IPSWICH 0  LEICESTER CITY 2 

Although a life-long City fan and season ticket holder, I moved to Suffolk 22 years ago and I could not remember the last time we had beaten Ipswich at Portman Road (apparently it was 19 years ago). Each year I go to this match, usually with friends and colleagues in the Ipswich part of the stand, and have to endure the annual humiliation and jokes at our expense. 

However, this time we won!! Fanfare and drum rolls! And, dare I say it, we deserved to win, outplayed and outmuscled Ipswich, particularly in the second half and, when we were 2-0 up with three minutes of injury time to go, I even started to feel confident! City fans will know what I mean…..  

Kelly chose to bring in new loan signings Yeates, Horsfield and Jarrett and, on a sticky pitch, the match started evenly with Jarrett starting to settle in to midfield. The match was quite open and Peters’ cross shot was well saved by Henderson. On the break Horsfield headed into the ground when in with a good chance and Hume had a shot saved on the break. 

Half way through the half City won a corner taken by Porter. McAuley headed in low from close range and the ball seemed to skid through the legs of the Ipswich goalie and defender on the line. Ipswich had a few chances afterwards and Hume had a tremendous shot on the turn well saved by their keeper Price…..

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Following recent confirmation from the Foxes Trust Board that they had received the relevant paperwork from Leicester City FC regarding the Milan Mandaric takeover bid, the Trust Board has today released the following statement. 

The Foxes Trust Board has today signed and submitted to the Leicester City FC Board the irrevocable undertaking documentation to sell its shares to UK Football Investments, LLC (the organisation created by Milan Mandaric to own LCFC). 

Trust Board Member Matt Davis commented "Until now the Trust has always stated we were neither for nor against the takeover by Milan Mandaric & wanted to view the final bid detail before making any commitment. At the same time we also wanted to make sure all other options had been fully considered, just as we did when there were rival consortiums seeking to take the club out of administration a few years ago” 

"The loss of parachute payments & falling attendances will, inevitably, mean the club urgently needs additional investment to be competitive in the Championship or risk losing our proud record of never being below 2nd tier football." 

Chairman Ian Bason stated “We have now concluded the Milan Mandaric bid offers the best short & medium term option for Leicester City Football Club to play competitive football at the highest possible level, in particular his years of experience of running a number of clubs is not matched by the board which has ran the club in recent years” 

“In our view the deal proposed by Mandaric is currently the only viable option for taking Leicester City Club forward. Ideally we would have liked to have had assurances on the issues we raised directly with Mandaric's representatives prior to the EGM in November before giving our support. However securing the deal is now of the utmost priority & urge all connected with the club and Mandaric’s representatives (even if the required % of shareholders support is not achieved initially) to ensure this prevails. Following the conclusion of the takeover we will then will be seeking to work closely with Mandaric to resolve the longer term issues we have raised.”

The Foxes Trust Board confirms receipt of a document from Leicester FC relating to the takeover bid of Milan Mandaric. 

This document has a requirement to give a written commitment to the sale of the Trust’s shares to Milan Mandaric within a limited time frame. 

The Trust is currently completing it’s evaluation of the document. 

During the last week the Trust Board, as well as holding it’s own board meeting, has attended a further two meetings. 

On Wednesday night, LCFC shareholders had the opportunity to listen directly to Milan Mandaric as he outlined his plans for the future of the club and answered questions. Most of the Trust Board attended this meeting and raised several points 

On Thursday night, several of the Trust Board along with a number of shareholders attended a meeting at Grace Road where a discussion took place on alternative options to the Mandaric bid, again Trust Board members contributed to the discussions. 

Due to the confidential nature of each meeting, as outlined by the organisers in both cases the Trust Board cannot reveal in any greater depth the content of each meeting at this time. 

Attendance of both meetings was vital for the Trust Board as the final stages of deciding whether to back the Mandaric bid. 

The Trust Board will announce it’s decision within the next 48 hours.

City 1 Luton 1

City fans sat through another uncomfortable afternoon’s football at the Walkers Stadium on Saturday as the Foxes battled for a point with Luton. 

Following some mild optimism before the game as a result of fresh faces coming in, the crowd saw both Mark Yeates and Geoff Horsfield make their City debuts. The optimism didn’t last long. In a scrappy, dour, dull game neither side did enough to deserve the win although both had chances to steal the points before the end.  

Milan Mandaric was in the directors’ box to watch hopefully his last game before the boardroom situation is resolved. The enforced sale of Gareth Williams being the only way of enabling Rob Kelly to bring in three loan signings before the transfer window closed is testament to the club’s current precarious financial position. 

City began the better of the two sides after an early scare and Iain Hume had a chance to put them ahead after 6 minutes having controlled the recalled Johansson’s through ball. His shot was saved by Beresford but new boy Yeates was in the right place at the right time to score with his first touch for the club. 

Sadly the winger had little further chance to make any impression aside from a few neat touches in midfield. 

Luton’s plans were upset early on by the replacement of Lewis Emanuel with Dean Morgan after 9 minutes due to injury. Overall City had the better of the opening 20 minutes after being buoyed by their early goal….

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Leicestershire MP’s back a review of standing at football grounds 

Did you know that Mike Hancock (Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South) put forward the following Early Day Motion (EDM) to the House of Parliament: 

STANDING AREAS AT FOOTBALL GROUNDS 15.11.2006

That this House urges the Government to re-examine the case for introducing small, limited sections of safe standing areas at football grounds; further urges the Government to recognise that there is widespread support for such areas, and that improvements in stadium design and technology mean that with rigorous safety specifications standing areas could be safely re-introduced; and calls on the Minister concerned to convene a meeting of representatives of the police, supporters, Premier League clubs and the Football Licensing Authority to find a way forward. 

The following MP’s had signed the motion before I lobbied our Leicestershire MP’s: 

Mr S Dorrell Conservative (Charnwood) Sir P Soulsby Labour (Leicester South) 

As a direct result of lobbying the following three more Leicestershire MP’s have now signed:

Mr D Taylor Labour (North West Leicestershire)

Mr David Tredinnick Conservative (Bosworth)

Mr Keith Vaz Labour (Leicester East) 

I have also established that the following MP’s are precluded from signing due to their position in the house:….

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