, the proof is in the pudding, surely. I would have thought, on top of that, that the abundance of signings who were cast aside, and deemed unfit for purpose, is another sure fire sign that there have been issues with recruitment, and the people hired to oversee it.

 

When Rudkin is the main footballing voice on the board, and the one theoretically responsible for the scouts we hire, the medical staff we assemble, the managerial targets that we line up, (and when we line them up), as well as for contracts, and for daily correspondence with the manager, it's quite reasonable for people to look at the situation and say 'that chap doesn't seem to have been doing a particularly good job these past couple of years'. Is there an element of people feeling more comfortable with scapegoating a DoF than an owner we've liked, or players, or even a manager? Perhaps. But is it all the unreasoned imagination of angry minds? Definitely not.

[fox_favourite]

22 minutes ago, LinekersLugs said:

Gommorah : Enzo fashions himself on one the characters and is known to quote him 😂😂 

Gommorah? Nope, never heard of it! I'm sooooo not kool. Must be like Last or the Summer Wine??

Edited 25 June 2023 by fox_favourite

[Daggers]

49 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I sometimes wonder if we're the ones who are out of touch and unreasonable. 

 

 

[Vlad the Fox]

1 hour ago, Gamble92 said:

I wanted to have a pop back but your display picture is so brilliant that i can't be mad at you

Was it taken at the front row at Glastonbury tonight, I guess rudkins a massive Elton fan. 

[Gamble92]

1 minute ago, Vlad the Fox said:

Was it taken at the front row at Glastonbury tonight, I guess rudkins a massive Elton fan. 

He's coming on for the encore to sing I'm Still Standing

[Lillehamring]

2 hours ago, inckley fox said:

It's inevitable, though, that football fans will make inexpert judgements of managers, players and backroom staff. We might have limited information, but I don't think it's a stretch to say that there have been problems with Leicester City at the highest level. When a side which was established in the upper echelons goes down, that in itself is a fairly damning bit of evidence.

 

You're probably also fairly safe in saying that something was amiss when going into a season with a manager publicly claiming that he'd not been given the resources they'd promised. Equally, I don't think you need to be furnished with any great knowledge of a football club's inner workings to surmise that sacking a manager with Rodgers' record that late in a season, after an international break and without having a replacement lined up, is a pretty strong indicator that mistakes were being made. And when the outcome is what the outcome was, well, the proof is in the pudding, surely. I would have thought, on top of that, that the abundance of signings who were cast aside, and deemed unfit for purpose, is another sure fire sign that there have been issues with recruitment, and the people hired to oversee it.

 

When Rudkin is the main footballing voice on the board, and the one theoretically responsible for the scouts we hire, the medical staff we assemble, the managerial targets that we line up, (and when we line them up), as well as for contracts, and for daily correspondence with the manager, it's quite reasonable for people to look at the situation and say 'that chap doesn't seem to have been doing a particularly good job these past couple of years'. Is there an element of people feeling more comfortable with scapegoating a DoF than an owner we've liked, or players, or even a manager? Perhaps. But is it all the unreasoned imagination of angry minds? Definitely not.

I'm not saying they haven't made some unsuccessful decisions, i'm just saying we don't know why they made these decisions, so we really shouldn't be sitting here being so judgemental - it seems to me that we can either believe that the a previously stellar organisation has turned into complete morons, or that sometimes issues all across the club, from player to board, just get you caught in a tailspin that you can't escape from?  Scapegoating and retrospectively dismissing satisfactory things as abject failure is such a petty attitude to take - i get that people resent us being relegated, are even embarrassed by it, knowing that we've dropped below forest, but blaming everything on the DoF is absurd.  Whatever the problems we have had, and we've had problems before and been fine, we were relegated because we were shit at defending, it's really that simply.

[Bordersfox]

10 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

I'm not saying they haven't made some unsuccessful decisions, i'm just saying we don't know why they made these decisions, so we really shouldn't be sitting here being so judgemental - it seems to me that we can either believe that the a previously stellar organisation has turned into complete morons, or that sometimes issues all across the club, from player to board, just get you caught in a tailspin that you can't escape from?  Scapegoating and retrospectively dismissing satisfactory things as abject failure is such a petty attitude to take - i get that people resent us being relegated, are even embarrassed by it, knowing that we've dropped below forest, but blaming everything on the DoF is absurd.  Whatever the problems we have had, and we've had problems before and been fine, we were relegated because we were shit at defending, it's really that simply.

We were shit at defending because of... 

 

A culmination of poor decisions over more than one season and summer.  

 

They've all been mentioned here ad nauseum but include, amongst many, many other things:

 

Selling our best defender and replacing him with a cross between side show Bob and David Luiz, but without side shows defensive ability;

 

Generally poor recruitment including Vesty and Bertrand; 

 

The situation of having many players reaching the end of their contracts and clearly not giving a shite.  This is absolutely criminal from a forward planning/strategic point of view;

 

Leaving Rodgers in place for too long when things had clearly gone stale and then getting rid with nobody but the chuckle brothers to manage us for two vital and eminently winnable games;

 

Ward and Big Dan.

 

The list goes on and on.  I would argue much of this is within the remit of DoF or that at the least he should have a handle on those working beneath him and responsible for the various issues we've had.  Yes there are lots of moving parts in an organisation of this size. But the buck stops with DoF and also ultimately with the Board.  

 

So yes we were simply shit at defending because as a club we have, for a little while now, simply been shit at lots of fundamental things required in the running of a successful PL football club.  

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, Lillehamring said:

Whatever the problems we have had, and we've had problems before and been fine, we were relegated because we were shit at defending, it's really that simply

...you really are overlooking the obvious!!!

 The decisions of our previous manager has led to our demise, his team selections and formations contributed to the poor performances throughout the season. Him finally coming to the table to negotiate a settlement agreement in order to leave the club, so as not to be tarnished by a team on his watch being relegated,  was the final act of a self absorbed man hell bent on the preservation of a reputation and brand cultivated for years.

  He has not been connected or linked with any Premier League clubs that I have been aware of,

and has now sought refuge in the bussom of a team where success is guaranteed, and a convenient place to hide. 

  This is a man who was so willing to make a point, to the club that paid him handsomely for his stewardship, that he threw the first game of the season in order to manifest his anger towards the club. 

  Rudkin is lambasted on here as not being fit for purpose, many fingers pointing in his direction as the one to blame, but the only person that carries the burden, so far as I am concerned is Khun Top.

  He had countless opportunities to solve this debacle by removing Rodgers from his post, yet chose not to do so. We ended up being 2 points away from salvation, a wasted opportunity. 

[Dan LCFC]

6 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

I sometimes wonder if we're the ones who are out of touch and unreasonable. So every so often I like to means test the theory it was a freak season of failure in an otherwise well oiled machine.

 

Our average wage as at the 2021/22 set of accounts had spiralled to £94k a week and a shocking 80+ % wage/turnover ratio.

 

Our chronic injury issues can be traced back not to 2021/22, not to 2020/21 but to the latter part of 2019/20. Less than a full year in to the Brendan Rodgers regime. We have never recovered. We were told it would be much improved once we didn't have Europe to deal with. That has not been an obvious improvement in 2022/23.

 

We went from having the best metrics defensively in 2019/20 to the worst. That wasn't a stark change that suddenly occurred in 2022/23 but had steadily got worse each season. In 2021/22 our xG was borderline relegation material and what was keeping us away from the relegation zone was above average finishing and Kasper Schmeichel. 

 

Ever since late 2020/21 it became clear we had a number of players that needed to be moved on, 2 years later and the same players are still here or walked away on a free. Players we were told were surplus to requirements, players we as a club last summer at a time when we simply had to raise funds to buy anyone and yet turned bids down for such players. The mind boggles. We've since found it wasn't finances that were the main issue here, therefore not accepting bids because they didn't match our asking price is quite something.

 

Lee Congerton was told his contract would not be extended, alluding to a dissatisfaction with his performanceas head of recruitment. Dr Bryan English left after a year of being here, suggesting it didn't work out in the midst of a worsening injury crisis. 

 

Not every signing works, we've had disaster transfer windows in the past, see 2016/17 but the difference between then and in recent years is those players tended to be easily moved on, often for what we paid for them (Kramaric, Musa, Iborra) but again, due to the wages we offered straight off the bat meant we have struggled to shift players on.

 

Yet despite the struggles of last summer, the warnings of what Rodgers destructive comments and attitude might do to a team that knew the manager no longer had faith in them, yet when was neither backed nor sacked, the club continued to not learn from past mistakes. Only on transfer deadline day at the end of January have we been told by reporters close to Leeds Utd that we had a £100k a week offer on the table for Jack fcukin Harrison. It's beggars belief.

 

Our defensive set piece record went from one of the best in the league to one of the worst in a few years, steadily getting worse each year until we got a set piece coach in nearly a year after it was abundantly clear it was causing a large part of our decline.

 

The Athletic reported this year that due to frustrations and disillusion for their analysis and recommendations not listened to, analysts and scouts have requested moves away from the club. A club that over the last decade has been the envy of many for our innovation, sports science, recruitment and methods. If these staff weren't leaving because they were being ignored, they've also left in other areas because we have absolutely no appetite to promote from within. So many scouts and analysts got promotions elsewhere, whilst we were busy giving jobs to Rudkin's disciples and anyone Brendan suggested. Many of which have been moved on either before or certainly not had their initial contracts extended. 

 

It's when I consider all of this, I get even more angry by our decline. It could have been prevented, it could have been stopped, yet we've nose dived straight in to oblivion and yet some still think it's just one of those things that happen. Bollocks

Completely spot on. Every word of it. The fact even the most avoidable relegation in Premier League history hasn't been enough to create an almost unanimous demand in change in how we operate is pretty frightening. The problem with this fanbase is that Top has seemingly endless credit in the bank for things he clearly didn't have a big part in building. We're all about protecting the positions of a select few, it couldn't be clearer.

 

How people are trying to absolve Rudkin of blame. I don't need to know his day to day routine to know that this appalling decline has happened on his watch. If he isn't at least quite responsible for this, then what exactly is he in post for?

 

I can envisage a scenario where Maresca does pretty well but ends up leaving us for somebody better - and by somebody better, I don't mean a top club. I'm talking a Crystal Palace.

 

Leicester's only hope is that Martyn Glover delivers above his average (which is something we've largely benefitted from in the past decade) and that Maresca is both competent enough to progress this team and actually makes demands of the club that rocks the boat as well. Can completely envisage a scenario where him and Rudkin are at loggerheads if the latter happens. It can't go on the way it has in the past few years.

[jerakin]

GTF over it.  We are down, let's get on with it.

 

It's still LCFC football, and I'm looking forward to it.

[SafewayFox]

The fact that we’re still talking about Top/Rudkin rather than Enzo on a post all about our hunky, exciting new boss screams out how much we’re (rightfully) still hurting over last season/years of regression.

 

I want to start loving everything LCFC again but its been so hard when a lot of us have been predicting this negative trend for such a long time.

[SafewayFox]

4 minutes ago, jerakin said:

GTF over it.  We are down, let's get on with it.

 

It's still LCFC football, and I'm looking forward to it.

So as a business, we shouldn’t do an appraisal/review of what caused the numerous mistakes to get us here?

 

It’s arrogance to think that these mistakes are isolated if not properly learned from.

[CosbehFox]

7 hours ago, Lillehamring said:

Whatever the problems we have had, and we've had problems before and been fine, we were relegated because we were shit at defending, it's really that simply.

Wish it was as simple as that. 

[5waller5]

9 hours ago, Lillehamring said:

I'm not saying they haven't made some unsuccessful decisions, i'm just saying we don't know why they made these decisions, so we really shouldn't be sitting here being so judgemental - it seems to me that we can either believe that the a previously stellar organisation has turned into complete morons, or that sometimes issues all across the club, from player to board, just get you caught in a tailspin that you can't escape from?  Scapegoating and retrospectively dismissing satisfactory things as abject failure is such a petty attitude to take - i get that people resent us being relegated, are even embarrassed by it, knowing that we've dropped below forest, but blaming everything on the DoF is absurd.  Whatever the problems we have had, and we've had problems before and been fine, we were relegated because we were shit at defending, it's really that simply.

You realise DOF is Director Of Football??

 

The guy is in charge of football operations at a football club that went from being consistently challenging for Europe and winning trophies to relegation??

 

It’s not scapegoating, it’s highlighting failure to do his job.