Hazzetta dello Sport 2024 - Issue 4: Crystal Palace v Leicester City
The untouched blue skies. The light splashing of the sea against the sands of the beach. The sun beating down. The partaking of Bob Mortimer’s novel or the completion of a puzzle or two.
International break was appearing to be quiet in the Istrian district of Croatia for myself.
I attempt to reduce the use of my mobile phone and get back to entertainment in rather less triggering ways. It was one of those episodes when I did have my phone on me when Leicester City Football Club’s panache for creating fume internally or externally was really exhibited.
Money talk
The Premier League’s attempt at charging LCFC for an alleged breach of the FFP profit and sustainability rules fails as they don’t have the jurisdiction to charge the club while outside of the Premier League.
In simple translation, zero points. Tellingly, the detail which was interesting and potentially important was that the PSR calculation for the accounting period was over by nearly £25 million. No denial of that point. How that plays in the latest accounting period with those books due in December; we await.
Whilst in the world of LCFC on my phone, it was great to see the likes of Everton and Forest spitting bile. For example, one national journalist of a red persuasion who lives in the fair county of Leicestershire changes his view on FFP on his reaction to the news.
Equally, I found it off that we had a solicitor now being heralded as though a star striker. If relegation does indeed occur, Nick De Marco might be the person responsible for most points achieved this season. He’s quite present on Twitter/X. Every one of his tweets is met by fans from various clubs offering to buy him a drink when he visits such a city.
The beauty of course being that on his social media, he often mentions where he’s holidaying or vice versa, and it doesn’t appear the East Midlands comes up much. For all those ills, he is a QPR season ticket holder and appears to be very much genuine in that.
Back at the Villa
That part about switching off from the football while on holiday is a little white lie. As I spent a portion of my first afternoon watching Villa beat us 2-1. Despite many close friends protesting this wasn’t the case, if by chance when across the hotel lobby of our new temporary abode, there was Leicester City taking on Aston Villa, 1-0 down already on the bar’s television. This took precise diplomatic skill and cause to agree with the wife that it would make more sense for me to sit here and watch it rather than consistently stare at my phone in the room hoping for Flashscore to pop up.
Retrospectively that argument and grace maybe should have been saved for another occasion. At 2-0, it was considered to turn it in and head for the room before going out for dinner. However, I persisted and if anything, it made me needlessly annoyed. Opinions differed with friends at the game, and this appears to mark a pattern that’s occurring.
Attending fans are generally positive of the performances; as though being in person makes more positive and hopeful. It’s a difficult phenomenon to described but normally you see it with fans of larger clubs who have bigger social media followings. Those watching from afar or home are more negative than those attending the match.
Myself from the comfort of an air conditioned bar, thought we were naïve and played by Villa who waited to flex their superior squad to double their lead. The keep it tight for the first half tactics and Ndidi as the highest midfielder weighed thin on the television. We played to Villa’s pattern of the game rather than making it our own incentive to lead the story of the match.
On to the Palace
Steve Cooper had the excuse at the start of the season that the players had yet to be signed to be more constructive, proactive when attacking rather than being reactive to the scoreline. As the games throughout August ticked by, that became less of the case and now there is no excuse for us as an attacking unit, it is a fully fit squad bar Odsonne Edouard who’s ineligible. The Frenchman’s deadline day arrival highlighted that we were a differing tax advisor away from signing Wilfred Zaha.
This is a test of Cooper’s ambition. Are we going to try and impose ourselves on fellow Premier League teams or rather be more reactionary as per all three games so far? Crystal Palace’s start to the season has been rather mixed and the positive vibes of last season have extinguished somewhat with player departures.
There’s something to pick at with Palace right now. Some insecurity that if you attack and have a go at, you’ll have a reward. Due to injuries and Maxence Lacroix not being registered in time, Nathaniel Clyne had to play centre-back in their last game against Chelsea. Lacroix is likely to make his debut this time out with Eddie Nketiah also.
It has never been a particularly happy hunting ground. In fact, London generally isn’t which doesn’t bode well for this season. Palace often turn up in Leicester and have a knack of scoring fours and fives but even at Selhurst Park, the Foxes rarely gain anything. There’s a sub-plot here that both teams should fancy themselves and with the forthcoming fixtures, now really is the time that the Foxes let off the shackles.
Fan engagement - what’s the plan?
In a continuing tone of dread and groan, it’s not gone unnoticed here that LCFC’s fan engagement plan seems to be lagging after no more than six weeks publication. As it stands, no fan advisory board has been appointed and there was the intention to have the first meeting of the organisation in September which seems difficult to achieve now.
The noise about the £25 charge and the donation to charity has gone quiet; no-one is aware of what exact figures have been distributed to the charities and if those charities have received the money. The bizarreness of this being that such an exercise is an open goal of a public relations exercise, but they continue hide it away.
The touted relaunch about entertainment, food and drink around the ground has zero authenticity and appears very much to be a package they have opted into with the catering suppliers, Levy.
While the minutes from the most recent Fans Consultative Committee have taken seven weeks to be produced and it’s admitted in that document that the relationship between club and fans is strained.
I wonder why.
