SJN-Fox
Well-Known Member
Mildly amusing article from squarefootball.net.
Championship Focus: Mad dogs, near tragedy and poison: the everyday story of city folk, Leicester City folk
Championship Focus: Mad dogs, near tragedy and poison: the everyday story of city folk, Leicester City folk
Wednesday, late August. It’s been a hectic summer. Milan Mandaric employed a new manager, one “with hunger, drive, commitment and potential to aspire to our dreams”; twelve new players arrived at considerable expense; just last weekend the team played promotion favourites Watford and gave them a right old kicking, scoring four; just last night one of the team collapsed in the dressing room at half-time; his heart stopped twice; he is lucky to be alive.
The season is four games old. The transfer window closes in two days. And top of Mandaric’s to-do list today? Sacking the manager. Or, as Mandaric put it, mutually consenting to his departure. Or, as The Sun put it, kicking Mad Dog out of the kennel.
That crazed hound is Martin Allen. His ferocious performances in the midfield of QPR, West Ham and Portsmouth earned him his nickname. As a manager he has a reputation for entertaining. Not with his football which is grim and successful, but with his antics, his trashing merrily across the freezing waterways of England while inspiring Brentford to the FA Cup fifth round, his pretending to be Sir Alex Ferguson in order to get Steve Bruce to the phone, his forcing the Leicester players to clean the Walkers Stadium toilets.
The reason for Allen’s departure is shrouded in confidentiality. Mandaric claims it was for matters unrelated to football but his purchase of Bruno N’Gotty without Allen’s approval - “I bought him, because I believed we needed him” - suggests that Mandaric has something of the Abramovich about him, suggests that he believes there is little point in having a dog if you can bark yourself, suggests that, if you do, it should be not a mad dog but a lapdog.
Given his strained relationships with the chairmen of Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion, Gary Megson doesn’t really match that description. Megson is the latest man to take up Mandaric’s challenge of leading Leicester to the Premier League within three years.
On the message boards of the Leicester Mercury the appointment is greeted with congratulations from fans of West Bromwich Albion, the club that Megson twice took up to the Premier League, and sniggers from fans of Leicester’s local rivals Nottingham Forest, that club that, more recently, Megson took down to League One. The response from Leicester’s fans ranges from the incredulous to the underwhelmed, from the disappointed to the outraged. “MEGSON OUT” shrieks one entry. Rumours that it was posted by Mandaric prove to be unfounded.
But Mandaric is impatient. He took full control of Leicester in March and immediately backed the manager, Rob Kelly, saying, “We have made a decision to stay with Rob and give him our full support.” Kelly lasted a month, Nigel Worthington the same. After three months of Allen they have Megson. Mandaric is unrepentant. "If I have to part company with 20 managers to bring top-flight football back to the Walkers Stadium, you can rest assured I'll do it."
Saturday, mid September. Seldom does a manager feel compelled to take to the pitch to justify his appointment to the fans but today Megson does, to a smattering of boos. He’d spent the previous two days justifying it to the media. The BBC reported his claim to have been “the most successful manager in West Brom’s history”. If accurately quoted it was impressive and bold, particularly as it relied on the managers who led the club to a league title and five FA Cups being either too old to argue or too dead to care. Megson also played down his Forest connections. Indeed as a player there for four months without getting a game and as manager for 13 months, barely winning a game, his affinity for Forest is slighter than most.
Surprising then that at his first match in full control of Leicester, at Forest, his players stand around and watch as the Forest goalkeeper kicks off, strolls down the pitch and rolls the ball into the Leicester net, pausing only to high-five his Leicester counterpart along the way. The crowd stare on, bemused.
It turns out to be a grand sporting gesture to reward Forest for agreeing to abandon the original fixture in which they were leading by a goal when Clive Clarke, a Leicester defender, collapsed at half time. For Megson and Mandaric it is a triumph, especially as Leicester recover to win, two goals in the final three minutes earning them a third round League Cup visit to Premier League Aston Villa. But the performance is poor, a group of Leicester fans chant for Martin Allen and Mandaric goes off on one, accusing them of “poisoning the club”. The message boards melt.
Thursday night, late September. Peace. In a masterstroke of public relations Mandaric calls a supporters’ meeting, invites questions and makes conciliatory noises. “You were here before I arrived, your fathers before that, and your children will be here long after I have gone.” His timing is impeccable. The meeting comes 24 hours after Leicester win at Villa. Mandaric leaves the meeting to applause.
“Trust me” is Mandaric’s mantra. From most chairmen that would be laughable but Mandaric has form. At Portsmouth he went through 10 managers in eight years but transformed the club from Championship relegation fodder to Premier League regulars. When he walked away, his pockets stuffed with cash, the majority of Portsmouth fans would gladly have erected a statue in his honour.
There is no reason why he can’t have the same effect at Leicester. But in the league they struggle. Megson started with a draw and a defeat. On Saturday, Leicester begin woefully and the visitors, Stoke City, take an early lead. At half-time Megson replaces the front two. One of the substitutes, Matty Fryatt, hero of the midweek win at Villa, takes just two minutes to make an impact, cutting in from the left wing, exchanging passes with James Chambers before curling a low shot into the far corner of the net.
The game finishes 1-1. Once again, the League Cup comes to the rescue, news of a fourth round tie with Chelsea lending glitter to an otherwise dull day. Tuesday night brings another home game, another opportunity for Megson’s first win, another draw.
That stunning victory over Watford, and under Allen, remains Leicester’s only league win of the season. They have eight points from eight games, relegation form. The Mad Dog has gone, but certain canine habits remain. Leicester City could be sniffing around the bottom for some time to come.
