Anyone know the Thai for 'Happy New Year'?

A poor year for Leicester City. 19 wins from 46 league games played in 2011, a win ratio of 41%. However, strip out January and February's statistics and it looks even worse. 12 wins from the last 36 league games - a win ratio of just 33%. Let's hope 2012 is a Happy New Year...

On the basis of today's performance, Nigel Pearson has a lot of work to do in the January transfer window. I suspect that, as usual, the players on the Leicester City Official Calendar for 2012 will struggle to see out the course of the year...

Beckford's body language is bad news

I am never one to encourage fans to boo their own players. However, as Jermaine Beckford was substituted, to be replaced by Steve Howard this afternoon, I confess to joining in the cheers at his withdrawal. Listless, passionless, not sticking his foot into the tackle, not chasing down lost causes, not getting involved in other areas of the pitch, not jumping for headers, not getting stuck into his team mates or showing the passion needed to turn around the team's fortunes. Instead, the enduring memory is of Beckford stood, hands on hips on the half-way touchline, a disinterested and withdrawn spectator. Not good enough in anyone's books, especially when you have shelled out millions of pounds to have him in your team. Pearson's "Get him off" comment to his assistant when Beckford failed to chase Abe's through ball towards the end of the game was very telling and may well signal 'decision made' from the manager's point of view. On today's evidence, let's hope so...

Howard's appearance sums up Sven's summer spending shambles!

Square this circle. We start the season with a former England manager in charge and £15 million to spend. Less than half way through the season, 35 year old journeyman, Steve Howard is in our starting line-up. Howard has a scoring rate of less than 1 goal in 4 appearances for our club. Fairly safe to conclude that Sven poured Thai cash into a bottomless pit. Beckford will disappear in January and Fryatt is bound to return. 1 step forward, 2 steps back...

Local Boy Tomlin shows the value of home grown talent

Leicester born Lee Tomlin rescued a point for Peterborough at the King Power stadium this afternoon. The youngster, released by Leicester a few years ago, worked tirelessly throughout the game for his team. By contrast, his opposite number Beckford, who cost Leicester £2m, failed to make a telling impact on the game. Perhaps there is a lesson here for City. Since Emile Heskey, a product of Leicester’s academy, left the club, City have tried unsuccessfully to buy adequate replacements. How about this for a list of disappointing strikers; Ade Akinbiyi, Trevor Benjamin, David Connolly, Elvis Hammond, Barry Hayles, Mark De Vries, Graham Fenton, DJ Campbell, Yann Kermorgant and Jermaine Beckford. I dread to think how much these players cost the club in total. Is it any wonder that the club has posted losses of around the £10m mark for the last couple of seasons? The long term stability of the club doesn't lie with the Thai investors, it lies with a successful academy.

If only there was another young, ambitious striker graduating from the academy with pace to burn and raw talent. Move over Beckford, time to give Schlupp a run in the team.

To Hull and back

Winning at Hull this weekend was always going to be a tough assignment. The Hull players would have been desperate to prove Nigel Pearson wrong for walking out on them just a few weeks ago. Hull's team was made up almost entirely of players that Pearson signed for the club. Many of these are young players, hungry for success and keen to make a name for themselves. Nigel's departure must have felt like a slap in the face for them. Spare a thought for Hobbs and Fryatt - taken from Leicester to Hull by Pearson. It wouldn't surprise anyone if they turned up at the King Power stadium again in January. Hobbs to replace the disappointing Mills, who cost Leicester the game yesterday. Fryatt to replace Beckford, who looks disinterested and demotivated. We will see...

Back to basics at last!

All season City fans have been calling for a change in approach:


1) A simple 4-4-2 system where every player knows his role.
2) Some width! Less pretty triangles in midfield and an outlet like Dyer to get the ball to.
3) A more direct approach. If you don't get the ball in the box, you can't score goals.
4) Backing the midfielders who secured us a play-off place just two seasons ago.
5) Closing the opposition down and playing with a bit of intensity.
6) Getting the best out of Gallacher and King.
7) Passion on the touchline, not an arms folded passivity.


7/7 Nigel. Welcome back - we missed you!

New City manager will have his work cut out!

Plenty of names have been banded around as potential new managers of Leicester. One thing is for certain - whoever gets the job has their work cut out. Indeed, Leicester have spent about £10 million on new players but there are many issues that need to be resolved if City are to find some consistency. It's easy to forget that City are 9 points off the relegation zone as well as 9 points off the automatic places! I am not saying that they will get relegated, but fans mustn't assume that they will find their way into the play-offs. Let's not forget, in the season that we finished 5th under Pearson, we lost 4 home games all season. We lost our fourth home game of this season, today, in the early stages of November!
Here are the key issues that need to be addressed:

1) The lack of width - how can we have spent so much money and not have any natural wide players (other than Dyer?!)
2) How to get the best out of Beckford. Howard's presence in the team is credit to him but shows how little impact Beckford has made since his arrival.
3) The surplus of central midfield players - King/Wellens/Danns/Abe/Johnson/Fernandes. Why did Sven acquire so many?
4) The Bamba/Mills partnership - it's improving but Mills still looks shaky in my view.

Who's the best man to resolve all of these issues? My vote goes to Nigel...

Too many cooks...

In my view, Lee Clark is perfect for the job at Leicester City. Young, ambitious, a workaholic, a believer in the role of sports science and with excellent contacts within the game. However, the idea of Keegan coming in as Director of Football fills me with dread and is undoubtedly a recipe for disaster. Was it not the same Kevin Keegan who walked out on Newcastle United because his director of football, Dennis Wise (remember him?), signed a couple of players on transfer deadline day - without Keegan's knowledge?

As Harry Redknapp once said, "Players are bought and sold without the manager's consent - and even knowledge in some cases. How can you do the job like that?" Could this sentiment ruin City's chances of securing Clark's signature? He is his own man, wanting to make his own way in the game. Why on earth would he want someone like Keegan interfering in the day to day running of the football team? Let's just hope the Thai's quest for a "big name" doesn't turn out to be a deal breaker.

Patience is a Virtue!

The Thai owners could learn a very simple lesson from Leicester's post-war history. Since 2000, 12 managers in 11 years. The 12 managers before this spanned a time period of 45 years. One of the first of these was Matt Gillies, Leicester's longest serving manager (10 years!) Gillies won nothing in his first 3 years with the club, something that would have undoubtedly got him the sack in the modern game. However, patience was rewarded: Leicester finished as runners-up in FA Cups in 1961 and 1963, League Cup winners in 1964 and League Cup runners up in 1965. Amazing what people can do when you give them a fair crack of the whip!

Still, it wouldn't be Christmas without buying a new LCFC calendar full of players who won't be playing for the club by the following August...

Pearson must be laughing into his real ale!

The suggestion doing the rounds is that Nigel Pearson might be in the frame to re-join Leicester City. This is ridiculous paper talk! He was unceremoniously stabbed in the back to make way for Sousa after doing an incredible job for our club. No permanent manager of LCFC has a better win ratio than Nigel (51%) and yet he was "allowed to leave" having got us promoted from League 1 at the lowest ebb in the club's history. He followed this up with a Championship Play-Off place and we were a couple of penalties away from Wembley. Letting him leave was one of the biggest mistakes in the club's recent history!

He moved to Hull, taking solid professionals like Hobbs and Fryatt with him. Players, who incidentally, were deemed not good enough under subsequent City managers. He has steered them to 6th place in the Championship and has got them ticking with 6 wins and 3 draws in the last 9 games. Why on earth would he throw all that away to return to the club that ditched him less than 2 years ago? Perhaps he will come back for the job security that being Leicester's boss brings with it?! I think not!

Pearson explains his departure from Leicester

Irony of Clark appointment won't escape City fans

Lee Clark has emerged as the front runner to replace Sven Goran Eriksson as manager of Leicester City. The 39 year old Huddersfield manager has refused to rule out the possibility of talks with City. The irony is that Leicester replaced a young, ambitious English manager (Nigel Pearson) with two foreign, so called 'big names' in Sousa and Eriksson. After their unsuccessful spells in charge of the team, the Thai owners look set to approach Clark this week. There is something to be said for English managers after all! Pearson enjoyed a win ratio of 51+% during his time at Leicester. This is mirrored by Clark's 50+% win ratio at Huddersfield. Perhaps, one day, there will also be a clamour for English owners of our football clubs too? Or am I getting carried away?