Official Leicester City Thread

[T Fearon]

For those of us of a certain age ,it has echoes of Nottingham Forest in 1977/78.However Ranieri does have a history of taking teams to the brink but not finishing the job.If Spurs don't win it I'd love to see Leicester do it.

[Captain Obvious]

The English top league was the best in Europe when Nottingham Forest won it. The highlight of this season has been Leicester city and every neutral will be hope they win the league however it shouldn't disguise the fact of how low in quality and how poor the standard of the premier league has become.

[Syferus]

The English top league was the best in Europe when Nottingham Forest won it. The highlight of this season has been Leicester city and every neutral will be hope they win the league however it shouldn't disguise the fact of how low in quality and how poor the standard of the premier league has become.

This couldn't happen in most of the other leagues. The EPL at least distribute some amount of the cash fairly. La Liga are nowhere after the top three, Ligue 1 has one team of note and Seria A is at all all-time low. And Bayern are the only European contenders in Germany. I see no overall quality gap between the EPL and any other league and it's clearly the deepest of the lot.

Take off the rose-tinted glasses. It seems to be the in-vogue thing here to bash the EPL.

[bennydorano]

Some people mistake entertainment for quality. European football is the litmus test for quality and they are failing there. Having said that you probably wont get a true reflection of where the EPL is in Europe until they stop hamstringing themselves with too many fixtures or the likes of City forget about domestic cups.

[Syferus]

Some people mistake entertainment for quality. European football is the litmus test for quality and they are failing there. Having said that you probably wont get a true reflection of where the EPL is in Europe until they stop hamstringing themselves with too many fixtures or the likes of City forget about domestic cups.

Europe is a test of one, maybe two teams in any given league. The rest are happy to be there there. Having the deep pockets to spend your way to European titles doesn't mean the rest of your league is anything to write home about. If PSG win two European titles (not an impossible thought) will you be raving about Ligue 1's quality?

[Captain Obvious]

The English top league was the best in Europe when Nottingham Forest won it. The highlight of this season has been Leicester city and every neutral will be hope they win the league however it shouldn't disguise the fact of how low in quality and how poor the standard of the premier league has become.

This couldn't happen in most of the other leagues. The EPL at least distribute some amount of the cash fairly. La Liga are nowhere after the top three, Ligue 1 has one team of note and Seria A is at all all-time low. And Bayern are the only European contenders in Germany. I see no overall quality gap between the EPL and any other league and it's clearly the deepest of the lot.

Take off the rose-tinted glasses. It seems to be the in-vogue thing here to bash the EPL.

I have never needed glasses perfect 20/20 vision. The premier league is average to poor, for once stop your ranting and raving.

[Syferus]

The English top league was the best in Europe when Nottingham Forest won it. The highlight of this season has been Leicester city and every neutral will be hope they win the league however it shouldn't disguise the fact of how low in quality and how poor the standard of the premier league has become.

This couldn't happen in most of the other leagues. The EPL at least distribute some amount of the cash fairly. La Liga are nowhere after the top three, Ligue 1 has one team of note and Seria A is at all all-time low. And Bayern are the only European contenders in Germany. I see no overall quality gap between the EPL and any other league and it's clearly the deepest of the lot.

Take off the rose-tinted glasses. It seems to be the in-vogue thing here to bash the EPL.

I have never needed glasses perfect 20/20 vision. The premier league is average to poor, for once stop your ranting and raving.

If the EPL is poor the others are very poor. You can make that case if you really want to but the one that's obviously not true is the average part. There simply isn't enough depth in any of the other major countries' leagues to say the EPL is the average.

[imtommygunn]

The top clubs in the epl are being mismanaged otherwise there would be the same perceived lack of depth. With the disparity in money and spending teams like leicester should not be challenging the likes of man city. Yes it is great work by leicester but man city spend millions upon millions and still can't defend, arsene wenger fails for years on account of not buying a top goalie then he gets one and won't buy a striker. As for chelsea well they also have serious issues.

Spurs are finally getting the finger out but for the money they spend too the returns have been poor.

[bennydorano]

All the Euro leagues are very ordinary in terms of in depth quality, their best are better tho. Europe is the test and English teams are failing. I've noticed a bit of goal post shifting in the general media assessment of the EPL teams in Europe too - apparently they dont really care anymore because of the riches available in England.

[rodney trotter]

They don't help themselves in Europe by not having a Winter break in the Pl. The only top League in Europe which doesn't have one. The Bundesliga stops for a month.

The PL also in danger of losing its 4th spot for Champions League
http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjxhM2lqebKAhUHpA4KHQ6dAH0QFggfMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ffootball%2F34324794&usg=AFQjCNGXe_uTTcNlXmQp25GHHknf5SH-zA&bvm=bv.113370389,d.ZWU

[Syferus]

The top clubs in the epl are being mismanaged otherwise there would be the same perceived lack of depth. With the disparity in money and spending teams like leicester should not be challenging the likes of man city. Yes it is great work by leicester but man city spend millions upon millions and still can't defend, arsene wenger fails for years on account of not buying a top goalie then he gets one and won't buy a striker. As for chelsea well they also have serious issues.

Spurs are finally getting the finger out but for the money they spend too the returns have been poor.

The EPL split TV revenue fairly (http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2012-13/may/premier-league-total-broadcasting-payments-season-2012-13.html) whereas in Spain El Cartel sucks it dry for themselves. Even mid-tier EPL teams can compete for relatively expensive players. There is a big difference in how each league distributes revenue and it has a massive impact on competitiveness.

A lesson for the GAA.

[imtommygunn]

They may split money better than the other leagues but there is a massive disparity in wealth between about 4 or 5 clubs and the rest anyway.  My point is that the premier league would be as uneven as the rest if the top clubs weren't mismanaged. One top club is missing a striker, one is missing an entire defense, one is missing any heart in the team etc and all of this with huge money.

[rodney trotter]

It's a credit to Leicester. Van Gaal has spent over 250m at United ,and not even in the top 4..

[seafoid]

The top clubs in the epl are being mismanaged otherwise there would be the same perceived lack of depth. With the disparity in money and spending teams like leicester should not be challenging the likes of man city. Yes it is great work by leicester but man city spend millions upon millions and still can't defend, arsene wenger fails for years on account of not buying a top goalie then he gets one and won't buy a striker. As for chelsea well they also have serious issues.

Spurs are finally getting the finger out but for the money they spend too the returns have been poor.

The EPL split TV revenue fairly (http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2012-13/may/premier-league-total-broadcasting-payments-season-2012-13.html) whereas in Spain El Cartel sucks it dry for themselves. Even mid-tier EPL teams can compete for relatively expensive players. There is a big difference in how each league distributes revenue and it has a massive impact on competitiveness.

A lesson for the GAA.

They may split money better than the other leagues but there is a massive disparity in wealth between about 4 or 5 clubs and the rest anyway.  My point is that the premier league would be as uneven as the rest if the top clubs weren't mismanaged. One top club is missing a striker, one is missing an entire defense, one is missing any heart in the team etc and all of this with huge money.

10 million PER MATCH. 38 matches . 190 m per club . Even Aston Villa. That is massive money

[Billys Boots]

Trying to think of a comparison. Maybe Villa in 81.

The best examples I can think of, for comparison, are Brian Clough's Forest in 1978 and Alf Ramsey's Ipswich Town in 1962.  This would probably be an even bigger surprise that either of those, in terms of (financial) obstacles to be overcome.