Sorry to interrupt the #drama with the actual topic of this thread but Appleton has agreed to be assistant manager - we just have to agree compensation with Oxford which will probably be a set of training kits and a pallet of pukka pies http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/leicester-city/story-30398256-detail/story.html
You were ranting nonsense about Spurs not being able to compete with Leicester and I asked you to 'wind your neck in'. You didn't. For page after page on our transfer thread, every third or fourth post was you, getting ever more abusive, so I removed you from the thread. We welcome posters from other boards, but when they start spamming threads, I have to get rid.
With Shakey and Appleton running the show I'm not expecting any big name transfers coming into the club over the summer. And personally I don't think that's a bad thing. We have the basis of a strong squad already. Obviously there are key positions where we are stretched - central defence and a creative midfielder to run things - and we are having to get experienced players in to plug those gaps where we have no quality replacements, but I hope we are going to try and build by looking at what we already have and maybe bringing in hungry young players from the lower leagues (such as the lad from Chester), and those of more proven ability who are fed up sitting on the bench of the big Prem clubs and who want to show what they can do week in week out. As long as we pick up genuine team players without the big ego who are willing to learn and prove they can grow into the team over the next couple of seasons then that'll do for me.
Spurs can't compete with Leicester so I wasn't talking nonsense therefore you had no right to say anything about winding my neck in.
Depends what you class as big name? I mean Maguire is well known and highly regarded within the PL and so are Sigurdsson and Ilheanacho. Silva we could sign if we still want to, is he a big enough name? We're not realistically looking to sign big name players and players with egos won't ever fit into this club so having Shakey and Appleton isn't going to hinder our transfer activity.
Like always I think books are being judged on covers without giving any thought to the content. Appleton is extemely highly rated and listening to Radio Oxford's version of Stringer, he's done a fantastic job at the only club where he's been able to have any kind of influence on. He got them promoted playing good football and they've beaten countless Championship and PL teams in the cups since he joined. The fans love him and while disappointed he's leaving, they're more disappointed it's not for another managerial role because he's an excellent manager. They say he's shown an incredible amount of knowledge of the game and man-management skills and all the players speak very highly of him, even those who have left the club because he didn't want them. Nobody has a bad word to say about him. He learnt from the best at United and there's no disputing that during that period, the best education in football was United's academy. Having his career ended short 10 years ago, it focused him on achieving the highest level of coaching which he did. So he has a good football brain, knows what he's doing on the pitch, develops strong relationships with players while being fair but firm and obviously has Shakey's trust so to me he sounds like the perfect no.2. I guess because he doesn't have a big name though he's no good, same as Shakey he doesn't know what he's doing.
Here we go again, twisting words to try and conjure up an argument out of nothing. FFS grow up, man. I didn't say that Appleton or Shakey are no good. All I'm saying, and I'll write this slowly for the hard of understanding, is that really big name players will be attracted to the big name managers. Shakey and Appleton are both fine by me. Shakey was England coach for a while and well respected in the game, and he knows the club and owners inside out. I think they'll attract players that are more suited to our set up and ethos and build slowly. Maguire is a good example of this - young, proven in the Prem but still with room to improve. Sigurdsson is a big name in the Prem but not further afield and would also suit us fine. Silva might be a good player where he is at the moment, but would undoubtedly take time to adapt if he were still tempted to come here. I've re-read this several times and haven't detected anything that could be construed as controversial. But maybe I'm underestimating some people.
You've said all of that and failed fo give an example of the type of player that Leicester should be going for but will fail to sign because of Shakey?
Good appointment this. Knows Shakey, got good experience, is very well regarded "in the game" and we've got him in early. Shakespeare has his ideas and it seems he wants to get things set in stone before the pre-season properly begins. What are you on about?
Very experienced number 2 to have. Appleton seems the kind of character to knuckle down and do his best, shouldn't take too long for him to acclimatize to Shakeys tactics.
Probably good but let's be honest no one knows. My only concern is did we need a disciplinarian to complement 'nice guy' Shakespeare?
By type of player I assume you mean whether they have the requisite ability. If so, you could start with Lewandowski and work through the whole of the Barca or Real Madrid players. But seriously, what I said originally was that I didn't think we would be getting in any big names. I said that based on the decision of the owners to stick with Shakey. And, to be clear, I think he proved himself more than capable over the last few games of last season. However he's not yet proven himself over a whole season and I think many European players (Silva included) will look at where we finished last season and regard coming here as a risk. This is only my opinion. I'm sure others have a different one, and that is their prerogative; neither of us is right or wrong. If the owners had been wanting to attract big named players they would have tried to appoint a higher profile manager. The fact that they took so long to appoint Shakey makes me think they might have been trying to do so. But, as I said, I am quite happy with Shakey and Appleton and the type of player we are bringing in. I much prefer to see this new phase as a solid and thorough rebuilding with players who want to prove themselves over the next couple of years. I just hope we can get a Sigurdsson type player (could we push Drinky forwards and get him to play that role; he does have short passing ability?). I'm not going to put forward names of any specific player because it's only by talking to them face to face that the manager will know whether they will fulfill his criteria.
Players have no risks these days as a contract ain't worth the paper it's written on ...... ask Riyad
Totally fair comment ......NP hero worshipped here but hasn't done a lot elsewhere especially Direby ( without Shakey )
Presumably you're unaware that Levy won't increase their salary cap so no player at Spurs is going to earn as much as our top earners. Levy also doesn't spend money in the transfer market and won't be paying top wages so won't be signing top players, not that he would shell out for a top player. Spurs What has Ranieri ever done without Shakey? Shakey is and has been extremely influential in our success but people have no idea because it's behind the scenes. Both Shakey and Appleton are a lot more intelligent and astute than they're being given credit for.
Let's ask him at the end of the window because unless someone meets our valuation, his contract will keep him here.
AKCJ - I was saying Spurs are already in debt and now have an £800m stadium to pay for whereas we have none. All the money we've recouped since promotion means we're able spend more and we will because we can afford to. We also have no issue paying our players the going rate and if we sign Sigurdsson we'd make him our highest paid player on well over £100k/week and Spurs can't compete with that. So this is what I'm on about when I say Spurs can't compete with us financially. I'm not sure people realise just how much money we have now?