Foxes Flight

Friday, 06/08/2010

by Alex Malpas, Leicester blogger for Shoot.

I left the season preview for my beloved club, Leicester City until the last minute. Partly because I’m lazy by nature and partly because I could sense that something big was about to kick off.

True to form it has, Milan Mandaric has agreed to sell 49% of the club to a Thai Consortium. Great news perhaps? Who knows, but a cash injection is definitely needed for us to build upon our fifth-placed finish from last season.

It has been all change at Leicester over the summer, Nigel Pearson left to go to Hull City, which is a massive blow in the fans’ eyes, but not for our chairman who had invited Paulo Sousa to be their guest at the play-off semi final first leg against Cardiff.

Was Pearson pushed or was he pulled? Either way, that’s in the past. Our new man in charge does bring with him charisma, flair and an approach that will see us playing attacking, passing football, every fan’s dream.

As it stands, we still have every chance of challenging for a top ten finish and I think that’s where we’ll be placed. To better last season will take a monumental effort from the players and staff, play-off defeats can often knock seven bells out of a team and this will be a testament to Sousa’s ability to drive the team forward.

A new man, with new ideas and definitely some new dapper suits could well be that missing piece of the jigsaw.

The return of DJ Campbell from the wilderness could be another major plus for us, he was dead and buried under Pearson and went on to fire Blackpool to the Premiership, Sousa seems well aware of that and has gone on a charm offensive to make DJ feel wanted and loved.

So far it’s paid off and with his goals alongside Matty Fryatt, we could be flying. Big things are expected from our young captain Jack Hobbs, who will break in to the England Under-21 squad this season, likewise for Welsh International Andy King who is becoming one of the most prolific goal scoring midfielders outside of the Premier League.

So roll on tomorrow afternoon, when folk like myself can stop pretending they enjoy Saturdays wandering around garden centres choosing what Venus Fly Traps they want for their windowsills.

Back in the game. Blue Army.

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