City Chief’s Oh-So-Stiffled Hosannas

I’m talking about Leicester City chief executive Tim Davies’s proclamations, or lack of them, on the back page of today’s Leicester Mercury.

As a fan, I hoped for some reassurance, some signs of dynamic action, a revelation or two that would perhaps persuade me that our beloved club IS going to be rescued from the quicksand it is slowly being sucked into.

And what did I and we, the fans, get? Precisely nothing that we didn’t know already except, perhaps, the nebulous pledge that the club will do ‘everything possible’ to get City higher up the table.

And what might ‘everything’ mean?

How many new players? No information.
How much will/might be spent? No information.
What positions will be reinforced? No information.

Mr Davies did say that Craig Levein had presented the Board with a plan. We knew or assumed that. If he’d gone into this week’s meeting with no plan he’d doubtless have come out unemployed.

What is the plan? No information.
Are the directors convinced it will work? No information.
Is it, in your view, a good plan? No information.
Is it likely to come to fruition? No information.

Mr Davies did reveal, however, that he has set the aim of City retaining their Championship status as the main target for rest of the campaign.

Okay, that defines an objective, sets the parameters, but it is hardly revealing. What other conceivable objective could the Board now realistically have had.

Towards the end of the article however, was the veiled warning (threat might be too strong a word) that ‘we will reassess that (objective) as time goes on but we need to stay up.’

My immediate thoughts about the warning were: ‘Does Mr Davies and the Board still believe in Craig Levein? No information.

Is there a timescale for progress hanging over Craig Levein’s head? No information.

If there is, will it be realistic to appoint a new manager at that time and still have any chance of survival in the Championship? Or would it be wiser to stick with Levein and see if he can get us up again next season? No information.

Or course I understand that boardroom discussions are private matters where sensitive information is rightly expected to stay secret.

But is this really the best our fans deserve? A full page of, essentially, no new information?

You can give a massive amount of reassurance without revealing sensitive and uncomfortable secrets, breaking confidences or undermining a manager’s authority.

You can whet the fans’ appetites for the remaining portion of the season. You can make them believe again, lift their spirits.

But no information or stale information somehow reflects the main ingredient missing from the club right now when it’s most needed – namely the passion and je ne sais quoi that can lift it off the floor.

Convince us Mr Davies. Give us reason to lift our songs to a crescendo. You are our leader. You are a fan. You genuinely care, of that I am absolutely convinced.

So lead us. Make us think of Leicester City as special again. Give us POSITIVES.