Ex-Players Back O’Neill for City Job

Some of the players who helped make Martin O’Neill’s time as manager of Leicester City so successful can see him returning to the club…

Celtic boss and former City midfielder Neil Lennon commented: “It would be great to see him back in the game. One of his old adages was that you never go back, but I think it is very, very tempting for him. There is a good foundation at Leicester and I think the Leicester fans would be more than thrilled to see him back because he had such success there in the late 90s and the early part of the century. He has been out of the game for a long time. It’s the game’s loss to have such a great character and manager out of the game and if he does get the job I will be thrilled for him.”
And Leeds manager and former City right-back Simon Grayson, after ruling himself out of the job said:“I’d be very surprised if Martin O’Neill doesn’t accept the job if he’s given it,” Grayson said: “I’d be very surprised if Martin O’Neill doesn’t accept the job if he’s offered it.”

Although any evidence or quotes are missing from any articles linking O’Neill with City the Irish Telegraph has claimed: ”O’Neill has left the door ajar on a possible second stint at the club after emerging as the No 1 target to succeed Sven Goran Eriksson. But it is believed he wants cast-iron assurances from the club’s ambitious Thai owners before taking the job. O’Neill has expressed concerns after Eriksson’s sudden sacking and fears an underwhelming second spell could tarnish his excellent reputation at the club where he lifted two League Cups. However, the Leicester board are determined to persuade him and will promise substantial funds for the January transfer window in an attempt to swing the deal.”

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Martin O’Neill is Firm Favourite

Martin O’Neill, who managed City through their greatest period in modern times, is the fans and bookies favourite to replace Sven Goran Eriksson, who left Leicester City ‘by mutual consent’ on Monday evening…

O’Neill, who appears to be the overwhelming new manager of choice on various forums, is runaway favourite at the bookies with SkyBet offering 11/8.  
The man who guided Leicester to promotion; a regular top half Premier League place, three League Cup finals; and qualified for Europe twice between 1995 and 2000 has been out of the game since leaving Aston Villa on the eve of the 2010-11 season and has yet to make any comment on the situation.
Other names linked with the job include Mark Hughes, Billy Davies, Rafa Benitez and Carlo Ancelotti, with supporters assuming that the Thai owners will be out to land another ‘big name’…

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Subscribe to The Fox fanzine for the 2011-12 season and you will recieve The FOX Summer Special 2011 a free set of four Leicester City postcards, and issue 176 with the Andy Lochhead interview by return of post.…

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Sven Goran Eriksson Relieved of his Duties

The BBC has reported that Sven Goran Eriksson and Leicester City have parted company…

After a big spending spree in the summer Eriksson’s side had failed to make any impact in the Championship. Saturday’s abject performance at home to Millwall on Saturday was the Swede’s last in charge.
The Thai-based consortium that runs City want a place in the Premier League sooner rather than later and Sven’s time is up… 19 points from 13 games wasn’t evidence that we were heading there quickly enough.
Although it should be remembered that City were in the relegation zone when Sven arrived just over a year ago, he never managed to get us into the top six.

City Get a Raw Deal at St Andrews

Birmingham City 2:0 Leicester City

A change of referee at half time also led to a change in City’s fortunes and a 2-0 defeat at St Andrews on Sunday afternoon…
Sven, not surprisingly, sent out the same side that beat Derby 4:0 in their last outing before the international break, but they didn’t pick up where they left off.
BBC1 viewers on Match of the Day Live sat through the most tedious first half imaginable, with both sides cancelling each other out in front of a small, subdued crowd.
Virtually nothing noteworthy happened beyond a Mills shot that was well saved by Myhill at his near post in the 28th minute.
Kevin Wright replaced Graham Salisbury as referee due to a pulled calf and the second half began in much more lively fashion.
Birmingham’s Chilean international Beausejour hit a 25 yarder that struck the left hand upright, and soon afterwards he was involved in the incident that turned the game. With Beausejour and King contesting a through ball inside the area King managed to toe poke the ball away but the attacker went over his foot. The new ref had a big decision to make and he got it wrong, pointing to the spot.
Marlon King planted his spot-kick into the bottom right hand corner, sending Schmeichel the wrong way with 50 minutes on the clock.
Four minutes later the home side should have been reduced to ten men when Beausejour hauled Peltier over as the City right-back attempted to get round him. It was an obvious yellow to match th eone he had received in the first half, but Mr Wright didn’t think so.
A minute later he did have his red card out, however, when Mills lunged into a tackle with Gomis. He won the ball, but it was a little too aggressive for Wright who slowly produced a red card.
City’s afternoon was now falling apart.
Sven brought on three subs in the following ten minutes: Wellens, Beckford and Pantsil replacing Abe, Vassell and Danns,
The ten men gave a decent account of themselves, though Schmeichel did well to block efforts from Wood and King to keep City in the game.
The equaliser should have come in the 81st minute when King was blocked off by Ridgewell as he wriggled his way through the Birmingham back-line. Wright again infuriated the visiting supporters, seeing nothing wrong with a challenge that halted the Welsh international’s progress.
With City pressing forward in search of an equaliser gaps were opening up at the back and Birmingham sealed their win in the 84th minute with a sweeping upfield move that saw King deliver a perfect ball for Wood, who comfortably rounded Schmeichel before finding the empty net.
It wasn’t a great performance by City by any means, but with the four major decisions of the second half all going against them it was always going to be an uphill task.

Sven was magnanimous: “It is very difficult for referees. We can sit here and discuss whether a decision is a penalty or not, but they have only one view of the incident. At half time I felt that we would at least achieve a draw, so to come away with no points is a huge disappointment for us.”

Birmingham: Myhill, Carr, Ibanez, Caldwell, Ridgewell, Burke, Fahey, Gomis, Beausejour (Elliott 86), King, Wood (Zigic).Unused Subs: Doyle, Murphy, Spector.
Leicester: Schmeichel, Peltier, Mills, Bamba, Konchesky, Abe (Wellens 63), Danns (Pantsil 58), Fernandes, King; Vassell (Beckford 66), Nugent. Unused Subs: Weale, Johnson.

Attendance: 17,102. Referee: Graham Salisbury (Lancashire) (Kevin Wright (Cambridgeshire 46).

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Subscribe to The Fox fanzine for the 2011-12 season and you will recieve The FOX Summer Special 2011 a free set of four Leicester City postcards, and issue 176 with the Andy Lochhead interview by return of post.…

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Sven Still After Beckham

Sven Goran Eriksson is prepared to offer David Beckham a player/coach role in order to tempt him to Leicester…

Sven appears to be determined to bring the iconic Beckham to Leicester: “I have already had that discussion with him. I spoke to him about Leicester. Beckham, he will never say no to me – he says, ‘Sven, we’ll see, we’ll see’. The big thing is what he wants to do when his contract finishes in LA. Will he want to go on playing?”
The former Manchester United star’s contract with LA Galaxy runs out  in November and his new ambition is to earn a place in the GB football squad for the Olympics. A job at Leicester would give him an ideal base from which to achieve this, but would Leicester really want the distraction of the Beckham Media Circus during what we hope will turn out to be a promotion season.?
According to some quotes Victoria doesn’t seem to be keen, but the days when players had to live within a bus ride from the ground are long gone! 
Sven seems convinced: “We’ll give him a whistle and he can go out on the training ground straight away…”

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Sven’s Happy Anniversary…

Saturday’s 4-0 win over Derby County, perhaps the best performance under Sven Goran Eriksson, came two days before the Swede’s one year anniversary at Leicester City…

Since Sven took over from Paulo Sousa on October 3rd 2010, he has been in charge of City for 45 league games with a record of 13 defeats, 11 draws and 21 victories. Not too shoddy for a manager who’s future appeared to be in some doubt about a month ago.
When he arrived City were in the relegation zone, they are presently heading towards a place in the top six.
Let’s hope he’s still at Leicester in a year’s time…

City Get the Abe Habit

Leicester City 1:0 Brighton & Hove Albion

For the second home game running City defeated the league leaders from the south coast…

With Peltier, Abe and King brought into the side City looked well balanced against a Brighton team with a 100% record away from home and they should have gone a goal ahead in the 19th minute, but for some poor refereeing from Graham Scott. Vassell was tripped on the edge of the area and the loose ball rolled forward for Peltier to drill it past Ankergren. The ref, however, failed to apply the advantage and City were awarded the free-kick, which came to nought.
King was denied by an Ankergren save a couple of minutes later but both defences were on top for the rest of the half.  Mackail-Smith was getting no change out of the magnificent Bamba, and the Ivorian also forced a good save from the Seagulls’ keeper.
If the first half reached deadlock that was swiftly amended after the break. Vassell’s well flighted cross from the left was met firmly by the head of an unmarked Abe, much to the delight of both player and fans.  
Brighton then enjoyed their best spell of the game and should have levelled when Barnes set up Mackail-Smith with a gift of a chance that he somehow managed to spoon over the bar from three yeards out.
Harley was then denied by a great block from Peltier, before the league-leaders were reduced to ten men for the remaining 12 minutes. The previously cautioned Painter stuck out a hand to block a through ball from Abe to Beckford and the ref had no choice but to send him off. This took the sting out of Brighton’s search for an equaliser and City had a comfortable end to the game.
Sven, who had perhaps been beginning to feel the pressure of an indifferent start, sounded relieved:
“I’m very happy. We finally performed well for 90 minutes, and did so against the number one team.”

Leicester: Schmeichel, Konchesky, Mills, Bamba, Peltier (Paintsil 72), King , Abe, Wellens, Fernandes, Vassell, Beckford ( Schlupp 89). Subs: Dyer, Weale, Danns.  
Brighton: Ankergren, Painter, Calderon, Dunk, Greer, Harley (Navarro 68), Dicker  (Lua Lua  68), Bridcutt, Noone (Buckley 60), Mackail-Smith, Barnes. Subs: Vincelot, Brezovan.

Referee: Graham Scott (Oxfordshire). Attendance: 24,128.

City Off to a Winning Start

Coventry City 0:1 Leicester City

City got 2011-12 off to a perfect start with a 1:0 win at neighbours Coventry, despite losing Darius Vassell to a red card early on…

A huge following of over 6,000 City fans saw seven players make their league debuts in royal blue shirts, with Matt Mills wearing the captain’s armband.
Though Sven Goran Eriksson’s game plan was soon interrupted when Vassell was sent off following a fiercely contested 50:50 challenge with Keogh. Referee Darren Deadman’s red card looked a little harsh.
City, however, absorbed this setback and matched their eleven man opponents in the first half.  There was a lot of passing and few chances though Nugent set up Danns who went close, while Schmeichel did well to tip over a long range shot from Bell that was heading for the top right hand corner.
A couple of minutes after the Sky Blues best chance Deadman was given a chance to even the sides and he took it as Baker clattered into the back of Wellens. Again it looked like a yellow card, but he had now set a precedent and the red was wielded again.
City almost took the lead just before the break when Nugent’s header hit the foot of the right hand post and rolled along the goaline into the grateful arms of Murphy.
It didn’t take City long to get off the mark after the break. Newest signing Fernandez was running the game in midfield with impeccable control and passing and during a good spell City took a 52nd minute lead.
A free-kick from Wellens out on the right was met at the near post by Peltier who glanced a header across Murphy and in at the far post.
This sparked big celebrations among Sven’s side and in the away end. Sadly the goal hero injured himself soon after and was replaced by King.
City looked fairly comfortable for the remainder of the game with Coventry unable to mount any meaningful period of pressure.
Nugent got a big round of applause for his lonely efforts up front after Vassell was dismissed, replaced with Gallagher.

Fernandez and King both failed to capitalise on their own good work with weak shots, while Schmeichel made a good save from Clingan, but City were never stretched and the final whistle heralded a great start to the season and the first win at Coventry since 2003.

Sven Goran Eriksson summed up: “I’m very happy with how the team defended from the centre forward down to the goalkeeper. I think it was a very good team effort. It’s a very good start for us but we have to suffer like this and work like this 45 more times this season.”

Coventry: Murphy, Keogh, Cranie, Hussey , Christie (Wood 78), Bell, Clingan, Baker, Bigirimana, Jutkiewicz, McSheffrey (O’Donovan 79). Subs Not Used: Dunn, Thomas, McPake.  
Leicester: Schmeichel, Konchesky, Mills, Bamba, Peltier (King 60), Danns, Abe, Wellens, Fernandes, Nugent (Gallagher 78), Vassell. Subs Not Used: Weale, Dyer, St. Ledger.

Referee: D Deadman (Cheshunt). Attendance: 21,102.

Sven Offers Johnson a Lifeline

Sven Goran Eriksson is keen to bring Manchester City’s forgotten man Michael Johnson to Leicester…

The 23 year old midfielder has suffered two injury plagued seasons at Manchester City and despite interest from Wolves and Leeds it seems that he is on the verge of a signing a season-long loan deal with Leicester. 
Sven was Man City boss when Johnson made his breakthrough into the first team in 2006, but he hasn’t made an appearance since 2009.

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Sven Wants Owen Hargreaves…

Leicester are on a list of several clubs hoping to tempt Manchester United reject Owen Hargreaves with an offer…

Sven, who gave the Canadian-born midfielder his first England cap admitted: “I would take him at once if he’s fit. He’s a great – he was at least – a great, great football player.”
Hargreaves, who played for Bayern Munich for seven seasons, has recently made his own Youtube diary to prove he is battling back to full fitness. He signed for Manchester United in 2007 but constantly plagued with injuries he only made 27 appearances for the Old Trafford club in four years before being released this summer.
A handful of other clubs are interested in reviving Hargreaves’ career including QPR but, should he prove his fitness, he may be tempted to join the man who set him on the road to 42 England caps.

Further evidence of City’s new spending power has emerged with reports from Bristol claiming that City made a £4.75M offer for Bristol City striker Nicky Maynard on Wednesday. This was rejected, but with the Robins making a loss of nearly £12M last season you wonder for how long they can continue to turn down that sort of money….

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Subscribe to The Fox fanzine for the 2011-12 season and you will receive a free set of four Leicester City postcards…

You can either post this form to the address below, or pay online via Paypal using the blue ‘Fox Subs’ button on the right…