Peanuts

Short answer is no, we can''t compete.Forget West Ham and Stoke, we can''t even compete with the sides that we came up with - both Watford and Bournemouth have out spent us on transfers and I''d say it''s a safe bet they pay much higher wages than us too. I''m sure we''ll be at or around the bottom of the wage league table this season so once again we''ll need to over achieve just to stay in the PL.I''m not anti Delia by any means, but it is hard to see how we''re ever going to become an established PL side without a lot more money coming into the club.

I think Neil''s style of management is to make tactical changes to suit each game rather than stick with a settled 11, and while I don''t have the figures to back it up I thought he did a similar thing in the championship when we were playing well so it can''t all be attributed to poor results this season.Whether you think that''s a good thing or not I guess is a matter of opinion, but personally I''d like to see a bit more consistency through the spine of the team at least. If you take Spurs as an example they rotate their full backs and the midfield chops and changes quite a bit too, but it''s always Dier sitting in front of Vertonghen (before injury) and Alderweireld with Kane up front and Lloris in goal.

The issue is that we are one of the weakest teams in the league and while the club struggles to compete financially with the likes of Watford and Bournemouth that''s going to remain the case.Given that we struggle to compete in this league, whoever we replace AN with is likely to find themselves in a similar situation at some point. Even if Pearson were to repeat the great escape and we are in the PL next season, does anyone really believe that we wouldn''t find ourselves in a similar position again at some point? What then, sack Pearson and appoint someone else? Rinse and repeat until we go down?Right now we have a manager who is young, ambitious and clearly talented given the success he''s already achieved in such a small space of time. Unless the players are refusing to play we should stick with him and give him the chance to come through this, even if that means risking relegation, because the alternative is worse over the longer term.

[quote user="Al Harrington"]I stopped reading at Brady at CM. Just awful.[/quote]You missed Redmond as lone striker [8-)]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"]And of those three factors the last two are by some way the most important. [/quote]And, arguably, the third factor is a consequence of the second. Alex Neil is a talented young manager, but there''s no doubting his appointment was the prudent (cheap) option. In a parallel universe somewhere I imagine a rich Norwich City and their money bags owners thanking Neil for helping the club to promotion after the play-off final and then appointing an experienced manager like Ranieri in his place. Yeah keep dreaming, as if we could ever hope to compete with a massive club like Leicester.

What I don''t really get is that AN had a great reputation at Hamilton built on getting a squad of limited ability players to over-perform - exactly the situation we are in in the PL. If anything, last season where he came into a ''big'' championship club where expectations were high should have been the bigger test, yet in the champs he seemed confident and organised but now he looks lost more often than not.I almost feel like AN is too tactical sometimes and that we''d be better off keeping it simple and playing to the strengths of our best players rather than chopping and changing every week. It seems as if he''s determined to play in a particular way each game and that he picks who he feels is best suited to that week''s system, regardless of form or ability.Take Redmond for example, he''s always had his critics but it wasn''t that long ago he was touted as arguably our best player - a genuine prospect and future full England international, yet now he can''t get a start and rarely has an impact from the bench.Another thing I''ve noticed is that last season AN talked a lot about work rate and working harder than the opposition, yet I don''t remember him mentioning that at all this season - and the stats for ground covered suggests we''re not working as hard as other teams to press or chase the ball, something I felt we did really well last season.Earlier in the season I felt like we were a shit version of Spurs, but at least we played some good football at times, now it''s like we''re a shit version of Villa :(

No.We''d need a magician not a manger to be successful with our squad.

Not sure if it was the injury or something else, but I''ve been surprised he hasn''t had more of an impact. He looked good in pre-season and for a free transfer I thought it was a great bit of business for us but so far it hasn''t really worked out.

Sometimes I swear this is a parody site and I''m the only one not in on the joke...

I wouldn''t read too much into the Harvard thing as the scholarship was football related and while he got BBBC at A level and is obviously bright, those grades are a long way off the requirements of an elite university.As to his supposed attitude problems, I suspect there may be a bit of the ''graeme le saux'' about him and it might be as simple as him just not fitting in at Palace or getting along with the sensitive and thoughtful soul that is Alan Pardew.I''d be happy with him here on a loan with an option to buy, but I think he''s maybe a bit too much of a gamble to buy outright, particularly at 10m+. Unless he''s guaranteed first team football I''m not sure he''d want a move anyway given the way he left Palace, but who knows.

Other teams fans just see little old norwich at the wrong end of the table and assume the worst. I''d say Neil is one of the managers least likely to get the sack, after all who do we think could do a better job with the tools available?

I think he''s a good finisher and the kind of striker with a knack for being in the right place at the right time, but I agree with what most are saying that he doesn''t seem to fit AN''s preferred way of playing.Morty has a point that if AN thought he was good enough he''d build the team around him, and my impression has always been that AN isn''t convinced by his attitude or work ethic. I think he''s the kind of player who can be difficult to motivate if he can''t be the star of the show. The story about him wanting his own box at Wednesday may have been a load of nonsense, but the fact that it was reported at all suggests he has a reputation as a bit of a big time charlie.If there''s a deal to done, I''d say sell but I''d like to see another striker sign, ideally better, not just different, than what we have.

Wisdom started out at centre half so he could provide much needed cover there too, although hopefully there''ll be someone else coming in this window. Personally I wouldn''t sign him and if Liverpool''s woes continue he could even be recalled.

Vadis looked great for the 10 mins or so he played and I agree if he did that for 90 mins he''d be a real asset and maybe give Howson the kick up the arse he needs. I know it was "only Rotherham", but their fans thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread when he was there.

[quote user="ReadingCanary"]Lawrenson (who i presume watched the whole match)[/quote]I wouldn''t be so sure!

I thought we did a great job against a Liverpool side that put in one of its best performances this season. I know they''ve been poor lately but I guarantee everyone at Liverpool saw that game as a home win and a chance for them to kick on. We did well to stop them. Not forgetting they have several players that each probably cost more than our whole team combined.

Pundits never seem to have a clue when it comes to Norwich, witness Savage''s confusion over the acronym OTBC the other week. Lawrenson has been phoning it in for years so his lazy comments are no surprise, although Ian Wright''s "and then he passed it to him" performance on MOTD a few weeks back still takes the prize for worst Norwich punditry.The Telegraph had Neil''s name misspelled and on TV yesterday Danny Dichio described Neil as a former Norwich player. Plus ca change etc.

My first time at Anfield I thought it was amazing the way the Kop sang YNWA and waved their scarves before kick off, but during the game the atmosphere wasn''t anything special. I don''t think we''re particularly louder or quieter than anyone else really.

I don''t think we have to worry about AN going anywhere just yet. As to comparisons with Rodgers or Lambert, AN is both younger and less experienced than either of them when they made their big moves. At 34 he''s in no rush and if he spends the next 5 years helping establish us in the Premier League with the odd cup adventure along the way then I expect he''ll have his pick of top jobs and on his terms.

I thought his wife was an EU citizen? If so then he should be fine.

[quote user="TCCANARY"] No, because there was no focus on English based players. [/quote]McNally says otherwise:

So I read an article (can''t remember where now!) that made the point that with so much money now in the PL (and the big TV money to come) there just isn''t the financial pressure on clubs to sell players any more, particularly if it''s going to strengthen their rivals (turning down £7m for Grabban the perfect example?)It also said that even the poorest PL clubs (I assume that means us!) now have more financial clout than all but the biggest European clubs. Now assuming that''s true, would we have been better off prioritising the European leagues where there may be more pressure on clubs to accept a big fee even for players they would rather keep, rather than struggling to sign squad players from rival PL teams who can afford to turn down any offer we could make?Obviously we were looking abroad as we signed Mbokani and were linked to various overseas defenders, but it felt like that was mainly as the window went on and we were becoming more desperate. Perhaps a greater focus on overseas players from the start would have been more successful?Incidentally, despite all the doom and gloom over this window, with hindsight Mulumbu on a free and Dorrans for £3m look like great business.

A more experienced manager may have the benefit of more contacts within the game be able to call on players they have managed previously, but there''s no reason why our transfer dealings should have suffered because AN may not have that experience. Certainly the club had plenty of time before the window to bring in someone with more experience as a consultant if they felt they needed that and presumably the head of recruitment should bear the major responsibility for identifying potential targets rather than the manager.

Not the outrageous parody I was expecting, all seemed like rather fair comment to me.

While I''m sure there was a little bit more to it than that, it does make for a fun story.