The "do they mean us?" thread

[Guest bss9401]

You will win it, you can win it - Jeremy Vine's letter to Leicester

• 30 minutes ago
• From the sectionFootball

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Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri used to manage Jeremy Vine's beloved ChelseaBBC Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine has been a Chelsea season ticket holder for 20 years.

Dear Leicester City fan,

Can you take a moment to spare a thought for me, a beleaguered Chelsea supporter? I just saw my team fail to score against Watford. Let's put that in context: we are Premier League champions, and we cannot find the net at Watford. We don't even know where the net is. Eden Hazard ought to be wired up to a sat-nav.

So it has finally dawned on me. Chelsea are not going to be champions any more, maybe not for many years. I can now admit something I have been in total denial about. For the sake of my children I will keep pretending to believe - keep turning up at games and shout for Chelsea. But our campaign is over.

So at some point the question has to be answered. If Chelsea can't win the league, who do I want the crown to go to?

Today I tweeted a picture from my account, saying I want Leicester to win the league.

And naturally I got abuse from the kind of people who lose their T-shirt as soon as they see a pint of real ale. "Plastic fan," replied someone with too much time on his hands, "u should only care about your team."

This is my reply: I do. But I want Leicester to win the Premier League because my team can't.

This week you took Liverpool apart. Your pair of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez have 31 league goals between them, more than all the Reds combined. You are performing the kind of high-wire act not seen since the French daredevil Philippe Petit strung a cable between the Twin Towers and crossed it without a harness.

Every week we expect you to fall; to go down 7-0 like Gary Neville's Valencia just did. But every week you stay on that cable.

When you played us in December I totted up the total cost of your players. I made the total bill £23m. Chelsea's, by contrast, was £215m. I was so embarrassed I hid my jottings in a coat pocket. You then beat us 2-1, adding injury to insult and meaning your scoreline was 19 times times cheaper than ours on a pounds-per-goal basis.

I tuned into 5 live's 606 show that week and heard a Leicester dad called Lee weep on the line with Robbie Savage, who used to play in midfield for your team. The man cried as he described his beloved LCFC going from last to first in the league in just 12 months. "I'm welling up," he told Robbie. "This season is just unbelievable, pal."

Leicester, like Philippe Petit, have not falteredHis son, he explained, grew up with all his friends supporting teams like Manchester United, Arsenal and...Chelsea. He told his boy to hang in there with Leicester because one day things would turn. When the Foxes finally reached the summit of the Premier League, Lee said, "My son looked me in the eye and said: 'Dad, dad, amazing, absolutely amazing'."

Lee then told Robbie: "You can't tell me we haven't got a chance of winning the league."

The broadcaster replied: "Lee, how can I tell you that you can't win the league after that?" I seem to remember the man crying as he said goodbye.

So I am going to go even further than Robbie. Leicester fan, your team can win the league. You deserve to win it. You will win it. And you will win it because I, and many thousands of others, are secretly willing you to, because it's the closest thing to Roy of the Rovers we've ever seen. You've made the teams we support look like a bunch of bungling amateurs, and, despite my pain, I love you for it.

Yours sincerely

Jeremy Vine

That is just fantastic. The world are paying attention and I am loving it.

Edited 4 February 2016 by bss9401

[DJ Barry Hammond]

I've just read that Vine letter too... and as great as it is to see, I have one reservation in that I saw the effect truly believing "it's gonna be our year" had on Liverpool's performances during that infamous season.

True, we don't have a clown like Brendon in charge and our players may be stronger mentally given they none of them have been around the England international scene long enough to get the bottlers disease, but as soon as the wider public started believing that filtered into the players heads and they tightened up physically and mentally.

So part of me would prefer most people to not believe, still predict the worst for us, after all historically proving people wrong is what our team is best at.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Wolves fans are great. Hope they come up soon. Fantastic fan base.

I remember a lot of their fans saying congratulations / all the best, when we played them on the last day of the season of a promotion ending campaign.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

That is some motivation for all of them, and somebody somewhere at LCFC has a phenomenal eye for spotting a player. I just wish we knew exactly who it was!

I don't think it's the one person that has the eye, it's a group effort.

You have the input from the manager, identifying the type of players / position / skill set he wants

The tech guys do the video / data analysis research to narrow down potential targets

The scouts watch the potential targets (and feed back on any un-thought of targets they might see, where the process goes in reverse)

An approach is then decided collectively, but with the manager having the key say

The player comes in

Mean, the satisfying thing, even where signings haven't turned out quite as you may have expected them - they almost always have good logic behind them and you can see why the player was signed. It's not a scatter gun approach of, oh he's playing well at the moment, lets chuck £20 million at him and then try and shoe horn him into our existing side with no real clue as to how/what/where he will play.

It's something England managers could do with looking at - because trying to fumble a side together of "form players" is the most moronic approach you can get.

Decide who your best players are, who is going to hurt teams and how they will be best used and then build the national side around that by picking players that will compliment them. Form is useless, if you're not going to use them in a way that got them into form in the first place!

[Ric Flair]

Hahahaaa as if we'd have turned down £5 million for Vardy from West Brom when he'd barely scored to then agree the same fee a few months later to a dog shit championship club after he'd scored 4 crucial goals in the run-in and made his debut for England. Absolute horse shit.

[eye666]

I've just read that Vine letter too... and as great as it is to see, I have one reservation in that I saw the effect truly believing "it's gonna be our year" had on Liverpool's performances during that infamous season.

True, we don't have a clown like Brendon in charge and our players may be stronger mentally given they none of them have been around the England international scene long enough to get the bottlers disease, but as soon as the wider public started believing that filtered into the players heads and they tightened up physically and mentally.

So part of me would prefer most people to not believe, still predict the worst for us, after all historically proving people wrong is what our team is best at.

Difference (potentially) being we don't have the so called "Big Time Charlie's. We have players with an insatiable will to strive for better things because they've been written off.

As someone alluded to, Reg has put the effort in to get better, to adapt to the Prem, to work on finishing and use the attributes every football forum poster has wished for in abundance (often described as "raw pace", "work on end product" and "if he could finish...") to become a near complete striker.

The same can be said for Drinky, Albrighton and numerous others.

I totally agree we CAN win the league because of the sheer will of our castoffs and players who were written off. The only thing that will stop them is them not believing it, and I honestly cannot see that being a problem with this team and the mentality they (appear) to have.

Might just be the beer talking though...!

[Izzy]

You will win it, you can win it - Jeremy Vine's letter to Leicester

 

 

• 30 minutes ago
• From the sectionFootball

Sharethis page

Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri used to manage Jeremy Vine's beloved Chelsea

BBC Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine has been a Chelsea season ticket holder for 20 years.

Dear Leicester City fan,

Can you take a moment to spare a thought for me, a beleaguered Chelsea supporter? I just saw my team fail to score against Watford. Let's put that in context: we are Premier League champions, and we cannot find the net at Watford. We don't even know where the net is. Eden Hazard ought to be wired up to a sat-nav.

So it has finally dawned on me. Chelsea are not going to be champions any more, maybe not for many years. I can now admit something I have been in total denial about. For the sake of my children I will keep pretending to believe - keep turning up at games and shout for Chelsea. But our campaign is over.

So at some point the question has to be answered. If Chelsea can't win the league, who do I want the crown to go to?

Today I tweeted a picture from my account, saying I want Leicester to win the league.

And naturally I got abuse from the kind of people who lose their T-shirt as soon as they see a pint of real ale. "Plastic fan," replied someone with too much time on his hands, "u should only care about your team."

This is my reply: I do. But I want Leicester to win the Premier League because my team can't.

This week you took Liverpool apart. Your pair of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez have 31 league goals between them, more than all the Reds combined. You are performing the kind of high-wire act not seen since the French daredevil Philippe Petit strung a cable between the Twin Towers and crossed it without a harness.

Every week we expect you to fall; to go down 7-0 like Gary Neville's Valencia just did. But every week you stay on that cable.

When you played us in December I totted up the total cost of your players. I made the total bill £23m. Chelsea's, by contrast, was £215m. I was so embarrassed I hid my jottings in a coat pocket. You then beat us 2-1, adding injury to insult and meaning your scoreline was 19 times times cheaper than ours on a pounds-per-goal basis.

I tuned into 5 live's 606 show that week and heard a Leicester dad called Lee weep on the line with Robbie Savage, who used to play in midfield for your team. The man cried as he described his beloved LCFC going from last to first in the league in just 12 months. "I'm welling up," he told Robbie. "This season is just unbelievable, pal."

Leicester, like Philippe Petit, have not faltered

His son, he explained, grew up with all his friends supporting teams like Manchester United, Arsenal and...Chelsea. He told his boy to hang in there with Leicester because one day things would turn. When the Foxes finally reached the summit of the Premier League, Lee said, "My son looked me in the eye and said: 'Dad, dad, amazing, absolutely amazing'."

Lee then told Robbie: "You can't tell me we haven't got a chance of winning the league."

The broadcaster replied: "Lee, how can I tell you that you can't win the league after that?" I seem to remember the man crying as he said goodbye.

So I am going to go even further than Robbie. Leicester fan, your team can win the league. You deserve to win it. You will win it. And you will win it because I, and many thousands of others, are secretly willing you to, because it's the closest thing to Roy of the Rovers we've ever seen. You've made the teams we support look like a bunch of bungling amateurs, and, despite my pain, I love you for it.

Yours sincerely

Jeremy Vine

 

 

I welled up a bit reading that - must be going soft in my old age.

It's just incredible the amount of good will we're receiving from fans of other clubs. It feels like the whole world (apart from Man City, Spur and Arsenal) is behind us right now. It's like an unstoppable wave of support and we're providing everyone else with hope that the big boys and all their money can be taken on and beaten. Real 'David and Goliath' stuff. Everyone pulling for the underdogs. I fvckin love it.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Might just be the beer talking though...!

Now there's an idea!

And as a Leicester fan, having been through many false dawns and learning to expect the worst... I'm still clinging onto that, be a little pessimistic thought in my mind.

It's similar to last season, I didn't let myself believe we'd stay up until very late on. This time round it's far more scarier because there's more things to believe - like at the moment, I've now allowed myself to accept we'll probably be playing European football next season.

The debate in my mind is still on whether we'll stay inside the top 4, but it can't help flickering a thought that maybe, just maybe, the title could be on... but I dare not think that way properly yet! So whilst I'm ok with our fans believing in "the impossible dream" when randoms from elsewhere and celebrity start doing so as well, I'm letting those thoughts go into the dubious side of my brain.

[glenelgfox]

Hats off to those Wolves fans re their comments about us on their forum. Collectively that is the most educated, unbiased and balanced coments without personal attacks on our players or our club I have ever read from another team.

Maybe their Club Executive and owners should take note of their comments. As we have proven it isn't a big dick bag of money competition where the more you spend the more results you get. As pointed out with the new TV rights deal kicking come next season, a number of mid sized to small clubs in the PL will have £££ / €€€ to attract players who the bigger clubs would have normally got and many would have been fringe at those clubs whereas money and guarentee of regular starting football at those supposed smaller clubs becomes attractive.

[The Doctor]

Someone brought up the Spurs game last season on Boxing Day (I just remember we could have nicked a draw late on but failed yet again). Vardy went from being an unused sub that day to being the first name on the team sheet now.

This guy's will to improve and become better is astounding. He has improved tactically, he makes more intelligent runs, his finishing and composure has improved. Compare that to someone like Theo Walcott who has the tactical awareness of an academy player and footballing IQ of a League One player, despite being at Arsenal for ten years and training with world class players.

It really is a shame that Vardy is 29 years old.

 

I'm about 110% certain Vertonghen scythed him down for the penalty appeal that game, so that's not true.

[Guest CityFan 06]

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Wolves, genuinely. Those comments are very decent and their a good club with a good fan base.

[Kitchandro]

 

Article in The Times today...

 

 

 

 

 

That would have been an interesting read if it wasn't full of so much self-deprecating crap. I'm used to opposition fans talking nonsense about us but sometimes our fans need  to show a bit more pride.

People like Jobber and Lineker talk as if the O'Neill years were the only decent seasons we've ever had, when in truth we were did similarly well in the 60s (when, Gary, we were in this position before)and 70s. Plenty of top half finishes in there, even a couple of top 6 ones along with cup finals and semi-finals. This 'yo-yo-ing' tag is meaningless. How many clubs spend decades on end in the top flight? Very, very few.

 

As for the comment about us being a 'rugby town', I'm not sure which moron brought that into the conversation (I guess the bloke who wrote it) but the article lost all credibility there. That is merely running joke from the people who don't like us and embarrassing for anybody ill-informed enough to take it seriously.

 

This is the only downside to our situation, that people talk about us as if we're minnows just to sensationalise the story even more. We may well have never won a league title or an FA Cup but we're a well supported club with a respectable history.

[bovril]

Every time I think of Wolves I just have visions of our 2003 collapse there. The most traumatic moment of my football supporting life. For that reason I would not care if they folded, as much as they are steeped in tradition.

[Raw Dykes]

Every time I think of Wolves I just have visions of our 2003 collapse there. The most traumatic moment of my football supporting life. For that reason I would not care if they folded, as much as they are steeped in tradition.

 

That was horrible. I had a mate who was a Wolves fan around that time and we used to go to most Leicester v Wolves matches. Thankfully, I missed that one, but it stung. I was winding him up via text first half, and you can guess what he was like at the end. Awful.

 

We were neck and neck with Wolves for those few years. I wish I was mates with him now.

 

It's weird to think that with the new TV deal on the horizon and the position we find ourselves in, it could be a long, long time before we cross paths with our local rivals again. We're on another level to most of them already, and the financial gap is about to grow.

 

I'm well aware that we could be relegated next season, but let's say we don't - how long do you think it will take Forest, Coventry or Wolves to reach the PL? Obviously, money isn't everything, but sides relegated from the top flight will soon have an even bigger cash advantage than they do now, making it harder for other Championship clubs to get out.

[Captain...]

I've just read that Vine letter too... and as great as it is to see, I have one reservation in that I saw the effect truly believing "it's gonna be our year" had on Liverpool's performances during that infamous season.

True, we don't have a clown like Brendon in charge and our players may be stronger mentally given they none of them have been around the England international scene long enough to get the bottlers disease, but as soon as the wider public started believing that filtered into the players heads and they tightened up physically and mentally.

So part of me would prefer most people to not believe, still predict the worst for us, after all historically proving people wrong is what our team is best at.

I know what you mean, the reaction to the Liverpool win has been amazing, but it makes me nervous. I feel like right now it is as good as it is ever going to get, that we are on the crest of this incredible wave and the only way is down.

If this is as good as it gets, I'll never forget these few days, if it actually does get better than this then I don't think I will know how to cope.

[benpicko]

 

Precisely another individual, I'm embarrassed to have associated with/part of Leicester. Hand on heart. I'd rather we would've sacked Vardy and get relegated than keep him and win the League. Leicester has a profound Asian population, Asian owners and overall a multi-cultural city. Anyway I'm being idealistic, all in all his crime was less than Pearson's sons and he did make an apology. But all i'm saying is, if I were Shinji, I would've punched him in his kidneys before I asked for a personal apology.

 

No words

[lgfualol]

No words

I've seen that guy around. He really does not like Vardy for that casino incident

Edited 5 February 2016 by lgfualol

[PAULCFC]

Every time I think of Wolves I just have visions of our 2003 collapse there. The most traumatic moment of my football supporting life. For that reason I would not care if they folded, as much as they are steeped in tradition.

Every time i think of Wolves i have visions of that underpass!(people of a certain age will know what i mean)!

[Jordan]

What about trying to see things from Shinji's perspective instead of telling him what to do? Wasn't Shinji's response to the whole thing rather dignified?

I was pissed off with and embarrassed by what Jamie Vardy did, but at least the guy is learning a lesson about it. Being open-minded, anti-racist etc. isn't about making people wear a scarlet letter their whole lives. Who wouldn't want Vardy to smarten up and become a better man after that?

I'm glad that person isn't Shinji Okazaki, because the world--or at least that little corner of the world--is much better off for it.

[RichMC24]

No words

This bothered me slightly.

The insinuation being that because Vardy has scored loads of goals and we are top of the league, that makes the OP some kind of bellend for being offended by Vardy's perceived indisgression.

In my very humble opinion, the OP is actually a bellend regardless of our current situation, simply for feigning offence on someone else's behalf and conforming to the press 'angle' at the time.

But my opinion is irrelevant, as is the success of Vardy and Leicester in the opinion of the OP. I assume the OP is livid at the clubs success, given the foundation of it and the reliance on such a pariah.

Or has success changed their opinion ?

[maddog]

Some fans on here mention the likelihood that our players will feel the pressure of this media swave of support and all of a sudden we have something to lose.

What if our players embrace that pressure and thrive on it?

What if we can get even better this season?

I've been overly optimistic since I watched us slickly take a 2-0 lead at Upton Park in August. We will beat Man City Saturday and we could put them to the sword like lambs to the slaughter.

[Dan LCFC]

Just read all of that stuff about Dyer and his wife. Shocking if that's true, and given the way it's being spoken about and the inexplicable loss of form from him it would make a lot of sense. He was always a really under-rated winger I thought, but for us he's been largely disappointing. Can imagine what's happened to him at Swansea has sent his head all over the place. It explains a lot, basically. Hope he sorts himself out and we absolutely twat them again in April.

 

The big question about all of that though... look at the bloke who's supposedly been on his wife and look at his wife. Surely that's a bigger miracle than our league position

[foxes_rule1978]

Just read all of that stuff about Dyer and his wife. Shocking if that's true, and given the way it's being spoken about and the inexplicable loss of form from him it would make a lot of sense. He was always a really under-rated winger I thought, but for us he's been largely disappointing. Can imagine what's happened to him at Swansea has sent his head all over the place. It explains a lot, basically. Hope he sorts himself out and we absolutely twat them again in April.

The big question about all of that though... look at the bloke who's supposedly been on his wife and look at his wife. Surely that's a bigger miracle than our league position

Oh dear... if that is true I can see why dyer is struggling, to find out your wife has been sleeping with that I would be embarrassed. Hopefully he can find his form and gets himself sorted and move on.

[Gary Eatfood]

I've just read that Vine letter too... and as great as it is to see, I have one reservation in that I saw the effect truly believing "it's gonna be our year" had on Liverpool's performances during that infamous season.

True, we don't have a clown like Brendon in charge and our players may be stronger mentally given they none of them have been around the England international scene long enough to get the bottlers disease, but as soon as the wider public started believing that filtered into the players heads and they tightened up physically and mentally.

So part of me would prefer most people to not believe, still predict the worst for us, after all historically proving people wrong is what our team is best at.

 

I agree on the whole but the biggest difference is our supporters don't have the sense of entitlement that Liverpool's fans had, or any other big club come to think of it. The wider world might be waking up to the possibility that Leicester could win the Premier League but I still don't believe it's possible even for one second and I won't believe until it actually happens. (which it won't...of course )

[UPinCarolina]

Dyer's header though...resounding.