channys6thswan
Lingers Long On Cank Street
No, not to Vardy, or Claudio, though both definitely deserve one.
But a plain granite obelisk to mark the falling away of the football club we all love.
One day, someone smarter and better connected than any of us will write a book about the recent history of Leicester City, from the 2018/19 season through to 2026/27. 2018/19, because that season spanned both the unbelievably tragic loss of Vichai, and the arrival of TCR. 2026/27, because that’s when our on and off the field woes could really deepen, if as seems increasingly likely, we find ourselves back in the Third Tier. There are so many ways of telling that eight year story. From the perspective of financial mismanagement. About the lack of stadium, and the excess of training facility, development. About the lengthening parade of team managers, some arguably among the worst in our history. About the increasingly incomprehensible approach to wider football management. Even about the deteriorating relationship between the leadership of the club and its supporters. Every one of us will have their own take on each. I want to briefly put in my six penny worth on one key aspect of all that - transfer dealings.
- Our smart business model (of bringing two or three promising players in, and (more than) balancing that cost by selling one star at an inflated price) was still in place at the beginning of 18-19. In came Maddison, Pereira and Cags. Out went Mardy Mahrez.
- The smart model started to wobble slightly in 2019/20. In came Ayoze Perez and Praet and Justin, out went Maguire. Crucially, our recurrent failure to do anything meaningful in the January window really hurt us, and TCR, with Ryan Who? coming in on loan (Silva had been the only marquee signing to come in during a January window since the Title win, and that only because of the 14 seconds fax disaster in the summer of 2017).
- The next season (2020/21) showed that our smart model was not quite gone, but in trouble (Castagne, Fofana in, Chilwell out, though letting Bassey go for nowt, and DeMardy Gray for very little were worrying signs).
- 21/22 was when things really started to crash. Daka, Soumare and Firegaard expensively in, all again on big contracts, Ghezzal, the Newport County cup hero ( haha) the only name out the door, his refunded bus fare to who cares where, the only cash coming back to the club.
- 22/23 brought in another set of disasters, with bombscares, uneven quality, or bad fits coming in (Faes, Kristiansen, Souttar), while Fofana (70 mil, yes) and Schmeichel (oh, no) left.
- 23/24 reconfirmed the new model (poor value in, quality out) with the arrival of the likes of Winks, Coady and Cannon and the departure of Maddison, Barnes, and Castagne. The bigger story, though, in terms of the new, unsustainable, transfer model, was the start of the departure of big name, highly paid players who had sat out their fat contracts, and left for nothing (Tielemanns, Cags, Perez, Mendy, Amartey).
- 2024/25 revealed how the earlier collapse of the old transfer and contract model was now badly hurting the club. A mixed bag came in (Fatawu and El K the highlights, Holding the (bargaining chip) lowlight). Combined, they cost more than the departing KDH brought in, and once again, we were left with big fat contract sitters staying on, rather than going for a fee.
- This season, a couple of loans in, and more than expected for the departing dross. That enforced return to a more sensible business model came too late, however, for PSR, and only contributed to a further squad weakening. And the problem of the long list of huge contract holders still holidaying at Seagrave hasn’t gone away.
We once had it cracked. Now the whole thing is cracked. The monument should have a crack in it, too.
But a plain granite obelisk to mark the falling away of the football club we all love.
One day, someone smarter and better connected than any of us will write a book about the recent history of Leicester City, from the 2018/19 season through to 2026/27. 2018/19, because that season spanned both the unbelievably tragic loss of Vichai, and the arrival of TCR. 2026/27, because that’s when our on and off the field woes could really deepen, if as seems increasingly likely, we find ourselves back in the Third Tier. There are so many ways of telling that eight year story. From the perspective of financial mismanagement. About the lack of stadium, and the excess of training facility, development. About the lengthening parade of team managers, some arguably among the worst in our history. About the increasingly incomprehensible approach to wider football management. Even about the deteriorating relationship between the leadership of the club and its supporters. Every one of us will have their own take on each. I want to briefly put in my six penny worth on one key aspect of all that - transfer dealings.
- Our smart business model (of bringing two or three promising players in, and (more than) balancing that cost by selling one star at an inflated price) was still in place at the beginning of 18-19. In came Maddison, Pereira and Cags. Out went Mardy Mahrez.
- The smart model started to wobble slightly in 2019/20. In came Ayoze Perez and Praet and Justin, out went Maguire. Crucially, our recurrent failure to do anything meaningful in the January window really hurt us, and TCR, with Ryan Who? coming in on loan (Silva had been the only marquee signing to come in during a January window since the Title win, and that only because of the 14 seconds fax disaster in the summer of 2017).
- The next season (2020/21) showed that our smart model was not quite gone, but in trouble (Castagne, Fofana in, Chilwell out, though letting Bassey go for nowt, and DeMardy Gray for very little were worrying signs).
- 21/22 was when things really started to crash. Daka, Soumare and Firegaard expensively in, all again on big contracts, Ghezzal, the Newport County cup hero ( haha) the only name out the door, his refunded bus fare to who cares where, the only cash coming back to the club.
- 22/23 brought in another set of disasters, with bombscares, uneven quality, or bad fits coming in (Faes, Kristiansen, Souttar), while Fofana (70 mil, yes) and Schmeichel (oh, no) left.
- 23/24 reconfirmed the new model (poor value in, quality out) with the arrival of the likes of Winks, Coady and Cannon and the departure of Maddison, Barnes, and Castagne. The bigger story, though, in terms of the new, unsustainable, transfer model, was the start of the departure of big name, highly paid players who had sat out their fat contracts, and left for nothing (Tielemanns, Cags, Perez, Mendy, Amartey).
- 2024/25 revealed how the earlier collapse of the old transfer and contract model was now badly hurting the club. A mixed bag came in (Fatawu and El K the highlights, Holding the (bargaining chip) lowlight). Combined, they cost more than the departing KDH brought in, and once again, we were left with big fat contract sitters staying on, rather than going for a fee.
- This season, a couple of loans in, and more than expected for the departing dross. That enforced return to a more sensible business model came too late, however, for PSR, and only contributed to a further squad weakening. And the problem of the long list of huge contract holders still holidaying at Seagrave hasn’t gone away.
We once had it cracked. Now the whole thing is cracked. The monument should have a crack in it, too.
