I think i see it differently to some of you. If us and a higher club, say Bayern Leverkusen, are interested in the same player, wouldnt you be worried if they wanted to come here first of all? An ambitious player would obviously want to go to the higher club. However, these players are very good and it is up to us to tempt them to come to us. Now this is through many different ways - wages is a main one. Higher wages does a lot of things i) makes the player happier and gives him a better life financially ii) shows that we really value and want them and are prepared to really push the boat out to get them on board and iii) shows intent in terms of progressing forward - we have the finances to spend on players so good players may follow them to the club to get better in the future and give them more chance of winning something. Players that we are trying to sign arent Leicester City fans remember. If a few teams are interested then of course they arent going to immediately pick us first - they need to ponder their professional move. We are trying to persuade players who are currently better than us to come and help us develop as a club - of course they will need persuading to do this and this takes time and finance.
Some good points - some piles of ****e comments wise to be fair .. if labelling Ranieri 'the next Sven' has any relevance in reality then we would have to assume that the next 'Pearsonesue' manager appointed will inevitably end in a sex scandal dismissal ... i.e it's all complete bollocks with no foundation in reality. Ranieri is his own man and has an excellent managerial pedigree .. we'll have to judge him on his merits in that regard in due course ... doing so before the season starts is completely absurd Our current situation is no different to that of Man City or Chelsea ten / fifteen years ago .. nouveau riche clubs with no real pedigree in European terms - hence having to attract players by ludicrous wages etc and we will have to build in similar ways (i.e taking those willing to move for such reasons) but look where both of them are now (I'm not trying to put us in the same bracket absolutely but the principle sticks - both signed some right tits (Jo, Bogarde for example) before the diamonds started queuing up to join) ... Stoke 5 years ago would not have been attracting Barcelona's reserves ... it's a long ball game and we are only just starting out on that particular road... ... one thing that I don't think can be argued with is that Ranieri's pedigree gives him a distinct advantage over Pearson in terms of 'international' reputation ... and that will mean that some foreign players that would not even have considered us will at least give a move some thought ... ... wish people would stop worrying about the money ... it's not yours ... it's the owners to lose ... and they have a better record in 'good business' than any of us lot ... let's face it
Worth a listen to Dean Hammond talking about changes in management, pre season, his future and the clubs targets
Yohan Benalouane wikipedia page In October he refused to join Tunisia for the match against Togo, for which he expected to receive call-up from Laurent Blanc instead. However, FIFA warned Benalouane that as the paperwork had been completed, he could represent Tunisia only, a refusal to show up may risk a ban in club football.[3] Benalouane refused another call-up in August 2013 After a particularly poor performance in a 2-0 loss against Bologna in December 2010, Benalouane was substituted. On leaving the pitch, and being jeered by Cesena supporters, he stormed past the bench and headed straight down the tunnel.[7] He later publicly apologised for his behaviour.[8] Just what we need
Bloody hell im happy we have signed him! He seems hatred for liking the club he was playing for and no-one realistically even knows a thing about him!
There are a few people out there who would just love our team to be relegated just so they can be proven 'right' about their club's decision to sack Saint Nigel and appoint the anti Christ that is Claudio Ranieri. After all, Saint Nigel would have been able to walk unaided across the Channel and personally hand pick and vet 4 or 5 absolute sure fire diamonds currently playing in some European second division and sign them for a couple of hundred grand fee and £5K a week wages, and they would have been absolutely dying to join us and would have been guaranteed to take us to the promised land that is called 'the next level'. And by playing them the heart would not have been ripped out of the side because they were on small wages. The annoying thing is that I think I understand the end argument to this and the concerns. I've been supporting City since the start of the sixties when the side was made up of a core of local lads and a few not so local lads who gave their all for the team and with whom it was very much possible for the ordinary man on the terraces to identify. There were no highly paid 'stars' and arguably not so much at stake. The game has moved on from those more innocent times, and the influx of foreign players means that the make up of the team is now vastly different. There is also a newer fan base for whom the current state of the game is the norm. Yet we all somehow have to still get behind the team. And some things never change. It is still difficult to come to terms with the fact that some players, however much we love them for the effort and commitment they show, will have to be sacrificed if the team is to move on. At the moment we are at that point where it feels like we are at a crossroads. To move forwards we will have to become more like a Chelsea or Man City. We will have to think big, spend money and take chances in the transfer market. There will inevitably be some failures and mistakes because we are dealing with people, and there are few things more unpredictable than people, especially overpaid prima donna footballers. Moving to the next level will take many fans out of their comfort zone. It will mean that some of our current batch of players, however much we think of them and thank them for keeping us up last season, will become casualties of (hopefully) progress. Personally I'm not convinced I want our club to be a Chelsea or Man City but equally I don't want them to be relegation candidates either. For me, the MON years just about had it right. The odd trophy here and there, a real team that pulled together and a few giant killings during the league season. It's a tough road to tread and I guess we will only know at the end of next season whether we are on the right one.
No one wants to see us relegated. Some of you have become very dramatic over the fact were not jumping for joy that Ranieri is here I fully back him as the Leicester City manager and to imply I or anyone else wish bad on our club is quite frankly ludicrous
I hate when people claim this. Who amongst us wishes relegation upon us? Who do you think feels that way? Do you mean me? If you mean me, tell me you mean me, and I'll tell you why you're wrong
This has nothing to do with Nigel, or Ranieri, or whoever our manager is... All I'm saying, is that I don't want to see us go down the route of QPR, paying extortionate wages to admittedly great players, but ones who, if it wasn't for the money thrown at them, wouldn't have even know what country Leicester was in. The Swansea model is the absolute perfect example of how you do business and establish yourselves in the Premier League. Stoke is another great example... We need to build slowly, we have just survived one season in the Premier League by the skin of our teeth, and we're now trying to steal players from Leverkusen, Marseille and the like...
Getting a bit silly now. Havent actually seen anywhere that people want us to be relegated. Have seen concerns that we may be going the wrong way about reaching our goal. The thing we all need to remember is that there is always more than one way to do something. Whether it is the way we as individuals would do it is neither here nor there. Vichai and Top have obviously made the money available and told the recruitment team to bring players in to take us to the next level. It is their money and their decision to do it this way. Am I concerned that we are trying to bring in one of the best South American midfield players around? Err, no. Do I have faith that our recruitment team under the DOF will succeed - not yet. One thing for sure, this transfer window will have a huge impact on where we go as a club - one way or another.
That reads like it was written by one of the guys on this forums. We have Huth, Fuchs, Okazaki, Kante and all but signed Benalouane - don't these count as new signings? We have only made 1 official bid for anyone else - which was for Aranguiz - as other teams have already bid for him and he turned us down. Why is that considered a big deal? - are players slaves that have no choice but to sign for clubs that bid for them? We are linked with other players like Inler but as there aren't any bids for him, we are taking our time and if he doesn't want to come fair enough. How many players have other teams in the had bids rejected - Man United have had multiple bids rejected for Ramos so are they in a crisis because he doesn't want to sign for them? NP tried to sign Jorden Stewart and got rejected - why weren't articles like this written then? Stop making mountains out of molehills and let us try to sign good players - if they don't want to come, fair enough as at least we are doing something.
The current lot wont accept any new comers disrupting the status quo. Anyone who does should have to have a sparing session with Wasyl. That will keep everyone in line
