Team News From The Leicester Camp

Last updated : 14 December 2008 By Thetashkentterror
Milan Mandaric
City Chairman Milan Mandaric spoke to the Leicester Mercury about how the Foxes are going in their promotion push so far this season, Mandaric also paying tribute to the City supporters :


"For the first time in my sporting and business life there is no Plan B, only Plan A which is to get out of this division this season. I have been going through hell in my football life the last two seasons, something I didn't deserve, the club didn't deserve and the supporters did not deserve, but it happened.

"Now I am a very lucky man to have someone like Nigel Pearson as manager, as strong a personality as I am, so we can look each other in the eye and say this is what needs to be done. We are all under that pressure to go up right away and, as I say, there is no Plan B because I don't want to have one.

"We are gearing up in such a way that I feel we can beat anyone. Perhaps the only time we are at risk is if we think it might be too easy so, as we saw at Scunthorpe, the bigger the challenge the better the performance, because we do have enough quality. I believe in our players, I believe in the quality of the manager's leadership and I am not scared of those games.

"Our points are not won by one player. There is a lot of contribution from the others and I think every one of them deserves equal credit for where we are right now. It is very much a team effort which has been built up ever since the manager arrived.

"I can go back to before the season started when I saw the discipline, the preparation, the respect between players and manager which made everyone into one solid team. You look at the work Steve Howard does for the team. He deserves respect and I am very grateful to our supporters recently who are giving him the support, because they appreciate what he is doing.

"If I went to war I would want him with me. The regulars have seen him and they know his value to the team and their response lately has been good. We are solid at the back, good in midfield and we are finishing up front. I will never stop saying how grateful I am to our supporters who have been magnificent this season, good as gold, and I hope we can give them the reward they deserve in the first week in May, if not before."




While City defender Jack Hobbs said to the Mercury :

"If we can take our form from last Saturday into the Carlisle game it would be perfect. The aim is to try and get a little bit of a gap between ourselves and the chasing pack. Carlisle had a really good season last year but are struggling at the moment. We are still expecting a difficult game up there, but feel it is a matter of looking at what we do."



And Foxes boss Nigel Pearson commented to his club's official website :

"Alex (Tunchev) is a doubt at the moment. We will have to wait and see on him. We have also got one or two others who are struggling through injury and illness, so we'll have another look at it all head of the game. As far as my time at Carlisle goes, it was a very interesting five months and certainly an experience that I wouldn't swap. But that's all in the past now.

"They started off this season well, but have trailed off of late. It's a game that both teams will want to win. The formbook can go out of the window in these games. We know that we are the side that teams want to beat and we have got to make sure that we take care of our own performance. Our fans are travelling up to Cumbria in numbers this weekend. It's a heck of a long way up there and their support will, as always, be very much appreciated."




In team news for Leicester Pearson has said that there is a sickness bug in his camp, but he is keeping the names of the players affected under wraps. Bulgarian Centre-back AlexTunchev (groin) is a doubt but 20-year old midfielder Aman Verma is available after joining the Foxes this week on a six-month contract from Conference North outfit Redditch United.

The referee for tomorrow's match is Mike Jones from Chester, and he will be assisted down the lines by David Richardson from Millbank near Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire and Mo Matadar from Blackburn. Meanwhile the fourth official is Andy Haines from Sunderland.