Leaderboard

there's only one answer to that squeak

With so many new contracts being signed recently, I thought I'd collate them all. Green dates mean that the contract has been signed since our promotion was confirmed (ie. they will be on a Premier League contract). Grey/italic players are players who are surplus to requirements or out on loan. An orange 'H' before the squad number denotes that the player is homegrown. Feel free to point our any oversights or inaccuracies, and I'll update it. We've done well to tie down so many of our heroes to new Premier League contracts; of last season's squad, only Heise, Hanley, Tettey, Srbeny, Thompson, Lewis and Leitner are still on contracts agreed before we became an EPL club. GOALKEEPERS 21 Ralf Fahrmann (born 27.9.88, age 31): signed on loan until 2020 (contract signed in July 2019) H 1 Tim Krul (born 3.4.88, age 31): signed until 2022 (contract signed in June 2019) 33 Michael McGovern (born 12.7.84, age 35): signed until 2021 (contract signed in April 2019) H 38 Aston Oxborough (born 9.5.98, age 21): signed until 2020 with club option to 2021 and on loan to Wealdstone until January 2020 (contract signed in April 2018) DEFENDERS H 2 Max Aarons (born 4.1.00, age 20): signed until 2024 (contract signed in July 2019) H 3 Sam Byram (born 16.9.93, age 26): signed until 2023 (contract signed in July 2019) 6 Christoph Zimmermann (born 12.1.93, age 26): signed until 2023 with club option to 2024 (contract signed in July 2019) H 4 Ben Godfrey (born 15.1.98, age 21): signed until 2023 (contract signed in June 2019) 15 Timm Klose (born 9.5.88, age 31): signed until 2022 (contract signed in May 2019) 16 Philip Heise (20.6.91, born age 28): signed until 2022 (contract signed in January 2019 and on loan with 1. FC Nürnberg until summer 2020) H 5 Grant Hanley (born 20.11.91, age 28): signed until 2023 (contract signed in November 2018) H 12 Jamal Lewis (born 25.1.98, age 21): signed until 2023 (contract signed in October 2018) Sean Raggett (born 25.1.94, age 25): signed until 2020 with club option to 2021 and on loan with Rotherham for 2019/20 (contract signed in August 2017) James Husband (born 3.1.94, age 26): signed until 2020 and on loan with Blackpool for 2019/20 (contract signed in July 2017) MIDFIELDERS 24 Ibrahim Amadou (born 6.4.93, age 26): signed on loan until 2020 (contract signed in August 2019) 8 Mario Vrancic (born 23.5.89, age 30): signed until 2021 (contract signed in July 2019) 19 Tom Trybull (born 9.3.93, age 26): signed until 2022 with club option to 2023 (contract signed in July 2019) 17 Emi Buendia (born 25.12.96, age 23): signed until 2024 (contract signed in July 2019) H 14 Todd Cantwell (born 27.2.98, age 21): signed until 2022 (contract signed in July 2019) 23 Kenny McLean (born 8.1.92, age 28): signed until 2022 (contract signed in June 2019) 11 Onel Hernandez (born 1.2.93, age 26): signed until 2023 (contract signed in June 2019) 18 Marco Stiepermann (born 9.2.91, age 28): signed until 2022 (contract signed in May 2019) H 34 Louis Thompson (born 19.12.94, age 25): signed until 2022 with club option to 2023 (contract signed in October 2018) 10 Moritz Leitner (born 8.12.92, age 27): signed until 2022 (contract signed in June 2018) 27 Alex Tettey (born 4.4.86, age 33): signed until 2020 (contract signed in May 2018) FORWARDS 35 Adam Idah (born 11.2.01, age 18): signed until 2023 (contract signed in July 2019) 22 Teemu Pukki (born 29.3.90, age 29): signed until 2022 (contract signed in July 2019) 20 Josip Drmic (born 8.8.92, age 27): signed until 2022 (contract signed in June 2019) H Carlton Morris (born 16.12.95, age 23): signed until 2021 and on loan with Rotherham for 2019/20 (contract signed in May 2019) Finally, here are all the squad members listed by year of contract expiry, with (+1) indicating we have the option of an extra year: 2020 Fahrmann (loan), Oxborough (+1), Raggett (+1), Husband, Amadou (loan), Tettey 2021 McGovern, Vrancic, Morris 2022 Krul, Klose, Heise, Trybull (+1), Cantwell, McLean, Stiepermann, Thompson (+1), Leitner, Pukki, Drmic 2023 Byram, Zimmermann (+1), Godfrey, Hanley, Lewis, Hernandez, Idah 2024 Aarons, Buendia

Newcastle aside, most Premier League clubs that might be in danger of relegation, are looking pretty well run. West Ham in particular have seemingly turned a corner and are starting to recruit sensibly. Fornas is an excellent player, so when you add him to Anderson and Yamalenko then it is hard to see them struggle. They also have a good manager to go with that. Even if Arnautovic does go, I think they could replace him wisely. Talk is of Maxi Gomes from Celta and he is top quality. Southampton have also seemingly turned a corner and are recruiting well. Everton have also sorted themselves out a little and should have far too much to be in any danger. The same goes for Wolves and Leicester - who all well run at the top and recruiting well. You could see Bournemouth or Palace dropping into trouble - Palace if they lose Zaha and Bournemouth if Wilson’s knee goes again. Also talk of Ake leaving Bournemouth and Howe’s recruitment has often been a bit ropey. Burnley could be one to watch. They looked better after coming out of Europe, but you do feel that Dyche’s methods and reliance on the domestic market will eventually catch up with them. Newcastle could be in real danger. Can see their manage search dragging on for a while and no Rondon or Pérez means they have a lot to replace up front. Villa are signing Championship players and have overpaid in a big way for Wesley. Their recruitment doesn’t look great so far, so will be interesting to see how the rest of the window goes. I think the league looks a really tough one this season. Clubs are starting to use the money they have much more wisely (apart from Villa). I’m starting to move toward optimism now, which always happens when pre-season starts but survival would be a massive achievement for Norwich.

A number of key strategic on-field positions have been ‘undervalued’ in terms of transfer fees in relation to other positions. I would suggest that these include Goalkeeper, holding midfielder and - until recently - the very high value and relatively low cost of passing centre backs. Liability is rather more important than initial cost when you are a Premier League team, so this is a superb deal. Premier quality with no liability upon relegation. It is the liabilities in the Championship that really hurt you, not what you pay while you are Premier Parma

Rename to "life can be Krul" - quite fitting

The phrase "back up" is misleading. The whole idea of what the club are doing is to develop a squad in which any player is considered equal to any other. Who will get the starting place as goalkeeper or any other position is not decided yet - it will be decided in training and pre-season, with (imo) Krul having the edge to start with. So whoever is picked in whatever position, will only stay in the team if we do well. In the gk's case, it will rest on performances and results, just like any other. Whichever gk is given the nod at the start of the season, will have to perform well because of the competition for his place. Fährmann will not be a back up to Krul and Krul will not be a back up for Fährmann. We had a settled team selection last season because we did so well but with the likelihood of some difficult results in this coming season, I would expect to see a much more varied approach to team selection as the season progresses....unless we get a win or a draw every week like we did most of last season..... Krul or Fahrmann?? It is up to them and how they perform on the pitch. We do not do "back ups".

Ipswich

Gonna be Chelsea. Lampard will **** it up for them big style.

Tim Krul did not get this far by being afraid of competition. He has already fought for every step since he was 8 or 9. All players are, will be and always have been under pressure. That SW/DF/The Club now send the message that they cannot completely allow him a monopoly position at Premier level is not some tacit behind-closed-doors threat, it is normal. No-one would have expected it more than Tim Krul. There are doubts about whether he is good enough to be a strong Premier player, as there is about Pukki, Aarons or the very Club itself. Some players will step up, some won’t. Some will make it on bloody-mindedness, some on ability alone and many on both. Wherever possible SW will amortise these risks, whilst providing as much ammunition to DF for today - and nevertheless factoring in players who will stay and be needed should we be immediately relegated, and so he should. Tim Krul will get his chance, though that might be 38 games or 45 minutes of the first game. So be it. It’s always been like that for Tim and everyone else. Fans assuming their doubts about a player are unrecognised or inspired observation are deluding themselves. Everybody knows, including the player himself. It’s nothing to be afraid of, it drives you on, it’s how you got here and why you are where you are. Parma

"Fingers crossed, hey?" More fingers burned I feel. Football fans might be fickle and indeed have short memories when faced with a run of bad results but I do feel that, as far as City fans go, the Naismith/Jarvis fiascos from recent times have left such a mark that I am inclined to think that most will tend to moderate their criticism of the way things/finances have been handled if we do end up on the wrong end of the scoreline for a spell. Perhaps we are collectively more finance savvy these days after being faced with the doom and gloom predictions of just what would have been the future of the club if had been faced with a prolonged period of Championship mediocrity. Farke will also be given a lot more slack than previous managers I sense. He would seem to have a head start on the goodwill stakes to begin with in any case.

Oh it'll happen! But we have to remember the kind of gubbins people were spewing out the first season with Farke in charge, then just look at how he adapted the season after to take us to the title. Quite amazing really and I do feel confident he can repeat the trick in the Prem (not winning the title, but at least a mid table ish finish). I'm hoping that the majority of fans will stick by the team and Farke. I think the amount of goodwill and togetherness built up from last season is not to be underestimated! As such, if we play well in a game but lose by a goal or two I think we'll still get behind the team and roar them on to success for the next! (Fingers crossed, hey?)

Ooh, a Lakey lecture to start the day! 🙂 I still maintain that an experienced Bundesliga keeper would not come without an expectation of being first choice. I'm sure there would have been other clubs interested in him who would make him first choice, so why would he choose to come here without that guarantee? I'm not saying he'd be undroppable, but I'd imagine that unless he starts farting the ball into his own net on a regular basis, the shirt will be his to lose. Anyway, only time will tell, so roll on August 9th!

Not a patch on the Etihad facilities- where's the ambition? 😉

So who do we think? As a rule of thumb its normally 1-2 of the teams that come up, with 1-2 struggling sides from the previous season taking up the 3 spots, but every few seasons or so you get the 'surprise' blow up of a slightly more established side. Could it happen this year? Just looking at some of the bigger clubs and various news articles about various issues got me thinking: Newcastle: The Benitez issue appears to have completely imploded their pre-season and fan base, doesn't seem to be much money being unlocked whilst they look to sell the club. West Ham: About to lose Arnautovic to China, they had that really poisonous season with the fans turning on the board, probably one of the most inconsistent sides in the sense they win games you expect them lose and have a nack to stay just ahead of the proper pressure cooker of the bottom 4 spots for most of the season. Palace: Could lose Zaha, already lost a good right back (won't be getting ours!), wasn't that long ago they were in a spot of bother and Roy managed to turn it around, just a feeling they could get off to a rocky start if the Zaha move does come to be. Everton: Always look just that little too good to do an 'Aston Villa' but last season seemed such a mixed bag of results, went on a horrible losing run last season. Bournemouth: Id sit them in a similar bracket to Everton and West ham where they seem to always be able to get the results they need but you just feel if they went on a sustained losing spell, could they handle the pressure? Id be tempted to put Leicester, Wolves and Villa into this bracket but they seem to have the resources to get to mid table and then id say there is a shoot out between ourselves, Sheffield, Brighton and Burnley. Anyway, more a list of ramblings and whims, but you guys know what i mean? You think it could be a surprise team making up one of the 3 or is it 2 of the promoted sides and Brighton as most pundits seem to believe!

Well going to upset many but hay-ho . the lack of quality first team signings concern me . though we signing many youngsters up for the u23s, I do get the feeling Webber and Co really don't think we last too long in the Premiership which I can understand-why spend big and got a lot of overpaid players on the books. and giving the existing first team long term contracts mean we can always sell big when back in the championship

Quite a lot of backroom upheaval at the moment... still recruiting Ferrari's replacement, and there's a club journalist role on the site too, so I'm guessing they're a bit short-staffed on the media/content side of things right now. They need to get it sorted sharpish, though, or we're at risk of becoming a tinpot laughing stock.

Blasphemy. Wash your mouth out with soap and Warsteiner and say 10 Hail Farkes.

Apart from the wind up post, there are far to many 'if we go downs' in the responses...... having the competition in goal was the final piece. If we sign no one else, this group are mid-table material anyway! They'll do nicely!

Sounds as if the op doesn't understand what the club is all about. It's success we are after - but not at any cost. Not sure what he wants really, it just seems some people will only be happy if we spend many millions of pounds as if that is the answer. Money does not buy you success.... I was only thinking today how sad it was to think that some people only judge their lives and other peoples by how much money they have to spend. Thankfully the football club has a vision - a vision that is based on hard work, bringing through young players, humility, caring and togetherness. Money up front is not the main thing....money will come as a byproduct of a successful strategy, which is great - especially as we can all see it is working. Long may it do so and the beauty of watching the club as it develops will be in seeing quality young players coming in to the club because they know they have a pathway to the first team and watching that come to fruition as the team evolves over succeeding years. It's a great time to be a Norwich fan, but maybe that passes some people by because they can't see beyond "we ain't spending enough money".

Welcome back Baldy. Got the timing wrong though, you were supposed to wait for us to lose a few games on the bounce first.

If the Checkatrade Trophy draw permits they will play our youth team. 🙂

A surprise club is one by definition ... a surprise So it's unlikely that we would be able to pick them out ..... or they wouldn't be a surprise 😉 One of the difficulties of being in the PL is in keeping the momentum going. At the moment we are on a high, and had we have gone straight onto the PL in May I suggest we would now be sitting comfortable in the top half]. And I still can't see us being anything but that this season. The squad is pretty much the same and new signings will slowly 'bed in' as opposed to being automatic choice in every case. I would also suggest we will do a lot better than many imagine.

Should spare us a lecture from Lakey for tomorrow at least 😛😛

I’d call a keeper who was playing Champions League last season to be “quality”, but hey ho

The futures bright... Some really good young talent coming in and Conley sorted and paid for. Whatever happens next season we will have something to show for the Premiership cash. This is exactly the opposite of pi$$ing our windfall up the wall that Webber mentioned.

Have you seen the cost of some of those so-called "quality signings" lately? Our boys have done us proud with our best season for a long time with some stunning football and they are a true team in every sense of the word. They deserve a chance next season at least. We have strengthened nicely in areas that needed re-enforcement and that's good enough for me, especially with time still on our side.

Bradley Johnson has just been released by Derby "City" and has moved to Blackburn Rovers on a two year deal. I suppose it's an age thing as he seemed to have become a fixture in the Derby squad after a bit of a disappointing start. £6m fee plus a decent enough wage to lure him away from Carrow Road (or was he pushed?) for four years service then.Is that considered a decent return nowadays? Probably although not for Derby County as they remain a Championship fixture. Never the most cultured of performers and how we laughed at that fee, but of the many more celebrated midfielders who have moved on in recent years, such as Snodgrass, Fer and even Howson, Johnson was the one player who I have often wanted back more during some of the worst periods since he left. I'm a bit surprised that Lambert didn't snap him up again. Or not, as1p5swich couldn't even afford the wages of a 32 years old journeyman I guess. Apparently he first came to Norfolk as the top man in a motorcycle pyramid act. As far as the Rams go then it's once again a case of 'on yer bike Bradley.'

I suspect Grabban kept missing!

Terribly negative. Binner perhaps? Today's new GK signing is great, for example, because it'll push existing players, ie Krul to become better and can only be a benefit to the squad. More to come and the excitement for the upcoming season builds. For most of us anyway.

This can't happen, my Fantasy Football Team is called Krul and the Gang. That's much more important than strengthening the squad.

Official now! Welcome Ralf!

Except for the three people who had already mentioned them 😉

I think that's about right, Indy. Recruiting is one thing, but new players have to be integrated and that takes time. We've lost no players important to the first team last season (only Pinto had a few games at the start of the season). Our young players are proven and experienced now and squad unity is strong. Our strengths lie in that togetherness, squad depth (seemless replacements when players are injured), togetherness, fitness, and a genuine hunger for success throughout the squad. That gives me confidence that we'll handle adversity when it comes and fight hard through the whole season. Farke knows what he's doing and the players buy into it entirely and apply his tactics and strategies instinctively.

Yes, I don't necessarily disagree with any of that. However, if Webber genuinely believes Krul is not good enough, he doesn't strike me as the kind of character to give him the chance to fail, especially given what is at stake for the club (and by extension Webber's career) this season. It also be feel it would be a strange move (and not particularly brutal) to give a 31-year old a new three-year contract at this stage of his career simply to keep him for the Championship in the event we get relegated. If the Fahrmann move does happen, I see it more as something to provide genuine quality and competition in that spot, keeping both keepers focused and firing on all cylinders. I have no doubt that Fahrmann will have a fair chance at claiming the shirt. Considering that injuries will doubtless happen throughout the course of the season, particularly if we factor in Krul's injury record, it seems like a very decent bit of business.

Pukki turning down the chance suggests that the club had agreed a fee and told him he can talk to them as he is under contract even before his new one was signed. The rubbish that gets reported is comical these days.

Man Utd

Also bonuses, maybe?

True, although in the Prem, creative players like Emi are meant to get more protection from refs than happened in the Champs when Emi was fouled a lot, and it was the frustration of seeing those repeated fouls go unpunished that let to him losing his head & making a wild challenge in that one game. Be interesting to see how it pans out in the Prem. More of a concern for me about Emi is him giving away fouls when defending in the area, due to being over-eager with his challenges. That's an area he really needs to be more careful on next season.

He used to Manage Leeds, unlike them to be involved in anything controversial. 😎

I completely misread that 🙁😁

And he was. The article says that the agent had an agreement with Derby that he'd get 5% of the transfer fee for Christie. The agent and Monk then persuaded Middlesbrough to pay a higher price for Christie, which means Derby and the agent got more money. It sounds like they then did a similar thing for other players, or signed players the club didn't need because the agent was getting a good cut. Middlesbrough and Birmingham clearly didn't like this because there's a conflict of interest and Monk was favouring his agent over the club he was working for by getting them to overspend on players or sign players he didn't really want because it meant his agent made some good money out of the deal.

I think the point they’re trying to make is monk was paying over the odds for transfers knowing his agent/friend would get more money out of the deal. One example is monk being quoted a 3 million pound fee for fletcher then paying 6.5 million for him.

Good point about Rhodes. However, Pukki was new to the team and I don't think anyone could have predicted quite the impact he would make. I reckon Farke and Webber have looked back at Tim's season and decided he's not consistent enough, or good enough with his feet, to start for us regularly in the PL. Anyway, time will tell!

Why not. We have to start thinking like a premier league club again and £40k a week is not ridiculous at that level. In fact its probably quite low for a senior pro. If you believe the fairly plausible rumours Klose, Naismith etc were on more than that when we were up last time. The problem with them was not sustaining those wages in the premier league but the fact that they apparently continued to apply when we went down and they had another 3 years on their contracts. If this is a one season loan you don't have that risk if we go down so I can quite easily see the board agreeing to cover £40k a week for one season for the right player.

one last note on him before it becomes official and our own press get more details/are allowed to delve deeper in this. Apparently we are taking on all of his wages. Tweet originates from a German reporter for a fairly big sports/news site. I've seen his wages range from £30k/week-£60k/week. And although the report seems as trustworthy as can get at this stage - I simply just cant believe the board would spend anything like £45-60k/week on one players wages this season, albeit a one season loan.

Got it wrong 'Er Indoors tells me brother in law's bash is the day before on 27th so i will be there after all.

I watched their training session on YouTube yesterday, to say they looked relaxed would be an understatement. After last season's debacle, you'd think Lambert would have them a little more focused, then again, there's talk of 100 points and 100 goals, so I guess that they don't need to train.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11709/11756529/ralf-fahrmann-in-norwich-medical-ahead-of-loan-move-from-schalke Fahrmann's wife started to follow Norwich on Instagram on Wednesday, and the 'keeper is close friends with Norwich assistant Christopher John, after the pair founded a clothing company together a few years ago. Perhaps they're just planning opening a stall on the market and we've got it all wrong. 😀

From what I saw on YouTube clips this lad looks a talent so would be interested to see him play live, not a lot gets said about him though?!

Never noticed the slope before.😟