I want time to help Foxes grow
CLAUDE PUEL has pleaded for time to make his mark at Leicester, telling his doubters: “I’m a builder, not a firefighter.”
Puel will get an unwelcome reminder of his previous employment tonight when Southampton visit the King Power Stadium looking to throw themselves a Premier League survival lifeline.
And the Frenchman has urged the Foxes’ hierarchy not to follow the lead of their Saints counterparts, who sacked him last summer despite an eighth-place finish and an appearance in the League Cup final.
“When I work in a club it is always difficult for me to leave because I like a lot of people, players and staff, and because I try to give my best,” said Puel, who refused to speak directly about the Saints’ decision to sack him.
“But it’s important to bounce back and move on and to give your best for the next project. My way is always the same – to give my best, to try to build and to help the club in development. This is very important for me.
“I am not a firefighter. I am a builder. And I need a little time.
“In football a long time is difficult but it is important to have time to put in place the plans and the details and to put the project in place.
“If I can help during my contract with Leicester I will be happy.”
Puel’s comments come as he faces the first serious questions about his Foxes reign since being appointed in October.
Despite sitting in a healthy eighth place in the Premier League, a sequence of two wins from their past nine league games has effectively ended Leicester’s hopes of European qualification and coincided with reports of discontent among the players.
Such rumours are reminiscent of the situation at St Mary’s, where supporter dissatisfaction and rumours of squad unrest preceded Puel’s departure.
Leicester’s squad remains built around the core of the group that won the Premier League title two seasons ago, and Puel has hinted at significant recruitment in the summer.
But he has called on his old guard to buy into his plan to alter the side’s counter-attacking style and keep a place in his future plans.
“A lot of players improved, the ones that won the title two years ago continue to improve,” he said. “The Premier League changes also, a lot of teams change their style and manage their team with solidity.
“It’s important for teams to develop options to play against any opponent. It’s interesting, if the title-winners can make progress and continue in this way, why not keep them?
“We need to find a good stability and consistency with the club. This is a young club in the Premier League and now we need to continue to work and to build this project. “It will be a project with the expanded stadium and the training ground, a new project on the pitch and with the quality of the players to play this game. All of this is important.
“We work not just in the transfer window period but all the season together with the directors and the recruiters and the owners to prepare for next season, and to replace some players, to bring good options and good additions in the squad.
“It is important not just to work in the summer – it is work since October for me and it is important to try to develop the squad and the project with the training ground and stadium.
“I like this feeling. I like to build and we have every possibility here to build with calm and consistency to give Leicester stability in results.” JAN VERTONGHEN says lifting the FA Cup will help transform Tottenham into serial trophy winners.
Spurs, without a trophy since 2008, face Manchester United in Saturday’s semi-final and the former Ajax defender, right, said: “This team deserve a trophy for all the work we’ve put in and we hope Saturday can be the next step. When I won my first, the next couple followed quickly.”