Opening Days

Opening days reveal so much more than 90 minutes of football should do. 

Ask anyone who was at Filbert Street in August, 2001, when newly-promoted Bolton Wanderers hammered Leicester for 5 without reply and an unknown Kevin Nolan bagged a brace. 10 months later and Leicester had finished bottom and been relegated, Bolton had finished 16th and survived.

10 years later (albet in the second game of the season), in August 2011, Leicester were outgunned and outclassed in a 2-0 reverse by a Reading side who had sold both their captain Matt Mills and their star forward Shane Long.  By May, Reading had won the League and Leicester had won mid-table mediocrity.

" There are always a few funny results on the first day of the season and we didn't want to be one of those." 

Leicester secured a valuable 2-0 win in the energy-sapping heat at LE2, and the manager wore the look of a relieved man. The player who had opened the scoring, early in the second half, was similarly relieved and heaped praise on Leicester's opponents. 

"  To score the opening goal was magnificent but to be fair, they played very well. We had a good spell in the first 10 or 15 minutes and then they played very well. But, at the beginning of the second half we created a great chance and managed to put it away. 

We just want to concentrate on picking up points, really and we're just looking to pick up as many points as we can early doors." 

Sorry, I know. One of the oldest tricks. That manager was, of course, Micky Adams and that goalscorer was Brian Deane, after Leicester City had just beaten Watford 2-0 on the opening day of the 02/03 season. That season, we finished 2nd in Division One and comfortably secured a return to the Promised Land. 

A comparison between then and now sheds some light on how Leicester are set for the forthcoming campaign. 

To say Leicester had a turbulent Summer in 2002 is an under-statement akin to saying Dennis Wise is a bit of a plonker, or Aiywatt Rasriaksorn has built a nice little line in duty free. 

In May 2002, we had been relegated from the Premier League, by October we had entered Adminstration and made it a hat-trick of disaster by having a transfer embargo slapped on us. We had sold Gary Rowett and Robbie Savage in a fire sale and Tim Flowers and Matt Elliott were on the transfer list. Nicky Summerbee and Billy McKinlay had shown admirable self-sacrifice and agreed to play for free. No-one quite knew whether the 02/03 season would see Leicester's resurrection, like the proverbial Phoenix from the ashes, or see the boys in blue continue to sink without a trace. 

This summer has been nowhere near as turbulent as 10 years ago, but there has been enough comings and goings to make the forthcoming season almost impossible to predict. Then, as now, we have a young squad (the average age yesterday was 24.7) and we have a strong team unit which is more, much more, than the sum of its parts. 

Last Summer, Sven stuck to the old Soviet philosophy that quantity has a quality all of its own, as he bought players with the urgency of an eight year old collecting stickers (not that anyone complained at the time, least of all me). In contrast, Pearson has been extremely selective (almost too selective, in some people's eyes) and only bought when he saw value. 

Yesterday's performance, though, was pure Pearson. No single player hogged the limelight. No player took an unnecessary risk or bombed forward, out of position. The defence and midfield were solid. The movement and link-up play of the forward players was excellent and the supply from the midfield was, at times, a joy to behold. Each and every player kept "on-message" and worked for the team. Indeed, the work-rate of a Jermaine Beckford was an impressive answer to his critics.  

It is, of course, extraordinarily early days. No doubt our emotions will alter wildly with each result. If we lose on Tuesday, it will be easy to foresee another year of consistent inconsistency. If we get something on Tuesday, optimism will start to build steadily, just like in 2002. 

If the latter happens (and it is a big if), how Pearson taps into that optimism, without inducing either pressure or complacency in his charges, will be interesting to see. For now, we can all enjoy a 100% start to the campaign and a record of 6 goals for, 0 against. 

Could it possibly be 2002 all over again?