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Colin Gibson spent four years with Leicester City but the stay was often disrupted by injuries so his tally of games did land on a modest amount of 59, scoring 4 goals. A player that arrived late in his career at Filbert Street and went from the “Teathre of Dreams” to a “Horror Show”, but his battling abilities helped Leicester City to avoid relegation from the 2nd tier.

For all footballers there are highs and lows, some experience this in their best age, others as they are getting to their career end, but for Colin Gibson he had his best years as a young and upcoming talent at Aston Villa.

As a left back and still in his early 20’s, he was a player in that 1980/81 league winning Aston Villa side, and a year later playing in the European Cup final and defeating Bayern Munich, everything accomplished so early and everyone believed that the young and lively Gibson would go on from England B and U.21 caps to become a full international, but that never happened.

After 185 league games and almost eight years at Villa Park, Gibson accepted a move to Manchester United. Despite being in and around the first team during his days at Old Trafford he never got the feeling to a certainty in the team and injuries didn’t help either. He spent five years at Man Utd and helped the club to end runners-up in the league, but couldn’t add another league winners medal to his cabinet, getting the chance to join Leicester City in 1990.

His years at Leicester City were seen as successful as he helped the club to a number of play off-finals and in 1994 being part of the Wembley atmosphere and winning promotion, but his stay at Leicester City would never be fulfilled with a return to the top flight and also experiencing the thrill of playing in the Premier League.

Colin Gibson was one of those young players that got the glory of football at any early age, but injuries and of course fantastic competition from great players made it difficult to sustain the level of performances and keep a safe place in those first teams.

After his farewell to Leicester City he had a spell with Walsall winning promotion from the 4th tier finally finishing in the professional game at the age of 35.

Colin is today a matchday host at Leicester City, and of course following his former clubs as he describes his previous life in Midland football with fond memories, him being from the South himself born in Bridport.

He will probably not be remembered much for the common World of football for his days at Leicester City, with such a great career at Aston Villa and later playing for Manchester United, so to describe him as one of our “Guys in Disguise” is no lie, but for the Leicester City following he was always regarded with great respect.

FACTFILE

• Full Name: Colin James Gibson
• Postion: Defender / Midfield
• Date of Birth: 06.04.1960
• Birthplace: Bridport, England
• Nation: England
• Caps / Goals: None
• Major Career
  • 1978-1985, Aston Villa (185/10)
  • 1985-1990, Manchester United (79/9)
  • 1990-1994, Leicester City (59/4)
• Links: Wikipedia

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When Leicester City made a decision to sign Andrei Kramaric, they had Leo Ulloa, Jamie Vardy and David Nugent as front men alternatives, but Nigel Pearson didn’t see the full potential of that trio.

David Nugent might have been a bit on the way out of the picture, but Leo Ulloa and Jamie Vardy both played to their full potential in the next months to come with Andrei Kramaric not getting a chance to prove himself, firstly under Nigel and later under Claudio Ranieri who had seen enough and first send him on loan and later sold him.

So why was it that Kramaric never really reached his peak at Leicester City and could they have kept him instead of splashing the cash on Musa and Slimani, and later Iheanacho, without getting the reward we all believed would happen.

Some said that Kramaric was more suited for life in Bundesliga, probably not as quick as you have to be up front in a Premier League side, but then against the top players of the World he managed to get himself all the way to the final and play in it as well.

The problem at Leicester City might not have been Kramaric himself, but just the fact that Jamie Vardy decided to grab his chance and the style of play Leicester City decided to play, but in a way wouldn’t the Croatian have filled the Okazaki role in a splended way and been the perfect alternative from the bench, a role Leo Ulloa filled so well during that 15/16 season.

After leaving Leicester City, Kramaric became an instant hit at Hoffenheim, scoring goals on delivery and also doing the same in the national team, being part of a unit that makes it possible for a nation of only four million people to reach the World Cup final.

So far it’s been a great life for Andrej after leaving Leicester City, scoring 56 goals in 154 league games for Hoffenheim. In total he has netted 13 in his 46 games for Croatia. Never the less and with 100% certainty he never fulfilled his potential at Leicester City, was never really given a chance and must be seen as a real “Guys in Disguise” as his time at Leicester City cannot be described as a “highlight” in his career.

A lot has been said and written about Claudio Ranieri, but he never managed to get the best out of this fellow, who we all know and for always will be seen as a player in the World Cup final, and did at after leaving Leicester City.

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Adrien Silva and Islam Slimani joined Leicester City for a joint fee of £50million. Looking back it’s a waste of half a billion, and shows how football management has gone wild and totally unpredictable. Both players were close to legends and iconic figures at Sporting Lisbon. Now they are together again at Monaco.

The duo played a vital part in Sporting’s great results during their days at the club. They also played together, something they have not experienced at all at Leicester City. Islam Slimani joined Newcastle United on loan when Silva was eventually ready to play in that half season ramble, and during Craig Shakespeare’s management period, in a way “crippled” the career of a player starring both domestically and at international level at the time.

Islam Slimani joined Leicester City after a fantastic three year spell at Sporting, scoring goals and being seen as one of the hottest objects in Europe. The disastrous use of Slimani and the way he in a way joined Leicester City without a clear plan of his use.

Being slotted in together with Jamie Vardy up front, replacing Shinji Okazaki and as we all know, Claudio Ranieri tried to change the way Leicester City was playing and might have started a turn without a plan, and Slimani not really working well in a partnership with Jamie up front.

Despite great wins against Club Brugge and Burnley, Claudio decided to experiment and not really build on that Vardy/Slimani partnership to flourish.

This is now history and the duo of Slimani and Silva are again together, both joining Monaco on loan from Leicester. Silva had a good period at the same place last season and hopefully Slimani can be in good hands as well back in a partnership with his former teammate at Sporting Lisbon.

Premier League is the “top arena” for football and someone might say that La Liga is a better league, but on the planet earth you will not find anything better. Portugal and France are good footballing nations but their domestic leagues are not of the quality of Premier League, so this might be a good place to be for the duo.

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers knows his business and ranks, the 30’s or so, duo are not in the first row of players to play week in and week out at Leicester City and we believe Brendan Rodgers are so correct.

So why are “managers” allowed to use £50million on players that we as fans would now were not really first team material. To have a bit of cover, so you should use, £50million on reserve team players, the World has gone totally mad, and Leicester City should address this as “not tolerated” as money could have been used much more sensible.

Good for all parties that the duo now is back playing and believed to be with great influence at Monaco who probably will use both players from start as they are two clever footballers with a loads to offer.

To be honest, both must be seen as “Guys in Disguise”, since their appearances for Leicester City are not many and they are both players that likely will leave the club as big, big, failures and not really worth the price paid, when you look at the use.

Brendan Rodgers will certainly be sleeping easier regarding the way of dealing with fringe players, which is excellent. And again, don’t sign big money deals when you don’t have a clear first team idea of a player, just let it be.

Slimani will be out on his third loan spell while at Leicester City, Adrien Silva returns to Monaco for a 2nd spell with the French league club.

Adrien Silva

• Full Name: Adrien Sebastien Perruchet da Silva
• Position: Midfield
• Date of Birth: 15.03.1989
• Birthplace: Angouleme
• Nation: Portugal
• Caps / Goals: 26/1
• Major League Career:
  • 2007-18, Sporting Lisbon (168/32)
    • 2010, Maccabi Haifa (6/0) Loan
    • 2011-12, Academica (34/5) Loan
  • 2018 ->, Leicester City (14/0)
    • 2019, Monaco (15/0)
    • 2019, Monaco (-/-)
• Links: Wikipedia

Islam Slimani

• Full Name: Islam Slimani
• Position: Forward
• Date of Birth: 18.06.1988
• Birthplace: Algiers
• Nation: Algeria
• Caps / Goals: 63/27
• Major League Career:
  • 2007-18, Sporting Lisbon (82/48)
  • 2018 ->, Leicester City (35/8)
    • 2018, Newcastle United (4/0)
    • 2018-19, Fenerbahce (15/1)
    • 2019, Monaco (-/-)
• Links: Wikipedia