Saint86

Keiran Maguire recently described QPR as the best run club in the championship - because they've been ticking a long with "f'all" spend. It seems pretty obvious Leicester have money issues given the delayed sacking of rvn, and the fact that the new manager has to pay his own release clause at QPR. He would be the perfect fit for a club who have no money to spend... Proven track record of delivering on a shoestring at this level. None of that paints a picture of Leicester being able to afford our players if we want to hold on to them.

Haven't kept up with him as the russian league has totally and utterly dropped off my radar. But about 2-3 years ago he was a fantastic player in the russian league a very good prospect for bigger things - he was certainly one of those I was expecting to have made the move to a champions league / top Europa league club. Encouraging if that is at least the standard of player we're looking at, even if it's a shame we won't be getting him.

The hate for him certainly feels misplaced. Was incredible for us in the last promotion season.

Thoughts on Stephens. At this stage of his career, i cannot see him improving to ever be good enough to become a starting premier league CB. I hope this is considered within the wage he has been offered (i.e., wage promotion clause is smaller than for others for example). If not, i really don't understand the contract extension. Stephens is a good enough player for the championship in fairness to him. From a dressing room perspective, he is a character, and he does love the club - those are positives. Since 2023/24 season, we've played under Jones, Selles, Martin, Juric, and Rusk. That is either managers that can't set up a team to defend if their lives depended on it, or (and - lets be honest) terrible sides - of which Stephens has played his part. But we've been unsettled at the back throughout that whole period and i'm willing to accept that may have coloured my overall view of him as a player. Will Still though, is another proposition. His defensive setup is resilient - most clean sheets in the league last season with Lens (13), and that was despite losing a host of key players throughout the team. He also likes aggression, shithousery, and they had the most red cards (8😬😅)... Stephens will probably fit like a well worn glove. This may also be good for Bazunu in some ways - in that we won't be playing suicide football right in front of his goal, and we'll likely be limiting chances for sudden turnovers etc which is where so many of our goals against have come in previous years.

How often does a league 1 club "walk" the championship. We scraped 2nd, Ipswich scraped 2nd.

What do you mean the cycnic in you? Its fucking obvious that this is how all these rules have been designed. Started with Uefa getting concerned at the power of the premier league, then you've got a bunch of foreign owners in this country that want to protect their assets and try to stay at the top table. Whether by design or opportunity, all the big clubs / owners across europe have in parallel devised a system that entrenches existing financial disparities between clubs and gives increased competitive weight to commercial incomes for established brands - they then set about introducing more and more competitions aimed at shuffling funds away to only the select few clubs that qualify for them (world club cup, rejigged champions league, conference league etc), and if an upstart club dares to challenge the elites by qualifying for these, PSR and the increased fixture congestion essentially ensures that they cannot build a team to compete on multiple fronts for that season - and so they then drop off in the league and then have to gut their squad to meet the arbitrary 3year spending limits. Its a fucking brutal fixed game - and there is no point even crying about it in the premier league - if British clubs don't comply with UEFA rules they can't play in europe. If you wanted to design a system that protected the established rich clubs and limited competition - it would look pretty similar to this. One day though, it will all come crashing down, because it is unsustainable, and they're killing the goose that was competitive exciting football.

I think its quite unlikely all will leave, but in reality i think its up in the air as to whether any of them go individually. I think there is a reasonable chance we can keep any one of them as individuals if the club really commits to it. Ramsdale will want the right move (by all accounts seems keen to stay other than he wants england football) - not all moves will give him that chance of an England call up, and we seem to be intent on offering him a very good wage. THB - A long contract time remaining, key player for us last time out in the champ, one for the future re development, and not clear he's going to have suitors above other relegation scrap sides. Fernandes - class player, but has featured heavily in PR material and gave that interview where he made all the right noises about staying. Long contract time remaining. Tyler - i think he's the most likely to leave tbh, his contract situation means the club are in a weak spot - if he doesn't sign a new one then all it needs is a couple of clubs to start making offers at the right kind of level and we'll basically be forced to accept the best one. Its also pure "profit" from a PSR perspective (big clubs got to make sure the rest of us are incentivised to sell off our best prospects). There is another dynamic to it - in that if we start selling our best players. the rest of them will get jealous over moves, feel like they're being left behind, worry about a lack of serious ambition etc., and ultimately want out. Whereas staying firm on key player sales will galvanise a lot of the dressing room and demonstrate commitment and ambition from the club. Can we afford it though? Perhaps a more realistic scenario is that we lose 2 (Ramsdale loan/sale, Dibling sale etc).

Not all heroes wear capes etc etc. Don't suppose you fancy starting a dedicated rumours thread and keeping it updated until the window slams shut? 😄

It isn't true. Just click bait.

I'm the same. From what i've seen of his clips he's already got a good skillset and attributes to be a target man / deep lying link striker - with mobility and creativity, but one who is likely versatile to also play off the shoulder of a defender and into the channels. He's clearly being signed to fit a role within the system for me, which is key for a new manager and a change of style, and he's 20 and really can be expected to improve unless we manage him appallingly. The deal is relatively cheap and has a lot of potential upsides to it. We still have AA, Stewart, Archer, BBD on the books - and now downs has joined (i hope he is replacing BBD personally). Its a very good depth selection of depth, quality, and type of players for what is likely to be a 50game season against a variety of different opponents.

I know we take the piss, but I think he'll do well at rangers - it's like managing man city or Liverpool relative to prem opposition, but for rangers Vs most of that league. They just won't ever deliver in Europe etc Vs better sides. But they'll forgive that in the grand scheme of things. It's a good move for all parties imo - and we aren't paying his wages 🙌

Liverpool fans in "lets spin tragedy into a positive for our club" shocker 🙄.

If he moves to a prem club, I would have assumed 100k per week is not an unlikely salary for him.

May have been shared already, but interesting podcast covering the PSR finances. Covers Wrexham, Birmingham, Wednesday, Leicester in detail. Then meanders around a few other teams - touches on ourselves and Ipswich, and also briefly on the costs of staying up etc. Does sound like Leicester are in trouble tbh.

It's not like we're losing a top quality winger though 😂 - you're just being greedy in asking for that much 😅