Big Dose of Reality

[Jari Rantanen's Shorts]

The sell-off of Leicesters assets is par for the course at our club. The MON era in general was the exception, which in itself says alot about the great man. For those that can remember back in the 80's, Lineker was sold to Everton for £800 000 to be replaced by Mark Bright ( £100 000 after so many games). Within a year or two Alan Smith went to Arsenal for £1M to be replaced by the likes of Jari Rantanen( £50 000).In more recent years Heskey ( £11M ) was replaced by Akinbiyi and we all know how that turned out. Leicester are in a slump, whether we have hit rock bottom only time will tell. But the one thing that is certain is that however far we climb the league there will always be bigger fish sniffing any decent talent we have. The harsh reality is that we have little chance of holding on to our best players whilst we are in this league.

I hope you weren't suggested the Flying Finn was not up to scratch!!!

 

[Lako42]

hes not flogging a dead horse. as said before we are building for the future. what was he going to do at hearts that he has already done. people are putting us down to harshly, we are not as bad as you all make out for gods sake. you make it sound like we are doomed forever never to return, and the position we are in now is utterly shite. non of it is true. he knew the job ahead when he came, he's not stupid. we are a decent sized club with the potential to return, but it may take a little time. i dont think ive ever seen this much doom and gloom on this board. all triggered by the sale of one mediocre player.

 

[G F P]

hes not flogging a dead horse. as said before we are building for the future. what was he going to do at hearts that he has already done. people are putting us down to harshly, we are not as bad as you all make out for gods sake. you make it sound like we are doomed forever never to return, and the position we are in now is utterly shite. non of it is true. he knew the job ahead when he came, he's not stupid. we are a decent sized club with the potential to return, but it may take a little time. i dont think ive ever seen this much doom and gloom on this board. all triggered by the sale of one mediocre player.

agree with almost all of that, not to sure DC was Mediocre (to us at least), we have the first genuinly promising side for years with real talent but lets face it and it really does come down to this.....

You can't forge a team in six games it will take time, with all the moaning in the world it's not going to make the team gel any quicker. to be honest i have been impressed with how well certain players have started to link up already this season and am looking forward when the entire team starts to play as a unit.

 

[PFKAKTF FOX]

The situation regarding CL is being blown out of all proportion, he was well aware of the financial constraints that would be imposed, he knew the magnitude of the rebuilding job required regarding the playing staff. But I do believe he has been supported by the board, IMO the board, the manager, the backroom staff and the players are aware of the long term aspirations and ambitions.

After MA left, I think the board took stock of the direction the club was moving in, poor performances, squad full of demotivated has beens, crippling wage bill, diminishing crowds and a virtually defunct youth policy. They then decided to appoint a manager who would turn the whole club on it's head and build a club on sound foundations.

Out went the short term contracts, incoming players in on long term deals.

Demotivated high earning has beens replaced with young, hungry players who's careers are on the up.

During CL's first season he managed to, with no doubted help and support from the board, to manouvre out some of the higher earners like Keown, Scowy, Benji, Elliott, Blake, Pressman etc.

In the summer he cleared the rest of the deadwood / players who had become stale. He completely freshened the squad.

He gave youth it's chance, players like Sheehan, O'Grady and Weso have all had the opportunity to taste first team action.

The team is now full of his players, the majority of the squad are Craig's signings or players that have improved under his management.

We sell our "top striker", who scored 14 goals, at this level for the price we paid for him and that must be deemed a failure, so Conners has hardly set the world alight, except for the 2 games early this season when it now clearly shows he was in the shop window, shame he couldnt show that ability last season he certainly had the chances, we recieve a fee well over his market value, well done to the board and the manager, we then sign one of the most exciting talents outside the top two divisions and a prem striker who has shown enough ability to suggest he will do well. I think Levein is happy, if we were really struggling then CL would be having to sign freebie's as replacements. We havent we have signed a couple of exciting players who will entertain.

This is a long term plan, that possibly doesnt include promotion this year, you cannot expect the club to come out and tell the fans that, it was always in my mind that next season would be the year, any success this season would be a massive bonus. Remember at the end of this season Dublin, Tiatto and Wilcox's contracts will all be up and I would expect us to make considerable savings on their wages and another batch of younger players to come in, which would IMO be the final piece of the rebuilding plan. Also next season would be the season to expect the likes of Weso, Porter, Dodds, Chambers etc to make a real impact on the first team squad as well.

I am not writing off this season, far from it, this season will be a massive learning curve for these younger players, it will be exciting and when this team clicks there will be some really good performances, and it will build the blocks and foundations for next season, we may well gel and mount a challenge for the top six, but IMO that would be a bonus. I certainly think a top half finish is not beyond this young squad.

 

[Feriol]

great post.

i don't want to go all negative again, but it does worry me that the likes of Sheffield utd have had the same idea for the last ten years or so. Build a team slowly!

Meanwhile talent gets poached and they are still in the Fizzy.

How long are we prepared to wait?

 

[TommyK]

great post.

i don't want to go all negative again, but it does worry me that the likes of Sheffield utd have had the same idea for the last ten years or so. Build a team slowly!

Meanwhile talent gets poached and they are still in the Fizzy.

How long are we prepared to wait?

The guy behind me against Hull was calling for CL head already...so probably not very long! He was the biggest chav in the world though...ever

 

[highland fox]

great post.

i don't want to go all negative again, but it does worry me that the likes of Sheffield utd have had the same idea for the last ten years or so.

Yeah but Warnock as spent the last 3 Seasons fecking about with everybodies old cast-offs and continues to do so.I've never known a team/Manager go through so many Strikers.

 

[fcukcov]

Yeah but Warnock as spent the last 3 Seasons fecking about with everybodies old cast-offs and continues to do so.I've never known a team/Manager go through so many Strikers.

and now they have Nalis so thats one less team to finish above us.