I think we would all agree that Rogers was/is an intelligent guy. That when he came in there was a sparkle in his eye and we all believed, or maybe that’s going too far, but certainly most, thought that with him at the helm, as a club, we would do everything to move up a couple of notches. I know I did.
My question is simple, what happened to make that sparkle dim? What were the mitigating circumstances that contrived to make him accept a team he would undoubtedly advise against any of our better players moving to?
The maelstrom that erupted as a consequence is understandable, but, let us not let it obscure the underlying reasons that led to it happening. When anger subsides, a cool, rational assessment of why it happened needs to be undertaken. He has been called a rat, well let’s not forget rats are highly intelligent creatures and they leave a sinking ship. Did a lack of support from the board to actually make us a team worthy of dining at the top table, rather than talk about it, as Lawell did endlessly, have an impact?
Let’s look at what happened these last three years. Put a hundred of us in a room and ask each one, what do we need to do to move up? How many would offer a response that didn’t include improving our defence? I would bet not many.
Then let us travel back in time to the summer. We had won the treble for a remarkable two years on the bounce, but we all knew we didn’t reach the heights we had in the invincible year. We had lost three players of real quality in Dembelle, Armstrong and wee Paddy. The two players we sold brought in £26m.
Across the city we watched Sevco go all in, with every couch, every jaikit hanging unworn in the wardrobe being rummaged to find every last coin to fund derailing us.
We qualify for the CL and the money made ends them. £40m just to qualify, £13.5m TV pot and another £12m in ticket packages and what did we do? Fuck all. Why did we fail? Sloppy goals lost yet again by a defence even worse than finishing the season.
AEK where there to be taken. Inaction and dithering combined with Boyata refusing to play because he wanted away and we are out on our arses, £60m gone. £60m that should have been secured. Don’t blame Rogers for that. He submitted players of quality that he knew, we all did, were required.
Now we might not have got the ones he wanted, that’s football, but please don’t try and tell me there weren’t others who could have improved us and helped us knock out a shit AEK.
All this anger at Rogers should not deflect us from the failings of an over cautious board, who seem to operate on caution and hope. Add into that mix £2.3m taken as a bonus by Lawell, more than we spent on players in the January window, even when we knew Boyata and Benkovic would be gone in the summer. Boyata should have sold sold and every penny he brought used to replace him. We now have lost whatever he would have raised, and he’s still going. To me that is a shambolic decision.
As the bullets and shells of derision fall
in the Rogers trench, don’t forget to ask the question, why did he leave? To go to fucking Leicester if he hadn’t felt that the failure of the board to break a tenner wouldn’t continue?
It is my belief that if he had been backed in the summer to strengthen the team and we had qualified for the CL he would still be here to at least the summer. And probably beyond if we had been able to perform better in Europe. That is where his street cred would have risen. He knew that. We all did, because winning leagues and trebles up here has very little currency.
He encouraged players to come here because they would be in the shop window of the CL. It’s the same deal for him. If he knew he wouldn’t be backed to give it a go, then his arse, like all of ours would be handed to us every year.
My anger at his timing is tempered by the why now question. My fear is he was told spending money to improve the team in the summer would be derisory. I may be wrong in that assessment, but by fuck, it’s eating at me, and who among us would be surprised if going cheap was again the order of the day? A phone box could easily accommodate the entire group.
Lawell to me is in the dock as is Desmond. Why bring a guy like Rogers in, see how he improved us and then refuse to invest in a defence that could keep weans oot a close? Well the weans got in the close, we tumbled out of the CL and through trying to save say £15m on assets that could be sold on, we waved ta ta to £60m and are facing a summer where our two best defenders go.
Save me the shrewd leader pish about Lawell, for I just don’t buy it. This situation we are in this week has his fingerprints all over it.
When the dust settles he has questions to answer. The main one being, whatvare you going to do now? Lenny is in and for me he was the only choice. But will he be able to get support to do what needs to be done, if Rogers couldn’t? I am not convinced.
We have stalled. We have allowed Sevco to narrow the gulf, to me that alone is a capital offence. To take a fucking bonus while that happened is beyond belief.
Be angry at Rogers, be dismayed and let down, but always ask what is the real reason he left? I wish it was just he thought Leicester were a great club. But, my sixth sense tells me that’s bollocks. The real reason for me is a board that like to talk big but when it comes to backing up those fine aspirations shite it.
We have the makings of an effective team in Europe. Valencia away proved that. But we need the board to stop talking us up and start moving us up.
A treble treble is a distinct possibility. If we do what needs to be done in the summer and qualify for the CL, we bury Sevco. If the board don’t even try then the hatred and vile currently directed at Rogers should be amplified far beyond that.
It will for me at least. And Lawell May be glad of the diversion, but there are some of us who have him in the crossfire hairs. Step up or leave.
