Leicester City

[Zatman]

agree with both above, 38 games is not a lucky achievement. Winning a cup you might put down to luck but never a league trophy

[Mantis]

20 minutes ago, BOF said:

You took issue with people "going OTT".  I think it's very difficult to go OTT on what they're doing.  Borderline impossible actually, and I just took issue with what sounded like you moaning about people delighting in Leicester's season.

I disagree.

And no, I wasn't moaning about people delighting in their season although the fawning over them can get tiresome at times. Not so much here but just comments from other football fans. I remember once seeing someone on Twitter say something along the lines of "I'm a Spurs fan but even I want Leicester to beat us". **** off. Stuff like that I can't stand.

16 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

You're not lucky if you win the league.

You don't win league titles by luck.

I'm not saying they're not worthy winners because they are but they've had a tremendous amount of luck to get into this position, which of course would be the same for most clubs in the league if they were to ever go on this sort of run.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Mantis

[BOF]

All league winners need SOME luck.  Stevo is right that you do not finish top after 38 games having just been lucky.  Leicester have had shed loads of penalties this season.  Is that lucky or is it down to the fact that their blistering counter attacks have terrified teams who had no option but to get in the way?  They've been lucky with injuries.  Perhaps their training methods have meant they're not half knackered walking onto the pitch on matchday meaning they CAN do the counter-attacking required.  You make your own luck a lot of the time.

I'd say the only thing they've been really lucky about is that everyone else has collectively decided to be utter shit this season, apart from Spurs, and for that I doff my cap to Leicester for seriously bucking the trend.

[Zatman]

tremendous luck like a Rudy Gestede handballed deflected goal which would mean they would have a bigger lead at the top

[BOF]

I'm a firm believer that football doesn't work that way though Zatman.  The psychology of being further ahead earlier on might have affected motivation or increased other teams' motivation.  The injustice of that result could have spurred them to future wins that wouldn't have happened otherwise.  It's impossible to know what would have happened if you pull a single thread from earlier in the season.     All we can know is what has happened and everything that has gone on, good and bad, is why they are where they are right now.

[Zatman]

4 minutes ago, BOF said:

I'm a firm believer that football doesn't work that way though Zatman.  The psychology of being further ahead earlier on might have affected motivation or increased other teams' motivation.  The injustice of that result could have spurred them to future wins that wouldn't have happened otherwise.  It's impossible to know what would have happened if you pull a single thread from earlier in the season.     All we can know is what has happened and everything that has gone on, good and bad, is why they are where they are right now.

oh yeah I understand but was actually just pointing out that they have had luck go against them as well surprisingly to our benefit

[BOF]

Ah right, gotcha. 

[Mantis]

20 minutes ago, BOF said:

All league winners need SOME luck.  Stevo is right that you do not finish top after 38 games having just been lucky.  Leicester have had shed loads of penalties this season.  Is that lucky or is it down to the fact that their blistering counter attacks have terrified teams who had no option but to get in the way?  They've been lucky with injuries.  Perhaps their training methods have meant they're not half knackered walking onto the pitch on matchday meaning they CAN do the counter-attacking required.  You make your own luck a lot of the time.

I'd say the only thing they've been really lucky about is that everyone else has collectively decided to be utter shit this season, apart from Spurs, and for that I doff my cap to Leicester for seriously bucking the trend.

Of course all league winners need some luck - I did just acknowledge that. All I'm saying is that they've had an incredible amount of luck which to be fair most teams would need to win the league.

14 minutes ago, Zatman said:

tremendous luck like a Rudy Gestede handballed deflected goal which would mean they would have a bigger lead at the top

So? I never said they'd had absolutely everything go their way, just that on balance they've had quite a lot of luck.

[PaulC]

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

tremendous luck like a Rudy Gestede handballed deflected goal which would mean they would have a bigger lead at the top

yes and two missed penalties by Mahrez cost them effectively 4 pts, but guess all teams miss them

[PieFacE]

I think the only "luck" that Leicester have had all season is the complete shambles that Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City have been this year. 

There's absolutely no way that those 3 clubs, having spent the money they have over the past few years, should be letting a team like Leicester winning this league.

All credit to Leicester and i'm not trying to take anything away from them, they are a breath of fresh air, but the Premier League this year has been pathetic from the "top" teams, which is good to see. 

[turnbull]

7 hours ago, PieFacE said:

I think the only "luck" that Leicester have had all season is the complete shambles that Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City have been this year. 

There's absolutely no way that those 3 clubs, having spent the money they have over the past few years, should be letting a team like Leicester winning this league.

All credit to Leicester and i'm not trying to take anything away from them, they are a breath of fresh air, but the Premier League this year has been pathetic from the "top" teams, which is good to see. 

TBH, it was pretty bad the last time Man U won it with a poor team.

[VillaChris]

12 hours ago, Mantis said:

I'm not saying it will burst this season (although it could still) but it will burst at some point and when it does I don't think they'll be back challenging for the title or the top 4 anytime soon.

I'm not denying that they're a very good team, just that I think it's a case of everything just happening to fall into place for them.

I can actually see where Mantis is coming from, it wouldn't shock me if Leicester went down in next 5 years. It happened to Blackburn after all.

They start selling a few, replacements don't come off, start changing managers again, it could easily happen.

Doubt any Leicester fan will give a monkeys anyway, they've seen plenty of relegations before so no big deal, winning the league is a once in a lifetime achievement.

[HanoiVillan]

On 3/22/2016 at 19:27, chappy said:

I'm not sure our players know what a clean sheet is

They should be well acquainted with them, our opposition get one every single week without fail. 

[Villan4Life]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35900042

 

Quote

Leicester City are five points clear at the top of the Premier League and have just been confirmed as participants in a pre-season tournament featuring the world's elite teams. Their transformation from Midlands also-rans to global power is well under way and nowhere is it more evident than in Thailand, the home of the club's owners...

A year ago, as Leicester City languished at the bottom of the Premier League and looked almost certain to be relegated back to the Championship after just one season in the top tier, you could spend a couple of hours at the club shop in central Bangkok and not see a single customer.

The rows of blue shirts remained untouched, the games playing on the large-screen TV unwatched apart from by the staff, who had little else to do. By the end of last year, it had closed down.

The club's owner, King Power, had done its best to raise the profile, plastering Leicester merchandise all over its shops at Bangkok's busy international airport, where it has had an effective monopoly for the past decade on the duty-free spending of the more than 50 million passengers who pass through it.

But outside the airport it was hard to wean Thais off their affection for Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Today you cannot buy a Leicester shirt anywhere in Thailand. They have all sold out, and King Power has had to ask fans to order them from the UK.

The astonishing rise of the Midlands also-rans to league leaders this season is starting to impress Thai fans; even those who support other sides.

"I'm a Liverpool fan but secretly I'm rooting for Leicester to win the league," said Sorrapat Sriparn, while watching his side Muan Thong United play. A few rows along, Suphanchai Ketbeungkan, a long-term Chelsea fan, said he was also inspired by the idea of a Thai-owned team that had been so close to relegation last season winning the title.

At a Sunday practice match in Bangkok, unable to buy the real thing, I was reduced to showing a picture of a Leicester shirt on my laptop to a Thai boys' team during the half-time break. They all recognised it, and knew the club was Thai owned. Would they consider supporting Leicester? They were not so sure, a few hands going up tentatively. Most of them were, predictably enough, Manchester United or Liverpool supporters.

But if Leicester are to capitalise on this season's success and cement a permanent place in the hearts of Thai football fans, its owner is going to have to invest more in raising the profile among younger supporters, whose loyalties are not yet fixed.

At the end of last year, the club began what it calls football clinics, sending coaches led by Thailand's best known goalscorer, Kiatisak 'Zico' Senamuang, to several Thai schools to train young players, with a select few to be sent to the UK. But Arsenal, for example, have a substantial and well-established soccer school in Bangkok, used by hundreds of children every week.

"Leicester's rise has made a strong impression on the fans," says football commentator Aekarach Kengtooktang. "But it will take a lot more time to build up their fan base. Big teams like Manchester United or Liverpool have earned their fans in Thailand from their performances and their fame over decades. This is a historic moment in the English Premier League but it has been only two years, so we have to wait and see."

Football is huge in Thailand, despite the lacklustre record of the national team and the often scrappy quality of local games - although there has been a marked improvement in recent years and a subsequent rise in support for local teams. Some Thais follow the Spanish, German or Italian leagues, but most prefer the more physical game played by English sides.

As a consequence, some Thai tycoons have seen buying an English club as a way to raise their status and profile at home.

The trend was started by the controversial former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who bought Manchester City in 2007 after he had been forced from office by a military coup, but then sold the club a year later. Thailand's biggest beer maker, Chang, has had a sponsorship deal with Everton since 2004. Then, following King Power's purchase of Leicester in 2010, the country's biggest seafood processor bought Sheffield Wednesday, and another Thai consortium bought Reading.

It is starting to look as though King Power has hit the jackpot.

The company's virtual monopoly on duty-free sales in Thailand is controversial, and the owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, is publicity-shy - he refused an interview for this article.

But King Power has had to respond to the growing fan base in Thailand, and now lays on free food and beer at its futuristic headquarters in Bangkok for the big games. Lightly clad models bearing strategically placed blue fox tattoos mingle with the family crowd, posing with footballs and life-size cut-outs of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez.

Asked why they now support the Siamese Foxes - as they like to call them here - patriotic pride in seeing a Thai-owned side doing so well loomed large. And the roar from the crowd when Mahrez scored the only goal against Crystal Palace was every bit as loud as anything at Selhurst Park.

Everything now hangs on what happens in Leicester's seven remaining games. But if they do pull off the fairytale ending, they can tap into a bottomless well of passion in this football-mad nation of 68 million. The £39m King Power spent acquiring the club six years ago, and the £100m or so it has spent since, look like spectacularly good investments.

 

[briny_ear]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35900042

 

The £39m King Power spent acquiring the club six years ago, and the £100m or so it has spent since, look like spectacularly good investments.

 

Sob. More or less double those figures and you arrive at Mr Lerner's spectacularly bad investments. [emoji26]

[Villan4Life]

Video here (on the below link) of them interviewing the new batch and why they support Leicester

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35909563

 

 

Quote

Leicester City's success this season has led to some fans in Thailand switching allegiance to follow the "Siamese Foxes", rather than the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool.

The club's billionaire owners are from Thailand.

Jonathan Head reports from Bangkok.

 

Edited April 3, 2016 by Villan4Life

[penguin]

Leicester Chairman's birthday so he got all the supporters a free doughnut and a beer, class act.

[Mantis]

Quote

Storm Jarvis May: You know, even if Southampton lose today I'll be OK with it, as it moves Leicester closer to the title.

John Shaw: Saints to the core but I don't really mind losing today for once.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/35793901

From Southampton fans. I'm sorry but that's **** pathetic - it's not as if Southampton don't have anything to play for.

Edited April 3, 2016 by Mantis

[Dr_Pangloss]

38 minutes ago, penguin said:

Leicester Chairman's birthday so he got all the supporters a free doughnut and a beer, class act.

That's a proper club, unlike what our club has become.

[bobzy]

6 minutes ago, Mantis said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/35793901

From Southampton fans. I'm sorry but that's **** pathetic - it's not as if Southampton don't have anything to play for.

I think that's fair enough?

They're not going to be distraught over losing because it helps Leicester take another step towards the title.  They're not saying "I hope Southampton lose".