He Is Our Sunshine

Oh my!

What a day.

My emotions are in shreds.

Work did not present anything out of the ordinary.

My lover and I continue to live together in hippy paradise.

So why the trauma?

Well it started at about 7.50am when I heard on the radio that Gareth Southgate had been sacked last night.

I text my lover to tell him.

Just a bit of football gossip at that stage.

But then it all went horribly wrong when the reply text from my lover indicated that NIGEL PEARSON was rumoured to be a strong contender to replace Southgate.

That would be our NIGEL PEARSON.

The man who has lifted our drooping Fox tails and turned them into proud bushes.

The man who has the capacity to take us into the Premiership, if not this year then next.

I had this sort of sick feeling in my stomach as I read it.

"Noooooooooooooo!", I wanted to scream out loud.

I've been trying to keep an eye on the news all day to see if there was any relief or reassurance.

None came directly, although it has to be said that the news that we are trying to sign Edgar Davids is exciting and a sign that the club is building in confidence and self belief.

So Middlesborough - if you have any heart, listen to this girl's plea.

Please don't take our sunshine away.

A Devil Of A Battle

A number of church leaders across the country have criticised the playing of football matches on Easter Sunday.

According to one, Dr Sentamu, the former bishop of Birmingham, there is a "time and a place" for football which is not on Easter Sunday.

He added:"Do not think...22 people chasing a ball around is all life is about."

I'm not at all sure he is right though.

We go into battle against the devil tomorrow.

It doesn't get more biblical than that!

Eeeekk!!

Do you know when you are not worrying about something?

And then someone tells you not to worry?

So you start worrying about it.

There was I happily enjoying our 12 point lead

Then Mandaric (or Mandarin as I called him in a Freudian slip earlier) comes out and says Nigel Pearson is not leaving.

Despite Premiership interest in him.

Eeeekk!!

Eat Drink And Sleep Football

Yesterday, my lover and I spent time talking about the matches on in the afternoon.

Including of course Leicester City.

We listened out for the results then talked about those.

We spent 2 hours watching a DVD of the first 10 years of the Premiership.

Then we watched MOTD.

We got up this morning and watched the Championship matches on ITV, including a brief flash of Matty Fryatt scoring.

We chopped wood listening to Talk Sport.

We talked about today's results.

And we are going to be watching MOTD2 in a little while.

You have to say - without football my life would be completely empty.

Wouldn't it?

A Bit Of Spice

A funny old footballing day.

With some fairly lack lustre performances I gather.

Fulham unable to beat off Swansea.

Pompey and Man City slogging it out with Portsmouth just managing to pull a couple out of the bag on the back of a determination to show support for the decision to get rid of Adams.

Chelsea in a scoreless draw at half time with lowly Watford.

And Leicester made me hold my breath for a while this afternoon until they equalised against Swindon.

Lets hope the indian takeaway I'm having for my supper has a bit more spice.

Glory Glory

Glory glory Man Utd!

Don't worry. Only joking.

They are on fire though aren't they. 5 goals by 4 different people.

West Brom just provided the platform for them to shine.

Meanwhile, we have another point tucked neatly in the bag. 10 points ahead now thanks to MKD's losing.

And as if that isn't all joy enough, my dad is coming out of hospital later this week.

Now there's a man still yet to have his Man Utd moment.

But he will.

Birthday Wishes

It's my birthday today.

Happy Birthday Georgina!

I share my birthday with Martin Jol amongst other footballers.

I've had to work unfortunately (Boo!)

But my dad has now been transferred back to my local hospital which is going to save me a round trip of 70 miles every evening (Hooray!)

And we're having fish and chips from the paper for tea (Hooray!)

And my daughter's coming over to see us (Hooray!)

And I've had some lovely presents - a necklace, some clothes, a bag, some money and some wine to name but a few (Hooray!)

What more could a birthday girl want?

Well a hatrick from Matty Fryatt against Yeovil on Monday would do very nicely thank you.

Counting My Chickens Before They Hatch

Conversation with my friend Sandy today;

Sandy: Hey Georgie. Good win on Saturday
Georgina: Of course. We're the best
Sandy: You're too good for that league
Georgina: We are. We weren't last season though. I love Nigel Pearson.

Of course there is a bit of me that knows it never pays to count your chickens before they hatch.

But I can't go around being miserable just in case can I?

And Matty Fryatt is back from his injury and firing on all cylinders.

I just hope no-one else has noticed.

We're going to be League One Champions right?

Oh and hopefully stuff Neil Warnock's lot in the replay tomorrow night.

On Top Of The World

Hey Leyton Orient. Have some of this.

I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be supporting a team who are regularly doing well. We've only lost 2 games in the league this season.

What a different experience to last season.

Of course, as I said to my Mum on our way to visit my Dad today, who is now recovering in leaps and bounds, nothing stays the same. For every up there will be a down. Tomorrow will bring its new challenges.

But today I'm enjoying being on top of the League thanks to my team, and on top of the world thanks to my Dad.

Hidden Treasure

A weird thing happened to me today.

As you may know, the manner by which Leicester City became the love of my life was somewhat unusual compared to the usual routes people follow to become a supporter of their team.

One of the reasons I chose them was a slightly distant family link. My paternal grandmother was from the area and my father's cousin lived there until her death a year or so ago.

When I was at the hospital today visiting my dad, his sister and her husband were there too.

And yes you've guessed it - I managed to turn the conversation to football.

We talked about my cousin being a Stoke and Liverpool fan. He and my uncle went to the Britannia on Christmas Day to see Stoke play the ManUre (having queued for about 4 hours for tickets!).

When I mentioned that I support Leicester City, my aunt told a story about how Gary Lineker used to live next to my dad's cousin as a boy. He apparently regularly kicked his ball into their garden and on occasions her husband kept it.

Sadly none of these balls has yet made an appearance in the collection of family heirlooms but you never know do you?

The Rats Leave The Sinking Ship

I guess you can't blame them, but various LCFC players are abandoning ship. Stearman is off, as is Hume.

Don't lose heart though you Foxes. Pearson has been auditioning this week to find new talent. He has scoured the world to find emerging stars, seasoned warriors and those with an animal instinct to succeed.

And all this despite efforts to distract and disrupt by rival teams.

I'm sure it will all be OK though.

Won't it?

Gregory's Girl?

I couldn't help but feel sorry for France last night. A very suspect penalty, coupled with a harsh sending off in my opinion (and remember girls, when you are a football fan you must always have an opinion). And an embarrassing deflection off Henry for their second goal was simply the icing on the cake for the Italians.

To be fair of course the Italians do have a certain expertise.

And I'm not sure Monsieur Domenech's response immediately after the game was the most sensitive at a time when the French nation was in mourning as it's team crashed out of Euro 2008.

Meanwhile, in other news, the latest name to be linked to the Foxes is one John Gregory. Who by my reading doesn't have the most awe-inspiring records in management.

I'm always one to give people a chance before I judge of course. But given the difficulty we seem to be having recruiting I can't help worrying that we are probably having to take whatever we can get.

So if we do get JG, I think I'll reserve my unconditional endorsement for a while.

A few good victories could win me over though.

The Clock Is Ticking

Well well!

I have to say that despite wavering a bit earlier in the week, I am now engaged completely again in Euro 2008. A great match between Italy and Romania yesterday, followed by the absolutely compelling game between Holland and France, including some absolutely amazing goals, especially the third Dutch goal?It will be very interesting to see what happens when Holland play Romania now they are guaranteed to go through to the quarter finals. I assume they will put out a reserve team, which means that there is a chance Romania could steal it. Now that would put the cat amongst the pigeons!

As for today's matches, having missed Spain earlier in the week I was disappointed with their performance tonight, even though they won. They will certainly need to raise their game if they are going to progress in this tournament. I'm not watching the Russia/Greece match though because

1. I'm posting
2. We have a friend round for the evening
3. My lover is cooking a delicious curry which will be sliding down my throat with a nice cool lager within the next half hour
4. I just can't get excited about either team

And amidst all that, the turbulent waters at Leicester City seem to be continuing. Paul Ince doesn't want to know and the only recently appointed CEO has already moved on.

Mandy must really be feeling the pressure now. Next season is already fast approaching - the fixture list is out on Monday. He needs to keep the fans onside to try to keep attendence up at the Walkers. Most of all though, he needs to find a manager who is half way decent but is willing to take a risk with someone who has such a trigger happy reputation.

Tick, tock, tick, tock..........................................................

On The Road

So we are sniffing around Paul Ince then.

For what it's worth I think it would be a great appointment. A view shared by many of the fans on the Leicester City Forum, Talking Balls.

You have to wonder in some ways why he might want us though. OK the Dons have only just come up into League 1 and we should be at the top of that next season (oh please let it be so!). But you would think twice, wouldn't you, about coming to work with someone of Mandaric's track record? Unless you didn't have much too lose or the deal was too good to turn down and worth the risk.

Plus I heard on the radio this evening that Blackburn are interested in him too if they can't secure Allardyce.

You have to wonder just how many manager's jobs are not a poisoned chalice these days. Mark Hughes has been told he must make the top six by the end of the season or else. Last season was littered with casualties and you just know next season will probably be the same if not worse.

If I was a football manager I would probably take to living in a caravan. It's much more suited to such an itinerant lifestyle.

Brave New World?

It had to happen sooner all later.

Even though we were - you know - the 'r' thing (I can't bring myself to say it) a few weeks ago, I have taken some comfort from the fact that we remained listed in the Championship section of the BBC Sport Football website. Somehow it made the horror of it all seem less real.

Tonight, however, I discovered they have had a reshuffle to reflect the new order of things and of course Leicester City are now on the League 1 page.

What I also realised at that moment of discovery was within 15 short months I have become a football snob.

Cheltenham, Bristol Rovers, Yeovil, Hereford, Hartlepool and so it goes on. Surely, surely, we were made for better things.

There is a famous Shakespeare quote ('The Tempest' for the literary scholars amongst you) that goes;

"O brave new world that has such people in't".

Errr........ no!

Looking on the bright side of course, lots of these teams are in the South West so I won't have to travel so far to away matches. And presumably the tickets will be cheaper.

To quote another genius, Jean-Paul Satre, "L'enfer, cest les autres" (Hell is other people).

No Jean-Paul. Hell is League One. That is why Leeds United are here too.

Things Are Not Always What They Seem

I feel as if I have been in freefall a bit over the last few days.

The shock of our relegation. The wondering what will happen short term and long term. The lack of any sense of where my team fits in the universe (apart from the obvious of course).

Today we had our first bit of news which will start to build a new pathway to the future. Milan Mandaric has pledged to stay with us.

Although I hope he doesn't mean anything too literal when he says;

"We have see what was done right and wrong, correct it quickly and immediately and go forward to win games and show Leicester City in a new colour."

Blue works well for us Mandy. We'd just like to win please.

I would also like to thank all of you who support other teams who have left kind comments on this blog. My lover says only football supporters can understand what a time such as this feels like and he is right.

Of course Leicester's problems are all very public at the moment (particularly so at a staff meeting at work today when under 'Any Other Business' the HR Officer offered her condolences for the plight of Leicester!). And it is easy to look at other apparently almost unassailable teams who seem to have it all and think we are the only ones with troubles.

As with most things in life, however, things are rarely what they seem. Look at Liverpool for example. Plus this fellow blogger has good evidence that The ManUre are in financial trouble. And it's hard to imagine there won't be tears at Manchester City before too long.

So maybe those people who have said encouraging things over the last few days are right. Things aren't as bad as they seem.

Onwards and upwards then.

Leicester 'til I die!

Red Letter Day

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way"
Charles Dickens "A Tale Of Two Cities"

The quote above sums up my experiences of this Sunday.

On the same day that my beloved Leicester was relegated to the third tier of English football, I celebrated the 21st birthday of my beautiful daughter.

Both events brought tears to my eyes. Both events pulled at my heartstrings.

I didn't go the match. Instead, I sat chopping cucumber batons as I listened to the radio commentary on the link given to me by another Foxes fan some time ago. I listened as the other critical games (Southampton v Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday v Norwich) progressed.

I knew of course that we were at serious threat of relegation. Yet despite the doom and gloom of my recent posts, deep down I thought we would probably pull through by the skin of our teeth.

But as the final minutes were ticking by I could feel the sense of inevitable failure growing. I felt bewildered - not just by the horror of it all ,but at the depth of my own reaction.

There are probably some of you who read this blog who don't regard me as a proper fan. I can understand that. I know for many football fans the love of their club goes back as far as they can remember. I know too that the tone of my posts is often tongue in cheek and that my whole journey into football was a reluctant one.

Trust me though I am hurting. It's like a bereavement.

And then, like I said, there was my daughter's 21st celebration. Yes of course my son and his mates TTP relentlessly. Yes of course I had all sorts of clever comments about black armbands and offers to get free tickets to watch Leicester v Hereford United next season.

But I also had the joy of watching my girl, now a beautiful young woman, share with her love of life with others. Which somehow helped put things into perspective.

So what next? Well Mandaric is reported to have said he wants a few days to 'calm down' before making a decision which seems wise.

I can't see Hollow Way staying though. He came into a difficult situation but he didn't have what it takes IMO.

Suggestions for replacement have included Iain Dowie and Steve Walsh.

I'm going to adopt Mr Mandaric's approach for a few days though before I get sucked into the frenzy of speculation and prediction. Just sit back, lick my wounds and remind myself that tomorrow is another day.

And that where there is life there is hope. Especially when you are 21.

The Man Called Uncle

I've been to see my Uncle Ken today.

We were picking up a cake for my daughter's 21st birthday party tomorrow which my Auntie made. She has been to night classes to learn about cake decoration and has made an amazing job of it. Must have taken hours. Bless her!

Anyway, my Uncle Ken is a really groovy dude. He is kind and clever and funny.

And he likes football.

I remember him going to see Hereford United when I was a little girl. And when I was at his house today I noticed he had a load of ManUre video tapes and books.

Georgina: You are a Man United fan then.
Uncle Ken: Yes. Do you like football?
Georgina: I do. I've only been into it for the last year or so though.
Uncle Ken: What team do you support?
Georgina: Leicester City
Uncle Ken: My best mate is a Leicester City supporter.

It's like I've said before. We get everywhere us Foxes fans.

And there are lots of us.

Lots of us who will be waiting tomorrow with breath held and fingers crossed.

Waiting to see if tomorrow turns out like this. Or like this.

The Vultures Are Circling

Blimey! It's a bit of a war zone out there isn't it.

On the pitch they've been dropping like flies. According to one source there were 78 Premier League players out of action through injury as of last Friday. I don't know what that is as a percentage of the total but it sounds a lot to me.

And you are not safe off the pitch either it would seem. Even working at a football ground could render you vulnerable to ending up in a physical altercation.

There was the man who decided to do a bit of 'deer hunting' when his team failed to win a crucial game this weekend.

And according to The Telegraph, the vultures are circling at The Walkers hoping to feed off the rotting carcass of relegation.

The only way we can win the war is if Southampton lose their next two battles or we beat Stoke.

Please let it be OK.

I couldn't bear this.

Ian Hollow Way

I'm worried, I'm cross and I'm fed up.

I can't believe we gave away those two points yesterday - very nearly three.

I was not at the match but listened to it on the radio and read the comments by fans who were there. All in all it adds up to a very disappointing performance.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I have been a big supporter of Holloway and have urged holding the faith on a number of occasions. But you can only rely on blind faith for so long. And for me this really has started to run out.

The thing that worries me most is listening to post match and other interviews with Ollie. He sounds lame and clueless to be honest. So much so that I have invented a new name for him. I will be calling him Ian Hollow Way from now on until he persuades me I should do otherwise.

I don't know what is going on in the dressing room at Leicester City but I sense a lack of direction and a match by match mentality. Whilst I know the fans are cross with the players too, we have some good men on paper who have shown flashes of what they might do within the right set up.

I'm not yet baying for his blood but I have to say if Hollow Way is manager of The Foxes at the beginning of next season I'll be very very surprised.

So surprised, in fact, I will give up pies for a month if he is.

No need to cancel my standing order to Pukka just yet though.