Some people get it - football, that is
It's about supporting whoever is top of the league, buying half and half scarves and eating prawn sandwiches.
Some people get it - football, that is
I'm going to sound like a right over sentimental old idiot here but the reason we feel like this is because football is about more than just the football. In fact football is often the least important thing about it.
The things I miss in the summer are the walk to the ground along the canal, watching the seasons change week by week. The friendships with people in the stadium whose names I'll never know, despite sitting with them for years. The smell of beer and fried onions. The first sight of the green of the pitch on a Saturday afternoon. The driving rain against floodlights in the freezing midwinter. They all add up to make the experience of watching your team what it is, and those things are constants, whatever happens on the pitch.
More than anything, whatever the financial and business implications for rich men who like to own football clubs as baubles or advertising vehicles, a football club is about a place and a community. For me it's my last real link with a city I left behind more than a decade ago. It's what's left of my relationship with the place of my birth and formative years and with the people, places and childhood memories I consider to be mine.
When I watch Leicester City play I'm watching people represent my city, my memories, my community. That matters to me far more than any result, promotion or relegation. I don't expect us to be good. But I expect us to try and to behave well. Claudio behaved well. That, as much as the title win, was a wonderful reflection of our city and of all of us associated with it. It made me proud. Yesterday, and from what we hear for some months now, people associated with our club did not behave well. It hurts because that is also a reflection on us and that's important. More so than millionaires kicking a bag of wind about can ever be.
Put it another way: if I was given the choice of Liverpool winning the league next season — after a 27-year drought with the fear another 27 barren years could follow — then being relegated in 2019 or having two years of finishing in the top four, I'd pick the first option every single time.
I had a pop at BN a couple of seasons back for constantly flopping between excellent and insane.Whilst I understand the emotive responses, I think that the level of abuse towards players is massively out of proportion.
Everyone fecked up this season, including owners, management, players and fans. Loads got carried away, failed to prepare properly, overestimated themselves and underestimated this season.
Ranieri failed this season, just as he has at multiple clubs and with multiple players before. He's made some catastrophic decisions that bewildered most of us, let alone if you were in the changing room.
He was magnificent for one season. He failed to maintain his or his charges momentum. I wish it was different but if you're told to do things that don't make sense and all you get is 'fight' when your confidence slumps, it's not good enough.
I don't care what the wider community think, we know that we were doomed with the status quo. So did the players and owners.
The right decision has been made. We have far too good a squad to go down in the style we were doing.
One day, Ranieri will visit the KP and be rightly given an exceptional reception and much love. He will always be a hero but he is no longer the right man for the job.
Exactly the same here
At the Everton game, I thought the owners and their lackeys were a bit twattish for grabbing the trophy and parading around the pitch with it.
I saw Pat Murphy write a falsehood about this yesterday on the BBC website which annoyed me as well. What actually happened if you review the footage is that Ranieri practically forced a reluctant Top to hold the trophy, after which Top went around desperately trying to unload it on one of the players, but none of them were interested because they were all holding their kids. Realising he was stuck with the trophy, Top then paraded it around making a big show of pointing out it was for the fans. At no point did he 'grab' the trophy, it was forced on him, and he was desperate for someone else to have it.
The owners are good blokes. Let's not start a witch hunt against them. The players, on the other hand, those who can't be arsed to play because the manager has the cheek to try out a new formation and to play different players, well they should all be considered to be on very thin ice. They were nobodies before Ranieri made them champions, as far as I'm concerned they're nobodies again now. Any more pitiful performances and I think the atmosphere is going to turn toxic quick and the players will be the target.
Are you? Or are you missing last seasons press conferences?Realised I'm already missing his press conferences. He actually made them worth listening to.
Spot on.Whilst I understand the emotive responses, I think that the level of abuse towards players is massively out of proportion.
Everyone fecked up this season, including owners, management, players and fans. Loads got carried away, failed to prepare properly, overestimated themselves and underestimated this season.
Ranieri failed this season, just as he has at multiple clubs and with multiple players before. He's made some catastrophic decisions that bewildered most of us, let alone if you were in the changing room.
He was magnificent for one season. He failed to maintain his or his charges momentum. I wish it was different but if you're told to do things that don't make sense and all you get is 'fight' when your confidence slumps, it's not good enough.
I don't care what the wider community think, we know that we were doomed with the status quo. So did the players and owners.
The right decision has been made. We have far too good a squad to go down in the style we were doing.
One day, Ranieri will visit the KP and be rightly given an exceptional reception and much love. He will always be a hero but he is no longer the right man for the job.
Hmm. I was there and whilst I'd agree that Top didn't 'grab' the trophy they hardly looked reluctant to parade the thing. Not the first time either; the same happened when we won the second tier. It annoyed me a little both times.
I agree that we have good owners. But that is also my minimum expectation of any person or entity which owns my football club. I won't ever be grateful for it as I believe they are doing only what they are supposed to do whilst they reap tremendous financial benefits from their investment.
When I talk like this people often counter by pointing towards Cardiff City or Hull City. It's a weak counter point; I won't celebrate the fact that they don't appear utterly incompetent or uncaring. Those things aren't the default reality.
I've never been one to look admiringly at those who own football clubs and, to be honest, there's a lot not to admire about King Power. I wish them no ill but if they were to announce tomorrow that they were selling up I'd not shed a tear.
That's not to say I don't appreciate stable ownership. I'm off to watch Coventry vs Swindon today with a Sky Blues supporting friend. I'll see what bad ownership looks like this afternoon!
I saw Pat Murphy write a falsehood about this yesterday on the BBC website which annoyed me as well. What actually happened if you review the footage is that Ranieri practically forced a reluctant Top to hold the trophy, after which Top went around desperately trying to unload it on one of the players, but none of them were interested because they were all holding their kids. Realising he was stuck with the trophy, Top then paraded it around making a big show of pointing out it was for the fans. At no point did he 'grab' the trophy, it was forced on him, and he was desperate for someone else to have it.
The owners are good blokes. Let's not start a witch hunt against them. The players, on the other hand, those who can't be arsed to play because the manager has the cheek to try out a new formation and to play different players, well they should all be considered to be on very thin ice. They were nobodies before Ranieri made them champions, as far as I'm concerned they're nobodies again now. Any more pitiful performances and I think the atmosphere is going to turn toxic quick and the players will be the target.
Whilst I understand the emotive responses, I think that the level of abuse towards players is massively out of proportion.
Everyone fecked up this season, including owners, management, players and fans. Loads got carried away, failed to prepare properly, overestimated themselves and underestimated this season.
Ranieri failed this season, just as he has at multiple clubs and with multiple players before. He's made some catastrophic decisions that bewildered most of us, let alone if you were in the changing room.
He was magnificent for one season. He failed to maintain his or his charges momentum. I wish it was different but if you're told to do things that don't make sense and all you get is 'fight' when your confidence slumps, it's not good enough.
I don't care what the wider community think, we know that we were doomed with the status quo. So did the players and owners.
The right decision has been made. We have far too good a squad to go down in the style we were doing.
One day, Ranieri will visit the KP and be rightly given an exceptional reception and much love. He will always be a hero but he is no longer the right man for the job.
I'm going to sound like a right over sentimental old idiot here but the reason we feel like this is because football is about more than just the football. In fact football is often the least important thing about it.
The things I miss in the summer are the walk to the ground along the canal, watching the seasons change week by week. The friendships with people in the stadium whose names I'll never know, despite sitting with them for years. The smell of beer and fried onions. The first sight of the green of the pitch on a Saturday afternoon. The driving rain against floodlights in the freezing midwinter. They all add up to make the experience of watching your team what it is, and those things are constants, whatever happens on the pitch.
More than anything, whatever the financial and business implications for rich men who like to own football clubs as baubles or advertising vehicles, a football club is about a place and a community. For me it's my last real link with a city I left behind more than a decade ago. It's what's left of my relationship with the place of my birth and formative years and with the people, places and childhood memories I consider to be mine.
When I watch Leicester City play I'm watching people represent my city, my memories, my community. That matters to me far more than any result, promotion or relegation. I don't expect us to be good. But I expect us to try and to behave well. Claudio behaved well. That, as much as the title win, was a wonderful reflection of our city and of all of us associated with it. It made me proud. Yesterday, and from what we hear for some months now, people associated with our club did not behave well. It hurts because that is also a reflection on us and that's important. More so than millionaires kicking a bag of wind about can ever be.
Apparently senior players met with Rudkin FOUR times since December to criticise Ranieri
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/2951563/claudio-ranieri-sacked-leicester-city-players/
P | Pld | Pts | |
1 | Liverpool | 11 | 28 |
2 | Manchester C | 11 | 23 |
3 | Chelsea | 11 | 19 |
4 | Arsenal | 11 | 19 |
5 | Nottm F | 11 | 19 |
6 | Brighton | 11 | 19 |
7 | Fulham | 11 | 18 |
8 | Newcastle | 11 | 18 |
9 | Aston Villa | 11 | 18 |
10 | Tottenham | 11 | 16 |
11 | Brentford | 11 | 16 |
12 | Bournemouth | 11 | 15 |
13 | Manchester U | 11 | 15 |
14 | West Ham | 11 | 12 |
15 | Leicester | 11 | 10 |
16 | Everton | 11 | 10 |
17 | Ipswich | 11 | 8 |
18 | Palace | 11 | 7 |
19 | Wolves | 11 | 6 |
20 | Southampton | 11 | 4 |