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Let’s forget about the opening 45 minutes on Saturday and focus on everything that happened after that, it’s been pretty spot on. Leicester have begun in a manner you would hope will hold them in good stead for the rest of the season. They’ve already repeated their oft-performed trick from League One of coming from behind, and professionally dispatched modest opposition in the cup. So far, so good.

The Week That Was

Martin Waghorn became the first Leicester player to score on his debut since Les Ferdinand put one past Southampton in the opening game of Leicester’s last Premier League campaign. In the six intervening years both Matty Fryatt and Steve Howard have scored on their home debuts, but neither became an instant hero.

Chris Powell started his 32nd League Cup tie in what his now his 22nd season in professional football. By contrast his colleagues in the back four o Tuesday night had amassed just 5 League Cup starts between them. City’s back line wasn’t heavily tested at Moss Rose but did earn their first clean sheet of the season. Nigel Pearson’s men managed 19 shutouts in the league and 24 in all competitions in 2008/09.

Ipswich Town

Leicester face two sides who would have expected better from their opening matches this week. First City head to Portman Road, a ground where they’ve won just once in their last 13 league visits. Roy Keane’s men, one of only four sides to lose on the opening weekend, found themselves needing penalties to dispose of Shrewsbury this week. Paint will be peeling from the Ipswich dressing room walls if they fail to perform on Saturday.

Ipswich season ticket holders must have felt cheated by their side last season. Having finished 2007/08 with the best home record in the Championship, the Tractor Boys could only manage the 15th highest ranking in 2008/09. Crucially, Ipswich beat only one of the eight sides who finished above them last season at Portman Road. Not exactly a fortress to be feared.

Sheffield United

City don’t have a great record at Bramall Lane, a 3-1 victory in 1995 has been the Foxes’ only success here in 30 years. But if Port Vale can win here then who knows?

Some people dismiss early season results as meaningless - Sheffield United fans do not. On the opening day last season the Blades travelled to Birmingham City and lost thanks to a 90th minute strike from Kevin Phillips. The difference between the two sides at the end of the season was, you guessed it, three points. Had Kevin Blackwell’s defence kept a clean sheet that day it would have been the Blades opening the season at Old Trafford thanks to their superior goal difference.

Sheffield United haven’t lost a home league game since the Steel City Derby in February, in only one of the matches following that defeat did they fail to score. United’s defensive record is also solid, the second best in the Championship last year. City will need a strong performance to take points away from the divisions 4th favourites.

On This Day - 15th August

Martin O’Neill’s side stunned the Premier League on the opening day of the 1998/99 season by taking a two-goal lead at Old Trafford. Emile Heskey and Tony Cottee silenced the Stretford End only for a deflected Teddy Sheringham effort and a stoppage time David Beckham special to deny Leicester victory.

The Week Ahead

The first game of the season brings about the same old clichés; the nerves, the optimism, the new signings trying to make the best first impression, the managers pretending not to pay attention to the great sack race, the list goes on and on.

But what does the first game of the season mean? Well, if you’re a Leicester fan it should mean a lot…

1993/94 – Leicester City 2-1 Peterborough Utd (Promoted)
1994/95 – Leicester City 1-3 Newcastle Utd (Relegated)
1995/96 – Sunderland 1-2 Leicester City (Promoted)
1996/97 – Sunderland 0-0 Leicester City
1997/98 – Leicester City 1-0 Aston Villa
1998/99 – Manchester Utd 2-2 Leicester City
1999/00 – Arsenal 2-1 Leicester City
2000/01 – Leicester City 0-0 Aston Villa
2001/02 – Leicester City 0-5 Bolton Wanderers (Relegated)
2002/03 – Leicester City 2-0 Watford (Promoted)
2003/04 – Leicester City 2-2 Southampton (Relegated)
2004/05 – Leicester City 0-0 Wet Ham
2005/06 – Sheffield Utd 4-1 Leicester City
2006/07 – Luton Town 2-0 Leicester City
2007/08 – Leicester City 0-1 Blackpool (Relegated)
2008/09 – Leicester City 2-0 MK Dons (Promoted)

At the start of last season I made the point that Leicester City’s start to the season has always had a big impact on the rest of the campaign. But looking at those scorelines you can make the case even simpler. In each season that Leicester have competed outside the Premier League since 1993/94 and won on the opening day they have gone on to win promotion. Just saying…

Swansea City

On the face of it, Swansea could be heading for a tough second season in the Championship. The loss of manager Roberto Martinez to Wigan is a huge blow, as is the Jason Scotland sized hole in the Swans strike force. Jordi Gomez has also followed Matinez to Lancashire, leaving Swansea without strikers who between them accounted for 33 of their 63 league goals. Stephen Dobbie has been drafted in from Queen of the South, but he remains unproven at this level. 47 goals in 74 starts for The Doonhamers is one thing, 20 goals in the Championship is quite another.

Meanwhile manager Paulo Sousa hardly set the Championship on fire with his short spell at QPR last season. That being said, we might find out if he truly is a capable boss this season if rumours of boardroom sting pulling at Loftus Road are true.

Swansea’s 2008/09 season was remarkable for a club record eight consecutive draws, the start of a 13 match undefeated sequence which proved if nothing else that the Swans are difficult to break down. Don’t expect a goal festival.

Macclesfield Town

Leicester haven’t failed to progress to the second round of the League Cup since 1979. Rotherham, conquerors of City in the JPT last season, were the undoing of the Foxes that season. You’ll get pretty long odds on the Silkmen stopping Nigel Pearson’s men. Amazingly Macclesfield’s biggest ever League win is just 3-0.

On This Day – 8th August

City’s miserable start to the 2006/07 campaign continued with a 1-0 home defeat to Burnley. Andy Gray’s header from seven yards was enough to preserve Burnley’s perfect start and continue Leicester’s pointless one. It is the only competitive game Leicester have ever played on the 8th August.

Season Preview

“So why couldn’t Leicester get a sponsor this season?” a friend asked. At least, that’s what I think he said. What I heard was “Couldn’t get a sponsor eh? Blimey, your lot really are a bunch of talentless chumps these days.” It felt like an accusation, a symbol of Leicester’s demise since the glory days of O’Neil, Heskey, Izzet and Elliot.

Last season when the Foxes’ website offered a choice of three slogans to be emblazoned on the front of Leicester’s new kit, we pondered for maybe a second or two and opted for the fourth and least controversial option; keep it blank.

The blank shirt is somewhat befitting of the new management style at the Walkers Stadium; plain, unassuming, unimpressed by prima donnas or fancy Dans. Nigel Pearson, who will quickly become Sir Nigel if he manages the Foxes to successive promotions, said he was pleased with promotion but in a tone which made you doubt he’s every really been satisfied by anything in life. What is clear is that Pearson’s character is exactly what City needed. He’s installed a backbone in the side that neither Martin ‘Mr Angry’ Allen or Ian ‘Happier than a badger in mating season’ Holloway ever managed.

What’s also different this season is that City start 2009/10 with a sense of optimism and stargazing not seen at the club in over a decade. True, Leicester fans don’t have any stars to gaze upon yet, but the Premiership seems a more realistic prospect than another plummet. Last season was the first time since 2002/03 that the Foxes won more games than they lost.

If it transpires Leicester won’t in fact be challenging for the play-offs or, dare I say it, automatic promotion, then there are many other scores which still need settling. For the first time in five seasons the East Midlands has its three major clubs in the same division and bragging rights are on the line. The only crumb of comfort in 2007/08 for Leicester fans in an otherwise dismal season was watching Derby County’s pathetic displays in the Premier League. Leicester may have been poor that year, but the sheep were record-breakingly dreadful. Meanwhile Forest, having clambered out of League One at the third attempt, are well overdue a kicking.

But there are reasons to be worried. With no new strikers on the books goalscoring responsibilities could fall on the unproven shoulders of Matty Fryatt. The 23 year-old might have managed 27 league strikes last term, be he only netted nine of them after Christmas. Alex Fergusson used to complain that Andy Cole needed five chances for every goal he scored. In 2008/09, the Fryastarter needed six.

Time to keep the faith!

Pedigree - Part 4

The new season begins in less than 3 days, excited yet? The final part of the Pedigree series is below.

See things differently? Please post a comment. You can also now follow Foxblogger on Twitter for instant staification.

Scunthorpe United
Premier League Experience: 0 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 0 Seasons
Last Season: 6th (Promoted)

Foxblogger had the pleasure of watching Scunthorpe at their first Wembley appearance last season. Back in March the JTP Final between the Iron and Luton was called the best domestic game at Wembley since it was rebuilt. That match was quickly eclipsed by the League One play-off final in May and this time it was Scunthorpe who fell on the smiley side of a 3-2 scoreline.

Scunthorpe’s first season in the Championship after a 44-year absence ended in immediate relegation. It’s easy to forget that Nigel Adkins’ side actually started the season quite well, sitting happily in mid-table until November. But by New Years’ Day 2008 the Iron had slipped into the bottom three and never got out. Watching what lessons they have learned from this experience will be interesting.

Sheffield United
Premier League Experience: 3 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 2 Seasons
Last Season: 3rd

Now here’s a side haunted by the past. Absolute certainties don’t come much closer than five minutes in conversation with a Blades fan and the words “West Ham” and “Tevez” cropping up. If Sheffield United fans can finally come to terms with their relegation long enough to focus on the present they’ll see a side more than capable of bringing them back to the Premier League. Maybe once they get there they’ll get more than eight points from their final 11 matches of the season too?

Sheffield United are another of the eight founder members of the Premier League who have since lost their grip on the cash cow they helped to create. It took the Blades 12 long years to get themselves promoted back to the Premier League after their relegation before last but you’d be surprised if they took as long this time.

Sheffield Wednesday
Premier League Experience: 8 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 4 Seasons
Last Season: 12th

It’s a measure of how far Sheffield Wednesday fell in the years following their relegation from the Premier League that last season’s 12th place in the Championship was the club’s second best season in the last ten years.

It’s difficult to know how to place Wednesday. In 2009 the club oscillated between 12th and 13th place and no further. What that says about ambitions is anyone’s guess, but Wednesday have tended to be slow starters since their return to the Championship. Two years in League One has taught the club to live within its means, but it’s difficult to picture a Wednesday promotion push on the back of prudence.

Swansea City
Premier League Experience: 0 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 1 Season
Last Season: 8th

Swansea fans are used to seeing their team winning. The side hasn’t finished in the bottom half of any table since 2002/03, which considering the Swans have been promoted twice during that period is a very impressive record.

But the departure of Roberto Martinez could lead to a case of second season syndrome. We’ll take a closer look at Swansea in our first weekly preview on Friday.

Watford
Premier League Experience: 2 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 2 Seasons
Last Season: 13th

Twice the Hornets have made it to the Premier League, and twice they have been unceremoniously dumped out of the division. Still, when you consider Derby’s last effort you might think that 24 and 28 points aren’t exactly terrible hauls for small teams with tight budgets in the top flight these days. Perhaps Burnley will provide a new benchmark this season?

Following their latest relegation Watford looked odds-on to return straight back, but just one win in their final 14 games of 2007/08 meant the Hornets scraped into the play-offs on goal difference alone. A side truly out of form were duly trounced 6-1 on aggregate by eventual play-off winners Hull.

Watford were the first side Foxblogger ever saw Leicester play. Boxing Day 1993 saw City equalise in the last minute to snatch a 4-4 draw. There really was no hope for me after that.

West Brom
Premier League Experience: 4 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 0 Seasons
Last Season: 20th (Relegated)

In only two of the last eight seasons have West Brom remained in the division in which they started. Even those campaigns weren’t dull; one featured a final day escape from relegation in which any three of the bottom four could have gone down, the other featured a play-off final defeat at the hands of Derby County.

Despite all this movement, the Baggies have been keen not to overextend themselves. As a result they find themselves in excellent financial shape, something which can’t exactly be said for other promotion rivals such as their opening day opponents, Newcastle United.

With a goalscorer, West Brom may well prove the biggest threat in the division.

Pedigree - Part 3

With the season just days away Foxblogger will be posting every day this week. Part 3 of the Pedigree series is below. Part 4 will follow tomorrow.

Nottingham Forest
Premier League Experience: 5 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 1 Seasons
Last Season: 19th

Forest were founder members of the Premier League and Sky Sports chose to broadcast the first ever live Premiership match from the City Ground, a 2-2 draw with Liverpool. Whilst Sky’s production values have come along a fair way in the last 17 years, the same cannot be said for Forest’s quality. An excruciating three seasons in League One was followed last year by a painful re-introduction to the Championship – Colin Calderwood’s side managed just two wins in their first 19 matches back in the second tier.

At least this season brings back the prospect of some excellent East-Midlands derbies. Leicester, Derby and Forest have not competed in the same division since 2004/05. For the first season in five bragging rights are most certainly at stake.

Peterborough Utd
Premier League Experience: 0 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 0 Seasons
Last Season: 2nd (Promoted)

This is Posh’s first season in the second tier since 1993/94. Defeated on the opening day by City that season, Peterborough’s season never really got going as they whimpered out of Division One. Further relegation to the fourth tier followed four years later and since then Posh had rarely looked like breaking back into the Championship.

That was until 11 wins in their final 15 games last season put Posh ahead of the faltering MK Dons and as high as they’re been in the league ladder for 17 seasons. There’s really no telling how Peterborough will adjust, but under Darren Ferguson they should at least be difficult to beat at home.

Preston North End
Premier League Experience: 0 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 9 Seasons
Last Season: 6th

Preston haven’t experienced relegation for 17 seasons and given last season’s push for the play-offs it’s unlikely they will be looking down this season either. As the Championship’s longest serving tenants Preston are due an exit one way or another.

But like Ipswich Town, Preston have suffered at the hands of the play-offs too many times to consider then a viable option for promotion. Four times in the last nine seasons they have reached to top six, only to see Bolton and West Ham pip them to the Premier League in the final.

Queen’s Park Rangers
Premier League Experience: 4 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 5 Seasons
Last Season: 11th

Flush with dosh, QPR were the team to back for the title at the start of last season; nevermind.

Still, Rangers did manage a top half finish for the first time in four seasons. Like Leicester, QPR have suffered the ignominy of relegation to the third tier having lost their Premier League status in 1996. And like Nottingham Forrest, it took QPR three years to make their way out of what was then Division Two.

Finding the back of the net will be QPR’s most pressing concern early this season. They failed to score in nine of their last 14 Championship matches last year.

Reading
Premier League Experience: 2 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 1 Season
Last Season: 4th

Reading fans might argue they ought to have had at least one more season in the Premier League to their name. Back in 1994/95 they nearly completed the same feat Leicester fans are dreaming of this season. Promoted from Division Two a year earlier, Reading scored 58 goals and amassed 79 points in what was their first ever season in the second tier. It was enough to place them second in the table that season. Unfortunately for the Royals it was also the season in which the Premier League shed two teams from its roster. As a result the four sides relegated from the Premier League were to be replaced by just two from Division One. Reading battled to the play-off final but were beaten 4-3 by Bolton after extra time.

Still, when Reading did finally make it to the Premier League they did it in style. The 106 points the club won in 2005/06 is the highest any side has ever achieved in a single season.

Pedigree – Part 2

Foxblogger's look at what the past can teach us about the present continues as we take a gander at Derby County to Newcastle Utd.

Derby County
Premier League Experience: 7 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 1 Season
Last season: 18th

Derby County aren’t traditionally seen as a yo-yo side, but their six-year spell in the Premier League from 1996-2002 was the sides’ longest period in any division from the 1980’s onwards. Since 1980 Derby have been promoted or relegated a dozen times. Like Crystal Palace, the Rams seem to put together a reasonably good Championship season together after a rotten one. Under Nigel Clough there’s every chance this could continue.

Doncaster Rovers
Premier League Experience: 0 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 1 Season
Last Season: 14th

By one measure the Keepmoat Stadium was the most boring place to watch Championship football last season. Just 34 goals were scored in 23 league matches, a measly 1.5 per game. But to characterise Rovers in this way would be injustice equivalent to Graham Fenton’s £1.1m transfer fee, Doncaster were very entertaining and in the last seven seasons have provided their fans with nothing but joy.

In the same year as City last bulldozed their way back to the Premier League, Doncaster were lifting themselves back into the Football League through the Conference play-offs. Leicester haven’t played Doncaster since 1956, it’ll be the longest historical gap they bridge this season.

Ipswich Town
Premier League Experience: 5 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 7 Seasons
Last Season: 9th

Roy Keane may be the story for every other correspondent, but it’s the play-offs which have defined Ipswich Town’s recent history and left scars deeper than any the Irishman left on his opponents. The Tractor Boys have entered the play-offs on six occasions and won promotion only once.

The rot at Ipswich did seem to be ending under Jim Magilton, but the lack of killer instinct cost the side dear in the push for another play-off heartbreak. If Keane is going to perform his promotion miracles again one would think it will have to be as part of the top two.

Middlesbrough
Premier League Experience: 14 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 0 Seasons
Last Season: 19th (Relegated)

An average gate on 28,429 attended Middlesbrough’s home matches last season, over 80% of capacity. It’s a surprising statistic because the overriding impression of the Riverside Stadium last season was one of an empty stadium, apathetic fans and an anaemic strike force. The latter is at least true, Boro’ managed just 28 goals last term.

Comforting to Gareth Southgate’s men should be the knowledge that Middlesbrough’s last two stays in the second tier have been blissfully short, three seasons in total. 1997/98’s return straight back to the Premier League was made all the sweeter as Boro’ edged out Sunderland to automatic promotion by just one point. What would Middlesbrough fans give to see the same fate befall Newcastle?

Newcastle Utd
Premier League Experience: 16 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 0 Seasons
Last Season: 18th (Relegated)

Unlike their North-East rivals Middlesbrough, the Magpies were not founder members of the Premier League, but they do enter the Championship with more experience at that level than any other side. Only Manchester United and Arsenal finished higher than Newcastle in 2002/03.

The last time Newcastle found themselves in the second tier they spent four years here and almost relegated themselves again in 1991/92 (a season which included a 5-2 away defeat to Oxford Utd, a 6-2 demolition at the hands of Wolves and a 1-1 home draw with Cambridge Utd). The difference this time around is the Sky cameras will be on hand to delight in every such embarrassment. Newcastle visit Scunthorpe on 20th October…

Next time: Nottingham Forest to Reading

Pedigree – Part 1

With just over seven weeks to go before Leicester City kick off the 2009/10 Championship campaign at home to Swansea, the start of the new season is now closer than the end of the last. Foxblogger is back in pre-season training.

Already early season optimism is taking its hold, with dreams of the play-offs exciting even the most pessimistic Leicester fan. At least 16 Championship sides will consider themselves viable challengers for a place in the play-offs or better on 8th August. But which of the Championship’s 24 sides (15 of them with past Premier League experience, one fewer than last season) really have a shot at promotion, and which are doomed to mid-table mediocrity or worse? What follows is an exercise in past pedigree.

Barnsley
Premier League Experience: 1 Season
Current Spell in Championship: 3 Seasons
Last season: 20th

Had things gone a little differently in the 2000 play-off final Barnsley could have returned to Premier League, as it turned out an own goal from Richard Wright after 6 minutes was the closest they got. Ipswich ran out 4-2 victors that day and Barnsley haven’t looked like making a serious push upwards since their parachute payments ran out. Four seasons in the third tier from 2002-2006 have reshaped the aspirations of the club. Their first target this season will be 50 points.

Blackpool
Premier League Experience: 0
Current Spell in Championship: 2 Seasons
Last Season: 16th

The departure of Simon Grayson to Leeds United midway through 2008/09 looked to have rocked the Seasiders boat by March. A home defeat by Burnley left Blackpool 21st with just two wins in 15 matches. They survived, but like Barnsley their priorities will be to avoid the bottom three.

Bristol City
Premier League Experience: 0
Current Spell in Championship: 2 Seasons
Last Season: 10th

Promoted with Blackpool in 2007, Bristol City’s meteoric rise to the play-off final in their first season back in the second tier after eight years in the third took everyone by surprise. 13 home draws last season proved to be the undoing on their promotion challenge, but the Robins will expect to be in play-off contention once again.

Cardiff City
Premier League Experience: 0
Current Spell in Championship: 5 Seasons
Last Season: 7th

The Bluebirds have flirted with promotion in the past, but it has so far only proven to be a cruel tease for their long-suffering fans. In 2006/07 Cardiff lead the way until last November, only for a slump of credit crunch proportions to see them ending the season top of only the bottom half of the table. Last season it was even worse. After the 11th game of the season Cardiff dropped out of the play-off positions only twice – once after game 20, and once after game 46. Preston North End, the side who replaced Dave Jones’ team in the play-offs on the final day did so by virtue of having scored one goal more than Cardiff. The score when the two sides met on 18th April with four games to go: Preston 6-0 Cardiff.

Coventry City
Premier League Experience: 9 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 8 Seasons
Last Season: 17th

Some club yo-yo between divisions, Coventry City do not. Coventry City were last promoted to England’s top flight in 1967 and resolutely stayed there for 34 years. When, in 2001, the Sky Blues finally failed to pull off a great escape they took to the Championship like a barnacle to a rock. Coventry survived relegation by just one point in 2007/08, and have managed just one top ten finish since 2001. Nevertheless, they might get their act together one day.

Crystal Palace
Premier League Experience: 3 Seasons
Current Spell in Championship: 4 Seasons
Last Season: 15th

Crystal Palace are the reason every team 22nd in December still harbours hopes of a late play-off push. The Eagles ridiculous run of 51 points from 24 matches after they had managed just 22 points from their opening 22 games in 2003/04 was mimicked by Doncaster in 2008/09 (40 points from 22 games following 18 points from 24 matches) but is still the stuff of fantasy in the vast majority of cases. Palace seem to follow a mediocre season with a play-off spot in the next. If they don’t look like repeating this trend, Neil Warnock’s time in football could well be up.

Next time: Derby County to Newcastle United