FoxHole

Milan Mandaric is quoted in today’s Leicester Mercury as saying he “still has every faith in Ollie”. Will this be the kiss of death for Ian Holloway?

In something like two hours we will know whether Southampton have lost or not. Never before have I been so desperate for a baggies win. Yet just down the road, and at my parent’s house in Hampshire, it’s a different story.

You see my brother, dad, uncle and cousin are Saints supporters. It usually makes for interesting banter. But as a family we have carefully avoided all talk of football during the last few weeks.

Either I will be sighing with relief tonight, or they will. And then we have to wait until Sunday….

Leicester City 1 Sheffield Wednesday 3, Saturday 26 April 2008

I apologise for neglecting this blog in recent weeks. Our fortunes on the football field haven’t exactly infused me with the urge to write. But after our display against Sheffield Wednesday, and with relegation staring us in the face, I need to get whatever misery is left out of my system.

To say our second half performance on Saturday afternoon was poor is an understatement. It was more like total surrender.

During a reasonable display for much of the first half, it seemed as if we might actually take three points. Surely, I told myself, the players realise the significance of this match. Clearly, I reasoned at half time, they wont let an equaliser stop them from battering Wednesday in the second half. After all, one win and we stay up!

But the 30,000 who had turned up expecting a victory were made to witness a second half of clueless dreadful, football. It was a shocking demonstration by a team that just didn’t seem bothered. Whereas Wednesday worked hard, fought for every ball, and supported each other; Leicester City were slow, sloppy and spiritless. Quite frankly we didn’t deserve to win and the players should hold their heads in shame. They were an absolute disgrace. As for Ollie, I find myself questioning his tactics. What is the point of long balls up the pitch towards Howard? He doesn’t move and he can’t head the ball. We could all see it wasn’t working Ollie so why didn’t you?

We’re now almost doomed. We wont beat Stoke City on Sunday, so only Southampton can save us. If they play rubbish then we will stay up by default. If not then it’s third tier football for a third rate team. I guess the players wont be that bothered. They’ll find a new club. But us Leicester fans will still be there however futile the cause.

Leicester City 1 Scunthorpe United 0, Saturday 29 March 2008

Relief was in the air at the final whistle. They even played music from The Great Escape over the public address as we left the stadium. But three points isn’t enough to secure safety yet. We need to win our remaining two home matches against Colchester and Sheffield Wednesday, and hopefully take something from the trips to Barnsley, Sheffield United and Stoke City.

The match was hardly an advert for the beautiful game. But then I didn’t expect to see flowing passes and great ball skills. I was, after all, at the Walkers Stadium. It was cold, damp, and the howling wind was blowing rubbish all over the pitch. Most of the game was as expected: Crap. But there were some moments, and Lee Hendrie showed again that he is in a different class. We also managed to get the ball wide and put some crosses in to the forwards. This proved far more effective than the usual long ball as their keeper was forced to make a couple of excellent saves.

But as Leicester fans know you need nerves of steel to last 90 minutes. As Scunthorpe became more desperate, so they looked more threatening. On cue our defence started to panic; and if I wasn’t so cold I’d have chewed off my nails. The ref didn’t help when he added five minutes of injury time. But suddenly the relief we needed finally arrived and I left the stadium in a much better mood than I did last weekend.

On the way back I heard that Derby were officially relegated -in March - ha ha ha.

I really don’t know what to think about this afternoon’s match. Clearly it is vital that we win, but is that very likely? On last week’s performance against Hull City the answer is clearly no.

Believe everything you have read or heard about the game last Saturday. We were totally third rate and only worthy of third division football. The players, and it is they who should take most of the blame, simply weren’t bothered. Only Henderson in goal played well (it could have been 0-6 without him); and only Hendrie seemed prepared to put some effort in, and he had a nightmare of a match.

So what of today? Our North Lincolnshire rivals have had some notable players pass through their ranks: Kevin Keegan and Ray Clemence are probably the most well-known. But the current squad is made up of players I’ve not even heard of. Is this a good thing I wonder? Current results suggest that the less we know about the opposition, the worse we play. We will know at about 4.50pm.

West Brom 1 Leicester City 4, Saturday 15 March 2008

I was so sure we wouldn’t win this match that on Saturday morning I made some silly joke about how, in my imaginery world, Leicester would win 4 - 0. Never mind though, I’ll settle for 4-1.

I have to say that for the first half an hour or so the commentary on Radio Leicester gave no hint of what was to come. Indeed, when West Brom took the lead it seemed very much like business as usual. We weren’t playing too badly, but nor were we making the most of our chances. Then we mess up in defence. I greeted their goal with the usual bout of swearing and despair, wondering if we’d already lost yet another match.

But how things can change. Clearly the sending-off helped (for a change). As the goals started to go in, the tension in our kitchen increased (no Leicester fan is ever confident of winning while there is still time for the other side to turn it around). And as for Howard, I have been one of those who wondered why he ever made the starting line up. But against one of the top teams in the league, and away from home, he scores a hat-trick. I guess he’ll be playing against Hull then.

So when the game ended at something like 5.00pm, I had that rare but very good”we’ve won” feeling. To top it all, Southampton who beat us last week were thrashed 5 -0!

Southampton 1 Leicester City 0, Tuesday 11 March 2008 

What exactly can I say?

Another defeat, another batch of wasted chances. Ironically, we  have shown  that we can dominate (Bristol City on Saturday) and even win games (a great result away at Cardiff), but the real Leicester City side seems incapable of actually scoring (our four disallowed goals against Preston being the exception to the rule).

Relegation is now closer than ever and morale will surely sink lower. Unlike some fans I don’t blame Ollie. Against the league leaders it wasn’t his fault that we missed chance after chance. And as we have just seen, somehow our players just don’t get it right on the night.

Indeed, we should have beaten Southampton but we didn’t. Verdict: Not good enough.

Things have going well for FC Barcelona. Fortunately for me, Sky regularly show the top matches from La Liga. Last Sunday I was able to watch the genius that is Lionel Messi, together with Eto, Ronaldinho, Henry and a team of exceptionally gifted players show just what football is all about. In their five goal victory they demonstrated excellent teamwork, precision passing, imaginative movement and a fair amount of style. We can only dream I suppose…

Leicester City 2 Coventry 0, Saturday 12 January 2008

This was a completely new Leicester City, literally. It wasn’t just all the new faces, but the fact that there was movement, and width, and a midfield, and even some skill! Ollie called it a balanced side. How could we disagree.

From the kick-off the difference was there for all to see. Instead of the usual clueless boot the ball up the pitch, there were deliberate passes to the two new Hungarian wingers. The result: we actually created chances (20 apparently). The difference was so notable that when we had our first throw-in, my mate Mike remarked, “My god, they ‘re moving off the ball!”

We left the match in high spirits. What a rare but great feeling.

I’ve not been inclined to blog recently. After the promise of some reasonable results we were all given a reality check with two successive defeats. Normally my low expectations make coping with bad results fairly easy. But whether it was post holiday blues, the cold weather or just the prospect of relegation, I have been feeling a little despondent when it comes to football.

To make matters worse, our FA cup exit was at the hands of Southampton, the team my brother and dad support. I felt the humiliation even if I didn’t have to face it. I certainly couldn’t bring myself to write about the game here.

But enough of being mard. We play Coventry tomorrow and could start with home debuts for six new signings . Ollie has certainly been busy.

Of course only the local media is in the slightest bit interested in the M69 derby. Everyone else is speculating on who will take over at Newcastle. Indeed, Radio 5 even interviewed Milan Mandaric, but to talk about Harry Redknapp and not Leicester City.

So while magpies, pundits and hacks get excited over Sam’s replacement, we will be wondering exactly who is who in that Leicester City shirt. I feel an uplifting Saturday afternoon ahead.