As we head into this weekend’s sporting fixtures, it is good to reflect back on the week just gone. Last weekend ended up being a bit of a shocker for Leicestershire sport, with both Tigers and City going down to home defeats, against both Sale Sharks and Leeds United respectively. Naturally, with both results and performances being disappointing and below par, social media and fan forums alike were full of speculation and questioning whether both clubs’ respective seasons were about to head downhill rapidly. Thankfully for City, they were lucky enough to have a mid-week fixture to get their weekend blues out of the system. And this is what they did, going on to beat Fulham at Craven Cottage with 2 very well-taken goals, a dominant performance and one that was drew many compliments from fans and pundits alike. The result took Leicester back into the top 3, and allowing them to carry on their hunt for a top 4 spot this season. The week just gone though, with the highs and lows, does beg the questions of both teams, are they having a good season, and can fans of either or both teams be satisfied at this stage?
Take yourself back to the Autumn period and if you were to ask yourself, “What would a good season look like?” What do you think would be the answer? One of the many roles of the Team Manager/Head Coach is not only to manage their own expectations but also those of the fan base. Was Steve Borthwick thinking of a “Solid” season for 20-21 for the Tigers or did he have ambitions for more? What would constitute a “Good” season for Brendan Rogers? Dare we as fans dream of a “Successful” one? But what does a solid, good or even a successful one look like? It is this last question that is hard to quantify, and as a result, hard to judge whether either Club can claim success or not.
We will never know a) what both managers were hoping for at the start of their respective seasons, let alone b) what the expectations of their respective boards were either. However, we can speculate that for Brendan, qualification for European football would be the minimum return for his 38 games and the money spent despite the lack of paying customers. Steve Borthwick, arguably had the much more difficult task of blending a virtually new squad into a unit that could not only compete, take on board a style of play but also do it for 80 minutes. He would know he could do it, but would the squad go with him? For us the fans, our opinions will vary widely. At City, fans’ expectations range between “Nothing less than Champions League and, or a Cup Final”, to “As long it’s Europe, I’m not fussed.” At Tigers, a satisfactory result for the season ahead ranged from “Let’s get back into the top 4” to “Anything but a relegation battle”. Whilst these were extremes, many fans ended up somewhere in the middle for both clubs.
Ironically, in some respects both City and Tigers ended last season on something of a downer . For City to lose out on Champions League football after the 1st half of the season that saw them go on such a long unbeaten run, whilst playing some really good football was disappointing. The manner of the drop off in form was both baffling and frustrating in equal measure. Steve Borthwick’s arrival was expected to see something of a “bounce” in form and there were some early signs of some green shoots. However, the manner of the defeats to the likes of Wasps and Gloucester was worrying to some and distinctly underwhelming to others. So going into the start of the season, the feeling for both sets of fans, was that the hope that we all feel, was more likely to kill than spring eternal.
Move forward to the present day, and with City in 3rd with some notable scalps in the bag and a list of admirers that gets ever longer each week, Tigers in 9th but with impressive victories, promising performances and youngsters starting to have an impact, how do we feel now? Brendan will be relieved that the squad stood up when it was needed most with the horrendous injury list. The knock out stages of the Europa League have been reached with a very winnable tie approaching. In the same way that the manner of the defeats hurt last year, it’s the manner that we have won our games this season that has been the most impressive. Picking teams to play a bespoke way for each match rather than just picking our “best” XI has been a revelation and has provided us fans with a confidence that actually the manager knows what he is doing.
Down the road at Welford Road, Steve Borthwick’s step by step approach is beginning to pay massive dividends and the sight of a Tigers defensive line holding firm and pushing teams back is not something we are used to. Realising that having a set piece that looks as if it has been worked on during the week rather than being made up on the hoof, is something Leicester are allowed to do and not something reserved for other teams has been a revelation and again inspired confidence in the process. However it’s the fact that not only is this happening, it’s now happening for 80 minutes with players coming off the bench to keep up the pace, suggests that something special is beginning to be built.
Whisper it quietly, but…..and I accept that this might be a really bad thing to verbalise, but this is a really good time to be a City or a Tigers fan. It may be hard to remember ,when performances and results go against us, but the fact remains, we might just be having a “good” season!