The true secret of Leicester City's success / doping thread merged

[chesterbells]

New manager, new coaching system, several new players, players with confidence.

No reason for insinuations to be cast as there is no evidence at all of anyone doing wrong.

Sounds like some of the arguments I used to read from apologists for Lance Armstrong and the rest. Anyone who suddenly starts running a lot faster at the age of 29, sorry I dont buy it, whatever the level of 'confidence' is and whoever is picking the team!
Having watched sport long enough and read too many doping reports, if it looks too good to be true, it is.

On a more general point, how long has drug testing of EPL players been blood testing? I dont follow testing in football like I do in cycling, athletics etc, but IIRC for a long time drug tests in footy were urine not blood.

 

[The Silver Surfer]

New manager, new coaching system, several new players, players with confidence.

No reason for insinuations to be cast as there is no evidence at all of anyone doing wrong.

Yeah but thats what happens to a high percentage of football clubs at the start of every season.
How many times has any club then gone on to rip the league up?
You could say us and Chelsea but both us and them bought known quality players and integrated them with other known, quality players.

I certainly am suspicious now. No, there's no evidence of wrong doing atm and it could just be a footballing miracle but miracles require exceptional evidence to support their claim.
And I don't see any.

 

[M18CTID]

Makes you wonder how they can have gone through a whole season with NO significant injury to any of their main players.
God must be looking down on them big time!

Like blueinsa, I'm not in the doping camp - I'd want to see concrete evidence before going down that route - but one particular injury incident from Leicester's season caught my eye above all others. I don't know whether anyone remembers it but when they played Watford several weeks ago Mahrez picked up what looked like a hamstring injury. It was dismissed afterwards by Ranieri as cramp but it didn't look like cramp at all because he pulled up when running in exactly the same way someone would when they'd done their hamstring.

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Sport in general and football in particular is littered with unlikely stories and, until proven otherwise, this is just another one.
Unseeded 17 year old Boris Becker wins Wimbledon, 9th reserve Jon Daly wins the Masters, Buster Douglas (a 42/1 bet) beats Tyson, Greece win the Euros, Denmark win the Euros after not qualifying.
Surely this is at the heart of all sport? We might like to think we have an idea of what will happen but if we knew what would happen, sport would die.
It's not Leicesters fault that nobody else has bothered to turn up this season. If one of the so called bigger teams had shown any decent form, this wouldn't be a conversation. It's not like history has never seen this sort of thing before. Forest have been mentioned already and Ipswich won it in 1962 after being promoted that season. Another example, that would seemingly provoke suspicion today, was 1967-68. A team that finished 15th the season before, the year they were promoted, won the top division title. I wonder what drugs were taken and which referees benefitted from City winning it that year?
Go back to the 30's and we win the title and score 107 goals, but get relegated the following season whilst scoring 80 and having the record away win that season (1-7 at Derby). Sounds a bit unlikely....
Cannot wait for next season to see what football has in store for us all.

 

[IH8MUFC]

Sounds like some of the arguments I used to read from apologists for Lance Armstrong and the rest. Anyone who suddenly starts running a lot faster at the age of 29, sorry I dont buy it, whatever the level of 'confidence' is and whoever is picking the team!
Having watched sport long enough and read too many doping reports, if it looks too good to be true, it is.

On a more general point, how long has drug testing of EPL players been blood testing? I dont follow testing in football like I do in cycling, athletics etc, but IIRC for a long time drug tests in footy were urine not blood.

Whenever a doctor comes out usually it is true.

The fact that football has so few failed tests is suspicious. Besides Rio's missed test I can't remember the last player to test positive.

Dr Fuentes accused the Spanish national team of it.

 

[supercity88]

I don't want to believe the drugs/conspiracy theories regarding Leicester. It would ruin football more than we have ;)

The stats regarding Vardy's sudden ability to reach sprinter like speeds and fitness improvements point to something suspicious. But innocent until proven guilty in my mind.

 

[IH8MUFC]

Yeah but thats what happens to a high percentage of football clubs at the start of every season.
How many times has any club then gone on to rip the league up?
You could say us and Chelsea but both us and them bought known quality players and integrated them with other known, quality players.

I certainly am suspicious now. No, there's no evidence of wrong doing atm and it could just be a footballing miracle but miracles require exceptional evidence to support their claim.
And I don't see any.

The evidence is there.

Drastic improvement in performance is the biggest indicator of PED usage in athletics, cycling and baseball.

 

[smudgedj]

Whenever a doctor comes out usually it is true.

The fact that football has so few failed tests is suspicious. Besides Rio's missed test I can't remember the last player to test positive.

Dr Fuentes accused the Spanish national team of it.

Operation Puerto

The Dr said that cycling made up just one third of his clients. Athletes, tennis players and footballers made up the rest.

 

[chesterbells]

The evidence is there.

Drastic improvement in performance is the biggest indicator of PED usage in athletics, cycling and baseball.

Absolutely. Mid or late career upturns are a classic sign. I'll PM you re a couple of well known UK athletes who fall into this category, but I'm sure they wont be a surprise.

Your previous point about football's lack of positive tests is telling. Just look at the stats (or the evidence of your own eyes) comparing performances now to those of 10, 15 years ago. Fuentes - wasnt he the doctor implicated in the case involving certain rather high profile Spanish tennis players?

 

[blueinsa]

If found to be true, do you think the PL with its brand and image at stake would want it covered up or come clean?