Apologies

Apologies for getting behind with my posts. It’s due to a combination of over work and then getting ill. I guess the two go together. Anyway, I’m back to my usual opinionated self and I have a need to comment on the last couple of matches……

Follow the Rainbow

Was Tuesday night’s appearance of a rainbow over the Walkers stadium a sign of future foxes fortunes? At the time quite a few of us made the link with pots of gold. Others too are speculating.

Let’s look at the facts: Leicester City won the match. It was our second win in a row. We have drawn a Premier League club in the next round of the League cup. We have won the League cup twice before. Surely then this all points to a great cup run … except if you watched Tuesday’s game you’d already know the answer.

This Is It…

Kick-off minus 4 hours: This is it. The first match is just hours away.

I can’t remember us ever playing the MK Dons before. But in the new world of League One it goes down as a local derby (along with Northampton and Peterborough). To emphasise the optimism in Leicester some 25,000 fans are expected today, and no doubt a fair number will make the trip up the M1 from the land of roundabouts and plastic (or is that concrete?) cows.

But who exactly are the MK Dons? When they were Wimbledon FC they could claim some famous players such as Vinny Jones. But following their move in 2003 to Milton Keynes, and their re-naming in 2004 as MK Dons, their links with Wimbledon are all but over (even their trophies have been sent back to Merton). Perhaps their greatest claim to fame now is through their managers…Paul Ince, Martin Allen and Roberto Di Matteo to name but a few.

As for that first game weather? It’s clouding over and rain is promised. But unless it all goes pear shaped we wont let that bother us. Indeed, I’m banking on the game being pearson shaped – lots of passing football and a Leicester win at home!

New Season, New Manager, New Team

There are only four more sleeps left until the start of the football season. Time then to end my summer break and concentrate on the weeks and months ahead.

And I’m starting to get football withdrawal. Once the European championship was over (congratulations Spain – that’s why it’s called the beautiful game), I put all things football behind me. But now I can’t wait.

Traditionally the start of the season in Leicester is greeted with hot sunshine, requiring us foxes to wear shorts, shades and sunblock. On Saturday though I’ll be riding to the ground on my motorbike (yes, I passed my test in the close season); and hot weather with biker gear isn’t the best of mixes. I guess I’ll be stripping off before I take my seat!

A recent but less fortunate tradition has been a poor performance in the opening match. But I have a good feeling about this season. OK, probably because I just can’t contemplate another relegation fight, but also because we have a new manager, and because there were some promising signs in the friendly I saw against Birmingham City.

Of course supporting Leicester always causes others to pass clever comments. Only today a colleague asked me who our manager was this week! But despite the jokes and piss taking, despite the third tier football, and despite being completely ignored by the pundits, us foxes are made of strong stuff.

So whatever the new manager does in this new season with his mostly new team, the blue army will be there. Roll on Saturday.

Too Much To Take

I can’t say I’m excited about an all English Champions League final. This is mainly because I wanted Barcelona to beat Man Utd. To some people I may seem unpatriotic, but it’s all a matter of credibility. Like many football fans I really don’t like United. So why should I suddenly want them to win just because they are playing a team from another country? It would be hypocritical.

I therefore empathise with all those who found ITV’s glorification of the team in red just a little too much to take on Tuesday night. If I do bother to watch the final I’ll tune in to Sky.

PS…. And I wanted Liverpool to beat Chelsea.

So what of today?

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.

Megson’s insult to Bolton fans

I was never a Megson fan, and what little respect I had for him vanished when he walked out on Leicester City. But last night he sank to a new low by putting out a reserve team at Sporting Lisbon in the UEFA cup. His actions were an insult to all the other teams in the cup, and above all, to the long suffering Bolton fans whose season is almost as bleak as our own.

Indeed, imagine traveling to Portugal, your side is just one match away from a quarter final place, but on arrival you learn that Megson doesn’t think the competition is important enough. I’d be furious, and judging by comments on Radio 5, many Bolton fans were.

Thank god he’s no longer our manager; and good riddance.

Good job we get Spanish footie

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…

Let’s look on the bright side

How will we do against the Tractor boys this evening? Surely our fortunes must change for the better sooner or later.

And let’s look on the bright side. At least Ipswich don’t have any players called Pele (unlike West Brom, which is the clearly the real reason why we lost to them on Saturday).

Sunny Scunny

So tomorrow we play the team that brought the world Kevin Keegan, Ray Clemence and Sir Ian Botham. Nowadays their old ground is a Sainsbury’s and their mascot is a bunny called Scunny.

But what about Scunthorpe the place? It used to be a steel town, which presumably is why the football team is called the Irons. And Greenpeace once described it as a PVC toxic hotspot.

Hopefully pollution is a thing of the past. Indeed, I’m sure it’s a nice place today. However the nearest I’m going to get to this match is the TV set. Will we win? Come on, we’re talking about Leicester here, so anything could happen.