Oh Leicester City, what now?

[camberwell fox]

...but have retained Merson ffs

someone needs to get the drinks in.

 

[Rock Fox]

View attachment 15421
#gobsmacked lolz

"Unbelievable, Jeff!"

 

[Graz]

...but have retained Merson ffs

At least Merson has some character and personality.

I find the other 3 all pretty dull and dreary.

About time they brought some fresh blood into Soccer Saturday.

I'd love to see Micah Richards on there. He knows his stuff and is enthusiastic and fun to watch.

 

[Payne74]

At least Merson has some character and personality.

I find the other 3 all pretty dull and dreary.

About time they brought some fresh blood into Soccer Saturday.

I'd love to see Micah Richards on there. He knows his stuff and is enthusiastic and fun to watch.

I'd like to see Rachel Riley on there not even bothered if she knows anything about football, just the short skirts and low tops are enough

 

[homer]

I'd like to see Rachel Riley on there not even bothered if she knows anything about football, just the short skirts and low tops are enough

Well if we are going that far we should make her sit there naked and jiggle up and down every five minutes

 

[FOX Franks]

I'd like to see Rachel Riley on there not even bothered if she knows anything about football, just the short skirts and low tops are enough

The new panel will almost certainly have at least one woman. Where’s the bloke, luv

 

[homer]

The new panel will almost certainly have at least one woman. Where’s the bloke, luv

As long as they’ve got rid of utter ****s like Thomson and Le Tissier I don’t really care

 

[SilverFox]

So it’s basically two ****ing weeks to go. What in the sweet baby Jeebus is going on. Feels like we are just going to write this season off. If we don’t strengthen we are going to land ourselves right in the shit. This has the reek of Peter Taylor about it.

 

[pork pie fox]

Other than the obvious (Chelsea), are other teams signing many players? I genuinely haven’t been looking, so don’t know if we’re any different to others.

 

[M17TT C]

Other than the obvious (Chelsea), are other teams signing many players? I genuinely haven’t been looking, so don’t know if we’re any different to others.

Not really no, not many transfers at all.

Chelsea were always going to spend big after their ban but there has been little activity elsewhere.

Lots of damp mattresses here though.

 

[City Fan]

Not really no, not many transfers at all.

Chelsea were always going to spend big after their ban but there has been little activity elsewhere.

Lots of damp mattresses here though.

The majority of Premier League clubs have signed at least one player.

 

[Graz]

Man City signing Ake is the only one I've noticed of significance.

Although think Leeds may have picked up a few? Seen today they've had a £30m bid accepted for Luiz Felipe from Lazio

 

[pork pie fox]

Transfers - October 2023

Check out all of October's significant signings and departures in the Premier League, Scottish Premiership, EFL and Women's Super League.

www.bbc.co.uk

In an effort to educate myself, I’ve just scrolled through this article.
- Man City have signed Ake and Torres.
- Arsenal have signed Willian
- Spurs have signed Hojbjerg
- Chelsea have indeed signed a fair few

There are a few other signings, but nothing else that stands out, as I’ve either never heard of them, or it’s a “Hart to Spurs” type move.

I don’t think we’re that different to most, other than the fact that we’ve sold an important member of our team (no matter whether you think that’s deserved or not, it’s true).

 

[M17TT C]

The majority of Premier League clubs have signed at least one player.

Premier League done deals: Every completed transfer in the 2020 summer window

While some clubs have had to fight the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, others have found significant cash to improve their squads. And big money has been spent in the 2020 summer transfer windo…

talksport.com

Most of the moves so far have been free transfers or making existing loans permanent.

Whilst it would have been nice if we had a player or 2 in already, we're hardly lagging massively beind anyone right now and I don't think there is much we have missed out on, that would have been realistic.

Also, its been clear from the pictures in press that players from all teams have been here, there and everywhere in the short break. There's been a few confirmed cases already so it's highly likely a lot of teams are currently suffering reduced squads due to players self isolating.

Window is also open until October this year so nothing to get worried about yet.

 

[Pinkys Matchday Loafers]

A couple of things suggest to me all is not well behind the scenes at the club. Rudkin after a harsh learning curve has had an excellent record of landing good players within our recruitment model, so no issues or concerns there, in addition our medical and sports science teams are up there with the very best, recognised for there innovation. Our overall injury record has been first class and the players fitness and recovery levels have been superb.

However last season there appears to have been a change, our record in the January transfer window and then in this current one would suggest that not all parties are fully aligned on strategy and direction, Rodgers clearly influenced the appointment of Congerton and has this now created a division and a deviation away from our recuruitment model that is now hindering us moving forward. The signing of Bennett was clearly Rodgers and Congerton and proved to be a disaster has this plus a list of their targets raised genuine concerns with Rudkin and the owners and we are now in a Mexican stand off on who we should buy.

As for the sacking of Rennie, the bloke has been here for 20 years and been instrumental in revolutionising how we operate and developing a highly successful model of prevention and treatment, yet this last season we experienced a higher volume of injuries than normal including players being rushed back early, Ndidi and Maddison are clear examples of this, was this the actions of an experienced medical professional or a manager desperate for results, has the sacking / restructuring come about as Rennie has voiced concners over Rodgers and his teams methods etc and the leaking of team selections used by Rodgers to force the clubs hand and remove a popular and long serving back room staff member.

 

[Brown Nose]

On recruitment, we don't know how much the Rodgers/Congerton effect had on signing players last summer. I think it's a reasonable assumption that the signing of Tielemans and Justin had nothing whatsoever to do with Congerton - one here already and the other a long term target.

On Perez and Praet, who knows? Both came in after Congerton joined and I'm not entirely sure about the rationale for either. Perez seemed to be about opportunism - found out about a release clause and just moved fast - the other appeared to be a last minute consolation signing because we failed to get BRs preferred targets (Mcgregor or Mcginn).

BR has made lots of positive noises about Perez and has talked up Praet but then clearly doesn't rate/trust him in the team. If you're right that there is some sort of impasse between the recruitment team and BR/LC then the Praet deal might be the cause - failing to get the BR/LC targets and instead getting the club target who BR has gone out of his way to show isn't doing what he wants. BR does have form at his previous clubs for this sort of behaviour.

Then, in January, we again seemed to have targets that didn't work out for whatever reason and we ended up with Bennett who BR made pretty clear was his signing rather than someone from the recruitment team.

It goes without saying that recruitment is the most important thing we do. Our entire model depends on us adding good players with a resale value. Going over a year now without any additions, whilst re-signing old/weak players is a massive concern. The players that do come in over the next few weeks will be extremely informative about who runs the show and whether our recruitment strength has fundamentally changed.

 

[Brown Nose]

On the injury record, this is something Dave Rennie posted himself the other day - we remained one of the best at maximising player availability.

 

[bocadillo]

As for the sacking of Rennie...

Do we know that Rennie was sacked? Asking for a friend.

 

[popillius]

Do we know that Rennie was sacked? Asking for a friend.

No, but then the tin helmets are out at the moment so fact and fiction are interchangeable.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

I get why people are concerned to be fair.

We have a paper-thin squad and have an extra competition to play in next season.

We're starting the season without Evans, Ricardo, Maddison and Fuchs and have sold Chilwell. Yet no one has come in or looks to be coming in anytime soon. Even if they do there's very little time for the to integrate and we'd have to throw them in the deep end.

And this is on the back of winning 4 of our last 17 games at the end of last season and fans not having much to cheer about since December last year.

I don't think it's anything like panic stations as when the likes of Evans, Maddison and Ricardo are back we do have a very good XI. But going into the season we do look a bit weak and West Brom must be rubbing their hands together as it's the perfect time to play against us. I understand why people might be concerned that they can see a poor start happening which could see us having to play catch up all season while confidence sinks even lower.